US 5,655,520 A · Flexible valve for administering constant flow rates of medicine from a nebulizer

Abstract

A nebulizer is improved by placing a flexible valve in the ambient air inlet tube. Inhalation suction and Venturi effect shut down the flexible valve in proportion to the strength of the inhalation. Thus, the same output flow rate is obtained even with variable strength inhalations. Medications can be properly administered by controlled inhalation flow rates. In an alternate embodiment a metered dose inhaler (MDI) is outfitted with a similar flexible valve. Once again the patient is forced to inhale at a constant flow rate, thus causing the medication to seep deeply into the lungs. In both embodiments the flexible valve is preferably shaped in a duck billed fashion with air flow flowing toward the narrow end of the duck bill.

Claims5

Dependent claims

In a mixing chamber having a gas inlet opening for input flow, a gas outlet opening for output flow, and an aerosol chamber having an atomized medication for mixing with the output flow, the improvement comprising:

a patient initiated variable vacuum on the gas outlet opening creating the output flow,
a flexible valve in the gas inlet opening;
said flexible valve further comprising a nozzle having means for varying its cross sectional area;
said nozzle further comprising flexible walls forming an orifice and having an exposure upstream to ambient pressure and exposure downstream to an aerosol chamber pressure, wherein said patient initiated variable vacuum reduces a cross-sectional area of the orifice by means of collapsing the flexible walls in proportion to an increased vacuum, resulting in a constant output flow rate of the atomized medication regardless of the patient initiated variable vacuum other than for a zero vacuum.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Flexible valve for administering constant flow rates of medicine from a nebulizer

Life of this patent

Flexible valve for administering constant flow rates of medicine from a nebulizer

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims5