AEROSOL GENERATING DEVICE, AND HEATER FOR AEROSOL GENERATING DEVICE

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001]The present disclosure claims priority to Chinese Application No. 202211531384.0, filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration on Dec. 1, 2022 and entitled “AEROSOL GENERATING DEVICE, AND HEATER FOR AEROSOL GENERATING DEVICE”, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002]Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the technical field of heat-not-burn aerosol generation, and in particular, to an aerosol generating device, and a heater for an aerosol generating device.

BACKGROUND

[0003]Tobacco is burnt to produce tobacco smoke in a use process of tobacco products (such as cigarettes and cigars). Attempts have been made to replace these tobacco-burning products by non-burning products that release compounds.

[0004]An example of the products is a heating device that releases compounds by heating rather than burning a material. For example, the material can be tobacco products or other non-tobacco products, and the non-tobacco products can include nicotine or not. In the prior art, as provided in Patent Application No. CN202010054217.6, a tobacco product is heated by a heater having a spiral heating wire encapsulated in an outer sleeve, so as to generate an aerosol.

SUMMARY

[0009]In some embodiments, the porous matrix has an apparent density of 1 g/cm3-3 g/cm3.

[0010]In some embodiments, a material of the porous matrix has thermal conductivity of 1 W/m·K-25 W/m·K.

[0011]In some embodiments, the porous matrix has porosity of 30%-80%.

[0012]In some embodiments, micropores in the porous matrix have a pore diameter of 10 μm-2000 μm.

[0013]In some embodiments, the porous matrix includes a porous ceramic and/or porous glass.

[0014]In some embodiments, the porous matrix includes no elementary substance of metal.

[0020]In some embodiments, a tube wall of the porous matrix has a thickness greater than 0.2 mm.

[0023]In some embodiments, the filler includes at least one of glass powder, barium oxide powder, silicon dioxide powder, boron oxide powder, aluminum oxide powder, or magnesium oxide powder.

[0024]In some embodiments, the heating coil generates heat due to resistive Joule heat in a case where a direct current flows through the heating coil; and the heating coil and the housing conduct heat to each other, so as to enable the housing to generate heat by receiving the heat from the heating coil for heating the aerosol generating product.

[0031]According to the above aerosol generating device, the heating coil of the heater is arranged around the porous matrix, so that a length of a high-temperature zone of the heater is increased, and power consumption is reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032]One or more embodiments are illustratively described with reference to the figures in the corresponding accompanying drawings, and these illustrative descriptions are not to limit the embodiments. Elements having same reference numerals in the accompanying drawings are denoted as similar elements, and the figures in the accompanying drawings are not drawn to scale, unless particularly stated otherwise.

[0033]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an aerosol generating device according to an embodiment;

[0034]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a heater in FIG. 1;

[0035]FIG. 3 is a schematic exploded view of the heater in FIG. 2 from an angle of view;

[0036]FIG. 4 is an electron microscope image of a section of a heater manufactured in an embodiment;

[0037]FIG. 5 is a scanning electron microscope image of a section of a matrix in an embodiment;

[0038]FIG. 6 is a diagram of a temperature field test result of a heater during heating in an embodiment;

[0039]FIG. 7 is a diagram of comparison between a length of a high-temperature zone of a heater during heating in an embodiment and a length of a high-temperature zone of a heater during heating in a comparative example;

[0040]FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a heating curve of heating an aerosol generating product for predetermined time in an embodiment;

[0041]FIG. 9 is a diagram of comparison between energy consumption of a no-load heater during heating according to a predetermined curve in an embodiment and energy consumption of a no-load heater during heating according to a predetermined curve in a comparative example; and

[0042]FIG. 10 shows results of temperature tests at positions B1 of surfaces of housings in the embodiment and the comparative example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043]To facilitate understanding of the present disclosure, the present disclosure is further described in detail below with reference to accompanying drawings and the particular implementations.

[0049]In a preferred embodiment, the heater 30 is generally in a dowel pin, needle, rod, bar, column, sheet, or plate shape, which is conducive to insertion into the aerosol generating product 1000. Moreover, the heater 30 may have a length of approximately 12 mm-20 mm and an outer diameter size of approximately 2 mm-4 mm.

[0050]Further, in an optional embodiment, the aerosol generating product 1000 is preferably made of a tobacco-containing material that releases volatile compounds from a matrix when heated, or a non-tobacco material that is suitable for electrical heating based smoke generation after heated. The aerosol generating product 1000 preferably uses a solid matrix, and may include one or more of Vanilla planifolia andrews leaves, tobacco leaves, homogeneous tobacco, and expanded tobacco in one or more forms of powder, particles, fragment strips, bands, or slices. Alternatively, the solid matrix may include additional tobacco or non-tobacco volatile flavor compounds that are released when the matrix is heated.

