Medical capsule device

• US 4,507,115 A
• Filed: 02/28/1984
• Issued: 03/26/1985
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/1981
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Olympus Optical Company Ltd. (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Olympus Optical Company Ltd. (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsui, Koichi, Kambara, Koji, Honda, Mikio, Misawa, Kazuo, Kohri, Kitijiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosenbaum, C. Fred
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vinyard, Sherri E.
• Application Number:
  US06/583,289
• Time in Patent Office: 392 Days
• Field of Search: 604/891, 604/131-135, 604/154, 604/93, 604/317, 604/327, 604/328, 604/330, 128/631, 128/760, 128/765, 128/769
• US Class Current: 604/135
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/0266 Shape memory materials
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 31/002 Devices for releasing a drug at a continuous and controlled rate for a prolonged period of time artificial gland structures or devices A61F2/022; intra-uterine contraceptive devices A61F6/14; tampons for introducing into the vagina A61F13/20, A61L15/00; suppositories or bougies for intra-vaginal or intra-uterine application A61K9/02; physical forms of medicinal preparations for sustained or differential drug release A61K9/20, A61K9/50

Abstract

A medical capsule device comprises a capsule body having a chamber formed inside and a communicating path for communicating the chamber with outside, a movable member arranged in the chamber and movable between a liquid-receiving position at which the volume of said chamber is made largest and a liquid-pushing position at which the volume of said chamber is made smallest, and a coiled operating member made of shape memory alloy heated by ultrasonic wave to move the movable member to liquid-receiving and -pushing positions selectively.

Claims

1. A medical capsule device comprising:

a capsule body having opposite end walls which have curved outer surfaces, at least one chamber formed in said capsule body, one of said end walls of said capsule body having a curved inner surface defining a curved inner end surface of said at least one chamber, and a communicating path for communicating said at least one chamber with the outside;

a movable piston-like member having a curved end face, said movable piston-like member being arranged in said at least one chamber and being in liquid-tight sealing relationship with internal walls of said at least one chamber, said movable piston-like member being slidable relative to said internal walls of said at least one chamber and being movable between (i) a liquid-receiving position at which said curved end face of said movable piston-like member is spaced apart from said curved inner end surface of said at least one chamber so that the volume of said at least one chamber is made largest and (ii) a liquid-pushing position at which said curved end face of said movable piston-like member closes to said curved inner end surface of said at least one chamber so that the volume of said at least one chamber is made smallest;

a coiled operating member arranged in said capsule body to selectively move said movable member to said liquid-receiving and liquid-pushing positions, said operating member being made of a shape memory alloy whose crystalline structure is transformed to martensite and mother phases responsive to heat applied thereto, said coiled operating member being contracted under said martensite phase to move said movable member to one of said liquid-receiving and liquid-pushing positions, and being extended under said mother phase to move said movable member to the other of said liquid-receiving and liquid-pushing positions;

and

said communicating path comprising a small opening formed through said one of said end walls of said capsule body and which is sufficiently small so that the liquid in said at least one chamber is prevented from passing to the outside through said opening unless said movable member moves from said liquid receiving position to said liquid-pushing position.

2. A medical capsule device according to claim 1 wherein said capsule body comprises a cylindrical body having an opened end and a closed end in which said communicating path is partially formed, and a cover for closing the opened end, and said operating being arranged between the cover and movable member.

3. A medical capsule device according to claim 2 wherein the closed end of said cylindrical body has a curved inner face, and said movable member has a curved face having the same curvature as that of curved inner face of said cylindrical body and arranged opposite to the curved inner face of said cylindrical body.

4. The medical capsule device according to claim 1, wherein said operating member is contracted when said shape memory alloy is under said martensite phase to thereby move said movable member to said liquid-receiving position and being extended when said shape member alloy is under said mother phase to move said movable member to said liquid-pushing position.

5. The medical capsule device according to claim 2, wherein said communicating path comprises an opening sufficiently small so that the liquid in said at least one chamber is prevented from entering the outside unless said operating member is extended.

6. The medical capsule device according to claim 1, wherein said capsule body comprises a cylindrical body having an opened end and a closed end, and a cover for closing the opened end of said cylindrical body and provided with said communicating path formed therein, said movable member further comprising a projection projected into said communicating path of said cover, said projection provided with a through-hole for communicating said communicating path with said at least one chamber, said cover having a member for closing said through-hole in said projection of said movable member when said movable member is moved to said liquid-receiving position, to thereby prevent liquid from said at least one chamber from entering the outside via said through-hole of said projection, while allowing said through-hole in said projection of said movable member to communicate with the outside through said communicating path when said movable member is moved to said liquid-pushing position.

7. The medical capsule device according to claim 6, wherein said movable member further comprises a first face for defining the chamber together with the closed end of said cylindrical body, a second face for defining a data-sampling chamber together with said cover, and a through-hole connecting said first and second faces of said movable member, said cylindrical body having a projection projected from said closed end of said cylindrical body into said through-hole of said movable member, said projection of said cylindrical body having a through-hole therein communicating with said data-sampling chamber, and said movable member having a member for closing the through-hole in said projection of said cylindrical body to thereby prevent liquid from entering the data-sampling chamber via said through-hole of said cylindrical body when the movable member is at said liquid-pushing position, while allowing said through-hole in said projection of said cylindrical body to communicate with said data-sampling chamber when said movable member is moved from said liquid-pushing position to said liquid-receiving position.