Patient assist system for totally disabled persons was developed which permits a person, so paralyzed as to be unable to move, to activate by breathing, a call system to summon assistance, turn the page of a book, ajust his bed, or do any one of a number of other things. System consists of patient assist control and breath actuated switch

Carpenter, B.

Nichols, C. D.

Schrader, M.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

Breath-Actuated Switch 
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September 1972	 B7210533 
NASA TECH BRIEF 
Langley Research Center
	 -4r 
NASA Tech Briefs announce new technology derived from the U.S. space program. They are issued to encourage 
commercial application. Tech Briefs are available on a subscription basis from the National Technical Information 
Service, Springfield, Virginia 22151. Requests for individual copies or questions relating to the Tech Brief program may 
be directed to the Technology Utilization Office, NASA, Code KT, Washington, D.C. 20546. 
Patient's Breath Controls Comfort Devices 
Channel	
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Channels 
Selections	 Under 
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Power 
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Power	 All Channels
Switches 
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Off	 Off 
Patient Assist Control 
A patient assist system for totally disabled persons 
has been developed which permits a person, so paralyzed 
as to be unable to move, to activate by breathing, a call 
system to summon assistance, turn the page of a book, 
adjust their bed, or do any one of a number of other 
things. 
The patient assist system consists of a patient assist 
control and a breath actuated switch. 
The breath actuated switch is mounted in such a 
position that the patient can operate it by merely 
blowing gently on either of two switches. One switch 
selects the channel on the patient assist control that is 
associated with the electrical device (such as radio, tele-
vision, etc.) that is desired, and the other switch controls 
the power to the selected channel by turning it either on 
or off.
The patient assist control is a logic unit which senses 
switch activations and controls the power application 
to the patient assist and comfort devices being used. It 
has a CHANNEL breath actuated switch which, when 
activated, triggers a decade counter in the logic unit. 
The decade counter is decremented by one count each 
time it is triggered; when it reaches zero, it automatically 
presets to the total number of assist or comfort device 
channels it provides. Thus, the decade counter selects 
each channel in sequence as it counts trigger pulses 
from the CHANNEL switch. The channel under selection 
at any time is displayed by a seven-segment indicator 
lamp located on the front panel of the control. Status 
of the power supplied to each channel is displayed by 
indicator lamps which are lighted when power is being 
supplied to the electrical device associated with that 
(continued overleaf) 
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https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19720000532 2020-03-17T03:35:11+00:00Z
channel. When a channel is selected, power to that 
channel may be turned on or off by use of the ON-OFF 
breath actuated switch. The power to a device will not 
be changed by the activation of the CHANNEL switch 
as it selects different channels. The same ON-OFF switch 
controls the power to all channels, but only to the 
channel under selection at any given time. 
The patient assist control can also operate through a 
remote power distribution unit if it is more convenient 
to connect the electrical devices to be controlled into 
a unit remote from a patient's bedside.
Note: 
Requests for further information may be directed to: 
Technology Utilization Officer 
Langley Research Center 
Hampton, Virginia 23365 
Reference: B72-10533 
Patent status: 
NASA has decided not to apply for a patent. 
Source: Melvin Schrader and Billy Carpenter of
Southwest Research Institute and 
Charles D. Nichols
Langley Research Center 
(LAR-1 1138) 
B72 . 10533	 Category 05, 02


Patient's breath controls comfort devices

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