Single-Use Connector with Blocking Pin for Smoking Cartridges
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current cartridges for electronic smoking articles lack effective mechanisms to prevent re-use and ensure consistent quality of aerosol precursor compositions, leading to potential confusion and quality issues when refilling or reusing cartridges.
Innovation Solution
A single-use connector mechanism with a blocking pin, biasing mechanism, and release mechanism is integrated into the cartridge, where the blocking pin is biased to an extended position after use, preventing re-engagement and ensuring the cartridge cannot be reused, and the release mechanism retains the pin in a retracted position until the cartridge is expended.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If cartridges are made reusable with refillable designs, then cost-effectiveness and user flexibility improve, but quality control deteriorates due to potential contamination and inconsistent composition
Solution Approach 1:
The connector is divided into a reusable portion (body with threads and aperture) and a disposable cartridge portion. This segmentation allows the reusable connector to be separated from the single-use cartridge, enabling users to replace only the cartridge while maintaining a clean, controlled interface that prevents contamination and ensures consistent quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The cartridge is designed as a disposable component that is discarded after single use. This eliminates the quality control issues associated with refilling and reuse, as each new cartridge comes pre-filled with a guaranteed consistent composition from the manufacturer, while still allowing users to replace cartridges as needed for flexibility.
2Reliability
If a blocking pin mechanism is added to prevent re-use, then quality control improves by ensuring single-use only, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The blocking pin is pre-positioned in the aperture to prevent insertion of a second cartridge. The biasing mechanism is pre-loaded to automatically extend the blocking pin after the first cartridge is removed. This preliminary configuration ensures that no manual intervention is needed to prevent re-use, and the single-use enforcement happens automatically through the pre-set mechanical arrangement.
Solution Approach 2:
The biasing mechanism automatically extends the blocking pin after cartridge removal without requiring user action. The release mechanism engages and disengages the blocking pin automatically during the cartridge insertion and removal process. This self-service operation minimizes the complexity of user interaction while maintaining reliable single-use enforcement.
3Reliability
If threads and recesses are designed for secure engagement, then connection reliability improves, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The connector features an asymmetric design with a specific thread configuration on the outer surface and a corresponding asymmetric recess pattern on the inner surface. This asymmetric arrangement ensures that only one orientation allows proper engagement, providing inherent alignment guidance that reduces the need for high manufacturing precision while maintaining secure and reliable connection.
Solution Approach 2:
The threads and recesses are designed with curved profiles that facilitate self-aligning engagement. The curved geometry allows for gradual engagement and automatic centering during insertion, reducing sensitivity to manufacturing tolerances and ensuring reliable connection even with moderate precision manufacturing.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to connectors that may be employed in cartridges for smoking articles. The connectors may include a single-use mechanism that may include a blocking pin, a biasing mechanism, and a release mechanism. The release mechanism may hold the blocking pin in a partially retracted position in which the blocking pin is at least partially retracted from an aperture extending through threads defined by the connector. The release mechanism may include a latch that is displaced from contact with the blocking pin by a release pin upon engagement of the connector with a mating connector. The biasing mechanism may force the blocking pin against an end of the mating connector such that when the mating connector is unscrewed from the connector, the blocking pin extends through the aperture and blocks at least one recess defined between the threads such that the connector may not be reused.