Patent ID: 8597580

Claim:
A device for diagnostic measurement of NO in exhaled breath, comprising: an NO scrubber; an inlet/outlet through which a patient inhales air via the NO scrubber and exhales at a first flow rate and pressure dependent on the patient's control over the patient's exhalation; an NO sensor that analyzes a sample of the exhaled breath during an analysis period to detect a level of NO in the sample of the exhaled breath; a buffer chamber defining a volume and that temporarily stores the sample of the exhaled breath before analysis by the NO sensor; a flow controller disposed between the buffer chamber and the NO sensor that allows passage of the sample of exhaled breath to the NO sensor during the analysis period; and a sample feeder in the form of a sample pump or a fan that actively feeds the sample of exhaled breath from the buffer chamber to the NO sensor at a predetermined and constant second flow rate over the analysis period, wherein the second flow rate is smaller than the first flow rate.