| abstract |
A portable, battery powered, hand-held system for releasing a controlled dose of aerosol medication for inhalation by a patient including a durable body (2) and a medication cassette (4) inserted in the durable body (2). The cassette (4) includes a housing (40) for containing a canister of medication (30), bears an identification code, and permits the canister (30) to be manually depressed to release a dose, e.g., a metered dose, when out of the durable body (2). The durable body (2) includes an actuator mechanism (200) for engaging an inserted cassette (4) and its canister (30), and an actuator release mechanism (300) for controlling the actuator mechanism (200) to depress the canister (30) for a selected period of time to release the desired dose of medication and then to release the canister (30). The actuator mechanism (200) includes a compression spring (210) for depressing the canister (30) and a torsion spring (220) for reloading the compression spring (210). The torsion spring (220) is reloaded by rotating the cassette (4) from an open position for delivering aerosol to a closed position. The actuator release mechanism (300) includes a motor (321) and trigger pin (312) assembly that controls the release of the compression spring (210) and the torsion spring (220), and, hence, the time that the canister is depressed. The motor (321) operates in response to sensed flow satisfying a selected delivery threshold. The durable body (2) includes a flow sensor (600) having an asymmetrical orifice that is calibrated, independent of the cassette (4), to convert the sensed pressure due to flow into a flow rate. The orifice is separately calibrated for an inhalation flow rate range and an exhalation flow rate range over a selected number of known flow rates. The sensed pressure value is corrected for transducer (505) offset drift and converted to a flow rate using the calibration data and piecewise linear interpolation. |