The air-conditioning capacity of the human nose.
The nose is the front line defender of the respiratory system. Unsteady simulations in three-dimensional models have been developed to study transport patterns in the human nose and its overall air-conditioning capacity. The results suggested that the healthy nose can efficiently provide about 90% of the heat and the water fluxes required to condition the ambient inspired air to near alveolar conditions in a variety of environmental conditions and independent of variations in internal structural components. The anatomical replica of the human nose showed the best performance and was able to provide 92% of the heating and 96% of the moisture needed to condition the inspired air to alveolar conditions. A detailed analysis explored the relative contribution of endonasal structural components to the air-conditioning process. During a moderate breathing effort, about 11% reduction in the efficacy of nasal air-conditioning capacity was observed.
Naftali
Sara
S
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Rosenfeld
Moshe
M
Wolf
Michael
M
Elad
David
D
D000388:Air; D000389:Air Conditioning / Q000379:methods; D001693:Biological Transport, Active / Q000502:physiology; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D006813:Humidity; D008954:Models, Biological; D009296:Nasal Cavity / Q000502:physiology*; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000502:physiology*; D009666:Nose / Q000502:physiology; D012123:Pulmonary Ventilation / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
D014867:Water