Design of a low cost, double triangle, piezoelectric sensor for respiratory monitoring applications
Amir Panahi, Alireza Hassanzadeh, Ali Moulavi
Abstract
In this paper, a novel piezoelectric sensor is presented for patient's breath monitoring applications. Breath rate monitoring is important especially for the new coronavirus patients. In this work, a piezoelectric sensor is designed in the form of a vertex-attached triangular beam made of Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). It exploits chest displacement to distinguish breathing vibrations. The device shape and dimensions have been designed for low frequency operation. The output respiration signal is amplified using a low power charge amplifier circuit. The sensor can be placed in a vest and fastened as a belt, or be attached to the chest by a tape. A low pass filter is used to eliminate the noise from the environment and body movement. Among the most important features are high accuracy, low resonance frequency to distinguish chest movement, low weight, low cost, portability, and reliability. Simulation of the designed sensor using COMSOL shows output voltage of 1 V at breathing frequency of 0.2 Hz.