Ultrasonic atomizer for atomizing liquids and forming an aerosol

Claim 1

An ultrasonic atomizer for atomizing liquids and forming an aerosol comprising a container defining an atomizing chamber, a vibrating element positioned within said atomizing chamber, said atomizing chamber having a liquid inlet for supplying liquid to be atomized to said vibrating element, a gas inlet for supplying carrier gas to said atomizing chamber and a gas outlet for discharging the aerosol formed from said atomizing chamber, means including an ultrasonic vibrator associated with said vibrating element for providing the liquid atomization necessary for the aerosol formation, wherein the improvement comprises that said vibrating element forms a portion of a side of said container, said means includes a transmission chamber in communication with the side of said container which includes said vibrating element, said transmission chamber arranged to contain a liquid transmission medium for transferring ultrasonic energy therethrough from said ultrasonic vibrator to said vibrating element, said vibrating element being located adjacent the end of said liquid inlet, said vibrating element being formed as a plate having a thickness which is an integer multiple of the wavelength lambda divided by 2 where lambda is the wavelength of the ultrasonic energy issuing from said vibrator, so that the thickness of the plate-form said vibrating element is tuned to the resonance of said vibrator, and the active surface of said vibrator being located within said transmission chamber and contacted by said transmission medium, the active surface of said vibrator and the surface of said vibrating element within said transmission chamber are in approximately parallel relationship but with the active surface of said vibrator forming a small angle relative to a plane parallel to the surface of said vibrating element within the transmission chamber.