KR102246205B1 - Sputum removal assist apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention induces coughing by sequentially providing positive pressure and negative pressure to the user's airways in order to discharge sputum, and a cough aid provided to generate a positive pressure generation signal when providing negative pressure to the user's airways; A stimulation pad provided to stimulate the exhaled muscles of the user according to the positive pressure generation signal generated by the cough brace; And a control unit configured to control the driving of the stimulation pad according to any one of a positive pressure generating signal transmitted from the cough aid or a stimulation signal for stimulating the respiratory muscles in response to a preset stimulation cycle. It provides a sputum removal auxiliary device comprising a.

Description

Sputum removal assist apparatus

The present application relates to a sputum removal assisting device that can more easily remove sputum from a patient with respiratory disease.

Sputum is a secretion from the airway mucosa derived from the bronchi or lungs and exuded by coughing or flatulence.

Such sputum is a very common symptom in patients with respiratory diseases, and is one of the serious symptoms that can lead to death due to fever, shortness of breath and sometimes airway obstruction.

Conventionally, a suction tube was used to remove such sputum, but this method has a problem that many side effects occur, such as when the aseptic treatment is not performed, the sputum sea itself plays a role of transferring bacteria. .

For this reason, a method of removing sputum using pressure, such as a cough assist, was devised. The cough assisting device is a method of inducing a patient or a user to cough by using a difference between a negative pressure and a positive pressure to discharge sputum.

However, in the case of a healthy person, exhalation muscles such as abs are additionally used when discharging sputum, but there is a disadvantage that it is difficult to expect the effect of discharging sputum by increasing abdominal pressure in the case of a cough assist device. That is, the cough assist device has an advantage that more efficient sputum discharge can be achieved when the cough assist device is additionally used when the cough assist device is used in a way that excludes functions of exhaled muscles such as abdominal muscles.

An object of the present invention is to provide an assistive device for removing sputum that is non-invasive, easy to carry, and that a user can use by themselves more easily in order to more easily remove sputum from a patient with respiratory disease.

According to an aspect of the present invention, positive pressure and negative pressure are sequentially provided to the user's airways in order to discharge sputum to induce coughing, and when negative pressure is provided to the user's airways, a positive pressure start signal corresponding thereto is generated at the beginning of the negative pressure. A cough aid provided to be delivered by wire or wirelessly; A stimulation pad provided to contract a user's exhaled muscles according to a positive pressure start signal received from the cough brace; And a control unit configured to control the driving of the stimulation pad according to any one of a positive pressure start signal transmitted from the cough aid or a stimulation signal for stimulating the exhaled muscle in response to a preset stimulation cycle. It provides a sputum removal auxiliary device comprising a.

In addition, according to another aspect, there is provided a sputum removal aid that is electrically connected to a cough aid and wirelessly or by wire, comprising: a stimulation pad provided to contract a user's exhaled muscles according to a positive pressure start signal received from the cough aid; And a control unit configured to control the driving of the stimulation pad according to any one of a positive pressure start signal transmitted from the cough aid or a stimulation signal for stimulating the exhaled muscle in response to a preset stimulation cycle. It provides a sputum removal auxiliary device comprising a.

In addition, according to another aspect of the present invention, in order to discharge sputum, positive pressure and negative pressure are sequentially provided to the user's airways to induce coughing, and when negative pressure is provided to the user's airways, the positive pressure corresponding thereto at the beginning of the negative pressure A cough aid provided to generate a start signal and transmit it by wire or wirelessly; A stimulation pad provided to contract a user's exhaled muscles according to a positive pressure start signal received from the cough brace; A control unit provided to control the driving of the stimulation pad according to any one of a positive pressure start signal transmitted from the cough aid or a stimulation signal for stimulating the exhaled muscles in response to a preset stimulation cycle; And at least one sensing pad configured to generate a sensing signal by measuring a degree of contraction of the respiratory muscle in order to determine whether the stimulation pad operates normally. It provides a sputum removal auxiliary device comprising a.

