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Respritory Demonstration Model

Project Overview

Currently, a basic balloon and latex membrane model is being used to represent the lungs and diaphragm, respectively, for classroom instructional purposes. While they demonstrate respiratory mechanics, the models have a short lifespan and do not display alveolar and intrapleural pressure changes. Further, current models do not accurately depict the anatomical scaling of the lungs with respect to the thoracic cavity. Our goal is to design and build an adequate mechanical respiratory model for class instruction purposes. This model should demonstrate relative pressure differences between alveolar and intrapleural spaces. It must further demonstrate the expansion of the thoracic cavity from the rib cage as well as the diaphragm, thereby displaying a 3-D expansion. The scaling of the lungs relative to the size of the thoracic cavity enclosure should be more anatomically correct than the current model. The device must be portable and small enough to use with a document camera. This model should also incorporate BioPac® software to graph real-time pressure changes.

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Contact Information

Team Members

  • Kristen Seashore - Co-Team Leader
  • Lynn Murray - Co-Team Leader
  • Janelle Anderson - Communicator
  • Malini Soundarrajan - BSAC
  • Chris Goplen - BWIG

Advisor and Client

  • Prof. Naomi Chesler - Advisor
  • Prof. Andrew Lokuta - Client
  • Kevin Strang - Alternate Contact

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