Attached to the plunger is a mechanism that keeps the plunger at its maximum elevation in the hollow tube. The plunger is the device that is being displaced in proportion to the volumetric flow rate. The part of the PFM that is blown into by a person should be perpendicular to the hollow tube that encases the plunger. Research has shown that there are no other similar efforts to design a low cost peak flow meter.Įxperimental Apparatus Ī peak flow meter consists of a hollow tube with a plunger inside that can travel freely. It must be assured that the low-cost peak flow meter is capable of repeatable results akin to production peak flow meters. The main challenge will not be the construction of the device itself, but rather its calibration. The design should be standardized so that whoever builds it will get an accurate reading. The materials being used for the peak flow meter consist of PVC tubing for the body and a piece of aluminum used to measure the volumetric flow rate of the person's exhalation. This way, anyone who gets hold of the design could access all of the materials needed. The challenge is to design a device that can be built with supplies available in any small city in the world. This design project will concentrate on a simple Peak Flow Meter design which could be used by clinicians in developing or rural areas. In many developing or remote areas, medical instruments like the peak flow meter are not easily found. The problem is that peak flow meters are not easily attainable everywhere people may need them. Often a reduction of a person's maximum exhalation flow rate is a sign of a worsening health condition. They would be able to notice any decline in the condition of their asthma and then relay the information to their doctor at their next appointment. This is especially true when a patient is able to see a change in the results before and after an in-office treatment. Peak Flow Meters are useful at home and in clinics. By using a peak flow meter every day and keeping track of the results, doctors will be able to see how a patients asthma is doing on a daily basis and will help determine what type of medical treatment is needed. Patients with asthma will typically have a flow rate less than this, but will vary with their own health conditions. A variety of commercial Peak Flow Meter's can be seen below.Ī healthy person in their twenties can expect a peak flow rate of around 600 L/min. Flow rates were then indicated on the saw blade by a color coded system.Ī Peak Flow Meter (PFM) is a portable, hand-held device that helps the user check how effectively their asthma is controlled by measuring the volumetric flow rate of the air that is exhaled. Trials were conducted until consistent resulted were achieved. To calibrate our PFM, holes were drilled at the base and lower shaft of the PFM to alleviate pressure and simulate the performance of the commercial PFM. This procedure was performed again for our PFM. A variety of trials were run in order to assign specific flow rates with respect to the time the stop-watch indicated. The raft pump was compressed at a time recorded by a stop watch. The raft pump simulated the diaphragm in the human respiratory system and the flow chamber simulated lung capacity.īefore the trials were started for the calibration process, the commercial PFM was attached to the raft pump first, to serve as a standard of comparison. Calibration was conducted by the time in which it took to fully compress a raft pump with respect to pressure flow. The Peak Flow Meter was fabricated using common materials, including PVC pipe, a mechanical pencil spring, a small piece of aluminum and a reciprocating saw blade. The air proved to be incompressible, with a steady laminar flow at constant properties in the fully developed region of a straight circular pipe. To accomplish this, the behavioral characteristics of air, the working fluid, had to be understood. A calibration procedure was used to modify the flow meter to achieve consistency. A Peak Flow Meter (PFM) was designed to achieve consistent exhalation results for the diagnosis and management of asthma.
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