Chronic lung disease is commonly treated using portable inhaler systems. By design, these inhalers come into repeated contact with the mouth region of patients and are therefore subject to bacterial contamination and ingrowth. To enable the safe delivery of an aerosol from a drug reservoir of such an inhaler, the reservoir needs to be protected from pathogens. Here we demonstrate a self-sealing aerosol spray nozzle, a system that seals each spray orifice on nozzle level in its default closed state and sprays a liquid Rayleigh-jet upon actuation. The sealing mechanism is realized by placing a thin membrane with spray orifices on top of a valve seat. The membrane behavior and spray performance of the self-sealing spray chip were found to be identical to an equivalent non-sealing design. This sealing system may enable the safe reuse of spray chips for multiple spray operations over an extended period, lowering the cost of treatment while increasing patient compliance. [2019-0252]

中文翻译：

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一种用于气雾剂给药的自密封喷嘴

慢性肺病通常使用便携式吸入器系统进行治疗。根据设计，这些吸入器会反复接触患者的口腔区域，因此容易受到细菌污染和向内生长。为了能够从这种吸入器的药物容器中安全输送气雾剂，需要保护容器免受病原体的侵害。在这里，我们展示了一种自密封气溶胶喷嘴，该系统在默认关闭状态下在喷嘴水平上密封每个喷嘴，并在启动时喷射液体瑞利射流。密封机制是通过在阀座顶部放置带有喷孔的薄膜来实现的。发现自密封喷雾芯片的膜行为和喷雾性能与等效的非密封设计相同。这种密封系统可以在较长时间内安全地重复使用喷雾芯片进行多次喷雾操作，从而降低治疗成本，同时提高患者的依从性。[2019-0252]