Patent Grant
9814265
This application is a national phase application based on PCT/EP2012/069135, filed on Sep. 27, 2012.
The present invention relates in general to a device for optimized smoke-free inhalation of nicotine and/or additives with electronic cigarettes.
When a conventional cigarette is smoked, tobacco is burned and the smoke arising during this combustion is inhaled (mainstream smoke) or discharged into the surrounding environment (sidestream smoke).
Mainstream smoke is the crucial factor in damaging the health of the consumer, but is what gives him/her the desired pleasure. Sidestream smoke is the crucial factor in damaging the health of passive smokers and is desired neither by the passive smokers nor by the consumer.
Over 4800 different substances have been identified in cigarette smoke, of which around 70 are demonstrably carcinogenic.
The aim of methods and devices based thereon for smoke-free inhalation of nicotine and/or additives is to offer the consumer a substitute for the conventional cigarette which causes significantly less harm to the consumer and third parties, preferably no harm at all to the consumer and third parties, while however retaining the consumer experience of a conventional cigarette.
At present, so-called e-cigarettes (electronic cigarettes) establish themselves on the market as a substitute for conventional cigarettes. Among different approaches, the approach described hereinbelow has become accepted in view of its comparatively easy technical realizability in combination with its convincing functionality (vaporization rate, nicotine output).
Patent DE69017371T2, which dates back to 1990, describes a smoking article comprising a flavor-generating medium, an electric heating element and means for applying electrical energy, the flavor-generating medium being releasable from the electric heating element, characterized in that the electric heating element is in thermal contact with the flavor-generating medium, that the means for applying electrical energy applies electrical energy to the heating element thereby causing the heating element to heat said flavor-generating medium and to release flavor components, and that a control means is provided for controlling the amount of electrical energy applied by the means for applying electrical energy.
This basic principle has been developed to marketability and optimized in the last two decades, as described hereinbelow.
A fluid to be vaporized is supplied from a reservoir to a small heating coil due to the capillary effect of a metal braid or a glass fiber wick. The heating coil is normally activated by a vacuum switch or a vacuum governor when a puff is taken from the electronic cigarette, whereby the fluid (liquid) evaporates.
The main components of the electronic cigarette are the following ones: the battery unit with vacuum switch or vacuum governor and LED for optically simulating the glowing end of a lit cigarette, the vaporizer unit (atomizer) with heating coil and capillaries as well as the mouthpiece with the fluid reservoir.
The three components are normally cylindrical and, when assembled, their shape imitates a cigarette. In the interior of these components a flow channel is formed, which extends through all three components. When a puff is taken from the electronic cigarette, an air current is sucked into the battery unit, whereby the vacuum switch or vacuum governor is operated. This has the effect that the heating coil provided in the downstream vaporizer unit is activated.
The helical heating coil is wound around a fiber strand, which, through capillaries, is connected directly or via a metal braid to a fluid reservoir located downstream in the mouthpiece and which is impregnated with fluid, said fiber strand being arranged orthogonally to the flow direction. Due to the activation of the heating coil, fluid is vaporized and transferred to the air current.
The reservoir itself, which is filled with the fluid to be vaporized, is not directly exposed to the flow in the flow channel, but is arranged in a lateral pocket of the mouthpiece. The fiber strand is thus supplied through the capillaries of the metal braid and the glass fiber strand, without non-vaporized fluid from the reservoir arriving inevitably in the consumer's mouth. The reservoir normally consists of a small piece of non-woven fabric.
In addition to the reservoir, the mouthpiece only comprises a flow channel and the air outlet in the form of a small hole in the end face thereof. The air current, which has added thereto the vaporized fluid, flows into the consumer's oral cavity through said air outlet.
The battery unit and the vaporizer unit are releasably connected to one another via a thread. The end face of the thread and the threaded surface are electrically conductive and insulated from one another, so that, when the battery unit and the vaporizer unit have been connected via the thread, an electric current can flow between them and the heating coil can be supplied by the battery when the vacuum switch or vacuum governor has been activated. In the demounted condition, the battery unit can be connected to a battery charger via the same thread.
The mouthpiece is attached via a cylindrical flange to the vaporizer unit end located opposite the thread. The reservoir in the mouthpiece comes thus into contact with the metal braid of the vaporizer unit and the transport of fluid from the reservoir into the interior of the heating coil is initiated.
