US 12,458,764 B2
Vibrating aperture plate nebulizer
Diarmuid Connolly, Galway (IE); Colm Carmody, Galway (IE); Finbarr Maguire, County Clare (IE); Aidan Duffy, Galway (IE); and Michael Timothy, County Galway (IE)
Assigned to STAMFORD DEVICES LIMITED, Galway (IE)
Appl. No. 17/907,203
Filed by STAMFORD DEVICES LIMITED, Galway (IE)
PCT Filed Mar. 22, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/057307
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 23, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/191163, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 30, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 20165404 (EP), filed on Mar. 24, 2020; application No. 20165407 (EP), filed on Mar. 24, 2020; application No. 20165409 (EP), filed on Mar. 24, 2020; and application No. 20165410 (EP), filed on Mar. 24, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0104205 A1, Apr. 6, 2023
Int. Cl. A61M 11/00 (2006.01); B05B 17/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61M 11/005 (2013.01) [B05B 17/0646 (2013.01); A61M 2207/10 (2013.01)] 25 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A nebulizer, comprising:
a housing,
a liquid supply reservoir formed by the housing,
an aerosol outlet formed by the housing, and
an aerosol generator mounted within the housing and comprising:
a vibratable aperture plate,
an annular support supporting the aperture plate,
a vibration generator attached to the annular support,
a power conductor for transferring power to the vibration generator,
a downstream resilient seal mounted between the housing and the annular support on a side of the aperture plate opposed to the liquid supply reservoir, and
an upstream resilient seal mounted between the annular support and the liquid supply reservoir
wherein the power conductor comprises a first spring contact engaging an underside of the support or vibration generator on a downstream side of the support or vibration generator and a second spring contact engaging the underside of the vibration generator or support, the first and second spring contacts provide power delivery to the vibration generator, and
wherein at least one of the first spring contact and the second spring contact is configured to apply a spring force to the underside of the support or the vibration generator.