US-12616802-B2 - No-heat, no-burn smoking article

Abstract

An aerosol delivery device is provided that includes at least one housing, a nozzle, a piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material, a control component, and a transport element. The at least one housing may enclose a reservoir configured to retain an aerosol precursor composition. The nozzle may be coupled to the housing to discharge aerosol precursor composition from the reservoir. The control component may include a microprocessor coupled to and configured to drive the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material to vibrate and cause a discharge of components of the aerosol precursor composition and thereby produce an aerosol for inhalation by a user. And the transport element may be configured to control an amount of aerosol precursor composition delivered from the reservoir.

Inventors

• Rajesh Sur

Assignees

• RAI STRATEGIC HOLDINGS, INC.

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20231220

Claims (15)

1. 1 . An atomizer for use with an aerosol delivery device that includes an aerosol precursor composition, the atomizer comprising: a piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material, wherein the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material is configured to vibrate and cause a discharge of components of the aerosol precursor composition to thereby produce an aerosol, wherein the atomizer further comprises a transport element configured to deliver an amount of aerosol precursor composition to the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material.
2. 2 . The atomizer of claim 1 , wherein the transport element comprises a micro pump configured to the deliver aerosol precursor composition to the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material.
3. 3 . The atomizer of claim 1 , wherein the atomizer further comprises a micro filter configured to filter the aerosol precursor composition delivered to the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material.
4. 4 . The atomizer of claim 1 , wherein the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material is configured to driven at a resonant frequency thereof.
5. 5 . The atomizer of claim 4 , wherein a frequency of up to 400 megahertz corresponds to the resonant frequency of the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material.
6. 6 . The atomizer of claim 4 , wherein a frequency of 1,000 kilohertz corresponds to the resonant frequency of the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material.
7. 7 . The atomizer of claim 4 , wherein a resonant frequency of approximately 130 kilohertz corresponds to the resonant frequency of the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material.
8. 8 . The atomizer of claim 1 , wherein the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material surrounds a mesh, and wherein the components of the aerosol precursor composition are discharged through the mesh.
9. 9 . The atomizer of claim 8 , wherein the mesh comprises a stainless steel mesh.
10. 10 . The atomizer of claim 8 , wherein the mesh has a curved surface.
11. 11 . The atomizer of claim 8 , wherein the mesh has a substantially flat surface.
12. 12 . The atomizer of claim 8 , wherein the mesh is a is a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device.
13. 13 . The atomizer of claim 1 further comprising a reservoir configured to retain the aerosol precursor composition.
14. 14 . The atomizer of claim 13 , wherein the reservoir comprises a container.
15. 15 . The atomizer of claim 13 , wherein the reservoir comprises a fibrous reservoir.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/085,415, filed on Oct. 30, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/719,178, filed on Dec. 18, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/433,833, filed on Jun. 6, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/651,548, filed on Jul. 17, 2017, each of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to aerosol delivery devices such as smoking articles that produce aerosol. The smoking articles may be configured to dispense an aerosol precursor, which may incorporate materials that may be made or derived from, or otherwise incorporate tobacco, the precursor being capable of forming an inhalable substance for human consumption. BACKGROUND Many devices have been proposed through the years as improvements upon, or alternatives to, smoking products that require combusting tobacco for use. Many of those devices purportedly have been designed to provide the sensations associated with cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoking, but without delivering considerable quantities of incomplete combustion and pyrolysis products that result from the burning of tobacco. To this end, there have been proposed numerous alternative smoking products, flavor generators, and medicinal inhalers that utilize electrical energy to vaporize or heat a volatile material, or attempt to provide the sensations of cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoking without burning tobacco to a significant degree. See, for example, the various alternative smoking articles, aerosol delivery devices and heat generating sources set forth in the background art described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,881,737 to Collett et al., U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2013/0255702 to Griffith Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2014/0000638 to Sebastian et al., U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2014/0096781 to Sears et al., U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2014/0096782 to Ampolini et al., U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2015/0059780 to Davis et al., and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/222,615 to Watson et al., filed Jul. 28, 2016, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. See also, for example, the various implementations of products and heating configurations described in the background sections of U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,594 to Counts et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 8,079,371 to Robinson et al., which are incorporated by reference. Additional examples of smoking articles are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,574 to Ingebrethsen, EP Pat. App. Pub. No. 1,618,803 to Hon, PCT Pat. App. Pub. No. WO 2012/062600 to Andersson et al., and U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2015/0128974 to Hon, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. However, it may be desirable to provide aerosol delivery devices with improved electronics such as may extend usability of the devices. BRIEF SUMMARY The present disclosure relates to aerosol delivery devices, methods of forming such devices, and elements of such devices. The present disclosure includes, without limitation, the following example implementations. Some example implementations provide an aerosol delivery device comprising at least one housing enclosing a reservoir configured to retain an aerosol precursor composition; a nozzle coupled to the housing to discharge aerosol precursor composition from the reservoir, the nozzle including a piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material surrounding a mesh; and a control component including a microprocessor coupled to and configured to drive the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material to vibrate and cause a discharge of components of the aerosol precursor composition through the mesh and thereby produce an aerosol for inhalation by a user, the components of the aerosol precursor composition discharged through the mesh having a diameter of less than one micrometer. In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of the preceding or any subsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material has a resonant frequency of up to 400 megahertz. In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of the preceding or any subsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material has a resonant frequency of 1,000 kilohertz, and the mesh is a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device. In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of any preceding or any subsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material has a resonant frequency of 130 kilohertz, and the mesh is a stainless steel mesh. In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of any preceding or any subsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the mesh has a curved surface. In some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device