The transport of pharmaceutical dry powder inside an optically accessible inhaler-like device is studied using both macro- and microscopic high-speed imaging. The investigation aims to systematically study the effect of inflow modifications on the dispersion characteristics of agglomerates inside a dry powder inhaler (DPI) geometry. An inhaler device was designed with geometrical features akin to commercial inhalers used in the current market and research oriented inhalers such as the Twincer®: two offset inlet channels (one with a powder pocket), a clockwise swirling chamber and a single outlet channel. At the device outlet, a vacuum pump was fitted with an actuator and calibrated to achieve a steady state inhalation with a peak flowrate of 85 and 125 L/min. Airflow conditions at the intake of the device were strategically perturbed in order to induce powder fluidisation and dispersion using turbulence grids and through physically obstructing channel streams in order to achieve changes in flow behaviour (e.g., flow separation). Complete fluidisation of the powder bed was observed with image processing enabling statistics on de-agglomerated fragment size and velocity. A range of behaviour was noted including local turbulence through introduction of a grid, bimodal fragment size behaviour for cohesive mannitol powder, as well as introduction of low velocity zones in the device through flow splitting. The geometry enables simple systematic study of inflow conditions into a DPI-like device with the data being useful for study of a given powder formulation (mannitol) and validation of computational models.

使用宏观和微观高速成像研究了药物干粉在光学吸入器类装置内的传输。该研究旨在系统地研究流入量修改对干粉吸入器 (DPI) 几何结构内附聚物分散特性的影响。吸入器装置的几何特征类似于当前市场上使用的商业吸入器和研究型吸入器（例如 Twincer®）：两个偏置入口通道（一个带有粉末袋）、一个顺时针旋转室和一个出口通道。在装置出口处，真空泵安装有执行器并经过校准，以实现峰值流量为 85 和 125 L/min 的稳态吸入。装置入口处的气流条件被策略性地扰动，以便使用湍流网格并通过物理阻碍通道流来诱导粉末流化和分散，从而实现流动行为的变化（例如，流动分离）。通过图像处理观察到粉末床的完全流化，从而能够统计解团聚的碎片尺寸和速度。注意到一系列行为，包括通过引入网格而产生的局部湍流、粘性甘露醇粉末的双峰碎片尺寸行为，以及通过分流在装置中引入低速区域。该几何形状使得能够对类似 DPI 的装置的流入条件进行简单的系统研究，这些数据可用于研究给定的粉末配方（甘露醇）和验证计算模型。