The present application generally relates to fluid delivery, and more particularly, to an atomizer.
An atomizer can be used to treat respiratory diseases by dispersing liquid medicines into tiny droplets or particles, so that patients can directly inhale the medicines into the respiratory tract, thereby acting on the surface of the respiratory tract. The jet atomizer is a common atomizer, which uses a plunger to press the liquid medicine in the pump cavity to form a high-speed air flow through the small nozzle, so as to form droplets and spray them out of an air outlet pipe.
However, the sealing between the plunger and the pump body of the atomizer in the prior art is poor.
An objective of the present application is to provide an atomizer for improving the sealing between the plunger and the pump of the liquid pump of the atomizer.
According to an aspect of the present application, an atomizer is provided. The atomizer includes: a pump housing including an internal chamber extending in an axial direction of the bump housing and a mounting seat disposed at the first end of the pump housing and being in communication with the internal chamber; a seal disposed in the mounting seat, the seal comprising a sealing sleeve and a first bore in the sealing sleeve and coaxial with the internal chamber, and at least a part of the seal resting against a mounting surface of the mounting seat; a pressing member at least partially disposed within the mounting seat and resting against the seal to press and keep the seal in the mounting seat, the pressing member including a second bore coaxial with the internal chamber; and a plunger, a first end of the plunger being disposed within the internal chamber of the pump housing through the second bore of the pressing member and the first bore of the seal, and the first end of the plunger being capable of reciprocating in the internal chamber to pump fluid in or out of the internal chamber; wherein the pump housing, the pressing member and the plunger together define a sealing cavity to accommodate the seal, and when the seal is in the sealing cavity, a fill ratio of the seal to the sealing cavity is less than 90%.
In some embodiments, the seal includes a flange protruding outward from the sealing sleeve, and the flange rests against the mounting surface of the mounting seat.
In some embodiments, a portion of the sealing cavity away from the flange of the seal in a direction of movement of the plunger includes a gap that is not filled by the seal.
In some embodiments, a height of the gap is 5% to 60% of a height of the sealing cavity in the direction of movement of the plunger.
In some embodiments, a lug is disposed on the flange of the seal, that the lug extends in an axial direction of the sealing sleeve, the sealing cavity includes a groove that matches the lug to accommodate the lug, and a movement of the seal relative to the sealing cavity is further limited by the lug and the groove.
In some embodiments, a side wall of the first bore of the seal includes a plurality of annular corrugated protrusions surrounding the plunger.
In some embodiments, a chamfer is formed at an end of a side wall of the first bore of the seal that is away from the mounting surface.
In some embodiments, the seal includes at least one material selected from the group consisting of: rubber, silicone, or thermoplastic elastomer.
In some embodiments, the atomizer further includes an external retainer, wherein the external retainer comprises an internal thread at its an inner wall, the mounting seat of the pump housing comprises an external thread at its outer wall, and the external retainer is configured to fix the pressing member in the mounting seat through a thread connection between the internal thread and the external thread.
In some embodiments, the fill ratio of the seal to the sealing cavity is 60% to 89%.
In some embodiments, the fill ratio of the seal to the sealing cavity is 75% to 89%.
In some embodiments, the fill ratio of the seal to the sealing cavity is 80% to 89%.
In some embodiments, the atomizer further includes a reservoir, wherein the plunger comprises a fluid channel, and the fluid in the reservoir is capable of flowing through the fluid channel into the internal chamber of the pump housing.
In some embodiments, a check valve is disposed on the first end of the plunger, the check valve is configured that, when the plunger moves in a direction away from the internal chamber, the check valve is open and the fluid in the reservoir flows into the internal chamber through the fluid channel and the check valve, and when the plunger moves in a direction toward the internal chamber, the check valve is closed to block the fluid from flowing back to the fluid channel.
In some embodiments, the atomizer further includes a nozzle disposed at a second end of the pump housing opposite to the first end, the nozzle includes one or more micro-channels in communication with the internal chamber; wherein when the plunger moves in the direction toward the internal chamber, the fluid in the internal chamber is squeezed out of the atomizer through the micro-channels of the nozzle to form a jet or aerosol.
The above is an overview of the application, and there may be simplifications, generalizations and omissions of details. Therefore, a person skilled in the art may understand that the summary is explanatory only and is not restrictive of the invention. The summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The above and other features of the present disclosure will be more fully understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. It is to be understood that these drawings and detailed descriptions depict only several exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and should not be considered as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. The contents of the present application will be explained more clearly and in detail by referring to the accompanying drawings.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not intended to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter of the present application. It will be appreciated that various configurations, substitutions, combinations, designs of various configurations may be made to the various aspects of the content of the application generally described in the application and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, all of which expressly constitute the subject matter of the application part.
The inventors of the present application found that the sealing between the plunger and the pump body of the atomizer in the prior art is poor, especially after a long time or repeated use, the particle size of the liquid particles produced by the atomizer are often unstable, and it is difficult to satisfy the need of effective drug delivery.
In view of the above-mentioned technical problems existing in the prior art, the inventors of the present application have conducted a large number of design analysis and experimental verification. After research, the inventors of the present application found that in order to improve the sealing between the plunger and the pump body, the atomizer in the prior art includes a seal between the pump body and the plunger, and the seal is disposed in a sealing cavity in the pump having a shape substantially matching the seal. In addition, in order to improve the sealing between the seal body and the plunger, the fill ratio of the seal to the sealing cavity is set as high as possible in the prior art, and even the volume of the seal is equal to or slightly larger than the volume of the sealing cavity. Then the high sealing is achieved by the plunger pressing the volume of the seal. The design in the prior art is also in line with the general understanding in the field of mechanics.
