CN114668188A - Aerosol-generating device and aerosol-generating system - Google Patents

Abstract

The application provides an aerosol-generating device and an aerosol-generating system. The aerosol-generating device comprises: the accommodating cavity, the heating assembly and the conveying assembly; the accommodating cavity is provided with an accommodating cavity for accommodating at least one aerosol generating product; a transport assembly for batch transport of at least one aerosol-generating article to an aerosolization area; the heating assembly is for thermally atomising the aerosol-generating article in the atomisation region to produce an aerosol. The aerosol generating device can realize uniform heating, and can keep the freshness and consistency of the mouthfeel of the aerosol.

Description

Aerosol-generating device and aerosol-generating system

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of electronic atomization, in particular to an aerosol generating device and an aerosol generating system.

Background

An aerosol-generating device is an apparatus for heating and atomising an aerosol-generating article to form an aerosol.

Current heating techniques for aerosol-generating articles mainly include: (1) direct contact resistance heating; (2) induction type electromagnetic heating; (3) microwave heating and the like. Wherein, scheme (1) and scheme (2) are all heat-conduction's mode, need preheat the latency longer when using, and probably have the inhomogeneous problem of heating, have influenced user's suction experience. Scheme (3) is radiant heating, the heating process is carried out simultaneously throughout the interior of the aerosol-generating article, the temperature rise is rapid, and the heating is uniform. However, aerosol-generating articles are typically packed entirely within a heating chamber and are difficult to heat at a particular location due to the significant volatility exhibited by the longer wavelength of the microwaves (around about 12 cm), which means that each rapid heating of the aerosol-generating device heats the entire aerosol-generating article to a temperature of about 300-.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides an aerosol generation device and aerosol generation system can realize even heating, can keep the freshness and the uniformity of aerosol taste simultaneously.

In order to solve the technical problem, the application adopts a technical scheme that: an aerosol-generating device is provided. The aerosol-generating device comprises: the accommodating cavity, the heating assembly and the conveying assembly; the accommodating cavity is provided with an accommodating cavity for accommodating at least one aerosol generating product; a delivery assembly for delivering at least one aerosol-generating article to an aerosolization area; the heating assembly is for thermally atomising the aerosol-generating article in the atomisation region to produce an aerosol.

In order to solve the above technical problem, another technical solution adopted by the present application is: an aerosol-generating system is provided. The aerosol-generating system comprises: the aerosol-generating device and the aerosol-generating product housed in the aerosol-generating device according to the above aspects.

The aerosol generation device and the aerosol generation system that this application embodiment provided, through the position and the regional subregion setting of atomizing that will save aerosol generation goods, then carry aerosol generation goods to atomizing region in batches through conveying component to make laser assembly only heat and atomize to the aerosol generation goods that carry to atomizing region at every turn, aerosol generation goods's heating homogeneity is better like this, and heating rate is faster, and atomizing utilization ratio is higher. In addition, after the aerosol generating products in the atomization area are atomized, the non-atomized aerosol generating products can be conveyed to the atomization area for continuing atomization, so that only a fixed amount of aerosol generating products can be conveyed for atomization at each time according to the amount of the aerosol generating products corresponding to each port or the preset number of ports, and the freshness and the consistency of the mouthfeel of the aerosol sucked by a user can be further kept.

Drawings

Figure 1 provides a schematic diagram of the overall structure of an aerosol-generating system according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a disassembled schematic view of FIG. 1;

figure 3 is a perspective view of the aerosol-generating system except for the housing;

figure 4 is a schematic diagram of part of the internal structure of an aerosol-generating system provided according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the positions of the rotating member, the bearing plate, the accommodating cavity and the recycling cavity provided in the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the positions between the rotating member and the supporting plate, between the receiving cavity and between the rotating member and the recycling cavity according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating positions of a rotating member, a supporting plate, an accommodating cavity and a recycling cavity according to still another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the alignment of the receiving slot of the rotating member and the first opening;

figure 9 is a schematic view of the structure of the rotary member conveying aerosol-generating article residue to the second opening;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of a position relationship between a rotating member having three receiving slots and the first opening, the second opening and the atomizing area after rotating for a certain angle;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of the rotary member rotated by a certain angle based on FIG. 10, and the positional relationship between the first opening, the second opening and the atomizing area;

Figure 12 is an internal schematic view of an aerosol-generating system in which the receiving recess of the rotary member is rotated to a position other than the second opening;

fig. 13 is a positional relationship between the rotary member and the adaptor after the accommodation groove of the rotary member rotates to the atomization region;

figure 14 is a cross-sectional view of the aerosol-generating system of figure 13 taken along line B-B.

Description of the reference numerals

An aerosol-generating article S; an aerosol-generating article S'; a housing 11; a main body 111; a cover 112; a housing cavity 12; a housing chamber 121; a rotary member 13; an atomization hole 131; a housing groove 132; a heating assembly 14; a suction nozzle 15; an air outlet passage 151; a first drive element 16; a recovery cavity 17; a recovery chamber 171; a carrier plate 18; a first opening 181; a second opening 182; an atomization zone 183; a seal cover 19; a second drive element 20; an adaptor 21; an air flow passage 211; the pressing member 22.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

The terms "first", "second" and "third" in this application are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implying any indication of the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first," "second," or "third" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the feature. In the description of the present application, "plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless explicitly specifically limited otherwise. All directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, and rear … …) in the embodiments of the present application are only used to explain the relative positional relationship between the components, the movement, and the like in a specific posture (as shown in the drawings), and if the specific posture is changed, the directional indication is changed accordingly. Furthermore, the terms "include" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements but may alternatively include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearances of the phrase in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by one skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.

