EP0091843A1 - Connector for a breathing apparatus, linking the mask to a gas-cylinder - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a connection nozzle (1) which can be mounted and dismounted on a respiratory mask (2), a nozzle having a chamber (11) communicating with the mask in the mounting position, a tubular connection (12) to a gas source. pressurized breathing, a valve (13) to allow or prohibit the flow of gas, a pressure means (14) sensitive to the relative pressure prevailing inside the chamber, and means for controlling said valve by pressure means. The tip is characterized by a feeler (17) free or depressed depending on whether it is mounted or not on the mask, feeler associated with the servo means (15,16) via modifying means (18) of the regime which are adapted to establish an operating regime in vacuum or in overpressure automatically depending on whether the probe is free or pressed. The nozzle is intended for open circuit insulating breathing apparatus.

Description

The present invention relates to a mountable and removable connection nozzle for insulating breathing apparatus in open circuit, belonging to the device for connecting the mask to a bottle of pressurized breathing gas.

Known connection devices include one or two stage regulators, and, in the case of two stage regulators, the second is fixed to the mask. This second stage is then integrated into a connection endpiece which is either fixed on the snout of the mask, or more generally mountable and dismountable on it.

In the latter case, assembly and disassembly can be carried out for example by screwing (and unscrewing) or by interlocking.

In most cases, the operation is provided under overpressure, so as to avoid the introduction of toxic gas inside the mask.

• - au moment de la mise en place du masque sur le visage, soit l'utilisateur place le masque et ouvre la bouteille, ce qui l'oblige à effectuer une apnée de quelques secondes, ce qui n'est pas toujours facile à réaliser, soit il ouvre la bouteille, et il pose le masque sur le visage, ce qui provoque une perte de gaz respiratoire pendant quelques secondes
• - après la mise en place du masque, il lui est impossible de vérifier l'étanchéité en bouchant avec la main l'entrée du masque et en inspirant.

This overpressure operation has two drawbacks:

• - when the mask is put on the face, either the user places the mask and opens the bottle, which forces him to perform a freediving period of a few seconds, which is not always easy to do, either he opens the bottle, and he puts the mask on the face, which causes a loss of respiratory gas for a few seconds
• - after fitting the mask, it is impossible for him to check for leaks by blocking the mask inlet with his hand and inhaling.

In order to remedy these drawbacks, connection devices have been designed which allow manual operation to pass first through an operating phase under vacuum, then to the operating phase under overpressure.

This possibility is very dangerous and rightly sometimes prohibited, because it does not guarantee against false maneuvers causing the placing in the vacuum position during the period of intervention of the user in the dangerous zone.

The object of the invention is to remedy ias drawbacks and to this end relates to a connection end piece: mountable and dismountable on the snout of a respiratory mask, said nozzle having an interior chamber adapted to communicate with the mask in the mounting position, a connection tube to a source of pressurized respiratory gas, a valve to allow or prevent the flow of gas under pressure, a manometric means sensitive to the relative pressure prevailing inside the chamber, and means for controlling said valve by manometric means, endpiece characterized in that it comprises a free or depressed probe according to whether the endpiece is mounted or dismounted on the mask, this probe being associated with the servo means by means of modifiers of the operating regime, which modifying means are adapted to establish an operating regime in vacuum or an operating regime in overpressure depending on whether the probe is in the free or depressed position.

The fact that the endpiece has a device making it possible to be automatically in depression when it is not connected to the mask and in overpressure from the connection, makes it possible to avoid all the drawbacks mentioned above.