According to the exemplary breathing training apparatus of the present invention, it is easy to carry and can be used by the patient at home or in the office, so that self-breathing training can be more easily performed.

In addition, it is possible to adjust the intensity, time, cycle, and frequency of stimulation through the breathing training mode, so there is an advantage in that breathing training can be performed according to the respiratory function of each patient.

1 and 2 are schematic diagrams of an auxiliary device for removing sputum according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a schematic diagram showing a stimulation pad according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, terms or words used in the specification and claims should not be construed as being limited to their usual or dictionary meanings, and the inventors appropriately explain the concept of terms in order to explain their own invention in the best way. Based on the principle that it can be defined, it should be interpreted as a meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention.

In addition, regardless of the reference numerals, the same or corresponding components are given the same or similar reference numbers, and redundant descriptions thereof will be omitted, and the size and shape of each component member shown for convenience of explanation are exaggerated or reduced. Can be.

Accordingly, the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiment of the present invention, and do not represent all the technical spirit of the present invention. It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

The present invention relates to a sputum removal assisting device that can more easily remove sputum from a patient with respiratory disease. Referring to FIG. 1, the sputum removal assisting device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention is a cough aid 100 ), a stimulation pad 200 and a control unit 300.

Specifically, the cough aid 100 induces coughing by sequentially providing positive pressure and negative pressure to the user's airways in order to discharge sputum, and may be provided to generate a positive pressure start signal when providing negative pressure to the user's airways. .

In addition, the stimulation pad 200 may be provided to stimulate the exhaled muscles of the user according to the positive pressure start signal generated by the cough aid 100.

That is, the stimulation pad 200 may be stimulated by contracting the exhaled muscles of the user according to the positive pressure start signal.

Here, the stimulation pad 200 may be, for example, a Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES).

In addition, the controller 300 drives the stimulation pad 200 according to any one of a positive pressure start signal transmitted from the cough aid 100 or a stimulation signal that stimulates the exhaled muscles in response to a preset stimulation cycle. Can be controlled.

Here, the respiratory muscles are divided into inspiratory muscles and exhaled muscles.In addition to the diaphragm, which is the main inspiratory muscle, the inspiratory muscles are used including the large pectoral muscles, the small pectoral muscles, the vertebrae, and the vertebral pectoral muscles, which are superficial muscles as nearby muscles. The expiratory muscles include the internal intercostal muscles, the abdominal rectus muscle (abdominal rectus muscle), the abdominal external oblique muscle (external rectus muscle), the abdominal oblique muscle (internal abdominal oblique muscle), and the abdominal oblique muscle (transverse abdominal muscle).

A plurality of stimulation pads 200 may be provided, and may be used by being attached to each portion of the user's exhaled muscles in advance.

The stimulation pad 200 may be provided in the form of a band or belt that can be adjusted in length so as to be worn on the abdomen.

The stimulation pad 200 has, for example, a predetermined width, is provided to surround the abdomen, that is, to be worn around the abdomen, and is formed to cover the abdomen, that is, the abdominal muscles as a whole, thereby covering the abdominal muscles as a whole in response to a positive pressure start signal. You can improve the effect of removing sputum more easily by pressing it.

Referring to FIG. 2, the stimulation pad 200 may further include an air tube capable of filling air.

For example, by being provided to inject a predetermined air pressure inside, it may be formed to pressurize the entire abdominal muscles.

That is, by making it possible to pressurize the entire abdominal muscle rather than partially stimulating the abdominal muscle, it is possible to efficiently remove sputum and discharge.

In addition, the air tube may be provided to be able to adjust the amount of internal air.

Accordingly, it is possible to more easily remove sputum by adjusting the air pressure inside the air tube according to the user's condition.

When the air pressure cannot be adjusted as described above, when too high pressure is applied to the user, there is a problem that may cause vomiting of the user.

