Application of CFD in Designing Spacers: A Novel Approach
Abstract The aim of this paper is to report on a novel approach used in designing spacer (a biomedical device used to aid inhalation of the drug). The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique has been around for some years, but to date has not been used in designing spacers. In the present study the commercial CFD engines used were FLUENT-5.1.1 and PHOENICS. The study covered a large area taking into account various parameter changes such as the inlet boundary condition i.e. changing the velocity at inlet, varying the jet angle at entry to the spacer and the actual length of the spacer. The results were possible were compared to the experimental data available and generally the comparison was good. The findings from this research have highlighted, that there is an optimum size of 6cm and inlet velocity of 30m/s which result in an increased efficiency. It was also found that there is an optimum time of 0.4 sec. For which the highest drug concentration appears to be present.