RU2846989C1 - Inhaler - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: medicine.

SUBSTANCE: invention refers to medical equipment, namely to an inhaler comprising a drug solution container, an inhalation branch pipe, a spray chamber with diffusers. Lower edges of the spray chamber with the diffuser have pointed saw-tooth ends resting on the bottom of the drug solution container. Above the pointed saw-tooth ends, there is a holder with two cellular grids, and a check valve is mounted in front of the outlet inhalation pipe in the outlet neck. Saw-tooth ends are directed to the bottom of the drug solution container to form a dispersed drug mixture. Check valve is configured to shut off the inlet to the outlet inhalation pipe with maintaining a vacuum in the spray chamber with the diffuser and preserving the dispersed therapeutic mixture in the holder.

EFFECT: design simplification, decrease of weight and dimensions and increase of convenience of use, increase of respiratory mixture dispersity.

1 cl, 3 dwg

Description

The invention relates to medical technology, specifically to devices for creating and delivering therapeutic respiratory mixtures, refreshing and/or relaxing substances, or similar substances. Therapeutic aerosol therapy, targeting pulmonary inhalation, plays an important role in the treatment of numerous pulmonary diseases.

A known inhaler comprises a liquid container, an air supply tube, and a spray chamber with a mouthpiece, with hemispherical diffusers and diffusers in the form of rods mounted on the inner surface of the chamber lid. This device does not allow the creation of a highly dispersed inhalation mixture [1].

For example, an aerosol inhaler is known in [2] that contains a feed pump for delivering a solution (liquid substance) from which an aerosol is formed. The feed pump is connected to a tube. The tube has an open end and is filled with a solution delivered by the feed pump. A mouthpiece is located at the open end of the tube, and an electric heater is installed surrounding the end of the tube. The electric heater heats the solution at the end of the tube, thereby causing it to evaporate, and the resulting vapor is spontaneously sprayed from the open end of the tube. The solution vapor condenses upon contact with air drawn by the user through the mouthpiece and turns into an aerosol, which the user can inhale along with the inhaled air.

When using the inhaler described in the publication, the tube is exposed to the surrounding air through the mouthpiece. Furthermore, the end of the tube is constantly heated by an electric heater. Consequently, if the solution contains volatile components, the heat from the electric heater causes evaporation and leakage of the volatile components from the solution in the tube, leading to thermal degradation of the solution. Consequently, the solution, and therefore the aerosol, will not maintain a consistent quality.

An aerosol inhaler is known, comprising a channel continuing from an opening for sucking in external air to a mouthpiece, a liquid supply device comprising a liquid chamber containing a solution for forming an aerosol and capable of supplying a predetermined amount of liquid to a loading position formed in said channel, a heating device located in said channel downstream of the loading position for heating the solution supplied from the loading position to the mouthpiece together with a flow of drawn air created in said channel by suction through the mouthpiece, which causes evaporation of the solution and its transformation into an aerosol [3]. Adopted as a prototype for the claimed object.

The drawback of this solution is its complex design, with the aerosol can attached to the side of the body. This makes the device's medical nature obvious, while also increasing its size and weight, making it inconvenient to use in public places. Furthermore, such a device can only be carried in a purse or pocket, as it takes up space, and pockets are not always present in clothing, nor is a purse always available. The device's body is non-detachable and cannot be repaired or replaced once worn.

The closest in terms of the set of features to the proposed one is the Makhold inhaler, which contains a spray chamber with hemispherical diffusers and a mouthpiece, a reservoir with an air supply pipe, a channel for air-liquid communication between the chamber and the reservoir, made in the form of a curved tube, located under a horizontal plane passing through the base of the spray chamber [4].

The existing device does not allow for the creation of a highly dispersed inhalation mixture. In this inhaler, air enters the spray chamber during inhalation in successive portions through a channel tube, passing through the medicinal liquid. The volume of these portions depends on the cross-sectional dimensions of the air-liquid communication channel. The volume of a single portion of air is significant, but the number of portions determining the volume of air in a single inhalation is insignificant due to the relatively large cross-sectional dimensions of the channel tube. Due to the large volume of a single portion, the air passing through the medicinal liquid is, firstly, poorly saturated with medicinal substance particles; secondly, upon exiting the chamber from the medicinal liquid, it sprays it, forming large droplets that are not held in suspension and fall back into the medicinal liquid. Therefore, the measure of dispersion—the ratio of the total surface area of all medicinal substance particles in the airflow to their total volume—is very insignificant.

The objective of the claimed device is to simplify the design, reduce weight and dimensions, and improve ease of use, increasing the dispersion of the respiratory mixture to enhance the physiological activity of the medicinal substance.

The stated problem is solved due to the fact that in an inhaler containing a reservoir with a medicinal solution, an inhalation pipe, a spray chamber with diffusers, according to the invention, the lower edges of the spray chamber with a diffuser have pointed saw-toothed ends resting on the bottom of the reservoir with a medicinal solution, while above the pointed saw-toothed ends a frame with two honeycomb nets is placed, and in front of the outlet pipe for inhalation in the outlet neck a check valve is installed, wherein the saw-toothed ends are directed towards the bottom of the reservoir with a medicinal solution with the possibility of forming a dispersed medicinal mixture, and the check valve is designed with the possibility of closing the entrance to the outlet pipe for inhalation with maintaining a vacuum in the spray chamber with a diffuser and preserving the dispersed medicinal mixture in the frame.

