Respiratory metabolism measuring device and method

Abstract

The invention provides a respiratory metabolism measuring device and method. The device comprises a cabin body, a ventilation module, a gas analysis and control device and a computer, the cabin body is used for placing a tested object, an air inlet and an air outlet are formed in the cabin body, the air inlet is used for introducing fresh environment air, the air outlet is connected with the air exchange module, and the air exchange module is used for exhausting air from the cabin body to drive air exchange; the gas analysis and control device is used for detecting the concentration of oxygen and the concentration of carbon dioxide in ambient air entering the cabin body and gas extracted from the cabin body; the gas analysis and control device adopts a switching mode or a reference mode for detection; and the computer is communicated with the gas analysis and control device and is used for receiving data acquired by the gas analysis and control device, calculating oxygen concentration difference and carbon dioxide concentration difference between the ambient air and the gas exhausted by the cabin body and evaluating the energy metabolism condition. Through the structure of the array sensor, the problems of inaccurate gas concentration detection, poor consistency between different sensors and the like are solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of respiratory measurement technology, and more specifically, to a respiratory metabolism measurement device and method. Background Technology

[0002] Respiratory metabolism measurement (with core indicators including oxygen consumption (VO2), carbon dioxide production (VCO2), respiratory exchange rate (RER), and energy metabolism rate (EE)) is a key technical means for assessing the physiological state and energy metabolism level of animals or humans. It is widely used in basic medical research (such as the pathological analysis of obesity mechanisms and metabolic diseases like diabetes), drug development (assessing the effects of drugs on metabolism), laboratory animal science (characteristic validation of metabolic-related animal models), and nutritional research (analysis of the regulation of energy metabolism by dietary structure). With the upgrading of research needs, current respiratory metabolism measurement devices must simultaneously meet requirements such as long-term stable monitoring, parallel detection of multiple samples, data accuracy, and flexible resource allocation. However, existing technologies still face many technical bottlenecks in practical applications, making them difficult to adapt to complex experimental scenarios. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of the deficiencies in the prior art, the purpose of this invention is to provide a respiratory metabolism measurement device and method.

[0004] A respiratory metabolism measurement device according to the present invention includes: a chamber, a gas exchange module, a gas analyzer and controller, and a computer;

[0005] The chamber is for placing the object to be tested. The chamber is equipped with an air inlet and an air outlet. The air inlet is used to introduce fresh ambient air, and the air outlet is connected to a ventilation module. The ventilation module is used to draw air from the chamber to drive ventilation.

[0006] The gas analyzer and controller are used to detect the oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in the ambient air entering the cabin and the gas extracted from the cabin; the gas analyzer and controller perform detection using a switching mode or a reference mode;

[0007] The computer communicates with the gas analyzer and controller to receive data collected by the gas analyzer and controller, and to calculate the oxygen concentration difference and carbon dioxide concentration difference between the ambient air and the exhaust gas from the cabin to assess the energy metabolism status.

[0008] Preferably, the gas analyzer and controller is equipped with an array of sensors; the array of sensors includes an oxygen concentration sensor group, a carbon dioxide concentration sensor group, and a temperature, humidity, and pressure sensor group. The oxygen concentration sensor group contains multiple oxygen concentration sensors, the carbon dioxide concentration sensor group contains multiple carbon dioxide concentration sensors, and the temperature, humidity, and pressure sensor group contains multiple temperature sensors, humidity sensors, and pressure sensors. The oxygen concentration sensors, carbon dioxide concentration sensors, and temperature, humidity, and pressure sensors are all installed in a sensor compartment. The sensor compartment has a gas inlet and a gas outlet. The gas to be measured enters from the gas inlet and exits from the gas outlet.

[0009] Preferably, there are multiple gas analyzers and controllers, and the multiple gas analyzers and controllers are connected in series; the computer can be connected to multiple gas analyzers and controllers and multiple chambers at the same time to synchronously analyze the measurement data of multiple channels.

[0010] Preferably, the chamber has multiple sizes to accommodate test subjects of different body types; the chamber is equipped with a drinking water device, a feeding device, and a weight monitoring device.

