JP2000237316A - Humidifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obviate the occurrence of humidifying gas leakage even with weak force by forming a sealing means for sealing a cap means and a receiving means to each other to structure having a shape continuous over the entire circumference of the sealing surfaces of the cap means and the receiving means and having a lip portion thinly rising with respect to a mother sealing material. SOLUTION: The gas to be humidified flows in from an inflow port 1. When the gas passes the front surface of the humidifying water 9 packed in the receiving means 3 by the mixing port of the humidifying device, the gas is humidified by evaporating moisture and is then made to flow out of an outflow port 2. The receiving means 3 and cap means 4 of such humidifying device is hermetically closed by the sealing means 5 disposed therebetween. The sealing means 5 is formed of silicone rubber, etc., to the shape projectingly provided with the thin lip portion 5b diagonally from the terminal of the sealing portion 5a in a direction of 45 deg. toward the inner side. As a result, the expansion of the margin for compress of the seal is made possible and reduction of the operating force for effectively maintaining the seal between the receiving means 3 and the cap means 4 is made possible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a humidifier for supplying moisture to a dry gas. More specifically, the present invention provides a humidifier for humidifying medical gas, particularly dry concentrated oxygen generated in an oxygen concentrator, etc., to prevent leakage of humidified gas from the humidifier due to mishandling by a user. It relates to a humidifier improved so as to reduce it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, oxygen inhalation therapy for inhaling oxygen generated from an oxygen cylinder or a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator for patients with chronic respiratory diseases such as sequelae of pulmonary tuberculosis and pulmonary hypertension has been performed. Such oxygen or oxygen-enriched air is a gas in a substantially dry state, and if inhaled for a long time as it is, the inside of the nasal cavity will dry, giving the patient discomfort and possibly leading to deterioration of the disease itself. is there. Usually, a patient inhales oxygen gas humidified to near saturated water vapor pressure using a humidifier.

[0003] As such a humidifier, a bubbling type humidifier in which dried oxygen gas is immersed in water in the humidifier, an evaporative humidifier in which humidification is performed only with water vapor evaporated from the water surface of the humidifier, and the like are generally used. I have. Since such a humidifier is filled with water, it is necessary to pay attention to water leakage and oxygen gas leakage in use.

A conventional humidifier comprises a lid portion having an inlet for a dry gas and an outlet for a humidified gas, a receiver portion for supplying humidifying water, and a sealing member therefor. A flat rubber material packing is used for the seal,
It is necessary to secure the sealing performance by screwing the lid means and the receiver means. In these methods, a certain amount of fixing force is required to maintain the seal using a flat packing, and for a user, for a patient such as the elderly, who has weakened the power. , Its operation is difficult,
There is a problem that leakage of humidified gas due to improper fastening occurs due to the user's own judgment of the appropriateness of the tightness of the lid and the container.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and is a humidifier which does not cause humidified gas leakage even with a weak force. It is intended to provide a humidifier which can be easily confirmed.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems As a result of intensive studies on such problems, the following humidifier was found. That is, the present invention includes a dry gas inlet, a lid provided with a humidified gas outlet, a receiver capable of containing humidifying water, and a seal for sealing between the lid and the receiver. In the humidifier, the sealing means is in a gaseous phase, and the shape thereof is continuous over the entire sealing surface of the lid means and the receiving means,
It is another object of the present invention to provide a humidifier having a structure in which a lip portion rising thinly with respect to a mother sealing material is provided.

The present invention also provides a humidifier characterized in that the end of the lip portion has a shape inclined in the direction of the high pressure side between the humidified gas and the outside air.

According to the present invention, there is further provided a lid provided with an inlet for a dry gas, an outlet for a humidified gas, a receiver capable of containing humidifying water, and a seal for sealing between the lid and the receiver. A humidifier provided with a means, wherein the receiving means has a plurality of projections, and the lid means has a moving guide and a fixing guide with which the projections are engaged. In particular, such a sealing means is continuous over the entire circumference of the sealing surface of the lid means and the receiving means, and has a shape having a lip portion which rises thinly with respect to the mother sealing material, and the lip portion is An object of the present invention is to provide a humidifier having a structure capable of easily absorbing displacement of a lid and a receiver.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The shape of the sealing material of the humidifier of the present invention may be a hollow cross-sectional shape or a softened material in order to obtain sealing elasticity. Is suitable.

