Variable-Resistivity Susceptor Heating for Disposable Aerosol Cartridges
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing approaches for reducing the cost of disposable components in electronic aerosol provision systems, such as e-cigarettes, have met with limited success, and methods like making cartomisers refillable pose risks of using inappropriate liquids, leading to potential hazards and quality issues.
Innovation Solution
An inductive heating assembly is used with a susceptor having regions of different electrical resistivity to induce varying temperatures, eliminating the need for electrical connections and simplifying manufacturing, while using a planar susceptor and drive coil to vaporize aerosol precursor material efficiently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional electrical connections are used in cartomisers, then mechanical and electrical connectivity is achieved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the electrical connection function from the mechanical connector by using inductive coupling. The drive coil in the control unit and the susceptor in the cartomiser enable wireless power transfer, eliminating the need for electrical terminals, contacts, and wiring in the disposable cartomiser. This reduces manufacturing complexity while maintaining functional connectivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical electrical connection system with an electromagnetic field-based inductive coupling system. Instead of using physical electrical contacts between the control unit and cartomiser, the system uses magnetic fields generated by the drive coil to induce current in the susceptor, thereby heating the aerosol precursor material without requiring electrical wiring.
2Ease of manufacture
If cartomisers are made refillable to reduce cost, then component cost decreases, but risks of using inappropriate liquids and safety hazards increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a disposable cartomiser design where the entire cartomiser unit (including the susceptor and aerosol precursor material) is discarded after use. This eliminates the need for refilling operations, preventing user errors from introducing inappropriate liquids while maintaining cost-effectiveness through standardized mass production of disposable units.
3Productivity
If uniform susceptor is used for inductive heating, then manufacturing is simplified, but temperature distribution and vaporization efficiency are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a susceptor with non-uniform electrical resistivity distribution, creating regions of different susceptibility to induced current flow. This results in different temperature zones across the susceptor surface, with higher temperatures in regions of higher resistivity and lower temperatures in regions of lower resistivity. This local quality variation optimizes vaporization efficiency for different components of the aerosol precursor material while maintaining a relatively simple planar susceptor structure.
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 approach reduces production costs and simplifies manufacturing, avoids hazardous liquid refilling risks, and enhances the robustness and reliability of e-cigarettes by using induction heating.
Implementation Method 1
a drive coil arranged to induce current flow in the susceptor to heat the susceptor and vaporise aerosol precursor material in proximity with a surface of the susceptor
Implementation Method 2
the susceptor has a generally planar form and comprises regions of different susceptibility to induced current flow from the drive coil, such that when in use the surface of the susceptor in the regions of different susceptibility are heated to different temperatures by the current flow induced by the drive coil, and wherein the regions of different susceptibility to induced current flow are provided by regions of the susceptor having different electrical resistivity
Implementation Method 3
heat the susceptor and vaporise aerosol precursor material in proximity with a surface of the susceptor
Data Source
Figure 1~2
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AI summary
An inductive heating assembly for generating an aerosol from an aerosol precursor material in an aerosol provision system, the inductive heating assembly comprising: a susceptor; and a drive coil arranged to induce current flow in the susceptor to heat the susceptor and vaporise aerosol precursor material in proximity with a surface of the susceptor, and wherein the susceptor comprises regions (331, 332) of different susceptibility to induced current flow from the drive coil, such that when in use the surface of the susceptor in the regions of different susceptibility are heated to different temperatures by the current flow induced by the drive coil.