Real time monitoring of temperature and humidity of the air conditioned by Heat and Moisture Exchangers (HMEs) and delivered to patients in intensive care units (ICU) is highly demanded by physicians. As demonstrated by recent literature, only in vivo monitoring of HMEs performances with compact portable measuring systems suitable for ICU routines could provide reliable results. One of the main challenges for these devices is represented by the response time of the integrated temperature and humidity sensors. Long response times might introduce delays and thus make it impossible to follow the actual parameter variation in real time during each breath. In order to overcome this issue, innovative commercial ultra-fast sensors for temperature and humidity monitoring have been properly integrated and characterized in a portable wireless system for in vivo HME monitoring. Tests were performed in laboratory under static and dynamic settings. Response times at 36.8% of about 32 ms and 155 ms were obtained, respectively, for temperature and for humidity sensors. An improvement respect to available devices was thus obtained, achieving a proper monitoring of humidity variations up to 35 acts/minute with a maximum error of 5%. Considering the typical range of respiratory frequency monitored in the ICU, these results make the system suitable for real time evaluation of air conditioning during mechanical ventilation, combining the portability required for integration in the ICU routine with measurement accuracy.

中文翻译：

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用于重症监护病房实时湿度和温度监测的改进型便携式测量装置

医生对由热湿交换器 (HME) 调节并提供给重症监护病房 (ICU) 患者的空调的温度和湿度进行实时监测是医生的强烈要求。正如最近的文献所证明的那样，只有使用适用于 ICU 常规的紧凑型便携式测量系统对 HME 性能进行体内监测才能提供可靠的结果。这些设备面临的主要挑战之一是集成温度和湿度传感器的响应时间。较长的响应时间可能会导致延迟，从而无法在每次呼吸期间实时跟踪实际参数变化。为了克服这个问题，用于温度和湿度监测的创新商用超快速传感器已正确集成并表征在用于体内 HME 监测的便携式无线系统中。测试在实验室中在静态和动态设置下进行。对于温度和湿度传感器，分别获得了约 32 毫秒和 155 毫秒的 36.8% 响应时间。因此获得了对可用设备的改进，实现了对高达 35 动作/分钟的湿度变化的正确监测，最大误差为 5%。考虑到 ICU 中监测的呼吸频率的典型范围，这些结果使该系统适用于机械通气期间空调的实时评估，将集成到 ICU 例行程序所需的便携性与测量精度相结合。测试在实验室中在静态和动态设置下进行。对于温度和湿度传感器，分别获得了约 32 毫秒和 155 毫秒的 36.8% 响应时间。因此获得了对可用设备的改进，实现了对高达 35 动作/分钟的湿度变化的正确监测，最大误差为 5%。考虑到 ICU 中监测的呼吸频率的典型范围，这些结果使该系统适用于机械通气期间空调的实时评估，将集成到 ICU 例行程序所需的便携性与测量精度相结合。测试在实验室中在静态和动态设置下进行。对于温度和湿度传感器，分别获得了约 32 毫秒和 155 毫秒的 36.8% 响应时间。因此获得了对可用设备的改进，实现了对高达 35 动作/分钟的湿度变化的正确监测，最大误差为 5%。考虑到 ICU 中监测的呼吸频率的典型范围，这些结果使该系统适用于机械通气期间空调的实时评估，将集成到 ICU 例行程序所需的便携性与测量精度相结合。因此获得了对可用设备的改进，实现了对高达 35 动作/分钟的湿度变化的正确监测，最大误差为 5%。考虑到 ICU 中监测的呼吸频率的典型范围，这些结果使该系统适用于机械通气期间空调的实时评估，将集成到 ICU 例行程序所需的便携性与测量精度相结合。因此获得了对可用设备的改进，实现了对高达 35 动作/分钟的湿度变化的正确监测，最大误差为 5%。考虑到 ICU 中监测的呼吸频率的典型范围，这些结果使该系统适合在机械通气期间实时评估空调，将集成到 ICU 例行程序所需的便携性与测量精度相结合。