Adjustable Cavity Bottom for Aerosol Device Substrate Heating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aerosol-generating devices lack flexibility in accommodating aerosol-forming substrates of varying sizes, leading to inefficient heating and potential overheating of non-substrate parts, such as filters, or incomplete heating of longer substrates.
Innovation Solution
An aerosol-generating device with a movable cavity bottom that adjusts along the heating element, allowing for optimal alignment and heating of aerosol-forming substrates of different lengths, while preventing heating of non-substrate areas and conserving power by only heating the necessary sections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the cavity length is fixed, then the device structure is simple, but it cannot accommodate aerosol-forming substrates of different sizes efficiently
Solution Approach 1:
The cavity bottom is made movable instead of fixed, allowing it to be positioned at different locations along the heating element. This dynamic adjustment enables the cavity length to be adapted to match different substrate lengths, resolving the contradiction between fixed structure simplicity and adaptability to varying substrate sizes.
2Reliability
If the cavity length is increased to accommodate longer substrates, then all substrate can be heated, but non-substrate parts such as filters may be overheated
Solution Approach 1:
The movable cavity bottom allows precise control of the heating zone length. By positioning the cavity bottom at the appropriate location, the heating element can be fully utilized to heat longer substrates completely, while the cavity bottom blocks heat from reaching non-substrate parts like filters, thus preventing overheating.
Solution Approach 2:
The cavity bottom creates a localized heating zone by blocking heat propagation. This allows the heating element to deliver maximum heat to the substrate without the harmful side effect of overheating adjacent non-substrate components, achieving both complete substrate heating and filter protection.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the cavity length is decreased to prevent filter overheating, then filter protection is improved, but longer substrates cannot be fully heated
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than fixing the cavity length to a conservative short value, the cavity bottom is made adjustable. This allows the cavity length to be dynamically optimized for each substrate length, ensuring complete heating when needed while maintaining filter protection, thus resolving the contradiction between these two requirements.
4Reliability
If the heating element length is increased to heat all substrate, then substrate heating coverage is improved, but energy is wasted heating non-substrate parts
Solution Approach 1:
The movable cavity bottom enables precise definition of the heating zone. By adjusting the cavity bottom position, the entire heating element can be utilized to heat longer substrates completely, while the cavity bottom acts as a thermal barrier to prevent energy waste from heating non-substrate parts beyond the substrate.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Ensures efficient heating of aerosol-forming substrates of various lengths, preventing overheating of filters and ensuring all substrate is heated, thereby improving user experience and battery life by optimizing power usage.
Implementation Method 1
A plug of aerosol-forming substrate in the consumable is heated by a heating element of the device in order to generate aerosol
Data Source
AI summary
An aerosol-generating device is provided, including a device housing having a cavity configured to receive an aerosol-forming substrate; a heating element extending into the cavity and being configured to heat the aerosol-forming substrate received in the cavity; a movable cavity bottom, a position of the movable cavity bottom defining a length of the cavity; and a control configured to move the movable cavity bottom to a selected position within the cavity, the selected position being a longitudinal position at the heating element. An aerosol-generating system including the aerosol-generating device, and a method for preparing the aerosol-generating device, are also provided.