• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.163-169
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• 2005

Respiratory tubes with a length of 35mm and diameters of 10, 15, and 20mm were made for experimental purpose, and both the static$(P_s)\;and\;dynamic(P_D)$ pressures were simultaneously measured for steady flow rates ranging 1-12//sec. Least squares analysis resulted successful fitting of $P_s\;and\;P_D$ data with quadratic equations with correlation coefficients higher than 0.99(P<0.0001). The spirometric measurement standards of the American Thoracic Society(ATS) were applied to $P_s$ data, which demonstrated the smallest tube diameter of 15mm to satisfy the ATS standards. The maximum $P_D$ value of the velocity type transducer(the functional single use respiratory air flow tube) with the diameter of 15mm was estimated to be approximately $75cmH_2O$, implying more than 7 times larger sensitivity than the widely used pneumotachometers. These results showed that the velocity type respiratory air flow transducer is a unique device accomplishing miniaturization with the sensitivity increased, thus would be of great advantage to develop portable medical devices.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.62 no.6
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• pp.833-839
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• 2013

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed by thoracic compression and artificial ventilation for the patient under emergent situation to maintain at least the minimum level of respiration and blood circulation for life survival. Good quality CPR requires monitoring respiration, however, traditional respiratory air flow transducers cannot be used because the transducer elements are facing the whole area perpendicular to the flow axis. The present study developed a new air flow transducer conveniently applicable to CPR. Specially designed "sensing rod" samples the air velocity at 3 different locations of the flow cross-section, then transforms into average dynamic pressure by the Bernoulli's law. The symmetric structure of the sensing holes of the sensing rod enables bi-directional measurement simply by taking the difference in pressure by a commercial differential pressure transducer. Both inspiratory and expiratory flows were obtained with symmetric measurement characteristics. Quadratic curve fitting provided excellent calibration formula with a correlation coefficient>0.999 (P<0.0001) and the mean relative error<1%. The present results can be usefully applied to accurately monitor the air flow rate during CPR.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.425-431
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• 2015

Measurement accuracy was evaluated for the respiratory air flow transducer developed for applications under emergent situations. Pressure-Flow calibration equation was obtained by acquisition of air flow signals from the transducer in response to 6 flow waveforms, similar to those of artificial ventilation, generated by the standard flow generator system. Tidal volume and maximal flow rate were calculated on the flow signal then compared with the error-free data obtained by the linear displacement transducer of the flow generator system. Mean relative error of the tidal volume was within 3% and that of the maximal flow rate, approximately 5%, demonstrating accurate enough measurements. Therefore, the transducer could be applied to emergent situations to monitor the respiratory air flow signal as well as diagnostic parameters in real time.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2005

Respiratory tubes with the length of 35 mm and the diameter of 10, 15, and 20 mm were made and both the static($P_{S}$) and dynamic($P_{D}$) pressures were measured for steady flow rates ranging 1-12 l/sec. Regression analysis resulted successful fitting of $P_{S}$ and $P_{D}$ data with quadratic equations with correlation coefficients higher than 0.99. The measurement standards of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) were applied to $P_{S}$ data, which demonstrated the smallest tube diameter of 15 mm to satisfy the ATS standards. The maximum $P_{D}$ value of the velocity type transducer with the diameter of 15 mm was estimated to be 75 cm$H_{2}O$, implying approximately 7 times larger sensitivity than the widely used pneumotachometer. These results showed that the velocity type respiratory air flow transducer is a unique device accomplishing miniaturization with the sensitivity increased, thus would be of great advantage to develop portable devices.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.351-359
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• 2004

Velocity-type repisratory air flow transducer measures dynamic pressure converted from air velocity based on the we1l-known Bernoulli's principle. It requires multiple velocity sampling holes on the flow plane. Measurement error theoretica1ly estimated by computer simulation was demonstrated to significantly reduce by unequally locating the velocity sampling holes. The flow plane was divided into multiple equi-area rings and the sampling holes were located on the circles also equally dividing each ring's area, which decreased measurement error down to 1/5 of the simple equi-radius ring division method. Also, less than 1 ％ relative error was estimated with 4 or more sampling holes. The present technique was less sensitive by <1/2 to the velocity profile change compared to the euqi-radius sampling. Therefore, the present unequal distance velocity sampling technique should be of great use to design the structure of the velocity-type respiratory air flow transducer.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.393-400
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• 2009

