Nasal Evaporative Cooling Device for Desiccation Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods and devices for non-invasive anatomical and systemic cooling and neuroprotection do not effectively utilize evaporative cooling to remove heat, energy, and fluid from the human body without causing desiccation or requiring invasive procedures.
Innovation Solution
A device that delivers isolated streams of dry air and liquid water to the nasal turbinates using separate delivery paths, leveraging evaporative cooling to extract heat and fluid from the body while avoiding contact between the streams, and incorporating a PID control system for temperature regulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If dry air is blown across the nasal turbinates to promote evaporative cooling, then heat and energy are removed from the body, but the local tissue may become desiccated
Solution Approach 1:
A saline solution spray is introduced as an intermediary substance that lands on the nasal turbinates before the dry air stream. This spray acts as a protective layer that allows evaporative cooling to occur while preventing direct desiccation of the tissue, thus mediating between the cooling effect and the harmful drying effect
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the humidity parameter of the air stream by mixing it with a saline spray. This modifies the physical state of the air-water interaction on the nasal turbinates, enabling controlled evaporation that removes heat while the saline component prevents excessive water loss from the tissue
2Reliability
If separate delivery paths are used for dry air and water to avoid mixing, then controlled evaporation is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The delivery system is segmented into separate channels for dry air and water/saline spray. Each component has its own independent delivery path that converges only at the point of application on the nasal turbinates. This segmentation ensures controlled evaporation by preventing premature mixing while managing complexity through modular, independent delivery mechanisms
3Temperature
If evaporative cooling is used to remove heat from the body, then systemic cooling is achieved, but fluid loss from the body increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention recovers and reuses the saline spray solution that is deposited on the nasal turbinates during the evaporative cooling process. Instead of allowing the fluid to be lost, the system captures and recycles this solution, converting a harmful fluid loss into a beneficial reusable cooling medium
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
Effectively removes heat and fluid from the body while maintaining moisture balance, providing systemic cooling, metabolic rate adjustment, and preventing desiccation, suitable for ambulatory and emergency settings.
Implementation Method 1
Evaporative cooling is a physical phenomenon in which the evaporation of a liquid results in the cooling of an object or a liquid in contact with it, due to the fact that it requires heat or energy to change a liquid into a gas.
Implementation Method 2
The amount of energy required to change a liquid to a gas is directly proportional to the total mass of liquid that is changed to a gas and the enthalpy of vaporization.
Implementation Method 3
The supplied saline solution is used to both support or augment the evaporative heat transfer process and to help reduce or eliminate the potential to desiccate the local tissue in the air pathway
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides improved devices for removing energy and fluid from body fluid containing spaces and surfaces of a mammal, the devices including isolated air and water delivery systems configured to simultaneously deliver streams of dry air and liquid water to the nostrils of a patient, without allowing the streams to come into contact with one-another until it enters the patient's nostrils.