A big disadvantage of this embodiment of electronic cigarettes having a separate, reusable vaporizer unit is that the vaporizer unit will get increasingly contaminated during its service life. Since many reservoirs comprising each 200 puffs are normally consumed before the vaporizer unit is exchanged and since the capillaries are not cleaned, there is the potential risk of vaporizing microorganisms and undesired harmful substances. A vaporizer unit can be used up to 6 months.
Another drawback of the increasing contamination of the vaporizer unit is the potential loss of quality during the consumption period. For example, when a mouthpiece is being exchanged, the fluid to be vaporized contained in the new mouthpiece will mix with the fluid residues that are still contained in the capillaries. This is particularly disadvantageous, if the consumer wants to consume different aromas with one vaporizer.
Another disadvantageous aspect is that fluid leaks out when the mouthpieces attached to the vaporizer are being exchanged, whereby the consumer's skin often comes into contact with a fluid containing nicotine. Depending on the respective nicotine content, the skin contact may lead to minor poisoning.
Last but not least, this tripartite design has the drawback that the resultant length can hardly be reduced still further, and this is adverse to the aim of not exceeding the overall length of a king size cigarette to a substantial extent.
The above-mentioned drawbacks are partially remedied when the vaporizer unit is integrated in the mouthpiece, since the escape of fluid and the resultant skin contact risk can be avoided and the aim of limiting the overall length approximately to that of a king size cigarette can be achieved more easily.
However, the threaded connection, which, together with the vaporizer, has been transferred to the mouthpiece, now proves to be disadvantageous, and, in addition to the fact that a threaded connection is inconvenient to handle, this also leads to waste disposal problems in view of the comparatively thick metal wall in the area of the thread and the now given single-use character of the combined product, especially since it is a mass production product, whereby the use of an excessive amount of material increases exponentially.
For both the above-mentioned variants, i.e. the variant comprising a separate vaporizer as well as the variant having the vaporizer integrated in the mouthpiece, the refillability of the respective reservoirs as well as the resultant refilling practice which has already been widely adopted constitute a big problem in view of the potential risks that may be entailed by fluids containing nicotine. Refill bottles may contain an amount of nicotine that may be lethal to children.
In addition, the alleged hygienic advantage of the systems comprising a vaporizer that is integrated in the mouthpiece is nullified, since these systems are also often refilled in practice, although they frequently use, instead of the glass fiber capillaries, fibers as capillaries, which carbonize when they are used for a prolonged period of time.
Finally, a big disadvantage of the systems comprising a vaporizer integrated in the mouthpiece is to be seen in the impossibility of producing this product, which is a mass product, on fast-running machines in view of the components used, e.g. the screw flange which is produced by a metal-cutting process and whose outer ring and whose end face are electrically separated, and the hardly automatable mounting, e.g. the mounting of the heating coil which is welded to the screw flange through wires and of the glass fiber strand or natural fiber strand conducted through the heating coil.
WO2011/009920 describes a method for volatilizing active and/or aroma materials for the purpose of releasing an inhalable aerosol, wherein a fluid acted upon by thermal energy flows through a flow channel in a preferably cylindrical hollow body and wherein the fluid in this flow channel entirely or in part flows through at least one vaporizer membrane, wherein the at least one vaporizer membrane has been and/or is wetted with a substance containing active and/or aroma materials to be vaporized and wherein the fluid additionally containing thermal energy, i.e. acted upon by thermal energy, vaporizes this substance or these substances on flowing through the vaporizer membrane and supplies it or them to the fluid stream.
The last mentioned method and the device based thereon allow an optimum vaporization of substances containing active and/or aroma materials, without the above-mentioned drawbacks, such as hygienic problems, high manufacturing costs resulting from the particular design and excessively long consumption time, of the electric systems available on the market, i.e. said device is, in principle, ideal for use as a mouthpiece of a smoke-free cigarette, but said method makes use of a fluid stream which has already been acted upon by heat due to the combustion of liquefied gas and which is provided by means of the process described in WO2008/113420, whereas it is not possible to accomplish a purely electrical generation of an adequately hot fluid stream in the space available in a cigarette or a small cigar because there is not enough space for a heat exchanger.
WO2008/113420 describes a method for volatilizing active and/or aroma substances for the purpose of releasing an inhalable aerosol, wherein combustion gases of a flammable gas, which is preferably combusted with an excess of air, are passed partially or entirely, optionally mixed with ambient air, through an active and/or aroma substance reservoir and wherein a desired temperature is selectable by the proportion of combustion gases and optionally by the mixing ratio of said combustion gases with ambient air.
