Patent ID: 6895964

Claim:
A valve assembly for use in a ventilator, the valve assembly comprising a housing and a rotatable vane for directing the flow of air within the housing, the housing having an inlet port for receiving a flow of pressurized air from a blower, an outlet port for delivering air to a patient interface and an exhaust port, the vane being rotatable between a first angular position and a second angular position without choking the blower, wherein: (i) in the first angular position substantially all of the flow of air received at the inlet port is directed by the vane to the exhaust port, (ii) in the second angular position substantially all of the flow of air received at the inlet port is directed by the vane to the outlet port, and (iii) in angular positions intermediate of the first and second angular positions, a fraction of the flow of air received at the inlet port is directed by the vane to the exhaust port and the complementary fraction of the flow of air received at the inlet port is directed by the vane to the outlet port.