Personal respiratory isolation system
A personal respiratory isolation system (PRIS) provides a personal, negative pressure environment for a patient or user that reduces contamination and spread of pathogens exhaled by the patient into the environment. The PRIS includes an enclosure to receive the patient's head (such as a hood and a drape) and a negative pressure source which draws ambient air into the interior of the enclosure and draws air within the enclosure's interior (including the exhalations of the patient, including any contaminants and/or pathogens) out of the enclosure via a fluid port into a container for biohazard processing or disposal. The PRIS may allow positive air pressure therapeutic treatments to be delivered to the patient within the negative pressure environment, and the PRIS may maintain a constant pressure within the interior of the enclosure. The PRIS may include a transparent, hinged face shield for ease of patient observation and/or access.
1 . A personal respiratory isolation system (PRIS), comprising:
an enclosure configured to be worn by a user while the user is mobile, the enclosure having:
an aperture configured to receive only a portion of a body of the user into an interior of the enclosure so that a nose and a mouth of the user are contained within the enclosure, the interior of the enclosure being unsealed from an environment in which the user is located via one or more gaps provided by unsealed components of the enclosure, and the one or more gaps including the aperture;
one or more rigid portions, at least a part of which is disposed to shield the nose and the mouth of the user from the environment in which the user is located while the nose and the mouth of the user are contained within the enclosure, the at least the part of the one or more rigid portions which is disposed to shield the nose and the mouth of the user being a shield; and
a flow output port coupled to a negative pressure source, the negative pressure source disposed outside of the enclosure and operable to draw ambient air from the environment via the one or more gaps into the interior of the enclosure and simultaneously draw at least one of air or fluid that is disposed within the interior of the enclosure through the flow output port to thereby provide a negative pressure within the interior of the enclosure and cause the air and/or fluid that is drawn through the flow output port to be at least one of filtered to collect pathogenic particles or treated by a pathogen-impairing technique, the air and/or fluid that is drawn through the flow output port including fluid that has been at least one of exhaled or expelled by the user.
2 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 1 , further comprising the negative pressure source.
3 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 1 , wherein the shield is sized to shield an entirety of a face of the user.
4 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 1 , wherein the shield is at least partially removable from the enclosure via one or more attachment mechanisms.
5 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 1 , wherein the shield is a first portion of the one or more rigid portions, and a second portion of the one or more rigid portions of the enclosure is disposed to cover a non-facial portion of a head of the user while the nose and the mouth of the user are contained within the enclosure.
6 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 1 , wherein the ambient air is drawn from the environment into the interior of the enclosure via the aperture, the aperture is at least partially formed by the one or more rigid portions, and the user enters into the enclosure via the aperture.
7 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the body of the user received into the aperture excludes shoulders of the user, and the PRIS further comprises one or more flexible portions disposed to cover at least one of: at least a portion of a neck of the user or a non-facial portion of a head of the user while the nose and the mouth of the user are contained within the enclosure.
8 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 7 , wherein the ambient air is drawn into the interior of the enclosure from the environment via one or more cracks or gaps that are inherently provided by the one or more flexible portions.
9 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 1 , wherein the fluid that has been at least one of exhaled or expelled by the user is a first fluid, and the PRIS further comprises a flow inlet configured to receive tubing via which a second fluid is delivered from an external fluid source into the interior of the enclosure for at least one of inhalation or ingestion by the user.
10 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 9 , wherein the aperture includes the flow inlet.
11 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 9 , wherein:
the second fluid includes at least one of oxygen, a medication, or a therapeutic;
the tubing is coupled to a device that is disposed within the interior of the enclosure and via which the second fluid is delivered to the user; and
the device is one of a nasal cannula, a face mask, a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device, a multi-level Positive Airway Pressure device, or another type of cannula or respiratory device.