Such a lip-type sealing material has a structure provided with a sealing portion (lip) that rises thinly from the mother sealing material. In addition to those having a thin sealing material rising, those having a structure in which such a sealing portion is folded can be used. It is preferable that the end of such a seal portion faces the high-pressure side, and since the inside of the humidifier is usually higher in pressure than the outside atmospheric pressure, it is preferable that the end of the seal portion is disposed facing the inside of the humidifier to improve the sealing property. It is preferable to secure. Even when the seal portion is folded many times, the same effect can be obtained if the final end face is directed toward the higher pressure of the partition wall due to the seal.

The shape of the mother seal portion is not particularly limited because it differs depending on the size of the lid means and the receiving means used. However, the shape of the mother seal portion is not limited to a humidifier for medical respiratory gas such as oxygen. As the size, a width of 2 to 10 mm is used, and the height differs depending on the adjustment of the height of the sealing surface. Therefore, a suitable one is used according to the design of each humidifier. In the case of a humidifier for breathing gas, the thickness of the lip portion is preferably 0.5 to 5 mm, preferably 0.5 to 5 mm.
Use a thickness of 2.5 mm.

The material used for the sealing means is preferably a rubber material which has excellent rebound resilience and hardly generates compression set, and specific materials such as silicon rubber, natural rubber and butadiene rubber are preferable.

It is desirable that the sealing material is fixed to the lid means or the receiving means. As such a fixing method,
Adhesion or fitting is possible, but the fitting type is preferable because the sealing material is a deteriorated product and position adjustment is unnecessary. In the case of the fitting type, it is possible to mount the device by utilizing the elasticity of the sealing material.

In addition, the humidifier according to the present invention has a lid / receiver portion attached to the movable guide having a plurality of projections near the mouth outside the receiver portion, the projections being engaged with the lid portion. And a fixing guide. The protrusion and the moving guide portion are engaged with each other, the lid and the receiver are pressed together, and then the seal is fixed by rotating along the fixing guide.

Providing guides which penetrate the humidifier lid means so that the projections of the receiver means can be seen from the outside in the vertical and horizontal directions of the humidifier is effective for confirming the properness of the fixing position. is there. Furthermore, the end point of the lateral guide provided on the lid means may be located horizontally, above the horizontal guide, or below the horizontal guide start point with respect to the horizontal guide start point. It is better to have a little lower than horizontal from the aspect of holding stability. The displacement of the position may change smoothly depending on the inclination, or may change discontinuously.

It is possible to provide the guide only inside the lid means, but a penetrating one is preferable for the formability and for checking from outside. In order to confirm the proper position, it is possible to provide a guide portion for regulating the stop position of the lid means and the receiver means inside the lid, but in particular, visually check the degree of tightening of the lid. A penetrating guide that can be identified is preferred.

Further, in the lateral guide provided on the lid means, the position to be sealed changes depending on where the height of the sealing surface is brought, and the sealing means is maintained at the starting point. Some of them enable the sealing means to work effectively by advancing a guide provided on the lid means, and it is desirable to be able to maintain the seal at the starting point of the lateral guide. This allows
In a state where the receiving means is held without falling from the lid means, the sealing means is effective even if the projection of the container is in the middle of the lid guide part.

As the sealing means, a seal at the lip tip or the middle of the lip is effective, and a sealing means at the lip tip which is hardly affected by a horizontal gap between the lid means and the insertion part of the receiver means is preferable. Furthermore, it is preferable that the portion where the tip of the lip contacts is planar.

