Nebuliser for the production of aerosolized medication
AssigneeNovartis AG
InventorsJohn S Power, Declan Moran, Donal Devery, Gavan O'Sullivan, James Fink, Niall Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A nebulizer to deliver a medicament that includes a housing having a reservoir for the medicament, an aerosol generator that can be supplied the medicament from the reservoir, where the generator aerosolizes at least a portion of the medicament into an aerosol, a gas venting inlet to permit a gas to enter the nebulizer and form a mixture with the aerosol, and a passage through which the mixture of the aerosol and the gas is delivered to an outlet port of the nebulizer.
Claims37
A nebuliser to deliver a medicament comprising:
- a housing having a reservoir for the medicament;
- an aerosol generator comprising a vibratable member having a plurality of apertures extending between a first surface and second surface of the member that can be supplied the medicament from the reservoir, wherein the generator aerosolizes at least a portion of the medicament into an aerosol;
- a gas venting inlet to permit a gas to enter the nebuliser and form a mixture with the aerosol;
- a passage through which the mixture of the aerosol and the gas is delivered to an outlet port of the nebulizer;
- and
- a drive circuit for the aerosol generator;
- wherein the drive circuit is configured to, substantially throughout aerosolization, repeatedly change a frequency of vibration of the vibratable member between a first frequency and a second frequency.
A method for nebulising a liquid comprising:
- providing a vibratable thin shell member comprising a front surface, a rear surface and a plurality of tapered apertures extending therebetween, said apertures being tapered to narrow from the rear surface to the front surface;
- vibrating the thin shell member;
- and
- substantially throughout nebulisation, repeatedly sweeping a frequency of vibration of the vibrating thin shell member across a delivery range of the vibratable member.
A method for nebulising a liquid comprising:
- providing a vibratable thin shell member comprising a front surface and a rear surface and a plurality of tapered apertures extending therebetween, said apertures being tapered to narrow from rear surface, to the front surface;
- vibrating the thin shell member;
- substantially throughout nebulisation, repeatedly sweeping a frequency of vibration of the vibrating thin shell member across a delivery range of the vibratable member;
- and
- supplying heat to the liquid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.