Numerical and Experimental Investigation on Key Parameters of the Respimat® Spray Inhaler

Abstract

Respimat®Soft MistTM is a newly developed spray inhaler. Different from traditional nebulizers, metered-dose inhalers, and dry powder inhalers, this new type of inhaler can produce aerosols with long duration, relatively slow speed, and a high content of fine particles. Investigating the effect of the key geometric parameters of the device on the atomization is of great significance for generic product development and inhaler optimization. In this paper, a laser high-speed camera experimental platform is built, and important parameters such as the geometric pattern and particle size distribution of the Respimat®Soft MistTM are measured. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and the volume of fluid method coupled with the Shear Stress Transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model are applied to simulate the key geometric parameters of the device. The effects of geometric parameters on the spray velocity distribution and geometric pattern are obtained. The angle of flow collision, the sphere size of the central divider and the length and width of the flow channel show significant impacts on the spray atomization.