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Spirometer Research Papers

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Abstract—This paper presents a new approach towards the development of a spirometer-on-chip device for point-of-care (PoC) diagnostics. The proposed device consists of a cantilever based airflow sensor fabricated through a Multi-User MEMS process (MUMPS). The deflection of each cantilever beam is measured using capacitive electrodes integrated on a single semiconductor chip. These electrodes are connected to an off-chip custom-made readout interface circuit for the measurement of minute capacitive changes and for the acquisition of data into a computer. Herein, we discuss and demonstrate the characterization results of such a system using a low complexity air-based technique. Additionally, we demonstrate the applicability of these devices …show more content…

Fundamentally, this ushers the opportunity to realize a single chip capable of replacing an entire diagnostic system present in contemporary clinical laboratories or hospitals. Among various clinical applications, the focus of this paper is placed on the development of a novel spirometer for lung disease sensing purposes. Lung diseases such as Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary (COP) disease affect the airways and cause inabilities to exhale normally. A spirometer is the most reliable tool for lung disease and with 100 million sufferers approximated worldwide [9] has the potential to improve care for significant numbers. Commercially available spirometers for measuring complicated lung functions are bulky, expensive and not suitable for PoC lung disease monitoring. Also the available spirometers in the market require disposable parts. Indeed the development of a mobile free-breathing easy-to-use spirometer for frequent (e.g. daily) measurement of lung status is the key challenge to diagnosis and control of the disease in its early stages. To date many papers have reported the design and implementation of micro-sensors for airflow or air-velocity measurement using micromachining techniques [10-11]. Among these, Chen et al. reported the design and implementation of an array of hot-wires

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