A novel micropump droplet generator for aerosol drug delivery: Design simulations

One challenge of generating a liquid aerosol is finding an efficient way to break up bulk amounts of the compound into micron-sized droplets. Traditional methods of aerosol generation focus on the principle of creating the liquid droplets by blowing air at high speed over or through a liquid. In this study, a novel micropump droplet generator (MDG) is proposed based on a microfluidics device to produce monodisperse droplets on demand (DoD). The micropump design was employed to both pump the fluid into the air and to encourage droplet breakup and aerosol formation. Computational simulation modeling of the new MDG was developed and validated with comparisons to experimental data for current generators. The device was found to produce an aerosol similar to a vibrating orifice DoD device. Most importantly, the input power required by the newly proposed device (MDG) was several orders of magnitude below existing DoD generators for a similar droplet output. Based on the simulation results obtained in comparison with current DoD generators, the MDG device performed effectively at higher frequencies, smaller nozzle diameters, and regardless of the liquid viscosity of the solution.