WO2022063233A1

WO2022063233A1 - Aerosol generating device

Info

Publication number: WO2022063233A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/120353
Authority: WO
Inventors: 卢志明; 胡瑞龙; 徐中立; 李永海
Original assignee: 深圳市合元科技有限公司
Priority date: 2020-09-25
Filing date: 2021-09-24
Publication date: 2022-03-31
Also published as: US20230329342A1; CN213604392U; EP4218441A4; EP4218441A1

Abstract

The present application provides an aerosol generating device, which is used for heating an aerosol generating product to generate aerosol for smoking, and comprises a housing. The housing is provided internally with: a chamber; at least one heater used for heating the aerosol generating product; and a support structure configured to surround at least part of the chamber. The inner surface of the support mechanism is provided with a plurality of first protrusions and a plurality of second protrusions spaced in the circumferential direction, so as to clamp the aerosol generating product received in the chamber. The plurality of first protrusions and the plurality of second protrusions are sequentially arranged in the axial direction of the support mechanism. The aerosol generating product is clamped at different heights simultaneously inside the above-mentioned aerosol generating device by means of double-layer protrusions, so that the aerosol generating product can be stably received inside the aerosol generating device, thereby stably transferring heat with the heater.

Description

Aerosol generating device

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application with the application number 2020221482170, which was filed with the China Patent Office on September 25, 2020, and entitled "Aerosol Generating Device", the entire contents of which are incorporated into this application by reference.

technical field

The present application relates to the technical field of heat-not-burn smoking articles, and in particular, to an aerosol generating device.

Background technique

Smoking articles (eg, cigarettes, cigars, etc.) burn tobacco during use to produce tobacco smoke. Attempts have been made to replace these tobacco-burning products by making products that release compounds without burning them.

An example of such a product is a heating device that releases a compound by heating rather than burning a material. For example, the material may be tobacco or other non-tobacco products, which may or may not contain nicotine. As another example, there is a heating device that heats the tobacco product circumferentially around the tobacco product to release a compound to form an aerosol, the interior of the heating device receiving the tobacco product through a heating chamber. As a known prior art, in order to ensure that the tobacco product can be smoothly received in the heating device, the inner diameter of the receiving cavity is usually slightly larger than the outer diameter of the tobacco product, which causes the tobacco product to shake after being received in the receiving cavity and affect the heat transfer with the heater. .

Application content

An embodiment of the present application provides an aerosol generating device for heating an aerosol-generating product to generate aerosol for inhalation, comprising a casing; the casing is provided with:

a chamber for receiving the aerosol-generating article;

at least one heater for heating the aerosol-generating article;

a support mechanism configured to surround at least a portion of the chamber; a plurality of first protrusions and a plurality of second protrusions spaced circumferentially on an inner surface of the support mechanism for The smokeable material within the chamber provides support in a radial direction for gripping an aerosol-generating article received in the chamber; the plurality of first protrusions and the plurality of second protrusions along the support The axial directions of the mechanisms are arranged sequentially.

In an optional implementation, the plurality of first protrusions and the plurality of second protrusions are staggered from each other along the axial direction of the support mechanism.

In an optional implementation, one of the plurality of first protrusions and the plurality of second protrusions is rigid and the other is flexible.

In an optional implementation, the housing has a receiving aperture at one end through which an aerosol-generating article can be removably received in the chamber;

The plurality of first protrusions are closer to the receiving hole than the plurality of second protrusions; the plurality of first protrusions are configured as elongated strips extending in the axial direction of the support mechanism , the second protrusion is configured in a circular shape.

In an optional implementation, the surface of the second protrusion is provided with an elongated slit or slot extending in the axial direction of the support mechanism.

In an optional implementation, the support mechanism includes a coaxially arranged annular rigid support and an annular flexible support;

The plurality of first protrusions are formed on the inner surface of the rigid support, and the plurality of second protrusions are formed on the inner surface of the flexible support.

In an optional implementation, the flexible support member includes an inner wall and an outer wall sequentially arranged from the inside to the outside along the radial direction, and a clamping cavity formed between the inner wall and the outer wall; the rigid support member is at least partially retained in the clamping cavity.

