HK1189463B - Inhaler component - Google Patents

Description

Inhaler assembly

Technical Field

The invention relates to an inhaler component for forming a vapor-air mixture or/and a condensed aerosol (Kodensationsaerosol) by evaporating a liquid substance and, if necessary, by condensing the vapor formed, comprising:

-heating means for evaporating a portion of the liquid substance,

a wick (Docht) for automatically supplying the heating means with the liquid substance, the wick having at least two end sections arranged remote from one another,

a first capillary gap for automatically supplying the wick with the liquid substance, wherein the first end section of the wick protrudes into the first capillary gap.

Background

Concept definition:

in a particular patent application, the concept "inhaler" relates to both medical and non-medical inhalers. Furthermore, this concept also relates to inhalers for the delivery of medicaments and those substances not declared as medicaments. Furthermore, the concept also relates to smoking articles and smoking substitutes, such as those contained in european patent family a24F47/00B, provided that these products are intended to provide the user with a steam-air mixture or/and a condensed aerosol. The concept "inhaler" should also not be seen as a limitation on how the formed vapor-air mixture or/and condensed aerosol is supplied to the user or his body. The vapor-air mixture or/and condensed aerosol may be inhaled into the lungs, but may also be delivered only to the oral cavity and not inhaled into the lungs.

Any gap in which liquid transport is caused solely by capillary action of its confining walls is called a "capillary gap".

Neither the core, the sheathed core, or the channels filled with core material are capillary gaps.

Document WO2010/045671 (helmutbucberger) describes an inhaler assembly for the intermittent, inhalation-synchronized or suction-synchronized formation of a vapor-air mixture or/and of a condensed aerosol, which inhaler assembly consists (fig. 9 to 12 and 17 to 18) of a housing 3, a chamber 21 arranged in the housing 3, an air inlet opening 26 for conveying air from the surroundings to the chamber 21, an electric heating element 16 for evaporating a liquid substance fraction, wherein the formed vapor mixes in the chamber 21 with the air conveyed through the air inlet opening 26 and forms a vapor-air mixture or/and a condensed aerosol. The inhaler assembly furthermore comprises a wick having a capillary structure, which wick and heating means form a flat composite structure 22 and which heating means is automatically supplied with liquid substance 16 again after evaporation. At least one heated section of the composite structure 22 is arranged in the cavity 21 without contact, and the capillary structure of the core is located at least as freely as possible on one side 24 of the flat composite structure in said section. The flat structure 22 projects with one end into a capillary gap 41, which is or can be coupled on its side to a liquid container 4 containing a liquid substance 16 in a capillary manner. The capillary gap 41 draws the liquid substance 16 out of the liquid reservoir 4 and delivers it to the wick.

After evaporation or inhalation, the user of the inhalation assembly must comply with a waiting time. During which the liquid substance 16 can completely wet the wick again. Evaporation before the end of the waiting period has different adverse consequences, for example a reduction in the amount of aerosol provided or/and local overheating of the wick may cause decomposition of the liquid substance and deterioration of the organoleptic properties of the vapour-air mixture or aerosol formed. The wick can be completely wetted in 10 seconds in samples based on highly diluted ethanolic or/and aqueous nicotine solutions. If the inhaler component is used as a cigarette substitute, a ten second wait time is acceptable for many smokers, but may be too long for some smokers. Furthermore, it has been shown in the same sample that even when the waiting times are observed, interference with wetting occurs. This interference, although rare, can also cause the same adverse consequences as previously described. These disturbances are characterized by an insufficient wetting of the capillary structure of the wick by the liquid substance and preferably occur locally in the surrounding regions of the wick close to the capillary gap.

The object of the invention is to eliminate the disadvantages of the devices known from the prior art which have already been explained above. The invention is based, inter alia, on the object of designing an inhaler component of the type mentioned at the outset in such a way that the cartridge is impregnated with the liquid substance as quickly as possible and no unpleasant long waiting times occur. Local disturbances to the wetting should likewise be avoided. This is to be achieved as far as possible without additional structural expenditure. This should not increase the production costs of the inhaler assembly.