[0051]In some embodiments, when the aerosol generating product 1000 is partially received in the aerosol generating device to be heated, part of the aerosol generating product 1000 is exposed outside the aerosol generating device, for example, a filtration mouthpiece is located outside the aerosol generating device, which is conducive to vaping by a user.

[0052]In the embodiment, the heater 30 may generally include a resistance heating element, and an auxiliary base material for assisting the resistance heating element in fixation, preparation, etc. For example, in some embodiments, the resistance heating element is in a spiral coil shape or form. Alternatively, in some other embodiments, the resistance heating element is in a form of a conductive trajectory combined with a substrate. Alternatively, in yet some other embodiments, the resistance heating element is in a sheet shape.

[0058]In some embodiments, the housing 31 has a length of 12 mm-20 mm. The housing 31 has an outer diameter of approximately 2.0 mm-2.8 mm and a wall thickness of approximately 0.1 mm-0.3 mm. The cavity of the housing 31 has an inner diameter of approximately 1.5 mm-2.1 mm and a length of approximately 12 mm-18 mm. In some embodiments, the housing 31 is made of stainless steel, for example, 340-grade or 304-grade stainless steel. Alternatively, in some other variant embodiments, the housing 31 or may further include a ceramic, etc.

[0059]Further, as shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 3, the heating coil 32 is configured in a form of a spiral heat generating wire or a spiral tube coil extending in a part of an axial direction of the housing 31.

[0060]In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the heating coil 32 is completely assembled and maintained in the cavity of the housing 31, and the heating coil 32 and the housing 31 conduct heat to each other after assembly.

[0061]In the embodiment, the heating coil 32 is a resistance heating coil that generates heat through resistance Joule heat when a direct current flows through the heating coil 32. In an optional embodiment, the heating coil 32 is made of a metal material, a metal alloy, graphite, carbon, a conductive ceramic, or a metal-ceramic composite material having appropriate impedance. An appropriate metal or alloy material includes at least one of nickel, cobalt, zirconium, titanium, a nickel alloy, a cobalt alloy, a zirconium alloy, a titanium alloy, a nickel chromium alloy, a nickel iron alloy, an iron chromium alloy, an iron chromium aluminum alloy, an iron manganese aluminum based alloy, stainless steel, etc.

[0062]In the embodiment, the housing 31 is made of a thermally-conductive metal or alloy material such as stainless steel. The heating coil 32 and an inner surface of the cavity of the housing 31 are mutually insulated. In the embodiment, the housing 31 may generate heat by receiving the resistance Joule heat from the heating coil 32, so as to heat the aerosol generating product 1000.

[0063]Alternatively, in yet some other embodiments, the circuit 20 may provide an alternating current for the heating coil 32, so that the heating coil 32 generates a varying magnetic field when the alternating current flows through the heating coil. The housing 31 is made of an inductive material, for example, 430-grade stainless steel or a nickel iron alloy. Thus, the housing 31 may be penetrated by the varying magnetic field for inductive heat generation, so as to heat the aerosol generating product 1000.

[0064]In the embodiments shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, a section of a wire material of the heating coil 32 configured in the form of the spiral tube coil is in a wide or flat shape different from a conventional circular shape. In a preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 2, a section of a wire material of the heating coil 32 has a size extending in a longitudinal direction greater than that extending in a radial direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. Thus, the section of the wire material of the heating coil 32 is in a flat rectangular shape. Briefly, compared with a conventional spiral heating coil formed by a wire having a circular section, the heating coil 32 configured as above has the wire material completely or partially flattened. Thus, the wire material extends to a small extent in the radial direction. In this way, energy loss in the heating coil 32 can be reduced. Particularly, transmission of the heat generated by the heating coil 32 towards the housing 31 in the radial direction can be promoted.

[0065]In another variant optional embodiment, the heating coil 32 or may be formed by a conventional wire material having a section in a circular shape.

[0066]In the above embodiments, the spiral heating coil 32 having a number of turns of approximately 6-18 and a length of approximately 8 mm-15 mm. The heating coil 32 has a maximum outer diameter not exceeding 1.9 mm. For example, the heating coil 32 may have the outer diameter of 1.6 mm-1.9 mm.

