Breath-Actuated Inhaler Lock System and Self-Priming Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing inhalers face issues such as wastefulness and potential damage due to manual priming, difficulty in space and guidance for internal components, blowback leakage between valve stem and block, and unreliable dose counting.
Innovation Solution
A breath-actuated inhaler design featuring a lock system with helical threads and a protrusion-recess mechanism to prevent tampering, combined with a metering valve configuration that allows liquid to replace gas in the metering chamber, ensuring proper priming without manual intervention and reducing blowback through a specifically designed valve stem block and seal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the cap housing is made removable for manual priming, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to potential tampering and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The metering chamber is automatically primed with liquid medication in advance during the closing operation, eliminating the need for manual priming. The cap housing closing action triggers automatic priming through the priming channel, ensuring the chamber is ready for the next dose without user intervention or risk of tampering.
Solution Approach 2:
The inhaler automatically primes its own metering chamber through the closing action of the cap housing, which opens the priming channel and allows liquid to flow into the metering chamber. This self-priming mechanism eliminates the need for user intervention while maintaining reliability.
2Ease of operation
If the cap housing is made removable for manual priming, then ease of operation is improved, but loss of substance increases due to wasteful firing
Solution Approach 1:
The metering chamber is automatically primed in advance during cap housing closing, ensuring the correct amount of liquid is present before inhalation. This eliminates the need for wasteful test firings to prime the chamber, as the system is automatically prepared for the actual dose delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The inhaler automatically manages the priming process without user intervention, precisely controlling the amount of liquid transferred to the metering chamber. This prevents over-priming and subsequent waste of medication that occurs when users manually prime by firing multiple doses.
3Ease of repair
If internal components are made accessible for changes, then ease of repair is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to blowback leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The problematic radial capillary ports that caused blowback leakage are replaced with an axial priming channel. This extraction of the flawed design element eliminates the leakage path while maintaining the necessary functionality of liquid transfer to the metering chamber.
Solution Approach 2:
The orientation of the liquid transfer channel is changed from radial to axial direction. This parameter change in the channel geometry eliminates the blowback leakage issue that occurred with radial ports, while still allowing proper priming of the metering chamber.
4Ease of operation
If the inhaler allows mouthpiece cap to remain open, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to variance in active ingredients
Solution Approach 1:
The metering chamber is automatically primed during cap housing closing, ensuring the correct amount of liquid is present and isolated before inhalation. This preliminary priming action, combined with the sealed design, ensures dose consistency regardless of whether the mouthpiece cap remains open or closed between uses.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
An inhaler (10) has a main body for accommodating a medicament reservoir (84), a canister fire system for moving a canister (50) to release a dose in response to air flow, a cap housing (12) for enclosing the canister fire system and canister within an interior chamber defined by the main body (14) and a cap housing, wherein a lock system (250) is provided for locking the cap housing on the main body.