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EP-4141323-B1 - FLAME PRODUCING ASSEMBLY

EP4141323B1EP 4141323 B1EP4141323 B1EP 4141323B1EP-4141323-B1

Inventors

  • Antonakis, Ion - Ioannis
  • CHRYSANTHAKOPOULOS, Nikolaos

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20210831

Claims (14)

  1. A flame producing assembly (1) comprising: - a main body (10) having a proximal end (12) and a distal end (14), wherein the flame producing assembly (1) is configured to produce a flame at the proximal end (12), - counting electronics (30) configured to calculate a number of flames and/or use time of flames produced by the flame producing assembly (1), - a flame signal trigger (20) being in electrical communication with the counting electronics (30) and configured to generate an electrical signal when a flame is currently produced by the flame producing assembly (1), wherein the flame signal trigger (20) comprises a thermoelectric nanogenerator (52a) configured to detect an ignition of a flame produced by the flame producing assembly (1), - a flame indicator (40) being in electrical communication with the counting electronics (30) and the counting electronics (30) is configured to provide the flame indicator (40) with an input signal for outputting visual feedback indicative of a number of flames and/or use time of flames produced or producible by the flame producing assembly (1), and - a power supply (50) comprising a nanogenerator (52) being in electrical communication with the counting electronics (30) and configured to supply the flame producing assembly (1) with power by converting thermal or mechanical energy into electrical energy during use of the flame producing assembly (1).
  2. The flame producing assembly (1) of claim 1, wherein the power supply (50) comprises a thermoelectric nanogenerator (52a).
  3. The flame producing assembly (1) of claim 2, wherein the thermoelectric nanogenerator (52a) is arranged at the proximal end (12) and configured to convert excess heat energy of a flame produced during operation of the flame producing assembly (1) into electrical energy.
  4. The flame producing assembly (1) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the power supply (50) comprises a piezoelectric nanogenerator (52b).
  5. The flame producing assembly (1) of claim 4, wherein the piezoelectric nanogenerator (52b) is arranged on an outer surface (16) of the main body (10) and configured to convert mechanical excess energy exerted by a user on the main body (10) during use of the flame producing assembly (1) into electrical energy.
  6. The flame producing assembly (1) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the flame indicator (40) comprises a display (42) which is arranged on an outer surface (16) of the main body (10).
  7. The flame producing assembly (1) of claim 6, wherein the display (42) comprises a segmented display strip with at least two segments (44) for indicating a number of flames and/or use time of flames produced or producible with the flame producing assembly (1).
  8. The flame producing assembly (1) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the counting electronics (30) comprise a processor unit (32) configured to receive and process electrical signals generated by the flame signal trigger (20).
  9. The flame producing assembly (1) of claim 8, wherein the processor unit (32) is configured to count the number of flames and/or the use time of flames produced and/or producible by the flame producing assembly (1) based on the received electrical signals.
  10. The flame producing assembly (1) of any one of claims 8 or 9, wherein the processor unit (32) is configured to drive the flame indicator (40) to output visual feedback indicative of a number of flames and/or use time of flames produced or producible by the flame producing assembly (1).
  11. The flame producing assembly (1) of any one of claims 9 or 10, wherein the counting electronics (30) further comprises a memory (34) for storing the number of flames and/or the use time of flames calculated by the processor unit (32).
  12. The flame producing assembly (1) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the counting electronics (30) comprises a power regulator (36) which is in electrical communication with the power supply (50), the flame signal trigger (20) and with the flame indicator (40), and which is configured to regulate and distribute power to the flame indicator (40) and within the counting electronics (30).
  13. The flame producing assembly (1) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the counting electronics (30) is arranged on or embedded to the main body (10).
  14. The flame producing assembly (1) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the flame producing assembly (1) is configured as one of a lighter, a butane gas cylinder, a gas-powered soldering iron, or a utility blowtorch for paint stripping.

