AEROSOL DISPENSER ASSEMBLY HAVING VOC-FREE PROPELLANT AND DISPENSING MECHANISM THEREFOR

摘要

An aerosol dispenser assembly is provided that enables a compressed gas propellant to be used to deliver liquid product in a fine mist, whereby the droplets of the mist have mean Sauter diameters of less than 35 .mu.n. The dispensing system includes the u se of a compressed gas propellant that is soluble in the liquid product at room temperature but that has a reduced solubility in the liquid product at temperatures exceeding room temperature. The system also includes a valve attached to a pressurized container containing the liquid product and gas propellant. The valve includes an actuator cap that has a swirl chamber and an exit orifice and a built-in heater that at least partially surrounds the swirl chamber. A s the propellant and liquid product stream exits the actuator cap, the heater heats the exit stre am thereby decreasing the solubility of the compressed gas propellant in the liquid product, resulting in cavitation or the formation of compressed gas bubbles in the exit stream whi ch produces unstable small ligaments of liquid product in the exit stream. The small ligaments are naturally converted to small droplets having small diameters. The droplets m ay then undergo secondary atomization to further reduce their size.