Patent ID: 7694675

Claim:
A respirator humidifier, comprising: an evaporator chamber; an automatic water refilling device; an evaporator with a tubular housing with a jacket having an outer jacket side and an inside filled with a porous material, wherein one end of the housing is in liquid connection with the water refilling device and another end of said housing is in connection with said evaporator chamber, through which breathing gas flows; and a heater arranged externally of said jacket of said housing for heating said housing, said porous material including a porous sintered glass or ceramic with a pore size of 10 μm to 40 μm in a first, lower, unheated area of said jacket and a porous sintered metal with a mean pore size of 50 μm to 200 μm in a second, upper area heated by said heater, said porous material defining a capillary action delivery means for delivering water from said automatic refilling device to said evaporator chamber via capillary action.