Dry powder inhaler
OwnerMark R. Hendricksinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention is a dry powder inhaler that is operable to deliver a dry powder medication to the lungs of a patient without the use of a propellant. The inhaler device is a tubular shell with an opening at either end of the shell and an air passageway therethrough, a medication storage chamber, an axially moved air inlet closure member covering the air inlet opening(s), and a slidable medication dosing tray attached to the closure member. In use, the air inlet closure member is pulled in a direction away from the user while the patient inhales, causing the simultaneous introduction and flow of air through the air passageway, and dispersement of a dosage of the medication into the air passageway. The patient then inhales the air/medication mix which passes into the lungs.
Claims15
A dry powder medication inhaler, comprising:
- a tubular shell member having a first end and a second end with an air passageway therethrough, an air inlet aperture proximate the first end and an air outlet proximate the second end, and a chamber adapted for containing a dry powder medicament extending through the shell into the air passageway;
- the medicant-containing chamber having a first end and a second end, the first end of the chamber having an aperture sized for receiving the medicament and the second end of the chamber having an aperture sized for dispensing the medicament;
- an axially moveable member which is affixed to the first end of the shell member, and functional to close the air inlet aperture;
- a slidable dosing tray for dispensing the medicament from the medicament-containing chamber into the air passageway;
- the slidable dosing tray having a first end and a second end, the first end being affixed to the air inlet closure member and the second end including a member adapted to receive a metered dosage amount of the medicament from the dispensing aperture of the medicament-containing chamber;
- a baffle positioned between the axially moveable member and the medicament-containing chamber, the baffle being configured to form an orifice sized to create a Venturi effect to cause suction of the medicament into the air flow therethrough;
- wherein when the moveable air inlet closure member is moved axially from a closed position to an opened position to expose the air inlet aperture, the slidable dosing tray and the metering member containing the dosage amount of medicament are moved axially and upstream from the orifice, and the second end of the dosing tray seals the dispensing aperture of the storage tray;
- and upon inhalation of air by a patient through the air outlet aperture, air flows through the air inlet aperture into the air passageway and mixes with the medicament in the metering member, and the air/medicament mixture passes through the orifice and through the air outlet aperture into the lungs of the patient.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.