Inhaler Wick Structure With Collar Prevents Dry Puffs
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Solution Overview
Problem
In electronic cigarette evaporator units, the liquid supply to the heating body is often inadequate, leading to uneven heating and the release of harmful substances due to wick drying out, which results in dry puffs and inconsistent aerosol production.
Innovation Solution
A porous and/or capillary wick structure is arranged on the inlet side of the heating body, with a collar that prevents migration and ensures secure clamping, combined with clamping elements that serve as electrodes for electrical contact, maintaining even liquid distribution and preventing bubble formation in microchannels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a wick is used for liquid supply to the heating body, then liquid transfer is achieved, but the wick dries out leading to uneven heating and harmful substance release
Solution Approach 1:
The heating body is designed with a porous structure containing multiple capillaries that enable liquid transport through capillary forces. This porous design ensures uniform liquid distribution across the heating surface, preventing dry spots and the release of harmful substances while maintaining reliable liquid supply.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating body features locally optimized capillary structures with varying dimensions and distributions tailored to specific regions. This local quality variation ensures uniform liquid supply across different areas of the heating body, preventing localized drying and harmful substance formation.
2Temperature
If a flat heating body is used, then even temperature distribution is required, but inadequate liquid supply causes uneven heating
Solution Approach 1:
The flat heating body incorporates a porous structure with capillaries that distribute liquid uniformly across the entire heating surface. This ensures consistent liquid supply to all regions, maintaining even temperature distribution and reliable evaporation throughout the heating body.
Solution Approach 2:
The capillary structure in the heating body enables self-regulating liquid distribution without external control mechanisms. The capillary forces automatically adjust liquid flow to maintain uniform saturation across the heating surface, ensuring consistent temperature and evaporation rates.
3Ease of manufacture
If the wick migrates through the passage opening, then assembly is simple, but functionality is impaired
Solution Approach 1:
A collar is introduced as an intermediary component between the wick and the passage opening. This collar prevents wick migration while maintaining proper liquid flow paths, ensuring both assembly simplicity and functional reliability of the evaporator unit.
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 configuration ensures consistent and reliable evaporation, preventing dry-running of the heating body, maintaining uniform temperature distribution, and producing a homogeneous aerosol with improved taste conformity by ensuring adequate liquid transfer and efficient evaporation.
Implementation Method 1
an electrically operable heating body, in particular a flat heating body... which is designed to evaporate liquid being transferred through the microchannels by applying a heating voltage
Implementation Method 2
a porous and/or capillary wick structure is arranged on the inlet side of the heating body... The wicks used ideally have a constant transfer effect along the transfer direction
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to an evaporator unit for an inhaler, in particular an electronic cigarette product, comprising an electrically operable heating body, in particular a flat heating body, which has an inlet side and an outlet side, and a plurality of microchannels, each of which extends from the inlet side to the outlet side through the heating body. The heating body is designed to evaporate liquid being transferred through the microchannels by applying a heating voltage. A porous and/or capillary wick structure is arranged on the inlet side of the heating body, said wick structure being fluidically connected or connectable to a liquid store. The wick structure has a shaft which extends through a passage opening of the support, and a collar, which is arranged between the support and the heating body, wherein the diameter of the collar is greater than the diameter of the passage opening of the support.