An Automated Therapy Chair for Patients having Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Many people over 40 years of age suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). It encompasses several lung diseases including chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma. Since COPD is not a curable disease rather it is a progressive disease, so its treatment is basically to retard the progression. Exercise is treated as one of the effective means of keeping the patient relatively better and doctors often suggest to apply a number of puffs manually on the patient's back at a certain speed. Manual system is prone to error because by mistake it may end up with the application of overdose deteriorating the condition of the patient. This paper describes the development of an automatic puffing system. The development is centered around an automatic puffing chair. The automated puffing speed and the number can be adjusted and different respiratory medicines are kept on a tray which is a part of the chair. The chair is used in Dhaka medical college hospital where it is applied to some patients and it demonstrated an amazing improvement in their situation.