Aerosol-generating system and method of dispensing liquid aerosol-forming substrate with pumped air

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11969020-B2
Application number	US-202117212391-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2021
Priority date	Nov 29, 2016
Publication date	Apr 30, 2024
Grant date	Apr 30, 2024

Abstract

An aerosol-generating system may include a liquid storage portion, a vaporizer, and a pump. The liquid storage portion may be configured to store a liquid aerosol-forming substrate. The vaporizer may be configured to volatilize the liquid aerosol-forming substrate. The pump may be configured to pump air into the liquid storage portion so as to push out a volume of the liquid aerosol-forming substrate from the liquid storage portion and to supply the volume of the liquid aerosol-forming substrate to the vaporizer. A method for generating an aerosol may be performed with the system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An aerosol-generating system, comprising:
a storage portion containing an aerosol-forming substrate; and
a main unit configured to pump an incoming volume of air into the storage portion to displace an outgoing volume of the aerosol-forming substrate from the storage portion and to heat the outgoing volume of the aerosol-forming substrate to generate an aerosol.

2. The aerosol-generating system of claim 1 , wherein the storage portion defines an inlet for the incoming volume of the air and an outlet for the outgoing volume of the aerosol-forming substrate.

3. The aerosol-generating system of claim 2 , wherein the inlet is the only point of ingress into the storage portion, and the outlet is the only point of egress from the storage portion.

4. The aerosol-generating system of claim 2 , wherein the storage portion further defines a first storage volume and a second storage volume containing the aerosol-forming substrate.

5. The aerosol-generating system of claim 4 , wherein the storage portion includes a first dividing wall and a second dividing wall configured to partition the first storage volume and the second storage volume.

6. The aerosol-generating system of claim 5 , wherein the first dividing wall and the second dividing wall are configured inhibit a passage of the incoming volume of the air through the storage portion.

7. The aerosol-generating system of claim 5 , wherein the first dividing wall and the second dividing wall have overlapping portions.

8. The aerosol-generating system of claim 7 , wherein the overlapping portions of the first dividing wall and the second dividing wall define a gap therebetween.

9. The aerosol-generating system of claim 8 , wherein the first storage volume is in fluidic communication with the second storage volume via only the gap.

10. The aerosol-generating system of claim 4 , wherein the storage portion is configured such that the incoming volume of the air is confined to the first storage volume.

11. The aerosol-generating system of claim 4 , wherein the main unit is configured to pump the incoming volume of the air into the first storage volume via the inlet in the storage portion.

12. The aerosol-generating system of claim 4 , wherein the storage portion is configured such that the outgoing volume of the aerosol-forming substrate displaced therefrom is from the second storage volume.

13. The aerosol-generating system of claim 1 , wherein the main unit includes a micropump upstream from the storage portion, the micropump configured to pump the incoming volume of the air into the storage portion.

14. The aerosol-generating system of claim 1 , wherein the main unit includes a vaporizer downstream from the storage portion, the vaporizer configured to heat the outgoing volume of the aerosol-forming substrate.

Assignees

• Altria Client Services Llc

Inventors

• Mazur Ben
• Latorre Eva Saade
• Tabasso Alain

Classifications

• A24F40/48 Primary

  Fluid transfer means, e.g. pumps · CPC title

• A24F40/485

  Valves; Apertures · CPC title

• A61M11/02 Primary

  operated by air {or other gas} pressure applied to the liquid {or other product} to be sprayed or atomised {(sprayers for horticulture A01G, A01H; killing insects A01M; air humidifying by nozzles F24F6/14, F24F6/18; cooling by spraying F28B, F28C)} · CPC title

• A61M11/042

  electrical · CPC title

• A61M15/0028

  using prepacked dosages, one for each application, e.g. capsules to be perforated or broken-up · CPC title