Surgery – Liquid medicament atomizer or sprayer – Ultrasonic
Patent
1997-09-10
1999-10-26
Weiss, John G.
Surgery
Liquid medicament atomizer or sprayer
Ultrasonic
12820014, A24D 104
Patent
active
059709740
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the atomization of a liquid, and more particularly, to an inhaler device with a removable dosating unit for delivering precise amounts of medicament to an ultrasonic atomizer device for atomizing the medicament for inhalation by a patient.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Liquid atomizers are well known and come in several types, including aerosol, manual and ultrasonic. For example, there are aerosol atomizers for various applications, such as dispensing cosmetic and hygienic products (hair spray, deodorant, etc.) and cleaning solutions (disinfectants, air fresheners, etc.). Aerosol atomizers can also be used for dispensing medicaments although they have significant drawbacks when used for that purpose. For one thing, they dispense medicaments at a high velocity, which can adversely affect a patient's ability to coordinate dispensing and inhaling the medicament. Moreover, medicament atomized and dispensed by aerosol is usually very cold and can irritate the patient's throat, and the aerosol propellant may have adverse affects on the patient as well as on the environment.
Manual atomizers are also available. In this type of device, the medicament is dispensed by a manual force provided by the patient to atomize the medicament. The most significant advantage of such atomizers is their simplicity, which makes them capable of being made small enough to be carried by patients and thus be readily available for use at any time.
However, difficulties with purely manual atomizers include non-uniformity of dosage from one patient to another (since different people will inevitably use different amounts of force to operate the device and because such devices sometimes deliver different dosages from one use to another), difficulty in coordinating the required manual actuation and inhalation of the expelled medicament (a problem particularly with very young and very old or infirm patients) and inability to protect the medicament from contamination.
Ultrasonic atomizers include one type using a piezoelectric element to atomize a liquid medicament deposited thereon by manually moving a piston within a cylinder containing the medicament to be atomized. The piston forces the liquid from an outlet in the cylinder, which deposits it onto the piezoelectric atomizer, which in turn is activated as part of the manual medicament-dispensing operation.
Examples of this type of ultrasonic atomizer (using a manually dispensed medicament) are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,407, U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,989 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,993. Although such atomizers are better in some respects than their purely manual counterparts, they do not completely solve the problem of providing a uniform dosage under all conditions and for all patients, and they are limited in the amount of medicament that can be atomized because of power considerations relating to the piezoelectric ultrasonic atomizer.
An ultrasonic atomizer is also proposed in European Patent Application EP 0 689 879 A1.
Another type of ultrasonic atomizer includes a pump to deliver liquid from a reservoir to a piezoelectric vibrator. Examples of this type of device are shown in British Patents No. 1,434,746 and No. 2,099,710 and European Patent Application EP 0 569 611 A1. These devices are capable of better uniformity in the amount of liquid atomized at each actuation, but they still have significant drawbacks as portable medication-delivery systems. For example, the atomizers shown in British Patents No. 1,434,746 and No. 2,099,710 clearly would be difficult to miniaturize sufficiently to make them small enough to carry in a patient's pocket or purse for convenient or, in the case of an asthma sufferer, emergency use. Further, the technique in British Patent No. 2,099,710 for dispensing the liquid to be atomized, by crumpling the liquid container, does not allow sufficient dosage precision because of the unpredictability of exactly how the container will deform.
On the other hand, the atomizer of EP 0
REFERENCES:
patent: 2734504 (1956-02-01), Crescas et al.
patent: 3390815 (1968-07-01), Kavan et al.
patent: 3392916 (1968-07-01), Engstrom et al.
patent: 3415419 (1968-12-01), Jewett et al.
patent: 3720211 (1973-03-01), Kyrias
patent: 3738574 (1973-06-01), Guntersdorfer et al.
patent: 3812843 (1974-05-01), Wootten et al.
patent: 3812854 (1974-05-01), Michaels et al.
patent: 4094317 (1978-06-01), Wasnich
patent: 4109863 (1978-08-01), Olson et al.
patent: 4113809 (1978-09-01), Abair et al.
patent: 4128407 (1978-12-01), Chapel
patent: 4155490 (1979-05-01), Glenn
patent: 4191187 (1980-03-01), Wright
patent: 4196730 (1980-04-01), Wilson
patent: 4294407 (1981-10-01), Reichl et al.
patent: 4300546 (1981-11-01), Kruber
patent: 4334531 (1982-06-01), Reichl et al.
patent: 4351332 (1982-09-01), Whitney et al.
patent: 4407659 (1983-10-01), Adam
patent: 4417889 (1983-11-01), Choi
patent: 4585439 (1986-04-01), Michel
patent: 4657027 (1987-04-01), Paulsen
patent: 4689515 (1987-08-01), Benndorf et al.
patent: 4722734 (1988-02-01), Kolln
patent: 4731058 (1988-03-01), Doan
patent: 4749109 (1988-06-01), Kamen
patent: 4790479 (1988-12-01), Matsumoto et al.
patent: 4793339 (1988-12-01), Matsumoto et al.
patent: 4877989 (1989-10-01), Drews et al.
patent: 4883472 (1989-11-01), Michel
patent: 4888516 (1989-12-01), Daeges et al.
patent: 4912357 (1990-03-01), Drews et al.
patent: 4969874 (1990-11-01), Michel et al.
patent: 4976259 (1990-12-01), Higson et al.
patent: 5134993 (1992-08-01), van der Linden et al.
patent: 5221025 (1993-06-01), Privas
patent: 5347998 (1994-09-01), Hodson et al.
patent: 5515842 (1996-05-01), Ramseyer et al.
Zierenberg, "The Respimat, A New Inhalation System Based on the Piezoelectric Effect", Journal of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, 3(1/2), 1992, pp. 85-90.
Haack Olaf
Ruttel Martin
Singh-Chawla Brindra-Paul
Van Der Linden Klaus
Anderson Charles W.
Quinlan, P.C. David M.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Weiss John G.
LandOfFree
Dosating unit for an ultrasonic atomizer device does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Dosating unit for an ultrasonic atomizer device, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Dosating unit for an ultrasonic atomizer device will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-752320