Volatile substance evaporation device

Abstract

A volatile substance evaporation device includes a constant evaporation chamber (2) housing a liquid with volatile substances, an enhanced evaporation chamber (3) and an evaporation membrane (5) through which the volatile substances evaporate. The enhanced evaporation chamber (3) includes an absorbent body (6) therein. The inclusion of the absorbent body (6) enhances the evaporation rate in a simple manner and allows the enhanced evaporation to be substantially constant.

Claims

1. A volatile substance evaporation device comprising: a first chamber housing a liquid with volatile substances; a second chamber; an evaporation membrane through which the volatile substances evaporate, the evaporation membrane closing over both the first chamber and the second chamber and enabling the liquid with volatile substances to evaporate from the first chamber through the evaporation membrane and from the second chamber through the evaporation membrane; and the second chamber comprising an absorbent body therein.

2. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 1, wherein said first chamber communicates with said second chamber.

3. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 2, wherein said first chamber communicates with said second chamber through a portion of the device having a cross section area that is smaller than a cross section area of the first chamber and is smaller than a cross section area of the second chamber.

4. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 3, wherein said first chamber comprises a first part having a first cross section area and a second part having a second cross section area, the first cross section area being larger than the second cross section area; and said first part of the first chamber is closer to the portion of the device than the second part thereof.

5. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 4, wherein said absorbent body changes its appearance throughout evaporation.

6. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 2, wherein said absorbent body changes its appearance throughout evaporation.

7. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 3, wherein said absorbent body changes its appearance throughout of operation.

8. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 1, wherein the evaporation membrane is a single membrane that extends over and closes the first chamber and the second chamber.

9. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 8, wherein said absorbent body changes its appearance throughout evaporation.

10. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 1, wherein said absorbent body is in contact with the evaporation membrane.

11. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 10, wherein said absorbent body changes its appearance throughout evaporation.

12. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 1, wherein said first chamber comprises a first part having a first cross section area and a second part having a second cross section area, the first cross section area being larger than the second cross section area.

13. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 12, wherein said first part of the first chamber is closer to the portion of the device than the second part of the first chamber.

14. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 13, wherein said absorbent body changes its appearance throughout of operation.

15. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 12, wherein said absorbent body changes its appearance throughout of evaporation.

16. The volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 1, wherein said absorbent body changes its appearance throughout evaporation.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) To better understand what has been set forth, drawings schematically depicting a practical embodiment only by way of non-limiting example are attached.

(2) FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the volatile substance evaporation device according to the present invention; and

(3) FIG. 2 is a front view of the volatile substance evaporation device according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(4) The evaporation device depicted in the drawings according to the present invention comprises a casing 1 provided with two chambers: a constant evaporation chamber 2 and an enhanced evaporation chamber 3, both closed by a single evaporation membrane 5 welded to the casing 1. The constant evaporation chamber 2 houses therein a liquid with volatile substances which impregnates the evaporation membrane 5.

(5) Before the first use, said evaporation membrane 5 is covered in a leak-tight manner by means of a sheet (not depicted in the drawings), which is removed before the first use to prevent evaporation of the volatile substances during storage.

(6) In the depicted embodiment, the device is designed to be hung, and in this case, the constant evaporation chamber 2 is arranged in the lower part and the enhanced evaporation chamber 3 is arranged in the upper part.

(7) Both chambers 2, 3 are preferably made as a single part and are connected to one another by a portion 4 having a reduced section.

(8) The enhanced evaporation chamber 3 has a specific area for holding therein an absorbent body 6 made of any suitable absorbent material, and a design such that constant impregnation during evaporation is assured when the absorbent body 6 pushes against the evaporation membrane 5.

(9) The enhancement effect will preferably be activated by turning the device over, such that the liquid inside the constant evaporation chamber 2 will go to the enhanced chamber 3 through the portion 4, impregnating the absorbent body 6. The excess liquid will return to the constant evaporation chamber 2 and the liquid in chamber 3 will evaporate through the evaporation membrane 5 in contact with the absorbent body 6. Therefore, the enhancement effect will be noticeable because the amount of evaporation surface of the membrane 5 increases.

(10) The user will be able to know at all times when the enhancement effect of the device has come to an end, since the absorbent body 6 impregnated with a liquid will change its appearance upon activation, for example, changing its color or intensity, regaining its original appearance once the liquid has evaporated. There are several ways to do this, with two possibilities explained below.

(11) The first possibility consists of using a polyethylene-based microporous film as an absorbent body 6 which loses its appearance upon impregnation, becoming completely transparent, and as the impregnation of said film fades away it recovers the original appearance and becomes opaque.

(12) A second embodiment is to use a substrate of cellulose origin with a print containing a message or image as an absorbent body 6. Upon impregnation, the liquid would not allow seeing the print, but as the impregnation of the substrate fades away, the print would become visible again, informing the user that the enhancement effect has come to an end.

(13) An additional advantage is that the amount of liquid in the enhanced evaporation chamber 3 is always the same regardless of the amount of liquid remaining in the constant evaporation chamber 2.

(14) If desired, and as depicted in the drawings, the constant evaporation chamber 2 can have a design that is thicker in one part than in another, specifically thicker in the part close to the portion 4 connecting both chambers 2, 3, to assure that the evaporation surface of the membrane 5 does not significantly decrease over time, since it is known that the membrane 5 evaporates better in the area which is in contact with the liquid.

(15) It must be indicated that the device can have any shape, for example, a cylindrical, square or rhomboid shape.

(16) Although reference has been made to a specific embodiment of the invention, it is obvious for a person skilled in the art that the volatile substance evaporation device described is susceptible to a number of variations and modifications, and that all the mentioned details can be replaced with other technically equivalent details without departing from the scope of protection defined by the attached claims.