GB2505156A - Mixing device for dispersing odours - Google Patents

Abstract

An invertible mixing vessel comprising two chambers; A for a liquid and B for a solid that produces heavier than air gas when the solid is contacted with the liquid, on inversion or tilting of the device. The two chambers are separated by a barrier which is permeable to the liquid but impermeable to the solid. Odour molecules entrained from the liquid are carried by the gas from the device over a weir and poured from a spout. The device and carrier gas allows the odour molecules to be positioned by the user. The solid may be solid carbon dioxide (CO2) (dry ice).

Description

Device for atomizing odour molecules and controlling their dispersion.

Established methods of atomization produce a jet of droplets which rapidly disperse in line with the jet direction, the droplets are coarse having diameters >100 microns.

Ultrasonic techniques produce smaller droplets however the resulting aerosol is relatively static. All such methods use mechanical action through moving parts or electrical means of generating and controlling the atomized molecules.

In the present invention, atomization is achieved by sparging liquid containing flavor molecules with a gas, entraining the odour molecules with the liquid in a vapour from the liquid surface. The invention provides a device that separately contains the gas source and liquid, introduces the gas to the liquid such that the gas passes upwards through the body of the liquid, collects the resultant atomized vapour and directs the release of that vapour. The vapour may be directed to another container through the air without substantially dispersing the vapour.

The invention uses a heavier-than-air gas to entrain the molecules. This enables the vapour to be poured from the devices under gravity. The device requires no moving parts or electrical components to contain, mix, produce and direct the atomized molecules. The device constrains the heavier than air properties of the carrier gas in a manner that produces the controlled result, producing a release flow from specific area or areas of the device and in at least one specific direction.

In a preferred arrangement, the devices use solid carbon dioxide to generate the sparging gas. At the correct operating temperature and pressure, the dry ice is heavier than aqueous solutions and so is held under the liquid surface by gravity and sublimes directly to gas. The gas then passes through the column of liquid entraining some of the liquid and odour molecules with it. Removing of the solid and liquid from each other stops the entrainment process.

A solid/liquid mixing vessel consisting of at least two compartments in fluid communication with each other separated by a barrier which is permeable to liquid but is non-permeable to solids, at least one compartment A' capable of holding a liquid and at least one other compartment B' capable of holding a solid so that when the vessel is tilted the liquid travels through the permeable barrier and interacts with the solid in compartment B' and when the tilt action is reversed the liquid returns to compartment A' and the solid remains in compartment B' at which point the interaction between liquid and solid ceases; compartment B' is equipped with a weir and an opening such that any gas/vapour produced from the interaction between the liquid and the solid can pass out of the mixing vessel via the opening but that the liquid is retained by the aforementioned we i r.

The opening may be constructed to form a spout, to direct the gas / vapour produced in a specific direction. The compartment B' shall be of sufficient size that when inverted the volume shall hold both the liquid and solids, without the liquid level exceeding the retaining weir.