Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Publication Title

BioMedical Engineering Online

Volume

13

Issue

77

Abstract

Respiratory disease accounts for three of the ten leading causes of death worldwide. Many of these diseases can be treated and diagnosed using a nebulizer. Nebulizers can also be used to safely and efficiently deliver vaccines. Unfortunately, commercially available nebulizers are not designed for use in regions of the world where lung disease is most prevalent: they are electricity-dependent, cost-prohibitive, and not built to be reliable in harsh operating conditions or under frequent use.

To overcome these limitations, the Human Powered Nebulizer compressor (HPN) was developed. The HPN does not require electricity; instead airflow is generated manually through a hand-crank or bicycle-style pedal system. A health care worker or other trained individual operates the device while the patient receives treatment.

This study demonstrates functional specifications of the HPN in comparison with a standard commercially available electric jet nebulizer compressor, the DeVilbiss Pulmo-Aide 5650D (Pulmo-Aide).

Comments

Author Posting. © Hallberg et al., 2014. This article is posted here by permission of the authors for personal use, not for redistribution. The article was published in BioMedical Engineering Online, Volume 13, Issue 77, 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-925X-13-77

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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