Electronic Ventilator
Introduction to Embedded Systems (Project Report)
Group Members:
Ms. Raheela Mughal (031-19-0025)
Ms. Dua Zehra Alvi (031-19-0013)
Introduction to Project
- In the 16th century, Flemish physician Andreas Vesalius described how a suffocating animal could be kept alive by inserting a tube into its trachea and blowing air to inflate its lungs. In 1555, this procedure didn’t warrant much acclaim.
- But today, Vesalius’s treatise is recognized as the first description of mechanical ventilation—a crucial practice in modern medicine. To appreciate the value of ventilation, we need to understand how the respiratory system works.
- We breathe by contracting our diaphragms, which expands our chest cavities. This allows air to be drawn in, inflating the alveoli— millions of small sacs inside our lungs. Each of these tiny balloons is surrounded by a mesh of blood-filled capillaries. This blood absorbs oxygen from the inflated alveoli and leaves behind carbon dioxide. When the diaphragm is relaxed, the CO2 is exhaled alongside a mix of oxygen and other gases. When our respiratory systems are working correctly, this process happens automatically. But the respiratory system can be interrupted by a variety of conditions. Sleep apnea stops diaphragm muscles from contracting. Asthma can lead to inflamed airways which obstruct oxygen.
- And pneumonia, often triggered by bacterial or viral infections, attacks the alveoli themselves. Invading pathogens kill lung cells, triggering an immune response that can cause lethal inflammation and fluid buildup. All these situations render the lungs unable to function normally. But mechanical ventilators take over the process, getting oxygen into the body when the respiratory system cannot.These machines can bypass constricted airways, and deliver highly oxygenated air to help damaged lungs diffuse more oxygen.
(Higher Level System Diagram)
Working
- In 2020, due to covid situation we faced many critical situations due to the shortage of ventilator. So we made this project to help this situation. In any project the most important part is its working. The working of our design is simple yet elegant. In our project we decided to provide oxygen to the patient by pushing ambu bag by pusher whose movement is controlled by stepper motor. As we know stepper motor is derived by stepper motor driver. So we used stepper motor driver A4988d to derive stepper motor nema 17. now we can easily change direction and steps of the driver by connecting driver to the Arduino Uno. So by changing step and direction we could control the movement of the pusher as result it would push the ambu bag accordingly for different age group. When stepper motor would move in clockwise direction it will move the belt in forward direction moving pusher forward to push ambu bag. similarly, when stepper motor move in anti-clock wise direction timing belt would move backward, as a result pusher would come back to its original position
Lab Hardware and Software Requirements
| S_No | Item |
|---|---|
| 1 | A Windows-based computer |
| 2 | Eagle Software & Arduino IDE Installed |
| 3 | Stepper Motor |
| 4 | A4988d Driver |
| 5 | 12 V DC Power Supply |
| 6 | Ambu bag |
| 7 | Iron Rods x2 |
| 8 | Shafts x2 |
| 9 | Arduino UNO |
| 10 | Screwdriver Kit |
| 11 | Vernier caliper |
| 12 | Timing/teeth belt |
