US 2004/0069303 A1 · Dry powder inhaler

Abstract

A device for delivering a powdered medicament by inhalation comprises an air inlet passage having low pressure-drop and low turbulence for stabilizing air flow before aerosolization, a dosing cup in the region of reduced air velocity to delay aerosolization, a high pressure drop throat to generate a high velocity flow, a rapidly expanding diverging passage to create a free jet of air with high turbulence and an outlet passage having large cross-sectional area to control the rate of dissipation of the free jet. The device is simple yet capable of consistently providing uniform and effective powder aerosolization and deagglomeration over a variety of patient inhalation profiles.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A device for dispensing powdered medicament by inhalation, comprising

an air inlet passage (6),
a transition passage (7) connected to the air inlet passage (6), said transition passage comprising a holding portion (8) for a dose of powdered medicament and a means for creating a region of reduced air velocity,
a converging passage (11) connected to the discharging passage (7) the end of the converging passage (11) forming a throat (12),
a diverging section (13) connected to the throat (12), and
an air outlet passage (14) connected to the diverging section (13),
and wherein the cross-sectional area of the throat (12) is smaller than the minimum cross-sectional area of the air inlet passage (6), the transition passage (7) and the outlet passage (14),
the dose of powdered medicament being aerosolized from the holding portion (8) by means of air stream produced by inhalation.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Dry powder inhaler

Life of this patent

Dry powder inhaler

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims24