Power sources for iontophoretic drug delivery systems

• US 20020182485A1
• Filed: 05/30/2001
• Published: 12/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Tapemark Company
• Original Assignee: Birch Point Medical, Inc.
• Inventors: Grace, Lori A., Anderson, Carter R., Morris, Russell L., Anderson, Clayton J.
• Granted Patent: US 6,653,014 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 429/105
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/30 Apparatus for iontophoresis, i.e. transfer of media in ionic state by an electromotoric force into the body, or cataphoresis
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 16/00 Structural combinations of different types of electrochemical generators
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 6/12 with flat electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 6/26 Cells without oxidising active material, e.g. Volta cells
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 6/30 Deferred-action cells
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 6/40 Printed batteries , e.g. thin film batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 6/50 Methods or arrangements for servicing or maintenance, e.g. for maintaining operating temperature constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 6/5016 Multimode utilisation

Abstract

The capacity of an electro-chemical power source having an initial amount of an oxidizable material and an initial amount of a reducible material, is adjusted to a target capacity by altering the initial amount of one or both of the oxidizable material and the reducible material available to participate in the source by a technique selected from the group consisting of adding, removing and isolating a known fraction of the initial amount from the power source.

Claims

1. A galvanic power source comprising:

(a) an amount of an oxidizable species;

(b) an amount of a reducible species;

(c) a common conductor connecting and carrying said amounts of said oxidizable species and said reducible species in separated spaced relation, all of said amounts of said oxidizable species and said reducible species having access to said common conductor thereby forming a pair of totally consumable electrodes; and

(d) wherein an original amount of at least one of said oxidizable species and said reducible species is altered so as to be within a desired range of amounts by one or more steps selected from the group including physical addition, physical removal and separation by isolation of a portion of said original amount.

2. A galvanic power source as in claim 1 wherein said conductor comprises a layer of material carried on a flexible substrate.

3. A galvanic power source as in claim 1 wherein said electrodes are formed as layers of generally known thickness and area on said common conductor.

4. A galvanic power source as in claim 2 wherein said electrodes are formed as layers of generally known thickness and area on said common conductor.

5. A galvanic power source as in claim 1 wherein a known portion of original area of one or both of said electrodes is physically removed to adjust corresponding total charge capacity.

6. A galvanic power source as in claim 4 wherein a known portion of original area of one or both of said electrodes is physically removed to adjust corresponding total charge capacity.

7. A galvanic power source as in claim 5 wherein both of said electrodes have a known portion of their original area removed.

8. A galvanic power source as in claim 6 wherein both of said electrodes have a known portion of their original area removed.

9. A galvanic power source as in claim 4 wherein a known portion of original area of one or both of said electrodes is physically removed and wherein removal of said known portion of original area creates a central opening in each corresponding electrode.

10. A galvanic power source as in claim 9 wherein both of said electrodes have a known portion of their original area removed creating a central opening in both electrodes.

11. A galvanic power source as in claim 4 wherein a portion of original area of at least one of said electrodes is isolated by separation from said common conductor to adjust the amount of charge capacity in said at least one electrode of said power source.

12. A galvanic power source as in claim 11 wherein a portion of the original area of both of said electrodes is isolated by separation from said common conductor.

13. A galvanic power source as in claim 4 wherein at least one of said electrodes has a portion of its original area shielded to preclude contact with an electrolyte contacting the electrode to adjust the amount of charge capacity in said at least one electrode of said power source.

14. A galvanic power source as in claim 13 wherein both of said electrodes have a portion of their original area shielded to preclude contact with an electrolyte contacting the electrode to adjust the amount of charge capacity in both said electrodes of said power source.

15. A galvanic power source as in claim 4 wherein at least one of said electrodes has a portion of its area isolated from said common conductor by creation of a discontinuity extending to said substrate.

16. A galvanic source as in claim 15 wherein both of said electrodes have a portion of their areas isolated from said common conductor by creation of a discontinuity extending to said substrate.

17. A galvanic power source as in claim 4 including physical addition of a known amount of material to one or both of said electrodes to adjust corresponding total charge capacity.

18. A galvanic power source as in claim 17 wherein a known amount of material is added to both of said electrodes.

20. An electrolytic power source as in claim 19 wherein said conductor comprises a layer of material carried on a flexible substrate.

