US-20260123686-A1 - ELECTRONIC SMOKE APPARATUS

US20260123686A1US 20260123686 A1US20260123686 A1US 20260123686A1US-20260123686-A1

Abstract

An electronic smoke comprises a puff detection sub-assembly module. The puff detection sub-assembly comprises a first conductive surface, a second conductive surface and an insulated ring spacer separating the first and the second conductive surfaces at an effective separation distance. The first conductive surface, the second conductive surface and the insulated ring spacer are housed inside a metallic can. The first conductive surface is electrically connected to the metal can by a first conductive ring which is disposed between the first conductive surface and a ceiling portion of the metal can. The second conductive surface is electrically connected to an output terminal through a second conductive ring, the second conductive ring elevating the puff detection sub-assembly above a floor portion of the metal can and urging the first conductive ring against a ceiling portion of the metal can.

Inventors

Loi Ying Liu

Assignees

ALTRIA CLIENT SERVICES LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251107
Priority Date: 20090918

Claims (20)

1 . An electronic vaping device comprising: a puff sensor assembly including a capacitor arranged in a metal casing, wherein the capacitor includes a flexible conductive membrane and a rigid conductive plate spaced apart by an insulating spacer and an air dielectric between the flexible conductive membrane and the rigid conductive plate, the flexible conductive membrane is configured to deform based on airflow through the electronic vaping device, and a capacitance of the capacitor varies based on deformation of the flexible conductive membrane; and a sensing oscillator circuit coupled to the capacitor, the sensing oscillator circuit configured to sense a rate and direction of the airflow through the electronic vaping device based on the capacitance of the capacitor, and selectively actuate a heater based on the rate and direction of the airflow through the electronic vaping device.
2 . The electronic vaping device of claim 1 , wherein the flexible conductive membrane is configured to bend in the direction of the airflow through the electronic vaping device.
3 . The electronic vaping device of claim 1 , further comprising: a circuit board spaced apart from the capacitor in the metal casing.
4 . The electronic vaping device of claim 3 , wherein the circuit board is electrically connected to the capacitor.
5 . The electronic vaping device of claim 1 , further comprising: a battery configured to provide power to the electronic vaping device; a reservoir configured to hold liquid formulation; and the heater, wherein the heater is configured to heat liquid formulation drawn from the reservoir.
6 . The electronic vaping device of claim 1 , wherein the rate and direction of the airflow through the electronic vaping device is indicative of a draw action or a blowing action at an end of the electronic vaping device; and the sensing oscillator circuit is configured to actuate the heater in response to the rate and direction indicating the draw action, but not in response to the rate and direction indicating the blowing action.
7 . The electronic vaping device of claim 1 , wherein the capacitor consists essentially of the flexible conductive membrane and the rigid conductive plate spaced apart by the insulating spacer and the air dielectric between the flexible conductive membrane and the rigid conductive plate.
8 . The electronic vaping device of claim 1 , wherein the insulating spacer is a ring-shaped insulating spacer.
9 . An electronic vaping device comprising: a puff sensor including a metal casing, and a capacitor arranged in the metal casing, the capacitor having a variable capacitance and including a flexible conductive membrane and a rigid conductive plate spaced apart by an insulating spacer and an air dielectric between the flexible conductive membrane and the rigid conductive plate, wherein the flexible conductive membrane is configured to deform in response to airflow through the electronic vaping device, and wherein the variable capacitance varies based on deformation of the flexible conductive membrane; a sensing oscillation circuit electrically coupled to the capacitor, the sensing oscillation circuit configured to generate an oscillation frequency based on the variable capacitance of the capacitor, and determine, based on the oscillation frequency, whether the airflow through the electronic vaping device corresponds to a draw action or a blowing action on the electronic vaping device.
10 . The electronic vaping device of claim 9 , wherein the flexible conductive membrane is configured to bend in a direction of the airflow through the electronic vaping device.
11 . The electronic vaping device of claim 9 , wherein the sensing oscillation circuit is configured generate an output indicating whether the airflow through the electronic vaping device corresponds to the draw action or the blowing action on the electronic vaping device; and the electronic vaping device includes a heater configured to heat liquid formulation drawn from a reservoir, and a controller configured to selectively actuate the heater based on the output from the sensing oscillation circuit.
12 . The electronic vaping device of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to actuate the heater in response to the output corresponding to the draw action.
13 . The electronic vaping device of claim 12 , wherein the controller is further configured to output an actuation signal to the heater to actuate the heater.
14 . The electronic vaping device of claim 11 , wherein the controller does not actuate the heater in response to the output corresponding to the blowing action.
15 . The electronic vaping device of claim 9 , further comprising: a battery configured to provide power to the electronic vaping device; a reservoir configured to hold liquid formulation; and a heater configured to heat liquid formulation drawn from the reservoir.
