Test lung by emermedpirineus

Last crawled date: 3 years, 4 months ago

Disclaimer: build intended only for educational or simulation purposes.
Commercial test lungs, like the dräger one, can be really expensive so we designed a low cost, low complexity one using a latex balloon from an anesthesia or ventilator circuit. Our model is thought to be connected to an quick garden hose connector** but since the anesthesia balloon has standard connection measurements, it can be also attached directly to a ventilator tubing. This model is capable of firing vent inspiration trigger just taking apart both aluminium plates. Also sliding a overwidth wood strip clamp over the plates allows to change the model’s distensibility.
Bill of materials:
-. Anesthesia circuit balloon, a 3 liter one in our case.
-. Aluminium plate, shaped to cover nearly all the balloon length and width, in our case it's mostly a kind of rectangle 13x35cm with the edges on one side cut. We used 0,8mm thick plate but other materials or sizes might be useful as well.
-. 3D printed spacer and connector.
-. Wood strips. We used Kapla sized ones, but any size wider than the end of the plate will work.
-. Nuts and bolts, again any fitting size can be used.
-. Silicone tubing, 10 cm length x 10 mm internal diameter.
-. Quick hose connector.
-. Worm clamp.
Building
-. Cut (and polish edges) the aluminium plates adjusted to the balloon size.
-. Mark and drill the holes in the plates adjusted to 3D printed spacer holes.
-. Place balloon between spacer parts and plates and fix it with the nuts you have.
-. Drill holes in two same-sized wood strips. Put nuts to attach both strips and clamp the end of the plates AND the balloon end.
-. Attach one end of silicone tubing to the quick hose connector and the other to the 3D printed connector, fix it with the worm clamp.
-. Insert the connector to the balloon. If there are any leaks you can add sealing tape at the connector end to increase its diameter and fix the issue.
** See https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1695403310002808 to understand why