[0067]In some embodiments, a distance between adjacent turns of the heating coil 32 is unchanged. For example, in some embodiments, a distance between adjacent turns of the heating coil 32 is 0.025 mm-0.3 mm. For example, in some embodiments, a distance between adjacent turns of the heating coil 32 is 0.05 mm-0.15 mm.

[0070]Further, in some embodiments, the first conductive pin 321 and the second conductive pin 322 are elongated wires. The first conductive pin 321 and the second conductive pin 322 are made of a metal wire having low resistivity, such as a nickel wire, a silver-plated nickel wire, a copper wire, and a nickel-plated copper wire. Also, after assembled, the first conductive pin 321 and the second conductive pin 322 are connected to the circuit 20 separately, so as to guide the current in the heating coil 32.

[0071]The porous matrix 313 is provided with a through hole 314 penetrating the porous matrix in the longitudinal direction. After assembled, the first conductive pin 321 penetrates the through hole 314 of the porous matrix 313. The first conductive pin 321 penetrates the through hole 314 of the porous matrix 313 from the first end, closest to the free front end 311, of the heating coil 32, and then extends out of the tail end 312. The first conductive pin 321 and/or the second conductive pin 322 has a diameter of approximately 0.2 mm-0.45 mm. For example, in a specific embodiment, the first conductive pin 321 and/or the second conductive pin 322 has a diameter of 0.25 mm.

[0072]Further, in the above embodiment, the porous matrix 313 has a length of approximately 8 mm-15 mm and an outer diameter of approximately 1.0 mm-1.5 mm. The through hole 314 of the porous matrix 313 has a diameter of approximately 0.5 mm. The porous matrix 313 in the tubular shape has a wall thickness greater than 0.2 mm. For example, in a specific embodiment, the porous matrix 313 in the tubular shape has a wall thickness of 0.5 mm, which is conducive to maintenance of the strength of the porous matrix 313.

[0073]In the embodiment, the porous matrix 313 and the heating coil 32 have a basically identical length. In the embodiment, a distance is maintained between the second end of the heating coil 32 and the tail end 312. For example, the distance between the second end of the heating coil 32 and the tail end 312 is approximately 3 mm-8 mm. A distance between the porous matrix 313 and the tail end 312 is also approximately 3 mm-8 mm.

[0076]In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the flange 34 avoids the heating coil 32. In some embodiments, a distance of at least 1 mm is maintained between the flange 34 and the heating coil 32. Alternatively, the flange 34 is located between the heating coil 32 and the tail end 312. The flange 34 surrounds an annular shape of the housing 31. The flange 34 has a thickness of approximately 2 mm-5 mm.

[0077]In the embodiment, the porous matrix 313 includes a porous body material. For example, in some embodiments, the porous matrix 313 in the tubular shape includes porous glass and a porous ceramic such as a porous aluminum oxide ceramic and a porous zirconium oxide ceramic. The porous matrix 313 in the tubular shape includes no elementary substance of metal. Alternatively, the porous matrix 313 includes no alloy.

[0078]In the embodiment, the porous matrix 313 has porosity of approximately 30%-80%. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the porous matrix 313 has porosity of approximately 50%-70%. Alternatively, in a specific embodiment, the porous matrix 313 has porosity of 65%.

[0079]In the embodiment, micropores in the porous matrix 313 have a pore diameter of 10 μm-2000 μm. Alternatively, in yet some other embodiments, micropores in the porous matrix 313 have a pore diameter of 200 μm-800 μm. In the embodiment, for example as shown in FIG. 5, micropores in the porous matrix 313 have an average pore diameter of 500 μm-1000 μm. Alternatively, in yet some other embodiments, micropores of a porous body material of the porous matrix 313 have a pore diameter of 20 μm-500 μm. In the embodiment, the micropores in the porous matrix 313 have an average pore diameter of 20 μm-100 μm. Alternatively, in yet some other embodiments, micropores in the porous matrix 313 have an average pore diameter of 30 μm-80 μm.

[0080]In some embodiments, the porous matrix 313 is formed by mixing a raw ceramic material, a pore forming agent, etc. with an organic additive to form moldable slurry, injection molding the slurry in a mold to form a tubular green blank, and sintering the green blank. During sintering, the pore forming agent is decomposed or volatilized to define micropores inside the porous matrix 313 in the tubular shape.

