The effect of tear film on ocular surface temperature : a thermodynamic study

The thermodynamic effect of tear film on ocular surface remains ambiguous in literature, though in general it is considered to warm the surface in blinking phase, and cool it at later stage. In this investigation, we modeled the temporal variation in ocular surface temperature (OST) on the basis of...

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Main Authors: Tan, Jen Hong, Ng, E. Y. K., Acharya, U. Rajendra
Other Authors: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102774
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/19113
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author Tan, Jen Hong
Ng, E. Y. K.
Acharya, U. Rajendra
author2 School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
author_facet School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Tan, Jen Hong
Ng, E. Y. K.
Acharya, U. Rajendra
author_sort Tan, Jen Hong
collection NTU
description The thermodynamic effect of tear film on ocular surface remains ambiguous in literature, though in general it is considered to warm the surface in blinking phase, and cool it at later stage. In this investigation, we modeled the temporal variation in ocular surface temperature (OST) on the basis of Newton's law of cooling to look into the tear film's thermodynamic effect. We assumed, the OST varied periodically and the OST just before a blink was equal to the OST observed when the surface was in equilibrium. Then, this model was incorporated into a thermodynamic equation, describing the heat exchange at the ocular surface. Simulations were subsequently performed to determine the moment when the tear film evaporated the exactly amount of energy it had just brought to the surface by blinking in an interblink period. It was found that, for tear film to possibly warm the ocular surface both in the blinking phase and the entire interblink period, its thickness had to be above 32 μm, assuming the rate of spontaneous blinking was once per 6 s. However, according to literature, tear film thickness is likely to be 3 μm, which in this case, the tear film would evaporate the tear-transferred heat just within a second, and the warming effect by tear film would be minimal; cooling should be the dominating effect.
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spelling ntu-10356/1027742020-03-07T13:22:21Z The effect of tear film on ocular surface temperature : a thermodynamic study Tan, Jen Hong Ng, E. Y. K. Acharya, U. Rajendra School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering The thermodynamic effect of tear film on ocular surface remains ambiguous in literature, though in general it is considered to warm the surface in blinking phase, and cool it at later stage. In this investigation, we modeled the temporal variation in ocular surface temperature (OST) on the basis of Newton's law of cooling to look into the tear film's thermodynamic effect. We assumed, the OST varied periodically and the OST just before a blink was equal to the OST observed when the surface was in equilibrium. Then, this model was incorporated into a thermodynamic equation, describing the heat exchange at the ocular surface. Simulations were subsequently performed to determine the moment when the tear film evaporated the exactly amount of energy it had just brought to the surface by blinking in an interblink period. It was found that, for tear film to possibly warm the ocular surface both in the blinking phase and the entire interblink period, its thickness had to be above 32 μm, assuming the rate of spontaneous blinking was once per 6 s. However, according to literature, tear film thickness is likely to be 3 μm, which in this case, the tear film would evaporate the tear-transferred heat just within a second, and the warming effect by tear film would be minimal; cooling should be the dominating effect. 2014-04-04T06:46:31Z 2019-12-06T21:00:06Z 2014-04-04T06:46:31Z 2019-12-06T21:00:06Z 2013 2013 Journal Article Tan, J. H., Ng, E. Y. K., & Acharya, U. R. (2013). The effect of tear film on ocular surface temperature : a thermodynamic study. Journal of Heat Transfer, 135(5), 054505-. 0022-1481 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102774 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/19113 10.1115/1.4023543 en Journal of heat transfer © 2013 by ASME.
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
Tan, Jen Hong
Ng, E. Y. K.
Acharya, U. Rajendra
The effect of tear film on ocular surface temperature : a thermodynamic study
title The effect of tear film on ocular surface temperature : a thermodynamic study
title_full The effect of tear film on ocular surface temperature : a thermodynamic study
title_fullStr The effect of tear film on ocular surface temperature : a thermodynamic study
title_full_unstemmed The effect of tear film on ocular surface temperature : a thermodynamic study
title_short The effect of tear film on ocular surface temperature : a thermodynamic study
title_sort effect of tear film on ocular surface temperature a thermodynamic study
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102774
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/19113
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