The present application will be described in detail with reference to the drawings and examples.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall structure of an aerosol-generating system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a disassembled schematic view of FIG. 1; figure 3 is a perspective view of an aerosol-generating system other than a housing; in this embodiment, an aerosol-generating system is provided. The aerosol-generating system comprises an aerosol-generating device and an aerosol-generating article S housed within the aerosol-generating device.

Wherein the aerosol-generating device is for heating and atomising an aerosol-generating article S by a laser to form an aerosol for inhalation by a user. The aerosol-generating article S preferably employs a solid substrate and may comprise one or more of plant leaves such as vanilla leaves, tea leaves, mint leaves, and the like, one or more of powders, granules, fragmented strips, ribbons, or flakes; alternatively, the solid matrix may contain additional volatile flavour compounds to be released when the matrix is heated. Of course, the aerosol-generating article S may also be a liquid substrate, such as an oil, a liquid medicine, etc. to which the aroma component is added. The following examples all exemplify aerosol-generating articles S employing a solid substrate.

In a particular embodiment, the aerosol-generating article S comprises a plurality of aerosol-generating articles S in sheet form and arranged in a stack; this can greatly increase the density of the aerosol-generating article S, increase the capacity of the aerosol-generating article S within a fixed volume, thereby increasing the storage of the aerosol-generating article S by the aerosol-generating device and allowing for long-term smoking after a single charge of the aerosol-generating device. In particular, each aerosol-generating article S has a thickness of from 0.2 to 2 mm. In a preferred embodiment, each aerosol-generating article S has a thickness of from 0.5 to 1 mm. In this embodiment, 30 or more aerosol-generating articles S may be contained within the aerosol-generating device, each aerosol-generating article S being heated one to five times to support a single puff to ensure the uniformity of the aerosol generated by the atomisation, the design being such as to ensure that at least more than 30 puffs, or even more than 100 puffs, are met after a single filling of the aerosol-generating device, resulting in a long-lasting, consistent aerosol taste.

In particular, the aerosol-generating article S may have a diameter of from 2 to 15 mm. Further, the surface of the aerosol-generating article S is also designed with through holes, the diameter and filling ratio of which can be designed according to different air flow resistance requirements to ensure optimal aerosol release.

The specific structure and function of the aerosol-generating device can be seen in the specific structure and function of the aerosol-generating device provided in any of the following embodiments.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the aerosol-generating device includes a housing 11, a receiving cavity 12 disposed in the housing 11, a delivery assembly, a heating assembly 14, and a mouthpiece 15.

The housing 11 includes a main body 111 and a cover 112, the cover 112 is disposed on the main body 111 and cooperatively defines a hollow cavity, and is configured as an outer surface of the aerosol generating device to protect components in the hollow cavity; of course, the housing 11 may also be combined in a left-right or front-back snap-fit manner, and the structure of the housing 11 is not limited in the present application. The accommodating cavity 12, the conveying assembly and the heating assembly 14 are specifically accommodated in the hollow cavity. The suction nozzle 15 is disposed on the housing 11, and is formed with an air outlet channel 151 for communicating with the outside atmosphere, and the user sucks the aerosol formed by atomization through the suction nozzle 15. Of course, the suction nozzle 15 can also be defined directly by the housing 11. In this embodiment, the suction nozzle 15 is a cylindrical pipe and is inserted into the through hole of the top wall of the main body 111.

As shown in fig. 3, the housing cavity 12 has a housing cavity 121, and the housing cavity 121 is used for housing the aerosol-generating product S; specifically, the aerosol-generating products S in the aerosol-generating system are stacked in the depth direction of the housing cavity 121. In one embodiment, the receiving cavity 12 is an independent structure different from the housing 11, and is detachably connected to the housing 11 to realize disposable and disposable disposal of the receiving cavity 12, so that the receiving cavity 12 is convenient to take out after the received aerosol-generating product S is consumed, so as to realize rapid filling of a new aerosol-generating product S; or to replace a new receiving cavity 12 containing the aerosol-generating article S, thereby achieving better replaceability of the receiving cavity 12.

The receiving cavity 121 may be cylindrical; the circumferential shape of the housing cavity 121 matches the circumferential shape of the aerosol-generating article S and the aperture of both are substantially the same or the aperture of the housing cavity 121 is slightly larger than the aperture of the aerosol-generating article S to facilitate loading or unloading of the aerosol-generating article S into or out of the housing cavity 121 while preventing the aerosol-generating article S from wobbling in the housing cavity 121. Specifically, the material of the receiving cavity 12 may be a harmless metal material, such as 6-series aluminum alloy, stainless steel, or a harmless plastic material, such as Polyetheretherketone (PEEK).

