Session: 07-08-03: Biomedical Devices, Sensors, and Actuators III

Paper Number: 167152

Fluid Dynamics Analysis and Optimization of the Forced Inspiratory Suction and Swallow Tool for Hiccup Relief 

A forced inspiratory suction and swallow tool was reported to be effective in alleviating hiccups in nearly 91% cases [1]. This novel device consists of a tube with restrictive orifice at the center of the device of a certain length that was optimized for achieving a particular range of pressure drops during suction (e.g., for either pediatric and adult patients). As a result, this design requires the users to impose a threshold suction pressure to draw water through the device resulting in a time delay for the neural stimulation of two different sets of nerves with an appropriately designed phase lag for activation of the two different human neural circuits. The phase lag in the neural activation of the nerves between the diaphragm and epiglottis is leveraged for alleviating hiccups in patients. The novel device was marketed under the brand- name of “HiccAway™” which reached impressive sales targets over their first year [2]. Based on these experiment results reported in the literature, “HiccAway™” was designed to alleviate hiccups of patients for different range of ages, i.e., by incorporating different diameter of the intake holes for pediatric patients compared to that of the adult patients [3]. The device can be deployed for a wide range of therapeutic applications, such as for alleviating chronic and uncontrolled hiccups often affecting cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy. Cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy can suffer from unwanted side-effects, such as chronic and uncontrolled hiccups, that can be severely debilitating for such patients, which can also affect their recovery and comfort. Currently, only experimental methods are used to improve the effectiveness of this novel device.

This analytical study is therefore aimed at developing a deeper understanding of how the novel product creates a specific pressure difference under different suction conditions. The performance of this novel device for alleviating hiccups is evaluated in this study using analytical models. Assumptions include negligible friction and entry effects (since this is akin to creeping flow conditions). In addition to creating a useful fluid dynamic model for the novel device, the aim of this study is to investigate whether other minor design adjustments to the orifice size and tube diameter could further optimize the device performance, thus potentially enhancing user comfort and clinical efficacy of this device. This study provides the first theoretical analyses in the literature for the forced inspiratory suction and swallow tools while also providing optimization strategies for iterative design improvements of this novel device.

Presenting Author: Shekhor Bhattacharya South High School

Presenting Author Biography: Shekhor is a student of South High School in Torrance, CA (USA).

Authors:

Shekhor Bhattacharya South High School
Debjyoti Banerjee Texas A&M University