Inhaler with a pinch clamp

Abstract

An inhaler comprising a reservoir of an inhalable composition with an outlet at one end through which the inhalable composition is discharged. A non-metered breath-activated valve is provided between the one end and the reservoir, the breath-activated valve comprising a flow path extending from the reservoir to the outlet end. At least a portion of the flow path is a deformable tube. A clamping member pinches the deformable tube closed when no suction force is applied to the device and releases the tube to open the flow path when suction is applied at the outlet, to provide uninterrupted flow from the reservoir to the outlet.

Claims

1. An inhaler comprising: a reservoir of an inhalable composition; an outlet at one end of the inhaler through which the inhalable composition is discharged; a fill valve at an opposite end of the inhaler to the one end and via which the reservoir can be filled; and a non-metered breath-activated valve between the one end and the reservoir, the breath-activated valve comprising a flow path extending from the reservoir to the one end, at least a portion of the flow path being a deformable tube, and a clamping member which pinches the deformable tube closed when no suction force is applied to the inhaler and releases the tube to open the flow path when suction is applied at the outlet, to provide uninterrupted flow from the reservoir to the outlet; wherein: from the one end to the opposite end, the following components are arranged in order: the outlet, the clamping member, the reservoir, and the fill valve, and the clamping member is configured so that a degree of opening of the flow path is proportional to the strength of the suction.

2. The inhaler of claim 1, wherein the fill valve is at least partially disposed within a housing of the inhaler.

3. The inhaler of claim 1, wherein a wall of the deformable tube is thinner where the clamping member pinches the deformable tube closed.

4. The inhaler of claim 1, wherein the clamping member is a mechanical member which is moved by a pressure differential caused when suction is applied at the outlet.

5. An inhaler comprising: a reservoir of an inhalable composition; an outlet at one end of the inhaler through which the inhalable composition is discharged; and a non-metered breath-activated valve between the one end and the reservoir, the breath-activated valve comprising a flow path extending from the reservoir to the one end, at least a portion of the flow path being a deformable tube, and a clamping member which pinches the deformable tube closed when no suction force is applied to the inhaler and releases the tube to open the flow path when suction is applied at the outlet, to provide uninterrupted flow from the reservoir to the outlet; wherein: the tube is pinched at a single location, and the clamping member is configured so that a degree of opening of the flow path is proportional to the strength of the suction.

6. The inhaler of claim 5, wherein the clamping member is a mechanical member which is moved by a pressure differential caused when suction is applied at the outlet.

7. The inhaler of claim 5, wherein a wall of the deformable tube is thinner where the clamping member pinches the deformable tube closed.

8. The inhaler of claim 5, wherein the deformable tube is a nozzle which is also provided integrally with an outlet orifice, which is the narrowest part of the flow path.

9. The inhaler of claim 8, wherein the nozzle has an outwardly projecting annular flange at an upstream end of the nozzle which fits within a downstream end of the flow path.

10. An inhaler comprising: a reservoir of an inhalable composition; an outlet at one end of the inhaler through which the inhalable composition is discharged; and a non-metered breath-activated valve between the one end and the reservoir, the breath-activated valve comprising a flow path extending from the reservoir to the one end, at least a portion of the flow path being a deformable tube, and a clamping member which pinches the deformable tube closed when no suction force is applied to the inhaler and releases the tube to open the flow path when suction is applied at the outlet, to provide uninterrupted flow from the reservoir to the outlet; wherein: the deformable tube is a nozzle which is also provided integrally with an outlet orifice, which is the narrowest part of the flow path, the clamping member is configured so that a degree of opening of the flow path is proportional to the strength of the suction.

11. The inhaler of claim 10, wherein a wall of the deformable tube is thinner where the clamping member pinches the deformable tube closed.

12. The inhaler of claim 10, wherein the nozzle has an outwardly projecting annular flange at an upstream end which fits within a downstream end of the flow path.

13. The inhaler of claim 10, wherein the outlet orifice has a smaller diameter than the remainder of the deformable tube.

