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The Air-Conditioning Capacity of the Human Nose

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Abstract

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel

    Sara Naftali & David Elad DSc

  2. Department of Fluid Mechanics, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Moshe Rosenfeld

  3. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, The Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel

    Michael Wolf

  4. Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Michael Wolf

Authors
  1. Sara Naftali
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  2. Moshe Rosenfeld
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  3. Michael Wolf
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  4. David Elad DSc
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Correspondence to David Elad DSc.

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Naftali, S., Rosenfeld, M., Wolf, M. et al. The Air-Conditioning Capacity of the Human Nose. Ann Biomed Eng 33, 545–553 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-005-2513-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-005-2513-4

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