Karakterisering av nanopartikelgenerator för lungdiagnostik med AiDA-metoden

Sammanfattning: Lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common casue of death worldwide, yet the lungs are one of the most difficult parts of the body to examine. Today's technology hinder the diagnosis of the lungs and great difficulties occurs when trying to find the cause of illness. Therefore a large number of people suffer from hidden lung diseases whitout knowing. A newly developed technique called ”AiDA – airspace dimension assessment” have the potential to simplify and streamline the diagnosis of lung diseases. This bachelor's thesis covers the characterization of an aerosol particle generator which is a sub-componet to the AiDA-method. The work is a step towards finding a solution that simplifies diagnosis of lung diseases. The project is based on investigating various parameters that may have an impact on the generator's ability to produce monodisperse aerosol with high particle concentration. Parameters such as pressure, flow, solution concentration and particle size were studied. The results showed promising indications that the particle generator can produce monodisperse aerosol with high enough particle concentration for clinical practice. However, in order for the generator to be integrated with AiDA and implemented in a clinical environment, further studies should be conducted to gurantee its ability to produce high enough particle concentration. The work was performed in the aerosol-laboratory at Ingvar Kamprad Designcentrum, Lund University Faculty of engineering.