Drug output of unvented jet nebulizers as a function of time.

Nebulizer drug output rate increases during the nebulization. For unvented jet nebulizers, a physical and mathematical model based on the efficiency of the nebulization process is presented for this phenomenon. Formulas are derived for the cumulative drug output and the drug output rate of the nebulization process. The model is compared with the model proposed by Coates et al. [J. Aerosol. Med. 11 (1998) 101]. Both models are supported by experimental literature data. Both models predict the experimental values well but the proposed model allows more easy prediction of the influence of small changes in the nebulization conditions and the calculation of the cumulative drug output for a related process. From literature data it is shown that the efficiency of an unvented jet nebulization process of diluted aqueous solutions is relatively insensitive to small changes in the concentration as well as to small changes in aspiration flow but is sensitive to the humidity of the compressor gas only.