The stimulation pad 200 may be installed by attaching (mounting) to the above-described exhalation muscle, and stimulation is applied to the stimulation pad attached to the exhalation muscle according to a positive pressure start signal, or at a preset stimulation cycle according to a stimulation signal. Correspondingly, stimulation may be applied to a stimulation pad attached to the exhaled muscle.

For example, when the signal transmitted to the stimulation pad 200 is a positive pressure start signal, electrical stimulation may be provided to contract the user's exhaled muscles through the stimulation pad, and the signal transmitted to the stimulation pad 200 is stimulated. In the case of a signal, electrical stimulation may be provided to contract the user's exhaled muscles according to a preset stimulation cycle.

That is, the controller 300 may selectively control the driving of the stimulation pad 200.

Meanwhile, the sputum removal assisting device 10 of the present invention may further include a sensing pad 400 provided to generate an exhalation start signal by measuring the contraction degree of the user's exhalation muscle.

When the sensing pad 400 is attached to the user's exhaled muscles as described above, it may be used instead of a cough aid. That is, the sputum removal auxiliary device 10 according to another embodiment of the present invention may include a sensing pad 400, a stimulation pad 200, and a control unit 300.

The sensing pad 400 may be attached to the user's exhalation muscle to measure the degree of contraction of the exhalation muscle.

When the user exhales, the sensing pad 400 may generate an exhalation start signal by measuring the degree of contraction of the muscle and transmit it to the stimulation pad 200 through wired or wireless communication.

The exhalation start signal may be a user's exhalation respiration signal generated by the sensing pad 400 at the user's exhalation start point in response to the user's breathing cycle.

A plurality of sensing pads 400 may be provided, and one or more of the sensing pads 400 may be attached to the user's exhalation muscles to measure the degree of contraction of the exhaled muscles.

Here, the exhalation muscle may include at least one of the rectus abdominis (abdominal rectus muscle), the external abdominal abdominis muscle (external rectus abdominis muscle), the abdominal oblique muscle (internal abdominal oblique muscle), and the abdominal transverse abdominal muscle.

In addition, the sensing pad 400 may be attached to each of the above-described respiratory muscles.

More specifically, the exhalation start signal generated by the sensing pad 400 may be transmitted to the controller 300 through wired or wireless, and the signal may be transmitted to the stimulation pad 200 through the controller 300.

In other words, the signal generated by the sensing pad 400 is transmitted to the controller 300 through wire or wireless, and the controller 300 may control the driving of the stimulation pad according to the transmitted signal.

Meanwhile, the controller 300 of the present invention may be provided to control the driving of the stimulation pad 200 according to a signal transmitted from the cough aid 100 or/and the sensing pad 400.

In addition, the intensity of stimulation according to the positive pressure start signal of the cough aid 100 of the present invention may be provided to be adjusted according to the condition of the patient.

That is, according to the user's condition, the muscle stimulation intensity transmitted to remove sputum is selected from, for example, one of upper, middle, and lower, and the muscles are contracted with a controlled strength, thereby making it easier for the user to remove sputum. There is an effect that can be done.

In addition, the control unit 300 may further include at least one sensing pad 500 provided to generate a sensing signal by measuring the degree of contraction of the respiratory muscle in order to determine whether the stimulation pad 200 operates normally. have.

Here, the sensing pad 500 may have the same configuration as the sensing pad 400, but is not limited thereto.

The sensing pad 500 may be electrically connected to the controller 300 to transmit a sensing signal generated by the sensing pad to the controller 300.

The sensing pad 500 may be attached adjacent to the stimulation pad 200 to detect the contraction degree and stimulation time of the exhaled muscle to generate a sensing signal.

In addition, the controller 300 compares the signal transmitted to the stimulation pad 200 with the sensing signal transmitted from the sensing pad 500, and detects the value of the degree of contraction of the muscle due to the electrical stimulation as a value outside a predetermined range. If so, it may further include an alarm unit 600 for providing an alarm for the abnormal operation state of the stimulation pad to the user.