As shown in figure 3, the transport assembly is for batch transport of aerosol-generating articles S to an aerosolization area 183. Specifically, when the aerosol-generating article S includes a plurality of aerosol-generating articles S arranged in a stack, the conveying assembly is specifically configured to convey the plurality of aerosol-generating articles S to the atomizing area 183 sequentially, that is, convey a preset number of aerosol-generating articles S to the atomizing area 183 at a time, instead of conveying all the aerosol-generating articles S in the housing cavity 121 to the atomizing area 183 at a time. It will be appreciated that where the aerosol-generating article S is a liquid substrate, the transport assembly may be controlled to transport the portion of the aerosol-generating article S in the housing chamber 121 to the aerosolization area 183 each time a portion of the aerosol-generating article S is dispensed from the housing chamber 121 to the aerosolization area 183 to deliver the aerosol-generating article S in the housing chamber 121 to the aerosolization area 183 a plurality of times.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 2 or 3, the delivery assembly includes a rotating member 13, a power element (not shown), and a control circuit (not shown). Wherein the rotary member 13 is connected to a powered element for driving rotation of the rotary member 13 to deliver the aerosol-generating article S to the aerosolization area 183 by rotation of the rotary member 13. Wherein, the rotating member 13 can be a rotatable plate member or a movable robot arm or robot hand, etc.; the power element may be a motor, a pump, etc. Of course, in other embodiments, the rotating member 13 may be driven by a manual mechanical mechanism, for example, a portion of the rotating member 13 extends outside the housing 11 and is manually driven to rotate. This enables the use of a powered element to be reduced to further reduce the volume of the aerosol-generating device. The control circuitry is electrically connected to the motive element and the heating assembly 14, respectively, for controlling the motive element to cause the rotary member 13 to move the aerosol-generating article S to the aerosolization area 183 and for controlling the heating assembly 14 to heat the aerosol-generating article S of the aerosolization area 183 after the rotary member 13 has delivered the aerosol-generating article S to the aerosolization area 183. Wherein, the control circuit can be powered by a built-in battery pack; and the control circuit may further be used to control the output of the continuous or pulsed laser of the heating assembly 14, while the power output profile of a single puff may be controlled to achieve a better aerosol experience.

As shown in fig. 2, 3, the heating assembly 14 is used to heat and atomize the aerosol-generating article S in the aerosolization area 183. The heating assembly 14 is heated by thermal radiation such as laser heating, microwave heating, infrared heating, etc., and due to the non-contact and instantaneous heating characteristics, a safer technical solution of reducing harm, heating, and non-combustion of the aerosol-generating article S can be achieved. In the present application, the heating assembly 14 is illustrated as the heating assembly 14, but the present application is not limited thereto. The heating assembly 14 may be used to emit a laser for heat atomising the aerosol-generating article S at the atomisation region 183 to produce an aerosol.

The heating assembly 14 includes a semiconductor laser chip, which may be an edge-emitting semiconductor laser chip of gallium arsenide or indium phosphide or a vertical-cavity surface semiconductor laser chip. Specifically, the present application adopts an edge-emitting Laser (EEL) chip or a Vertical-cavity Surface-emitting Laser (VCSEL) chip of a totally enclosed Package (TO) or a Quad Flat No-leads Package (QFN) TO ensure the stable reliability of the long-term operation of the aerosol generating device by using the hermetically packaged semiconductor Laser chip. The package body can adopt a passive conduction cooling scheme, for example, a TO or QFN package structure is directly packaged on a heat dissipation metal heat sink TO assist the laser emission module in heat dissipation. Of course, in other embodiments, the aerosol-generating device further comprises a heat-dissipating element (not shown) disposed along the airflow path of the aerosol-generating device upstream of the heating assembly 14 to dissipate heat from the heating assembly 14. The heat dissipation element may be a heat dissipation fin. The laser packaging module and the metal radiating fin are fixed by curable silver adhesive and metal solder which are authenticated by ROHS.

The output peak power of the semiconductor laser chip is 1-30W, and the wavelength of the semiconductor laser chip is 800-1500 nm. The wavelength of the emitted laser of the semiconductor laser chip adopted by the method is about 800-1500nm, so that the method has obvious particle property, and the beam quality and the beam directivity of the laser beam are strong. Heating the aerosol-generating article S with a laser thus enables rapid heating based on the physical characteristics typical of lasers. Further, due to the optical properties of the laser, selective direct non-contact heating of the aerosol-generating article S is possible, which may keep the mouthfeel of the aerosol fresh and stable. Compared with other heating modes, the laser heating mode has the advantages that a special laser shielding part is not required to be additionally arranged, the structure is simple, and the cost is lower. In particular, the semiconductor laser chip has a volume of less than 4 cubic centimeters, reducing the volume of the heating assembly 14 and enabling a miniaturized, commercially viable heating arrangement for the aerosol-generating article S.

In a particular embodiment, the laser forms a spot on the surface of the aerosol-generating article S that is substantially the same as or slightly smaller than the diameter of the aerosol-generating article S, with the energy distribution of the spot being in the TOP HAT mode; the uniformity of the light energy is more than 70%, and the uniformity of heating is effectively ensured.

In the aerosol-generating device provided by the present embodiment, the accommodating cavity 12 is provided, and the accommodating cavity 12 has the accommodating cavity 121, so that the aerosol-generating product S is accommodated in the accommodating cavity 121. At the same time, by providing a transport assembly to transport aerosol-generating articles S in batches to the aerosolization area 183. In addition, by providing the heating assembly 14 for emitting laser light to heat and atomise the aerosol-generating article S at the atomisation region 183 using the laser light. The aerosol generating product S is heated by laser, and due to the characteristics of non-contact and instant heating of the laser, a safer technical scheme of harm reduction, heating and non-combustion of the aerosol generating product S can be realized; at the same time, by providing the location at which the aerosol-generating article S is stored in a zone with the aerosolization area 183 and then delivering the aerosol-generating article S to the aerosolization area 183 in batches by the delivery assembly, such that the heating assembly 14 heats and aerosolizes only the aerosol-generating article S delivered to the aerosolization area 183 at a time; in this way, the aerosol generating product S with the preset heating amount each time can be selected according to the actual wavelength of the laser, the problem that the aerosol generating product S far away from the heating component 14 has poor heating effect due to the fact that the laser is absorbed by the aerosol generating product S due to the wavelength characteristic of the laser is avoided, the heating uniformity of the aerosol generating product S is good, and the atomization utilization rate is high; meanwhile, after the aerosol-generating articles S in the atomization region 183 are atomized, the aerosol-generating articles S which are not atomized are conveyed to the atomization region 183 to be atomized continuously, so that only a fixed amount of aerosol-generating articles S can be conveyed for atomization at each time according to the amount of the aerosol-generating articles S corresponding to each opening or the preset number of openings, and the freshness and the consistency of the mouthfeel of the aerosol sucked by a user can be further maintained.

