Flow sensing arrangement for spirometer and method thereof

Abstract

A flow-sensing arrangement within a spirometer. The arrangement includes a tubular-member for allowing an air-passage along a longitudinal-axis thereof. At-least two disc-shaped air-resistive elements are removably-arranged within the tubular member to resist the air-flow. Each of the resistive-elements include perforations for allowing the air-passage through the resistive-element. At-least two ports extend radially outward through a wall of the tubular member, such that each of the two ports are located within the tubular-member near the resistive-elements to cause determination of at least a pressure-difference there-between.

Claims

1. A flow sensing arrangement within a spirometer, comprising: a tubular-member comprising an air-passage along a longitudinal-axis thereof; at least two disc-shaped air-resistive elements removably-arranged within the tubular member configured to resist air-flow, each of said at least two disc-shaped air-resistive elements comprising a plurality of perforations configured to allow air-passage through the at least two disc-shaped air-resistive elements; and at least two ports extending radially outward through a wall of said tubular member, each of said at least two ports located within the tubular-member near the at least two disc-shaped air-resistive elements to permit determination of at least a pressure-difference there-between; an electronic control module comprising: a real time clock; memory; a counter; and a processor configured to: capture data with respect to each spirometry test undertaken by a user; determine a number of spirometry-tests conducted with respect to the at least two disc-shaped air-resistive elements based on a count of the number of spirometry test from the captured data; and provide a signal for directing replacement of the at least two disc-shaped air-resistive elements based on the occurrence of a pre-defined number of spirometer-tests; and a transmitter to transmit data processed by the processor to one or more remote- devices.

2. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tubular member is an elongated hollow member acting as an air-way and comprises at least one removable portion to allow access towards the at least two disc-shaped air-resistive elements within the tubular member.

3. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least two disc-shaped air-resistive elements are arranged within the tubular member through a snug-fit arrangement and removable therefrom.

4. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of perforations of the at least two disc-shaped air-resistive elements are hexagonal in shape and facilitate capillary air-flow within the tubular-member.

5. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least two ports are air-pressure pick-off ports connected to a pressure-sensor through flexible-tubes to permit the determination of at least said pressure-difference between locations of the at least two disc-shaped air-resistive elements within the tubular member .

6. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electronic control module through the processor is configured to: trigger measurement of said pressure-difference and a temperature within the tubular member periodically with a time-interval ranging from 1 millisecond to 50 millisecond; and derive exhalation as well as inhalation profile for one or more users of the spirometer based on the measurement.

7. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electronic control module through the processor is configured to evaluate inhalation or exhalation subjected upon the spirometer by the user at least by measuring parameters related to one or more of: an orientation of the spirometer; actuation-time; and an inhalation/exhalation flow rate profile of the user.

8. The arrangement as claimed in claim 7, wherein the electronic control module through the processor and counter undertakes said measurement of parameters periodically with a time-interval of about 1 to 50 milliseconds to indicate the inhalation or exhalation as correct or incorrect.

9. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electronic control module through the processor is configured to capture inhalation-parameter related to at least one of: peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR); Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1); Forced vital capacity (FVC); Forced expiratory volume in six seconds (FEV6); Forced expiratory flow during the mid 25-75% portion of the FVC (FEF-25-75); and Forced inspiratory flow-volume (FIF).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 illustrates an isometric view of a spirometer, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

(3) FIG. 2 illustrates a front-view and a sectional view of the airway in the spirometer as depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

(4) FIG. 3 illustrates a front view of electronic-engine within the spirometer as depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

(5) FIG. 4 (a and b) depict a graphical-representation depicting the accuracy in measurement of air-flow as executed by the present spirometer.

(6) The elements in the drawings are illustrated for simplicity and may not have been necessarily been drawn to scale. Furthermore, in terms of the construction of the device, one or more components of the device may have been represented in the drawings by conventional symbols, and the drawings may show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the drawings with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

(7) For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the present disclosure, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the present disclosure is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the present disclosure as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the present disclosure relates.