This object is achieved by the features characterized in claim 1. The inhaler component therefore has a second capillary gap, which accommodates the liquid second end section therein. That is, the wick is supplied with liquid material from both sides. The waiting time until complete wetting of the core is reduced by this measure by at least half compared with the conventional feed from one side. If one considers that the wetting of the wick by the liquid substance takes place proportionally in a decreasing manner, that is to say relatively quickly at the beginning and then slows down, it is then clear that the waiting time until complete wetting of the wick is significantly shortened by more than 50% by the device according to the invention. Similar advantageous effects can also be produced in terms of providing the liquid substance for the cartridge safety: the region of the core, in particular the damaged region around the first capillary gap, can now be reliably supplied with the liquid substance by the second capillary gap with a short distance.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the first capillary gap and the second capillary gap are connected to one another by a third capillary gap. That is, the first capillary gap and the second capillary gap communicate with each other through the third capillary gap. By this measure, the possible unevenness of the supply of the liquid substance to the first capillary gap and the second capillary gap can be equalized, and the supply reliability of the wick can be further improved.

Furthermore, according to the invention, it is provided that one of the capillary gaps is or can be coupled to a liquid container containing a liquid substance in a capillary manner. The capillary gap may be, for example, a first capillary gap. In this case, the second capillary gap is supplied with the liquid substance only through the third capillary gap. Alternatively, it can also be provided that the third capillary gap is or can be coupled to the liquid container in a capillary manner. In this case, the first capillary gap and the second capillary gap are supplied with the liquid substance through the third capillary gap.

A particularly simple design results in construction if all capillary gaps are arranged in a common plane. The structure can be further simplified by the fact that all capillary gaps are formed by the board, preferably a printed circuit board, and the upper part placed on said board. In this case only two structural parts are required to form all capillary gaps.

In a first embodiment variant, the upper part has a recess facing the plate according to the invention. The voids form a capillary gap when interacting with the plate surface, wherein the depth of the gap determines the gap width of the capillary gap. It is particularly advantageous if the recess is at least partially lined with one or more ventilation slots. The ventilation groove has the advantageous effect that the liquid substance stored in the capillary gap can be used more efficiently than the buffer volume.

In a second alternative embodiment variant, the upper part is supported on an end section of the core. In this case, the end section of the core, which defines the gap width of the capillary gap, acts as a spacer (Abstandhalter). Also in this alternative variant, the upper part is considered to be "placed onto" the plate, even if the two structural parts are not in direct contact with each other.

The plate is preferably designed as a printed circuit board and serves as a plate for supplying electrical energy to the electrical heating element in this case. In this case, it is particularly advantageous to design the printed circuit board as a so-called multilayer printed circuit board. In other words, the conductor tracks (Leiterbahn) carrying the current can be concentrated in a layer which does not influence the capillary space. Furthermore, even more complex printed conductor arrangements can be realized with multilayer printed circuit boards, and a situation can be realized in which it proves advantageous at the latest when a plurality of electrical heating elements are provided and the heating elements are to be activatable independently of one another. Finally, multilayer circuit boards allow relatively high currents to be transmitted due to the multilayer structure of their conductor tracks.

In a further embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the first capillary gap is or can be coupled to a first liquid container containing the liquid substance, and the second capillary gap is or can be coupled to a second liquid container containing the liquid substance. The reliability of the supply of the liquid substance to the cartridge can be increased again by providing two liquid containers which are substantially independent of each other.

Drawings

Suitable and advantageous embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawings and will be described in more detail in the following description. The figures show:

figure 1 is a different view of an inhaler assembly according to the present invention;

figure 2 is a longitudinal section through the inhaler assembly according to figure 1 at the level of the flat composite structure;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the inhaler assembly taken along line A-A shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a detail of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the inhaler assembly taken along line B-B shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a printed circuit board along with a flat composite structure;

FIG. 7 is a pictorial view of the engagement of a printed circuit board with a flat composite structure and an upper portion forming a capillary gap;

FIG. 8 is two views of the upper portion of the capillary gap;

figure 9 is a view similar to figure 2 of an alternative embodiment of an inhaler assembly according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

Figure 1 shows a first embodiment of an inhaler assembly according to the present invention. In the specific example, the inhaler assembly is designed as a replaceable component of the inhaler and is coupled to a non-illustrated and reusable inhaler component by means of a snap-lock connection 1. The inhaler assembly and reusable inhaler components comprise an inhaler. The inhaler assembly is constituted by a housing 2 and comprises a nozzle 3 through which a user of the inhaler can obtain a vapour-air mixture or/and a condensed aerosol.

