Engineer, and I'm curious if I can help

enghelp wrote:I will discuss with my marketing manager about putting out specific assemblies that work for smaller people.

DiverCTHunter wrote:

enghelp wrote:I will discuss with my marketing manager about putting out specific assemblies that work for smaller people.

Just kill the "Assembly" packaging entirely. This would force the DME to (hopefully) send the correct (pre packaged) components. Of course, we all know how DME's looove the thought of sending things out in the original factory packaging.

"This mask is dispensed with three different size pillows for you to work with at home to determine your best choice. Do not accept unless all three sizes are in the package!"

NateS wrote: enghelp,

This brings to your attention a problem you may not be aware of. When the manufacturer issues a mask consumer prepackaged with the three different sizes of nasal pillows or a nosepiece, many local DMEs open the consumer package, make a decision with or without the patient as to which size pillow the patient needs, and then hand the mask with that one size pillow to the patient in a ziplock bag, keeping the other two sizes to resell to some other customer!

This is not only dishonest, since the patient or his/her insurance company or medicare has paid for the whole package, but also it deprives the patient of re-thinking which pillow is their best fit after trying to use the mask for a week or two. Sometimes, even though the patient may have agreed with the size choice at the DME's office, it may turn out that one of the other two in the original package would have been a better choice. The manufacturer's intent, to give the patient this flexibility in working at home to find out which size is best, has been defeated by that DME! How about sewing a label onto one of the straps of the mask saying something like:

"This mask is dispensed with three different size pillows for you to work with at home to determine your best choice. Do not accept unless all three sizes are in the package!"

sort of like the warnings on food jars or OTC medications not to accept if the top seal has been broken.

Regards, Nate

NateS wrote:enghelp,

1) Mouth breathing. So far, there doesn't really seem to be a good solution for mouth breathing for people unwilling to wear a full face mask. Most chinstraps are rather ineffective. I hope that some research in being done in trying to build some mechanism into masks which will be effective in discouraging or halting mouth breathing.Best wishes, Nate

enghelp wrote:

DiverCTHunter wrote:
[*]Hose swivels that actually work

I have never heard that hose swivels don't work. you mean at the end of the elbow the swivel doesnt spin? right out of the bag or after a while. and I have to ask because lots of people in our trials don't... you are cleaning the mask right?

DiverCTHunter wrote:

enghelp wrote:

DiverCTHunter wrote:

• Hose swivels that actually work

I have never heard that hose swivels don't work. you mean at the end of the elbow the swivel doesnt spin? right out of the bag or after a while. and I have to ask because lots of people in our trials don't... you are cleaning the mask right?

This is right out of the bag.

I'm referring to the majority of mask designs where there are two swivels. The go-to mask design has an elbow swivel attached at the mask and another barrel swivel that doubles as an inline connector between the main hose and a "jumper" hose that attaches to the elbow swivel.

The problem is that the barrel design has too large a surface area and and can't rotate freely on it's axis if there's any force on the other axis. The excessive surface area acts like a friction brake as soon as any force is applied to the non-rotating axises. The amount of force needed for the torque along the rotating axis to overcome the braking effect is about the same to pull the thinner rubber of the "jumper" hose away from the swivel, thereby rendering it useless. As the "jumper" hose ages, the problem gets progressively worse.

Here's an example of Resmed's (inline) Hose Swivel Adapter from our host's site. Notice how the friction surface comprises about 3 cm or 2/3 of the total length of the swivel.

The same company's Mirage Quattro Elbow Assembly solved this issue by mating the two swivels at the elbow and placing the quick-disconnect at the join between the two. Note how the friction surface is only 1-2 cm on each swivel axis, and how mating both swivels transfers the torque on one swivel's non-rotating axis to the rotating axis of the other swivel.

Unfortunately, neither swivel parts nor headgear are interchangeable between masks, even within the same manufacturer's products.

NateS wrote: 1) Mouth breathing. So far, there doesn't really seem to be a good solution for mouth breathing for people unwilling to wear a full face mask. Most chinstraps are rather ineffective.

NateS wrote:enghelp,

I have another suggestion.

Every manufacturer produces a video for almost every mask they sell, demonstrating how to correctly fit the mask. Then they put the video up on youtube, and that's the end of it! Why did they even bother producing it for such a small audience?

Only a small percentage of xpap users bother to look for such information on youtube with the exception of those most highly motivated like cpaptalkers, yet every user could benefit from these fitting videos.

If they create these fitting videos for xpap users, why don't they include the pertinent one on a DVD packaged with every mask? Almost everyone would open the package with the mask when they got home, plop the DVD into their DVD player or computer, and watch it.

It seems that the few pennies spent on including the DVD would serve to reduce their cost in many returns, exchanges, complaints, service, etc.

Wouldn't it?

Regards, Nate

BlackSpinner wrote:Full face masks for people who are Ken & Barbie. In other words for those billions of people who do not have standard European faces, who have high broad cheek bones, flat noses and small, non prominent, chins.
The resmed quatro rocks on my cheek bones and either I have leaks near my eyes or at my chin. For the mask to snuggle against my chin I need to add a folded tissue to the forehead support - however then it leaks into my eyes.

Denial Dave wrote:I am certainly not a Ken.

I have mostly English / Irish ancestry with small nose, etc...and I have a near non-existant chin.... the Quattro works just fine for me..

BlackSpinner wrote:Full face masks for people who are Ken & Barbie. In other words for those billions of people who do not have standard European faces, who have high broad cheek bones, flat noses and small, non prominent, chins.
The resmed quatro rocks on my cheek bones and either I have leaks near my eyes or at my chin. For the mask to snuggle against my chin I need to add a folded tissue to the forehead support - however then it leaks into my eyes.