[0011] Preferably, the specific process of the switching mode is as follows: first, a set of gas analyzers and controllers collect ambient air for a preset time to obtain the ambient oxygen concentration and ambient carbon dioxide concentration, and then switch to collecting the gas discharged from the chamber. By calculating the difference in oxygen concentration and carbon dioxide concentration between the chamber exhaust and the ambient air, the oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production of the tested object are obtained, and then the energy metabolism rate is calculated.

[0012] Preferably, the specific process of the reference mode is as follows: multiple sets of gas analyzers and controllers are configured in parallel, one set of gas analyzers and controllers is not connected to the chamber or is connected to a chamber without experimental subjects, and serves as a reference channel to measure the ambient air in real time; another set of gas analyzers and controllers is connected to the chamber containing the test subject and collects the chamber exhaust in real time; by synchronously calculating the concentration difference between the ambient air in the reference channel and the chamber exhaust, the oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production of the test subject are obtained.

[0013] Preferably, the software running on the computer has the following functions:

[0014] -Experiment Management: Supports creating new experiments, retrieving experiment information, and modifying experiment information;

[0015] - Experimental settings: Supports setting the ventilation flow rate and sampling flow rate, and supports calibration of gas sensors and weighing sensors;

[0016] - Sampling control: Supports one-click start of simultaneous sampling of multiple channels;

[0017] - Data Analysis: Supports opening experimental data files, plotting raw data curves and indicator change curves, and supports intake analysis, gas analysis, trajectory analysis and comparative analysis.

[0018] Preferably, the calibration in the experimental setup includes: calibrating the oxygen concentration sensor and carbon dioxide concentration sensor in the gas analyzer and controller using standard gas; and zeroing and calibrating the water weight sensor, food weight sensor, and body weight sensor in each channel chamber using standard weights.

[0019] A respiratory metabolism measurement method according to the present invention includes the following steps:

[0020] Step S1: Select a suitable size chamber according to the body size of the subject, place the subject into the chamber, and ensure that the drinking, eating and weight monitoring devices inside the chamber are working properly;

[0021] Step S2: Set up the experiment using computer software: set the ventilation flow rate and sampling flow rate, calibrate the oxygen concentration sensor and carbon dioxide concentration sensor using standard gas, and calibrate the water, food, and weight sensors using standard weights;

[0022] Step S3: Select the measurement mode, start the ventilation module and gas analysis and controller, and click "Start Sampling" on the computer to simultaneously collect data on oxygen concentration, carbon dioxide concentration, temperature, humidity and pressure of ambient air and cabin exhaust.

[0023] Step S4: After sampling, open the experimental data file through the software's "Data Analysis" module, plot the index curve, perform intake analysis, gas analysis, trajectory analysis and comparative analysis, and export the analysis data or charts as needed.

[0024] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0025] 1. This invention solves the problems of inaccurate gas concentration detection and poor consistency between different sensors by using an array sensor structure.

[0026] 2. By using a sensor group composed of multiple gas sensors, the concentration of a certain gas in the gas to be measured can be measured simultaneously. After discarding outliers, the average value is taken, which solves the problem of gas concentration measurement error caused by the inconsistency of the sensors themselves.

[0027] 3. The gas analyzers and controllers for each channel are connected in series, and each channel has an independent gas analyzer and controller that communicates with the computer software. The number of channels can be selected as needed to avoid resource waste.

[0028] 4. When there are multiple channels and the sensors in each channel are required to be consistent, the use of an array-type gas concentration sensor structure can effectively solve the problem of inconsistency between sensors and ensure good data consistency between channels.

[0029] 5. This invention, by adding a group of temperature, humidity, and pressure sensors, accurately measures the temperature, humidity, and pressure of the gas being tested. The measured data is used to compensate for the gas concentration, thus solving the problem of concentration measurement deviations caused by differences in the temperature, humidity, and pressure of the gas being tested. It also solves the problem of deviations caused by changes in the temperature, humidity, and pressure of the measurement environment.

[0030] 6. This invention solves the problems of inaccurate gas concentration measurement when the gas concentration sensor switches from the environment to the measurement environment by using an environmental and in-cabin measurement reference mode. Attached Figure Description

[0031] Other features, objects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings:

[0032] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the system structure in this invention;

[0033] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the array sensor structure in this invention;

[0034] Figure 3 This is a graph showing the trend of oxygen concentration changes during the switching modes of this invention.

