Air warmer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12146507-B2
Application number	US-201715491004-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 19, 2017
Priority date	Apr 21, 2016
Publication date	Nov 19, 2024
Grant date	Nov 19, 2024

Abstract

An air blower has an inlet muffler and an outlet muffler to reduce the noise of the air blower during operation. Each of the mufflers may have two sections. One section is configured to attenuate high frequency noise and the other section is configured to attenuate lower frequency noise. A tubular internal wall in each of the mufflers defines the through passage for each of the mufflers. A noise absorbent material may be fitted about the tubular wall within each muffler. A plurality of holes are formed along the tubular wall of each through passage to expose the through passage to the noise absorbent material. A heater plenum may be interposed between the blower plenum and the outlet muffler to heat the air from the blower plenum. A filter at the input muffler filters the air sucked into the air blower.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An air blower comprising:
a plenum wherein an impeller is movably positioned, the plenum having an inlet and an outlet;
a motor working cooperatively with the impeller for rotating the impeller;
an inlet noise reduction structure positioned relative to the plenum including a housing having one wide section having a first diameter and one narrow section having a second diameter that is smaller than the first diameter, the wide section and the narrow section forming a common coaxial bore that effects an inlet through passage longitudinally along the inlet noise reduction structure, the one wide section positioned adjacent to the plenum so that an outlet of the inlet through passage is in fluid communication with the inlet of the plenum to establish a fluid communication path between the inlet through passage and the plenum, a noise absorbent material fitted to at least one of the wide and narrow sections to surround a corresponding portion of the inlet through passage;
wherein when the motor is activated, the impeller is rotated to draw air into the plenum from the inlet through passage and to output a stream of air flow through the outlet of the plenum;
wherein a portion of noise resulting from the movement of air in the plenum is reduced by the inlet noise reduction structure;
wherein the wide section is defined by a wide outer circumferential wall having a diameter and the narrow section is defined by a narrow outer circumferential wall that has another diameter smaller than the diameter of the wide outer circumferential wall, a circumferential flange formed where the wide section meets the narrow section, the air blower further comprising:
an air filter removably attached to the circumferential flange, the filter including a circumferential air passable barrier defining a cavity encircling the narrow section;
wherein air is drawn into the cavity when the air blower is in operation.

2. The air blower of claim 1 , further comprising:
an outlet noise reduction structure including a housing having at least a large section and a small section encircling an outlet through passage, the large section positioned relative to the plenum so that another fluid communication path is established between an inlet of the outlet through passage and the plenum, a noise absorbent material fitted to at least one of the large and small sections to surround a corresponding portion of the outlet through passage;
wherein the outlet noise reduction structure together with the inlet noise reduction structure substantially reduce the noise resulting from the movement of air through the plenum.

3. The air blower of claim 2 , wherein the inlet through passage is defined by a circumferential wall that extends internally along the wide and narrow sections, a plurality of holes formed along the circumferential wall, the holes at the circumferential wall along the wide section having a larger dimension than the holes at the circumferential wall along the narrow section;
wherein the outlet through passage is defined by an other circumferential wall that extends internally along the large and small sections, a plurality of holes formed along the other circumferential wall, the holes at the other circumferential wall along the large section having a larger dimension than the holes at the other circumferential wall along the small section.

4. The air blower of claim 2 , wherein each of the wide and narrow sections of the inlet noise reduction structure is fitted with the noise absorbent material; and
wherein each of the large and small sections of the outlet noise reduction structure is fitted with the noise reduction material;
whereby the noise resulting from the operation of the air blower is measured to be in a range of approximately 41 dBA to 44.5 dBA.

5. The air blower of claim 1 , further comprising at least one heater element positioned relative to the outlet of the plenum to heat the air flow output from the outlet of the plenum.

6. The air blower of claim 2 , further comprising a heater plenum wherein at least one heater element is positioned, the heater plenum interposed between the plenum and the outlet noise reduction structure, the heater plenum having an inlet to receive the air output from the plenum and an outlet to output the air having been heated by the heater element to the inlet of the outlet noise reduction structure so that heated air is output from the outlet of the outlet through passage; and
wherein the outlet noise reduction structure includes an outlet extension adapted to connect to one end of an air hose which other end is connectable to a convective blanket so that the blanket may be inflated by the heated air output from the outlet noise reduction structure.

7. The air blower of claim 4 , wherein the inlet through passage is formed by a first internal circumferential wall that extends along the wide and narrow sections,
wherein the outlet through passage is formed by a second internal circumferential wall that extends along the large and small sections; and
wherein the first and second internal circumferential wall each are circumscribed by the noise absorbent material.

8. The air blower of claim 1 , wherein the inlet through passage is formed within the housing of the inlet noise reduction structure;
wherein one of the wide and narrow sections of the housing is fitted with the noise absorbent material and other of the wide and narrow sections is a Helmholtz chamber; and
wherein the one of the wide and narrow sections of the housing fitted with the noise absorbent material attenuates low frequency noise and the Helmholtz chamber attenuates high frequency noise.

9. The air blower of claim 2 , wherein the outlet through passage is formed within the large and small sections of the housing of the outlet noise reduction structure;
wherein one of the large and small sections of the housing is fitted with the noise absorbent material and other of the large and small sections is a Helmholtz chamber;
wherein the noise absorbent fitted section attenuates low frequency noise and the Helmholtz chamber attenuates high frequency noise.

10. The air blower of claim 1 , further comprising an air outlet adapted to couple to different types of air hoses each having provided at its patient end at least one sensor, at least an other sensor provided at the air outlet of the air blower, the at least one sensor measuring the temperature of air heated by a heater element at the patient end of an air hose coupled to the air outlet and the at least other sensor measuring the temperature of air at the air outlet, a circuit that utilizes the values of the one and other sensors with reference values to establish a reference table of stepped values that correspond to each type of the different types of air hoses adapted to be coupled to the air outlet, wherein when a given air hose is coupled to the air outlet, the circuit effects the motor to rotate the impeller at a rate in accordance to a step value that corresponds to the type of air hose said given air hose is.

11. An air blower, comprising:
a motor assembly including a motor, a plenum and an impeller movably positioned inside the plenum workingly coupled to the motor, the plenum having an inlet and an outlet;
an air filter through which air is sucked into the plenum when the motor assembly is in operation;
an inlet muffler coupled to the plenum at its one end and the air filter at its other end, the inlet muffler including a first housing having an outer wall and a circumferential inner wall enclosing an inlet through passage, the inlet through passage establishing a fluid communication path between the inlet of the plenum and

Assignees

• Smiths Medical Asd Inc
• Icu Medical Inc

Inventors

• Peterson Benjamin James
• Reda Ahmed
• Sanborn Jonathan Harold
• Treppa Michael A

Classifications

• F01N1/04

  having sound-absorbing materials in resonance chambers · CPC title

• F02M35/1233

  by using expansion chambers in the air intake flow path · CPC title

• F02M35/1272

  using absorbing, damping, insulating or reflecting materials, e.g. porous foams, fibres, rubbers, fabrics, coatings or membranes · CPC title

• F01N1/24

  by using sound-absorbing materials (F01N1/04, F01N1/06, F01N1/10, F01N1/14, F01N1/16 take precedence) · CPC title

• A61F2007/006

  of gas · CPC title