Patent Application
20140174383
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of Endeavor
The present invention relates to a device for vaporizing materials. Specifically, the invention provides a solid state vaporizer with no moving parts that efficiently vaporizes a material without transferring substantial heat beyond the vaporizing chamber.
2. Background Information
There are a great many organic substances from which an essential oil can be extracted. If the essential oil is heated sufficiently, the essential oil will experience a change of state from a liquid into a gaseous state (i.e., a vapor) and will do so without combustion. The vaporized essential oil can then be inhaled to provide a great variety of benefits without inhaling the toxic components that would be present if combustion occurred.
Discovering the medicinal and therapeutic benefits of inhaled vaporized essential oils is likely to become a leading-edge technology. There are enormous varieties of plants from which an essential oil can be extracted, vaporized, and then inhaled. The benefits of but a few of them are only partially understood, at best. With the passage of time it is almost for certain that many benefits, some moderate and some profound, will be discovered appertaining to the inhalation of various types of vaporized essential oils. If benefit is possible through pulmonary entry (i.e., the lungs), the instant invention applies.
A known prior art device exists that is profoundly limited and is comprised essentially of a glass tube that is open at a first end and which includes an enlarged bulb at an opposite second end. A user inhales from the first end. A single small opening is provided at the top of the enlarged bulb. An essential oil is added through the opening at the top of the bulb and allowed to settle in the bottom of the bulb which is then heated to vaporize the oil for inhalation.
The inhalation of a vaporized essential oil may also be useful in avoiding exposure of the beneficial components (i.e., compounds) thereof to enzymes that are present in the stomach. Certain stomach enzymes may destroy or diminish the efficacy of certain compounds that are taken orally. Inhalation provides an alternative path for the entry of these compounds or active ingredients into the bloodstream that averts contact with stomach enzymes.
Accordingly there exists today a need for an essential oil vaporizer that is easy to use and which adequately mixes the vapor with the inhalation stream and which is versatile.
One vaporizer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,524 to Stortz and in a series of related German patents. This “Volcano” vaporizes active plant substances by pumping air through a heated aluminum block, similar to an oven with aeration ducts, and by then delivering vapors to a balloon through which the user inhales the vapors. Water is not employed in the process, so the apparatus does not operate in the manner of a Narghile or “hookah” water pipe.
Another available vaporizer product is the VaporBrothers.™ vaporizer, viewable at http://www.vaporbrothers.com/pages/homepage.html. This is a vaporizing product, but does not employ any significant form of water filtration technology. Limitations of this product also include, but are not limited to restricted draw, narrow airflow, and the absence of water filtration so vapor is neither cooled, nor filtered of dust and metal oxides from a heating element.
As described on http://www.vaposcience.com/and on http://www.aromed.com/en/aromed.html, another commercially available vaporizer product is the “AroMed” Vaporizer, which does employ water filtration. This vaporizer uses a light bulb to generate a hot air source. However, this device suffers from structural limitations that effect performance. The product has restricted vapor yield, is primarily stationary and must sit on a table.
None of the above patents or disclosures describe a device that may be retrofit to a plurality of existing devices designed for smoking. It is therefore desirable to provide such a device.
It is also desirable to provide that allows the vaporization part of the device to obtain the high temperatures necessary for vaporization while not exposing other devices or objects to excess heat.
Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a vaporizing device comprising a vaporizing chamber having a low heat capacity base, a floor, a rim and a lip. The vaporizing device also includes a stem having an abutment and a conduit that extends from the lip of the vaporizing chamber to the end of the conduit, one or more coupling flanges and a heat sink on the stem proximal to the vaporizing chamber.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a unitary vaporizing device having a heat sink proximal to the vaporizing chamber.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims. There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
A more complete understanding of the present invention, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
Stem 14 may have a abutment 16 that may be substantially frustoconical in shape. Stem 14 may also include one or more annular coupling flanges 18, each having a different diameter. The base 14 and coupling flanges 18 may be used to hermetically engage the vaporizer 10 with tubes, pipes or other devices to which it may be attached and which may apply an air pressure differential to the vaporizer 10. Coupling flanges 18 may include rims, shoulders, cusps, cuffs, collars or the like to adjoin and facilitate hermetic sealing with a corresponding coupling mechanism of a device. Stem 14 also may include a heat sink 20 formed by a series of annular cooling fins 22.
The vaporizer 10 may be comprised entirely of a single material and comprise a unitary body, which may facilitate efficient manufacturing. Alternatively, the chamber 12 may be comprised of a separate material and/or the base 32 may be wholly or partially formed of a separate material.
