Heat and Mass Trends in Rebuildable Drip Atomizer Electronic Cigarettes

Electronic cigarettes and vaporizers have become one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. Even though these technologies are widely used, their risks are not well understood. With so much still unknown about these devices, research is still needed such that appropriate and reasonable regulations can be put forth. In the ever progressing market of electronic cigarettes, the evolution of the e-cigarette is trending towards rebuildable drip atomizers (RDA) in which the user wraps a heating coil, to the complexity and design of their own choosing. These devices also offer some level of power (and thus temperature) control. In this experiment, the wicking and evaporation trends in a dual coil RDA were investigated. The goal of this project is to better understand the hazards associated with these devices, which was done by investigating the wicking and evaporation in these devices. Before the wicking and evaporation trends can be studied, an understanding of the temperature variation throughout the coil and wick must be established. The evaporation trends were investigated with respect to composition of the e-liquid, the applied voltage from controller, and saturation of the wick. Likewise, the wicking rates were researched in relation to density of wick and composition of e-liquid. The wicking trends were then investigated further with respect to the evaporation rates.