salukikev
Mechanical
- May 14, 2008
- 110
Hello,
I am working on helping a factory develop their prototype for the toy market. This product is not a cigarette, nor smoke meant to be inhaled, however the element I'm working with is intended to generate cosmetic smoke. This is similar to the toroidal/vortex smoke ring gun sold by Zero toys.
In our case, we are using a very small fiberglass wick- both ends of the wick are used to transfer fluid to a .003" dia coil of nichrome heat wire, with the end result being a decent amount of non-toxic smoke.
Unfortunately, we were forced to ship this prototype out before a complete test and analysis could be done after being told that the factory would take over at that point. We achieved satisfactory performance from the prototype simply by adjusting voltage and current- the only suitable wire we had available was .003" nichrome wire. The end result was effective if not necessarily optimal. We probably used about .5-1" of length around 4 to 8 turns at .0625" dia. From memory we were running it at around 6-7vdc and it was pulling up to 1A.
I wanted to lay down some specs about the context of our vaporizer 1st, but my question(s) are more about effective vaporizing of the two most common options, which are propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin.
I did not get a final temperature measurement (and in any case it would be hard to measure directly given the small wire gauge), but I was estimating our element would need to get to around 200 deg C. Whether we did that or not I can't say for certain, but we generated a good bit of smoke and the end result got shipped out hours after it was completed. Now they are having some issues and I believe way over estimating required heat. I will find out tomorrow more details about their chemistry, wire type/diameter/wick material/diameter, etc., but I would like to go into that meeting as prepared as possible with background info.
I would like to find a resource (company, person, group) that is very familiar with design and manufacture of E-cigarettes (or related) as we are fortunate in that the tech is very similar. I'm hoping someone here either has that experience or can direct me to such a resource.
Thanks much for any help!
-k
I am working on helping a factory develop their prototype for the toy market. This product is not a cigarette, nor smoke meant to be inhaled, however the element I'm working with is intended to generate cosmetic smoke. This is similar to the toroidal/vortex smoke ring gun sold by Zero toys.
In our case, we are using a very small fiberglass wick- both ends of the wick are used to transfer fluid to a .003" dia coil of nichrome heat wire, with the end result being a decent amount of non-toxic smoke.
Unfortunately, we were forced to ship this prototype out before a complete test and analysis could be done after being told that the factory would take over at that point. We achieved satisfactory performance from the prototype simply by adjusting voltage and current- the only suitable wire we had available was .003" nichrome wire. The end result was effective if not necessarily optimal. We probably used about .5-1" of length around 4 to 8 turns at .0625" dia. From memory we were running it at around 6-7vdc and it was pulling up to 1A.
I wanted to lay down some specs about the context of our vaporizer 1st, but my question(s) are more about effective vaporizing of the two most common options, which are propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin.
I did not get a final temperature measurement (and in any case it would be hard to measure directly given the small wire gauge), but I was estimating our element would need to get to around 200 deg C. Whether we did that or not I can't say for certain, but we generated a good bit of smoke and the end result got shipped out hours after it was completed. Now they are having some issues and I believe way over estimating required heat. I will find out tomorrow more details about their chemistry, wire type/diameter/wick material/diameter, etc., but I would like to go into that meeting as prepared as possible with background info.
I would like to find a resource (company, person, group) that is very familiar with design and manufacture of E-cigarettes (or related) as we are fortunate in that the tech is very similar. I'm hoping someone here either has that experience or can direct me to such a resource.
Thanks much for any help!
-k