• - la figure 1 est une section schématique d'une première forme de réalisation d'un embout selon l'invention et du groin d'un masque auquel cet embout est destiné à être monté, en position séparée ;
• - la figure 2 est une section schématique des mêmes organes lorsque l'embout est monté ;
• - la figure 3 est une section partielle schématique d'une seconde forme de réalisation d'un embout selon l'invention lorsqu'il est séparé du groin d'un masque auquel il est destiné à être adapté ;
• - la figure 4 est une vue en perspective d'un dispositif de palpeur et de moyens de renvoi modificateurs du régime de fonctionnement équipant l'embout de la figure 3, et
• - la figure 5 est une section schématique de l'embout de la figure 3 lorsqu'il est monté au masque.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows, corresponding to an embodiment given by way of nonlimiting example and represented in the attached drawings in which:

• - Figure 1 is a schematic section of a first embodiment of a tip according to the invention and the snout of a mask to which this tip is intended to be mounted, in a separate position;
• - Figure 2 is a schematic section of the same members when the nozzle is mounted;
• - Figure 3 is a schematic partial section of a second embodiment of a nozzle according to the invention when it is separated from the snout of a mask to which it is intended to be adapted;
• FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a feeler device and of means for modifying the operating regime fitted to the nozzle of FIG. 3, and
• - Figure 5 is a schematic section of the tip of Figure 3 when mounted on the mask.

In general, the end piece 1, which can be mounted and dismounted on the snout 3 of a respiratory mask, comprises an interior chamber 11 adapted to communicate with the mask in the mounting position, a 'connection tube 12 to a source of pressurized breathing gas (not shown), a valve 13 to allow or prohibit the flow of gas under pressure, a gauge membrane 14 sensitive to the relative pressure inside the chamber 11, and means for controlling the valve 13 to the pressure gauge.

In the embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2, these control means consist of a lever 15 slightly inclined relative to the longitudinal axis of the valve 13 and fixed to it, and a rod 16 fixed to the membrane 14 and standing in the chamber 11 perpendicular to this membrane, the lever 15 and the rod 16 being secured so that a depression in the chamber 11 causes the valve 13 to move away from its seat 131 despite the action of a return spring 132, at least in a region of the contact surface between these two members 13, 131.

According to the invention, the end piece 1 comprises a probe 17 protruding outside the chamber 11 and movable in translation between a "free" rest position which it occupies when the end piece is not connected to the snout 3, and a "pushed in" position when the tip is connected to the snout; this probe 17 is associated with the control means by means of modifiers of the operating regime, which are adapted to establish an operating regime in depression or in overpressure depending on whether the probe 17 is respectively in the free or depressed position.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the modifying means comprise a bent spring 18, with two branches, consisting of a metal wire of the piano string type, mounted pivoting around a central axis 181 carried by a plate 19 passing through the chamber 11 substantially parallel to the position occupied by the lever 15 when the valve 13 is applied to its seat. The spring 18 is positioned so that, on the one hand, one of its branches is near the end of the probe opposite to that in prominence of the chamber, when it is in the "free" position, and that the other branch is then near the lever 15 for actuating the valve, and on the other hand that the first branch is pushed by the end of the feeler in the "depressed" position, the second branch then pushing the lever 15 laterally to move the valve away from its seat over part of the contact surface of these two members. The plate 19 can also carry abutment members to limit the stroke of the first branch of the spring 18 during its tilting around the pivot axis 181 under the action of the feeler 17; it is, of course, provided with an opening 191 for the passage of the rod 16 and possibly for a distribution of the pressures on both sides, this distribution being able to be ensured by the fact that the opening 191 has a substantially cross section greater than that of the rod 16, or / and by additional openings (not shown in Figures 1 and 2). The plate 19 also comprises, in the region of the pressure distribution opening, a deflecting tab 192 intended to channel the air leaving the valve and to cause a Venturi effect to temporarily create a depression near the membrane 14 when this is necessary, as will be seen later.

The end piece 1 also includes a direct passage pusher 21 provided for manually actuating the membrane 14 and consequently the control means 15, 16 in the direction of opening of the valve 13 if necessary.

The probe 17 is mounted movable in translation in a support barrel 22 intended to penetrate into a receptacle piece 31 provided in the snout 3 of the mask, more specifically inside a fixing ring 32. For this purpose, the receptacle 31 comprises a front abutment shoulder 311 intended, when the end piece is mounted on the snout, to cause the depression of the probe 17; to seal the connection, an O-ring 312 is provided inside the receptacle 31.

