Surface acoustic wave electronic cigarette system

Abstract

A surface acoustic wave electronic cigarette system includes a piezoelectric substrate, a liquid guiding cavity, an atomization cavity, and a power feeder port. The liquid guiding cavity and the atomization cavity are provided on an upper surface of the piezoelectric substrate. An isolation board is provided between the liquid guiding cavity and the atomization cavity. The power feeder port is provided on an outer side surface of the piezoelectric substrate. The surface acoustic wave electronic cigarette of the present disclosure generates an aerosol with a smaller particle diameter by atomization, which has a comfortable smoking experience and a pure and subtle fragrance.

Claims

1. A surface acoustic wave electronic cigarette system comprising: a piezoelectric substrate, a liquid guiding cavity, an atomization cavity, and a power feeder port, wherein the liquid guiding cavity and the atomization cavity are provided on an upper surface of the piezoelectric substrate; an isolation board is provided between the liquid guiding cavity and the atomization cavity; the power feeder port is provided on an outer side surface of the piezoelectric substrate; the liquid guiding cavity comprises a first interdigital transducer, a liquid storage tank, and a micro-flow channel, wherein the first interdigital transducer is provided on a first side of the liquid storage tank and the micro-flow channel is provided on a second side of the liquid storage tank, the liquid storage tank is connected to the micro-flow channel, and a top of the liquid storage tank is provided with a liquid injection inlet; a T-shaped fiber paper is inserted into the micro-flow channel through a liquid outlet, a second interdigital transducer and a third interdigital transducer are provided at a bottom of the atomization cavity; the second interdigital transducer is provided on a first side of the T-shaped fiber paper and the third interdigital transducer is provided on a second side of the T-shaped fiber paper and are not in contact with the T-shaped fiber paper; an air inlet and a drip tip are respectively provided at a side and the top of the atomization cavity.

2. The surface acoustic wave electronic cigarette system according to claim 1, wherein the first interdigital transducer, the liquid storage tank, the micro-flow channel, the second interdigital transducer, the third interdigital transducer, and the T-shaped fiber paper are closely attached to a surface of the piezoelectric substrate.

3. The surface acoustic wave electronic cigarette system according to claim 1, wherein the piezoelectric substrate is made of a material selected from the group consisting of quartz, piezoelectric ceramic, lithium tantalate, and lithium niobate.

4. The surface acoustic wave electronic cigarette system according to claim 3, wherein the material of the piezoelectric substrate is 128.68° YX lithium niobate; and a thickness of the piezoelectric substrate is 0.5 mm, an electromechanical coupling coefficient of the piezoelectric substrate is 5.5%, a temperature coefficient of the piezoelectric substrate is −72×10.sup.−6/° C., and a propagation velocity of the surface acoustic wave of the piezoelectric substrate is 3992 m/s.

5. The surface acoustic wave electronic cigarette system according to claim 1, wherein a traveling surface acoustic wave generated by the first interdigital transducer actively pumps an e-liquid stored in the liquid storage tank to the liquid outlet of the micro-flow channel; a standing surface acoustic wave cooperatively generated by the second interdigital transducer and the third interdigital transducer atomizes an e-liquid film on the T-shaped fiber paper into an aerosol.

6. The surface acoustic wave electronic cigarette system according to claim 1, wherein the liquid storage tank and the micro-flow channel are made of a high borosilicate glass or polydimethylsiloxane; the T-shaped fiber paper is made of an organic porous material.

7. The surface acoustic wave electronic cigarette system according to claim 1, wherein the first interdigital transducer, the second interdigital transducer, and the third interdigital transducer are crossed finger-shaped metal films.

8. The surface acoustic wave electronic cigarette system according to claim 7, wherein the metal film is made of aluminum, copper, or gold.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram showing an electronic cigarette system for the active liquid guiding and the non-contract atomization through a surface acoustic wave according to the present disclosure;

(2) FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view showing a liquid guiding cavity of the electronic cigarette system according to the present disclosure;

(3) FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view showing an atomization cavity of the electronic cigarette system according to the present disclosure.

(4) The reference designators in the figures are described below: 1. piezoelectric substrate, 2. liquid guiding cavity, 3. atomization cavity, 4. power feeder port, 51. first interdigital transducer, 52. second interdigital transducer, 53. third interdigital transducer, 6. liquid storage tank, 7. liquid injection inlet, 8. micro-flow channel, 9. liquid outlet, 10. T-shaped fiber paper, 11. air inlet, 12. drip tip, 13. isolation board.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(5) In order to clearly and definitely illuminate the objective, technical solutions, and advantages of the present disclosure, the present disclosure will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the drawings and embodiments.

