Fiber-Optic Flow Sensor for the Measurement of Inspiratory Efforts in Mechanical Neonatal Ventilation

摘要

Measurements of air flow rate in neonatal mechanical ventilation are carried out mainly for monitoring air flows supplied by a mechanical ventilator to support infants in intensive care units and for the evaluation of lung ventilator performances [1-4]. Flow measurements in infant mechanical ventilation are typically performed by means of electrical and electromagnetic sensors [5, 6] that are exposed to errors due to electromagnetic interferences. The reduction of the above-quoted shortcomings, achieved by means of fiber-optic sensing techniques, is widely reported in scientific literature and is due to optical fiber features, i.e., immunity to electromagnetic interferences and electrical insulation allowing the improvement of electrical safety conditions [7-9]. By the way, even if various optical fiber sensors have been proposed, it is difficult to find an exhaustive investigation on the design and testing of optical fiber air flow meters in mechanical ventilation applications.