• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.27-33
• /
• 2000

Objectives: The sensitivity and accuracy of thermistor airflow signal has been debated. The purposes of this study were to compare apnea-hypopnea index(AHI) detected from a conventional thermistor signal and a nasal pressure transducer of airflow(NPT), to evaluate the value of NPT for the diagnosis of upper airway resistance syndrome(UARS), and to measure airway pressure fluctuations which produced respiratory arousals in UARS by naso-oro-esophageal manometer catheter. The subjects were 30 patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome [mild(540), 10), and 6 UARS patients. Airway resistance arousal in this study was defined as arousals which were not associated with apnea or hypopnea of thermistor signal, but showed significant decrease of nasal airflow pressure just before arousal and a prompt recovery of nasal airflow pressure after arousal. The airway pressure fluctuations were measured during 260 airway resistance arousals observed in 10 patients with OSAS, 2 with UARS. Results: Mean AHIs of patients with OSAS were 33.4 by thermistor and 48.4 by NPT. The AHIs of mild, moderate and severe OSAS groups were 10.2, 32.1, 65.4 respectively by thermistor and 23.1, 45.9, 76.4 by NPT. The mean AHI of patients with UARS was 3.2 by thermistor and 10.8 by NPT. The mean AHI of patients with nonspecific arousals was 2.7 by thermistor and 4.4 by NPT. The mean airway pressure changes during respiratory arousals of different groups were $8.7\;cmH_2O$ in mild OSAS, $11.4\;cmH_2O$ in moderate OSAS, $24.7\;cmH_2O$ in severe OSAS and $6.6\;cmH_2O$ in UARS. Conclusion: The nasal pressure transducer of airflow was more sensitive and accurate for assessing respiratory disturbances of patients with OSAS and was extremely helpful for the diagnosis of UARS without esophageal pressure monitoring. From the results, we would like to propose carefully the NPT diagnostic criteria for sleep disordered breathing as follows: NPT-AHI 5-15 $\rightarrow$ UARS, 15-35 $\rightarrow$ mild OSAS, 35-55 $\rightarrow$ moderate OSAS and >55 $\rightarrow$ severe OSAS.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.59 no.1
• /
• pp.5-13
• /
• 2005

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic progressive disease, characterized by irreversible airflow limitation, with a partially reversible component. The pathological abnormalities of COPD are associated with lung inflammation, imbalances of proteinase and antiproteinase, and oxidative stress, which are induced by noxious particles and gases in susceptible individuals. The physiological changes of COPD are mucus hypersecretion, ciliary dysfunction, airflow limitation, pulmonary hyperinflation, gas exchange abnormalities, pulmonary hypertension, cor pulmonale and systemic effects. The airflow limitation principally results from an increase in the resistance of the small conducting airways and a decrease in pulmonary elastic recoil due to emphysematous lung destruction. This article provides a general overview of the pathophysiology of COPD.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.194-201
• /
• 2006

Roof-fairing and deflector system have been used on heavy-duty trucks to minimize aerodynamic drag force not only for driving stability of the truck but also for energy saving by reducing the required driving power of the vehicle. In this study, a numerical simulation was carried out to see aerodynamic effect of the drag reducing device on the model vehicle. Drag and lift force generated on the five different models of the drag reducing system were calculated and compared them each other to see which type of device is efficient on the reduction of driving power of the vehicles quantitatively. An experiment has been done to see airflow characteristics on the model vehicles. Airflow patterns around the model vehicles were visualized by smoke generation method to compare the complexity of airflow around drag reducing device. From the results, the deflector systems(Model 5,6) were revealed as a better device for reduction of aerodynamic drag than the roof-fairing systems(Model 2,3,4) on the heavy-duty truck and it can be expected that over 10% of brake power of an engine can be saved on a tractor-trailer by the aerodynamic drag reducing device at normal speed range($80km/h{\sim}$).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.65-70
• /
• 2011

Three major physiological functions of nose can be described as air-conditioning, filtering and smelling. Detailed knowledge of airflow characteristics in nasal cavities is essential to understanding of the physiological and pathological aspects of nasal breathing. In our laboratory, a series of experimental investigations have been conducted on the airflows in normal and abnormal nasal cavity models by means of PIV under both constant and periodic flow conditions. In this work, more specifically experimental and numerical results on the surgically modified inferior turbinate model were presented. With the high resolution CT data and a careful treatment of the model surface under the ENT doctor's advice yielded quite sophisticated cavity models for the PIV experiment. Physiological nature of the airflow was discussed in terms of velocity distribution and vortical structure for constant inspirational flow. Since the inferior and middle turbinate are key determinants of nasal airflow, the turbinectomy obviously altered the main stream direction. This phenomenon may cause local changes in physiological function and the flow resistance.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 1992.07b
• /
• pp.961-965
• /
• 1992

It is well-known that shock waves frequently occur inside the nozzle of the interrupter, and that they play important roles in the arc interruption. A model interrupter with two-dimensional dual-airflow nozzles was used for this experiment. The arc was ignited with 1.4 mil copper wire stretched between the electrodes which were spaced out 56 mm. The arc current of 60 to 230 A was achieved by adjusting the external resistance from 5.5 to 1.6 ohms. The arc tests have been conducted for investigating the air arc characteristics, and the effects of shock waves and nozzle pressure ratios on the arc voltage, the arc resistance, the arc power, and average electric field. The results of these tests have been analyzed to provide insights into the arc characteristics for gas circuit breakers. The average electric field is represented by the function of the arc current to show the negative E-I characteristic explicitly. The effects of shock waves and nozzle pressure ratios are shown to be significant for a circuit breaker performance.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.456-467
• /
• 2002

The objective of this study is to analyze and evaluate the impact of the stack effect in high-rise buildings for solving the various problems resulting from it. For the evaluation of the impact of the stack effect, computer program simulations based on the network model were performed for a typical high-rise office building. The results of the simulations show that the impact caused by the stack effect is mainly dependent on building envelope air-tightness and internal airflow resistance, so the problems due to the stack effect may be solved to some extent by installing vestibules around entrance doors and doors serving elevators, and by zoning the elevators.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
• /
• 2001.10a
• /
• pp.281-285
• /
• 2001

This study was carried out to improve the performance of heat recovery device attached to exhaust gas flue connected to combustion chamber of greenhouse heating system. Three different units were prepared for the comparison of heat recovery performance; AB-type(control unit) is exactly the same with the typical one fabricated for previous study of analyzing heat recovery performance in greenhouse heating system, other two types(C-type and D-type) modified from the control unit are different in the aspects of airflow direction(U-turn airflow) and pipe arrangement. The results are summarized as follows; 1. In the case of Type-AB, when considering the initial cost and current electricity fee required for system operation, it is expected that one or two years at most would be enough to return the whole cost invested. 2. Type-C and Type-D, basically different with Type-AB in the aspect of airflow pattern, are not sensitive to the change of blower capacity with higher than $25\;m^{3}/min$. Therefore, heat recovery performance was not improved so significantly with the increment of blower capacity. This is assumed to be that air flow resistance in high air capacity reduces the heat exchange rate as well. Never the less, compared with control unit, resultant heat recovery rate in Type-C and Type-D were improved by about 5% and 13%, respectively. 3. Desirable blower capacity for these heat recovery units experimented are expected to be about $25\;m^{3}/min$, and at the proper blower capacity, U-turn airflow units showed better heat recovery performance than control unit. But, without regard to the type of heat recovery unit, it is recommended that comprehensive consideration of system's physical factors such as pipe arrangement density, unit pipe length and pipe thickness, etc., are required for the optimization of heat recovery system in the aspects of not only energy conservation but economic system design.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.45 no.1
• /
• pp.99-106
• /
• 1998

Background: Bronchial asthma is a complex disease, which is characterized by spontaneous exacerbations of airway obstruction and persistent bronchial hyperresponsiveness. Animal models have fallen short of reproducing the human disease, particularly in mimicking the spontaneous and persistent airflow obstruction that characterized in asthma. In animals, airflow obstruction is usually assessed by measuring airflow resistance during tidal breathing under such invasive technique as tracheostomy and anesthesia. A noninvasive technique for measuring pulmonary function in small animals is needed to evaluate long-term changes in lung function during the course of experimentally produced disease without sacrificing the animal. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate early bronchoconstrcition after allergen challenge and airway responsiveness (AR) to inhaled methacholine in nonanethetized, unrestrained guinea pigs. Method: Guinea pig model of asthma was sensitized by subcutaneous injection with ovalbumin and challenged by inhalation of aerosolized ovalbumin(1% wt/vol ovlabumin). Airflow obstruction of conscious guinea pig was measured as specific airway resistance (airway resistance $\times$ thoracic gas volume). Airway resistance and thoracic gas volume of conscious guinea pig were assessed by body plethysmography before challenge and at regular intervals for as long as 30 minutes after challenge. AR to aerosolized methacholine of asthma group was compared with that of control group in body plethysmography. Result: Asthma model<> developed in 13 (65%) among 20 guinea pigs, in which early responses occurred in the airways after the exposure to inhalation with ovalbumin. Airway challenge with ovalbumin caused increase in specific airway resistance, which peaked at 6 minutes and amounted to a $231.5{\pm}30.4%$ increase from baseline. AR to aerosolized methacholine of asthma model increased significantly compared with control group. Conclusion: These results have showed a useful animal model to evaluate early bronchoconstrcition after allergen challenge and airway responsiveness in nonanethetized, unrestrained guinea pigs.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.157-161
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this study cephalometrically evaluated changes in the posterior airway space for patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome(OSAS) before and after surgical advancement of the maxilla and mandible. The change in calculated airway resistance was correlated with the respiratory disturbance index(RDI). Twenty cephalometric radiographs were traced before and after surgery to determine the posterior airway area and calculate resistance. Polysomnograms of each patient were obtained before and after surgery. All patients had a decrease in calculated airflow resistance in the airway. The mean amount of resistance was 865.15 before surgery, decreasing to 192.65 after surgery (p<0.01). Eighty-five percent of the patients experienced improvement in their RDI. Reduction in the RDI appears to be due to an increase in the posterior airway space and decrease in flow resistance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.5-10
• /
• 1998

Voice rehabilitation is very important concerning in laryngectomees. Esophageal speech is a common and widely used method of voice restoration. But, until now there is no reliable data which shows the aerodynamic characteristics of esophageal speech. In order to evaluate the vocal quality of normal laryngeal and esophageal speech, several aerodynamic parameters were measured in 13 adults with normal laryngeal voice and 2 excellent esophageal speakers using Aerophone II voice function analyzer. The examined parameters were maximal flow rate, mean airflow rate, subglottic pressure, vocal efficiency, glottic resistance, maximal phonation time and mean sound pressure level. In vocal efficiency, there is no difference between two groups, but in other parameters, marked differences were showed in esophageal speakers, especially mean resistance. Results indicates that esophageal speakers make the efficient voices with poor aerodynamic condition, comparing with normal laryngeal speakers.