(6) A structural schematic diagram of a surface acoustic wave electronic cigarette system of the embodiment according to the present disclosure is shown in FIG. 1. The system includes the piezoelectric substrate 1, the liquid guiding cavity 2, the atomization cavity 3, and the power feeder port 4. The liquid guiding cavity 2 and the atomization cavity 3 are provided above the piezoelectric substrate 1, and arranged beside one another. The isolation board 13 is provided between the liquid guiding cavity and the atomization cavity. The partially enlarged views of the liquid guiding cavity and atomization cavity are shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, respectively. The power feeder port 4 is provided on an outer side the piezoelectric substrate 1 and connected to an external high-frequency signal source. The liquid guiding cavity 2 includes the first interdigital transducer 51, the liquid storage tank 6, the liquid injection inlet 7 provided on the top of the liquid storage tank 6, and the micro-flow channel 8 connected to the liquid storage tank 6. The T-shaped fiber paper 10, the second interdigital transducer 52, and the third interdigital transducer 53 are provided at a bottom of the atomization cavity 3. The air inlet 11 and the drip tip 12 are respectively provided at a side and a top of the atomization cavity 3.

(7) The first interdigital transducer 51, the liquid storage tank 6, the micro-flow channel 8, the second interdigital transducer 52, the third interdigital transducer 53, and the T-shaped fiber paper 10 all are closely and vertically attached to a surface of the piezoelectric substrate 1. The piezoelectric substrate 1 is made of materials with the piezoelectric property, such as quartz, piezoelectric ceramic, lithium tantalate or lithium niobate. Preferably, the material is 128.68° YX lithium niobate. The thickness, the electromechanical coupling coefficient, the temperature coefficient of the piezoelectric substrate and the propagation velocity of the surface acoustic wave of the piezoelectric substrate are respectively 0.5 mm, 5.5%, −72×10.sup.−6/° C., and 3992 m/s. The first interdigital transducer 51, the second interdigital transducer 52, and the third interdigital transducer 53 are formed by sputtering and coating a crossed finger-shaped metal film made of aluminum, copper or gold, etc. on the piezoelectric substrate after surface polishing through a micromachining process, and are connected to a high-frequency signal source through the power feeder port 4 which is provided on an outside of the piezoelectric substrate. The first interdigital transducer 51 is provided on one side of the liquid storage tank 6, and an opposite side of the liquid storage tank is connected to the micro-flow channel 8. The material of the liquid storage tank 6 and the micro-flow channel 8 is high borosilicate glass or polydimethylsiloxane. The first interdigital transducer 51 is used to generate the traveling surface acoustic wave to provide a driving force for the e-liquid stored in the liquid storage tank 6, and to actively pump the e-liquid to the micro-flow channel 8. The T-shaped fiber paper 10 is inserted into the micro-flow channel 8 through the liquid outlet 9, for uniformly dispersing the e-liquid and rapidly forming the e-liquid film, and the material of the T-shaped fiber paper is polyester fiber or other organic porous material. The second interdigital transducer 52 and the third interdigital transducer 53 are oppositely provided on both sides of the T-shape fiber paper to form a certain phase difference in the distance, and the standing surface acoustic wave cooperatively generated by the second interdigital transducer and the third interdigital transducer atomizes the e-liquid film on the T-shape fiber paper into an aerosol.

(8) Before using the electronic cigarette system, the e-liquid is injected into the liquid storage tank 6 through the liquid injection port 7 until reaching a certain liquid level of the e-liquid. At the standard atmospheric pressure, since the surface tension of the e-liquid and the viscosity coefficients of an inner wall of the liquid storage tank 6 and an inner wall of the micro-flow channel 8 are constant, the e-liquid does not flow spontaneously. The high-frequency signal source is turned on, and then the first interdigital transducer 51, the second interdigital transducer 52, and the third interdigital transducer 53 are excited by applying an alternating current signal through the power feeder port 4. The transducers convert an electrical signal into an acoustic signal by utilizing an inverse piezoelectric effect of the piezoelectric substrates to form the surface acoustic wave with the same frequency as the applied external signal which is propagated along the surface of the piezoelectric substrate. When the traveling surface acoustic wave generated by the first interdigital transducer 51 is propagated into the liquid storage tank 6, the acoustic energy is diffracted into the e-liquid to generate an acoustic flow coupling effect, so that a pressure difference is formed between the liquid storage tank 6 and the liquid outlet 9, and the pressure field balance of the liquid storage tank 6 is broken. Consequently, the e-liquid is actively pumped to the liquid outlet 9 via the micro-flow channel 8, and is rapidly and uniformly dispersed on the T-shaped fiber paper 10 to form the e-liquid film. By adjusting the driving power, the pressure difference can be altered to realize a quantitative control of the liquid guiding rate, so as to make sure that the e-liquid is continuously and stably pumped, and timely and fully atomized. After oppositely propagating, superimposing and interfering the traveling surface acoustic waves generated by the second interdigital transducer 52 and the third interdigital transducer 53, the standing surface acoustic wave having a large energy cardinality is formed. When the standing surface acoustic wave is in contact with the e-liquid film on the T-shaped fiber paper 10, the energy carried by standing surface acoustic wave will intensively disturb the free surface of the e-liquid film, so that the surface tension of the e-liquid film itself is insufficient to maintain the geometric shape stability, and the e-liquid film ruptures to generate the aerosol.

(9) The above-mentioned descriptions are merely the preferred embodiments of the disclosure, rather than limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, or improvements made by a person skilled in the art based on the technical solutions or technical characteristics according to the present disclosure without creative work, should fall within the scope of the present disclosure.