14. The inhaler of claim 10, wherein the outlet orifice is located downstream of the clamping member.

15. The inhaler of claim 10, wherein the outlet orifice is located at a downstream end of the nozzle.

16. The inhaler of claim 12, further comprising a housing having a shoulder, wherein the outwardly projecting annular flange engages the shoulder of the housing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Examples of inhalers in accordance with the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a section through a perspective view of a first inhaler in a closed position;

(3) FIG. 2 is a similar view in the open position;

(4) FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the inhaler of FIGS. 1 and 2;

(5) FIG. 4 is a cross-section through a perspective view of a second inhaler in the closed position;

(6) FIG. 5 is a similar view in the open position; and

(7) FIG. 6 is a perspective view from the outlet end of the second example shown with the outer housing removed to show the pinch mechanism; and

(8) FIG. 7 is a cross-section of an alternative arrangement of deformable tubular element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(9) The present invention relates to an improvement of the outlet valve for a breath-activated cigarette and only this aspect of the invention will be specifically described here. For details of the construction of the remainder of the cigarette device and its refill mechanism, reference is made to WO 2009/001078.

(10) The first example of an inhaler in accordance with the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.

(11) The device has a housing 1 made up of a main chassis 2 and a closure element 3 as shown in FIG. 1. This is held in place by label 4. Within the housing, there is a reservoir 5 containing the inhalable composition. This is preferably pressurised but could also work with a non-pressurised reservoir in combination with a Venturi nozzle to generate an enhanced suction force on the reservoir, or a non-pressurised reservoir containing a substance that is prone to evaporating at room temperature. It may be refillable as described in WO 2009/001082 through the filling valve 6, or the device may be a single use device, or may be arranged so that the reservoir 5 is a replaceable component.

(12) The breath-activated valve 7 is positioned between an outlet end 8 and the reservoir 5. The breath-activated valve is arranged so that, when a user sucks on the outlet end 8, the breath-activated valve 7 opens to allow the inhalable composition from the reservoir 5 to be inhaled.

(13) The housing at the outlet end has two orifices. The first of these is the suction orifice 9 which communicates with a chamber 10 as will be described in greater detail below and the second is an outlet orifice 11 from which the inhalable composition dispensed is also described in more detail below. As is apparent from FIG. 3, the outlet orifice 11 is provided on a separate component 12.

(14) An outlet path 13 is defined between the reservoir 5 and outlet orifice 11.

(15) A portion of the outlet path 13 is provided by deformable tubular element 14. This tubular element is moved between the closed position shown in FIG. 1 and the open position shown in FIG. 2 by a mechanism which will now be described.

(16) This mechanism comprises a pivotally mounted vane 15 and a membrane 16. The pivotally mounted vane has a pivot 17 at the end closest to the outlet end 8 and a central reinforcing rib 18 running along its length and tapering away from the outlet end. At around the midpoint, the vane 15 is provided with a recess 19 for receiving a spring 20 which biases it into the closed position shown in FIG. 1. Below the recess 19 is a jaw 21 having a triangular cross-section which is configured to apply the force provided from the vane 15 to the deformable tube 14 over a narrow area. The vane 15 is supported by the diaphragm 16 which is sealed to the housing at its ends 22, 23. This seals off the chamber 10 other than to the suction orifice 9.

(17) The underside 24 of the membrane 16 is open to atmospheric pressure as a leakage path exists through the housing 1 which is not shown in the drawings as it extends around the outlet path 1 and is therefore not shown in the plane of FIGS. 1 and 2.

(18) When a user sucks on the outlet end 8 with the device in the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the suction is communicated by the suction orifice 9 to the chamber 10 through orifices 25 thereby lowering the pressure in this chamber. This causes the vane 15 to be lifted against the action of the spring 20 to the position shown in FIG. 2 deforming the diaphragm into the configuration shown in FIG. 2 and lifting the jaw 21 to allow the deformable tube to open, thereby allowing the inhalable composition from the reservoir 5 along outlet path 13 through the deformable tube 14 and out through the outlet orifice 11. The degree of suction applied by the user will determine the extent to which the vane 15 moves and therefore the amount of composition that the user receives. As soon as a user stops sucking, atmospheric pressure will return to the chamber 10 via the suction orifice 9 and the spring 20 will return the vane to the FIG. 1 position thereby pinching the tube 14 closed.