The distinctive features of the claimed device are that the lower edges of the spray chamber with a diffuser have pointed saw-toothed ends resting on the bottom of the reservoir with the medicinal solution, while above the pointed saw-toothed ends a frame with two cellular nets is placed, and in front of the outlet pipe for inhalation in the outlet neck a check valve is installed, wherein the saw-toothed ends are directed towards the bottom of the reservoir with the medicinal solution with the possibility of forming a dispersed medicinal mixture, and the check valve is designed with the possibility of closing the entrance to the outlet pipe for inhalation with maintaining a vacuum in the spray chamber with a diffuser and preserving the dispersed medicinal mixture in the frame.

The installation of a spray chamber with a diffuser, the lower edges of which have sharpened sawtooth ends directed toward the bottom of the reservoir containing the medicinal solution and resting on it, dramatically enhances the formation of a gas-liquid suspension, creating a highly dispersed mixture in the upper layers of the liquid within the spray chamber. This significantly increases the intensity of the highly dispersed mixture formation. The frame, consisting of two mesh screens, and a check valve installed in the outlet neck before the inhalation outlet, with the sawtooth ends directed toward the bottom of the reservoir containing the medicinal solution, allows for the formation of a dispersed medicinal mixture. The check valve is configured to close the inlet to the inhalation outlet, maintaining a vacuum in the spray chamber with a diffuser and retaining the dispersed medicinal mixture within the frame.

Fig. 1, 2, 3 schematically depict the proposed device.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the device before use.

Fig. 2 schematically shows the device after the start of use without the attachment in the frame between two nets.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of the device after the start of use with the nozzle in the frame between two grids, where:

1 - a reservoir with a medicinal solution,

2 - spray chamber,

3 - frame with two fine-mesh nets,

4 - outlet neck,

5 - level of medicinal solution,

6 - highly dispersed medicinal mixture,

7 - direction of air supply flow,

8 - direction of highly dispersed medicinal mixture,

9 - check valve,

10 - inhalation pipe,

11 - nozzle.

The inhaler comprises a medicinal solution reservoir 1, within which is a spray chamber 2 with a diffuser, the lower edges of which have sharp, saw-toothed ends that point toward and rest on the bottom of the medicinal solution reservoir 1. A frame with two mesh screens 3 is inserted, and a check valve 9 is installed in front of the nozzle 10 in the outlet neck 4.

The device works as follows.

The medicinal solution is poured into the reservoir 1 with the medicinal solution to the level 5 (see Fig. 1). Then the outlet pipe 10 with the tip is placed in the patient's mouth. The patient inhales. A vacuum is created and the air supply flow 7 is directed. The level of the medicinal solution decreases (see Fig. 2). The medicinal solution bubbles through the sharpened saw-toothed ends of the spray chamber 2 of the diffuser, which are directed toward the bottom of the reservoir with the medicinal solution 1. As a result, a highly dispersed medicinal mixture 6 is formed above the medicinal solution 5 and above the lower mesh of the frame 3, it rushes toward the outlet neck 4, on which a check valve 9 is installed, which closes the entrance to the inhalation pipe 10, and until the next inhalation it maintains the vacuum in the chamber and keeps the medicinal mixture in the frame 3. The aerosol enters in the direction of the highly dispersed medicinal mixture 8 and through the inhalation pipe 10 into the patient’s body (see Fig. 2).

For additional purification of the medicinal mixture, a nozzle 11 can be used, which is placed between the nets in the frame 3. For example, balls can be used as a nozzle 11.

The presently claimed device is industrially applicable and can be manufactured using materials and means well mastered by the medical industry.

Another possible application of the device is the individual provision of air purification without the need for additional energy supply, only during breathing, due to the preliminary purification of the contaminated air flow in a tank with liquid by feeding the contaminated air flow through a spray chamber with a diffuser, the lower edges of which have sharpened saw-toothed ends that are directed towards the bottom of the tank and rest on it, and for this purpose, inside the spray chamber above the sharpened saw-toothed ends, a frame with two fine-mesh nets is additionally introduced, with the formation of a pseudo-boiling gas-liquid suspension and subsequent additional purification when air passes through the frame, consisting of two fine-mesh nets and a nozzle.

For example, contaminated air enters through a liquid layer. Gas bubbles escaping through the sharpened saw-tooth ends coalesce into streams that pass through the liquid layer, creating a pseudo-boiling, gas-liquid suspension. The gas-liquid suspension is then directed through a frame consisting of two fine-mesh screens and a nozzle mounted inside the spray chamber, thereby ensuring high levels of purification of the contaminated air flow. The resulting layer of moving foam has a highly developed surface area for absorbing the smallest particles and purifying the air flow. Purified air is discharged through an outlet with a check valve.

Sources of information

1. AC. No. 1666119.

2. JP Patent No. 2000-510763.

3. RU patent No. 2447906.

4. Patent DE No. 9108066 - prototype.

Claims (1)

An inhaler comprising a reservoir with a medicinal solution, an inhalation pipe, a spray chamber with diffusers, characterized in that the lower edges of the spray chamber with a diffuser have pointed saw-toothed ends resting on the bottom of the reservoir with the medicinal solution, wherein a frame with two honeycomb nets is placed above the pointed saw-toothed ends, and a check valve is installed in the outlet neck in front of the outlet pipe for inhalation, wherein the saw-toothed ends are directed towards the bottom of the reservoir with the medicinal solution with the possibility of forming a dispersed medicinal mixture, and the check valve is designed with the possibility of closing the inlet to the outlet pipe for inhalation with maintaining a vacuum in the spray chamber with a diffuser and preserving the dispersed medicinal mixture in the frame.