EA039233B1 - Combination vaporizer - Google Patents

Abstract

A combination vaporizer (10) is disclosed. The vaporizer includes a first body (20) having a cavity for receiving a cartridge (18) containing a first product, and a second body containing a second product. An atomizer (13) in the first cartridge vaporizes the first product and an atomizer (52) in the second body vaporizes the second product. The two vapors are combined in a controlled amount and exit through an outlet of the first body.

Description

Cross-reference to related applications

This application takes precedence from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/429348, filed December 2, 2016, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/465419, filed March 1, 2017, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein. through a link.

Background of the invention

1. Technical field to which the invention belongs

The present invention generally relates to vaporizers, which may also be referred to as electronic cigarettes.

2. Information about the prior art

Vaporizers have recently emerged as a new product for delivering nicotine and other products in a smokeless inhalation process. There are numerous versions of vaporizers, including electronic cigarettes. As a rule, embodiments consist of a power source (usually a battery) and a spray device. In refillable electronic cigarettes, the two units are separated into a battery and a cartomizer to allow the nicotine-containing fluid to be placed and replaced in the cartomizer, while saving the more expensive battery and associated circuitry (microcontroller, switch, indicator) for additional use. based on light emitting diode (LED), etc.). In disposable electronic cigarettes, the two functions are combined in one assembly so as to be disposed of after either the battery power is depleted or the vaporized fluid (Eliquid), usually containing nicotine, that is associated with the cartomizer is used up.

The e-liquid that is used to generate vapor in e-cigarettes is typically a flavor concentrate, optionally with varying percentages of liquid nicotine concentrate, dissolved in a solution of one or more propylene glycol (PG) and/or vegetable glycerin (VG) , and/or polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400). This liquid is often sold in bottles or disposable cartridges or cartomizers. These liquids are commercially available in many different flavors, including flavors similar to natural tobacco, menthol, vanilla, coffee, cola, and a variety of fruits. There are also e-liquids on the market with a wide range of nicotine concentrations, as well as nicotine-free liquids.

In addition to E-liquid, other products such as waxes and solid materials such as loose leaflets can be used to generate vapor. As a rule, each type of product requires a specific type of atomizer. Loose leaf product can be vaporized with hot steam or gas, while waxes and E-liquids can be vaporized by contact with the heating element.

Brief summary of the invention

An evaporator for evaporating combinations of products is disclosed. The evaporator includes a first housing, a cartridge, a second housing, a controller, and a fluid passageway. The first housing has an air inlet channel and a cavity for the introduction of the cartridge. The cartridge is placed in the cavity and contains the first product. The second body contains the second product and has a recess corresponding in shape to the first body. The controller is in communication with the first cartridge and the second housing, and is designed to regulate the amount of steam produced by each cartridge. A fluid passage extends from the second housing through an inlet to the first housing to supply vapor from the second housing to the first cartridge.

Brief description of the drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates an isometric view of an evaporator;

fig. 2 illustrates a view of the evaporator according to FIG. 1 disassembled;

fig. 3 illustrates cartridges for use in the evaporator of FIG. one;

fig. 4 illustrates a schematic view of the air flow in the evaporator according to FIG. one;

fig. 5 illustrates an additional reservoir in one embodiment;

fig. 6 illustrates a schematic view of the air flow in the additional tank according to FIG. 5;

fig. 7 illustrates an evaporator in one embodiment combined with an additional reservoir;

fig. 8 illustrates a schematic view of the air flow in the embodiment of FIG. 7;

fig. 9 illustrates an embodiment of a method for producing steam generated according to the user's needs.

Detailed description of the invention

The following detailed description and accompanying drawings describe and illustrate some embodiments of the invention with the aim of enabling a person of ordinary skill in the relevant field of technology to make and use these embodiments. As such, the detailed description and illustration of these embodiments are purely illustrative in nature and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.

- 1 039233 in any way. It should also be understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, and in certain cases, details may be omitted that are not necessary for an understanding of the embodiments, such as manufacturing and assembly details. In the accompanying drawings, like numbers represent like components.

Fig. 1 illustrates an isometric view of the evaporator 10. Vaporizer 10 holds a product such as E-liquid, wax, or solids in cartridges that are inserted into vaporizer 10. Since each type of product may require a different type of atomizer, each cartridge may have a built-in atomizer. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that a variety of types of atomizers currently exist and can be used to vaporize product in a cartridge. Vaporizer 10 supplies electricity to the cartridge, which drives the atomizer to generate vapor from the product. The steam, in turn, mixes with the incoming air to be supplied to the user. The evaporator 10 typically includes a power source, such as a battery, and a control panel 16 providing an interface for the user to operate the evaporator 10. The lower end 14 of the evaporator 10 has an inlet 15 (FIG. 2) for receiving incoming air, and an upper end 12 of the evaporator 10 may have an outlet channel for supplying steam. The inlet 15 may be in addition to the inlet of the air receiving cartridge, or it may be only one inlet. The inlet 15 creates a fluid flow through the evaporator to the cartridge. The vaporizer 10 may also have a power port for battery charging, or an inductive element for wireless battery charging.

