| 主权项 |
1. A respiratory therapy system configured to mix at least two gases for delivery to the airway of a subject, the respiratory therapy system comprising:
a pressure generator configured to generate a pressurized flow of a first gas for delivery to the airway of a subject, in accordance with a therapeutic regimen; a gas coupler configured to fluidly couple the respiratory therapy system to a gas supply to transfer a second gas from the gas supply through the gas coupler; a gas merging circuit configured to merge the first gas from the pressure generator with the second gas from the gas supply into a gas mixture having (i) an average percentage concentration of the first gas, and (ii) a first gas concentration profile at a cross-section of an output of the gas merging circuit after being merged by the gas merging circuit, wherein the first gas concentration profile at the cross-section of the output of the gas merging circuit includes a first sample standard deviation of a spatial distribution of sample values of percentage concentrations of the first gas; and a gas mixing circuit configured to further mix the gas mixture of the first gas with the second gas that has the first gas concentration profile along a path formed within the gas mixing circuit, wherein the gas mixing circuit comprises:
(i) an inlet configured to receive the gas mixture of the first gas and the second gas from the output of the gas merging circuit, wherein a cross-section of the path formed within the gas mixing circuit at the inlet has a first shape;(ii) a diffusion portion coupled between a first transitional portion and a second transitional portion, wherein the first transitional portion, the diffusion portion and the second transitional portion are configured to further mix the gas mixture of the first gas and the second gas through diffusion, wherein a cross-section of the path formed within the gas mixing circuit at the diffusion portion has a second shape that is elongated along a particular orientation with respect to a similar orientation of the first shape to enhance diffusion of the gas mixture to more uniformly mix the gas mixture as the gas mixture travels through the diffusion portion; and(iii) an outlet configured to receive the gas mixture that has been mixed within the diffusion portion, and to guide the gas mixture to a respiratory circuit for delivery to the airway of the subject,wherein the gas mixture guided by the outlet has a second gas concentration profile at a given cross-section of the outlet that is more uniform than the first gas concentration profile at the cross-section of the output of the merging circuit, wherein the second gas concentration profile at the given cross-section of the outlet includes a second sample standard deviation of a spatial distribution of sample values of percentage concentrations of the first gas, and wherein the second sample standard deviation comprises a value that is less than half of a value of the first sample standard deviation. |
