Claims
- 1. An inhaler for providing a dose of a dry powder pharmaceutical to a patient, comprising:
a dispersion chamber having an open central interior; at least one bead in the dispersion chamber, with the bead having a characteristic dimension of at least 50 to 90% of an interior height of the dispersion chamber; an inlet connecting into the dispersion chamber; and an outlet connecting into the dispersion chamber and spaced apart from the inlet.
- 2. The inhaler of claim 1 wherein the dispersion chamber includes an inner wall forming a bead race, and wherein the bead moves around the bead race upon inhalation by the patient.
- 3. The inhaler of claim 2 wherein the bead race has a radius of curvature greater than a radius of curvature of the bead.
- 4. The inhaler of claim 2 wherein the dispersion chamber has a flat bottom surface and a flat top surface adjoining the bead race.
- 5. The inhaler of claim 1 further comprising means for retaining the bead in the chamber.
- 6. The inhaler of claim 1 wherein the bead moves around chaotically in the dispersion chamber when a patient inhales on the outlet.
- 7. The inhaler of claim 1 further comprising a dose platform adjacent to the inlet, for holding a dose of a dry powder pharmaceutical.
- 8. The inhaler of claim 1 further comprising an obstruction in the dispersion chamber to cause the bead to move chaotically.
- 9. The inhaler of claim 1 wherein the bead has or acquires a static electrical charge, and particles of the dry powder also have or acquire a static electrical charge of the same polarity, so that the bead and the particles of dry powder repel each other.
- 10. The inhaler of claim 1 wherein the dispersion chamber comprises a separate component, installable into, and removable from the inhaler.
- 11. The inhaler of claim 1 wherein a plurality of beads are located in the dispersion chamber, and wherein at least one of the beads includes a discontinuity.
- 12. The inhaler of claim 11 wherein the bead having the discontinuity is polygonal shaped, and the discontinuity comprises a corner.
- 13. The inhaler of claim 11 wherein the bead having the discontinuity comprises a sphere with a flat surface.
- 14. The inhaler of claim 1 further comprising means for providing feedback to the patient based on an airflow rate in the dispersion chamber.
- 15. The inhaler of claim 1 wherein from 2 to 10 round beads are provided in the dispersion chamber.
- 16. The inhaler of claim 15 wherein the beads move around the dispersion chamber at 4000-10,000 rpm.
- 17. The inhaler of claim 1 wherein the dispersion chamber has a characteristic dimension that is from 4 to 20 times greater than the characteristic dimension of the bead.
- 18. An inhaler for providing a dose of a dry powder pharmaceutical to a patient, comprising:
a dispersion chamber having an open central interior region; at least one bead in the dispersion chamber, with the dispersion chamber having an interior characteristic dimension that is 4 to 20 times greater than a characteristic dimension of the largest bead in the dispersion chamber; an inlet and an outlet connecting into the dispersion chamber; and a single unit dose blister container supported on the inlet, and containing a single dose of a dry powder pharmaceutical.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/773,261, filed Jan. 31, 2001, now pending, which is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/495,494, filed Feb. 1, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,688, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09773261 |
Jan 2001 |
US |
Child |
10782449 |
Feb 2004 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09495494 |
Feb 2000 |
US |
Child |
09773261 |
Jan 2001 |
US |