Flow Modification Device for Aerosol Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aerosol medication delivery devices often result in a significant percentage of medication being deposited in the mouth, throat, and trachea rather than reaching the lungs, due to turbulence in the fluid stream causing particles to impact the walls of the flow passage, leading to inefficiencies in medication delivery and potential side effects.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of a cylindrical spacer device with a plurality of dividers that systematically and sequentially divide the flow passage into smaller sub-passages, aligning and guiding the air and medication droplets to maintain laminar flow, reducing particle deposition on the passage walls and enhancing delivery to the lungs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a simple cylindrical spacer is used to hold aerosol medication, then the device is simple and easy to manufacture, but turbulence causes medication particles to impact the walls and be deposited in the mouth and throat rather than reaching the lungs
Solution Approach 1:
The flow passage is divided into multiple sequential portions with dividers creating sub-flow passages. This segmentation reduces turbulence by breaking the single large flow into smaller controlled streams, allowing medication particles to remain suspended and travel with the air flow to the lungs rather than impacting the walls.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the flow passage have different structures optimized for their specific function. The inlet portion allows aerosol entry, intermediate portions have dividers for flow control, and the outlet portion delivers to the patient. Each section has tailored flow characteristics to achieve laminar flow and proper particle suspension in that local region.
2Reliability
If dividers are added to create multiple sub-flow passages to reduce turbulence, then medication delivery to lungs is improved, but the device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple dividers are nested within the cylindrical spacer housing, with each divider creating additional sub-flow passages. The dividers are positioned sequentially along the length of the spacer, with later dividers dividing the flow created by earlier dividers. This nested arrangement achieves complex flow control within a simple cylindrical outer structure that is relatively easy to manufacture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly increases the percentage of medication that reaches the lungs by minimizing turbulence and ensuring that air and medication droplets travel in the same direction, reducing waste and side effects, and improving the overall effectiveness of medication delivery.
Implementation Method 1
aligning and guiding the air and medication droplets to maintain laminar flow, reducing particle deposition on the passage walls
Implementation Method 2
turbulence in the fluid stream causing particles to impact the walls of the flow passage
Data Source
AI summary
A basic air flow device includes a flow passage having opposite ends. The flow passage is divided into a plurality of sequential portions between the ends including an inlet portion extending into the flow passage from an inlet end, an outlet portion disposed at the opposite end of the flow passage from the inlet portion, and at least one intermediate passage portion between the inlet passage portion and the outlet passage portion. Each of a plurality of divider sets are positioned in a different sequential portion of the passage to divide that passage portion into a predetermined number of sub passages, whereby the flow passage is sequentially divided into an increasing number of sub flow passages progressing from the inlet portion to the outlet portion. A larger device can be assembled using a parallel plurality of the basic devices.