Apparatus and method for delivering a volatile material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11638771-B2
Application number	US-202016744272-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 16, 2020
Priority date	Sep 8, 2017
Publication date	May 2, 2023
Grant date	May 2, 2023

Abstract

Apparatus for delivering a volatile material including a reservoir with an opening for containing a volatile material. A first membrane is disposed adjacent the opening of the reservoir, and a second membrane disposed adjacent the opening such that the first membrane is disposed between the second membrane and the reservoir, wherein at least a portion of the second membrane is spaced apart from the first membrane forming a vapor chamber between the first and second membranes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for delivering a volatile material comprising:
a reservoir for containing a volatile material, the reservoir including an opening;
a first membrane disposed adjacent the opening of the reservoir; and
a second membrane disposed adjacent the opening of the reservoir such that the first membrane is disposed between the reservoir and the second membrane, wherein at least a portion of the second membrane is spaced apart from the first membrane forming a vapor chamber between the first and second membranes, and wherein at least a part of the second membrane comprises a mean pore size less than 2λ, wherein λ is a mean free path of vapor of the volatile material.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first and second membranes are not in contact.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second membrane comprises a vapor release rate of greater than or equal to 0.06 mg/cm 2 -h and less than or equal to 4 mg/cm 2 -h at an air velocity of 0.1 m/s and a temperature of 25° C., wherein the vapor release rate.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first membrane comprises a vapor surface area (A 1 ) and the second membrane comprises a vapor surface area (A 2 ), wherein A 2 is equal to or greater than A 1 .

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least a part of the second membrane comprises at least one of: a mean thickness of 0.001 mm to 10 mm; a mean pore size of less than 50,000 nm; and a porosity of 5% to 95% by volume based on the total volume of the second membrane.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second membrane has a mean pore size in the range of 5 nm to 200 nm.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second membrane comprises a material selected from the group consisting of: paper, natural polymers, synthetic polymers and inorganic materials and mixtures thereof.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a vapor impermeable substrate arranged within the apparatus to prevent release of the volatile material before activation.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the vapor impermeable substrate is in contact with the second membrane.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the vapor impermeable substrate is rupturable.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the vapor impermeable substrate is adjacent to the first membrane and removably attached to an inner periphery of the side walls to form a sealed reservoir.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the volatile material comprises one or more perfume compounds, or a mixture of perfume compounds.

Assignees

• Procter & Gamble
• The Procter & Gambie Company

Inventors

• Shi Gui Min
• Chung Tai-Shung
• Low Bee Ting
• Macbeath Calum

Classifications

• A61L2209/131

  Semi-permeable membranes · CPC title

• A61L9/12 Primary

  Apparatus, e.g. holders, therefor · CPC title

• A61L9/03

  Apparatus therefor · CPC title