Methods and systems for creating aerosols

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11311900-B2
Application number	US-201816014402-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 21, 2018
Priority date	Oct 29, 2013
Publication date	Apr 26, 2022
Grant date	Apr 26, 2022

Abstract

A process of creating an aerosol includes coating at least one of a pair of counter-rotating, adjacent rollers with a fluid, the pair of counter-rotating rollers defining a nip therebetween, rotating the counter-rotating rollers to cause the fluid to be drawn into an upstream side of the nip, causing fluid filaments of the fluid to form on a downstream side of the nip, the fluid filaments stretching between respective surfaces of the pair of counter-rotating rollers and breaking into droplets on the downstream side of the nip, and harvesting the droplets at the downstream side of the nip.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process of creating an aerosol, comprising:
coating at least one of a pair of counter-rotating, adjacent rollers with a fluid, the pair of counter-rotating rollers defining a nip therebetween;
rotating the pair of counter-rotating, adjacent rollers in counter rotation with respect to each other to cause the fluid coating to be drawn into an upstream side of the nip to a downstream side of the nip, such that the fluid adheres to surfaces of each of the rollers;
causing fluid filaments of the fluid to form on a downstream side of the nip, the fluid filaments formed by stretching the fluid between respective surfaces of the pair of counter-rotating, adjacent rollers, until the filaments break into droplets on the downstream side of the nip; and
harvesting the droplets at the downstream side of the nip.

2. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 1 , further comprising controlling the coating of the at least one of the pair of counter-rotating, adjacent rollers by at least one of a metering blade and a type of fluid source.

3. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 2 , wherein the metering blade controls a thickness of a film of the fluid on at least one of the counter-rotating, adjacent rollers.

4. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 2 , wherein the type of fluid source is a fluid feed arranged to cause the fluid to contact a top roller of the pair of counter-rotating, adjacent rollers and the metering blade controls the thickness of the fluid.

5. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 2 , wherein the type of fluid source is a coating pan in which a bottom roller is partially submerged and the metering blade controls the thickness of the fluid on the bottom roller.

6. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 1 , further comprising causing air to flow toward the upstream side of the nip.

7. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 1 , wherein harvesting the droplets includes applying a vacuum to the droplets at the downstream side of the nip.

8. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 1 , wherein coating at least one of the pair of counter-rotating, adjacent rollers with a fluid comprises submerging a portion of a lower roller in a coating pan containing the fluid.

9. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 1 , wherein coating at least one of the pair of counter-rotating, adjacent rollers with a fluid comprises applying the fluid as a slot bead to one of the pair of rollers.

10. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 1 , wherein coating at least one of the pair of counter-rotating, adjacent rollers comprises applying a first fluid from a first slot bead and a second fluid from a second slot bead, wherein the fluid is applied as a multi-layer fluid.

11. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 10 , further comprising applying a third fluid from a third slot bead to form a layer of the multi-layer fluid.

12. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 1 , wherein coating at least one of the pair of counter-rotating, adjacent rollers comprises applying the fluid as a slot curtain from a position above a top roller and spaced apart from the roller.

13. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 12 , wherein applying the fluid as the slot curtain comprises applying a first fluid, a second, fluid and a third fluid as a multi-layer fluid.

14. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 13 , wherein a fluid source used to coat at least one roller is positioned midway along a height of the roller.

15. The process of creating an aerosol of claim 1 , further comprising directing the droplets in a direction away from the rollers.

16. The process of claim 15 , wherein the direction away from the rollers is a perpendicular direction from the rollers.

17. The process of claim 15 , wherein the direction away from the rollers is a direction parallel with the length of the rollers.

18. The process of claim 1 , wherein harvesting the droplets comprises using baffles positioned on the downstream side of the nip.

19. The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the pair of counter-rotating rollers has a first region having a first surface treatment to change an angle at which the fluid contacts the at least one roller to a first angle and a second region having a second surface treatment to change the angle at which the fluid contacts the at least one roller to a second angle.

Assignees

• Palo Alto Res Ct Inc

Inventors

• Beck Victor
• Johnson David Mathew

Classifications

• B05B9/03

  characterised by means for supplying liquid or other fluent material {(B05B9/002 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B05B3/02

  with rotating elements (electric spraying discharge apparatus characterised by having rotary outlet or deflecting elements B05B5/04) · CPC title

• B01J13/0095

  Preparation of aerosols · CPC title

• B05B13/00 Primary

  Machines or plants for applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces of objects or other work by spraying, not covered by groups B05B1/00 - B05B11/00 (means for supplying or discharging liquid or other fluent material for this purpose, see the relevant one of groups B05B1/00 - B05B12/00; processes for applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces in general B05D) · CPC title

• B05B17/04 Primary

  operating with special methods · CPC title