Many of the embodiments disclosed herein include electronic smoking articles or electronic vaping articles operable to deliver liquid from a liquid supply reservoir to a heater. The heater volatilizes a liquid to form an aerosol.
An electronic smoking article or electronic vaping article may include a reservoir containing a liquid material and having an outlet, a capillary, a heater operable to heat the capillary to a temperature sufficient to volatilize liquid in the capillary, and a shuttle valve between the outlet of the reservoir and the capillary inlet. The shuttle valve includes a housing with a cavity, a plunger movable between a retracted position and an open position, and at least two spaced apart seals. The shuttle valve is operable to prevent release of liquid material from the reservoir when the shuttle valve is in a retracted position and to release liquid material from the reservoir to the capillary inlet when the shuttle valve is in an open position.
A method of delivering a liquid to an electronic smoking article or electronic vaping article may include controlling a flow of the liquid with a valve. The controlling step may include establishing communication of a reservoir with an aerosolizer while operating the aerosolizer and closing the communication. The closing includes communicating the aerosolizer with a flow-back cavity separate of the reservoir. At least some residual liquid is drawn back from the aerosolizer upon the closing.
An electronic smoking article such as an electronic smoking article includes a manually operated shuttle valve operable to control flow of a liquid material from a pressurized liquid supply (reservoir) to a capillary, prevent leaks, and avoid excessive drawback of liquid from the capillary and introduction of air bubbles to the reservoir. As used herein, the term “electronic smoking article” is inclusive of all types of electronic smoking articles, regardless of form, size, or shape, including electronic cigarettes, electronic cigars, electronic pipes, electronic hookahs, and the like. The liquid aerosol formulation can include nicotine or be nicotine free. Moreover, the liquid aerosol formulation can include tobacco flavors or instead, or in combination include other suitable flavors.
Optionally, the electronic smoking article such as an electronic smoking article can also include a sheath flow and aerosol promoter (SFAP) insert operable to produce and deliver a more fully developed aerosol. Once an aerosol is generated, the aerosol flows into the SFAP insert and is cooled by air which enters the electronic smoking article downstream of a heater. Because the air enters downstream of the heater and upstream of the SFAP insert, the aerosol is quickly cooled to produce smaller particles. The SFAP insert includes a constriction which can enhance cooling of the aerosol by reducing the cross-section of the aerosol flow so as to increase the rate of heat transfer from the center of the aerosol flow to walls of the SFAP insert. The increased cooling rate increases the rate of particle formation resulting in smaller particle sizes. Channels provided on an exterior of the SFAP allow aerosol-free (sheath) air to be drawn into a mixing chamber downstream of the constriction where the sheath air produces a boundary layer that is operable to minimize condensation of the aerosol on walls of the SFAP insert so as to increase the delivery rate (efficiency) of the aerosol.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The middle section 73 of
Preferably, the first section 70, the second section 72 and the optional third section 73 include an outer cylindrical housing (casing) 22 extending in a longitudinal direction along the length of the electronic smoking article 60. Moreover, in one embodiment, the middle section 73 is disposable and the first section 70 and/or second section 72 are reusable. In another embodiment, the first section 70 is also disposable so as to avoid the need for cleaning the capillary 18 and/or heater 19. The sections 70, 72, 73 can be attached by threaded connections whereby the middle section 73 can be replaced when the reservoir 14 is used up.
In another embodiment, the housing 22 may comprise a single, unitary tube, without any threaded connections.
In the preferred embodiment, as shown in
Preferably, the pressurized reservoir 14 has an outlet 16 which in effect, is an inlet 16 to the shuttle valve 40 that controls fluid communication with the capillary 18. The shuttle valve 40 is positioned between the outlet 16 of the reservoir 14 and an outlet passage 105, which in turn communicates with the capillary 18 so as to control delivery of liquid material from the reservoir 14.
Preferably, the pressurized reservoir 14 extends longitudinally within the outer cylindrical casing 22 of the first section 70 (shown in
Preferably, the liquid material includes a tobacco-containing material including volatile tobacco flavor compounds which are released from the liquid upon heating. The liquid may also be a tobacco flavor containing material and/or a nicotine-containing material. Alternatively, or in addition, the liquid may include a non-tobacco material and/or may be nicotine-free. For example, the liquid may include water, solvents, ethanol, plant extracts and natural or artificial flavors. Preferably, the liquid further includes an aerosol former. Examples of suitable aerosol formers are glycerine and propylene glycol.