Lips 25 may extend around the entrance to conduit 30. Conduit 30 may extend the entire longitndinal length of stem 14 and may be in fluid communication with the interior of chamber 12 and may provide fluid communication through the abutment 16 with any device attached to the stem 14 by means of the abutment 16 or any of the one or more coupling flanges 18.
When an essential oil 44 or other material is added to the chamber 12, it sublimates or otherwise may change physical states and become a vapor 50, which may also be partly a colloidal suspension. The negative air differential 42 caused by device 40 causes air flow 48 over the rim 46 of the chamber 12. The air flow 48 may capture the vapor 50 and cause it to flow through conduit 30 and into device 40. Device 40 may provide suction by any suitable means, including inhalation by a person.
The heat generated in the chamber 12 may have a tendency to emanate throughout the vaporizer, including down the stem 14. Device 40 may be comprised of a heat sensitive material, such as for example, glass. An extreme heat gradient can damage or break such heat sensitive materials. When heat travels from the chamber 12 down the stem 14, a substantial portion of the heat is dispersed by the heat sink 20. In this embodiment, the heat sink comprises a plurality of annular fins having a high heat capacity. The heat sink draws thermal energy out of the stem and provides a high surface area allowing the heat to dissipate in the air. Thus, only a relatively small amount of heat is conducted down the stem below the heat sink. A solid state heat sink is shown in the drawings, but other heat sinks may be used such as for example a cooling coil, a fan or other cooling systems used for cooling hot metal.
Directly beneath the chamber 52 is a heat sink 64. In this embodiment, heatsink 64 may be comprised of a plurality of annular fins 65 that extend outwardly from stem 60. Fins 65 may optionally be radially symmetric, and may be comprised of material that may have a high heat capacity and be a very poor insulator. The heatsink 64, whether comprised of fins 65 or another mechanism, may dissipate heat which enters it as wasted heat from the chamber 52. The heatsink 54 dissipates any such heat into the ambient air, so that it does not travel further down the stem 60.
Directly beneath the heatsink 64, an annular flange 62 may extend about the stem 60. The annular flange 62 may be utilized to secure the vaporizer 50 to a vaporizing device that provides an air differential, or suction, to the bottom of the stem 60 in order to draw vapor through conduit 70 from chamber 52. The stem 60 may include an enlarged shoulder region 68. The annular flange 62 may include an annular socket 63 formed in part by the shoulder region 68. Socket 63 may provide an ideal means by which a tube, pipe or other device may firmly engage the vaporizer 50. Shoulder region 68 may also provide an added benefit of further dissipating any remaining heat due to its greater mass. Optionally, shoulder region 68 may be comprised of a sleeve or cuff that is slid over the bottom of stem 60. It may be comprised of a separate material, further insulating any device to which it is attached from any heat.
Below chamber 82 is heatsink 94, which may be comprised of two annular fins 95. In this embodiment, heatsink 94, has fewer fins and other embodiments. Depending on the amount of heat applied to the chamber 82 and what materials. The vaporizer 80 is comprised of, fewer fins may adequately dissipate any heat traveling down the stem 90. The use of fewer fins may also facilitate airflow about the fins in order to aid dissipation of heat.
Below heatsink 94 is an annular skirt 92 that may form an annular socket 93 between it and stem 90. In this embodiment, skirt 94 is slightly frustoconical in shape. As a result, the socket 93 is slightly frustoconical in shape also. This may aid in forming a snug fit between the vaporizer 80 and a device to which it may be attached. Optionally, an O-ring or other device may be Incorporated into the socket 93.
In this embodiment, the heatsink 110 is comprised of a plurality of annular fins extending outwardly from the stem 114. An annular flange 112 may be used to create a seal with a device to which the lower part of the stem 114 is connected. A 2nd annular flange 111 may also be included about the stem 114 for the same purpose. Annular flanges 111 and 112 may also serve as ancillary heatsink fins. At the base of the stem 114, an annular cuff 115 may encircle the stem 114. This may also optionally be used to form a seal would connecting the vaporizer 100 to another device.
Whereas, the present invention has been described in relation to the drawings attached hereto, it should be understood that other and further modifications, apart from those shown or suggested herein, may be made within the spirit and scope of this invention. Descriptions of the embodiments shown in the drawings should not be construed as limiting or defining the ordinary and plain meanings of the terms of the claims unless such is explicitly indicated.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/726,622 filed Nov. 15, 2012, the contents of which are hereby incorporated in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61726622 | Nov 2012 | US |
