Microcontroller-based Piezoelectric Driving Method as Mesh Nebulizer for Inhaled Therapy

The pandemic of COVID-19 had taken tolls abroad the globe. Efforts have been done to mitigate the mortality rate of the disease. One of those is to inhale drugs directly into the respiratory system. While the drug delivery devices, such as mesh nebulizer, are available widely, the cost might be a burden. Since mesh nebulizer works by driving a piezoelectric element, a piezoelectric driving method is designed to establish an independent mesh nebulizer system. The design is purposed to be easy-implemented with low cost and widely distributed components. Hence, Arduino Nano microcontroller is used as primary microcontroller along with other widely available external components. The final result ensures the proposed design is able to mimic the working of a mesh nebulizer by a maximum measured flow rate of 1.686 milliliter per minute, which is far higher than typical nebulizer, and consequently produces unwanted audible noise. Leading to suggestions to implement resonant frequency tuning in addition to the current method and to add noise level and particle size as further design parameters.