 Development of new spacer device geometry: a CFD study (Part I)Ricardo Oliveira, Senhorinha Teixeira, Luís Silva, José Teixeira and Henedina Antunes Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, vol. 15, issue 8, 825-833 Abstract: Asthma is a widespread disease, affecting more than 300 million individuals. The treatment in children is based upon an administration of a pressurised metered-dose inhaler added with a spacer. The efficiency of drug delivery to the patient is strongly affected by the transient airflow pattern inside the spacer device. This paper presents a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of airflow inside a commercially available spacer device with wide application. This study, carried out in Fluent™, was the basis of an optimisation procedure developed to improve the geometry of the spacer and develop a more efficient product. The results show that an appropriate control of the boundary layer development, by changing the spacer shape, reduces the length of the recirculation zones and improves the flow. It can be concluded that CFD is a powerful technique that can be successfully applied to optimise the geometry of such medical devices. Date: 2012 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:gcmbxx:v:15:y:2012:i:8:p:825-833 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/10255842.2011.563359 Access Statistics for this article Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering is currently edited by Director of Biomaterials John Middleton More articles in Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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