Corrugated Aerosol Substrate Layout for Uniform Heating and Airflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aerosol-forming substrates fail to efficiently produce an aerosol from a specific material, which is not addressed by existing technologies, and existing aerosol-generating substrates fail to effectively address the challenge of preparing an aerosol-forming substrate, which is not addressed by existing technologies, and existing aerosol-forming devices fail to effectively address the challenge of preparing an aerosol-forming substrate, which is not addressed by existing aerosol-generating systems.
Innovation Solution
Aerosol-forming substrates are designed with a planar structure comprising layers and corrugated elements to enhance heating efficiency and airflow management, allowing for a greater portion of the substrate to form aerosol, with a resistance to draw (RTD) less than 20 millimetre H2O, and incorporating features such as channels, perforations, and flavour releasing components to improve aerosol generation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a conventional cylindrical aerosol-forming substrate is used, then the device structure is simple, but a significant portion of the substrate is not sufficiently heated to form aerosol
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a conventional cylindrical substrate to a planar substrate configuration. This dimensional change allows the heating element to contact and heat a much larger surface area of the aerosol-forming material simultaneously, ensuring that substantially the entire substrate contributes to aerosol generation rather than leaving significant portions unheated.
Solution Approach 2:
The planar substrate is divided into multiple functional layers including a support layer and an aerosol-forming material layer. This segmentation allows optimized thermal management where the support layer provides structural integrity while the aerosol-forming layer is positioned for maximum heating efficiency and aerosol release.
2Temperature
If the substrate is heated from inside or outside using resistive or inductive heaters, then the heating method is flexible, but still cannot sufficiently heat the entire plug of substrate
Solution Approach 1:
By changing from a cylindrical to a planar geometry, the substrate achieves a larger surface-area-to-volume ratio. This allows external heating methods to effectively heat the entire substrate uniformly, as the maximum distance from any point in the substrate to the heating surface is minimized in the planar configuration.
3Ease of operation
If the substrate has high resistance to draw, then airflow control is precise, but aerosol delivery is impeded
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate incorporates localized airflow pathways and perforations strategically positioned to optimize airflow distribution. These local modifications create controlled low-resistance channels that maintain precise airflow control while ensuring adequate aerosol delivery rates throughout the entire substrate area.
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 solution ensures a higher proportion of the aerosol-forming substrate is heated to form aerosol efficiently, reducing waste and enhancing user experience by providing a consistent and rapid aerosol delivery with minimal temperature gradient and low resistance to airflow.
Implementation Method 1
the heating element of the aerosol-generating device may heat the aerosol-forming substrate of the aerosol-generating article so as to release an aerosol from the aerosol-forming substrate
Implementation Method 2
an aerosol-forming material for producing an aerosol
Data Source
AI summary
An aerosol-generating article for an aerosol-generating device to generate an inhalable aerosol is provided, the aerosol-generating article including: an article upstream end and an article downstream end, an article air flow path and an article length extending from the article upstream end to the article downstream end; and a corrugated element, a cross direction of at least a first portion of the corrugated element being non-parallel to one or both of the article length and at least a first portion of the article air flow path, the corrugated element including one or more perforations or holes configured to allow air to flow through the corrugated element, and the corrugated element being or including a corrugated sheet of material bent or folded to form corrugations.