As shown in fig. 3, the aerosol-generating device further includes a first driving element 16, the first driving element 16 is disposed in the receiving cavity 121, and is configured to drive the aerosol-generating articles S in the receiving cavity 121 to move out of the receiving cavity 121 in sequence; by providing the first drive element 16, the aerosol-generating device can be maintained in a horizontal or non-horizontal position, and the aerosol-generating article S in the housing chamber 121 can be moved out of the housing chamber 121 by the drive force of the first drive element 16. In particular, the first drive element 16 drives one aerosol-generating article S at a time to move out of the receiving cavity 121. In this embodiment, the transport assembly is particularly for transporting aerosol-generating articles S that are moved out of the receiving cavity 121 to the aerosolization area 183.

In a particular embodiment, the first drive element 16 is a resilient member, such as a spring or torsion spring or the like, disposed between the bottom wall of the receiving cavity 12 and the plurality of aerosol-generating articles S. Of course, the first driving element 16 may also be a rotating shaft or a piston, and is connected to a driving source, such as a motor or a pump; to drive the first drive element 16 to move by a drive source and to drive one aerosol-generating article S at a time to move out of the receiving cavity 121.

Wherein aerosol-generating article residue S' is formed as a result of the aerosol-generating article S being consumed, i.e. after the aerosol-generating article S has been atomised; to avoid aerosol-generating article residue S' affecting the atomisation effect of aerosol-generating article S subsequently delivered to the atomisation region 183; the transport assembly is further also used to remove aerosol-generating article residue S' from the aerosolization area 183 after the aerosol-generating article S has been consumed. The aerosol-generating article residue S' may also be an outer package of the aerosol-generating article S, such as an aluminium foil or the like. It will be appreciated that the aerosol-generating article S, if a liquid substrate, is substantially free of aerosol-generating article residue S', and need not be removed; however, a recovery vessel is required at the atomizing area 183 to contain the liquid substrate.

In this embodiment, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, in order to further perform a secondary recycling of the aerosol-generating article residue S ', the aerosol-generating device further comprises a recycling chamber 17, the recycling chamber 17 having a recycling chamber 171, and the transport assembly in particular transports the aerosol-generating article residue S' from the nebulization area 183 to the recycling chamber 171 for recycling.

The recycling cavity 17 is an independent structure different from the housing 11 and detachably connected to the housing 11 to realize disposal of the recycling cavity 171, so that after the recycling cavity 171 is filled, more environmental protection and rapid replacement can be achieved. Specifically, the recycling cavity 17 and the accommodating cavity 12 may be arranged side by side along a radial direction of the housing 11 to reduce the product volume. Meanwhile, the recycling cavity 171 may also be cylindrical; and the circumferential shape of the recovery chamber 171 matches the circumferential shape of the aerosol-generating article residue S ' and the aperture of both is substantially the same or the aperture of the receiving chamber 121 is slightly larger than the aperture of the aerosol-generating article residue S ' so that the aerosol-generating article residue S ' falls into the recovery chamber 171. Specifically, the material of the recycling cavity 171 may be a harmless metal material, such as 6-series aluminum alloy, stainless steel, etc., or a harmless plastic material, such as Polyetheretherketone (PEEK). The recycling cavity 17 and the accommodating cavity 12 can be formed integrally, and only two different cavities are defined. Of course, the receiving cavity 12 and/or the recycling cavity 17 may also be directly defined by the housing 11, i.e. the receiving cavity 121 and/or the recycling cavity 171 are constructed by the housing 11.

Further, as shown in fig. 2 to 4, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a partial internal structure of an aerosol-generating system provided in an embodiment of the present application; the aerosol-generating device further comprises a carrier plate 18. A side surface of the carrier plate 18 facing the suction nozzle 15 forms an atomizing area 183 for carrying the aerosol-generating article S. The material of the carrier plate 18 can be a safe and non-toxic metal or plastic.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4; the receiving cavity 12 and the recovery cavity 17 are both located on a side of the carrier plate 18 facing away from the suction nozzle 15 to reduce the overall volume of the aerosol-generating device. In this embodiment, in order to ensure that the aerosol-generating product S in the receiving cavity 121 can move to the atomizing area 183 of the carrier plate 18 and the aerosol-generating product residue S' in the atomizing area 183 can smoothly enter the recovery cavity 171, the carrier plate 18 is provided with a first opening 181 communicating with the receiving cavity 121, so that the aerosol-generating product S in the receiving cavity 121 can reach the side of the carrier plate 18 facing the suction nozzle 15 through the first opening 181; and/or the carrier plate 18 is provided with a second opening 182 communicating with the recovery chamber 171 for the aerosol-generating product residue S' to enter the recovery chamber 171. This can prevent the aerosol-generating article S from falling to other locations of the aerosol-generating device during movement, resulting in waste or contamination. Specifically, the first opening 181 faces the opening of the storage chamber 121 along the longitudinal direction of the housing 11, and the second opening 182 faces the opening of the recovery chamber 171 along the longitudinal direction of the housing 11.