The present study developed a new technique with no physical object on the flow stream but enabling the air flow measurement and easily incorporated with the devices for cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) procedure. A turbulence chamber was formed in the middle of the respiratory tube by locally enlarging the cross-sectional area where the flow related turbulence was generated inducing energy loss which was in turn converted into pressure difference. The turbulence chamber was simply an empty enlarged air space, thus no physical object existed on the flow stream, but still the flow rate could be evaluated. Computer simulation demonstrated stable turbulence formation big enough to measure. Experiment was followed on the proto-type transducer, the results of which were within ${\pm}5%$ error compared to the simulation data. Both inspiratory and expiratory flows were obtained with symmetric measurement characteristics. Quadratic curve fitting provided excellent calibration formula with a correlation coefficient>0.999(P<0.0001) and the mean relative error<1%. The present results can be usefully applied to accurately monitor the air flow rate during CPR.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.294-300
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• 2009

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) is performed by artificial ventilation and thoracic compression for the patient under emergent situation to maintain at least the minimum level of respiration and blood circulation for life survival. Quality of the pre-hospital CPR not only significantly affects the patient's survival rate but also minimizes side effects caused by CPR. Good quality CPR requires monitoring respiration, however, traditional respiratory air flow transducers cannot be used because the transducer elements are located on the flow axis. The present study developed a new technique with no physical object on the flow stream but enabling the air flow measurement and easily incorporated with the CPR devices. A turbulence chamber was formed in the middle of the respiratory tube by locally enlarging the cross-sectional area where the flow related turbulence was generated inducing energy loss which was in turn converted into pressure difference. The turbulence chamber was simply an empty enlarged air space, thus no physical object was placed on the flow stream, but still the flow rate could be evaluated. Both inspiratory and expiratory flows were obtained with symmetric measurement characteristics. Quadratic curve fitting provided excellent calibration formula with a correlation coefficient>0.999 (P<0.0001) and the mean relative error<1 %. The present results can be usefully applied to accurately monitor the air flow rate during CPR.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2008.07a
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• pp.1971-1972
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• 2008

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) is an important clinical technique performing artificial ventilation and chest compression on a patient under emergent situation before arriving in hospital. Since the quality of CPR significantly affects the survival rate, it would be of great advantage to monitor respiration in real time during CPR. However, currently applied respiratory air flow transducers are difficult to apply with sensing elements in the middle of the flow axis. The present study developed a new turbulent air flow transducer conveniently applicable to CPR. Abrupt changes in diameter of the flow tube generated turbulence in air flow, thereby pressure difference was obtained to estimate the air flow rate, with no physical object on the flow plane. Expiration and inspiration were separated by the direction of the pressure difference, resulting in good symmetry. Pressure-flow relationship was tested on a quadratic model, which provided accurate enough estimation results. Therefore, the present turbulent air flow transducer seemed appropriate to monitor respiration during CPR.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.61 no.9
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• pp.1350-1357
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• 2012

Medical system for personal health management recently changes its paradigm from hospital service to self home care based on ubiquitous technology for healthcare anywhere at any time. The present study developed a wireless bio-signal measurement system for patients to self manage pulmonary disease and benign prostate hyperplasia(BPH), both of which are chronic diseases with increasing frequency in modern society. Velocity-type respiratory air flow transducer adapted to develop respiratory module for pulmonary disease management was simplified in structure to measure uni-directional flow since most important diagnostic parameters are evaluated on the expiratory flow signal only. Standard weight measurement technique was introduced to obtain urinary flow signal for BPH management. Three load cell signals were acquired for averaging to minimize noise, followed by accuracy evaluation. Transmission and receiver modules were also developed with user program for wireless communication. Averaged relative errors were 2.05 and 1.02% for respiratory volume and maximal flow rate, respectively, and the relative error was 2.17% for urinary volume, demonstrating that both modules enabled very accurate measurements. Wireless communication distance was verified within 15m, long enough for home care application. The present system allows the user to select a necessary measurement module on a particular health demand and to immediately provide the self-test results, thus better quality health care would be possible.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.1082-1090
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• 2009

Peak expiratory flow rate(PEF) is a very important diagnostic parameter obtained from the forced vital capacity(FVC) test. The expiratory flow rate increases during the short initial time period and may cause measurement error in PEF particularly due to non-ideal dynamic characteristic of the transducer. The present study evaluated the initial rise slope($S_r$) on the flow rate signal to compensate the transducer output data. The 26 standard signals recommended by the American Thoracic Society(ATS) were generated and flown through the velocity-type respiratory air flow transducer with simultaneously acquiring the transducer output signal. Most PEF and the corresponding output($N_{PEF}$) were well fitted into a quadratic equation with a high enough correlation coefficient of 0.9997. But only two(ATS#2 and 26) signals resulted significant deviation of $N_{PEF}$ with relative errors>10%. The relationship between the relative error in $N_{PEF}$ and $S_r$ was found to be linear, based on which $N_{PEF}$ data were compensated. As a result, the 99% confidence interval of PEF error was turned out to be approximately 2.5%, which was less than a quarter of the upper limit of 10% recommended by ATS. Therefore, the present compensation technique was proved to be very accurate, complying the international standards of ATS, which would be useful to calibrate respiratory air flow transducers.