Sprayer

• US 6,679,436 B1
• Filed: 06/15/2001
• Issued: 01/20/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Omron Healthcare Company Limited (Omron Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Omron Corporation
• Inventors: Tanaka, Shinya, Onishi, Yoshihide, Osuga, Masashi, Terada, Takao
• Primary Examiner(s): HWU, DAVIS D
• Application Number:
  US09/868,185
• Time in Patent Office: 949 Days
• Field of Search: 239/101, 239/102.1, 239/102.2, 239/63, 239/67, 239/68-70, 239/302, 239/303, 239/304, 239/350, 239/352, 239/99
• US Class Current: 239/101
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 11/005 using ultrasonics spraying or atomising liquids using ultrasonic vibrations in general B05B17/06
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 17/0638 spray being produced by discharging the liquid or other fluent material through a plate comprising a plurality of orifices
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 17/0676 Feeding means

Abstract

A spray sprays a liquid medicine from a spray part 30. When a liquid sensing electrode 55, 56 arranged on the spray part 30 senses the quantity of the liquid stored in a storage part 30a and determines that the quantity of the liquid decreases, a pin part 27 is driven by a solenoid 26 for feeding the liquid medicine from a liquid medicine bottle 20 to the storage part 30a of the spray part 30 through a feed pipe 25, and the feeding interval is obtained when the liquid medicine is intermittently fed for adjusting power supplied to a piezoelectric element 50 of the spray part 30 so that the feeding interval is constant. Consequently, a spray capable of automatically adjusting the quantity of spraying per unit time to a constant level for spray liquids having various properties can be provided.

Claims

1. A spray comprising a first storage part and a second storage part for storing a spray liquid, a spray part spraying the spray liquid stored in said second storage part, a feeding part feeding a constant quantity of spray liquid from said first storage part to said second storage part, a liquid sensing part detecting presence/absence or increase/decrease of the spray liquid in said second storage part and a feeding determination part for determining whether or not said second storage part requires feeding on the basis of an output from said liquid sensing part, for automatically adjusting the quantity of spraying by adjusting power supplied to the spray part so that the spray liquid is fed to said second storage part at a prescribed interval.

2. The spray according to claim 1, wherein said spray part is formed by a piezoelectric element and piezoelectric element driving means, said second storage part is formed by part of the surface of said piezoelectric element and said spray comprises a liquid sensing circuit having an electrode for liquid sensing on a surface of said second storage part opposite to said piezoelectric element for sensing presence/absence or increase/decrease of the liquid in the storage part on the basis of an output from the liquid sensing electrode.

3. The spray according to claim 2, wherein said liquid sensing circuit forms an oscillation circuit utilizing a resonance characteristic specifically decided from the size of said piezoelectric element, the shape of said liquid sensing electrode and the like for sensing the liquid by detecting presence/absence of oscillation or change of the oscillation frequency.

4. The spray according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of said liquid sensing electrodes are arranged in parallel in a direction perpendicular to a direction where the liquid decreases so that the liquid is sensed by detecting change of electrostatic capacitance across the electrodes.

5. The spray according to claim 2, wherein said liquid sensing circuit is formed by a frequency output, and a piezoelectric driving frequency band and a liquid sensing circuit output frequency band are separated from each other.

6. The spray according to claim 5, wherein said liquid sensing circuit output frequency band is sufficiently lowered with respect to said piezoelectric element driving frequency band.

7. The spray according to claim 6, wherein a low-pass filter circuit is added to an output of said liquid sensing circuit for cutting noise of the piezoelectric element driving frequency band.

8. The spray according to claim 2, automatically adjusting the quantity of spraying per unit time by periodically stopping driving the piezoelectric element and adjusting driving power for the piezoelectric element on the basis of an output from the liquid sensing circuit during the stop period.

9. The spray according to claim 2, employing pulse control for turning on/off driving power to the piezoelectric element for automatically adjusting the quantity of spraying per unit time on the basis of an output from the liquid sensing circuit during the OFF period.

10. The spray according to claim 8, wherein said spray is employed for inhalation, and the driving power to said piezoelectric element is off for a period of not more than 15 ms.

11. The spray according to claim 2, wherein said liquid sensing electrode is slightly inclined from vertical arrangement with respect to the direction of an oscillatory wave of the piezoelectric element generated by driving the piezoelectric element.

12. The spray according to claim 2, wherein an electrode to be connected to a fixed potential having a low impedance is arranged on the surface of said second storage part opposite to the piezoelectric element independently of the electrode for liquid sensing.

13. The spray according to claim 2, wherein at least one of said liquid sensing electrode is connected to a fixed potential having a low impedance.

14. The spray according to claim 12, wherein said electrode connected to the fixed potential is slightly inclined from vertical arrangement with respect to the direction of an oscillatory wave of the piezoelectric element generated by driving the piezoelectric element.

15. The spray according to claim 1, wherein said spray is employed for inhalation, and the quantity of the spray liquid fed to said second storage part per dose is not more than 100 μ

l.

16. The spray according to claim 15, wherein the initial value of power supplied to the spray part is set to the maximum level.

17. The spray according to claim 1, having a power fixing mode for inspecting sprayability.

18. The spray according to claim 17, having a supply voltage monitoring function for shifting to the power fixing mode when prescribed supply voltage fluctuation is detected.

19. The spray according to claim 18, shifting to the power fixing mode when specific supply voltage fluctuation is detected before starting spraying immediately after power supply to the apparatus.

20. The spray according to claim 1, storing power supplied to the spray part immediately before spraying is stopped within a prescribed time once spraying is stopped, for starting spraying with the stored power when spraying is restarted within the prescribed time.

21. The spray according to claim 20, storing the power supplied to the spray part immediately before spraying is stopped by holding a body power source within the prescribed time and completely disconnecting the power source after a lapse of the prescribed time.

22. The spray according to claim 1, determining that the spray liquid in said first storage part runs out and cutting off power supply to said spray part when said feeding determination part of said second storage part determines that feeding is necessary even if said first storage part repetitively feeds the liquid to said second storage part by a prescribed number of times or for a prescribed period.