Patent ID: 8156933
Filing Date: 2012-04-17
Classification: A61M

Abstract:
1. An unheated nebulizer apparatus for dispersing powdered medicine in a cloud comprising: an enclosure including a primary chamber of ambient air, a separated vented medicant chamber always vented to the atmosphere during use of the apparatus, the medicant chamber being sealable from the primary chamber and located in an upper portion or top of the enclosure and holding a fine powdered medicine; a secondary chamber containing water in communication with an ultrasonic transducer and in communication with the primary chamber; a first switch for activating a pump for evacuating air from the primary chamber when activated, the pump being configured to evacuate and extract air from the primary chamber for a predetermined time, the pump when stopped being followed by activation of the transducer for a predetermined time leaving an unheated low pressure vapor-rich atmosphere; thereafter a moveable end closure or valve which opens upon activation of a second switch unseals the medicant chamber relative to the primary chamber allowing a dose of the powdered medicine to drop or fall through the partial vacuum aided by gravity along with an inrush of air and cools and expands the powdered medicine laden unheated low pressure vapor-rich atmosphere of the primary chamber to complete the conditions for seeding and forming a cloud laden with medicine in the absence of any heating or cooling elements; and a mouth piece attached to said primary chamber, the mouth piece sealed during evacuation and unsealed after cloud formation to allow the patient to suck and inhale the medicine laden cloud as a bolus as air vents through the vented medicant chamber into the primary chamber, the cloud being made up of powdered medicine attached to water vapor molecules having a size of 2 to 10 microns to remain suspended in the formed cloud.