AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE

Abstract

An aerosol-generating device is provided, including a reservoir configured to hold a liquid; a release medium; and a heater, wherein the reservoir and the release medium are configured to transport liquid from the reservoir to the release medium, wherein the release medium and the heater are disposed in physical contact with each other, wherein the aerosol-generating device further includes a means for reversibly releasing the physical contact between the release medium and the heater to form a gap between the heater and the release medium, and wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to activate the heater when the gap is formed between the heater and the release medium. A method for forming an aerosol by the aerosol-generating device is also provided.

Claims

1.-17. (canceled)

18. An aerosol-generating device, comprising: a reservoir configured to hold a liquid; a release medium; and a heater, wherein the reservoir and the release medium are configured to transport liquid from the reservoir to the release medium, wherein the release medium and the heater are disposed in physical contact with each other, wherein the aerosol-generating device further comprises a means for reversibly releasing the physical contact between the release medium and the heater to form a gap between the heater and the release medium, and wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to activate the heater when the gap is formed between the heater and the release medium.

19. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 18, wherein the means for reversibly releasing the physical contact between the release medium and the heater is activated and deactivated automatically during use of the aerosol-generating device.

20. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 18, wherein the means for reversibly releasing the physical contact between the release medium and the heater is switched on and off by a releasing means.

21. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 20, wherein the releasing means is a button.

22. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 19, wherein the heater is also the means for reversibly releasing the physical contact between the release medium and the heater and is a mesh heater disk comprising at least two different materials, which upon heating lead to different deformations that result in an interruption of the physical contact between the mesh heater disk and the release medium and to the formation of the gap between the mesh heater disk and the release medium.

23. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 19, wherein the heater is also the means for reversibly releasing the physical contact between the release medium and the heater and is a mesh heater disk with a ring surrounding the mesh heater disk, wherein the mesh heater disk and the surrounding ring are made from different materials, and wherein the surrounding ring is deformable upon heating, which deformation results in an interruption of the physical contact between the mesh heater disk and the release medium and to the formation of the gap between the mesh heater disk and the release medium.

24. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 20, wherein the release medium is a capillary wick and the heater is a coil of wire that at least partially surrounds the capillary wick.

25. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 24, wherein the capillary wick is stretched such that a length thereof is increased and a diameter thereof is decreased.

26. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 25, wherein the means for reversibly releasing the physical contact between the release medium and the heater is a button, which, when pressed, contacts with and stretches the capillary wick.

27. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 25, wherein the means for reversibly releasing the physical contact between the release medium and the heater is a button, which is connected to the capillary wick and, when pressed, stretches the capillary wick by a pulling along an axis perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the capillary wick.

28. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 24, wherein the capillary wick is twisted such that a diameter thereof is decreased.

29. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 28, wherein the means for reversibly releasing the physical contact between the release medium and the heater is a button that is connected to the capillary wick and, when pressed, leads to a rotation along a longitudinal axis of the capillary wick, which rotation leads to twisting of the capillary wick.

30. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 21, wherein the heater is a mesh heater disk with a deformable ring surrounding the mesh heater disk and the means for reversibly releasing the physical contact between the release medium and the heater is the button, and wherein upon pressing the button the deformable ring is deformed, which in turn leads to an interruption of the physical contact between the mesh heater disk and the release medium and to the formation of the gap between the mesh heater disk and the release medium.

31. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 19, wherein the means for reversibly releasing the physical contact between the release medium and the heater is a magnet and the heater is a magnetically activated mesh heater disk, and wherein upon switching on the magnet, a magnetic field is applied that causes deformation of the magnetically activated mesh heater disk, which in turn leads to an interruption of the physical contact between the magnetic mesh heater disk and the release medium and to the formation of the gap between the magnetically activated mesh heater disk and the release medium.

32. An aerosol-generating system, comprising: an aerosol-generating device, comprising a reservoir configured to hold a liquid, a release medium, and a heater, wherein the reservoir and the release medium are configured to transport liquid from the reservoir to the release medium, wherein the release medium and the heater are disposed in physical contact with each other, wherein the aerosol-generating device further comprises a means for reversibly releasing the physical contact between the release medium and the heater to form a gap between the heater and the release medium, and wherein the aerosol-generating device is configured to activate the heater when the gap is formed between the heater and the release medium; an energy source that is connected to the heater and either to the releasing means or to an air flow sensor; and at least one air inlet and at least one air outlet defining an air flow route from the at least one air inlet via the heater to the at least one air outlet so as to convey an aerosol formed at the heater to the at least one air outlet.

