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Quantifying Agglomerate-to-Wall Impaction in Dry Powder Inhalers

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Abstract

Purpose

The probability of agglomerate-to-wall collision was quantified using a unique image processing technique applied to high-speed microscopic images. The study aimed to investigate the effects of flow rate and particle size on the percentage of colliding agglomerates detected within an in-house powder dispersion device.

Method

The device consists of a swirl chamber and two tangential inlets in various configurations, designed to emulate the geometric features of commercial devices such as the Aerolizer® and Osmohaler®. The test cases were conducted with constant flow rates of 30 SLPM and 60 SLPM. Four powder samples were tested, including carrier Respitose® SV010 (median volume diameter 104 µm, span 1.7) and mannitol of three constituent primary particle sizes (3 µm, 5 µm and 7 µm; span 1.6 – 1.9).

Results

At the lower flow rate of 30 SLPM, collision frequencies were significantly different between powders of different constituent particle sizes, but the effects of powder properties diminished on increasing the flow rate to 60 SLPM. At the higher flow rate, all powders experienced a significant increase in the proportion of colliding particles.

Conclusion

Analysis of collision events showed that the probability of collision for each agglomerate increased with agglomerate diameter and velocity. Experimental data of agglomerate-to-wall collision were utilised to develop a logistic regression model that can accurately predict collisions with various powders and flow rates.

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Data Availability

Data analysed during this study are included in the published article (and its supplementary information files). Further raw data generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was funded by the Australian Research Council under Grant Number LP190100842.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Athiya Azeem, Gajendra Singh & Agisilaos Kourmatzis

  2. School of Engineering, IIT Mandi, Mandi, HP, 175075, India

    Gajendra Singh

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Lunjian Li & Runyu Yang

  4. School of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Hak-Kim Chan

  5. School of Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Shaokoon Cheng

Authors
  1. Athiya Azeem
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  2. Gajendra Singh
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  4. Hak-Kim Chan
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  5. Runyu Yang
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  7. Agisilaos Kourmatzis
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All authors have contributed equally.

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Correspondence to Agisilaos Kourmatzis.

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Azeem, A., Singh, G., Li, L. et al. Quantifying Agglomerate-to-Wall Impaction in Dry Powder Inhalers. Pharm Res 40, 307–319 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-022-03446-0

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