Respiratory medicament nebulizer system
Inventors
Reed, George Ashford • Quinn, Jeffrey John • Quinn, Brad Hayden • Boileau, Patrick Finn
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-10328218-B2
Publication Date
2019-06-25
Expiration Date
Abstract
A nebulizer system includes a body having a fluid chamber and an aerosol chamber, and a vibrator assembly positioned at an interface between the fluid chamber and the aerosol chamber. The vibrator assembly may include a diaphragm, having a fluid side and an aerosol side, defining a plurality of perforations between the fluid side and the aerosol side, and one or more vibrator elements operatively associated with the diaphragm to vibrate the diaphragm to produce aerosolized medicament projected into the aerosol chamber from the plurality of perforations. Each perforation of the plurality of perforations projects the aerosolized medicament along a respective projection path relative to a plane defined by the aerosol side of the perforation, the one or more vibrator elements or the diaphragm support substrate further being configured to angularly displace the aerosol side of the diaphragm to sweep the direction of at least one projection path.
Core Innovation
A nebulizer system includes a body having a fluid chamber and an aerosol chamber, and a vibrator assembly positioned at an interface between the fluid chamber and the aerosol chamber. The vibrator assembly includes a diaphragm having a diaphragm support substrate operatively associated therewith, with the diaphragm defining a plurality of perforations between a fluid side in fluid communication with the fluid chamber and an aerosol side in communication with the aerosol chamber.
One or more vibrator elements are operatively associated with the diaphragm to vibrate the diaphragm to project aerosolized medicament into the aerosol chamber from the plurality of perforations. Each perforation projects the aerosolized medicament along a respective projection path relative to a plane defined by the aerosol side of the perforation, and the one or more vibrator elements or the diaphragm support substrate are configured to angularly displace the aerosol side of the diaphragm to sweep the direction of at least one projection path.
The system further supports breath-actuated, on-demand operation via pressure-triggered inhalation and exhalation valves, and includes recording and reporting of nebulizer usage data including date/time/duration/breaths and calculation/reporting of delivered dose. Communications and power can be provided via hand support, controller, and/or mobile device interfaces, and the diaphragm/vibrator arrangement is also described as usable for condition monitoring in which the diaphragm acts as a condenser-microphone-like monitoring element.
Claims Coverage
The document includes three independent claims directed to the nebulizer system, a nebulizer controller, and a method for operating the nebulizer system. Across these claims, the inventive features focus on projecting aerosolized medicament through a plurality of diaphragm perforations along respective projection paths relative to a perforation aerosol-side plane, and sweeping at least one projection path by angularly displacing the diaphragm aerosol side.
Diaphragm perforation projection with projection paths relative to aerosol-side plane
A diaphragm is positioned at an interface between a fluid chamber and an aerosol chamber and defines a plurality of perforations, where each perforation projects aerosolized medicament along a respective projection path relative to a plane defined by the aerosol side of the perforation.
Angular displacement sweeping of projection path direction
One or more vibrator elements or the diaphragm support substrate is configured to angularly displace the aerosol side of the diaphragm to sweep the direction of at least one projection path of the aerosolized medicament.
Controller generates per-vibrator driver signals for desired oscillation frequency and commands projection and sweep
A controller having at least one processor and non-transitory computer readable media generates a driver signal for each vibrator element corresponding to a desired oscillation frequency, vibrates a vibrator assembly with a diaphragm defining a plurality of perforations to project aerosolized medicament along respective projection paths, and sweeps the direction of at least one projection path via the vibrator elements or a diaphragm support substrate.
Collectively, the independent claims cover a diaphragm-based nebulizer that projects aerosolized medicament from multiple perforations along respective projection paths defined relative to the aerosol-side plane of the perforation, and that sweeps the direction of at least one projection path through angular displacement of the diaphragm aerosol side using one or more vibrator elements and/or the diaphragm support substrate. The controller claim further covers generating per-vibrator driver signals for a desired oscillation frequency and commanding projection and sweep through software instructions.
Stated Advantages
Not explicitly described in patent.
Documented Applications
Not explicitly described in patent.
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