The comparison of manual and LabVIEW-based fuzzy control on mechanical ventilation.

The aim of this article is to develop a knowledge-based therapy for management of rats with respiratory distress. A mechanical ventilator was designed to achieve this aim. The designed ventilator is called an intelligent mechanical ventilator since fuzzy logic was used to control the pneumatic equipment according to the rat's status. LabVIEW software was used to control all equipments in the ventilator prototype and to monitor respiratory variables in the experiment. The designed ventilator can be controlled both manually and by fuzzy logic. Eight female Wistar-Albino rats were used to test the designed ventilator and to show the effectiveness of fuzzy control over manual control on pressure control ventilation mode. The anesthetized rats were first ventilated for 20 min manually. After that time, they were ventilated for 20 min by fuzzy logic. Student's t-test for p < 0.05 was applied to the measured minimum, maximum and mean peak inspiration pressures to analyze the obtained results. The results show that there is no statistical difference in the rat's lung parameters before and after the experiments. It can be said that the designed ventilator and developed knowledge-based therapy support artificial respiration of living things successfully. © IMechE 2014.