Replace the wick :Is this idea worth me having a go at ?

[exogenesis]

Atomizer design, replace the wick : Is this idea worth me having a go at ?

The current design, i.e. a bundle of fibres, surrounded by a short heating wire coil.

Operational parameters (as I see it):
1) Takes such & such a time to heat up.
2) Gets to such & such a temperature, controlled by liquid ingress rate & current flowing (wire resistance, applied voltage)
3) So giving off vapour from heating the liquid (at/near the wick surface) at such & such a rate.

Operational failures (as I see it):
A) Creates burnt 'gunk' at/near the wick surface, under the coil wire
- after a while pushing the coil outward, straining it & even breaking it eventually.
- even with burn 'cleaning cycle' ashing the gunk, this can leave a gap between coil & wick.
B) Wick cleans-up far less readily than the wire itself, during a clean cycle.
C) Wick can degrade (esp. near ends) due to 'breaking up' with use / cleaning cycles -> loose fibre fragments floating about.
D) others I can't think of atm

If there was no glass-fibre/polymer fibre wick, something needs to replace it's function.

Looking at different metal wires that are available & non-toxic,
along with their melting-points & resistivity I made a table of wire lengths required
to be equivalent to the typical 35mm of 0.1mm diam. (1.4" by 0.004" diam.)
nichrome wire in current atomizers:

http://www.Exogenesis.co.uk/WIRE.xls

Bottom line is that a bundle of multi-strand long-length fine (0.025mm) tungsten wire
could heat like the existing design, act as the wick, but be more stable & easier to
clean & wouldn't be stretched/physically-broken due to hard gunking up (?).
So potentially lasting a lot longer.

Nichrome creates an deep insulating oxide surface in air, so does tungsten,
no other suitable metals do, afaik.
i.e. electrical shorting across a bundle of fine wires should not be a problem ?

Soldering tungsten wire requires silver solder ?,
or at least extremely good pre-tinning (using borax), for ordinary soft solder.

Bound to be some factors I've not thought of here (apart from cost).

Possibly far less fine wire than estimated here would be required,
since effective heating possibly actually only occurs to a certain depth in the existing wicks,
meaning the required heated-wire surface-area might be significantly less ?

More expensive & fiddly to make?, yes,
but actual cost might be less than the 'pure' (research) wire source that I found.

[surbitonPete]

Hi Exo ...am I understanding you correctly.....you are thinking of a bundle of wires doubling up as the heating element and the wick??

[exogenesis]

That's the idea.

Think it's been suggested before, but the practicalities are the thing.

[surbitonPete]

That's the idea.

Think it's been suggested before, but the practicalities are the thing.

I am glad you mentioned about nichrome wire producing a surface insulation...I had wondered how come some coils still work even though the coil rings all seem to be touching.

I must say you seem to have a pretty meticulous way of experimenting Exo and the idea sure seems to make a great deal of sense to me. If it can work you would certainly be the one to find out and I would sure be interested in your experiments if you do try it. The only thing is that with an idea like that ...if you do find it works it would need the manufacturers to adopt it.

[kinabaloo]

Sounds like a good idea.

Only possible downside I can think of at the moment is that such thin strands might burn out easily.

Well worth experimenting with.

[exogenesis]

Well, I might well invest in a spool of 0.025mm tungsten wire then.

If it works (any bets?) & has a significantly longer life,
then it's not impossible some manufacturer could take it up.

Imagine a world with easy-clean, long-life atomisers - sigh


Hopefully the significantly higher melting point (than nichrome)
would help with combatting burn-out, might even be more tolerent.

[surbitonPete]

Well, I might well invest in a spool of 0.025mm tungsten wire then.

If it works (any bets?) & has a significantly longer life,
then it's not impossible some manufacturer could take it up.

Imagine a world with easy-clean, long-life atomisers - sigh


Hopefully the significantly higher melting point (than nichrome)
would help with combatting burn-out, might even be more tolerent.

Yes in my opinion atomizers should either cost 5 pence each so that I can keep throwing them away without thinking a thing about it....or else be made to have far more reliability than they already have. Throwing away 6 or 7 pounds every few days is something that I do think a lot about.

[kinabaloo]

I doubt burn out is through evaporation; could be changes in the alloy making it more brittle though - so I guess you stll win the point Most likely though is mechanical stress, particularly from deposit buildup; between filaments might be as bad as under the coil, especially as the filaments will be thinner.

Might be a bit easier to clean, but doubt there'll be much in it.

Expect the unexpected. Bound to be some complications, but should work.

It's a very neat idea, even if it doesn't achieve much

[kinabaloo]

Yes in my opinion atomizers should either cost 5 pence each so that I can keep throwing them away without thinking a thing about it....or else be made to have far more reliability than they already have. Throwing away 6 or 7 pounds every few days is something that I do think a lot about.

Pete - the problem is really the juice (deposit), not the atty.

[surbitonPete]

Pete - the problem is really the juice (deposit), not the atty.

quite true kinaba.......hey another thought that went through my head was could a coil somehow be made to 'vibrate' at a very high frequency or something and in a sense possibly shake the gunk to pieces so it could be washed out?