In this embodiment, as shown in fig. 2-4, to facilitate assembly and reduce the volume of the aerosol-generating device; the heating element 14 and the receiving cavity 12 are located on the same side of the carrier plate 18, and a portion of the carrier plate 18 corresponding to the atomizing area 183 is made of an optically transparent material; in this way, the heating assembly 14 can directly irradiate and heat the aerosol-generating article S in the atomization region 183 through the carrier plate 18, and compared with a scheme in which the heat-conducting medium is first heated by other heating methods, and then the aerosol-generating article S is heated by heat conduction of the heat-conducting medium, safe non-contact heating can be achieved, and heating can be instantly completed, and heating is more uniform. Wherein, the optical transparent material can be fused quartz or sapphire stone. Of course, the heating assembly 14 can also be disposed on the side of the carrier plate 18 facing the suction nozzle 15, in this embodiment, the carrier plate 18 does not block the laser, and the material of the portion of the carrier plate 18 corresponding to the atomizing area 183 is not limited.

In this embodiment, the rotating member 13 may be a plate and is rotatably connected to a side surface of the carrying plate 18 facing the suction nozzle 15, so as to move the aerosol-generating product S outside the receiving cavity 121 to the atomizing area 183 along the surface of the carrying plate 18, and move the aerosol-generating product residue S' from the atomizing area 183 to the recycling cavity 171.

Specifically, referring to fig. 2, fig. 3 and fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic position diagram of the rotating element 13, the bearing plate 18, the accommodating cavity 12 and the recycling cavity 17 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The surface of the rotating member 13 facing the carrier plate 18 has at least one receiving groove 132, and the bottom wall or the side wall of the receiving groove 132 has an atomizing hole 131. Wherein the at least one receiving slot 132 is adapted to receive and retain the aerosol-generating article S outside the receiving cavity 121. The rotary member 13 holds the aerosol-generating article S by the receiving slot 132 during rotation to move the aerosol-generating article S to the aerosolization area 183; and further moves aerosol-generating article residue S' atomized within the receiving cavity 132 from the atomization zone 183 to the second opening 182 and into the recovery chamber 171. The atomization holes 131 communicate with the storage groove 132, and the aerosol-generating product S in the storage groove 132 moves to the atomization region 183 and the aerosol generated by atomization flows out through the atomization holes 131. As shown in fig. 5, the atomization holes 131 include a plurality of micropores disposed at intervals; therefore, aerosol can be ensured to flow out of the accommodating groove 132 and enter the air outlet channel 151, and the bottom wall of the accommodating groove 132 can be directly utilized to shield laser so as to reduce the risk of personnel safety caused by overflow of high-directivity laser from the shell 11 as much as possible; meanwhile, the use of laser shielding parts can be reduced, the structure is simple, and the cost is low. Of course, referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic position diagram of the rotating member 13, the bearing plate 18, the accommodating cavity 12 and the recycling cavity 17 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure; the aperture of the atomizing hole 131 may be slightly smaller than the aperture of the receiving groove 132, that is, slightly smaller than the diameter of the aerosol-generating article S, and at this time, the atomizing hole 131 is a single larger through hole; in this embodiment, the aerosol-generating product S can be restrained by the storage groove 132, and the aerosol-generating product residue S 'in the storage groove 132 can be easily applied with a force by the outside through the large atomization holes 131, so that the aerosol-generating product residue S' can fall from the storage groove 132.

In particular, the depth of the receiving well 132 may be matched to the thickness of one aerosol-generating article S to ensure that only one aerosol-generating article S enters the receiving well 132 at a time, one aerosol-generating article S being delivered at a time by the rotary member 13, thereby enabling the heating element 14 to heat-atomise only one aerosol-generating article S at a time, such that after the aerosol-generating article S has been consumed by a user between 1 and 5 puffs, a new aerosol-generating article S can be atomised, thereby ensuring consistency of the mouthfeel of the aerosol before and after a user puffs; meanwhile, the laser with shorter wavelength can be ensured not to be absorbed by the aerosol generating product S in the process of heating the aerosol generating product S, so that the heating uniformity and the atomization efficiency can be effectively improved, and the taste of the aerosol is fresh and uniform.

Of course, the depth of the accommodating groove 132 may be the same as the thickness of two or three aerosol-generating articles S, and may be specifically set according to the penetration wavelength of the laser and the user' S requirements. For example, the thickness of the aerosol-generating article S may be made smaller, and the sum of the thicknesses of the aerosol-generating articles S may be the same as the penetration distance of the laser. In this way, a plurality of aerosol-generating articles S of different flavors can be stacked one on top of the other and pushed into the receptacle 132, and delivered to the atomizing area 183 for thermal atomization, thereby enriching the user' S smoking experience.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic view illustrating positions between the rotary member 13 and the carrier plate 18, the accommodating cavity 12 and the recycling cavity 17 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure, in order to prevent the aerosol-generating product S in the accommodating cavity 121 from being ejected out of the accommodating cavity 121 under the driving action of the first driving element 16 after the accommodating groove 132 is removed from the first opening 181; the first opening 181 may be further aligned with other positions of the rotary member 13 except the receiving slot 132, and the rotary member 13 blocks the first opening 181, so that the aerosol-generating product S in the receiving cavity 121 cannot move out of the receiving cavity 121 under the blockage of the rotary member 13.

