Humid Case Study

Humidification is an essential function of the nose and mouth to ensure normal health and function of the respiratory system. During surgery and within the intensive care unit, the patient's upper airway tract is bypassed to assist breathing and enable controlled delivery of medical gases; and thus artificial means must be used for humidification.

The state of the art provides two main devices: active (high performance / high cost) and passive (low performance / low cost). Whilst passive is preferred due to ease of use and low costs, it is not suitable for more than 24 hour use (or patients with specific respiratory needs).

The HUMID project will overcome this limitation through the development of a low cost, easy to use, self-sufficient passive heat and moisture exchange (HME) device offering the following innovative features:

• Enhanced humidification performance boosting the exchange of moisture from the HME material to inhaled respiratory gases, thereby enabling longer term patient use (>72 hours);
• Custom designed non-woven and Zeolite material structures offering enhanced moisture sorption and heat exchange properties, thereby eliminating the need for external water reservoirs (reduced healthcare service costs and risk of infection);
• Electronic control module and integrated low cost flow actuator, enabling controlled device actuation and functionality in coordination with patient respiration, energy reductions and battery operation;

Targeting replacement of more complex active humidification systems, the HUMID device will offer improved performance and functionality at lower cost; thereby enabling significant economic and societal benefits to patients and healthcare end-users. The SME consortium target a 20% penetration of the identified market within a 3 year period, achieving annual sales of over €30 million, 214 new jobs and a annual healthcare cost saving of over €53 million. Furthermore the project results will benefit over 12 000 SMEs in wider industry sectors.