An essential disadvantage of this method is the use of liquefied gas, which has the effect that, due to the supposed explosion risk in the immediate vicinity of the consumer's face, even though this risk is only hypothetical and can be governed by a fail-safe design, there will be security concerns on the part of potential customers on the one hand and a high probability that products based on this principle will not be allowed aboard an aircraft on the other.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device for electronic cigarettes which guarantees a vaporization of nicotine and/or additives without reusable components that come into contact with the fluid to be vaporized, and to preferably accomplish at the same time a substantial reduction of costs and ecological damage by reducing the amount of material used and by optimizing machine processability.
According to the present invention, this object is achieved by a heating device of the type described in claim 1 and a vaporizer device used for vaporizing fluids from permeable vaporizer membranes (similar to those described in WO2011/009920) and including such a heating device, said heating device comprising:
In the sense of the present invention, the term permeable means for the thermal resistor foil as well as for the vaporizer membranes that they allow gas to pass therethrough (permeable to gas) in the direction of their surface normal.
According to the present invention, a permeable thermal resistor foil consists of an electrically conductive foil, which is preferably subjected to punching or laser cutting so as to obtain a dual coil or a sinuous line shape or a combination of dual coil and sinuous line shapes. In case of a combination of dual coil and sinuous line shapes the thermal resistor may include, for example, two partial areas with sinuous line shapes having an interposed partial area in the form of a dual coil, or with a dual coil having a central partial area in the form of a sinuous line. Other combinations with additional, different partial areas are possible as well.
The thermal resistor foil according to the invention consists of an electrically conductive material, preferably an aluminum or high-quality steel alloy, and more preferably of a food-safe pure aluminum, an AlMn alloy or stainless steel, such as X5CrNi18-10.
The wall thickness of a permeable thermal resistor foil according to the present invention is between 0.01 mm and 0.2 mm, preferably, however, it is between 0.02 mm and 0.08 mm.
Depending on the electric conductivity of the fluid to be vaporized, the thermal resistor foil can be coated with a heat-resistant and electrically insulating plastic layer, preferably a layer of polyimide, micanite or silicone, thus avoiding a short circuit if the electric resistance of the fluid to be vaporized should be too low in comparison with the resistance of the thermal resistor foil. Micanite in the sense of the present invention generally refers to artificial mica, i.e. a composite material comprising broken bits of mica (broken bits of layered silicate) and artificial resin as a matrix system. Exemplary products: flexible micanite FLM M & P (consisting of at least 92% of muscovite or, alternatively, phlogopite, impregnated with a high temperature resistant silicone binding agent), flexible micanite FLM 521 P, etc.
Such a heating device can be used e.g. as an electric thermal resistor in a vaporizer device for vaporizing substances containing active and/or aroma materials, e.g. in a disposable, single-use mouthpiece for an electronic cigarette. By simply attaching the heating device to a battery unit including a vacuum switch or vacuum governor, the electronic cigarette will be ready for use. When the current circuit is closed by the vacuum switch or vacuum governor, the thermal resistor foil will heat and vaporize the fluid from the vaporizer membrane.
Another aspect therefore concerns a vaporizer device for vaporizing substances containing active and/or aroma materials, preferably configured as a mouthpiece in the form of a hollow cylinder with a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet. The vaporizer device comprises a heating device of the type described here and at least one vaporizer membrane which is in large-area contact with the thermal resistor. The vaporizer membrane is also permeable to flowing fluids and is either wetted or can be wetted with a substance containing active and/or aroma materials to be vaporized. The thermal resistor and the vaporizer membrane(s) are preferably arranged orthogonally or at an angle to the direction of the fluids passing through the mouthpiece.
The above-described structural design of the vaporizer device achieves not only a very high vaporizing efficiency but also the highest possible degree of vaporization uniformity due to fact that the invention provides the largest possible contact area between the thermal resistor foil and the vaporizer membrane or vaporizer membranes.
Another essential advantage of the invention is that, by varying the geometrical configuration of the thermal resistor foil, e.g. by varying the number of coil windings, the width of the windings and/or the wall thickness of the foil or of the thin sheet, the power of the thermal resistor can be adapted in the best possible way to various substances to be vaporized, which contain different materials.
By choosing adequate materials as well as adequate geometrical parameters of the thermal resistor foil, the electric resistance of the thermal resistor foil can be adjusted in the range of 1-10Ω (Ohm), whereby a spectrum of 0.1-13.7 Watt heating power in the cross-section of a cigarette mouthpiece can be covered with a possible nominal voltage of an attached battery unit of 1.2 V (NiCd)-3.7 V (Li-ion).
