Bellows-less lung system for the human patient simulator

Abstract

A new bellows-less lung simulator utilising a fixed-volume pressure controller to simulate spontaneous breathing is presented as an alternative to the traditional bellows-driven mechanical lung system in the human patient simulator (HPS). The HPS is a fully interactive, life-like simulator used to train medical students and anaesthesia residents. The lung simulator simulates carinal pressure, which allows for simulation of actively breathing or ventilated patients. In the current HPS implementation, breathing is physically simulated with a pair of bellows and a computer-controlled piston, but, owing to physical and dynamic constraints, the model suffers from a lot of dead space. Furthermore, the set-up incorporates several mechanical components that require time-consuming calibrations, which drives up manufacturing costs. A bellows-less lung simulator has been designed and built which successfully simulates airflow in and out of the mouth by controlling the carina pressure. The new system is able to simulate tidal volumes between 400 and 500 ml, with flow rates of 4.3-5.71 min(-1) at a respiratory rate of 12 breaths per minute. The new design not only matches the ventilation performance of the HPS, but also simulates at 60 breaths per minute, which the HPS cannot maintain.

Exhaled Air Dispersion Distances During Noninvasive Ventilation via Different Respironics Face Masks

“…The lung compliance and airway resistance also responds in a realistic manner to relevant respiratory challenges. In addition, the HPS produces an airflow pattern that is close to the in vivo situation and has been applied in previous studies [15][16][17][18][19] to simulate human respiration.…”

Exhaled air dispersion and removal is influenced by isolation room size and ventilation settings during oxygen delivery via nasal cannula

“…Experiments were performed by measuring the exhaled air dispersion distances during application of oxygen therapy via nasal cannula attached to the nostrils of a high fidelity HPS (HPS 6.1, Medical Education Technologies Inc, Sarasota, FL, USA) 11–15 . The HPS contains a realistic airway and a lung model that has been applied in previous studies to simulate human respiration 16–20 . The HPS represented a 70‐kg adult man sitting on a 45°‐inclined hospital bed.…”

Modeling in Respiratory Movement Using LabVIEW and Simulink

“…We design a new approach to simulate the lung system, which has the following characteristics. First, the basic hardware structure of the lung is similar to Meka's (2004). Second, breath flow is tracked in stead of carinal pressure, which is the most important parameter in respiration and calculated by respiratory model.…”

“…The lung model consists of three components: the actual lung model, an electromechanical servo system and a computer system to control the model. Meka (2004) present a new bellow-less lung simulator utilizing a fixed-volume pressure controller to simulate spontaneous breathing as an alternative to the traditional bellowsdriven mechanical lung system in the human patient simulator. The lung simulator simulates carinal pressure, which allows for simulation of actively breathing or ventilated patients.…”