However, after analyzing a large amount of experimental data, the inventors of the present application found that the environment of the seal between the plunger and the pump body of the atomizer is different from the usual use environment of the seal, which causes the deterioration of the sealing of atomizer in the prior art after a long time or repeated use. In particular, the seal is usually fixed relatively stationary in its environment, such as a sealing plug disposed at the opening of a liquid container. In this environment, the seal is subject to static friction that generally does not cause wear on the seal. Unlike this usual use environment, the seal in the liquid pump of atomizer is fixed to the housing, and the plunger may move (reciprocate) relative to the housing and the seal on the housing. In addition, a large pressure, such as 20 MPa to 100 MPa, will be generated inside the atomizer during the process of spraying the jet from the atomizer, which will directly act on the seal in the pump. Therefore, the seal of the atomizer will be subjected to dynamic friction and high working pressure, which will cause significant wear on the surfaces of the seals, and it is difficult to maintain the ideal sealing on the surfaces of the worn seals. In addition, the particles generated by the wear of the seal may flow into the liquid and cause contamination of the liquid.
To solve the above problems, the inventor of the present application appropriately reduces the fill ratio of the seal to the sealing cavity, so that a certain gap is left in the sealing cavity to accommodate the deformed seal under pressure. Unexpectedly, the reserved gap in the sealing cavity effectively reduces the wear of the seal, and the entire liquid pump can still have good sealing.
An atomizer according to an embodiment of the present application will be described with
Specifically, the liquid pump of the atomizer includes a pump housing 1, a seal 2, a pressing member 3 and a plunger 4. The pump housing 1 includes an internal chamber 5 that extends in its axial direction, and a mounting seat at a first end of the pump housing 1 and in communication with the internal chamber 5, which is used for accommodating the seal 2 and the pressing member 3. The pump housing 1 also has a second end opposite to the first end, and a nozzle 15 is mounted on the second end. The seal 2 includes a sealing sleeve 21, and a first bore 22 in the sealing sleeve 21 and coaxial with the internal chamber 5 of the pump housing 1. The seal 2 also includes a flange 23 protruding outwardly from the sealing sleeve 21, and the flange 23 rests against a mounting surface of the mounting seat. Referring to the embodiment shown in
In some embodiments, the pressing member 3 may be partially mounted in the mounting seat and rest against the flange 23 of the seal 2 to press and keep it in the mounting seat. The pressing member 3 includes a second bore coaxial with the internal chamber 5 of the pump housing 1 and the first bore 22 of the seal 2. It will be appreciated that a sealing cavity to accommodate the seal 2 is defined by the pump housing 1, the pressing member 3, and the plunger 4 together.
The first end of the plunger 4 can go through the first bore 22 of the seal 2 and the second bore of the pressing member 3 into the internal chamber 5 of the pump housing 1, and can reciprocate in the internal chamber 5 to pump fluid in and out of the internal chamber 5 of the pump housing 1.
It can be understood that, in some embodiments, the seal may not include a flange, but be fixed on the pump housing by other structures and means to limit the movement of the seal in the sealing cavity, especially a movement in the liquid flow direction. For example, the seal may have a substantially same height as the sealing cavity, and an inner side wall of the first bore in the seal may include one or more rings of annular recesses (similar to the recesses between annular corrugated protrusions shown in
As shown in
Referring to
The check valve 7 is disposed on the first end of the plunger 4. When the plunger 4 moves in a direction away from the internal chamber 5, a negative pressure is formed in the internal chamber 5, the check valve 7 is open, and the fluid of the reservoir 13 flows into the internal chamber 5 through the fluid channel in the plunger 4 and the open check valve 7. When the plunger 4 moves in a direction towards the internal chamber 5, the check valve 7 is closed to prevent the fluid in the internal chamber 5 from flowing back to the fluid channel. The check valve 7 may be installed or integrated with the plunger 4, and the specific structure of the check valve 7 may refer to the prior art, which will not be elaborated herein.
The nozzle 15 is disposed at the second end of the pump housing 1 opposite to the aforementioned first end with the mounting seat, and the nozzle 15 includes one or more micro-channels connecting with the internal chamber 5. When the plunger 4 moves in a direction toward the internal chamber 5, the fluid in the internal chamber 5 is squeezed out of the atomizer through the micro-channels of the nozzle 15 to form a jet or aerosol.
Still referring to
Still referring to
The material of the seal 2 may include at least one of the following: rubber, silicone, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) or thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (TPU), or other sealing materials with suitable elasticity. It should be noted that the material of the seal 2 should not contaminate the medicament and not be harmful to the human being. In addition, although only a cross-sectional view of the seal 2 is shown in
Referring to
Referring to
Further, the inventor tested the sealing effect of atomizers with different fill ratios and found that if the fill ratio of the sealing cavity is too low, it may result in too much gap left in the sealing cavity, which in turn will reduce the sealing of the atomizer. According to experimental data, the preferred fill ratio of the sealing cavity is 60% to 89%, more preferably 75% to 89%, or most preferably 80% to 89%.
According to the above arrangements, more gaps are reserved in the sealing cavity to provide a movement space for the reciprocating motion of the plunger to squeeze the seal, so that the seal is not easily worn. In addition, as shown in
For the atomizer with the structure shown in
Other modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and implemented by those of ordinary skill in the art from a study of the specification, disclosure and drawings, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the word “a”, “an” do not exclude plurals. In a practical application of the present application, one component may perform the functions of several technical features recited in the claims. Any reference signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting the scope.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201921562175.6 | Sep 2019 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2020/112946 | 9/2/2020 | WO |