Metabolic model of the human respiratory system

The aim of the work was to design a metabolic simulator of the human respiratory system consuming oxygen and producing carbon dioxide. The respiratory quotient, tidal volume, mechanical parameters of the system and other parameters should be similar to the physiological values in (healthy) men so that the simulator could be used for simulation of artificial ventilation of real patients. The model consists of a high-volume plastic box assuring the desired lung compliance, a propane-butane burner equipped with a water-based cooling system, oxygen and CO2 analyzers of the "intrapulmonary" gases and a control system. The simulator is an educational device suitable for testing of the influence of the ventilatory parameters upon the intrapulmonary conditions similarly as during artificial lung ventilation of a human patients.