title: Rib cage and abdominal piezoelectric film belts to measure ventilatory airflow.
abstract: Piezoelectric film-based respiratory belts are described and tested. To the extent that a two-degree of freedom model consisting of rib cage and abdominal motion is able to assist in quantifying ventilation, the piezoelectric belts can monitor flow in a manner analogous to the monitoring of volume with two magnetometer pairs or two respiratory inductive plethysmograph belts. The piezoelectric belts are shown to measure flow linearly when compared with a screen pneumotachometer to a flow of at least 2.6 L/s. There is no phase shift between the peak flow of belts and the pneumotachometer up to a frequency of at least 9.2 Hz. During normal ventilation, 68 and 95% of the peak flows measured with the belts fall within +/- 10 and 20%, respectively, of the flows measured with a screen pneumotachometer.
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary Division, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Pennock
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000502:physiology*; D002138:Calibration; D004582:Electronics, Medical / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010992:Plethysmography, Impedance / Q000295:instrumentation; D012123:Pulmonary Ventilation / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012119:Respiration / Q000502:physiology; D015656:Respiratory Mechanics / Q000502:physiology*; D013909:Thorax / Q000502:physiology*