In an optional implementation, the chamber includes proximal and distal ends that oppose axially;

The support mechanism includes a first support with a first protrusion and a second support with a second protrusion; the first support is adjacent to the proximal end of the chamber, and the second support is adjacent to the the distal end of the chamber.

In an optional implementation, the plurality of first protrusions have a different surface friction coefficient than the plurality of second protrusions.

In an optional implementation, the plurality of first protrusions and/or the plurality of second protrusions are symmetrically arranged along the central axis of the support mechanism.

In an optional implementation, at least a portion of the surfaces of the plurality of first protrusions are configured to be angled for providing guidance when the smokeable material is received into the chamber.

The above aerosol generating device internally clamps the aerosol generating product at different heights through double-layer protrusions, so that the aerosol generating product can be stably received inside the aerosol generating device, and then stably transfers heat with the heater. .

Another embodiment of the present application also provides an aerosol-generating device for heating aerosol-generating products to generate aerosols for inhalation, comprising a housing; the housing is provided with:

a chamber for receiving the aerosol-generating article;

at least one heater for heating the aerosol-generating article;

a support mechanism including an assembled rigid support and a flexible support, at least a portion of the rigid support surrounding the chamber;

Wherein, the flexible support has an outer surface and an inner surface that are diametrically opposed, the inner surface is provided with a plurality of protrusions spaced apart along the circumference of the chamber, the protrusions face the chamber Projecting from the inner surface for providing elastically contractible support in a radial direction for a smokeable material received within the chamber to hold the aerosol-generating article.

Description of drawings

One or more embodiments are exemplified by the pictures in the corresponding drawings, and these exemplifications do not constitute limitations of the embodiments, and elements with the same reference numerals in the drawings are denoted as similar elements, Unless otherwise stated, the figures in the accompanying drawings are not intended to be limited to scale.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a use state of an aerosol generating device provided by an embodiment;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the aerosol generating device in Fig. 1 from another perspective;

Fig. 3 is the schematic diagram of the internal structure of the aerosol generating device in Fig. 1;

4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the aerosol generating device in FIG. 3 along the width direction;

5 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the heater in FIG. 4;

6 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the lower support mechanism in FIG. 4;

Fig. 7 is the three-dimensional cross-sectional schematic diagram of the upper support mechanism in Fig. 5;

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of each part of the upper support mechanism in FIG. 7 before being assembled;

FIG. 9 is an exploded schematic view of each part of the upper support mechanism in FIG. 8 before being assembled;

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of clamping the aerosol-generating product at the upper and lower ends of the chamber, respectively, provided by the upper support mechanism and the lower support mechanism according to another embodiment.

specific embodiment

In order to facilitate the understanding of the present application, the present application will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be noted that when an element is referred to as being "fixed to" another element, it can be directly on the other element, or one or more intervening elements may be present therebetween. When an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or one or more intervening elements may be present therebetween. The terms "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "inner", "outer" and similar expressions used in this specification are for illustrative purposes only.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used in this specification have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the technical field belonging to this application. The terms used in the specification of the present application in this specification are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments, and are not used to limit the present application. As used in this specification, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

An embodiment of the present application provides an aerosol-generating device that heats rather than burns an aerosol-generating article, such as a cigarette, to volatilize or release at least one component of the aerosol-generating article to form an aerosol for inhalation.

Based on a preferred implementation, the heating of the aerosol-generating product by the aerosol-generating device is performed by radiating far-infrared rays with a heating effect; for example, far-infrared rays of 3 μm to 15 μm, the wavelength of the infrared rays in use is related to the aerosol-generating product. When the absorption wavelengths of the volatile components match, the energy of the infrared rays is easily absorbed by the aerosol-generating product, and then the aerosol-generating product is heated to volatilize at least one volatile component to generate an aerosol for inhalation.

In other optional implementations, the heating of the aerosol-generating article by the aerosol-generating device heats the aerosol-generating article by electrical resistance or electromagnetic induction heating.

