Dry powder delivery system apparatus
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A powder delivery system comprising:
- a body having an internal cavity and an outlet port for delivering a powder into an aerosol form;
a substrate with one or more aliquots of powder, each aliquot at an aliquot location on the substrate, each aliquot sealed under an individually releasable cover; and
an electrical release element for electrically releasing each releasable cover, the substrate having electrical conductors for selectively applying voltage to the electrical release element to thereby selectively release the corresponding cover.
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Abstract
Provided is a powder delivery system which uses mechanical or electrical means to individually release covers that cover powder at a variety of powder aliquot locations on a rigid substrate.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A powder delivery system comprising:
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a body having an internal cavity and an outlet port for delivering a powder into an aerosol form;
a substrate with one or more aliquots of powder, each aliquot at an aliquot location on the substrate, each aliquot sealed under an individually releasable cover; and
an electrical release element for electrically releasing each releasable cover, the substrate having electrical conductors for selectively applying voltage to the electrical release element to thereby selectively release the corresponding cover.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
either (a) the releasable cover is secured by a reversibly thermosetting adhesive, or (b) the releasable cover is formed of a material having mechanical memory and is conditioned to favor a memory configuration, wherein, when secured to the substrate the cover in the closed condition is bent out of the memory configuration, or (c) both (a) and (b) apply.
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5. The powder delivery system of claim 4, wherein the material having mechanical memory is a shape memory material that adopts its memory configuration when heated to a memory temperature.
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6. The powder delivery system of claim 1, including a plurality of aliquot locations, the substrate having an upper electrically non-conductive surface and a lower surface wherein the aliquot locations are arrayed on the upper non-conducting surface of the substrate and further comprising a strip of conductive material applied to the lower surface of the substrate at each location.
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7. The powder delivery system of claim 6, further comprising a voltage source for applying a powder release-assisting voltage to one or more of the strips of conductive material.
- 8. A substrate for delivering powder on which multiple aliquots of powder are at corresponding aliquot locations, each aliquot sealed under an individually releasable cover, the substrate including a plurality of electrical release elements, each element corresponding to a separate aliquot cover, each release element for releasing the corresponding cover.
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11. A powder delivery system comprising:
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a body having an internal cavity and an outlet port for delivering a powder into an aerosol form;
a substrate in the cavity with at least one aliquot of powder at a corresponding aliquot location on the substrate, the at least one aliquot being sealed under a corresponding separate, discrete individually releasable cover in a cover closed position, the cover having memory and favoring a predetermined memory configuration; and
means for selectively causing the cover to displace to a cover open favored memory configuration. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A powder delivery system comprising:
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a body having an internal cavity and an outlet port for delivering a powder into an aerosol form;
a substrate in the cavity with at least one aliquot of powder at a corresponding aliquot location on the substrate, the at least one aliquot being sealed under an individually releasable cover in a cover closed position;
an aliquot cover having an aliquot closed position and an open position; and
a cover release mechanism comprising an electrical release element responsive to an applied electrical signal for electrically releasing the cover.
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20. A powder delivery system comprising:
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a body having an internal cavity and an outlet port for delivering a powder into an aerosol form;
a substrate with one or more aliquots of powder, each aliquot at an aliquot location on the substrate, each aliquot sealed under an individually releasable cover, an electrical release element for electrically releasing each releasable cover; and
means for moving the substrate to align each aliquot to a release position, wherein when the substrate is moved to align an aliquot with its aliquot release position, electrical contacts are made that direct voltage to a selected electrical release element.
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21. A powder delivery system comprising:
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a body having an internal cavity and an outlet port for delivering a powder into an aerosol form;
a substrate with one or more aliquots of powder, each aliquot at an aliquot location on the substrate, each aliquot sealed under an individually releasable cover; and
an electrical release element for electrically releasing each releasable cover, the cover having a memory configuration in a cover open position including means for causing the closed cover to assume the cover open position from the sealed condition for each releasable cover, the cover material having a memory configuration comprising shape memory material that adopts its memory configuration when heated to a memory configuration.
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22. A powder delivery system comprising:
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a body having an internal cavity and an outlet port for delivering a powder into an aerosol form;
a substrate with one or more aliquots of powder, each aliquot at an aliquot location on the substrate, each aliquot sealed under an individually releasable cover, and an electrical release element for electrically releasing each releasable cover and the corresponding aliquot of powder.
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23. A powder delivery system comprising:
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a body having an internal cavity and an outlet port for delivering a powder into an aerosol form;
a substrate with a plurality of aliquots of powder, each aliquot at a separate discrete aliquot location on the substrate, each aliquot sealed under an individually releasable cover; and
an electrical release element for electrically releasing each releasable cover;
the substrate having an upper electrically non-conductive surface and a lower surface wherein the aliquot locations are arrayed on the upper non-conducting surface of the substrate and further comprising a strip of conductive material applied to the lower surface of the substrate at each location.
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Specification