Smoking substitute apparatus

Abstract

Provided is a smoking substitute apparatus with an air seal positioned between a holder which retains a heatable wick and an aerosol delivery conduit for guiding aerosol from the holder region to the user's mouth. The air seal has, at the end farthest from the wick, an inwardly projecting Gurney flap.

1 . A smoking substitute apparatus for delivery of an aerosol to a user drawing air through the apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
 a housing defining a tank for holding a reservoir of an aerosol precursor;   an air inlet;   an outlet;   at least one air flow path between the air inlet and the outlet, the air flow path extending in an upstream to downstream direction;   an aerosol generator disposed in the apparatus for generating an aerosol from the aerosol precursor for entrainment in an air flow along the air flow path defined at least in part by an aerosol delivery conduit, downstream of the aerosol generator;   wherein the aerosol generator comprises a holder which retains a heatable wick, at least one end of the heatable wick being in fluid communication with aerosol precursor in the tank via an opening in the holder;   the apparatus further comprising an air seal, the air seal connecting the holder to the aerosol delivery conduit and having an internal air flow facing surface, defining the part of the air flow path between the holder and the aerosol delivery conduit, the air seal sealing the holder and the aerosol delivery conduit with respect to the aerosol precursor in the tank;   wherein the air seal has an upstream end and a downstream end, and wherein the downstream end includes a radially inwardly projecting Gurney flap.   
     
     
         2 . The smoking substitute apparatus accordingly to  claim 1 , wherein the size of the Gurney flap is from 0.2% to 5% the chord length of the air seal. 
     
     
         3 . The smoking substitute apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the air seal has, upstream of the Gurney flap, a trunk section of substantially uniform cross section and, between the trunk section and the Gurney flap, a sloped exit section with a cross sectional area which increases in the upstream to downstream direction. 
     
     
         4 . The smoking substitute apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the air seal has, at the upstream end, a sloped entry section with a cross sectional area which decreases in the upstream to downstream direction. 
     
     
         5 . The smoking substitute apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein the air seal has an external facing surface and the entry section slopes to meet the external facing surface. 
     
     
         6 . The smoking substitute apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein the sloped entry section has a length of about 25% to 40% the total length of the air seal in the upstream to downstream direction.