A predictive model for vapor concentration in a nose-only inhalation chamber.

A unique nose-only inhalation chamber was designed and constructed to deliver uniform concentrations of gas, vapor, and aerosol contaminants to mice. This research investigated the fluid dynamics of a vaporous contaminant in the vertical flow chamber. The vapor was introduced by allowing the liquid phase of the contaminant to evaporate freely into the chamber interior. A contaminant mass transfer model was developed to predict concentrations generated by the system. The mathematical model of the system used clean airflow, liquid surface area, thickness of the stagnant air layer covering the liquid, system pressure, contaminant diffusion coefficient, and contaminant vapor pressure to compute the vapor concentration delivered to exposure ports. The equation was verified by placing various containers of methyl isobutyl ketone in the chamber and determining with a photospectrometer the resulting equilibrium concentrations. Vapor pressure, diffusion coefficient, and system pressure were held constant while airflow, surface area, and stagnant air layer thickness were varied systematically within the chamber. The resulting empirical data points were compared to the curves predicted by the theoretical model. Empirical concentrations fell within 0 to 48% of the theoretical values, showing that the equation can be used to choose values for airflow, surface area, and stagnant air layer thickness that will result in chamber concentrations in close proximity to the target concentration. If an exact concentration is essential, parameters may be individually adjusted to converge on the target concentration.