Design of alternative inhaler system to improve the delivery of inhaled pharmaceutical aerosol (IPA)

Abstract

The Metered Dose Inhalers (MDI) is used to prevent and relieve the symptoms and progression of certain diseases (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis and bronchiectosis) by delivering the Inhaled Pharmaceutical Aerosols (IPA) to the desired area. The MDI is easily can be placed in a pocket or purse and ready to be used instantly and these are reasons why it is used widely. The spacer was used to avoid deposition of most IPA on the mouth throat area whereby it promotes the expansion and mixing of the IPA before it is inhaled. However, the IPA inhaling efficiency using MDI is relatively low compare to other methods. An objective of this project is to study a new design of alternative inhaler system that will increase the performance of IPA delivery in term of fluid dynamics characteristics. The SolidWorks and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software will be use to design an alternative inhaler system and analyze the IPA flow pattern inside the new design. The expected results should show that the best design of inhaler system will affect the characteristics of air flow and will give a better delivery of the IPA through MDI spacer.