Thin-Plate Micro-Vaporizer Heater With Isolated Heating Strips
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional micro-vaporizer heaters, particularly those with coiled wire heating elements, face inefficiencies and high manufacturing costs, making them unsuitable for low-cost, disposable vaporization devices.
Innovation Solution
A thin plate heating element is formed from a single sheet of conductive material with a central heating portion and peripheral support arms, featuring parallel heating strips and isolated from the support arms to minimize heat conduction, allowing for efficient and cost-effective manufacturing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If coiled wire heating elements are used in micro-vaporizers, then heating function is achieved, but manufacturing cost increases and efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The heating element is segmented into multiple parallel heating strips rather than using a continuous coiled wire. This segmentation allows for optimized heat distribution across the heating surface while simplifying the manufacturing process to a single-layer construction, reducing material waste and assembly complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the essential heating function from the complex coiled wire structure and implements it through a simplified planar strip configuration. The support arms and heating strips are integrated into a single layer, eliminating the need for winding and complex assembly processes associated with coiled wires.
2Ease of manufacture
If coiled wire heating elements are used, then heating is achieved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The support arms and heating strips are merged into a single integrated layer constructed from one continuous piece of conductive material. This eliminates the need for separate components and assembly steps, significantly simplifying manufacturing while maintaining structural integrity and thermal isolation.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating element utilizes a thin-film planar structure with constant thickness throughout. This thin-film approach simplifies construction compared to bulky coiled wire assemblies, enables easier integration into disposable devices, and maintains effective thermal isolation between the heating zone and support structures.
3Loss of energy
If heating element is isolated from support arms, then heat loss to supports is reduced, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The conductive material exhibits local quality variations through its geometric configuration: wider sections at support arms for electrical connection and narrower sections for heating strips to minimize thermal mass. This local variation optimizes both electrical functionality and thermal isolation while maintaining manufacturability through standard fabrication tolerances.
Solution Approach 2:
The design utilizes parameter changes in the conductive material's geometry (width, length, spacing) to control thermal and electrical properties. By adjusting these parameters during fabrication, the design achieves effective thermal isolation without requiring extremely tight manufacturing tolerances, as the thermal resistance is optimized through geometric configuration rather than minimal spacing alone.
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 thin plate heating element provides a cost-effective alternative with improved efficiency, enabling integration into disposable vaporizers without the need for additional insulation or gasketing, while maintaining thermal isolation and structural integrity.
Implementation Method 1
a vaporizer heating element comprising a heating element body formed from a single sheet of electrically conductive material
Implementation Method 2
The central heating portion is intermediate, but spaced apart from, the interior edges of the positive and negative support arms... maintaining thermal isolation
Data Source
AI summary
A vaporizer heating element has a heating element body formed from a single sheet of electrically conductive material having a constant sheet thickness. A peripheral conduction portion has spaced apart positive and negative support arms each having an interior edge. A central heating portion has a plurality of parallel heating strips, spaces between the heating strips defining flow channels through the element body. The central heating portion is intermediate the interior edges of the support arms. A first bridge strip connects the interior edge of the positive support arm to the central heating portion and a second bridge strip connects the interior edge of the negative support arm to the central heating portion. A plurality of peripheral support tabs extend from exterior edges of the support arms and a plurality of central support tabs extend from the central heating portion.