21. An electrolytic power source as in claim 19 wherein said electrodes are formed as layers of generally known thickness and area on said common conductor.

22. An electrolytic power source as in claim 20 wherein said electrodes are formed as layers of generally known thickness and area on said common conductor.

23. An electrolytic power source as in claim 19 wherein a known portion of original area of one or both of said electrodes is physically removed to adjust corresponding total charge capacity.

24. An electrolytic power source as in claim 22 wherein a known portion of original area of one or both of said electrodes is physically removed to adjust corresponding total charge capacity.

25. An electrolytic power source as in claim 23 wherein both of said electrodes have a known portion of their original area removed.

26. An electrolytic power source as in claim 24 wherein both of said electrodes have a known portion of their original area removed.

27. An electrolytic power source as in claim 22 wherein a known portion of original area of one or both of said electrodes is physically removed and wherein removal of said known portion of original area creates a central opening in each corresponding electrode.

28. An electrolytic power source as in claim 27 wherein both of said electrodes have a known portion of their original area removed creating a central opening in both electrodes.

29. An electrolytic power source as in claim 22 wherein a portion of original area of at least one of said electrodes is isolated by separation from said common conductor to adjust the amount of charge capacity in said at least one electrode of said power source.

30. An electrolytic power source as in claim 29 wherein a portion of the original area of both of said electrodes is isolated by separation from said common conductor.

31. An electrolytic power source as in claim 22 wherein at least one of said electrodes has a portion of its original area shielded to preclude contact with an electrolyte contacting the electrode to adjust the amount of charge capacity in said at least one electrode of said power source.

32. An electrolytic power source as in claim 31 wherein both of said electrodes have a portion of their original area shielded to preclude contact with an electrolyte contacting the electrode to adjust the amount of charge capacity in both said electrodes of said power source.

33. An electrolytic power source as in claim 22 wherein at least one of said electrodes has a portion of its area isolated from said common conductor by creation of a discontinuity extending to said substrate.

34. An electrolytic source as in claim 33 wherein both of said electrodes have a portion of their areas isolated from said common conductor by creation of a discontinuity extending to said substrate.

35. An electrolytic power source as in claim 22 including physical addition of a known amount of material to one or both of said electrodes to adjust corresponding total charge capacity.

36. An electrolytic power source as in claim 35 wherein a known amount of material is added to both of said electrodes.

37. An electrolytic power source as in claim 35 wherein said oxidizable species and said reducible species are of a layered construction formed as coatings of known thickness and area on substrates and wherein said amounts of said oxidizable and reducible species are adjusted by removal of a portion of said layered construction of known area.

40. A method of claim 39 wherein said power source includes a plurality of amounts of oxidizable material and reducible material.

41. A method as in claim 39 wherein said electrochemical power source is manufactured as part of a lot of power sources and further comprising the steps of:

(a) sampling said lot by removing one or more test power sources from said lot;

(b) measuring the amount of at least one of said oxidizing material and said reducible material contained in said test power source;

(c) comparing said measured amount with said target amount;

(d) if said target amount differs sufficiently from said measured amount, noting the fraction of said measured amount by which it differs from said target amount; and

(e) utilizing the fractional difference measured to determine an amount by which to alter the initial amount of one or both of said oxidizable material and said reducible material to adjust corresponding total charge capacity in said power sources in some or all of the remainder of said lot of power sources.

42. A method as in claim 41 wherein the amount of both said oxidizing material and said reducible material contained in said test power source are measured.

43. A method as in claim 41 wherein the amount of said material is measuring the total charge capacity to exhaustion.

44. A method as in claim 42 wherein the amount of said material is measured by measuring the total charge capacity to exhaustion.

45. A method as in claim 41 wherein said oxidizable species and said reducible species are formed as coatings of predetermined thickness and area on a conductive substrate and wherein said amount is altered by removal of part of said area including said substrate.

46. A method as in claim 41 wherein said oxidizable species and said reducible species are formed as coatings of predetermined thickness and area on a conductive substrate and including the step of altering the initial amount of one or both of said oxidizable material and said reducible material by isolating a portion of said area.

47. A method as in claim 46 wherein said portion of said area is isolated by creating a discontinuity between a portion of the area and said conductor.

48. A method as in claim 46 wherein said isolation step includes masking a portion of said area to preclude electrolyte contact with it.