[0081]Alternatively, in some embodiments, the porous matrix 313 is formed by mixing a precursor including a decomposable ceramic material with an organic additive, molding a resulting mixture to form a green blank, and sintering the green blank. During sintering, a decomposable ceramic material precursor such as calcium carbonate and borax can be decomposed to produce a large amount of gas escape, and the green blank including the ceramic material precursor shrinks during sintering. Thus, a large number of micropores are formed inside the porous matrix 313 formed through sintering.

[0082]In some embodiments, the above porous matrix 313 includes at least one of aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, boron oxide, calcium oxide, zirconium oxide, etc.

[0083]In some embodiments, the porous matrix 313 has an apparent density of 1 g/cm3-3 g/cm3. The term “apparent density” is a physical term and indicates a ratio of a mass to an apparent size of a described object. For the above porous matrix 313 in the tubular shape, owing to the large number of pores inside the porous matrix, the above “apparent density” indicates a ratio of a mass to a tubular apparent size of the porous matrix 313 in the tubular shape. Compared with a dense aluminum oxide ceramic material that generally includes no internal pores and has density of 3.95 g/cm3, the above porous matrix 313 having the porosity of 65% and made of a porous aluminum oxide ceramic body has an apparent density of approximately 1.43 g/cm3. Alternatively, in yet some other embodiments, when the porous matrix 313 is made of a porous ceramic material or porous glass material such as porous silicon dioxide, porous aluminum oxide, and porous zirconium oxide that conform to the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals (REACH) restricted substance standard (for example, GB/T 39498-2020), food and drug administration (FDA) requirement, and halogen-free standard, the porous matrix 313 has an apparent density of 1.5 g/cm3-2 g/cm3.

[0084]In some embodiments, a material of the porous matrix 313 has thermal conductivity of 1 W/m·K-25 W/m·K. For example, gas has a thermal conduction coefficient of approximately 1 W/m·K, and an aluminum oxide ceramic has a thermal conduction coefficient of approximately 20 W/m·K.

[0085]In some embodiments, the cavity of the housing 31 is further filled with filler. The filler is used for filling gaps outside the porous matrix 313 and the heating coil 32, which is conducive to improvement of heat utilization. In some specific embodiments, the filler may include an inorganic glass adhesive such as a sodium silicate and aluminum silicate. Alternatively, in still some other embodiments, the filler may include at least one of glass powder, barium oxide powder, silicon dioxide powder, boron oxide powder, aluminum oxide powder, magnesium oxide powder, etc. The filler has an initial melting point not lower than 500° C., and a thermal expansion coefficient not lower than 8 ppm/° C. and preferably of 10 ppm/° C.-13 ppm/° C.

[0086]Further, FIG. 6 shows a diagram of temperature field distribution detected by a thermal infrared imager FOTRIC616 during operation of the heater 30 in an embodiment. In the heater 30 tested in the embodiment, the housing 31 made of 304 stainless steel has a length of 15 mm and an outer diameter of 2.1 mm; a tapered tip has a length of 2.5 mm; and the cavity of the housing 31 has a length of 13 mm and an inner diameter of 1.8 mm. The heating coil 32 is made of stainless steel. The heating coil 32 has a number of turns of 9, a length of 9.0±0.5 mm, and an outer diameter of 1.6 mm. A wire material of the heating coil 32 has an the extension size in an axial direction of 0.8 mm and an extension size in a radial direction of 0.2 mm. The porous matrix 313 is made of a ceramic formed by mixing porous aluminum oxide with porous silicon oxide and porous boron oxide. The matrix 31 in the tubular shape has an outer diameter of 1.4 mm, an inner diameter of 0.5 mm, and a same length as that of the heating coil 32. The flange 34 is made of PEEK and has a thickness of 3 mm. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, during heating, when the heater 30 is maintained at 350° C. for heating, a result of thermal field distribution presented in the thermal infrared imager FOTRIC 616 shows that a high-temperature zone (a zone having a temperature of 340° C.-350° C.) is closest to the free front end 311 and has a length D1 of approximately 4.5 mm.

