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WO-2026090958-A1 - A METHOD OF CONTROLLING A DISPOSABLE AEROSOL-GENERATING SYSTEM

WO2026090958A1WO 2026090958 A1WO2026090958 A1WO 2026090958A1WO-2026090958-A1

Abstract

A method of controlling the operation of a disposable aerosol-generating system (1) comprising a heater (18) for heating an aerosol-forming substrate, the method comprising: detecting a plurality of user puffs on the aerosol-generating system; for each puff, determining an operation period for the puff and a cumulative operation period by summing the operation periods of all puffs up until the end of the current puff; monitoring each puff to determine whether an adverse condition has occurred; detecting whether the adverse condition has occurred during a predetermined number of consecutive puffs; if the adverse condition has occurred during a predetermined number of consecutive puffs, determining whether the cumulative operation period exceeds a threshold value and, if the threshold value is exceeded, preventing a supply of power to the heater or providing an indication to a user.

Inventors

  • SILVESTRINI, Patrick Charles
  • FAN, Xiaoyong
  • ZHANG, TAO

Assignees

  • PHILIP MORRIS PRODUCTS S.A.

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20241031

Claims (16)

  1. A method of controlling the operation of a disposable aerosol-generating system comprising a heater for heating an aerosol-forming substrate, the method comprising: detecting a plurality of user puffs on the aerosol-generating system; for each puff, determining an operation period for the puff and a cumulative operation period by summing the operation periods of all puffs up until the end of the current puff; monitoring each puff to determine whether an adverse condition has occurred; detecting whether the adverse condition has occurred during a predetermined number of consecutive puffs; if the adverse condition has occurred during a predetermined number of consecutive puffs, determining whether the cumulative operation period exceeds a threshold value and, if the threshold value is exceeded, preventing a supply of power to the heater or providing an indication to a user.
  2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the adverse condition comprises one or more of the following: - a dry heating event; - production of an unwanted byproduct; - detection of the depletion of the aerosol-forming substrate; and - detection of a depleted power source.
  3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the predetermined number of consecutive puffs is at least 2, and is preferably between 2 and 5.
  4. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the operation period is a puff period, the puff period being a length of time from a start of the puff to an end of the puff.
  5. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the operation period is a heating period, the heating period being the time the heater is heating during a puff.
  6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the heating period starts when a pressure drop within the aerosol-generating system exceeds a heating trigger threshold and ends when the pressure drop no longer exceeds the heating trigger threshold.
  7. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the threshold value is related to one or more of the following: - the capacity of a liquid storage portion for storing liquid aerosol-forming substrate for the aerosol-generating system; - the energy capacity of the power source; and - the number of puffs that have been taken on the aerosol-generating system.
  8. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the threshold value is a time value in the range of 500 to 1, 100 seconds.
  9. A method according to any preceding claim, further comprising performing a modification of the operation period to determine a modified operation period such that the modified operation periods have a greater weight in the cumulative operation period than unmodified operation periods.
  10. A method according to claim 8, wherein the modification comprises raising the operation period to an exponent greater than 1.
  11. A method according to claim 9, wherein the exponent is between 1.05 and 3.
  12. An aerosol-generating system comprising: a liquid storage portion for storing a liquid aerosol-forming substrate; a heater for heating the aerosol-forming substrate; a power source; and a controller, the controller being configured to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 11.
  13. An aerosol-generating system according to claim 12, further comprising a timer for determining the operation period.
  14. An aerosol-generating system according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the cumulative operation period is stored in a non-volatile memory.
  15. An aerosol-generating system according to any of claims 11 to 14, further comprising a user interface for providing the indication to the user.
  16. A computer program, which when run on the controller of the aerosol-generating system of claims 12 to 15, causes the controller to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 11.

Description

A METHOD OF CONTROLLING A DISPOSABLE AEROSOL-GENERATING SYSTEM The present disclosure relates to a method of controlling the operation of a disposable aerosol-generating system. In particular, but not exclusively, the present disclosure relates to a method of controlling the operation of a disposable handheld electrically operated aerosol-generating system comprising a heater for heating an aerosol-forming substrate to generate an aerosol, which is delivered into the mouth of a user. The present disclosure further relates to an aerosol-generating system and a computer program that performs such a method. Aerosol-generating systems that heat a liquid aerosol-forming substrate in order to generate an aerosol for delivery to a user are generally known in the prior art. These systems typically comprise a reservoir containing a liquid aerosol-forming substrate that is capable of releasing volatile compounds when heated. The aerosol-generating system typically also includes a heater for heating the liquid aerosol-forming substrate. Known electrically operated aerosol-generating systems typically heat an aerosol-forming substrate by one or more of: conduction of heat from a heating element to an aerosol-forming substrate, radiation of heat from a heating element to an aerosol-forming substrate or drawing heated air through an aerosol-forming substrate. Heating is achieved by passing an electrical current through an electrically resistive heating element that is supplied with liquid aerosol-forming substrate by some form of wick. When a user takes a puff on the aerosol-generating system, the electric current causes the heating element to be heated by resistive or Joule heating, which, in turn, heats the liquid aerosol-forming substrate supplied by the wick. This causes volatile compounds to be released from the liquid aerosol-forming substrate that cool to form an aerosol. The aerosol is then drawn into a user’s mouth via a mouthpiece of the aerosol-generating system. It is generally desirable for aerosol-generating systems to be able to produce aerosol which is consistent over the lifespan of the system because variations in the aerosol generated can detract from the user’s experience and result in unwanted byproducts being produced. It is therefore desirable to be able to detect the occurrence of an adverse condition during the operation of the aerosol-generating system. An adverse condition is a condition that detracts from the user’s experience, for example, a condition in which the heater does not function as intended or in which unwanted byproducts are produced. One such adverse condition is a “dry heating” event, that is, an event in which insufficient liquid aerosol-forming substrate is present at the heater at the time of heating. Such an event is also termed a “dry puff” . It can result in overheating of the heater and, potentially, thermal degradation of any liquid aerosol-forming substrate that is present, which can produce unwanted by-products. Dry puffs can occur when the liquid in the reservoir of the aerosol-generating system has largely been consumed and insufficient liquid is being  supplied to the heater. A dry puff can therefore be an indicator that the liquid aerosol-forming substrate is starting to become, or is, depleted. Some aerosol-generating systems are disposable in that they are intended to be discarded once they have been used. Such systems are configured to aerosolise a finite amount of liquid before reaching the end of their useful life. Once a disposable aerosol-generating system has reached the end of its useful life it is generally desirable to disable or lock the device to prevent further use or activation of the heater to avoid the occurrence of adverse conditions. One known way of determining the end of life of an aerosol-generating system is to monitor whether an adverse condition has occurred. For example, the system could monitor for a dry puff and, upon detection of the dry puff, disable itself or at least the heater. However, a dry puff can be caused by things other than the reservoir of the aerosol-generating system becoming depleted of liquid aerosol-forming substrate. For example, if the aerosol-generating system is stored between uses in an orientation that prevents liquid aerosol-forming substrate from reaching the heater, such as in an inverted orientation, then it can take some time for liquid to be resupplied to heater when the system is next used and a dry puff may occur. An aerosol-generating system that is configured to lock or disable itself upon detection of a dry puff would therefore do so unnecessarily in this situation. Such a situation can therefore lead to early or premature locking of the system, which can be frustrating for a consumer. Premature locking of the system is generally not an issue in aerosol-generating systems that store liquid aerosol-forming substrate in a replaceable cartridge. A lock or disablement of the system can typically be