Patent ID: 9597465
Date: 2017-03-21
CPC Classifications: A61M,Y10T

Claim:
1. A method of operating an inhaler, comprising: providing a dose container ring having staggered concentric dose containers with dose container apertures sealed by upper and lower sealant layers over and under the dose container apertures to define sealed dose containers attached to at least one airway disk, the at least one airway disk comprising one or both of an underlying or overlying airway disk having a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart airway channels, wherein at least one dose container of the staggered concentric dose containers is aligned with each of the plurality of circumferentially spaced apart airway channels; rotating the dose container ring and the at least one airway disk together to present a first dose container of the staggered concentric dose containers and a corresponding first airway channel of the circumferentially spaced apart airway channels of the airway disk to a dispensing position in the inhaler; advancing a piercing mechanism to open the upper and lower sealant layers of the first dose container and release dry powder from the first dose container to the corresponding first airway channel; delivering the released dry powder from the first dose container to a user via inhalation through the first airway channel into an inhalation exit flow path in the inhaler; and isolating the first airway channel from the inhalation flow path so that the first airway channel is reused only once for a different dose container of the staggered concentric dose containers or is not used for any subsequent inhalation delivery of a different dose container of the staggered concentric dose containers.