49. A method as in claim 41 wherein said oxidizable species and said reducible species are formed as coatings of predetermined thickness and area on a conductive substrate and including the step of altering the initial amount of one or both of said oxidizable material and said reducible material by adding material to one or both of said coatings.

50. A method as in claim 48 wherein material is added to both said coatings.

51. A method as in claim 41 wherein said oxidizable species and said reducible species are formed as coatings of predetermined thickness and area on a conductive substrate by a screen printing process and wherein said amount is altered by addition of material to one or both of said oxidizable species and said reducible species by an additional screen printing step.

52. A method as in claim 39 including the step of adding material to both said coatings.

53. A method as in claim 39 wherein a plurality of techniques are employed.

54. A method as in claim 52 including the steps of adding an amount of one or more of said oxidizable species and said reducible species to adjust the total amount to be within a desired range followed by a reduction of a known amount of the material to adjust the charge capacity of said electrochemical power source.

19. An electrolytic power source comprising:

(a) an amount of an oxidizable species;

(b) an amount of a reducible species;

(c) a common ionic conductor connecting said amounts of said oxidizable species and said reducible species, all of said amounts of said oxidizable species and said reducible species having access to said common ionic conductor thereby forming a pair of totally consumable electrodes; and

(d) wherein an original amount of one or more of said oxidizable species and said reducible species are adjusted to amounts within a desired range by one or more steps selected from the group consisting of physical addition, physical removal and separation by isolation of a portion of said original amount.

38. An electrolytic power source comprising:

(a) one or more amounts of an oxidizable species;

(b) one or more amounts of a reducible species;

(c) an ionic conductor serially connecting said one or more amounts of said oxidizable species and said one or more amounts of said reducible species, all of said amounts of said oxidizable species and said reducible species having access to an ionic conductor; and

(d) wherein an original amount of one or more of said oxidizable species and said reducible species are adjusted to amounts within a desired range by physical removal of a portion of said layered construction of known area.

39. A method for adjusting the capacity of an electrochemical power source having an initial amount of an oxidizable material and an initial amount of a reducible material, wherein said initial amount of at least one of said oxidizable and said reducible materials has a target charge capacity range, comprising the step of altering the initial amount of at least one of said oxidizable material and said reducible material available to participate in said power source when necessary to conform the charge capacity to said target range by one or more techniques selected from the group consisting of adding, removing, isolating and shielding a known fraction of said initial amount.

55. An electrochemical power source comprising:

(a) one or more amount of oxidizable species;

(b) one or more amounts of reducible species;

(c) one or more conducting media connecting said amounts of said oxidizable species and said reducible species, all of said amounts of said oxidizable species and said reducible species having access to a conducting medium; and

(d) wherein at least one original amount of said one or more oxidizable species and said one or more reducible species has been altered to adjust the charge capacity of said power source.

56. An electrochemical power source as in claim 55 including a plurality of amounts of oxidizable species and a plurality of amounts of reducible species connected by a plurality of conducting media.

57. An electrochemical power source as in claim 55 wherein said electrochemical power source includes both galvanic and electrolytic couples.

58. An electrochemical power source as in claim 56 wherein said electrochemical power source includes both galvanic and electrolytic couples.

60. A wearable, disposable iontophoretic delivery device including a power source as in claim 55.

61. A device as in claim 60 wherein said electrochemical power source includes a plurality of amounts of oxidizable species and a plurality of amounts of reducible species connected by a plurality of conducting media.

62. A device as in claim 60 wherein said electrochemical power source includes both galvanic and electrolytic couples.

63. A device as in claim 60 wherein the original amount of one or more of said oxidizable species and said reducible species has been adjusted by a technique selected from the group consisting of addition, removal, isolation or shielding of a known amount of material to adjust the charge capacity of said electrochemical power sources.

59. An electrochemical power source comprising:

(a) an amount of an oxidizable species;

(b) an amount of a reducible species;

(c) a common conducting medium connecting said amounts of said oxidizable species and said reducible species, all of said amounts of said oxidizable species and said reducible species having access to said conducting medium; and

(d) wherein an original amount of one or more of said oxidizable species and said reducible species has been adjusted by a technique selected from the group consisting of addition, removal, isolation or shielding of a known amount of material to adjust the charge capacity of said electrochemical power source.