Figures 2 to 5 further illustrate the internal structure of the inhaler assembly. A carrier plate 4, which is preferably designed as a printed circuit board, is therefore provided in the housing 2. The printed circuit board 4 supports a flat composite structure 5, the flat composite structure 5 being formed by a core 7 and an electric heating element 6, which are connected to each other in a planar manner or are formed in one piece. The flat composite structure 5 is composed, for example, of a metal film and a metal fabric layer sintered thereon. The flat composite structure 5 may alternatively be composed of an open-pored metal foam. A fabric layer sintered onto a metal mold or an open-pore capillary structure of metal foam forms the core 7, and a resistance wire of metal forms the heating member 6. Suitable metallic resistive materials are, for example, stainless steels, such as AISI304 or AISI316, and also alloys of thermal conductors (heizleregierung), in particular NiCr alloys.

The core 7 or the flat composite structure 5 containing this core has two end sections 7a and 7b arranged remote from one another. The flat composite structure 5 is supported on the printed circuit board 4 by means of these end sections. Furthermore, the flat composite structure 5 is electrically contacted in the region of the end sections 7a and 7b on the conductor tracks of the printed circuit board 4. The electrical contact of the flat composite structure 5 or its resistance heating element 6 can be formed, for example, by adhesive bonding by means of an electrically conductive adhesive material, for example by means of an epoxy-based silver-containing adhesive. The printed circuit board 4 projects from the outer surface of the housing 2 in the form of two plug contacts 8a and 8 b. The two plug contacts 8a and 8b are used for introducing electrical energy into the inhaler assembly. The electrical energy is supplied to the resistive heating element 6 via the conductor tracks of the printed circuit board 4. The printed circuit board 4 is preferably designed as a so-called multilayer printed circuit board. That is, the printed conductors are in multiple layers. The advantages of this particular type of printed circuit board have already been explained above. Electrical energy is preferably derived from the reusable inhaler component. The reusable inhaler component for this purpose comprises a battery and an electrical control circuit for controlling the electrical energy input.

The upper part 9 with the recess or recess 10 is placed flat on the printed circuit board 4, see fig. 3 to 8. The voids 10 are shown as black surfaces in fig. 8 and have a typical depth of 0.2 mm. The recess 10 faces the printed circuit board 4 and cooperates with its surface to form a capillary gap. The capillary gap is schematically illustrated as a black surface in fig. 2 and is composed of three partial segments: a first capillary gap 11a, a second capillary gap 11b, a third capillary gap 11c, into which the flat composite structure 5 or the core 7 projects with its end section 7 a; the flat composite structure 5 or the core 7 projects with its end section 7b into the second capillary gap; the third capillary gap connects the first capillary gap 11a and the second capillary gap 11 b. The first capillary gap 11a is connected to a liquid reservoir 12 formed by the housing 2 or arranged therein. The liquid container 12 stores a liquid substance 13. The capillary force in the capillary gap 11a draws the liquid substance 13 from the liquid container 12 into the capillary gap 11 a. The liquid substance 13 first reaches the end section 7a of the flat composite structure 5. Where the liquid substance 13 wets the capillary structure of the wick 7, from which side the wick 7 can then continue to be wetted with the liquid substance 13. At the same time, the liquid substance 13 flows into the capillary gap 11c and finally passes through it as far as the capillary gap 11b, in which capillary gap 11b the flat composite structure 5 or the core 7 is again wetted in the end section 7 b. Since the flow resistance of the capillary gap is much smaller than that of the wick 7, the wetting of the wick 7 proceeds almost simultaneously or symmetrically from both sides. This significantly shortens the duration of the wetting compared to a device that provides the wick 7 with the liquid substance on one side only (see document WO 2010/045671).

After the core 7 or the flat composite structure 5 has been completely impregnated with the liquid substance 13, electrical energy can be supplied to the resistance heating element 6 via the conductor tracks of the printed circuit board 4, and the liquid substance 13 is evaporated. In order to keep the conductor tracks as far as possible free of influences on the capillary gap, it is advantageous to arrange the conductor tracks on the rear side of the printed circuit board 4 and, if necessary, in an intermediate layer (multilayer printed circuit board) and to connect the individual conductor tracks to one another in a suitable manner according to the prior art by means of so-called through-hole plating (durchkontkatorterg). The released steam mixes in a chamber 14 arranged in the housing 2 with the air fed from the environment through an air inlet opening 15 (see fig. 3 to 5) and forms a steam-air mixture or/and a condensed aerosol, which can then be output to the user through the nozzle 3.