The following describes the rotation process of the rotary member 13: referring to fig. 5 and 8, fig. 8 is a schematic structural view illustrating the receiving groove 132 of the rotating member 13 aligned with the first opening 181; when the housing groove 132 of the rotary member 13 is aligned with the first opening 181, as shown in fig. 5 and 8, the urging force of the rotary member 13 on the aerosol-generating product S in the housing cavity 121 is eliminated, and at this time, the aerosol-generating product S in the housing cavity 121 is moved out of the housing cavity 121 by the first driving element 16 and is housed in the housing groove 132. The rotary member 13 starts to rotate and conveys the aerosol-generating product S in the housing groove 132, and as shown in fig. 2, the aerosol-generating product S housed in the housing groove 132 can move to the atomization region 183 with the rotation of the rotary member 13 to be atomized, and at this time, the first opening 181 is closed by the rotary member 13. After the aerosol-generating article S in the receptacle 132 has been completely consumed to form aerosol-generating article residue S ', see fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic view of the structure of the rotary member 13 delivering aerosol-generating article residue S' to the second opening 182; the rotary member 13 continues to rotate, the aerosol-generating product residue S 'is conveyed to the second opening 182, and when the accommodation groove 132 and the second opening 182 are aligned, the aerosol-generating product residue S' accommodated in the accommodation groove 132 falls from the accommodation groove 132, and falls into the recovery chamber 171 through the second opening 182 for secondary recovery, and at this time, the first opening 181 is still blocked by the rotary member 13. Then, the rotary member 13 is rotated in the reverse direction, so that the storage groove 132 of the rotary member 13 faces the first opening 181, and the other aerosol-generating product S in the storage cavity 121 is moved out of the storage cavity 121 by the first driving element 16 and stored in the storage groove 132.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, 8 and 9, the rotating member 13 is provided with only one receiving groove 132; the rotating part 13 is in a fan shape, and the fan-shaped rotating part 13 rotates along one end part or edge of the fan shape; the radian corresponding to the fan-shaped rotating member 13 is not less than the radian corresponding to the first opening 181 and the second opening 182 along the rotating path of the rotating member 13, so that the first opening 181 can be still covered by the rotating member 13 when the accommodating groove 132 of the rotating member 13 is aligned with the second opening 182, and the aerosol-generating product S in the accommodating cavity 121 is prevented from moving from the first opening 181 to the outside of the accommodating cavity 121 under the driving force of the first driving element 16; the following examples are given as examples. In particular, in this embodiment, the rotary member 13 can rotate along the following path: the receiving groove 132 of the rotating member 13 rotates counterclockwise from the position of the first opening 181 shown in fig. 8 to the atomizing area 183 shown in fig. 2, and then continues to rotate counterclockwise to the position of the second opening 182 shown in fig. 9; thereafter, continued access to the aerosol-generating article S of the receiving cavity 121 is obtained clockwise through the aerosolization area 183 to the position of the first opening 181 of fig. 2.

Of course, in other embodiments, the rotary member 13 may have a disk shape, the rotary member 13 rotating along the center of the disk; in this embodiment, the receiving groove 132 of the rotating member 13 is moved to any position different from the first opening 181, the rotating member 13 can block and shield the first opening 181, and the rotating member 13 can rotate in the same direction all the time, specifically, the rotating direction of the rotating member 13 is not limited.

Referring to fig. 10 to 11, fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a positional relationship between a rotating member having three receiving slots and the first opening, the second opening and the atomizing area after rotating for a certain angle;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing the positional relationship between the rotary member and the first and second openings and the atomizing area after the rotary member is rotated by a certain angle on the basis of FIG. 10; in other embodiments, the rotating member 13 may also have at least three receiving slots 132, at least three receiving slots 132 are spaced along the rotation path of the rotating member 13, and the spacing distance between adjacent three receiving slots 132 along the rotation path of the rotating member 13 is consistent with the spacing distance between the first opening 181, the atomizing area 183 and the second opening 182 along the rotation path of the rotating member 13.

As shown in fig. 10, taking three receiving slots 132 as an example, two sets of receiving slots 132 are disposed adjacently, wherein the distance between the receiving slots 132 disposed adjacently in one set is the same as the distance between the first opening 181 and the atomizing area 183 along the rotation path of the rotating member 13, and the distance between the receiving slots 132 disposed adjacently in the other set is the same as the distance between the atomizing area 183 and the second opening 182 along the rotation path of the rotating member 13. In contrast to a solution with only one receiving slot 132, there is no need for the rotary member 13 to be rotated back and forth to deliver the next aerosol-generating article S. In the counterclockwise direction of fig. 10 to 11, the rotary member 13 can rotate all the time in the same direction, and after one of the receiving slots 132 moves to the atomizing area 183, the next receiving slot 132 rotates to the position of the first opening 181 to receive a new aerosol-generating article S; when the aerosol-generating article S in the region to be atomized 183 is fully consumed and rotated towards the second opening 182, the receptacle 132 receiving a new aerosol-generating article S is also rotated towards the atomization region 183 to atomize a new aerosol-generating article S, and so on. Therefore, the atomization efficiency can be effectively improved, and the energy utilization is larger.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 12, fig. 12 is an internal schematic view of the aerosol-generating system in which the receiving groove 132 of the rotary member 13 is rotated to another position different from the second opening 182; if the rotary member 13 is fan-shaped, when the receiving slot 132 of the rotary member 13 is located at a position different from the second opening 182, the second opening 182 is always exposed, so as to prevent the aerosol-generating product residue S' in the recovery cavity 17 from leaking or the exhaust gas from escaping; referring to fig. 2 or 3, the aerosol-generating article S may further comprise a sealing cap 19 and a second drive element 20, the sealing cap 19 being switchable between a first position and a different second position; and the sealing cover 19 covers the second opening 182 in the first position and exposes the second opening 182 in the second position. A second drive element 20 is connected to the sealing cover 19 for driving the sealing cover 19 from the second position towards the first position. Of course, the sealing cover 19 can also be switched between the first position and the second position by manually actuating it. Wherein the driving force for the sealing cover 19 to move from the first position toward the second position can be provided by the rotational force of the rotary 13.

