Microchannel heat transfer with slip flow and wall effects

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Analysis is presented for conjugate heat transfer in a parallel-plate microchannel. Axial conduction in the fluid and in the adjacent wall is included. The fluid is a constant property gas with a slip-flow velocity distribution. The microchannel is heated by a small region on the channel wall. The analytic solution is given in the form of integrals by the method of Green's functions. Quadrature is used to obtain numerical results for the temperature and heat transfer coefficient on the heated region for various Peclet number, Knudsen number, and wall materials. A region downstream of the heater is also explored. These results have application in the optimal design of small-scale heat transfer devices for biomedical applications, electronic cooling, and advanced fuel cells

Amorphous formulations of indomethacin and griseofulvin prepared by electrospinning

Following an array of optimization experiments, two series of electrospun polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) fibers were prepared. One set of fibers contained various loadings of indomethacin, known to form stable glasses, and the other griseofulvin (a poor glass former). Drug loadings of up to 33% w/w were achieved. Electron microscopy data showed the fibers largely to comprise smooth and uniform cylinders, with evidence for solvent droplets in some samples. In all cases, the drug was found to exist in the amorphous physical state in the fibers on the basis of X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements. Modulated temperature DSC showed that the relationship between a formulation’s glass transition temperature (<i>T</i>_g) and the drug loading follows the Gordon–Taylor equation, but not the Fox equation. The results of Gordon–Taylor analysis indicated that the drug/polymer interactions were stronger with indomethacin. The interactions between drug and polymer were explored in more detail using molecular modeling simulations and again found to be stronger with indomethacin; the presence of significant intermolecular forces was further confirmed using IR spectroscopy. The amorphous form of both drugs was found to be stable after storage of the fibers for 8 months in a desiccator (relative humidity <25%). Finally, the functional performance of the fibers was studied; in all cases, the drug-loaded fibers released their drug cargo very rapidly, offering accelerated dissolution over the pure drug