US 12,089,631 B2
Inhaler
Yuki Minami, Tokyo (JP); Takahisa Kudo, Tokyo (JP); Michihiro Inagaki, Tokyo (JP); Jumpei Inoue, Tokyo (JP); Yuki Abe, Tokyo (JP); Adam Geernaert, Cambridge (GB); Franck Rubiconi, Cambridge (GB); Simon Cox, Cambridge (GB); and Rishi Jobanputra, Cambridge (GB)
Assigned to JAPAN TOBACCO INC., Tokyo (JP)
Filed by JAPAN TOBACCO INC., Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Oct. 9, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/066,793.
Application 17/066,793 is a continuation of application No. PCT/JP2019/015384, filed on Apr. 9, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. PCT/JP2018/015128 (WO), filed on Apr. 10, 2018; and application No. PCT/JP2018/046712 (WO), filed on Dec. 19, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0030069 A1, Feb. 4, 2021
Int. Cl. A24F 40/05 (2020.01); A24F 40/30 (2020.01); A24F 40/40 (2020.01); A24F 40/46 (2020.01); A24F 40/48 (2020.01); A24F 40/50 (2020.01); A24F 40/51 (2020.01); A24F 40/53 (2020.01); A24F 40/57 (2020.01); A61M 15/06 (2006.01); B05B 17/06 (2006.01); F24H 15/10 (2022.01); F24H 15/219 (2022.01); A24F 40/10 (2020.01); A24F 47/00 (2020.01)
CPC A24F 40/05 (2020.01) [A24F 40/30 (2020.01); A24F 40/40 (2020.01); A24F 40/46 (2020.01); A24F 40/48 (2020.01); A24F 40/50 (2020.01); A24F 40/51 (2020.01); A24F 40/53 (2020.01); A24F 40/57 (2020.01); A61M 15/06 (2013.01); B05B 17/0676 (2013.01); F24H 15/10 (2022.01); F24H 15/219 (2022.01); A24F 40/10 (2020.01); A24F 47/00 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A controller for controlling an atomizing unit, wherein:
the atomizing unit comprises
a piezoelectric element substrate comprising an IDT comprising a pair of interlocking comb-shaped metallic electrodes, and
a liquid supplier configured to supply liquid, which is to be atomized, to the piezoelectric element substrate;
wherein the piezoelectric element substrate is configured to atomize the liquid by use of a surface acoustic wave generated by applying a high-frequency voltage to the pair of interlocking comb-shaped metallic electrodes; and
wherein the controller is configured to periodically change amplitude and/or a frequency of the high-frequency voltage applied to the pair of interlocking comb-shaped metallic electrodes in such a manner that generation, by atomization, of particles having particle sizes larger than a predetermined size is suppressed.