Preliminary evaluation of a fiber-optic sensor for flow measurements in pulmonary ventilators

A novel optical fiber air flow sensor was developed for monitoring flow rates supplied by infant ventilators. The device is based on a fiber optic sensing technique and overcomes some important shortcomings of biomedical applications, such as electromagnetic interference and possible electrical hazard. The sensing principle is based on measuring the displacement of an emitting optical fiber cantilever by means of a photodiode linear array: the detection of the illumination pattern makes the developed system less sensitive to light intensity source variations than intensity-based sensors. A preliminary evaluation of the relationship between displacement and flow rate is theoretically and experimentally conducted, as well as a measurement range up to 3.00·10−4 m3/s (18.0 l/min) has been verified, in accordance to the flow range usual for tidal breathing of infants.

[1]  Hiroaki Niitsuma,et al.  A water flowmeter using dual fiber Bragg grating sensors and cross-correlation technique , 2004 .

[2]  Roger C. Baker,et al.  Flow Measurement Handbook: Industrial Designs, Operating Principles, Performance, and Applications , 2000 .

[3]  J. Barton,et al.  A fiber optic vortex flowmeter , 1986 .

[4]  Qingping Yang,et al.  DP flow sensor using optical fibre Bragg grating , 2001 .

[5]  D. Lisoski,et al.  Nominally 2-dimensional flow about a normal flat plate , 1993 .

[6]  Francis T. S. Yu,et al.  Fiber Optic Sensors , 2002 .

[7]  Byoungho Lee,et al.  Review of the present status of optical fiber sensors , 2003 .

[8]  Yong Zhao,et al.  Novel target type flowmeter based on a differential fiber Bragg grating sensor , 2005 .

[9]  Kaspar Althoefer,et al.  Mathematical Modeling of Intensity-Modulated Bent-Tip Optical Fiber Displacement Sensors , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[10]  Yoni Jesner,et al.  Saving lives. , 2019, Midwifery today with international midwife.

[11]  P. Rolfe,et al.  Advances in fibre-optic sensing in medicine and biology , 2007 .

[12]  S. Standard.  GUIDE TO THE EXPRESSION OF UNCERTAINTY IN MEASUREMENT , 2006 .

[13]  Toshio Nemoto,et al.  An optical fiber flow speed sensor of increased sensitivity , 1998 .

[14]  Florent Pigeon,et al.  Optical fibre Young modulus measurement using an optical method , 1992 .

[15]  Frank Vollmer,et al.  Microfluidic flow rate detection based on integrated optical fiber cantilever. , 2007, Lab on a chip.

[16]  J. Peterson,et al.  Fiber-optic sensors for biomedical applications. , 1984, Science.

[17]  A. Kersey,et al.  Monomode fibre optic vortex shedding flowmeter , 1984 .

[18]  Éric Pinet.  Medical applications: Saving lives , 2008 .

[19]  Andrew D. Yablon,et al.  Optical fiber fusion splicing , 2005 .

[20]  Jose Mireles,et al.  Micromachined sensor design for optical‐fiber flow measurement , 2005 .