The structure of the aerosol generating device according to an embodiment of the present application can be referred to as shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 2 . The overall shape of the device is generally constructed in the shape of a flat cylinder, and its external components include:

The main casing 10 is hollow inside, thereby forming an assembly space that can be used to assemble various necessary functional components; the main casing 10 has a proximal end 110 and a distal end 120 opposite along the length direction; wherein,

The proximal end 110 is provided with a receiving hole 111 through which the aerosol-generating article A can be received in the main housing 10 to be heated or removed from the main housing 10;

The distal end 120 is provided with an air inlet 121 and a charging interface 122; the air inlet 121 is used to allow external air to enter the main casing 10 during the suction process; the charging interface 122 is, for example, a USB type-C interface, a Pin type The interface, etc., is used to charge the aerosol generating device after being connected to an external power source or an adapter.

Further, the internal structure of the main casing 10 is shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , including a first compartment 130 and a second compartment 140 arranged in sequence along the width direction; wherein, the first compartment 130 is used to install cells and circuits A mounting space for electronic components such as boards and the like (not shown in the drawings), and the second compartment 140 is a mounting space for mounting and holding a heating mechanism.

Referring to the preferred embodiment shown in Figure 4, the heating mechanism includes:

The heater 30, is configured in the shape of a tube, the tubular hollow is configured to receive and heat the chamber of the aerosol-generating article A. In an optional implementation, the heater 30 is a resistance heating tube with resistivity, or a metal induction heating tube that is penetrated by a magnetic field to generate heat, or radiates infrared rays to the aerosol-generating product A to heat the aerosol-generating product A's infrared transmitter.

The thermal insulation mechanism 40 is used to insulate the heater 30 to prevent the heat of the heater 30 from being transferred to other components or the surface of the main casing 10 to cause thermal damage; in the preferred implementation of FIG. 4 , the thermal insulation mechanism 40 is surrounded by The vacuum tube in which the heater 30 is arranged is thermally insulated by a vacuum area formed between two layers of tube walls.

The main casing 10 is also provided with:

The upper support mechanism 50 and the lower support mechanism 60 provide support to the heater 30 and the heat insulating mechanism 40 at their upper and lower ends, respectively. In practice, both the upper support mechanism 50 and the lower support mechanism 60 are configured in a hollow annular shape and are positioned coaxially with the heater 30;

The air intake pipe 20 is positioned between the lower support mechanism 60 and the air intake hole 121 to provide an air flow path between the air intake hole 121 and the heater 30 . The air intake pipe 20 is also used to provide support for the lower support mechanism 60 so that it can be stably maintained in the main casing 10 . During the suction process, the airflow flows as shown by arrow R4 in FIG. 4 . After the outside air enters the air intake pipe 20 from the air intake hole 121 , it flows into the aerosol generating product A held in the heater 30 and carries the generated aerosol output. .

Further, FIG. 5 shows a schematic structural diagram of a preferred embodiment of the heater 30 heated by means of infrared radiation. in,

The heater 30 includes: a tubular base 31, the inner space of which forms a chamber for receiving and heating the aerosol-generating article A; an infrared emitting coating 32 formed on the outer surface of the tubular base 31 for transmitting The aerosol-generating product A received in the tubular base 31 radiates infrared rays, and then heats the aerosol-generating product A; the electrode coating 33 is formed on the infrared emitting coating 32 and conducts electricity with the infrared emitting coating 32, and then the welding pins are subsequently welded. The infrared emitting coating 32 is supplied with power after being connected to the positive electrode/negative electrode of the battery cell by means of , conductive ring, etc.

Usually in practice, the tubular base 31 is made of a material with excellent infrared transmission, such as quartz, glass, silicon carbide, ceramic or mica and the like. The infrared emitting coating 32 is preferably composed of oxides of at least one metal element such as Mg, Al, Ti, Zr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Cr, Zn, etc., these metal oxides are heated to an appropriate temperature It can radiate far-infrared rays with heating effect; the thickness of the coating can preferably be controlled from 30 μm to 50 μm. The electrode coating 33 is made of a metal or alloy with low resistivity, such as silver, gold, palladium, platinum, copper, nickel, molybdenum, tungsten, niobium or the above-mentioned metal alloy materials.

Referring to the lower support mechanism 60 shown in FIG. 6 , it includes an annular protrusion 61 extending into the heater 30 , and an annular socket 62 is formed between the annular protrusion 61 and the outer wall of the lower support mechanism 60 . The smokable material A abuts against the annular projection 61 after the annular projection 61 extends into the heater 30 in use to provide a stop for the aerosol-generating article A. At the same time, the lower end of the heater 30 is inserted into the socket 62 and fixed.