16 . The electronic vaping device of claim 9 , wherein the capacitor consists essentially of the flexible conductive membrane and the rigid conductive plate spaced apart by the insulating spacer and the air dielectric between the flexible conductive membrane and the rigid conductive plate.
17 . The electronic vaping device of claim 9 , wherein the insulating spacer is a ring-shaped insulating spacer.
18 . The electronic vaping device of claim 9 , further comprising: a circuit board spaced apart from the capacitor in the metal casing.
19 . The electronic vaping device of claim 18 , wherein the circuit board is electrically connected to the capacitor.
20 . The electronic vaping device of claim 9 , further comprising: a heater configured to heat liquid formulation drawn from a reservoir, and wherein the sensing oscillation circuit is configured to selectively actuate the heater based on whether the airflow through the electronic vaping device corresponds to the draw action or the blowing action.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 18/635,492, filed on Apr. 15, 2024, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/560,495, filed on Sep. 4, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/793,453, filed on Jul. 7, 2015, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/131,705, filed on May 27, 2011, which is the U.S. National Phase of PCT Application No. PCT/IB2010/052949, filed Jun. 29, 2010, which claims priority to Chinese Application No. 2009201793166, filed Sep. 18, 2009, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND Electronic smoke apparatus are electronic substitutes of their conventional tobacco burning counterparts and are gaining increasing popularity and acceptance. Electronic smoke apparatus are usually in the form of electronic cigarettes or electronic cigars, but are also available in other forms. Typically electronic smoke apparatus comprise a rigid housing and a battery operated vaporizer which is to operate to excite a flavoured source to generate a visible and flavoured vapour. The flavoured vapour is delivered to a user in response to suction of the user at a smoke outlet on the rigid housing of the smoke apparatus to simulate smoking. SUMMARY In this specification, the terms electronic smoke and electronic smoke apparatus are interchangeable and includes electronic smoke apparatus which are known as electronic cigarettes, electronic cigar, e-cigarette, personal vaporizers etc., without loss of generality. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example electronic cigarette according to the present disclosure, FIG. 1A depicts schematically the example electronic cigarette of FIG. 1 during example operations, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example smoking puff detection module of the example electronic cigarette of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram depicting the example puff detection sub-assembly of the smoking puff detection module of FIG. 2 in a stand-by mode, FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram depicting a first example operation mode of the smoking puff detection module when air flows in a first direction through the smoking puff, FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram depicting a second example operation mode of the smoking puff detection module when air flows in a second direction opposite to the first direction through the smoking puff, FIG. 4A is a diagram depicting example relationship between characteristic capacitance value of the puff detection sub-assembly of FIG. 3 and air flow rate when operating in the first example operation mode of FIG. 3A, FIG. 4B is a diagram depicting example relationship between characteristic capacitance value of the puff detection sub-assembly of FIG. 3 and air flow rate when operating in the second example operation mode of FIG. 3B, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram depicting electronic circuitry of the example electronic cigarette of FIG. 1, FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram of an example operation and control device of FIG. 5, FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram of an example capacitance measurement device of FIG. 5A, FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example smoking puff detection and actuation module, FIG. 8 shows an example electronic smoke comprising a smoking puff detection and actuation module of FIG. 7, FIG. 8A is a schematic diagram of electronic arrangement of the example electronic smoke of FIG. 8, FIG. 9A depicts example relationship between oscillation frequency change and airflow rate entering the example electronic smoke, FIG. 9B shows example relationship between airflow rate entering the example electronic smoke and data count of the data counter, FIG. 9C to 9H show relationship different smoking inhaling behavior and actuation time of the vaporizer, FIGS. 10A to 10C depicts example electronic smokes, FIGS. 11A to 11C depicts example electronic smokes, and FIG. 12 show another example electronic smoke. DETAILED DESCRIPTION An electronic smoke 10 comprising a battery powered smoking puff detection module 20 and a rigid main housing 40 is depicted in FIGS. 1 and 1A. The smoking puff detection module 20 is installed inside the main housing 40 at a location downstream of and proximal the air inlet 42. A battery for operating the electronic smoke 10, an operation and control device 80 and a battery operable vaporizer and a source of flavouring substances are installed inside the air passageway 46 of the main housing while leaving an airflow path for air to move from the air inlet 42 to the air outlet 44. The rigid main housing 40 is elongate and defines an air inlet 42, an air outlet 44 and an air passageway 46. The air inlet 42 is at a first longitudinal end of the rigid main housing 40 and is in the form of an aperture on one lateral side of the main housing 40, t