Design and Evaluation of a Low-cost Piezoelectric Device for Remote Diagnosis of Respiratory Diseases

In this research, a piezoelectric film was utilized to develop a low-cost biomedical device for diagnosis and management of breathing disorders. First, it was shown that when a commercial polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film was subjected to airflow generated from human breath, the voltage generated increased with decreasing film thickness. Then, a device was fabricated that records a patient's breathing pattern and sends this data to a remote email address via the Raspberry Pi, an inexpensive computer. It was shown that the breathing patterns could be recorded in a reproducible manner with this device. Next, the efficacy of the device to detect breathing disorders was tested. A restrictive ventilatory abnormality was simulated by tying a crepe bandage around the chest. It was shown that this device could successfully distinguish between breathing in a normal patient and the breathing of a patient with a restrictive ventilatory abnormality. It is possible to fabricate this device for less than $100, thereby making it accessible to a large number of patients with chronic lung diseases.