[0035] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures:

[0036] Detailed Implementation

[0037] The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to specific embodiments. These embodiments will help those skilled in the art to further understand the present invention, but do not limit the invention in any way. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make several changes and improvements without departing from the concept of the present invention. These all fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0038] This invention discloses a respiratory metabolism measurement device, with reference to Figure 1As shown, the system includes a chamber 1, a ventilation module 2, a gas analyzer and controller 3, and a computer 4. The object being tested is located inside the chamber 1, which has an air inlet and an air outlet. The air inlet ensures that fresh ambient air can enter the chamber 1, while the air outlet connects to the ventilation module 2, which is used to extract air from the chamber 1 to drive ventilation. The gas analyzer and controller 3 detects the oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in the ambient air entering the chamber 1 and the extracted gas. The collected data is transmitted to the computer 4, where software analyzes the data, plots dynamic curves, calculates the concentration difference between the oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in the entering and extracted gas, and combines this with the ventilation flow rate to calculate the animal's or human's oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production, thereby assessing their energy metabolism status.

[0039] In a preferred embodiment, the test subject can be an animal or a human, and the chamber 1 has different sizes to accommodate animals or humans of different body types. The chamber 1 is equipped with drinking, feeding, and weight monitoring devices, as well as necessary living facilities, allowing for long-term testing. The software can simultaneously connect multiple channels of gas analyzers and controllers 3 and multiple chambers 1, analyzing data from multiple channels concurrently. The multi-channel gas analyzers and controllers 3 are connected in series.

[0040] In a preferred embodiment, the gas analyzer and controller 3 employs an array sensor 5. The array sensor 5 includes an oxygen concentration sensor group 6, a carbon dioxide concentration sensor group 7, and a temperature, humidity, and pressure sensor group 8. The oxygen concentration sensor group 6 has multiple oxygen concentration sensors 9, installed in a sensor compartment 11. The carbon dioxide concentration sensor group 7 has multiple carbon dioxide concentration sensors 10, installed in the sensor compartment 11. The temperature, humidity, and pressure sensor group 8 has multiple temperature sensors, humidity sensors, and pressure sensors, respectively, installed in the sensor compartment 11. In use, the gas to be measured enters the sensor compartment 11 through the gas inlet 12 and exits through the gas outlet 13.

[0041] In a preferred embodiment, the gas analyzer and controller 3 performs respiratory measurements using either a switching mode or a reference mode. Specifically, the switching mode employs a set of gas concentration sensors to first collect ambient oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations for a period of time, and then switches to in-cabin sampling. The oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production are calculated using the difference between the oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations from the in-cabin sampling and the ambient sampling, and then the energy metabolism rate is calculated.

[0042] The reference mode uses two sets of gas concentration sensors in parallel. One channel of the gas analyzer and controller 3 is not connected to the chamber 1, or there is no experimental object in the chamber. It is used to measure the ambient air entering the chamber 1 as the reference channel environment. The other channel samples the chamber 1 containing the test object. The environmental sampling and the chamber sampling are carried out simultaneously, and the concentration difference, oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production are calculated in real time.

[0043] The reference mode has the following advantages:

[0044] 1. Avoid deviations caused by asynchronous measurements. In the switching mode, the environmental reference value and the in-chamber sampling value are not measured simultaneously. However, the reference mode measures the environmental reference value and the in-chamber sampling value simultaneously, avoiding the influence of fluctuations in ambient gas concentration on the measurement.

[0045] 2. Avoid measurement deviations caused by switching. When a gas concentration sensor switches to different gas sources, changes in gas concentration, temperature, and humidity require a certain response time, which can cause measurement data deviations. Reference mode, on the other hand, does not experience data fluctuations due to switching. For example... Figure 3 The graph shows the trend of oxygen concentration changes under switching modes. The red arrows indicate sudden changes in measured values ​​caused by the switching.

[0046] The following section provides a more detailed explanation of the software operation and analysis process.

[0047] (1) Experiment Management: Enter the main interface of the software and click "Experiment Management" to create new experiments, search and modify experimental information.

[0048] (2) Experiment settings: Click “Experiment settings” on the main interface of the software to enter the experiment settings interface.

[0049] 1. Set flow rate: You can set the ventilation flow rate and sampling flow rate.

