Project Description: 

Currently, oxygen delivery systems have been adapted for many different kinds of uses among patients with respiratory illnesses such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and sleep apnea including low flow systems (0-2 L/min) and high flow systems (>2L/min). Among high flow systems, there are options for introducing humidity, temperature or both. However, systems that can humidify and modify temperature are not accessible to most patients at home or in portable settings. In everyday life, patients can experience aggravated respiratory symptoms due to cold and dry air exposure. Thus, we developed a portable device to help patients with advanced respiratory diseases control both the humidity and temperature of their oxygen delivery systems. Through our design inputs phase, we determined the optimal temperature to be close to body temperature (98°F) and optimal humidity to be within a range of 72 – 95% relative humidity. With this in mind, we designed a device that both modifies temperature through heating films and copper foil that sustains uniform heating as air passes through the tube. This heated air is combined with humidified air produced in the center column by a piezoelectric diaphragm which vaporizes water. This combined air then exits our device via an exit port with adapters for varying tubing diameters. To monitor the air parameters, we added a sensor at the end to create a control system to help optimize oxygen delivery. After multiple iterations of the device, we have created a prototype that is able to heat up air to approximately 98 °F and maintain this temperature. Additionally, we demonstrated that we can reach and sustain 72% relative humidity; demonstrating that our design can achieve our parameters. In the future, we hope to optimize our design by improving heating kinetics and incorporating additional components to reduce performance variability.