Portable Non-Invasive Ventilator for Homecare and Patients Monitoring System

The Coronavirus pandemic has put a wider pressure on all health care systems, highlighting their technological shortcomings. A typical clinical feature of the Coronavirus outbreak and related infections is the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), with profound hypoxemia and dyspnea, often requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation. Even today, after approximately three years, continuous efforts are provided to reduce the lack of suitable devices to support the breathing of patients with respiratory failures in all circumstances. Hereafter, we proposed a portable, noninvasive mechanical ventilator for use in home applications. The prototype provides a proof of concept of a simple noninvasive ventilator (NIV) for home treatment. It is based on a mechanical flow generator, a microcontroller, two calorimetric flow sensors, and a pyroelectric breathing sensor made in Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) integrated inside the delivery tool. The working principle is the generation of a bi-level positive pressure at predetermined levels by calibrating the airflow according to the inspiration/expiration phase. In case of low fraction of inspired oxygen, the NIV is endowed with an external oxygen line, to improve its levels. Moreover, a monitoring system was implemented to provide essential parameters and alert signals to medical personnel. The study aims to simplify and lighten the healthcare system by using devices and applications that can be easily operated by the patients themselves.