The second position can be any position spaced from the second opening 182 in a direction parallel to the bearing plate 18 or any position spaced from the second opening 182 in a direction perpendicular to the bearing plate 18. In one embodiment, the second position is directly above the second opening 182, and the sealing cover 19 moves along a direction perpendicular to the surface of the carrier plate 18 to be located at the first position or the second position. The second drive element 20 may be a motor, a pump, an elastic member, etc. It will be appreciated that the swivel member 13 swings back and forth in a fan shape about the central axis if the second position can be any position spaced from the second opening 182 in a direction parallel to the carrier plate 18.

In one embodiment, the sealing cover 19 is moved in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the carrier plate 18 to switch between a first position and a second position; when the receiving groove 132 of the rotating member 13 moves toward the second opening 182, the sealing cover 19 is away from the second opening 182; when the storage groove 132 of the rotary member 13 moves to the second opening 182, the sealing cap 19 moves close to the second opening 182, so that a portion of the sealing cap 19 can pass through the atomizing hole 131 to contact the aerosol-generating product residue S ' in the storage groove 132, at this time, the second driving element 20 continues to drive the sealing cap 19 to move toward the first position, and the aerosol-generating product residue S ' in the storage groove 132 moves toward the recovery cavity 171 under the driving force to be recovered by the recovery cavity 171, thereby preventing the aerosol-generating product residue S ' in the storage groove 132 from being stuck in the storage groove 132 and not falling.

In an embodiment, referring to fig. 2, 13 and 14, fig. 13 is a positional relationship between the rotating member 13 and the adaptor 21 after the accommodating groove 132 of the rotating member 13 rotates to the atomizing area 183; figure 14 is a cross-sectional view of the aerosol-generating system of figure 13 taken along line B-B. The aerosol generating device further comprises an adapter 21, wherein an air flow channel 211 is formed on the adapter 21, one end of the air flow channel 211 is connected with the suction nozzle 15 and is communicated with the air outlet channel 151 of the suction nozzle 15, and the other end of the air flow channel 211 is used for communicating with the atomizing hole 131 on the rotary piece 13 after the accommodating groove 132 of the rotary piece 13 rotates to the atomizing area 183, so that aerosol atomized in the accommodating groove 132 sequentially passes through the atomizing hole 131, the air flow channel 211 and the air outlet channel 151 to enter the oral cavity of a user. It should be noted that, when the adaptor 21 is fixed in position with respect to the suction nozzle 15 and the accommodating groove 132 of the rotary member 13 is rotated to a position different from the atomizing area 183, the aerosol-generating product S or the aerosol-generating product residue S ' in the accommodating groove 132 is exposed through the atomizing hole 131, so that the external force can be applied to the aerosol-generating product residue S ' in the accommodating groove 132 through the atomizing hole 131, and the aerosol-generating product residue S ' can fall into the recovery cavity 171.

In a specific embodiment, in order to ensure that the high-directivity laser does not overflow from the housing 11 to cause a personnel safety risk; referring to fig. 14, the air outlet channel 151 of the suction nozzle 15 is disposed offset from the optical path of the heating element 14 in the radial direction thereof, i.e., the air outlet channel 151 and the optical path of the heating element 14 are not coaxial. Further, the inner sidewall of the air outlet channel 151 is black treated (e.g., anodized, etc.). The roughness of the inner side wall of the air outlet channel 151 of the suction nozzle 15 is 0.4-3.2 um; and/or the aperture of the air outlet channel 151 of the mouthpiece 15 decreases in a direction away from the air flow channel 211 to ensure the safety of use of the aerosol-generating device.

Further, in an embodiment, referring to fig. 2, fig. 3 or fig. 14, the aerosol-generating device may further include a pressing member 22, and the rotating member 13 is clamped between the pressing member 22 and the bearing plate 18, so that a force toward the bearing plate 18 is applied to the rotating member 13 by the pressing member 22, and the rotating member 13 is ensured to be always attached to the bearing plate 18 during the rotation process. Specifically, the pressing member 22 may be connected and disposed right above the first opening 181 along a direction perpendicular to the plane of the supporting plate 18, so that when the accommodating groove 132 of the rotating member 13 rotates to the first opening 181, the rotating member 13 is completely attached to the supporting plate 18 through the pressing member 22, and the problem that the excessive aerosol-generating products S in the accommodating cavity 121 move to the outside of the accommodating cavity 121, and further the rotation of the rotating member 13 is affected is avoided. The pressing member 22 may be a member with a roller to avoid affecting the rotation of the rotating member 13.

Certainly, the aerosol-generating device may further include a key, a connector, a mounting seat, and other components, and the specific structures and functions of these components are the same as or similar to those of the related components in the existing aerosol-generating device, and the same or similar technical effects may be achieved.

According to the aerosol generating device provided by the embodiment of the application, one-time to multiple-time suction can be realized by controlling to heat only one aerosol generating product S at a time, so that the uniform heating of the aerosol generating product S is ensured, and the uniform and consistent taste experience which is difficult to realize by other technologies at present is realized; and further enables a long suction time after a single fill. In addition, by designing the receiving cavity 12 and/or the recycling cavity 17 to be disposable, the receiving cavity 12 can be replaced after the consumption of the built-in aerosol-generating product S is completed, thereby realizing rapid filling or replacement; and the aerosol-generating article residue S' can be recycled for a second time. Moreover, by adopting the laser direct heating technology, safe non-contact heating is realized, the heating can be instantly completed, and the heating is more uniform. At the same time, the laser-based miniaturized chip enables a small volume construction of the heating assembly 14, indeed a miniaturized, commercialized heating structure of the aerosol-generating article S. In addition, the air outlet channel 151 of the suction nozzle 15 and the optical path of the heating assembly 14 are designed to be in a non-coaxial structure, and the air outlet channel 151 is made to be a conical hole and the inner side wall of the air outlet channel is blackened, so that the safety of the heating assembly 14 in the using process is effectively guaranteed.

