Apparatus for aerosolizing powdered medicine and process and using

A device for delivering inhaled powders comprising:

• a housing including a disk-shaped aerosolizing chamber formed by spaced apart flat front and rear walls on either side of a circumferential wall;
• a hollow nose/mouthpiece attachable to the housing;
• a motor having a shaft, contained within the housing;
• an impeller mounted on the motor shaft and eccentrically positioned within the aerosolizing chamber;
• means for introducing a powder into the aerosolizing chamber;
• means for receiving a first stream of air into the housing and directing it towards the mouthpiece;
• and
• means for diverting a portion of the first stream to form a second stream of air for flowing from the mouthpiece through the aerosolizing chamber and back into the mouthpiece.

A device for aerosolizing powdered medicine comprising:

• a housing;
• a generally planar front chamber wall, a generally planar back chamber wall, and a chamber circumferential wall, within the housing, forming a generally disk-shaped aerosolizing chamber;
• an impeller positioned within the aerosolizing chamber and rotatable therein about an impeller axis in a plane parallel to the front and back chamber walls, with the front chamber wall spaced apart from the back chamber wall by less than one diameter of the impeller;
• drive means for spinning the impeller within the aerosolizing chamber;
• at least one inlet opening and at least one outlet opening respectively extending into and out of the aerosolizing chamber generally parallel to impeller axis;
• an outside air opening adjacent the back end of the housing, opposite the mouthpiece;
• a passageway within the housing connecting to the outside air opening;
• and
• at least one throttling opening bypassing the aerosolizing chamber connecting to the passageway and leading into the mouthpiece.

A device for aerosolizing powdered medicine comprising:

• a housing;
• a generally planar front chamber wall, a generally planar back chamber wall, and a chamber circumferential wall, within the housing, forming a generally disk-shaped aerosolizing chamber;
• an impeller positioned within the aerosolizing chamber and rotatable therein in a plane parallel to the front and back chamber walls;
• a motor linked to the impeller to spin the impeller within the aerosolizing chamber;
• at least one inlet opening and at least one outlet opening extending into the aerosolizing chamber;
• a flap valve on the housing for preventing exhalation into the device;
• and
• a switch linked to the flap valve and motor to turn the motor on when the valve opens.

A dry powder inhaler comprising:

• a housing;
• a front chamber wall, a back chamber wall, and a chamber circumferential wall, within the housing, forming a generally disk-shaped aerosolizing chamber;
• an impeller positioned within the aerosolizing chamber and rotatable therein about an impeller axis in a plane parallel to the front and back chamber walls with the front chamber wall spaced apart from the back chamber wall by less than one diameter of the impeller;
• a motor linked to the impeller to spin the impeller within the aerosolizing chamber;
• and
• at least one inlet opening and at least one outlet opening extending generally parallel to the impeller axis, into and out of the aerosolizing chamber;
• a cartridge containing a plurality of powdered drug dose, the cartridge supported on the housing;
• and
• a chute passing through the housing and leading from the cartridge to a chute opening generally aligned with the impeller into the aerosolizing chamber, such that powdered drug passing through the chute is deposited, at least in part, on the impeller.