b'Engineer Innovation | Medical Vyaire Medical: Breathing new life into respiratory careLeveraging CFD in the development of differentiated respiratory and anesthesia care devicesStephen Ferguson talks with Dr. Christopher Varga, Senior Fellow at Vyaire MedicalMost of us take breathing for granted, taking around 17,000 to 23,000 breaths per day, mostly without any conscious effort. However, for many reasons, breathing can present a significant challenge to the elderly and infirm. For premature babies, with tiny under-developed lungs, minimizing the effort of breathing is critical, as every calorie of wasted energy expenditure negativelyMole Fraction of 0 2 Mole Fraction of 0 2impacts clinical outcomes. Even for elite0.1600.3280.4960.6640.8321.000 0.1600.3280.4960.6640.8321.000athletes, with highly developed cardiovascular systems, the efficiency ofFigure 2: Simcenter STAR-CCM+ simulation showing oxygen delivery for a light mouth breather one\'s respiratory system is the most(left) and a heavy breather with mouth and nose (right)critical factor in determining success inmanufactures and markets more thandevices must account for these variables competition. 27,000 unique products for the diagnosis,to ensure and maximize their treatment, and monitoring of respiratoryeffectiveness across the broad range of Vyaire Medical is a global market leader inconditions in every stage of life. patient characteristics.healthcare technology, providing a comprehensive line of respiratoryThe "every stage of life" commitmentThe man tasked with creating the robust products serving the smallest neonate topresents a considerable engineeringsimulation process that allows Vyaire to the largest adult patient. The story ofchallenge. Not only do patients come indeliver on this commitment is Senior Vyaire began in the 1950s on twoa variety of shapes and sizesDirector of research and development Dr. different continents, due to the tireless(morphologies), but they also breathe inChristopher Varga: Historically we were efforts and dedication of two pioneeringa variety of ways: some people areforced to use more simplified models, for medical innovators. In the U.S., Forrest"mouth breathers," some are "noseexample in the development of a Bird invented and refined the mechanicalbreathers," most of us breathe using arespiratory mask, we would have used a ventilator. Nearly concurrently incombination of both. Also, each patientsimplified head model on our Germany, Erich Jaeger developed whathas a unique breathing profile thatcomputational fluid dynamics (CFD) would become the first completedepends on their lung function andsimulations, with idealized breathing laboratory for pulmonary function testingstructure. As such, simulations used toholes for the nose and the mouth, and diagnostics. Today, Vyairepredict the performance of respiratoryexplained Dr. Varga. "Although we were Mass Flow of Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)6E-54E-52E-50-2E-5-4E-5Velocity: Magnitude (m/s)-6E-5 0.00009.312318.62527.93737.24946.561-8E-51500016000170001800019000 Tangential Velocity (m/s)Iteration Solution Time = 3.26 (s) 0.0165629.092118.16827.24336.31945.394 Nare Mass Flow MonitorFigure 3: CFD simulation was used to design the best-in-class infant nasal CPAP system with the lowest work of breathing16'