33. A method for heating liquid in an aerosol-generating device comprising a reservoir containing a liquid, a release medium, and a heater, the reservoir being configured to deliver the liquid from the reservoir to the release medium, the method comprising: arranging the release medium and the heater in a first configuration in contact with each other such that the liquid is transported from the release medium to the heater; moving the release medium or the heater, or moving both the release medium and the heater, to a second configuration such that there is a gap between the heater and the release medium; returning the release medium and the heater to the first configuration; and heating the heater while the heater and the release medium are in the second configuration.

34. The method according to claim 33, further comprising turning off the heater when the release medium and the heater are in the first configuration.

Description

[0036] The invention will be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0037] FIG. 1 shows an example of the third embodiment of the subject invention before stretching of the wick,

[0038] FIG. 2 shows the example of the third embodiment of FIG. 1 with the wick being stretched,

[0039] FIG. 3 shows a further example of the third embodiment of the subject invention before stretching the wick,

[0040] FIG. 4 shows the example of the third embodiment of FIG. 3 with the wick being stretched, and

[0041] FIG. 5 shows an example of the first embodiment of the subject invention during a puff.

[0042] FIG. 1 shows an aerosol-generating device 10 with, among others, the wick 14 which is fixed at both of its ends, for example by way of clamps 11. The wick 14 is made of a plurality of single fibers which are in a relaxed or upstretched condition. At one of the two ends the wick 14 extends through the clamp 11 and is connected to the reservoir (not shown). As a consequence, liquid from the reservoir can be transported by capillary forces from the reservoir into and through the wick 14. In addition, the coiled wire 16 surrounding and being in contact with part of the wick 14 is shown. The coiled wire 16 is in physical contact with the wick 14, meaning that liquid from the wick 14 will migrate to the wire's 16 surface. Eventually, FIG. 1 also shows the button 12 which can be pressed by the consumer. In FIG. 1 this button 12 is not yet pressed so that no stretching is applied to the wick 14.

[0043] In FIG. 2 the same embodiment is shown as discussed for FIG. 1. The button 12 is now pushed by the consumer. The part of the button 12 which is just lying on the wick 14 according to FIG. 1 has now made a lateral movement and has increased in FIG. 2 the length of the fixed wick 14. As a result of this stretching and increasing of the length around member 19, the diameter of the wick 14 has been decreased. A comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2 shows that the wick 14 made of fibrous materials is in contact with the surrounding coiled wire 16 according to FIG. 1 but after stretching and decreasing of the diameter has lost this contact to the coiled wire 16 in FIG. 2. Parallel to stretching of the wick 14 the coiled wire 16 is connected to a power source (not shown) which will heat up the wire 16 and evaporate the liquid on the wire's 16 surface. Since due to the stretching wick 14 and coiled wire 16 are no longer in contact with each other, only the amount of liquid will be evaporated which is on the wire's 16 surface but none of the liquid which is in the wick 14 and in the areas of the wick 14 which are in contact with the wire 16 in the wick's 14 relaxed state according to FIG. 1. If the consumer will stop pressing, as it is done in FIG. 2, the button 12, the wick 14 will return to its original position, as it is shown in FIG. 1.

[0044] FIGS. 3 and 4 show a slightly different aerosol-generating device 10 and a slightly different way to stretch the wick 14 compared to FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 3 again the wick 14 is in its relaxed state and in touch with the surrounding coiled wire 16. As for FIG. 1 both ends are fixed, however, in FIG. 3 one of the two ends of the wick 14 is connected to part 13 of the button 12. Pressing the button 12 by the consumer will lead to a pulling or rotation of the elongation of the button 12 along an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the wick 14. This can be seen in FIG. 4 where due to this pulling or rotation the wick 14 is rolled onto the elongation of the button 12. This leads to stretching of the wick 14 and, as a consequence, a reduction of the wick's 14 diameter and, as a further consequence, loss of contact between wick 14 and the surrounding coiled wire 16.

[0045] FIG. 5 shows an example of the first embodiment of the subject invention during a puff. FIG. 5 shows the liquid reservoir 22 which is connected via a diffusion medium 24 to the capillary wick disk 26. FIG. 5 shows the mesh heater disk 30 during a puff by the consumer. It can be seen that the deformation of the mesh heater disk 30 upon heating has occurred so that a gap 28 between the capillary wick disk 26 forming the release medium and the mesh heater disk 30 forming the heater has occurred. Since FIG. 5 shows the embodiment during a puff with the mesh heater disk 30 being heated and deformed, the liquid on the mesh heater disk 30 is evaporated as indicated by arrows 32. The airflow in FIG. 5 is from bottom to top and passes on both sides the aerosol-generating device 10, as indicated by hollow arrows 34 in FIG. 5. That means, that the evaporating vapour is taken up by the airflow 34, is cooling down within the airflow to form an aerosol which will be transported to the consumer's mouth.