Atomizing Liquid Gel with Reversible Phase Transition for E-Cigarette Leakage Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
E-cigarettes face significant issues with liquid nicotine leakage due to viscosity changes during transportation and use, leading to inefficiencies and stability problems with existing solutions, including solid nicotine forms that lack reversible phase transition performance.
Innovation Solution
Development of an atomizing liquid gel with reversible phase transition characteristics using sugar-based gelling agents that self-assemble into a supramolecular three-dimensional network, allowing for thermal and shear reversible phase transitions, effectively trapping and releasing nicotine and aroma components as needed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If liquid nicotine is used in e-cigarettes, then atomization and delivery of nicotine and aroma components is achieved, but leakage occurs during transportation, storage, and use due to viscosity changes and air pressure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies phase transition by using a gel that can reversibly transition between gel state (for storage and transportation) and sol state (for atomization). The gel-sol phase transition temperature is designed to be lower than the evaporation temperature of the atomizing liquid, allowing the gel to melt and release the liquid for atomization while preventing leakage during storage. This resolves the contradiction by providing both leakage control and atomization capability through temperature-controlled phase transition.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state parameter of the nicotine carrier from liquid to gel, and controls the gel-sol transition temperature to be below the evaporation temperature of the atomizing liquid. This parameter change allows the system to maintain nicotine in a non-leaking state during storage while enabling easy atomization when heated, thus resolving the leakage control versus atomization performance contradiction.
2Reliability
If solid nicotine is used to replace liquid nicotine, then leakage during transportation and storage is reduced, but reversible phase transition performance is lost and the system becomes irreversible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a gel that exhibits reversible gel-sol phase transition, allowing the system to switch between solid-like (gel) and liquid-like (sol) states. This reversibility is achieved through thermal stimulation, enabling the gel to melt into sol for atomization and then revert to gel state for storage, thus maintaining both leakage control and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic characteristics to the nicotine carrier system through the reversible gel-sol phase transition. The gel state provides stability for storage, while the sol state enables atomization, and the system can dynamically switch between these states based on temperature conditions, thus resolving the contradiction between leakage control and phase transition reversibility.
3Ease of operation
If the gel-sol phase transition temperature is set low, then the gel melts easily for atomization, but the gel structure becomes unstable and may leak under normal storage conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent carefully selects and adjusts the gel-sol phase transition temperature parameter to be lower than the evaporation temperature of the atomizing liquid but higher than normal storage temperatures. This parameter optimization ensures the gel remains stable during storage while melting easily during atomization, resolving the contradiction between atomization ease and gel structure stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the gel-sol phase transition phenomenon with a specifically controlled transition temperature. By designing the phase transition temperature to be below the evaporation temperature of the atomizing liquid, the gel can melt and release the liquid for atomization without causing leakage during normal storage, thus balancing atomization ease with structural stability.
4Reliability
If new liquid storage structures and sensing devices are developed to control leakage, then leakage risk is reduced, but research and development costs increase and the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the natural gel-sol phase transition of the nicotine carrier itself as the leakage control mechanism, eliminating the need for complex external sensing devices and storage structures. The gel state provides automatic leakage prevention during storage, while the sol state enables atomization, thus resolving the contradiction between leakage control and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies the self-service principle by using the gel's inherent phase transition properties to control leakage automatically without requiring external sensing devices or complex storage structures. The gel self-regulates its state based on temperature, providing leakage control and atomization functionality without additional system complexity.
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
The atomizing liquid gel provides enhanced thermal and shear stability, reducing nicotine leakage by maintaining a gel state under varying conditions and quickly reverting to a sol state for aerosol formation, improving user experience and product efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
The main component of supramolecular organogels is organic liquids, which has rheological behavior and solid appearance. The continuous organic phase includes organic solvents, vegetable oils or mineral oils.
Implementation Method 2
Gelling agents are small molecular weight organic gelling agents with relatively small molecular weight (~3,000 Da). Organic gelling agents are derived from long-chain alkanes or steroid derivatives, amino acid derivatives, ureas, carbohydrate systems, metal complexes, charge transfer complexes, macrocyclic substances and organic salts (ionic liquids), or other substances. They are also known as molecular building blocks, which are the basic structural skeleton for forming small molecular weight organic gelling agents. The small molecular weight organic gelling agents self-assemble into a three-dimensional network through non-covalent interactions such as hydrogen bonding, π-π stacking, Van der Waals' force, electrostatic interaction, and others.
Implementation Method 3
Because of their complex supramolecular structure, such gels are called supramolecular gels or physical gels. The gel-sol phase transition temperature of the atomizing liquid gel is 190°C-240°C, and the critical shear stress of the gel-sol phase transition of the atomizing liquid gel is 85-700 Pa.
Implementation Method 4
The critical shear stress of the gel-sol phase transition of the atomizing liquid gel is 85-700 Pa. When the atomizing liquid gel is subjected to oscillation and the shear stress increases, the non-covalent interaction between the molecules of the sugar-based gelling agent is destroyed, and the atomizing liquid gel converts from the gel state to a sol state.
Implementation Method 5
During the process of electrothermal high-temperature atomization or ultrasonic atomization, the viscosity of liquid nicotine decreases and the fluidity will be enhanced. Additionally, due to the influence of the gas path system connected with the outside environment and the increase of the assembly gap of the e-cigarette due to thermal expansion during smoking, liquid nicotine easily leaks from the atomizer during and after smoking.
Data Source
AI summary
An atomizing liquid gel with reversible phase transition characteristics includes: a sugar-based gelling agent, 0.1-3.0 wt%; an atomizing agent, 97.0-99.9 wt%; a molecule of the sugar-based gelling agent is a sugar molecule introduced with an amide group and/or an aryl group, and the sugar molecule optionally further includes at least one hydrophobic structural part selected from -CxHy, -O-CxHy and , and x > 2 and y > 2. The atomizing liquid gel has characteristics of thermal reversible phase transition and/or shear reversible phase transition, a temperature of gel-sol phase transition is 100°C-248°C, and a critical shear stress of the gel-sol phase transition is 40-800 Pa. Under heating and/or oscillation, the atomizing liquid gel converts from the gel state to a sol state, and the atomizing agent fixed in the gel releases to form an inhalable aerosol. When the heating and/or oscillation are stopped, the atomizing liquid gel is quickly recovered from the sol state to the gel state, and the unatomized atomizing agent is refixed in the gel. The use of the atomizing liquid gel solves the problem of liquid leakage of the liquid nicotine of the atomizer caused by the smoke condensate after the smoking stops, the change of air pressure or the action of external force during transportation.