Shaped Heater Array for Direct Aerosol Substrate Heating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing smoking articles with resistance heating elements heat tobacco indirectly, leading to inefficient heating and potential overheating due to indirect contact, which can result in undesirable temperature and power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A heater with a plurality of elongate heating elements arranged in an elongate array, where the middle portion has the largest dimension, allowing direct contact with the aerosol-forming substrate for efficient heating, and featuring a support end, a heating end, and a middle portion with specific dimensions for optimal insertion and contact, reducing the likelihood of breakage and condensate accumulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If indirect heating via air is used, then the heating element can be separated from the tobacco material, but heating efficiency decreases and temperature control becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The heater array is inserted into a cavity within the aerosol-forming substrate, with the heating elements nested among the substrate material. This nested configuration enables direct contact heating while maintaining structural integration, resolving the contradiction between heating efficiency and structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating elements are arranged in a three-dimensional array configuration rather than a simple linear or planar arrangement. This dimensional optimization allows multiple heating elements to contact the substrate simultaneously from different directions, improving heating efficiency while maintaining a compact structure.
2Ease of operation
If the heating element diameter is reduced for insertion into substrate cavity, then insertion is facilitated, but structural robustness decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The heating structure is divided into multiple individual heating elements arranged in an array, with each element having a reduced diameter for easy insertion. The collective array provides the necessary structural robustness, resolving the contradiction between individual element size and overall structural strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The heater array combines multiple thin heating elements with a support structure, creating a composite configuration that maintains both the insertion advantage of thin elements and the structural robustness of the assembled array within the substrate cavity.
3Productivity
If heating element temperature is increased for effective heating, then heating efficiency improves, but condensate formation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The heating function is segmented across multiple heating elements in the array, allowing distributed heat application throughout the substrate. This segmentation enables effective heating while reducing localized overheating that causes condensate formation.
Solution Approach 2:
The aerosol-forming substrate acts as an intermediary medium between the heating elements and the final aerosol product. The substrate absorbs and distributes the heat from the heating elements, preventing direct overheating and condensate formation while maintaining heating efficiency.
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 provides efficient and optimal heating of the aerosol-forming substrate with reduced temperature and power requirements, ensuring effective evaporation of condensate and increased robustness of the heating elements.
Implementation Method 1
a heater for heating an aerosol-forming substrate, the heater comprising a plurality of elongate heating elements arranged in an elongate array
Implementation Method 2
the temperature of the heating elements is high enough to allow for any condensate that is not removed by contact with the substrate to evaporate during the heating process
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~5
Figure 6~8
AI summary
There is provided a heater (101) for heating an aerosol-forming substrate. The heater comprises a plurality of elongate heating elements (107) arranged in an elongate array. The elongate array has a support end with a first dimension, a heating end with a second dimension and a middle portion with a third dimension. The array is arranged to heat the substrate to form an aerosol. The third dimension is greater than the first dimension and greater than the second dimension. There is also provided an electrically heated aerosol generating system including such a heater.