Patent ID: 7814908

Claim:
A method for reducing the carbon dioxide content in a dead volume in a breathing apparatus, comprising the steps of: respirating a patient with a gas supplied to the patient via a primary gas flow path containing a dead space into which carbon dioxide containing gas is exhaled by the patient that is re-breathed by the patient in a subsequent inhalation by the patient, said dead space having opposite first and second sides with said first side being closer to the patient than said second side; connecting a bypass path at respective bypass connections at said opposite sides of said dead space and generating a gas flow of said exhaled gas from said dead space through said bypass path from said second side to said first side and through a carbon dioxide absorber in said bypass path; and returning gas that has passed through the carbon dioxide absorber from the bypass path to said primary gas flow path at said first side of said dead space, with said gas that passed through said dead volume and said carbon dioxide absorber then being inhaled by said patient.