The recess 10 in the upper part 9 according to fig. 8 is bordered in the region of the first capillary gap 11a by a first ventilation groove 16a and in the region of the second capillary gap 11b by a second ventilation groove 16 b. The ventilation slots 16a and 16b are schematically shown in dashed lines in fig. 2 and in cross-section in fig. 5. The ventilation slot 16a extends as far as the liquid container 12 and has the task of replacing each volume of fluid substance 13 taken from the liquid container 12 with a volume of air of the same size. The ventilation slots 16a and 16b receive air through ventilation holes 17a and 17b formed by the upper portion 9. Which are connected at their sides to the chamber 14 by connecting channels 18a and 18b formed by the housing 2. The connecting channels 18a and 18b are shown diagrammatically in fig. 7 with a dashed line. In fig. 4, the connecting channel 18a is shown opening into the chamber 14.

In principle, all the printed circuit board materials disclosed, in particular the FR1 to FR5 type materials, are suitable as materials for the printed circuit board 4. The upper part 9 is joined to the printed circuit board by means of an adhesive connection and is preferably also made of plastic. It is important that the surface of the printed circuit board 4 and the upper part 9 is well wetted by the liquid substance 13. Preferably highly diluted ethanol or/and aqueous solutions can be used as liquid substance 13, in which the actual activator, aerosol-forming substance, perfume and, if appropriate, further auxiliaries are dissolved or/and emulsified. The wettability of the plastic and, in addition, the adhesion of the plastic can be significantly improved by surface activation, for example by polymerization by means of plasma (dienerectronics gmbh + co. kg company, website www.plasma.de).

Figure 9 shows an alternative embodiment of an inhaler assembly according to the present invention. This embodiment differs from the device shown in fig. 2 mainly in that a second liquid container 12b containing a liquid substance 13 is provided, which is or can be coupled to the second capillary gap 11 b. The flat composite structure 5 or its core 7 can always be sufficiently supplied with liquid substance 13 via the second supply line (liquid container 12b, capillary gap 11b and, if appropriate, capillary gap 11 c) in the event of a failure of the liquid supply in the first supply line (liquid container 12a and capillary gap 11 a).

Other components of the inhaler assembly will also be briefly described below. Even if these components are not directly relevant to the invention, the description of these components still contributes to a better understanding of the functioning of the inhaler assembly according to the invention as a whole, more reliably ensuring the feasibility of the invention: as fig. 2 shows by way of example, the liquid container 12 has a flap-type openable closure 19 on the front side. The openable closure 19 closes the liquid container 12 in a sealing manner to the outside in its closed position. Only after opening the openable closure element 19 does the liquid substance 13 infiltrate the capillary gap 11a and then continues to penetrate up to the flat composite structure 5 by the capillary forces acting in the capillary gap and finally infiltrates the core 7 of the flat composite structure 5. The openable closure 19 is opened by means of a pin 20 which is mounted in the housing 2 so as to be axially displaceable (fig. 3 and 5). A first end of the pin 20 is aligned with the openable locking mechanism 19. While the closure mechanism 19 is still in the closed state, the second end projects convexly from the outer surface of the housing 2. The second end of the pin 20 is in push-rod type functional connection with the reusable inhaler component. During coupling of the inhaler assembly with the reusable inhaler component, the pin 20 is pushed into the housing 2, by which means a first end of the pin 20 is pressed against the openable latching mechanism 19. The releasable locking mechanism 19 has a material weakening on its circumference, which is dimensioned such that it breaks in a wide circumferential area as the rated breaking point (solbrstelle) when the bolt 20 exerts a pressure force, whereas the hinge is formed on one side. In this way, the openable closure 19 opens like a flap.

Fig. 2 to 5 furthermore show a condensate connection (kondenstedindeeirichtung) which is arranged in the chamber 14 and which is formed by two spongiform bodies 21a and 21b having pores and having a suction capacity. The sponges 21a and 21b contain in their pores condensation deposits formed during the evaporation phase and prevent the formation of free-moving condensation deposits in the inhaler component, in particular in the chamber 14, which could impair the functioning of the inhaler component and which could harm the user and the environment as long as these deposits contain drug residues (arzneimitte) or toxins like nicotine (Gifte). The two sponges 21a and 21b form to a large extent the inner wall of the chamber 14, wherein the sponge 21a extends as far as the inlet of the air inlet opening. By this measure, the condensation deposits are prevented from entering the air inlet openings of the comparatively narrow gaps, by which measure the air flow is prevented. In an alternative arrangement the air inlet opening 15 can also be formed directly from the sponge bodies 21a and 21 b. These sponges 21a and 21b are preferably made of a microporous, highly breathable, fibrous bonded fabric. The company filtronarichmondinc, address www.filtronaporoustechnologies.com, produces exclusively such fiber-bonded fabrics, in which both the bonded acetate fibers (Celluloseacetat-favern) and the bonded polyolefin fibers and polyester fibers are treated with Triacetin (Triacetin).