12 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the flow output port or the negative pressure source includes one or more respective filters through which the ambient air and the at least one air or fluid that is disposed within the interior of the enclosure are simultaneously drawn prior to being vented into the environment, the one or more respective filters include at least one of: a high-efficiency particular air (HEPA) filter, a passive carbon filter, an active carbon filter, a medical grade air filter, or another type of air filter; or
the ambient air and the at least one of the air or fluid that is disposed within the interior of the enclosure are simultaneously drawn through the flow output port are exposed to the pathogen-impairing technique prior to being vented into the environment, the pathogen-impairing technique utilizing at least one of: ultra-violet radiation, a high temperature chamber, or another process or device that impairs at least one of a bacteria or a virus.
13 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller communicatively connected to one or more control elements associated with the PRIS, the controller configured to:
receive, via one or more communication interfaces, an indication of a signal generated by a sensor, the signal indicative of an amount or a flow rate of the air and/or fluid that is drawn through the flow output port;
determine, based on the indication of the signal, one or more adjustments to the one or more control elements; and
transmit, via the one or more communication interfaces, indications of the one or more adjustments to the one or more control elements, thereby causing the one or more control elements to control, in accordance with the one or more adjustments, the amount or the flow rate of the air and/or fluid that is drawn through the flow output port, thereby maintaining a desired level of negative pressure within the interior of the enclosure.
14 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 13 , wherein:
the fluid that has been at least one of exhaled or expelled by the user is a first fluid, the sensor is a first sensor, and the signal is a first signal;
the enclosure of the PRIS further includes a flow inlet via which tubing is received into the interior of the enclosure, the tubing fluidly connected to an external fluid source and delivering a second fluid for at least one of inhalation or ingestion by the user; and
the controller is further configured to:
receive, via the one or more communication interfaces, an indication of a second signal generated by a second sensor, the second signal indicative of an amount or a flow rate of the second fluid that is being delivered, via the tubing, to the user;
determine the one or more adjustments to the one or more control elements is further based on the indication of the second signal; and
transmit the respective indications of the one or more adjustments thereby causing the one or more control elements to control, in accordance with the one or more adjustments, at least one of: (i) the at least one of the amount or the flow rate of the air and/or fluid that is drawn through the flow output port, or (ii) the amount or the flow rate of the second fluid that is being delivered to the user.
15 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 14 , wherein the one or more control elements control the at least one of: (i) the at least one of the amount or the flow rate of the air and/or fluid that is drawn through the flow output port, or (ii) the amount or the flow rate of the second fluid that is being delivered to the user by sending respective control signals to at least one of: the external fluid source, the negative pressure source, an input flow control valve coupled to the tubing, or an output flow control valve coupled to the flow output port.
16 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 13 , wherein the sensor generates updated signals over an interval of time, and the receive, determine, and transmit steps are repeatedly executed by the controller over the interval of time in accordance with the updated signals generated by the sensor.
17 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 13 , wherein the receive, determine, and transmit steps are automatically initiated and executed by the controller.
18 . The personal respiratory isolation system of claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured to receive, via the one or more communication interfaces, an indication of one or more user instructions, the one or more user instructions including at least one of:
an instruction to modify the desired level of negative pressure;
an instruction to at least one of add, delete, or modify one or more alarm settings or alert settings associated with the PRIS;
an instruction to modify the determining of the one or more adjustments; or
an instruction to transmit, via the one or more communication interfaces to at least one of a user interface or another computing device, data corresponding to operations of the PRIS associated with the user.
19 . The personal respiratory system of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more user outflow sensors positioned to detect one or more characteristics of a fluid outflow of the user, the user fluid outflow including the fluid that has been at least one of exhaled or expelled by the user, and the one or more characteristics including at least one of a volume of the user fluid outflow, a rate of the user fluid outflow, or respective levels of one or more components of the user fluid outflow; and
an outflow user interface that is communicatively connected to the one or more user outflow sensors and via which information indicative of the one or more characteristics of the user fluid outflow is presented.
20 . The personal respiratory system of claim 19 , wherein the one or more user outflow sensors and the outflow user interface are included in a monitoring device that continuously monitors the one or more characteristics of the user fluid outflow and updates the information indicative of the one or more characteristics accordingly.