[0087]Further, FIG. 7 is a diagram of comparison between a test result of a length of a high-temperature zone during heating of the heater according to an identical predetermined temperature 350° C. in the comparative example and a test result of a length of a high-temperature zone during heating of the heater according to the identical predetermined temperature 350° C. in the embodiment. In FIG. 7, the heater in Comparative Example 1 is provided with no matrix, and the heating coil 32 is directly assembled into the housing 31. The heater in Comparative Example 2 uses a dense matrix made of a ceramic formed by mixing dense aluminum oxide with dense silicon oxide and dense boron oxide. In Embodiment 1, the porous matrix 313 in the heater is made of a same material as that in Comparative Example 2, and has porosity of approximately 60%. Lengths of the high-temperature zones of the heater 30 in Embodiment 1, Comparative Example 1, and Comparative Example 2 are monitored by the thermal infrared imager FOTRIC 616. 10 samples are taken from each embodiment, and statistical results are obtained. From the statistical results in FIG. 7, the high-temperature zones of the heater in Comparative Example 1 have an average length of 3.92 mm, and a consistency difference of the 10 samples is large (corresponding to the histogram for Comparative Example 1 in FIG. 7). The high-temperature zones of the heater in Comparative Example 2 have an average length of 4.75 mm, and the 10 samples have greater consistency than those in Comparative Example 1 (corresponding to the histogram for Comparative Example 2 in FIG. 7). The high-temperature zones of the heater 30 in Embodiment 1 have an average length of 4.585 mm higher than that in Comparative Example 1 and slightly lower than that in Comparative Example 2, and the 10 samples have greater consistency than those in Comparative Example 1 (corresponding to the histogram for Embodiment 1 in FIG. 7). Thus, when the porous matrix 313 exists in the heating coil 32, the high-temperature zone is further prolonged, and temperature distribution of the heater 30 is more uniform.

[0092]Further, FIG. 9 shows monitoring results of power consumption required by the no-load (not combined with the aerosol generating product 1000) heater 30 in Comparative Example 1, Comparative Example 2, and Embodiment 1 during heating for 225 s to the end according to the curve shown in FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 9, 10 samples in which heating is completed by the heater including no matrix in Comparative Example 1 have average power consumption of 137.37 mWh, and a maximum power consumption difference of the 10 samples is 3.8 mWh. 10 samples in which heating is completed by the heater including a dense matrix in Comparative Example 2 have average power consumption of 141.86 mWh, and a maximum power consumption difference of the 10 samples is 2.2 mWh. 10 samples in which heating is completed by the heater including the porous matrix 313 made of a porous ceramic in Embodiment 1 have average power consumption of 136.28 mWh, and a maximum power consumption difference of the 10 samples is 3.2 mWh. Thus, when the dense matrix exists in the heating coil 32, more power needs to be consumed.

[0093]Further, FIG. 10 shows sampling results of temperatures of a position, 11 mm away from the free front end 311, of a surface of the housing 31 of the heater 30 in Comparative Example 1, Comparative Example 2, and Embodiment 1 during heating. A position B1 in FIG. 2 denotes the position, 11 mm away from the free front end 311, of the surface of the housing 31. Specifically, the position B1 denotes a position for injection-molding the flange 34 in manufacturing of the heater 30. It can be seen from the results in FIG. 10 that an average temperature 286.15° C. at the position B1 of the heater 30 in 10 samples in Embodiment 1 is lower than an average temperature 292.45° C. at the position B1 of the heater 30 in 10 samples in Comparative Example 1 and an average temperature 292.15° C. at the position B1 of the heater 30 in 10 samples in Comparative Example 2. The temperature at the position B1 of the heater 30 in Embodiment 1 is lower than the temperature in Comparative Example 1 and the temperature in Comparative Example 2 by approximately 6° C. It can be further seen from FIG. 6 that during heating, a temperature of a surface of the flange 34 made of zirconium oxide is approximately 105° C.-110° C.

[0094]It can be seen from the above that when the porous matrix 313 made of the porous ceramic is arranged in the heater 30 in Embodiment 1, the high-temperature zone can have a greater span and lower power consumption, and less heat can be transmitted to the flange 34. Thus, temperature consistency in a heating zone can be improved, power consumption can be reduced, and less heat can be transmitted to the flange 34.

[0095]Further, monitoring results of power consumption required by the heater 30 combined with the aerosol generating products 1000 in Comparative Example 1, Comparative Example 2, and Embodiment 1 during heating for 225 s to the end according to the curve shown in FIG. 8 are shown in the table as below.

[0096]From the above test results, the power consumption of the heater 30 including the dense matrix in Comparative Example 2 is increased by approximately 36 J compared with the power consumption of the heater 30 including no matrix in Comparative Example 1. In Embodiment 1, energy consumption of the heater 30 including the porous matrix 313 is reduced by approximately 26 J compared with energy consumption in Comparative Example 2.

[0097]It should be noted that the description and the accompanying drawings of the present disclosure illustrate preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, but the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described in the description. Further, a person of ordinary skill in the art can make improvements or modifications according to the above descriptions, and all these improvements and modifications should fall within the scope of protection of the appended claims of the present disclosure.