Respiratory Rate Monitoring Gauze Mask System Based on a Pyroelectric Transducer

This paper presents a gauze mask type respiratory rate monitoring system. The proposed system attaches a flexible piezo film sensor to a gauze mask to sense the respiratory airflow. During breathing, the temperature of respiratory airflow varies in inspiration and expiration phases. This temperature variation could be detected by the pyroelectricity of the piezoelectric film sensor. Monitoring the sensor output variation therefore could monitor the subject's respiratory rate. This pyroelectric response is faster than traditional temperature-sensitive devices (thermistors and thermocouples). In addition, the flexible property of the evaluated piezo film sensor makes it easily been attached with a gauze mask. The advantages of this respiratory rate monitoring system are rapid response time, low cost, and ease of implementation.