Atomizer With Variable Pitch Coil For Aerosol Delivery
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aerosol delivery devices, such as electronic cigarettes, face challenges in producing aerosol without combusting tobacco, while avoiding incomplete combustion and pyrolysis products, and improving manufacturing efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a liquid transport element with a wire continuously extending along its length, forming heating elements with varying pitches, which are wound around the element to create coils for efficient heat production without combustion, and includes a method for forming atomizers with a heating element that extends along the liquid transport element's length, allowing for continuous production and efficient assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a wire is continuously wound around a liquid transport element to form heating elements, then manufacturing efficiency and productivity are improved, but the complexity of the winding process and pitch control increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wire is continuously wound around the liquid transport element without interruption to form heating elements along its entire length, eliminating the need for discrete assembly operations and significantly improving manufacturing efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The pitch of the coils is varied along the length of the wire to create different heating zones with different heating intensities, allowing optimization of heat distribution while maintaining continuous production
2Productivity
If heating elements are formed by winding wire around the liquid transport element, then aerosol production efficiency is improved, but the risk of combustion and formation of harmful pyrolysis products increases
Solution Approach 1:
The heating elements are designed with variable pitch coils that control the distribution and intensity of heat along the liquid transport element, maintaining temperatures sufficient for aerosolization while avoiding combustion thresholds
Solution Approach 2:
Electrical resistance heating is used to replace combustion-based heating methods, providing controlled thermal energy conversion without the harmful byproducts of burning tobacco or other materials
3Ease of manufacture
If the wire extends continuously along the liquid transport element, then manufacturing cost is reduced through continuous production, but the difficulty of controlling heating uniformity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The coil pitch is systematically varied along the length of the continuous wire to create zones of different heating intensity, with tighter spacing in regions requiring higher heat input and wider spacing where lower heat is needed, achieving uniform overall heating while maintaining continuous manufacturing
Solution Approach 2:
Different sections of the heating element have different coil densities tailored to the specific heating requirements of each zone along the liquid transport element, optimizing heat distribution across the entire structure
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
This solution enables the production of aerosol without significant combustion, reducing incomplete combustion products and improving manufacturing efficiency by using a continuous winding process for the heating element, resulting in a cost-effective and efficient aerosol delivery device.
Implementation Method 1
a wire extending along at least a portion of the liquid transport element and defining a heating element comprising a plurality of coils of the wire
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to atomizers for an aerosol delivery device such as a smoking article. The atomizer may include a liquid transport element and a wire extending along at least a portion of a longitudinal length thereof. The wire may define contact portions configured to engage heater terminals and a heating portion configured to produce heat. The heating portion may include a variable coil spacing. In other atomizers, the wire may extend at least partially through the liquid transport element proximate the contact portions. Related inputs, cartridges, aerosol production assemblies, and methods of forming atomizers are also provided.