Design and Testing of a Spirometer for Pulmonary Functional Analysis
M. Jagannath1, C. Madan Mohan2, Aswin Kumar3, M.A. Aswathy4, N. Nathiya5
1M.Jagannath, Department of Electronics Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology VIT, Chennai (Tamil Nadu), India.
2C.Madan Mohan, Department of Business Administration, Indian Institute of Management, Shillong (Meghalaya), India.
3Aswin Kumar, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineeering, Ericsson R&D, Bangalore (Karnataka), India.
4M.A. Aswathy, Department of Electronics Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology VIT, Chennai (Tamil Nadu), India.
5N.Nathiya, Department of Advanced Sciences, Vellore Institute of Technology VIT, Chennai (Tamil Nadu), India.
Manuscript received on 05 February 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 13 February 2019 | Manuscript published on 28 February 2019 | PP: 343-347 | Volume-8 Issue-4, February 2019 | Retrieval Number: D2801028419/19©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is considered as one of the greatest life-threatening syndromes worldwide, and it is estimated that over 600 million are afflicted with the disease. The objective of this study is to design and develop a spirometer which is functionally as well as cost effective. Authors have planned to keep the cost below 100$. The proposed spirometer has four main components – spirometer body, Circuitry, Computer and Software. The spirometer body includes a differential pressure sensor and a pilot tube through which the patient blows. The output is transmitted to the microcontroller. The analog to digital convertor within the microcontroller is employed for the conversion. Then the pressure difference output from the pressure sensor is converted into mass flow rate which is subsequently converted into volume. The microcontroller relays this data via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection to a computer which transmits this to the JavaScript based graphical user interface. This interface is used to display the flow and volume data in real-time. Then this experiment has proceeded further with this study by testing it on people. A spirometric test was conducted on 20 individuals of different ages, heights and gender. Their test results were tabulated and inferences on their breathing condition were drawn accordingly. The results show that lung capacity decreases with age. Although the current design is not able to meet clinical accuracy, with professional manufacturing, such a design could yield a device capable of meeting clinical accuracy without a significant increase in price.
Keyword: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Microcontroller, Spirometer, Universal Serial Bus.
Scope of the Article: Design and Diagnosis