Bellows Air Chamber Trigger for Dry-Powder Inhaler Dosing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dry-powder inhalers face issues with metering accuracy, reproducibility, and the risk of overdosing due to improper handling, which can lead to incomplete or lost doses, and they are not compact or easy to manufacture.
Innovation Solution
A dry-powder inhaler design featuring a deformable air chamber and trigger system that opens individual reservoirs only during inhalation, ensuring precise dosing and sealing, with a bellows-shaped air chamber for reliable actuation and a spring-loaded mechanism to advance blister strips, preventing dose loss and overdose risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If doses are pre-loaded into an expulsion duct before inhalation, then the device structure is simplified, but the risk of dose loss and overdosing increases due to improper handling
Solution Approach 1:
The bellows is pre-loaded with multiple individual powder doses in sealed reservoirs before use. Each dose remains sealed until the moment of inhalation, preventing premature exposure or loss. The user simply needs to inhale to trigger the opening and dispensing of the current dose, eliminating the risk of handling errors between loading and inhalation.
Solution Approach 2:
The powder medication is divided into multiple individual sealed reservoirs within the bellows, with each reservoir containing a single precise dose. This segmentation ensures that each dose is independently sealed and protected, and can only be opened when intended through the inhalation trigger mechanism, preventing both dose loss and accidental overdosing.
2Measurement precision
If individual reservoirs are opened only during inhalation, then metering accuracy and reproducibility are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device uses pneumatic pressure generated by the user's inhalation to open the sealed reservoir and dispense the powder dose. The bellows structure and valve mechanism are actuated by the pressure differential created during inhalation, providing a simple yet effective way to achieve precise metering without complex mechanical actuators or electronic controls.
3Volume of moving object
If a compact device is designed with individual reservoirs, then the device size is reduced, but the manufacturing and assembly difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple individual powder reservoirs are nested within the bellows structure in a compact arrangement. The reservoirs are positioned one after another along the length of the bellows, allowing efficient use of space. This nested configuration achieves compact device size while maintaining the ability to sequentially access each dose through the inhalation trigger mechanism.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device ensures accurate and reproducible dosing, minimizing the risk of overdosing while maintaining compactness and ease of manufacture, with improved sealing and integrity of doses, ensuring effective delivery to the lungs.
Implementation Method 1
a deformable air chamber that co-operates with said inhalation piece, and a trigger element that co-operates with said air chamber, such that during inhalation through said inhalation piece, said air chamber is deformed
Implementation Method 2
said side body being in the form of a bellows comprising a plurality of bellows portions, advantageously six, arranged axially one after another
Data Source
AI summary
A fluid dispenser device including a body and a reservoir, and an opening mechanism. The device includes an inhalation piece and an inhalation trigger system that has a deformable air chamber and a trigger element, such that during inhalation through the inhalation piece, the air chamber is deformed and the trigger element actuates the opening mechanism. The air chamber has a deformable side body; an open first end including a peripheral edge that surrounds an opening forming the inlet of the hollow pouch; and a second end forming the bottom of the hollow pouch. The said second end includes a connection mechanism for connecting the air chamber to the trigger element. The side body is in the form of a bellows having bellows portions arranged axially one after another, the bellows-forming side body has bellows portions having outside and/or inside diameters that are different.