Device for producing high pressure in a fluid in miniature
AssigneeBoehringer Ingelheim GmbH
InventorsJoachim Jaeger, Pasquale Cirillo, Joachim Eicher, Johannes Geser, Bernhard Freund, Bernd Zierenberg
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A miniaturized device for pressurizing fluid. The device includes a hollow piston that provides a fluid path and a valve member. The valve member is configured for axial movement so that the valve axis remains parallel to the piston axis. The valve member is arranged at one end of the hollow piston. The valve member may be partially or completely disposed within the hollow piston. The device is particularly adapted for use in a mechanically operated atomizer to produce an inhalable aerosol of a liquid medicament without the use of propellant gas.
Claims15
A device for pressurizing fluid, comprising:
- a cylinder;
- a cylindrical hollow piston movable in said cylinder and providing a path for fluid therethrough, wherein an inlet end or an outlet end of said hollow piston includes a widened portion, an inner diameter of said widened portion being greater than the inner diameter of the remainder of said hollow piston, and wherein said inlet end or said outlet end includes an inwardly shaped edge;
- a valve seal provided by said piston;
- a high pressure chamber inside said cylinder;
- and
- a valve operating without any auxiliary force, said valve including,
- a uniaxially rotationally symmetrical valve member including a sealing surface at an inlet end of said valve member to cooperate with said valve seal, said valve member being guided inside said widened portion of said hollow piston, wherein the diameter of said valve member is less than said inner diameter of said widened portion and is greater than said inner diameter of the remainder of said hollow piston, such that said valve member does not extend into the remainder of said hollow piston,
- stop means provided at an outlet end of said widened portion to hold said valve member inside said hollow piston,
- a recess in said stop means or a recess or radially extending indentation in said valve member at an outlet end thereof,
- wherein said valve is closed when said valve member abuts said valve seal and said valve is open when said valve member abuts said stop means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.