Around the barrel 22 is mounted an interlocking member 23 constituted in the form of an elastic collar with levers provided with an external peripheral lip 231 intended to be housed in a groove annular 313 produced in the receptacle 31 to maintain the fitting 1 in the snout 3 of the mask in the fitting position by fitting.

Thus, when the end piece 1 is free, the valve 13 is kept applied against its seat by the spring 132 and the overpressure in the connection tube 12, and the end piece does not deliver respiratory gas. Only a vacuum in the chamber 11, or an action on the direct passage pusher 21, causes the lever 15 to tilt and, consequently, the valve 13 to open, the spring 18 being out of contact with the lever 15 -due that the probe 17 is in the free position. It is therefore a regime of operating in depression.

When the end piece 1 is mounted on the snout 3, the feeler 17 goes into the depressed position, and causes the spring 18 which actuates the lever 15 to tilt, which causes the valve 13 to open; the action of the spring 18 is then compensated by the overpressure which is exerted on the membrane 14, which closes the valve 13, which does not open again until the overpressure tends to decrease during an inspiration.

The structure and the arrangement of the nozzle allow that, during a violent inspiration of User, there exists under the membrane a sufficient depression to maintain the opening of the valve 13 and, consequently, a very slight overpressure in the mouthpiece and in the mask, even preventing in this case the introduction of harmful ambient gas against which the respiratory system is intended to protect itself. There is therefore then permanently overpressure operation.

When the end piece 1 of the snout 3 is dismantled, the probe returns to the free position, and the operation takes place again in vacuum mode.

However, when the user so desires, the nozzle can operate as a permanent vacuum valve, or as a screw-in valve, by simple modification of some of the parts making it up (the probe 17 in the first case, the member 'nesting 23 in the second).

In the embodiment of Figures 3 to 5, the tip 1 comprises a micro-regulator of a known type housed in a housing 10 the upper part of which has been shown torn off, comprising, in communication with the connection tube 12 to the source of respiratory gas, a respiratory gas intake channel whose external walls constitute the seat of a valve (not visible on the Figures 3 to 5) produced in the form of a flexible diaphragm short-circuited by a calibrated nozzle; the surface of the diaphragm delimited by the intake channel on the side of this channel being smaller than on the other side, the diaphragm is therefore normally in abutment against its seat. In this type of nozzle, the side of the diaphragm opposite the intake channel defines a chamber where the calibrated nozzle opens; in this chamber, also opens a control nozzle 41 communicating on the one hand with a control chamber 42 and, on the other hand, with the outside by a channel 43; this control chamber 42 comprises on one side the manometric control membrane 14, subjected on the side opposite to the control chamber 42 to the action of a return spring 45 placed in an internal control chamber 46 in communication with the inside of the mask snout; the manometric control membrane 44 is normally pushed by the return spring 45 so as to close off the servo-jet 41; a communication tube 47 connects the space surrounding the intake channel, also inside the snout of the mask, all of the cavities in direct communication with the snout constituting the chamber 11. Thus, when the user breathes in its mask, it creates a depression at the pressure gauge membrane 14, which releases the servo nozzle 41; the pressure in the chamber in contact with the valve decreases, because the flow rate allowed by the calibrated nozzle is much lower than that of the control nozzle 41; the diaphragm forming a valve therefore moves away from its seat, and the respiratory gas can pass from the intake channel to the communication tube 47, therefore from the bottle of respiratory gas to the mask. The overpressure is adjusted by means of the return spring 45 and an adjustment screw 48, the return spring 45 pressing in the center. of the manometric control membrane 14. A direct passage valve 49 can be actuated by the user to short-circuit the valve.