Referring now to
Still referring to
The plunger 13 is sized such that the cavity 57 is slightly bigger than the diameter and/or dimensions of the plunger 13 such that liquid can flow in the space between the plunger 13 and the walls of the cavity 57.
When the shuttle valve 40 is closed, the actuator 100 extends through the outer casing 22 of the electronic smoking article 60. A spring 88 biases the plunger 13 toward its retracted position and provides resistance when pressing the actuator 100. When the spring 88 is at rest, the shuttle valve 40 remains closed.
In one embodiment, a bottom portion 109 of the valve housing 101 adjacent the draw-back cavity 89 portion of the cavity 57 can be formed of, or provided with, a deformable material, such as rubber. Use of such a deformable material may aid in relieving pressure within the bottom portion 109 as the shuttle valve 40 is activated (or opened).
Preferably, the first seal 300 and a second seal 302 are O-rings, each of which encircles a periphery of the plunger 13 along the length thereof. Also preferably, the first seal 300 and the second seal 302 are arranged such that when the shuttle valve 40 is in the open position, as shown in
When the shuttle valve 40 is in the closed position, as shown in
Referring now to
Once the actuator 100 is released, the shuttle valve 40 closes and liquid can no longer flow from the reservoir 14 to the capillary 18. Advantageously, the smoker can tailor the smoking (vaping) experience by pressing the actuator 100 for a longer period of time to produce a larger amount of aerosol or for a shorter period of time to produce a smaller amount of aerosol.
In the preferred embodiment, when the shuttle valve 40 is opened, the inlet end 62 of the capillary 18 is in fluid communication with the outlet 16 of the reservoir 14, and an outlet end 63 of the capillary (shown in
Preferably, the capillary 18 has an internal diameter of 0.01 to 10 mm, preferably 0.05 to 1 mm, and more preferably 0.05 to 0.4 mm. For example, the capillary can have an internal diameter of about 0.05 mm. Capillaries of smaller internal diameter provide more efficient heat transfer to the fluid because, with the shorter distance to the center of the fluid, less energy and time is required to vaporize the liquid.
Also preferably, the capillary 18 may have a length of about 5 mm to about 72 mm, more preferably about 10 mm to about 60 mm or about 20 mm to about 50 mm. For example, the capillary 18 can be about 50 mm in length and arranged such that a downstream, about 40 mm long, coiled portion of the capillary 18 forms a heated section 202 and an upstream, about 10 mm long, portion of the capillary 18 remains relatively unheated when the heater 19 is activated (shown in
In one embodiment, the capillary 18 is substantially straight. In other embodiments, the capillary 18 is coiled and/or includes one or more bends therein to conserve space.
In the preferred embodiment, the capillary 18 is formed of a conductive material, and thus acts as its own heater 19 by passing current through the capillary. The capillary 18 may be any electrically conductive material capable of being resistively heated, while retaining the necessary structural integrity at the operating temperatures experienced by the capillary 18, and which is non-reactive with the liquid material. Suitable materials for forming the capillary 18 are selected from the group consisting of stainless steel, copper, copper alloys, porous ceramic materials coated with film resistive material, Inconel® available from Special Metals Corporation, which is a nickel-chromium alloy, nichrome, which is also a nickel-chromium alloy, and combinations thereof.
In one embodiment, the capillary 18 is a stainless steel capillary 18, which serves as a heater 19 via electrical leads 26 attached thereto for passage of direct or alternating current along a length of the capillary 18. Thus, the stainless steel capillary 18 is heated by resistance heating. The stainless steel capillary 18 is preferably circular in cross section. The capillary 18 may be of tubing suitable for use as a hypodermic needle of various gauges. For example, the capillary 18 may comprise a 32 gauge needle having an internal diameter of 0.11 mm or a 26 gauge needle having an internal diameter of 0.26 mm.
In another embodiment, the capillary 18 may be a non-metallic tube such as, for example, a glass tube. In such an embodiment, the heater 19 is formed of a conductive material capable of being resistively heated, such as, for example, stainless steel, nichrome or platinum wire, arranged along the glass tube. When the heater arranged along the glass tube is heated, liquid material in the capillary 18 is heated to a temperature sufficient to at least partially volatilize liquid material in the capillary 18.
