Project team: Hillary Chen, Lars Gustafson, Mandy Li, Prasanna Rajan
Course: Senior Design Projects in Bioengineering, fall 2015
A student team calling itself HufflePuff prototyped an armband respiratory monitoring device designed for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), an obstructive lung disease characterized by hindered airflow from the lungs. As COPD progresses, patients experience periodic and sporadic onset of symptoms, called acute exacerbation. There is currently no validated diagnostic test or biomarker to predict exacerbation.
The HufflePuff team aimed to determine a way to non-invasively measure work of breathing (WOB) to monitor the respiratory status of COPD patients. They designed an armband monitoring device that would be worn by the patient in an outpatient setting; the user would blow into this device several times per day and the device would collect data to create a WOB analysis — and to warn the patient if there was risk for exacerbation. Currently, the team’s prototype consists of a 3D-printed tube for user exhalation and sensors to analyze exhalation flow rate, oxygen consumption, and end tidal carbon dioxide levels. Future steps for team HufflePuff include working on better integrating and miniaturizing components into an armband device.
Want more information about this project? Check out:
Team HufflePuff’s presentation on the COPD monitor