The control unit 300 may include a wired communication module (eg, a serial communication module, a USB communication module, etc.) or a wireless communication module (preferably, a short-range wireless communication module, eg, a Bluetooth communication module, an RF communication module, and a Zigbee). Communication module, etc.), and converts each signal generated from a cough aid and sensing pad into a stimulation transmission signal (for example, encoding, etc.) and transmits the converted stimulation transmission signal to the stimulation pad by wire or wirelessly. I can do it.

As described above, the sputum removal assisting device 10 of the present invention has a simpler configuration and is easy to carry, so that the patient can easily use it at home or in the office.

10: sputum removal aid
100: cough brace
200: stimulation pad
300: control unit
400: sensing pad
500: sensing pad

Claims (10)

It is designed to induce coughing by sequentially providing positive pressure and negative pressure to the user's airways to discharge sputum, and to generate a positive pressure start signal corresponding to the negative pressure start point when providing negative pressure to the user's airway and transmit it by wire or wirelessly. Cough aid;
A stimulation pad provided to contract a user's exhaled muscles according to a positive pressure start signal received from the cough brace; And
A control unit provided to control the driving of the stimulation pad according to any one of a positive pressure start signal transmitted from the cough aid or a stimulation signal for stimulating the exhaled muscle in response to a preset stimulation cycle; Including,
The stimulation pad has a predetermined width, is provided in the form of a band or a belt that is adjustable in length to be worn on the abdomen so as to surround the abdomen, and the stimulation pad further includes an air tube that can be filled with air. The method of claim 1,
The control unit is provided to adjust the stimulation intensity of the stimulation pad, a sputum removal auxiliary device. The method of claim 1,
Expiratory muscles, intercostal muscles, rectus abdominis muscle (abdominal rectus muscle), external oblique muscle (external abdominal oblique muscle), oblique oblique muscle (internal abdominal oblique muscle), abdominal oblique muscle (transverse abdominal muscle), including at least one of the sputum removal aids. delete delete The method of claim 1,
The air tube is an auxiliary device for removing sputum that is provided so that the amount of internal air can be adjusted. The method of claim 1,
The control unit further includes at least one sensing pad configured to generate a detection signal by measuring a degree of contraction of a respiratory muscle in order to determine whether the stimulation pad operates normally. The method of claim 7,
The controller compares the electrical stimulation according to the signal transmitted to the stimulation pad with the sensing signal transmitted from the sensing pad, and when the value of the degree of contraction of the exhaled muscle due to the electrical stimulation is detected as a value outside a predetermined range, the user may An auxiliary device for removing sputum further comprising an alarm unit that provides an abnormal operating state alarm. In the sputum removal aid that is electrically connected to the cough aid and wirelessly or by wire,
A stimulation pad provided to contract a user's exhaled muscles according to a positive pressure start signal received from the cough brace; And
A control unit provided to control the driving of the stimulation pad according to any one of a positive pressure start signal transmitted from the cough aid or a stimulation signal for stimulating the exhaled muscle in response to a preset stimulation cycle; And
At least one sensing pad configured to generate a sensing signal by measuring a degree of contraction of a respiratory muscle in order to determine whether the stimulation pad operates normally; Sputum removal auxiliary device comprising a. It is designed to induce coughing by sequentially providing positive pressure and negative pressure to the user's airways to discharge sputum, and to generate a positive pressure start signal corresponding to the negative pressure start point when providing negative pressure to the user's airway and transmit it by wire or wirelessly. Cough aid;
A stimulation pad provided to contract a user's exhaled muscles according to a positive pressure start signal received from the cough brace;
A control unit provided to control the driving of the stimulation pad according to any one of a positive pressure start signal transmitted from the cough aid or a stimulation signal for stimulating the exhaled muscle in response to a preset stimulation cycle; And
At least one sensing pad configured to generate a sensing signal by measuring a degree of contraction of a respiratory muscle in order to determine whether the stimulation pad operates normally; Containing, sputum removal aids.

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