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Measurement of heat and moisture exchanger efficiency
Author(s) -
Chandler M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/anae.12368
Subject(s) - humidifiers , moisture , medicine , heat exchanger , humidity , relative humidity , process engineering , environmental science , thermodynamics , environmental engineering , composite material , materials science , physics , engineering
Summary Deciding between a passive heat and moisture exchanger or active humidification depends upon the level of humidification that either will deliver. Published international standards dictate that active humidifiers should deliver a minimum humidity of 33 mg.l −1 ; however, no such requirement exists, for heat and moisture exchangers. Anaesthetists instead have to rely on information provided by manufacturers, which may not allow comparison of different devices and their clinical effectiveness. I suggest that measurement of humidification efficiency, being the percentage moisture returned and determined by measuring the temperature of the respired gases, should be mandated, and report a modification of the standard method that will allow this to be easily measured. In this study, different types of heat and moisture exchangers for adults, children and patients with a tracheostomy were tested. Adult and paediatric models lost between 6.5 mg.l −1 and 8.5 mg.l −1 moisture (corresponding to an efficiency of around 80%); however, the models designed for patients with a tracheostomy lost between 16 mg.l −1 and 18 mg.l −1 (60% efficiency). I propose that all heat and moisture exchangers should be tested in this manner and percentage efficiency reported to allow an informed choice between different types and models.