Preferably, at least two electrical leads 26 are bonded to a metallic capillary 18. In the preferred embodiment, the electrical leads 26 are brazed to the capillary 18. Preferably, one electrical lead 26 is brazed to a first, upstream portion 104 of the capillary 18 and a second electrical lead 26 is brazed to a downstream, end portion 102 of the capillary 18, as shown in
In use, once the capillary 18 is heated, the liquid material contained within a heated portion of the capillary 18 is volatilized and ejected out of the outlet 63 (shown in
Preferably, the electronic smoking article 60 also includes at least one air inlet 44 operable to deliver at least some air to the mixing chamber 46 and to a growth cavity 240, downstream of the mixing chamber 46. Preferably, air inlets 44 are arranged downstream of the capillary 18 so as to minimize drawing air along the capillary and thereby avoid cooling of the capillary 18 during heating cycles.
In one embodiment, the air inlets 44 can be upstream of a downstream end 281 of the SFAP insert 220, as shown in
Air that enters via the air inlets 44 (“sheath air”) can flow along an external surface of the SFAP insert 220 via channels 229 extending longitudinally along the external surface of the SFAP insert 220 between vanes 245 as shown in
In the embodiment shown in
In the preferred embodiment, the at least one air inlet 44 includes one or two air inlets. Alternatively, there may be three, four, five or more air inlets. Altering the size and number of air inlets 44 can also aid in establishing the resistance to draw of the electronic smoking article 60. Preferably, the air inlets 44 communicate with the channels 229 arranged between the SFAP insert 220 and the inner surface 231 of the outer casing 22.
In the preferred embodiment, the SFAP insert 220 is operable to provide an aerosol that is similar to cigarette smoke, has a mass median particle diameter of less than 1 micron and aerosol delivery rates of at least about 0.01 mg/cm3. Once the aerosol is formed at the heater, the aerosol passes to the mixing chamber 46 where the aerosol mixes with sheath air and is cooled. The sheath air causes the aerosol to supersaturate and nucleate to form new particles. The faster the aerosol is cooled the smaller the final diameter of the aerosol particles. When air is limited, the aerosol will not cool as fast and the particles will be larger. Moreover, the aerosol may condense on surfaces of the electronic smoking article resulting in lower delivery rates. The SFAP insert 220 prevents or at least abates the tendency of the aerosol to condense on surfaces of the electronic smoking article and quickly cools the aerosol so as to produce a small particle size and high delivery rates as compared to electronic smoking articles not including the SFAP insert as described herein.
Accordingly, the SFAP insert 220 can include a mixing chamber 46 adjacent to an upstream end of the SFAP insert 220 (as shown in
In the embodiments described herein, the valve 40 and its plunger 13 operate in a transverse orientation. Alternatively, the valve 40 may be oriented in a longitudinal orientation. In either orientation, a servo or cam or other suitable arrangement may be used instead or in combination with the “push-button” actuator 100. In addition, the valve 40 is adaptable to operation in electronic smoking articles which include a heater coil and wick to volatilize (aerosolize) liquid, such that the valve 40 delivers liquid to the heater coil and wick.
In the preferred embodiment, the power supply 12 includes a battery arranged in the electronic smoking article 60. The power supply 12 is operable to apply voltage across the heater 19 associated with the capillary 18. Thus, the heater 19 is heated to a temperature sufficient to volatilize liquid material according to a power cycle of either a predetermined time period, such as a 2 to 10 second period, or for so long as pressure is applied to the actuator 100 which opens the shuttle valve 40.
Preferably, the electrical contacts or connection between the heater 19 and the electrical leads 26 are highly conductive and temperature resistant while the heater 19 is highly resistive so that heat generation occurs primarily along the heater 19 and not at the contacts.
The battery can be a Lithium-ion battery or one of its variants, for example a Lithium-ion polymer battery. Alternatively, the battery may be a Nickel-metal hydride battery, a Nickel cadmium battery, a Lithium-manganese battery, a Lithium-cobalt battery or a fuel cell. In that case, preferably, the electronic smoking article 60 is usable by a smoker until the energy in the power supply is depleted. Alternatively, the power supply 12 may be rechargeable and include circuitry allowing the battery to be chargeable by an external charging device. In that case, preferably the circuitry, when charged, provides power for a pre-determined number of puffs, after which the circuitry must be re-connected to an external charging device.
