Computational and Experimental Investigations of a Novel Reusable Face Mask for Treating Sinusitis Disease
Masters of science (MSc) 2021
By
Persis Boshra Kirollos Rofail
Supervisors
Prof. Dr. Hassan A. El-Gamal
Mechanical Engineering Department
Faculty of Engineering College of Engineering and Technology
Alexandria University
Mechanical Engineering Department
College of Engineering and Technology
Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport
Abstract
Sinusitis disease has become widespread lately. Warming the sinus area with a facemask may prevent Sinusitis disease, which may occur due to the presence in a place cooler than body temperature. This thesis proposes experimentally the creation of a transparent facemask prototype that can maintain warmth in the nasal area and sinuses. It contains an overlap volume to improve temperature, CO2 and H2O comfort. Furthermore, a two-dimensional numerical study is presented using Ansys® FLUENT 2020 R1 (FLUENT 2020 R1, ANSYS STUDENT, Canonsburg, PA, USA) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to predict flow characteristics of velocity, temperature, and mass fraction of CO2 and H2O distributions during breathing cycles.
This approach is validated by comparing its results with the experimentally measured results for temperature using an Arduino Temperature sensor at a selected point within the experimental prototype. The results confirm that the mask achieves its purpose in warming nasal and sinus areas.
The sinuses region has been warmed until the steady-state is achieved without overheating. Also, The CO2 and H2O concentrations inside the mask are found to be small. The maximum value of the CO2 mass fraction is 0.07 in the area under the nostrils and is found to be 0.025 after about 18 breathing cycles with an average value of 0.01 at steadystate, which is not dangerous for the wearer. Thus, no anxiety due to CO2 mass fraction toxicity has been proven. The H2O mass fraction becomes 0.015 in the exhalation process and decreases to 0.0077 in the inhalation process.
In the experimental study, a DHT22 temperature sensor is used to measure the temperature inside the mask. As a novel mask, experimental results are used to validate the numerical results and an agreement is achieved.
Patent
Rola S. Afify, Persis B.K. Roufail, Hassan A.H. El-Gamal, “Reusable face mask for treating sinus disease”, Arab Republic of Egypt, Ministry of State for Scientific Research and Technology, Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Egyptian Patent Office, patent request no. 1597/2019.
Egyptian Innovation Bank (eib)
Published Papers
Rofail, P.B.K., Afify, R.S., El-Gamal, H.A., “Computational and Experimental Investigations of a Novel Reusable Face Mask for Treating Sinusitis Disease“, Ain Shams Engineering Journal, accepted, 2021.
Rofail, P.B.K., Afify, R.S., El-Gamal, H.A., “Computational Study of a Face Mask for Treating Sinus Disease”, 30th International Conference on Computer Theory and Applications (ICCTA 2020), Alexandria, Egypt, 12-14 December 2020.