Positive expiratory pressure therapy is safe and effective for the prevention, reversal of atelectasis and removal of pulmonary secretions. The experimental study aimed to elaborate a physiotherapeutic device capable of generating positive expiratory pressure for patients in spontaneous breathing and evaluating their mechanical performance. The composition of the physiotherapeutic device consisted of 14 components, produced in aluminum and plastic, allowing to present characteristics of a flow-dependent non-gravitational resistor. The pressures obtained through the high flux flowmeter model Certifir® FA TSI (TSI Corporated, USA) had influence of the orifice strength with diameters of 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0mm, five-piston weights (1.5; 1.6, 2.0, 3.2 and 3.8g) and constant flows of 3, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 12L/min or piston firing flow. Among the five pistons, the piston 4 (3.2g) presented a better statistically significant result, reaching a pressure of 20cmH2O with flows of 8.16L/min, for the 1.5mm diameter bore. The proposed PEP device can generate therapeutic pressures between 10 and 20cmH2O, through a variation of low expiratory flows. It presents as singular characteristic the association of the diameter of the orifice with the weight of the piston to generate the positive pressure. Future studies are needed in order to promote the validation of the physiotherapeutic device in healthy children and subsequent analysis in patients with pulmonary conditions to obtain scientific data that represent our clinical practice.
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