Respiratory air flow rate is necessarily measured for the pulmonary function evaluation. The currently used devices are exposed to the problems of measurement reliability and cross-patient infection. The present study introduced a new technique which ...
Respiratory air flow rate is necessarily measured for the pulmonary function evaluation. The currently used devices are exposed to the problems of measurement reliability and cross-patient infection. The present study introduced a new technique which converted the bidirectional air flow rate into averaged dynamic pressure based on the famous Bernoulli's energy conservation principle. Single use plastic sensing element was assembled within the flow tube(mouth piece) made of paper, which was named "functional single use flow tube". Experiment demonstrated only ±1.5% relative error in the standard 3L volume measurement procedure well within the error limit suggested by the American Thoracic Society(ATS). Disposable use design completely eliminated cross-patient infection. The present device is best useful and safe for clinical respiratory air flow measurement such as spirometry.