Referring further to FIGS. 7 to 9 , the upper support mechanism 50 includes: a rigid support 51 and a flexible support 52 each configured in an annular shape; wherein,

The rigid support member 51 is usually made of a hard plastic material such as PEEK, and its inner wall is provided with a number of elongated strip-shaped protrusions 511 spaced around the aerosol-generating product A of the chamber along its circumferential direction. The bar-shaped projections 511 are of a top-to-bottom sloping design, so as to provide sloping guidance during operation through the rigid support 51 when the aerosol-generating article A is received into the heater 30; and when the aerosol-generating article A is received After the product A is received into the chamber, the elongated bar-shaped protrusions 511 can also hold the aerosol-generating product A.

The flexible support 52 is flexible, for example, made of silica gel material, and its inner wall is provided with a number of circular protrusions 521 arranged around the aerosol-generating product A in the chamber; the shape of the circular protrusion 521 is generally circular In the same way, the received aerosol-generating article A is clamped and fixed.

Further refer to the schematic cross-sectional view of the upper support mechanism 50 after being assembled by the rigid support 51 and the flexible support 52 shown in FIG. 7 ; the elongated strip protrusions 511 are arranged closer to the upper end, and the circular protrusions 521 are relatively farther and closer to the lower end . In use, the highest protrusion heights of the elongated strip protrusions 511 and the circular protrusions 521 are different. Specifically, because the circular protrusions 521 are made of flexible materials and can be elastically contracted, the circular protrusions 521 can be elastically contracted during construction. The protruding height of 521 is slightly larger than the protruding height of the bar-shaped protrusion 511, usually about 1-3 mm higher; and then when the aerosol-generating product A is received in the chamber, they jointly hold the gas at different axial positions. The sol-generating article A has an appropriate degree of tightness to keep the central axis of the aerosol-generating article A and the heater 30 coincident as much as possible.

In practice, the elongated bar-shaped protrusions 511 and the circular protrusions 521, which have different surface friction coefficients, such that the resistance gradually increases as the aerosol-generating article A is received in the chamber and can be maintained after receipt It is stable and will not fall out of the receiving hole 111 due to slight shaking and the like when used at an incline.

Of course, in the preferred implementation shown in the figure, the number of the elongated bar-shaped protrusions 511 and the circular protrusions 521 is an even number, and the central axis of the above support mechanism 50 is axially symmetrically arranged; The grip of the aerosol-generating article A is more stable.

In addition, the elongated strip protrusions 511 and the circular protrusions 521 are relatively staggered in the axial direction, which is advantageous for preventing the inclination or eccentricity of the aerosol-generating article A. As shown in FIG.

Further in the preferred implementation shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 , the surface of the circular protrusion 521 is provided with an elongated slit or slot 5211 extending along the length direction of the upper support mechanism 50 . The elongated slits or grooves 5211 can reduce the contact area between the surface of the circular protrusion 521 and the aerosol-generating article A, which is beneficial for reducing frictional resistance during the movement of the aerosol-generating article A.

Further, in order to facilitate the assembly of the rigid support 51 and the flexible support 52, see FIG. 8 ; the flexible support 52 has an inner wall 522 and an outer wall 523 arranged in turn from the inside to the outside along the radial direction, and is formed on the inner wall 522 and the outer wall 523. The clamping cavity 524 of the rigid support 51 includes a portion 513 with a reduced thickness; during assembly, the reduced thickness portion 513 of the rigid support 51 is extended into the clamping cavity 524 and is formed by the inner wall 522 and the outer wall 523 clamped.

At the same time, the upper support mechanism 50 also includes a positioning mechanism for providing positioning assistance and preventing disengagement during the assembly process of the rigid support 51 and the flexible support 52 . For example, in the implementation shown in FIG. 8 , the positioning mechanism includes a groove or hole 512 formed on the reduced thickness portion 513 of the rigid support 51 , and the corresponding flexible support 52 is provided with a groove or hole 512 that cooperates with the groove or hole 512 . The card protrusion 525 and so on.