(8) Reference throughout this specification to “an aspect”, “another aspect” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, appearances of the phrase “in an embodiment”, “in another embodiment” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

(9) The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process or method that comprises a list of steps does not include only those steps but may include other steps not expressly listed or inherent to such process or method. Similarly, one or more devices or sub-systems or elements or structures or components proceeded by “comprises . . . a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other devices or other sub-systems or other elements or other structures or other components or additional devices or additional sub-systems or additional elements or additional structures or additional components.

(10) Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this present disclosure belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

(11) Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(12) FIG. 1a illustrates an isometric view of an electronic spirometer 100, wherein said spirometer 100 is mounted upon a docking-station 200 for charging purposes, while the spirometer 100 is not in use. FIG. 1b illustrates the front view of the spirometer 100 as mounted upon the docking-station 200. Such charging-facility provides a facility to recharge the battery of the spirometer 100, thereby allowing an easy and portable-charging access and significantly reducing the possibility of misplacing the spirometer 100 when not in use. Further, the energy as obtained through charging is applied for electronic-operations like data-logging, data communication, data-analysis etc, as later explained in the figures.

(13) FIG. 2 illustrates a front-sectional view of the airway in the spirometer as depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. More specifically, FIG. 2a depicts an isometric-view of the spirometer 100 thereby depicting an air-passage or airway 202 therein. Such airway 202 is a hollow-tubular component, which is received in user's-mouth to enable the user at exhaling or inhaling air so as to trigger airflow parameter measurement during such exhalation and inhalation. The airway 202 or the tubular-member 202 allows an air-passage along a longitudinal-axis thereof. FIG. 2b further illustrates a sectional-view of the spirometer 100, thereby depicting an interior of the spirometer 100.

(14) As indicated in the FIG. 2b, the resistive-elements 204 are disposed in the airflow path or airway 202. The resistive-elements 204 are at-least two disc-shaped air-resistive elements removably-arranged within the tubular member 202 to resist the air-flow. The disc-shaped resistive elements 204 are arranged within the tubular-member 202 through a snug-fit arrangement and removable therefrom.

(15) Each of said resistive-elements 204 comprises a plurality of perforations for allowing the air-passage through the resistive-element. While each of the resistive-element 204 is a self-arranging stack, the perforations are hexagonal-holes occupying at-least about 30% of the total-area of each of the resistive-element 204 and facilitate capillary air-flow within the tubular-member. Such an arrangement ensures that a uniform and predictable pressure-drop happens across these two elements 204 at all the high and low-values of the flow rates, and thus ensures a linear-response of the pressure-drop to the flow rate in the airflow-path.

(16) Following Table 1 depicts experimental results in terms of testing the linearity owing to the usage of hexagonal-stack elements 204 in respect of the present spirometer.

(17) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Linearity advantage of hexagonal stack element Flow rate Discharge Coefficient [litre per minute (lpm)] Circular stack Hexagonal stack 100 0.5293 0.5377 300 0.5420 0.5616 500 0.5437 0.5685 700 0.5836 0.5698 RSD(%) 4.23% 2.66%

(18) Further, the two resistive elements 204 in the airflow-path are disposable in nature (low cost replaceable) and are easily removable from the airway 202 of the device 100 so as to facilitate their replacement after certain number of device usage cycles (e.g. usage for at least 10 times).

(19) For such purposes of pressure-difference measurement between any two locations, at-least two locations 206 are incorporated within the airway 202. The airway 202 has two holes 206 that are axially-matched with an electronic engine (as later illustrated in FIG. 3). Such ports extend radially outwards through a wall of said tubular member 202, each of said two ports 206 are located within the tubular-member 202 near the resistive-elements 204 to cause determination of at least a pressure-difference there-between.

(20) Further, at least a portion of the airway or tubular member 202, as provided is easily removable from the housing of the device 100, thereby facilitating an access towards the resistive-elements 204 within the tubular member 202 and allowing an ease of cleaning of housing of the electronic engine (including cleaning with water) after certain number of device usage cycles (e.g. after having had a usage of at-least 50 or 100 times).

(21) FIG. 3 again illustrates a front-sectional view of the spirometer 100 as depicted in FIG. 1, with emphasis upon an electronic-engine 300 or an electronic control-module which forms a part of the spirometer 100 of the present subject matter.

