LOW COST SPIROMETER

Spirometers measure respiratory volume and flow rate, plotting expiratory air flow against total expiratory volume. This data is crucial for diagnosing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the fourth leading cause of death worldwide, affecting over 600 million people, mostly in developing nations. The high cost of spirometers prevents effective monitoring and treatment of COPD.
Variability in test results due to differences in technician coaching also affects COPD treatment efficiency. Spirometers are also used for asthma patients. Current spirometers often cost over $1,000 (>60,000 INR), making them inaccessible to many physicians in developing countries. This limits their ability to quantitatively assess patients’ pulmonary health. A low-cost, reliable spirometer would address this issue. To increase access, a low-cost, reliable spirometer was designed, including physical design, software development, and a universal PC interface. The spirometer was found to measure lung flows and volumes, be usable without a trained technician, and connect to a computer via USB for data display and storage. The goal was to make the product affordable for physicians in developing countries and improve measurement reproducibility. 
Extensive testing and validation with an anemometer will ensure optimal ergonomic specifications. The software interface needs to be developed for the computer end. We aimed to create a mass-producible, low-cost spirometer.