Patent ID: 7926484

Claim:
An aerosol inhalation system comprising: a single source of gas; a Y-conduit having a first leg in fluid communication with the gas source and second and third legs, wherein the second leg has a first inner diameter and the third leg has a second inner diameter that is less than the first diameter; an accessory having a main conduit body and a patient interface conduit that is adapted to deliver aerosolized medication to a mouth of the patient; a nebulizer sealingly and removably coupled to the main conduit body, the nebulizer including a gas inlet port that is fluidly connected to the third leg of the Y-conduit to permit gas from the single source to flow into the nebulizer to create the aerosolized medication that is delivered into the main conduit body and to the patient through the patient interface conduit; and a supplemental gas inlet port that is part of the main conduit body and is fluidly connected to the second leg of the Y-conduit for introducing a flow of supplemental gas from the single gas source to the patient interface under select conditions; a holding chamber having a first compartment and a second compartment separated from the first compartment, with the first compartment being sealingly and fluidly coupled to a first port of the main conduit body and the second compartment being sealingly and fluidly coupled to a second port of the main conduit body, wherein the holding chamber is defined by a reservoir bag with the first and second compartments defined therein and separated from one another by a bi-furcating wall, the reservoir bag being formed of an expandable/collapsible material; and an arrangement of valves such that when the patient exhales, the first and second compartments are sealingly closed off from the patient interface conduit resulting in exhaled air being delivered to a first end of the main conduit body that is selectively open when the patient exhales and conversely, when the patient inhales, the first and second compartments are opened to the main conduit body resulting in the aerosolized medication being delivered through the main conduit body to the patient interface conduit and to the patient; and wherein the second leg has a flow metering structure associated therewith for controlling the flow rate of the supplemental gas to the patient interface, the flow rate of the gas through the supplemental gas inlet port being different than a gas flow rate through the third leg into the nebulizer for generating the aerosolized medication, whereby the reduced inner diameter of the second leg acts as the flow metering structure since the flow rate of supplemental gas is controlled and reduced by flowing through the second leg relative to the flow rate of gas through the third leg.