Abstract

Dry powder inhaler (DPI) development is a focus of many drug manufacturer and product development firms due to the technology’s versatility and device-drug combination patentability. The use of cyclone separators has been the centerpiece of several DPI designs to facilitate drug mixing as well as powder filtration for increased pulmonary delivery performance. Since the scale of such cyclones (~1cm) make it difficult to gather relevant experimental evidence, a fundamental study is carried out using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and empirical models to answer the ultimate question: “How to design an inhaler that delivers a consistent dose to a wide demographic of patients?” This brief talk will cover considerations in human factors, healthcare, CFD and optimization, so all are welcome to join the discussion.