As shown in fig. 2 to 3, a cooler 22 is arranged downstream of the sponge 21a, 21b, which cooler is integrated in the preferably exchangeable nozzle 3 in the specific exemplary embodiment and is formed by a porous packing material 23, through whose pores the steam-air mixture or/and condensed aerosol formed can flow. The cooler 22 cools the vapor-air mixture or/and the condensed aerosol flowing through and also draws off further condensed liquid in this. By this measure, the organoleptic properties of the vapor-air mixture or/and the condensed aerosol absorbed by the user can be significantly improved. The filling material 23 can consist of, for example, a tobacco filler. This tobacco filling material additionally imparts an aromatic odor to the vapour-air mixture or condensed aerosol flowing through it, which is the case in particular when the liquid substance 13 contains nicotine.

Finally, it should be noted that the invention is of course not limited to a flat composite structure 5 according to the above-described embodiment. The composite structure can likewise be designed linearly. Furthermore, the composite structure may also be composed of a plurality of composite structures or composite structure sections arranged next to one another, wherein it is not important how the individual composite structures or composite structure sections are electrically connected to one another. In this respect, it should be noted that series circuits, parallel circuits and more complex circuit arrangements and triggering arrangements can be realized with the multilayer circuit board 4 according to the invention. Finally, the invention also includes an apparatus in which the heating element is arranged separately from the wick. For example, the core can be of flat design and the energy of the heating can be transferred to the core by electromagnetic waves, in particular thermal radiation or microwaves.

List of reference numerals:

1 Snap-lock connecting device

2 casing

3 spray nozzle

4 support plate, printed circuit board

5 Flat composite structure

6 heating element and resistance heating element

7 core

7a, 7b core or end section of composite structure

8a, 8b plug contact

9 upper part

10 gap

11a first capillary gap

11b second capillary gap

11c third capillary gap

12 liquid container

12a first liquid container

12b second liquid container

13 liquid substance

14 chamber

15 air inlet opening

16a, 16b ventilation slots

17a, 17b Vent hole

18a, 18b connecting channels

19 closure mechanism capable of being opened

20 pin

21a, 21b sponge

22 cooler

23 filling the material.

Claims (12)

1. Inhaler assembly for forming a vapour-air mixture or/and a condensed aerosol by evaporating a liquid substance (13) and, if necessary, by condensing the formed vapour, comprising:

-a heating means (6) for evaporating the liquid substance (13);

-a wick (7) for automatically supplying the heating means (6) with a liquid substance (13), the wick (7) having at least two end sections (7 a, 7 b) arranged remote from each other;

-a first capillary gap (11 a) for automatically supplying the wick (7) with a liquid substance (13), wherein a first end section (7 a) of the wick (7) protrudes into the first capillary gap (11 a),

characterized in that the inhaler assembly further comprises a second capillary gap (11 b) accommodating therein the second end section (7 b) of the wick (7).

2. Inhaler assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the first and second capillary gaps (11 a, 11 b) are connected to each other by a third capillary gap (11 c).

3. Inhaler assembly according to claim 2, characterized in that one of the capillary gaps (11 a, 11b, 11 c) is capillary coupled or couplable with a liquid container (12) containing the liquid substance (13).

4. Inhaler assembly according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that all capillary gaps (11 a, 11b, 11 c) are arranged in a common plane.

5. Inhaler assembly according to claim 4, characterized in that all capillary gaps (11 a, 11b, 11 c) are formed by the plate (4) and the upper part (9) placed onto said plate.

6. Inhaler assembly according to claim 5, characterized in that the plate (4) is a printed circuit board.

7. Inhaler assembly according to claim 5, characterized in that the upper part (9) has a void (10) facing the plate.

8. Inhaler assembly according to claim 7, characterized in that the interspace (10) is at least partially lined with one or more ventilation slots (16 a, 16 b).

9. Inhaler assembly according to claim 5, characterized in that the upper part (9) bears on the end sections (7 a, 7 b) of the cartridge (7).

10. Inhaler assembly according to claim 6, characterized in that the printed circuit board (4) is constructed as a so-called multilayer printed circuit board.

11. Inhaler assembly according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first capillary gap (11 a) is coupled or couplable with a first liquid container (12 a) containing the liquid substance (13); and the second capillary gap (11 b) is coupled or couplable with a second liquid reservoir (12 b) containing the liquid substance (13).

12. An inhaler comprising an inhaler assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 10.