[0050] 2. Gas sensor calibration: The oxygen concentration sensor 9 and carbon dioxide concentration sensor 10 in each gas analyzer and controller 3 can be calibrated using standard gases.

[0051] 3. Weighing sensor calibration: Standard weights can be used to zero and calibrate the water, food, and weight sensors in each channel chamber 1.

[0052] (3) Sampling: Return to the main interface and click "Start Sampling" to sample each channel.

[0053] (4) Data analysis;

[0054] 1. Enter the "Data Analysis" module, click "Open File", and select the experimental data to be opened (by default, it is saved in the EMRData folder under the root directory of the installation disk).

[0055] 2. Click "Draw" to display the plotted chart and data under the "Basic Parameters" tab of "Raw Data". Click the indicator name on the right side of the chart to show or hide the curve of that indicator. Use the mouse wheel to zoom in or out of the display area, left-click to select and zoom in on the area of ​​interest, and right-click to move and change the display area.

[0056] 3. Click "Draw Change Curve" to display the changing trends of each indicator under the "Change Curve" tab.

[0057] 4. Click the "Intake Analysis" tab, enter the time interval, and click "Plot" to draw curves for food intake, water intake, and weight, as well as event markers. Select a region on the curve, right-click, and then click the "Analyze" button to perform a summary analysis of that region. The analysis data is displayed in the right-hand window. You can also right-click and select "Export Image."

[0058] 5. Click the "Gas Analysis" tab to analyze oxygen concentration, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide concentration, carbon dioxide production, RER, and EE.

[0059] 6. Click the "Trajectory Analysis" tab to analyze the motion data.

[0060] ① Right-click the channel to be analyzed and click "Draw Trajectory" to display a point map of the activity of the object being measured.

[0061] ② You can select a specific time period for analysis, or you can analyze them together. Right-click on the drawn point map, click Analyze Data, and the activity data will appear, such as "movement distance", "number of activities", "number of standing", "duration", and time period.

[0062] ③ The drawn point map can be exported as an image and a PDF.

[0063] 7. Click the "Comparative Analysis" tab to compare and analyze the changes of a certain indicator in each channel.

[0064] ① Data collected during environmental sampling can be manually filtered. Simply enter the corresponding parameters for the environmental duration and cabin duration in the comparative analysis submenu, as set during environmental measurement. For example, if the environmental measurement is set to 150 minutes in the cabin and 30 minutes in the environment, simply enter "150" and "30" for the environmental duration and cabin duration in the comparative analysis.

[0065] ②RER Filtering: This allows you to filter the range of RER data. After entering the filter information in the filter field, click "List Data" and then "Analyze Data" to see the filtered data.

[0066] ③ Statistical average: You can set the statistical average interval. After setting it, clicking "Draw" and "List Data" will display the averaged data and curves.

[0067] ④ Data Export: Right-click on the data list to export the analyzed data in Excel or PDF format.

[0068] In the description of this application, it should be understood that the terms "upper", "lower", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this application.

[0069] Specific embodiments of the present invention have been described above. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and those skilled in the art can make various changes or modifications within the scope of the claims, which do not affect the essence of the present invention. Unless otherwise specified, the embodiments and features described in this application can be arbitrarily combined with each other.

Claims

1. A respiratory metabolism measuring device, characterized in that, include: The cabin (1), the ventilation module (2), the gas analyzer and controller (3), and the computer (4); The chamber (1) is for placing the object to be tested. The chamber (1) is provided with an air inlet and an air outlet. The air inlet is used to introduce fresh ambient air, and the air outlet is connected to the ventilation module (2). The ventilation module (2) is used to draw air from the chamber (1) to drive ventilation. The gas analyzer and controller (3) is used to detect the oxygen concentration and carbon dioxide concentration in the ambient air entering the cabin (1) and the gas extracted from the cabin (1); the gas analyzer and controller (3) uses a switching mode or a reference mode for detection; The computer (4) communicates with the gas analyzer and controller (3) to receive data collected by the gas analyzer and controller (3) and calculate the oxygen concentration difference and carbon dioxide concentration difference between the ambient air and the exhaust gas from the cabin to assess the energy metabolism status.

