BG 3105

Biomedical Instrumentation
Lung Anatomy and Spirometers
Asst Prof Manojit Pramanik
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
Nanyang Technological University
manojit@ntu.edu.sg
Office: N1.3-B2-11

Respiratory System and Measurements

1 Introduction
2 Lung volume
3 Respiratory system measurements
3.1 Flow measurement
3.2 Spirometer
3.3 Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

Biomedical Instrumentation - wk 6

1. Introduction

Respiration (= breathing) is the interchange of

gases.
The purpose is to deliver oxygen to the body
and to take away carbon dioxide.
The main organ of the respiratory system are
the lungs.

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Lungs

Lungs consists of 2
spongy organ.
It contains 300 million
alveoli (air sac).
Each sac with 0.2 mm
in diameter.

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Trachea
The trachea filters the air
we breathe and branches
into the bronchi.

Bronchi
The bronchi are two air
tubes that branch of the
trachea and carry air
directly into the lungs.

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Diaphragm
The diaphragm is the main muscle involved in
breathing.
It is a dome-shaped muscle at the bottom of the lungs.
Breathing starts from diaphragm.
When you breathe in, the
diaphragm contracts. When it
contracts it flattens out and pulls
downward. This movement
enlarges the space and pulls air
into the lungs.
When you breathe out, the
diaphragm expands reducing the
amount of space for the lungs
and forcing air out.

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Alveoli

The red blood cells pick up

the oxygen in the lungs
(alveoli) and carry the
oxygen to all the body.
The red blood cells transport
the carbon dioxide back to
the lungs (alveoli).

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Capillaries

Capillaries are small blood vessel with thin

walls, and are wrapped around these alveoli.
The walls are so thin and close to each other
that the air easily seeps through.
Oxygen seeps through into the bloodstream
and carbon dioxide, in the bloodstream, seeps
through into the alveoli.

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The effect of blood PCO2 and PO2 on the respiration rate

An increase in PCO2
increases the breathing
rate.
An increase in PO2 slows
down the breathing rate.

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Internal respiration

Internal respiration is the exchange of gases

between the bloodstream and nearby cells.

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External respiration

External respiration is the exchange of gases

between the lungs and bloodstream.

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External respiration

External respiration includes:

Inspiration intake of air
79% nitrogen (N)
20.96% oxygen (O2)
0.04% carbon dioxide (CO2)

Expiration exhaust of waste gases

79% nitrogen (N)
17% oxygen (O2)
4% carbon dioxide (CO2)
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2. Lung volume

TV: Tidal volume

IRV: Inspiratory reserve
volume
ERV: Expiratory reserve
volume
VC: Vital capacity
RV: Residual volume
FRC: Functional residual
capacity
TLC: Total lung capacity

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Lung Volume

Dead Space (150 ml) the volume of air that is not

available for gas exchange with the blood.
Air in air way
Air in trachea
Air in bronchi

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Lung Volume
Tidal volume (TV) (500 ml) is the volume of gas inspired or
expired during each normal respiratory cycle.
At rest condition
For normal adults

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Lung Volume
Residual volume (RV) (1200 ml) is the amount of gas remaining in
the lungs at the end of maximal expiration.

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Lung Volume
Functional residual capacity (FRC) (2400 ml) is the amount of gas
remaining in the lungs at the resting expiration level.

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Lung Volume
Vital capacity (VC) (4800 ml) is the maximum amount of gas
expelled from the lungs by forceful effort from maximal inspiration.

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Lung Volume
Total lung capacity (TLC) (6000 ml) is the amount of gas
contained in the lungs at the end of maximal inspiration.

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Lung Volume food for thoughts

Can this guy

breathe
comfortably?

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3. Respiratory system and measurements

3.1 Air flow measurement
A strain-gauge wire mesh is used to measure air
flow

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Air flow measurement

The strain-gauge is a component of a Wheatstone
bridge

A circuit for measuring airflow rate and volume

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Air flow measurement

Here the change in resistance is proportional to the
airflow rate = , where is pneumotach coefficient.
Given Wheatstone bridge voltage , we have

2
+ + 2
4 + 2

The circuit may be designed so that , then we

have

=

=

2
2
4 + 2
4
4

= =
=

4
4
is proportional to flow .
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3.2 Spirometer
Spirometer is used to measure lung volume under
conditions
Constant temperature
Constant pressure

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Spirometer

LCD Display
graph and data

Mouthpiece
& Spirometer
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Spirometer
The spirometer consists of
An upright water filled cylinder
An inverted floating drum
An mechanical linkage
How to operate?
The volume of gases inside spirometer will change
as the patient breathes through the mouthpiece
This volume change is proportional to lung volume
change

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Spirometer
When no breathing

When inhaling

When exhaling
This motion is recorded on a
rotating drum through direct
mechanical linkage
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Spirometer

The spirometer can only measure the gas volume

inspired and expired, i.e., a change in volume, for
example TV.
It cannot measure gas volume remaining inside lungs,
for example, FRC (Function Residual Capacity), RV
(Residual Volume).

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3.3 Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

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Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

Where
is lung volume
is lung temperature (in K)
is molar fraction in lung

is spirometer volume
is spirometer temperature (in K)
is molar fraction in spirometer

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Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

It is a modified spirometer
Two one-way valves are connected in air tube
The mouthpiece is in between the valves
A Nitrogen analyzer used to measure the fraction of
Nitrogen is installed
So that
When the patient starts breathing through the
mouthpiece, he can only inhale pure
But, he exhales the mixture of , , and , as
his lung initially contains , , and
And the expired mixture enters into spirometer
through one-way valve
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Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

What happens to in lungs after multiple-breathing?
The amount of is gradually decreasing

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Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

What can it measure?
Functional residual capacity (FRC)
Residual volume (RV)
At the beginning , total number of moles in lungs is
given by
=

Note: =

,
,

= =

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Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

At the beginning , total number of moles in
spirometer is assumed

=
=

After multiple-breathing from the mouthpiece, at time ,
the number of moles in lungs become


Decreased!

Where the left side is change of mole in lungs and

right is change of in spirometer

Mass balance

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Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

Suppose and are as follows

Then, we have , =
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Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

If the beginning time is shifted

Then, we have = , = =
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Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

Therefore,

FRC can be measured using the above formulation

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Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

Procedure:
At the beginning, measure initial using
Nitrogen analyzer (sensor). Start at =

At the end, measure and . End at

=
Measure and (both are constant).

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Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

Similarly, we can measure RV, by setting =
=

=

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Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

Example: a washout experiment is carried out. At
beginning, = , = . At the end
= , = . and fraction of
for the patient has decreased by . .
What is the lung volume at which the patient is
breathing?
Solution: At the beginning of experiment
= + = ,

At the end of experiment

= . = .
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=
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Nitrogen-washout estimate of lung volume

With assumption of = = ,

.
=

= .

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