A moisture removal and condensation and humidity management apparatus for a breathing circuit comprises a breathing circuit tubing defining a breathing gas conduit. The breathing gas has a first humidity level and a level of moisture therein. A dry gas conduit is adjacent at least a portion of the breathing gas conduit. The dry gas flow is configured to have a second humidity level lower than the first humidity level. A moisture transmission pathway is provided between the breathing gas conduit and the dry gas conduit, such that humidity in the flow of breathing gas is lowered and moisture is transferred to the dry gas flow. The moisture transmission pathway may be provided by a permeable portion which is permeable to water vapor but impermeable to liquid water, or by one or more perforations which permit drainage of liquid water from the breathing gas conduit to the dry gas conduit.

A steam inhaler includes a steam chamber housing having mounted therein a heater assembly. The steam chamber housing defines a steam chamber adapted to receive water. A fitting mounted to the steam chamber housing has a steam conduit section extended toward an exterior vent opening, a nozzle conduit section extended from the steam conduit, and a fresh air conduit section extended from the steam conduit section at a location downstream of the nozzle conduit section. The fitting is configured such that steam flows freely from the steam chamber, through the steam conduit section toward the exterior vent opening, a suction provided at the nozzle redirects at least a portion of the steam into the nozzle conduit section toward a mask, and the fresh air conduit directs fresh air into the steam conduit section to reduce a temperature of the steam exiting the exterior vent opening.

An apparatus for applying positive pressure nebulized liquid to a patient includes a funneled T-connector having a funnel with a first opening of a first diameter, a second opening of a second diameter smaller than the first diameter, and a funnel wall extending between the first and second openings. The funneled T-connector further has a cylindrical nebulizer port that extends outwardly from the funnel wall. A nebulizer cup assembly includes a nebulizer cup to contain liquid and a nebulizer cap to removably attach to a top region of the nebulizer cup. The nebulizer cap has a cylindrical nebulizer outlet sized to removably attach to the cylindrical nebulizer port. The cylindrical nebulizer outlet extends upwardly through the nebulizer passage, beyond the cylindrical nebulizer port, and into the internal funnel space such that a top edge of the cylindrical nebulizer outlet is located within the internal funnel space.

A conventional flow tube for a metabolic cart is usually a straight length of pipe whose inner diameter is fixed by the respiratory burden imposed by the flow tube on the user, with a smaller diameter imposing a higher respiratory burden. The ratio of the straight flow tube's length to diameter is fixed by fluid dynamics, so increasing the flow tube's diameter causes the flow tube's length to increase. As the flow tube gets longer, it exerts more torque on the user's neck and jaw, creating discomfort. Reducing the flow tube's length causes an undesired increase in the respiratory burden but increasing the flow tube's diameter to reduce the respiratory burden makes the flow tube less comfortable, making the flow tube unconformable, hard to breathe through, or both. Bending the flow tube makes it possible to increase the flow tube's propagation length without increasing the flow tube's lever arm length.

A medical tube is provided. The medical tube includes a hollow body and a gas conduit formed inside the hollow body for transporting gases. A material of the hollow body is a thermoplastic polyester elastomer. Based on a total weight of the thermoplastic polyester elastomer being 100 wt %, the thermoplastic polyester elastomer includes 50 wt % to 70 wt % of hard segments and 30 wt % to 50 wt % of soft segments.

Systems and methods for nitric oxide generation are provided. In an embodiment, an NO generation system can include a controller and disposable cartridge that can provide nitric oxide to two different treatments simultaneously. The disposable cartridge has multiple purposes including preparing incoming gases for exposure to the NO generation process, scrubbing exhaust gases for unwanted materials, characterizing the patient inspiratory flow, and removing moisture from sample gases collected. Plasma generation can be done within the cartridge or within the controller. The system has the capability of calibrating NO and NO.sub.2 gas analysis sensors without the use of a calibration gas.

Systems and methods for nitric oxide (NO) generation systems are provided. In some embodiments, an NO generation system comprises at least one pair of electrodes configured to generate a product gas containing NO from a flow of a reactant gas. The electrodes have elongated surfaces such that a plasma produced is carried by the flow of the reactant gas and glides along the elongated surfaces from a first end towards a second end of the electrode pair. A controller is configured to regulate the amount of NO in the product gas by the at least one pair of electrodes using one or more parameters as an input to the controller. The one or more parameters include information from a plurality of sensors configured to collect information relating to at least one of the reactant gas, the product gas, and a medical gas into which the product gas flows.

Systems and methods for providing respiratory therapy are disclosed. The system includes a nebulizer operable to aerosolize a medicament, a cylindrical mixing chamber, an impacting cap and a recirculation tube. The mixing chamber has an inlet port, an outlet port, an aerosol port in fluid communication with the nebulizer, and a drainage port. The inlet port receives a flow of breathing gas. The mixing chamber receives the aerosol via the aerosol port, entrains aerosol into the flow of breathing gas, and delivers the breathing gas entrained with aerosol to the outlet port. The impacting cap receives and coalesces a portion of the aerosol into droplets within the space defined by the mixing chamber and the impacting cap. The mixing chamber is also configured to direct rain-out resulting from the droplets to the drainage port. The system also includes a recirculation tube to return the rain-out to the nebulizer.

An oxygen concentrator (100) may have a moisture conditioning system. In some implementations, the concentrator includes a compressor to induce feed gas into the concentrator. A first pathway may receive the feed gas from the compression system. The first pathway may be configured to draw moisture to produce moisture reduced feed gas. The first pathway may lead the moisture reduced feed gas to sieve bed(s) which produce oxygen enriched air with the moisture reduced feed gas. An accumulator may be configured to receive the produced oxygen enriched air from the sieve bed(s). A second pathway from the accumulator may apply the drawn-out moisture to the produced enriched air to produce humidified enriched air. A third pathway may transfer the drawn-out moisture from the first pathway to the second pathway. An outlet coupled with the second pathway may release the humidified enriched air from the concentrator for a user.

A reusable apparatus, such as a medical instrument or tool, is decontaminated by applying pressure waves with direct contact of the pressure wave applicator to the reusable apparatus in an open bath in a sufficient dosage to remove contamination but without adversely affecting the ability to reuse the apparatus.