2. The respiratory metabolism measuring device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The gas analyzer and controller (3) is equipped with an array of sensors (5); the array of sensors (5) includes an oxygen concentration sensor group (6), a carbon dioxide concentration sensor group (7), and a temperature, humidity and pressure sensor group (8). The oxygen concentration sensor group (6) contains multiple oxygen concentration sensors (9), the carbon dioxide concentration sensor group (7) contains multiple carbon dioxide concentration sensors (10), and the temperature, humidity and pressure sensor group (8) contains multiple temperature sensors, humidity sensors and pressure sensors. The oxygen concentration sensors (9), carbon dioxide concentration sensors (10) and temperature, humidity and pressure sensors are all installed in the sensor compartment (11). The sensor compartment (11) is equipped with a tracheal inlet (12) and a tracheal outlet (13). The gas to be measured enters from the tracheal inlet (12) and exits from the tracheal outlet (13).

3. The respiratory metabolism measuring device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The gas analyzer and controller (3) is configured as multiple, and the multiple gas analyzers and controllers (3) are connected in series; the computer (4) can be connected to multiple gas analyzers and controllers (3) and multiple chambers (1) at the same time to synchronously analyze the measurement data of multiple channels.

4. The respiratory metabolism measuring device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The chamber (1) has various sizes to accommodate different body types of test subjects; the chamber (1) is equipped with a drinking water device, a feeding device, and a weight monitoring device.

5. The respiratory metabolism measuring device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The specific process of the switching mode is as follows: A set of gas analyzers and controllers (3) first collects ambient air for a preset time to obtain ambient oxygen concentration and ambient carbon dioxide concentration, and then switches to collecting the gas discharged from the chamber (1). By calculating the difference in oxygen concentration and carbon dioxide concentration between the chamber exhaust and the ambient air, the oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production of the test object are obtained, and then the energy metabolism rate is calculated.

6. The respiratory metabolism measuring device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The specific process of the reference mode is as follows: multiple sets of gas analyzers and controllers (3) are configured in parallel. One set of gas analyzers and controllers (3) is not connected to the chamber (1) or is connected to the chamber (1) without experimental objects, and serves as a reference channel to measure the ambient air in real time. Another set of gas analyzers and controllers (3) is connected to the chamber (1) containing the test object and collects the chamber exhaust in real time. By synchronously calculating the concentration difference between the ambient air in the reference channel and the chamber exhaust, the oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production of the test object are obtained.

7. The respiratory metabolism measuring device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The software running on the computer (4) has the following functions: -Experiment Management: Supports creating new experiments, retrieving experiment information, and modifying experiment information; - Experimental settings: Supports setting the ventilation flow rate and sampling flow rate, and supports calibration of gas sensors and weighing sensors; - Sampling control: Supports one-click start of simultaneous sampling of multiple channels; - Data Analysis: Supports opening experimental data files, plotting raw data curves and indicator change curves, and supports intake analysis, gas analysis, trajectory analysis and comparative analysis.

8. The respiratory metabolism measuring device according to claim 6, characterized in that, The calibration in the experimental setup includes: calibrating the oxygen concentration sensor (9) and carbon dioxide concentration sensor (10) in the gas analyzer and controller (3) using standard gas; and zeroing and calibrating the water weight sensor, food weight sensor and body weight sensor in each channel chamber (1) using standard weights.

9. A method for measuring respiratory metabolism, characterized in that, The respiratory metabolism measuring device according to any one of claims 1 to 8 includes the following steps: Step S1: Select a suitable size chamber (1) according to the body size of the subject, put the subject into the chamber (1), and ensure that the drinking, eating and weight monitoring devices in the chamber (1) are working properly; Step S2: Set up the experiment using the software of the computer (4): set the ventilation flow rate and sampling flow rate, calibrate the oxygen concentration sensor (9) and carbon dioxide concentration sensor (10) using standard gas, and calibrate the water, food and weight sensors using standard weights; Step S3: Select the measurement mode, start the ventilation module (2) and gas analysis and controller (3), and click "Start Sampling" on the computer (4) to simultaneously collect data on the oxygen concentration, carbon dioxide concentration, temperature, humidity and pressure of the ambient air and the exhaust from the cabin (1); Step S4: After sampling, open the experimental data file through the software's "Data Analysis" module, plot the index curve, perform intake analysis, gas analysis, trajectory analysis and comparative analysis, and export the analysis data or charts as needed.

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