Pulse

Pictures do not represent finished device. Only a prototype.

About the Pulse

The Pulse is a fully automatic, breath-actuated inhaler. It’s primarily designed for people with arthritis and those who struggle with coordination. It has a high-contrast, sunlight-readable eInk display showing the number of remaining puffs. The counter is larger than conventional inhaler counters, making it easier to read for people who may otherwise require glasses.

Traditional inhalers require you to deliver around 50N of force using your fingers while controlling your breathing at the same time. Many people develop arthritis with age, which can cause pain when using this type of mechanical device. Grips have been developed to change the way inhalers are actuated, but they don’t always work well for everyone.

Often, people using an inhaler are already experiencing shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, so the goal here is to reduce the difficulty of using the device as much as possible. Also, when you’re focusing on trying to breathe, it’s difficult to precisely time the inhalation of your medication with the actuation of the canister.

The pulse solves these problems by automating everything. When you need to use your inhaler, you just shake it, hold it to your mouth, and breathe. No need to push or carefully time anything.

It waits for you to begin breathing in, and if it detects a steady and rapid inhalation, it will trigger the cam mechanism and force the metal canister of medication down into a spray nozzle, releasing a metered dose. If you fail to breath in with enough force, it will try to detect this and ask you to retry.

The Pulse shares the same physical form as a traditional inhaler, including the top-down manual actuation, which means that- if you need to (because of the batteries going dead or a software/mechanical glitch), you can still operate it manually.

Because the Pulse runs Espruino, it’s able to achieve insanely long battery life. It will spend almost all of its idle time sleeping, with sensors and hardware timers automatically disabled. You should be able to run it for weeks or even months. When it does come time to recharge, it has a convenient USB-C charge port.

How does it work?

The Pulse detects your inhalation, and delivers one metered dose from a standard-sized inhaler canister of your choosing.

Why did you make it?

As a person with asthma who uses an inhaler regularly, I realized they have some flaws which might be difficult for those with disabilities to overcome. These include excessive use of force to dispense medication for those with arthritis, and difficult-to-master timing for children and those who struggle with coordination.