The rigid support 51 is provided with a plurality of sheet-like extension parts 514 which are located at the outermost layer in the radial direction and extend in the axial direction. fixed.

In yet another variant implementation shown in FIG. 10 , circular protrusions 511b are arranged on the inner wall of the upper support mechanism 50b; while the lower support mechanism 60b provides an axial stop for the aerosol-generating product A, it also has a diameter The surface that grips and abuts in the direction is a protrusion 611b of an inclined configuration. Thereby, the aerosol-generating articles A are supported in the radial direction at positions of different heights near the upper and lower ends of the chamber, respectively, to hold the aerosol-generating articles A received in the chamber.

It should be noted that preferred embodiments of the present application are given in the description of the present application and the accompanying drawings. However, the present application can be implemented in many different forms, and is not limited to the embodiments described in the present specification. These embodiments are not intended as additional limitations to the content of the present application, and are provided for the purpose of making the understanding of the disclosure of the present application more thorough and complete. In addition, the above technical features continue to be combined with each other to form various embodiments not listed above, which are all regarded as the scope of the description of the present application; further, for those of ordinary skill in the art, they can be improved or transformed according to the above description. , and all these improvements and transformations should belong to the protection scope of the appended claims of this application.

Claims

An aerosol generating device for heating aerosol-generating products to generate aerosol for inhalation, comprising a casing; characterized in that, the casing is provided with:

a chamber for receiving the aerosol-generating article;

at least one heater for heating the aerosol-generating article;

a support mechanism configured to surround at least a portion of the chamber; a plurality of first protrusions and a plurality of second protrusions spaced circumferentially of the chamber are provided on an inner surface of the support mechanism for providing support in a radial direction for the smokeable material received within the chamber to hold the aerosol-generating article received within the chamber; the first and second protrusions along the chamber The chambers are spaced apart in the axial direction.
The aerosol generating device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of first protrusions and the plurality of second protrusions are staggered from each other on the inner surface of the support mechanism along an axial direction of the chamber .
The aerosol-generating device of claim 1 or 2, wherein one of the plurality of first protrusions and the plurality of second protrusions is rigid and the other is flexible.
2. The aerosol-generating device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the housing has a receiving hole at one end through which an aerosol-generating article can be removably received in the chamber;

The plurality of first protrusions are closer to the receiving hole than the plurality of second protrusions.
The aerosol generating device according to claim 4, wherein an elongated slit or groove extending along the axial direction of the support mechanism is provided on the surface of the second protrusion.
The aerosol generating device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the support mechanism comprises a coaxially arranged annular rigid support and an annular flexible support;

The plurality of first protrusions are formed on the inner surface of the rigid support, and the plurality of second protrusions are formed on the inner surface of the flexible support.
The aerosol generating device according to claim 6, wherein the flexible support member comprises an inner wall and an outer wall which are sequentially arranged from the inside to the outside along the radial direction, and a clamping cavity formed between the inner wall and the outer wall ; the rigid support is at least partially retained in the clamping cavity.
2. The aerosol-generating device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the chamber includes proximal and distal ends that oppose axially;

The support mechanism includes a first support with a first protrusion and a second support with a second protrusion; the first support is adjacent to the proximal end of the chamber, and the second support is adjacent to the the distal end of the chamber.
The aerosol generating device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of first protrusions have a different surface friction coefficient than the plurality of second protrusions.
The aerosol generating device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of first protrusions and/or the plurality of second protrusions are symmetrically arranged along the central axis of the chamber.
An aerosol generating device for heating aerosol-generating products to generate aerosol for inhalation, comprising a casing; characterized in that, the casing is provided with:

a chamber for receiving the aerosol-generating article;

at least one heater for heating the aerosol-generating article;

a support mechanism including an assembled rigid support and a flexible support, at least a portion of the rigid support surrounding the chamber;

Wherein, the flexible support has an outer surface and an inner surface that are diametrically opposed, the inner surface is provided with a plurality of protrusions spaced apart along the circumference of the chamber, the protrusions face the chamber Projecting from the inner surface for providing elastically contractible support in a radial direction for a smokeable material received within the chamber to hold the aerosol-generating article.