In the preferred embodiment, the reservoir 14 includes a liquid material which has a boiling point suitable for use in the electronic smoking article 60. If the boiling point is too high, the heater 19 will not be able to vaporize liquid in the capillary 18. However, if the boiling point is too low, the liquid may vaporize without the heater 19 being activated.
In use, liquid material is transferred from the reservoir 14 to the heated capillary 18 by manually operating the shuttle valve 40.
As shown in
In addition, the outlets 21 and off-axis passages are arranged such that droplets of unaerosolized liquid material carried in the aerosol impact interior surfaces of the mouth-end insert 20 and/or interior surfaces of the off-axis passages such that the droplets are removed or broken apart. In the preferred embodiment, the outlets 21 of the mouth-end insert 20 are located at the ends of the off-axis passages and are angled at about 5° to about 60° with respect to the central longitudinal axis of the electronic smoking article 60 so as to more completely distribute aerosol throughout a mouth of a smoker during use and to remove droplets.
Preferably, each outlet 21 has a diameter of about 0.015 inch to about 0.090 inch (e.g., about 0.020 inch to about 0.040 inch or about 0.028 inch to about 0.038 inch). The size of the outlets 21 and off-axis passages along with the number of outlets 21 can be selected to adjust the resistance to draw (RTD) of the electronic smoking article 60, if desired.
In a preferred embodiment, the electronic smoking article 60 is about the same size as a conventional smoking article. In some embodiments, the electronic smoking article 60 can be about 80 mm to about 110 mm long, preferably about 80 mm to about 100 mm long and about 7 mm to about 8 mm in diameter. For example, in an embodiment, the electronic smoking article is about 84 mm long and has a diameter of about 7.8 mm.
The outer cylindrical casing 22 of the electronic smoking article 60 may be formed of any suitable material or combination of materials. Preferably, the outer cylindrical casing 22 is formed of metal and is part of the electrical circuit. Examples of other suitable materials include metals, alloys, plastics or composite materials containing one or more of those materials, or thermoplastics that are suitable for food or pharmaceutical applications, for example polypropylene, polyetheretherketone (PEEK), ceramic, low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE). Preferably, the material is light and non-brittle. The outer cylindrical casing 22 can be any suitable color and/or can include graphics or other indicia printed thereon.
In an embodiment, the volatilized material formed as described herein can at least partially condense to form an aerosol including particles. Preferably, the particles contained in the vapor and/or aerosol range in size from about 0.5 micron to about 1 micron or about 1 micron to about 4 microns. In the preferred embodiment, the vapor and/or aerosol has particles of about 3.3 microns or less, more preferably about 2 microns or less. Also preferably, the particles are substantially uniform throughout the vapor and/or aerosol.
When the word “about” is used in this specification in connection with a numerical value, it is intended that the associated numerical value include a tolerance of ±10% around the stated numerical value. Moreover, when reference is made to percentages in this specification, it is intended that those percentages are based on weight, i.e., weight percentages.
Moreover, when the words “generally” and “substantially” are used in connection with geometric shapes, it is intended that precision of the geometric shape is not required but that latitude for the shape is within the scope of the disclosure. When used with geometric terms, the words “generally” and “substantially” are intended to encompass not only features which meet the strict definitions but also features which fairly approximate the strict definitions.
It will now be apparent that a new, improved, and nonobvious electronic smoking article has been described in this specification with sufficient particularity as to be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Moreover, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous modifications, variations, substitutions, and equivalents exist for features of the electronic smoking article which do not materially depart from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is expressly intended that all such modifications, variations, substitutions, and equivalents which fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims shall be embraced by the appended claims.
This application is a continuation under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/898,751, filed Feb. 19, 2018, which is a continuation under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/333,999, filed Jul. 17, 2014, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/857,835, filed Jul. 24, 2013, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61857835 | Jul 2013 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 15898751 | Feb 2018 | US |
Child | 16985398 | US | |
Parent | 14333999 | Jul 2014 | US |
Child | 15898751 | US |