In this embodiment, according to the invention a sensor device 17 housed in a support barrel 22 and with modifying return means of the operating regime comprising an additional spring 50 (having a stiffness greater than that of the return spring 45), allows to have a vacuum regime when the probe 17 is free and overpressure when it is pressed under the action of the stop 311 of the snout 3. The modifying return means of the operating regime also include a lever 51 bearing against a shoulder 52 produced on the outer wall of the control chamber 46, this lever being actuated at one of its ends by the feeler 17 and actuating at its other end, produced in the form of a fork, a slider 53 interposed between the return spring 45 and the additional spring 50, by means of a baladense54 rod connecting the two branches of the fork and secured to this cursor 53; in practical terms, the movement of the wandering rod is allowed by slides made in the walls of the chamber 46. Thus, the return spring 45 and the additional spring 50 are placed in series between the pressure gauge 14 and the screw setting 48. When the sensor 17 est'libre, the cursor 53 is subject to ^the action of two springs, and they exert on the manometric membrane 14 a fraction of the total force, in proportion to their respective stiffness; when the probe 17 is pressed, the lever 51 compresses the additional spring 50, and the return spring 45 then acts practically alone against the movement of the pressure gauge membrane 14. In conclusion, when the probe 17 is free, the two springs 45, 50 are in service and there is a vacuum operation, while, when the probe 17 is depressed by the front stop shoulder of the mask snout, the additional spring 50 of the modifying return means of the speed of operation is put directly out of service _D raticu and directly, only the return spring 45 acting / on the control diaphragm is in service and there is an overpressure operation. The tip may also include additional rings allowing the connection of the input of the micro-regulator to the mask, for example by screwing or fitting.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown, and we can provide other embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims (10)

1. Connection end piece which can be mounted and dismounted on the snout of a breathing mask, said end piece having an ^interior chamber adapted to communicate with the mask in the mounting position, a connection pipe to a source of pressurized breathing gas, a valve to allow or prohibit the flow of gas under pressure, a pressure gauge sensitive to the relative pressure prevailing inside the chamber and means for controlling said valve by pressure gauge, nozzle characterized in that it comprises a feeler (17) free or depressed depending on whether the endpiece (1) is mounted or removed on the mask, this probe being associated with the servo means (15, 16) (41, 42) by means of modifying means ( 18) (50, 51, 53, 54) of the operating regime, which modifying means are adapted to establish an operating regime in vacuum or in operating mode in overpressure depending on whether the probe (17) is in the free or depressed position. 2. tip according to claim 1, characterized in that the means modifying the operating regime comprise at least one elastic means (18) on which the feeler (17) acts when the tip (1) is mounted on the mask, for then actuate the servo means (15, 16) in order to open the valve (13) for overpressure operation. 3. A tip according to claim 1, characterized in that the means for amificating the operating regime include elastic means (50), the pal fear (17) acting on other modifying means (51, 53, 15.4 ) to cause the deactivation of said elastic means (50) 1 when the end piece (1) is mounted on the mask, in order to then open the valve for an overpressure operation. 4. End piece is according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the feeler (17) is movable in translation in a support barrel (22) to cooperate with a front stop (311) provided in the snout ( 3) of the brand. 5. Salt end cap according to claim 2, characterized in that the elastic means (18) is a bent spring movable about a pivot axis (181). 6. End piece according to claim 1, characterized in that the control means comprise a lever (15) fixed to a valve (13), and a rod (16) integral with a pressure gauge (14). 7. End piece according to claim 3, characterized in that the modifying means comprise at least one ^{return member} (51) of the movement of the probe to deactivate the elastic means (50) when the probe is in the depressed position. 8. End piece according to claim 3, characterized in that the modifying means comprise a movable cursor (53) actuating said elastic means (50). 9. A nozzle according to claim 1, characterized in that the control means comprise a nozzle (41) opening into a control chamber (42) limited on one side by a pressure gauge membrane (14). ¹ 0. end piece according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that it comprises a fitting member (23) formed in the form of an elastic collar with levers.

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