Patent ID: 8273033

Claim:
A system for measuring an amount of a gas component within a gas flow, comprising: a gas sensor configured to measure an amount of a component of gas within a flow of gas, wherein the gas sensor has a sensing element configured to contact the flow of gas, and wherein an output of the sensing element is sensitive to temperature fluctuations of the sensing element; a pressure sensor configured to measure a pressure of the flow of gas; a flow sensor configured to measure the flow of gas; and a processor configured to receive first signals as a function of the amount of the component of gas measured by the gas sensor and second signals as a function of the pressure measured by the pressure sensor and the flow measured by the flow sensor, wherein the processor is further configured to adjust the measurement of the amount of the component of gas measured by the gas sensor based upon the measured pressure measured by the pressure sensor and the measured flow measured by the flow sensor, wherein the gas sensor comprises an oxygen sensor, and wherein the processor adjusts the amount of oxygen measured by the oxygen sensor according to the equation: % oxygen —flow—compensated [n] =% oxygen —pressure—compensated [n]* (1.0 +K X *flow filtered [n] ), where “% oxygen —flow—compensated [n]” is a flow compensated percent oxygen for a current (nth) sample, K X =K I during inspiration, K X =K E during expiration, “K I ” is a compensation factor applied for inspiratory flow, “K E ” is a compensation factor applied for expiratory flow, and “flow filtered [n]” is a flow signal delayed and low-pass filtered to match a time response of the oxygen signal, and where % oxygen —pressure—compensate [n]=% oxygen —raw [n](total airway pressure[n]/barometric pressure) and % oxygen —raw [n] is a non-pressure compensated oxygen signal measured by the oxygen sensor for the current (nth) sample.