Description

Technical Field The present disclosure relates to the field of flame producing assemblies. Background Flame producing assemblies (FPA) such as lighters are typically used for igniting purposes like igniting tobacco, cigars and/or cigarettes have been developed over the past years. Butane lighters, for instance, work by releasing liquid butane, stored in a pressurized chamber, in a narrow stream of gas. A spark, made by striking a flint with steel or by compressing piezoelectric crystal, ignites the gas which burns at about 2000°C (3600°F). Because butane turns liquid quickly when compressed, and just as quickly returns to gas with reduced pressure, it makes butane gas an ideal fuel for use in lighters. Flame producing assemblies comprise a fuel source of pressurized and liquidized butane. An example is Japanese Patent Application JPS5671719A which discloses a lighter that enables a smoker to know the number of cigarettes he has smoked with ease and to afford convenience to a person who wants to be temperate in smoking, by counting the number of times he has opened and closed a flame extinguishing cap, and displaying the count at an indicating or displaying section of the lighter. Another example is United States Patent Application US2007188504A1, which discloses a lighter including, in one embodiment, a housing, a fuel tank disposed within the housing, a valve adapted to release fuel from the fuel tank, a piezoelectric unit adapted to provide a spark to ignite fuel released from the fuel tank, a display, circuitry, and an activator. The circuitry includes one or more random-number generators, each random-number generator adapted to provide a random number from among a plurality of possible numbers. The circuitry further includes one or more look-up tables, each look-up table mapping each of the plurality of possible numbers from one of the random-number generators to a corresponding alphanumeric phrase. Further prior art can be found in the document CN 206 755 233 U. Typically, the body of a standard cigarette lighter is often compact, durable, and unbreakable in order to maintain the required gas liquification pressures safely. Therefore, in high quality lighters, special grade opaque plastic materials are used that possess the required mechanical properties to provide a safe enclosure for the liquidized butane. The grade of plastic used for the body of the lighter being non-transparent makes it impossible for a user to see, or to estimate, the level of the liquid fuel quantity remaining inside the plastic container. Therefore, a regular lighter user is not able to verify, easily and accurately, if the lighter contains enough fuel to last for a desired period of time. This means that the user of a conventional cigarette lighter cannot observe the amount of fuel remaining inside a conventional cigarette lighter by visual inspection of the cigarette lighter. This leads to conventional cigarette lighters being disposed of before the liquid fuel supply has been fully exhausted. The performance of flame producing assemblies such as cigarette lighters can, therefore, be further improved. Summary The present invention relates to a flame producing assembly according to claim 1. The dependent claims depict embodiments of the present disclosure. The flame producing assembly comprises a main body which has a proximal end and a distal end. The flame producing assembly is configured to produce a flame at the proximal end. Additionally, the flame producing assembly comprises a flame signal trigger, counting electronics, a flame indicator, and a power supply. The flame signal trigger is configured to generate an electrical signal when a flame is currently produced by the flame producing assembly. The flame signal trigger comprises a thermoelectric nanogenerator configured to detect an ignition of a flame produced by the flame producing assembly. The counting electronics is configured to calculate a number of flames and/or use time of flames produced by the flame producing assembly. The counting electronics may be an electronic counter. The flame indicator is configured to output visual feedback indicative of a number of flames and/or use time of flames produced or producible by the flame producing assembly. The power supply comprises a nanogenerator which is configured to supply the flame producing assembly with power by converting thermal or mechanical energy into electrical energy during use of the flame producing assembly. An accurate visualisation of the fuel consumed by a flame producing assembly, or the fuel remaining, is possible even if the flame producing assembly is opaque. Furthermore, it may be difficult for users to view the amount of fuel remaining even with translucent bodies. Use of a flame indicator as discussed herein can improve visibility in a flame producing assembly having translucent and opaque flame producing assembly bodies. This way flame producing assemblies (such as cigarette lighters) are not