(22) The electronic engine 300 measures pressure as well as temperature at a periodic interval in a range of about 1 to 50 milliseconds for allowing a complete and fine resolution of exhalation as well as inhalation profile during the usage of the spirometer. More specifically, the electronic engine 300 includes a pressure-sensor 306 for measuring pressure between the at least two points or locations 206 within the airway 202. In addition, the electronic engine 300 facilitates a simultaneous measurement of temperature simultaneously

(23) The points may be referred as the holes 206 (as depicted in FIG. 2) or pressure pick-off points 206. Each of said point is connected to a pressure-sensor 306 through flexible cylindrical-tubes 304 connecting the airway 202 with the pressure sensor 306. Accordingly, the two-holes 206 within the airway 202 act as pressure-pick up locations. The connection through flexible tubes 304 allows an ease of moulding, assembly, and removes chance of false pressure-pickup by the electronic-engine 300. In addition, both of the tubes 304 may be connected to the pressure pick-off points 206 through a resilient-seal 302.

(24) Additionally, the electronic engine 300 includes a real-time clock for time keeping, flash memory for local data storage and a processor along with transmitter for data transmission to the mobile application. The electronic engine 300 enables the spirometer 100 to capture data with respect to each spirometry test undertaken by a user; determine a number of spirometry-tests conducted with respect to a particular pair of the at least two resistive-elements, and provide a signal for directing replacement of the resistive elements after occurrence of a predefined number of spirometer-tests.

(25) Additionally, the electronic engine 300 enables recording of the parameters involved in the inhalation maneuvers including but not limited to peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), Forced vital capacity (FVC), Forced expiratory volume in six seconds (FEV6), Forced expiratory flow during the mid 25-75% portion of the FVC (FEF-25-75); and Forced inspiratory flow-volume (FIF), and other known parameters.

(26) A microprocessor (not depicted in any of the figures) within the electronic-engine 300 processes the measurement-parameters at a periodic-interval of about 1 to 50 milliseconds to validate each step in the actuation-maneuver. Additionally, parameters involved in technique monitoring such as orientation, actuation time, inhalation flow rate profile are measured and processed to compute correctness in the technique.

(27) The spirometer 100 further deploys a low Bluetooth energy based data-transfer mechanism for transmitting the recorded data from each actuation to an application operating over a remotely located device such as a smartphone, or a tablet in respect of both Android and iOS platform. The application hosted on the remote device which uniquely identifies the spirometer 100, connects and pairs with it automatically and receives the data transmitted by the device.

(28) FIG. 4 (a and b) depict a graphical-representation depicting the accuracy in measurement of air-flow as executed by the spirometer 100. More specifically, as a part of experimental verification of the operation of the present device, FIG. 4 (a and b) depict a graphical representation showcasing the accuracy in measurement of air-flow as executed by the present spirometer.

(29) As indicated in FIG. 4a, the spirometer-waveform closely follows the airflow-variation as based on actual values associated with the inhalation/exhalation profile of the user. In an example, such profiles are derived from the international ATS (American thoracic society) standards which provide 24 breathing profiles having flow rate in LPM vs time with sampling interval of 10 millisecond. Upon having increased the resolution in FIG. 4b in terms of X-axis, merely a minor deviation in the spirometer-waveforms is observed when compared with FIG. 4a.

(30) While specific language has been used to describe the disclosure, any limitations arising on account of the same are not intended. As would be apparent to a person in the art, various working modifications may be made to the method in order to implement the inventive concept as taught herein.

(31) It is understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. It is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein,” respectively.

(32) The drawings and the forgoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. For example, orders of processes described herein may be changed and are not limited to the manner described herein.

(33) Moreover, the actions of any flow diagram need not be implemented in the order shown; nor do all of the acts necessarily need to be performed. Also, those acts that are not dependent on other acts may be performed in parallel with the other acts. The scope of embodiments is by no means limited by these specific examples. Numerous variations, whether explicitly given in the specification or not, such as differences in structure, dimension, and use of material, are possible. The scope of embodiments is at least as broad as given by the following claims.