A PROPOSAL FOR A SIMULATOR FOR RESPIRATORY CONTROL SYSTEM, TOWARD A LEARNING TOOL FOR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS
A PROPOSAL FOR A SIMULATOR FOR RESPIRATORY CONTROL SYSTEM, TOWARD A LEARNING TOOL FOR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS

Summary/Abstract: There are only few non-commercial models that models the cardio-respiratory system that take into account the main interconnected units involved in respiration (“PNEUMA” and “Respilab”). The proposal for respiratory control presented in this paper follows the Tahrani’s model with options in GUI (Graphical User Interface) more suitable biomedical engineering students that have knowledge about modeling and simulation and numerical methods for differential equations. The obstructive diseases as hypercapnia and hypoxia are simulated by modeling the forces (stimulus) as consequences of the modification of values of inspiratory gas partial pressures. The parameters of models can be changed in an interactive mode. The user has the possibility to select which variable to be displayed and also parameters for integration of system of differential equations. The model has a PI integrator, and as sequel, a short tutorial about PID (Proportional-Integrative-Derivative) controllers is available in help section. The calculation of respiratory frequency has three predefined models: Otis’ equation, Mead’s equation and Widdicombe’s equation. A user defined option is possible give a by constructor module that afford the select a linear combination of the predefined models or to create a completely new model with the save option for future use. The implementation uses the Matlab/Simulink tool with transparent view of the model schemas and subschema’s avoiding the usage of .jar files from Java environment. The working version can provide a standalone working model directly from Matlab implementation using a suitable compiler. This educational software is constructed in a modular form; other modules including visualization of waveforms can be improved with no substantial effort in the future.

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