1. A dry powder inhaler, comprising:
a dry powder source;
a dispersion chamber;
an inlet providing an inlet flow path from the dry powder source to the dispersion chamber;
a mouthpiece;
an outlet providing an outlet flow path from the dispersion chamber into the mouthpiece; and
at least one sheath air inlet providing a sheath air flow path into the mouthpiece.
2. The dry powder inhaler of claim 1 with the outlet comprising an outlet tube extending from the dispersion chamber at least partially into the mouthpiece, and with the sheath air inlet oriented in a direction substantially perpendicular to the outlet tube.
3. The dry powder inhaler of claim 1 with the sheath air inlet leading into an annular sheath air flow region surrounding the outlet.
4. The dry powder inhaler of claim 1 with the sheath air inlet extending radially inwardly relative to the mouthpiece and forming a first section of the sheath air flow path, and further comprising a second section of the sheath air flow path extending generally perpendicular to the first section and generally parallel to the mouthpiece.
5. The inhaler of claim 1 further comprising:
the dispersion chamber having an open central interior area;
a curved outer wall in the dispersion chamber forming a bead race in the dispersion chamber; and
at least one bead in the dispersion chamber, with the bead having a diameter or characteristic dimension of at least 50 to 90% of an interior height of the dispersion chamber.
6. The inhaler of claim 1 wherein the dispersion chamber is disk-shaped.
7. The inhaler of claim 1 wherein the bead race has a radius of curvature greater than a radius of curvature of the bead.
8. The inhaler of claim 6 wherein the dispersion chamber has a flat bottom surface and a flat top surface adjoining the bead race.
9. The inhaler of claim 1 further comprising means for retaining the at least one bead in the dispersion chamber.
10. The inhaler of claim 1 wherein the bead has a diameter or characteristic dimension which allows the bead to move around chaotically in the dispersion chamber when a patient inhales on the outlet.
11. The inhaler of claim 1 further comprising a dose platform adjacent to the inlet, for holding a dose of a dry powder pharmaceutical.
12. The inhaler of claim 1 wherein the dispersion chamber has a characteristic dimension that is from 4 to 20 times greater than the characteristic dimension of the bead.
13. A dry powder inhaler, comprising:
a dry powder source;
a dispersion chamber;
a mouthpiece;
a powder flow path connecting from the dry powder source into the dispersion chamber, and from the dispersion chamber into the mouthpiece, for moving powder laden air from the dry powder source to the dispersion chamber and into the mouthpiece; and
a sheath air flow path connecting into the mouthpiece, separate from the powder flow path, for moving ambient air into the mouthpiece.
14. The dry powder inhaler of claim 13 with the dry powder source comprising a dose platform and a dose opening in the dose platform to allow dry powder to move from the dose platform, through the dose opening and into the powder flow path.
15. The dry powder inhaler of claim 13 further comprising a bead storage compartment attached to the dispersion chamber; one or more beads in the bead storage compartment, and a retainer holding the beads in the bead storage compartment until the inhaler is used.
16. The dry powder inhaler of claim 13 further comprising a plurality of outlets between the dispersion chamber and the mouthpiece.
17. A dry powder inhaler, comprising:
an inhaler housing;
a dry powder source in or on the inhaler housing;
a dispersion chamber within the housing;
an inlet providing an inlet flow path from the dry powder source to the dispersion chamber;
a mouthpiece;
an outlet providing an outlet flow path from the dispersion chamber into the mouthpiece;
at least one sheath air inlet providing a sheath air flow path into the mouthpiece; and
the dispersion chamber provided as a separate component that can be removed from the housing, and replaced with another dispersion chamber.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An optical device to reduce the thermally induced distortion and thermally induced depolarization of light transmitted through all or part of the device, the device comprising a nominally transparent layer of liquid, grease or gel in a thickness that minimizes the distortion of the device and a nominally transparent solid element having an approximately zero or negative stress optic coefficient.
2. The device of claim 1 wherein the refractive index of the nominally transparent liquid, grease or gel approximately matches the refractive index of the nominally transparent solid element.
3. The device of claim 1 further comprising a thin film coating that alters the magnitude of the reflection of light at an interface.
4. The device of claim 1 further comprising a reflective element positioned to reflect a light beam that has passed through at least one of the nominally transparent elements back through it.
5. The device of claim 4 wherein at least one of the nominally transparent elements is a quarter-wave plate oriented to convert incident plane polarized light into circularly polarized light in a single pass.
6. The device of claim 1 wherein at least one of the nominally transparent elements comprises a material selected from the group consisting of: glass, a single crystalline material, a polycrystalline or ceramic material, a polymeric material, and a frozen liquid or gel.
7. The device of claim 1 further comprising a temperature control unit.
8. The device of claim 1 wherein the nominally transparent liquid, grease or gel comprises a melted solid.
9. The device of claim 1 wherein an observation of the creation of one or more bubbles or convection currents in the nominally transparent liquid, grease or gel is used to indicate the maximum acceptable power level of a light beam incident upon the nominally transparent liquid, gel or grease.
10. The device of claim 1 further comprising a temperature indication unit to monitor the maximum acceptable power level of a light beam incident upon the device.
11. The device of claim 1 further comprising a solid element bowing detection unit to indicate the maximum acceptable power level of a light beam incident upon the device.
12. The device of claim 1 wherein interferometry and localized heating are used to optimize the thickness of the material(s).
13. The device of claim 1 wherein beam divergence measurements are used to optimize the thickness of the material(s).
14. The device of claim 1 further comprising a linear window movement mechanism to alter the thickness of the nominally transparent liquid, grease or gel.
15. The device of claim 1 further comprising a pump that circulates the nominally transparent liquid, grease or gel.
16. The device of claim 1 further comprising a linear window movement mechanism that moves at least one of the nominally transparent elements transverse to the direction of an incident light beam to reduce the temperature of that at least one nominally transparent element.
17. The device of claim 1 wherein an incident light beam is provided at non-normal incidence to reduce the reflection of light from an interface of at least one of the nominally transparent elements for p-polarized light.
18. The device of claim 1 wherein at least one of the nominally transparent elements comprises at least one nonplanar solid surface.
19. The device of claim 1 wherein the nominally transparent liquid, grease or gel is provided in a thickness that is sufficient to optically contact two solids but is too thin to affect thermally induced distortion as a result of its dndT.
20. The device of claim 1 wherein the absorption coefficient of the nominally transparent liquid, grease or gel is increased by the addition of another material.
21. The device of claim 3 wherein the thin film coating is added to purposely increase the absorption of the light.
22. The device of claim 4 further comprising a laser and wherein the nominally transparent elements are adapted to perform as an output coupler.
23. The device of claim 22 further comprising at least one radially varying reflectivity coating.