Patent ID: 7370651

Claim:
A gas conserving device comprising: (a) a valve body having a valve seat disposed in the valve body; (b) a valve element disposed within the valve body, wherein a portion of the valve element is adapted to seat against the valve seat responsive to the valve element being in a closed position, and wherein the portion of the valve element is spaced apart from the seat responsive to the valve element being in an open position; (c) a permanent magnet; (d) an energy source adapted to deliver adapted to transfer (1) a first energy to the valve element, the permanent magnet, or both to move the valve element to the open position, and (2) a second energy to valve element, the permanent magnet, or both to move the valve element to the closed position; (e) a sensor adapted to monitor a characteristic of a user indicative of respiration; (f) a gas flow controller having a plurality of gas flow delivery settings corresponding to a plurality of predetermined gas flow rates/volumes; and (g) a controller operatively coupled to the sensor, the gas flow controller, and the energy source, wherein the controller controls the energy source based on the gas flow delivery setting and an output of the sensor.