(19) A second example of an inhaler is shown in FIGS. 4 to 6. This is also provided with a deformable tube 14, a reservoir 5 and outlet end 8, but the mechanism is somewhat different. In the closed position of FIG. 4, the deformable tube is pinched between a pair of jaws 30 on a spring clip 31. This clip 31 is biased into the first position shown in FIG. 4. The inhaler has an outlet orifice 32 which completes a flow path from the reservoir 5 via the deformable tube 14 through the outlet orifice 32, and a plurality of suction orifices 33 which provide suction to an internal chamber 34. In this example, there are a pair of pivotally mounted vanes 35 extending longitudinally along opposite sides of the device. Each of the vanes is connected to an L-shaped bracket 36, one of which is shown in FIG. 6. This L-shaped bracket extends into the respective jaw 30 and effectively reaches around to the opposite side of the deformable tube 14 for reasons described below.

(20) The housing 1 is provided with a pair of inlet orifices 37 one for each vane. As a user sucks on the outlet end 8, the suction force via suction orifices 34 draws air through inlet orifices 37 into chamber 34 thereby applying inward pressure to the vanes 35. As a result of inward pressure, the vanes pivot inwardly to the position shown in FIG. 5. The L-shaped brackets 36 mean that the downward movement of the upper vane 35 moves the lower jaw 30 downwardly and the upward movement of the lower vane 35 moves the upper jaw 30 downwardly, thereby opening the deformable tube 14 as shown in FIG. 5 to dispense the inhalable composition. When the suction force is removed, the pressure differential across the vanes 35 is removed and the resilience of the spring clip 31 returns the jaws 30 to the position shown in FIG. 4.

(21) An alternative arrangement of a deformable tubular element will now be described with reference to FIG. 7.

(22) The vane 15, membrane 16 and other components are broadly the same as those described with reference to the previous example. The main difference in this example is the configuration of the deformable tubular element 14 and these differences are all that will be described below.

(23) Essentially, the orifice 11 which was previously in a separate component has now been integrated into the tubular element 14 as orifice 11. This has some additional benefits. Firstly, by replacing the two components with a single component, the overall space required for the outlet path has been reduced. This allows other elements such as the vane 15 and membrane 16 to be increased in size. This, in turn, increases the sensitivity of the device as it is more efficient at converting small breath forces into a movement which opens the flow path. This is important for users who may have impaired lung function capacity. Secondly, by eliminating the requirement for a seal between the tubular element 14 and the plate with the orifice 11, the manufacturing of the device can be simplified. In addition, this eliminates the potential for leakage at this interface. Also, the manner in which the orifice plate 14 is sealed to the outlet path 13 at its upstream end has also been modified. At its upstream end, the tubular element 14 is provided with an outwardly projecting annular flange 40. This fits within the downstream end of the outlet path 13. This provides a more reliable sealing arrangement than bonding the tubular element 14 in place. As a result, the new nozzle design can contain a pressurised formulation without leakage for a much longer period, and thus increase the stability of the formulation within the device as well as retaining a higher capacity for a longer period.

(24) The tubular element 14 can be different thicknesses at particular parts. For example, the hoop stresses will be greatest on the walls of the nozzle immediately downstream of the flange 40. However, for the mid-section of the tubular element 14 where the jaw 21 is sealing the tubular member, the material can be of reduced thickness to allow an easier clamping action.

(25) Preferably, the tubular element 14 has a shore hardness of between 20 A and 80 A, most preferably 30 A to 40 A. At its thickest part, the wall can be 0.5 mm thick and at its thinnest part can be 0.18 mm thick. In order to deliver the optimum performance for the aerosol to reach the pulmonary system on inhalation, the outlet orifice 11 is preferably between 0.1 mm and 0.5 mm wide, but preferably 0.2 to 0.3 mm and most preferably 0.2 mm wide. The inner channel in the tubular element 14 away from the outlet orifice 11 is preferably between 0.2 mm and 0.6 mm wide, preferably between 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm and most preferably 0.4 mm.