Another important advantage of the invention is that, by providing a local constriction (narrowing), a safety fuse can be integrated in the contour of the thermal resistor foil. When the fluid has been consumed, this safety fuse will be thermally destroyed due to the then no longer existing cooling, and the mouthpiece will be rendered useless, whereby a single-use mouthpiece with a specific consumption time of 5-20 puffs per 20-50 ml, preferably, however, with 8-12 puffs per 35 ml, can be obtained in a particularly easy manner.
According to a further embodiment, the vaporizer device additionally comprises a flange for releasably connecting a controlled or regulated electric voltage source by the electric poles, the contact tabs, which are connected to the respective opposed end of the dual coil and/or sinuous line of the thermal resistor, not being in direct contact with one another, i.e. they are only in contact with one another via the thermal resistor. These contact tabs are adapted to be connected via the flange to the electric poles of a controlled or regulated electric voltage source.
Preferably, an insulation foil covers the contact tabs towards a flange area on the inner side of the hollow cylinder of the mouthpiece. The insulation foil includes, preferably in the region of said flange area, at least two axially displaced contact openings, said contact openings being preferably configured such that they are axially located in one plane and expose each only one contact tab. The poles of a controlled or regulated electric voltage source are e.g. two axially displaced rings, and, in the connected condition of the mouthpiece and the voltage source, a respective pole of the voltage source is connected via the contact openings to the contact tabs and via the contact tabs to a respective end of the dual coil and/or the sinuous line of the thermal resistor.
According to a further embodiment, the contact tabs and/or the flange area preferably include at least one locating groove and/or locating projection, said locating groove and/or locating projection having a complementary counterpart configured as at least one locating projection and/or locating groove on the controlled or regulated electric voltage source. In the connected condition of the mouthpiece and the voltage source, a respective pole of the voltage source is connected to the contact tabs and via the contact tabs to a respective end of the dual coil and/or the sinuous line of the thermal resistor.
According to another preferred embodiment, at least one pointed and/or sharp-edged opening tab consisting of a metallic foil or a thin sheet, preferably (but not coercively) of the same metallic foil, respectively same thin sheet, as the thermal resistor, extends, with its pointed and/or sharp-edged side first, from the thermal resistor axially in the direction of the flange of the mouthpiece and is implemented such that, when the mouthpiece and the voltage source are being connected, a sealing foil of a storage cartridge between the thermal resistor and the flange is punctured and/or cut open by said opening tab, said storage cartridge being filled with a substance containing active and/or aroma materials.
Hence, the present invention not only allows the provision of a combination of storage and vaporization functions in a single-use mouthpiece which, in comparison with known devices of this type, provides a more efficient vaporization and a reduction of the amount of resources consumed, but it also offers a precisely defined, temporally limited consumer experience.
Due to the fact that the above-described thermal resistor foil is preferably produced by means of punching or die bending, this production can excellently be integrated in a fast-running manufacturing process, and this constitutes another essential advantage of the present invention.
In the following, advantages and advantageous further developments of the invention will be described making reference to the figures enclosed.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention a device according to the present invention is used as a thermal resistor 1, e.g. in a device described in WO2011/0099 20, i.e. a device according to the present invention is combined with a device in which a fluid flows through at least one vaporizer membrane 32 in a flow channel 31, wherein the at least one vaporizer membrane 32 has been and/or is wetted with a substance containing active and/or aroma materials to be vaporized, the device according to the present invention supplying thermal energy to the substance containing active and/or aroma materials, whereby this substance is vaporized and supplied to the fluid stream.
According to this embodiment, the device according to the present invention comprises
The above-described preferred embodiment of the present invention is used with a rod-shaped voltage source 4 with two annular poles 41 on the outer surface of the voltage source-side flange 33, the voltage source having an air discharge opening which is located on the end face of the flange 33 and through which the fluid stream flows into the mouthpiece 3, the flow channel of the voltage source having provided therein a vacuum governor which, in the connected condition, controls the flow of current from the voltage source via the annular poles 41 through the contact tabs 13 and the thermal resistor foil 1 of the mouthpiece 3.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11183197 | Sep 2011 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2012/069135 | 9/27/2012 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2013/045582 | 4/4/2013 | WO | A |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20140305454 A1 | Oct 2014 | US |