The humidifier of the present invention is preferably used for medical purposes, and can be used particularly as a humidifier for humidifying oxygen gas such as a medical oxygen concentrating device used for oxygen inhalation therapy or an oxygen cylinder.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A humidifier according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. The preferred humidifier of the present invention has a configuration as shown in FIGS. Such a humidifier is a humidifier that can be attached to a pressure fluctuation adsorption type oxygen concentrator, and FIG. 1 is a view of the humidifier as viewed from above, in order to allow a gas for humidification to flow into an upper part of a lid. And an outflow conduit for discharging the humidified gas.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view when the humidifier is cut along a broken line in FIG. FIG. 3 is a front view of such a humidifier. The gas to be humidified flows in from the inflow port 1, passes through the humidifier mixing port 8, passes through the upper surface of the humidification water 9 filled in the receiver means 3, is humidified by the evaporated water, and then flows out from the outflow port 2. .

If the receiving means 3 and the lid means 4 are completely sealed by the sealing means 5 provided therebetween, gas can be used without any leakage from the gap between them.

The sealing means 5 is made of silicone rubber and has a width of 5 mm, a thickness of 3.5 mm and a thickness of 1 m toward the inside of the humidifier at an angle of 45 degrees from the end of the mother sealing portion 5a.
m thin lip portion 5b is provided. By using such a seal, the seal compression allowance can be easily expanded, and the operating force for effectively maintaining the seal between the receiver and the lid has been reduced. When using a conventional flat packing, the receiver and the lid should be 6 to 13 kgf / cm to secure the seal.
However, in the humidifier of the present invention, the sealing performance was able to be secured with a tightening torque of 2 to 4 kgf / cm.

Further, the fixing means for fixing the receiving means 3 and the lid means 4 includes two projections 6 provided above the receiving means 3 and a guide part 7 which engages with the projections by a conventional screwing method. A fixing method using a lid means penetrating through was used.

The projection is formed integrally with the receiver and is provided at a position symmetrical to the receiver. Further, the guide engaging with the protruding portion includes a vertical moving guide 7a and a horizontal fixing guide 7b, and the moving guide is provided obliquely upward at an angle of about 45 degrees, and the horizontal fixing guide 7b is continuously provided. It was provided slightly downward from the horizontal.

By using the projection and the guide, the two are engaged, and the lid of the humidifier and the receiver are pressed,
It can be easily fixed by rotating along the guide. Further, since the position of the projection can be confirmed from the guide portion, the degree of tightening can also be confirmed.

Further, by employing a sealing material having a lip portion in such a humidifier, a sufficient gas sealing property can be ensured.

[0028]

According to the humidifier of the present invention, it is possible to easily ensure the gas sealing property of the humidifier and to easily confirm that the humidifier is properly mounted from the outside. This makes it possible to easily secure the seal of the humidifier even with a weak force of the elderly or the like, to eliminate the influence of individual differences of users on the determination of the appropriate position of the degree of tightening, and to prevent humidification gas leakage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view of a humidifier according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a humidifier according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a humidifier according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1. 1. Dry gas inlet 2. Outlet for humidified gas 3. Receiver means Lid means 5. Sealing means 5a. Mother sealing material 5b. Lip part 6. 6. Receiver side fixing pin (projection) Lid side fixed pin guide groove 7a. Movement guide 7b. Fixed guide 8. Humidifier mixing port 9. Humidifying water

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus comprising: a lid having a dry gas inlet; a humidifying gas outlet; a receiver capable of containing humidifying water; and a seal for sealing between the lid and the receiver. In the humidifier, the sealing means is in a gaseous phase, the shape thereof is continuous over the entire circumference of the sealing surface of the lid means and the receiving means, and has a lip portion rising with respect to the mother sealing material. Humidifier which is structure. 2. The humidifier according to claim 1, wherein an end of the lip portion is inclined in a high pressure side direction between the humidified gas and the outside air. 3. A cover having a dry gas inlet, a humidifying gas outlet, a receiver for humidifying water, and a seal for sealing between the lid and the receiver. A humidifier, wherein the receiving means has a plurality of projections, and the lid means has a moving guide and a fixing guide for engaging the projections. 4. The sealing means according to claim 1, wherein said sealing means is continuous over the entire sealing surface of said lid means and said receiving means, and has a lip portion rising with respect to said mother sealing material. Item 3. A humidifier according to Item 3.