Patent ID: 9604018
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: A61M

Claim:
1. An aerosol therapy device comprising: a housing; an aerosol generator comprising a vibratable membrane having a plurality of openings through which a substance can be nebulized, the aerosol generator being arranged in the housing; an air inlet formed in the housing upstream of the aerosol generator; and an air outlet formed in the housing downstream of the aerosol generator to administer the generated aerosol, with a flow of air from the air inlet to the air outlet, which bypasses the aerosol generator, being generable owing to a negative pressure at the air outlet, wherein a tapered flow channel is disposed between the aerosol generator and the air outlet, wherein the tapered flow channel has a first cross-sectional area at the aerosol generator and a second cross-sectional area, smaller than the first cross-sectional area, at the air outlet, wherein the cross-sectional area of the tapered flow channel continuously decreases from the first cross-sectional area to the second cross-sectional area, wherein the tapered flow channel has a curved central axis, and wherein the tapered flow channel forms a mixing chamber for the aerosol generator in a region of the first-cross sectional area of the tapered flow channel into which mixing chamber the aerosol generator emits the aerosol so that the air flow from the air inlet to the air outlet entrains the aerosol in the air flow to the air outlet and wherein the membrane is held in a frame by spokes defining a clearance between the spokes and between the membrane and an inner circumferential surface of the frame, forming a passage for the air flow bypassing the aerosol generator, wherein the clearance between the membrane and the frame is directly at an outer circumferential edge of the membrane, and wherein the clearance is formed, with the exception of the spokes, along the entire circumference of the membrane between the membrane and the radially inner circumferential surface of the frame.