The above embodiments are merely examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure, and all modifications, equivalents, and flow charts using the contents of the specification and drawings of the present disclosure or those directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields are intended to be included in the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims (20)

1. An aerosol-generating device, comprising:

a receiving cavity having a receiving cavity for receiving at least one aerosol-generating article;

a delivery assembly for delivering the at least one aerosol-generating article to an aerosolization area;

a heating assembly for thermally atomising the aerosol-generating article in the atomisation region to produce an aerosol.

2. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 1, wherein the receiving cavity is for receiving a plurality of the aerosol-generating articles arranged in a stack; the transport assembly is for batch-wise transport of the plurality of aerosol-generating articles to the aerosolization area.

3. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 2, further comprising a first driving element disposed within the receiving cavity for driving the plurality of aerosol-generating articles within the receiving cavity to move sequentially out of the receiving cavity; the transport assembly is for transporting the aerosol-generating article moved out of the receiving cavity to the aerosolization area.

4. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 3, wherein the first drive element is a first resilient member disposed between a bottom wall of the receiving cavity and the plurality of aerosol-generating articles; or

The first driving element is a rotating shaft or a piston and is connected with the motor; the motor is for driving a predetermined number of aerosol-generating articles at a time out of the receiving cavity by the first drive element.

5. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 2, wherein aerosol-generating article residue is formed after consumption of the aerosol-generating article; the transport assembly is further for removing the aerosol-generating article residue from the aerosolization area after the aerosol-generating article has been consumed.

6. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 5, further comprising:

a recovery cavity having a recovery cavity; the transport assembly transports the aerosol-generating article residue from the aerosolization area to the recovery chamber.

7. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 6, further comprising a mouthpiece and a carrier plate; the suction nozzle is provided with an air outlet channel; the side, facing the suction nozzle, of the bearing plate forms the atomization area; the containing cavity and the recovery cavity are positioned on one side of the bearing plate, which is far away from the suction nozzle;

The bearing plate is provided with a first opening communicated with the containing cavity, so that the aerosol generating product in the containing cavity reaches one side of the bearing plate facing the suction nozzle; and/or

The bearing plate is provided with a second opening communicated with the recovery cavity so that the aerosol generating product residues can enter the recovery cavity.

8. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 7, wherein the transport assembly comprises a rotating member rotatably connected to a side surface of the carrier plate facing away from the receiving cavity to move aerosol-generating articles outside the receiving cavity to the aerosolization area along the surface of the carrier plate and to move aerosol-generating article residues from the aerosolization area to the recovery cavity.

9. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 8, wherein the rotary member has a receiving recess and an atomising aperture; the accommodating groove is arranged towards the surface of one side of the bearing plate and is used for accommodating aerosol generating products outside the accommodating cavity; the atomization hole is communicated with the containing groove, and aerosol generated by atomization of the aerosol generating product in the containing groove flows out through the atomization hole.

10. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 9, wherein the swivel member blocks the first opening when the receiving well is moved to a position other than the first opening.

11. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 10, wherein the rotary member is disc-shaped and rotates about a centre of the disc;

the rotating piece is provided with at least three containing grooves which are arranged at intervals along the rotating path of the rotating piece, and the interval distance of the adjacent three containing grooves along the rotating path of the rotating piece is consistent with the interval distance of the first opening, the atomizing area and the second opening along the rotating path of the rotating piece.

12. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 10, wherein the rotary member is fan-shaped and rotates about one end of the fan;

the radian corresponding to the fan-shaped rotating piece is not less than the radian corresponding to the first opening and the second opening along the rotating path of the rotating piece.

13. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 12, further comprising a sealing cap that switches between a first position and a different second position; and the sealing cover covers the second opening when in the first position and exposes the second opening when in the second position.

14. An aerosol-generating device according to claim 13, wherein the rotational force of the rotary member drives the sealing cap to move from the first position towards the second position;

the aerosol-generating device further comprises a second drive element connected to the sealing cap for driving the sealing cap from the second position towards the first position.

15. An aerosol-generating device according to any one of claims 8 to 14, wherein the delivery assembly further comprises:

the power element is connected with the rotating piece and is used for driving the rotating piece to move;

control circuitry in electrical communication with the motive element and the heating assembly, respectively, for controlling the motive element, causing the rotary member to move the aerosol-generating article to the aerosolization area, and controlling the heating assembly to heat aerosolize aerosol-generating article of the aerosolization area after the rotary member delivers the aerosol-generating article to the aerosolization area.

16. An aerosol-generating device according to any of claims 8 to 14, further comprising a hold-down member, the rotary member being clamped between the hold-down member and the carrier plate, the hold-down member being adapted to press the rotary member tightly against the carrier plate.

17. An aerosol-generating device according to any one of claims 6 to 14, further comprising: a housing formed with a hollow cavity; wherein, the containing cavity and/or the recycling cavity are detachably connected in the hollow cavity.

18. An aerosol-generating device according to any of claims 1 to 14, wherein the heating assembly is one of a laser heating assembly, a microwave heating assembly or an infrared heating assembly.

19. An aerosol-generating device according to any of claims 1 to 14, further comprising a heat-dissipating element disposed upstream of the heating assembly along an airflow path of the aerosol-generating device for dissipating heat from the heating assembly.

20. An aerosol-generating system, comprising: an aerosol-generating device according to any of claims 1 to 14 and an aerosol-generating article housed within the aerosol-generating device.

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