Development of Diagnostic Device for COPD: A MEMS Based Approach

Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of most common diseases related to breathing. In this study, a new diagnostic method is developed to detect the COPD parameters by using a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) based acceleration sensor. It records the data of acceleration that occur the movements of the diaphragm in three axes during the respiratory. With the developed device in this work, the parameters such as Tidal volume capacity (TVC), forced vital capacity (FVC) and respiratory rate (RR) which are commonly associated with COPD are successfully measured and recorded on a secure digital memory (SD) card. 5 people are chosen as a subject (3 healthy, 2 copd) to perform simultaneous measurements with both medical spirometer and the developed system. The measurement results are compared. It is concluded that results are acceptable. Healthy people and the people having COPD are successfully determined by looking the measured FVC curves with the developed system. So the developed device is considered as an alternative method to spirometer and as well as portable device.