SST K-ω based air flow and heat transfer assessment in an infant incubator

BAGHEL, DEVESH KUMAR; Sinha, Sobha Lata; DEWANGAN, SATISH KUMAR

doi:10.22061/jcarme.2022.7590.2010

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

¹ National Institute of Technology Great Eastern Road, Amanaka, Raipur, Chhattisgarh

² National Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering Department, G.E. Road, Raipur, Chhattisgarh

³ Mechanical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology, Raipur, Chattisgarh

https://doi.org/10.22061/jcarme.2022.7590.2010

Abstract

Neonatal incubators provide an artificial thermal environment to maintain the thermoregulation of premature babies. Several studies revealed the dry and latent heat exchange estimation between newborn's body and surrounding environment. Heat transfer due to convection is leading over the thermal radiation in incubators. The aim of this article is to study the air flow modeling and estimation of heat transfer coefficient over an infant body inside incubator. For this purpose, an experiment and numerical simulation is carried out to develop the methodology and subsequently computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is accomplished to evaluate the heat transfer coefficient of a preterm infant. By means of shear stress transport (SST K-ω) turbulence model, 3-D computational models are numerically studied using commercial CFD tool StarCCM+. Flow visualization reveal that large-scale flow circulation pattern is produced in mean region of enclosed chamber, and small scale eddies are generated at corners and close to the walls. The numerical results obtained for heat transfer assessment in present study is validated with experimental and numerical results available in biomedical open literature.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

Main Subjects

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

References

[1] R. E. Black, S. Cousens, H. L. Johnson, J. E. Lawn, I. Rudan and D. G. Bassani, “Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality in 2008: a systematic analysis”, Lancet, Vol. 375, No. 9760, pp. 1969–1987, (2010).

[2] N. Charpak, J. G. Ruiz Pelaez, Y. Charpak and R. martinez, “Kangaroo mother program: an alternative way of caring for low birth weight infants? One year mortality in a two cohort study”, J. Pediatrics, Vol. 94, No. 6, pp. 804–810, (1994).

[3] A. Lyon, “Applied physiology: temperature control in the new born infant”, Current Paediatrics, Vol. 16, No. 6, pp. 386–392, (2006).

[4] D. K. Baghel, S. L. Sinha and S. K. Dewangan, “Numerical analysis of heat transfer under a radiant warmer”, Heat Transfer, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 2406-2421, June (2020).

[5] J. Takayama, W. Teng, J. Uyemoto, T. Newman and R. Pantel, “Body temperature of newborns: what is normal”, Clin. Pediatr (Phila), Vol. 39, No. 9, pp. 503-510, (2000).

[6] G. Boxwell, Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing, 3^rd ed., Taylor & Francis Group, UK, ISBN 9780203186145, (2019).

[7] N. Museux, V. Cardot, V. Bach, S. Delanaud, L. Degrugilliers, B. Agourram, E. B. Elabbassi and J. P. Libert, “A reproducible means of assessing the metabolic heat status of preterm neonates”, Med. Phys., Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 89-100, (2008).

[8] A. Lubkowska, S. Szymanski and M. Chudecka, “Surface body temperature of full term healthy newborns immediately after birth – pilot study”, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, Vol. 16, No. 8, pp. 1-8, (2019).

[9] A. E. Wheldon, “Energy balance in the newborn baby: use of a manikin to estimate radiant and convective heat loss,” Phys. Med. Biol., Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 285–296, (1982).

[10] T. Yamaguchi, T. W. Taylor, H. Okino, H. Horio and T. Hasegawa, “Computational fluid mechanical study of the convective heat transfer in a closed space simulating an infant incubator”, Front Med. Biol. Eng., Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 129-141, (1996).

[11] M. K. Ginalski, A. J. Nowak and L. C. Wrobel, “Modelling of heat and mass transfer processes in neonatology”, Biomed. Mater., Vol. 3, No. 3, (2008).

[12] Y. H. Kim, C. H. Kwon and S. C. Yoo, “Experimental and numerical studies on convective heat transfer in a neonatal incubator”, Med. Biol. Eng. Comput., Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 114–121, (2002).

[13] M. K. Ginalski, A. J. Nowak and L. C. Wrobel, “A combined study of heat and mass transfer in an infant incubator with an overhead screen”, Med. Eng. Phys., Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 531–541, (2007).

[14] G. A. Ganesh, S. L. Sinha and T. N. Verma, “Numerical simulation for optimization of the indoor environment of an occupied office building using a double-panel and ventilation radiator”, J. Build. Eng., Vol. 29, pp. 101-139, (2019).

[15] G. A. Ganesh, S. L. Sinha and T. N. Verma, “Effect of inlet airflow direction on the indoor environment of naturally ventilated room using CFD”, International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 581-591, (2020).

[16] A. J. Chamkha, "On laminar hydromagnetic mixed convection flow in a vertical channel with symmetric and asymmetric wall heating conditions", Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 45, No. 12, pp. 2509–2525, (2002).

[17] A. J. Chamkha, "Unsteady laminar hydromagnetic fluid particle flow and heat transfer in channels and circular pipes", Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow, Vol. 21, No. 6, pp. 740-746, (2000).

[18] D. C. Wilcox, “Formulation of the k-ɷ turbulence model revisited”, AIAA Journal, Vol. 46, No. 11, pp. 2823-2838, (2008).

[19] Star-CCM+ user's guide, release version 11.02, (2016).

[20] T. N. Verma, Numerical simulation of contaminant control in intensive care unit of hospitals, PhD Thesis, National Institute of Technology Raipur, India, accessed in Oct (2016).

[21] https://www.yankodesign.com accessed in Sept (2020).

[22] P. Decima, S. B. Erwan, A. Pelletier and L. Ghyselen, “Assessment of radiant temperature in a closed incubator”, Eur. J. Appl. Physiol., Vol. 112, No. 8, pp. 2957–2968, (2012).

[23] A. Hannouch, C. Habchi, T. Lemenand and K. Khoury, “Numerical evaluation of the convective and radiative heat transfer coefficients for preterm neonate body segments inside an incubator”, Build. Environ., Vol. 183, pp. 1070-85 (2020).

[24] J. H. Lienhard IV and J. H. Lienhard V, “A Heat Transfer Textbook”, 5^th ed., Phlogiston Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A., (2019).

[25] I. B. Celik, U. Ghia, P. J. Roache, C. J. Freitas, H. Coleman and P. E. Raad, “Procedure for estimation and reporting of uncertainty due to discretization in CFD Applications,” J. Fluids Eng., Vol. 130, No. 7, pp. 087001-4, (2008).

[26] K. Belghazi, E. B. Elabbassi, P. Tourneux, and J. P. Libert, “Assessment of whole body and regional evaporative heat loss coefficients in very premature infants using a thermal mannequin: Influence of air velocity”, Med. Phys., Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 752–758, (2005).