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Chamber for indirect calorimetry with improved transient response

  • Biomedical Engineering
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Abstract

A chamber for indirect calorimetry has been constructed that utilises previously published general equations for the calculation of respiration. Owing to the large size of the chamber, the changes in gas concentration caused by a subject are very small. Therefore, algorithms are developed for noise suppression and trend identification. Using the exact solution of the equations for steady state, each gas concentration is fitted by a least square method to two connected exponential segments, of variable length, for the preceding 30 min period. Independently of the location of the join between the two segments, the gas concentration and its time derivative are evaluated at −15 min. This process is repeated, and its results are presented once every minute. As proven by gas injection tests, this procedure gives an instantaneous response to a single change in respiration, a correct averaging of repeated changes in respiration with periods of less than 15 min and noise suppression. It is concluded that this chamber is useful not only for traditional 24 h energy expenditure measurements, but also for experiments requiring rapid responses.

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Abbreviations

d/dt :

time derivative, s−1

F :

flow rate, in or out of chamber, m3s−1

f :

fractional concentration

p :

absolute pressure, Pa

R :

rate of gas production, m3s−1(STP)

t :

time, s

V :

gas volume of chamber, m3

Ψ:

conversion factor to dry STP conditions

EE :

energy expenditure, J

C :

carbohydrate oxidised, kg

F :

fat oxidised, kg

P :

protein oxidised, kg

N :

nitrogen excretion in urine, kg

c :

constant

CO 2 :

carbon dioxide

d :

dry

G :

any gas

i :

in-going

N 2 :

nitrogen

o :

out-going

O 2 :

oxygen

r :

rate of change

w :

water vapour

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Metabolic Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Hospital, 413 45, Göteborg, Sweden

    B. Henning, R. Löfgren & L. Sjöström

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  1. B. Henning
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  2. R. Löfgren
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  3. L. Sjöström
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Henning, B., Löfgren, R. & Sjöström, L. Chamber for indirect calorimetry with improved transient response. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 34, 207–212 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02520075

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02520075

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