Fig. 2 illustrates an exploded view of the first element of the evaporator 10. The evaporator 10 includes a cartridge 18, a housing 20, a control panel 16 and a battery 22. The battery 22 and the control panel 16 can be permanently fixed inside the housing 20, while the cartridge 18 can be removed from the housing 20 The control panel 16 is electrically connected to the battery 22 and to the cartridge 18 when assembled.

Fig. 3 illustrates cartridges 24 for use in the first vaporizer element 10. Cartridges 24 include a leaflet cartridge 26, a wax cartridge 28, and an e-liquid cartridge 30. Cartridges 24 can be releasably fixed within the upper end 12 of the vaporizer 10, and exchanged from one to another depending on the preference of the user. Each cartridge 24 contains product in a container 11 for vaporized product, and an atomizer 13 specific to that type of product. Cartridge 24 can be refilled by the user. The control panel 16 can recognize the type of cartridge 24 when using the vaporizer 10 and adjust vaporization parameters such as voltage applied to the cartridge and duration as needed for the type of product. The control panel 16 may allow further modification at the request of the user, or manual adjustment in the case of a product that is not recognized by the control panel 16.

Fig. 4 illustrates a schematic view of the evaporator 10 according to FIG. 1. Arrow 4 illustrates the air path from the lower end of evaporator 10 out of inlet 15. Arrow 5 illustrates an alternate air path using inlet 16. Embodiments may provide a selectable air path such that air can flow along arrow 4 or arrow 5. The evaporated liquid, after being evaporated in the atomizer 13, is discharged to the environment through the steam outlet 17 .

Fig. 5 illustrates an add-on tank 40 (second vaporizer element) that enhances the functionality of the vaporizer 10. The add-on tank 40 is designed to be connected to the vaporizer 10 and provides improvements such as increased battery life, an additional heater block, and/or an additional product. In the embodiment according to FIG. 4, the supplementary reservoir 40 has a body 41 with a recess 42 that conforms in shape to the lower end 14 of the evaporator 10. The lower end 14 of the evaporator 10 can be inserted into the recess 42 to connect the evaporator 10 and the additional reservoir 40 to each other. While the additional reservoir 40 is shown with a cylindrical body, other shapes such as a rectangular box or a sphere are also possible.

Fig. 6 illustrates a schematic view of the additional reservoir 40 of FIG. 5. Auxiliary reservoir 40 has a fluid flow path, indicated by arrow 7. Auxiliary reservoir 40 includes an interface 44 for communication with the vaporizer 10. Interface 44 may communicate with the vaporizer 10 through a charging port, or alternatively may have electrical contacts that contact with the corresponding contacts of the evaporator 10. The control panel 16 can identify the additional tank 40 and modify the interface accordingly.

The additional reservoir 40 further includes a passage 46 which coincides with the air inlet passage 15 of the evaporator 10 when attached. Channel 46 allows the evaporator 10 to continue receiving air when the additional reservoir 40 is attached to the evaporator 10.

Fig. FIG. 7 also illustrates an atomizer 52 and a heating element 54, each of which is invisible to the naked eye. The incoming air passes through the channel 46 or outlet channel 56 for steam.

Fig. 8 schematically illustrates an evaporator 10 connected to an additional reservoir 40. A fluid passage 43 extends through the additional reservoir 40 and into the evaporator 10. In embodiments in which the additional reservoir 40 is an accumulator, the fluid passage 43 may be a simple conduit passing through the additional reservoir 40 for conducting air to the inlet 15 of the evaporator 10. In other embodiments, the additional reservoir 40 may contain an additional heater and additional product in the product container for evaporation. In such embodiments, steam from the additional tank 40 and air are supplied to the evaporator 10 through the channel 46.

An additional atomizer in the additional tank 40 allows the vaporizer to produce combinations of vapor from individual products. The control panel 16 can adjust the relative evaporation rate between the two atomizers, which can be adjusted based on the user's preferences.

The optional reservoir 40 provides the ability to create product combinations such as E-liquid and single leaves, E-liquid and wax, E-liquid (flavor 1) and E-liquid (flavor 2), single leaves and wax. In addition to these combinations, the user can adjust the relative quantities of the product to obtain a variety of products.

Fig. 9 illustrates a method 60 for supplying a combination of steam from various products. In step 62, an additional tank is attached to the evaporator, for example, as an additional tank 40 to the evaporator 10. The desired operating parameters are selected in step 64. This can be done through the control panel 16. The first product is vaporized in step 66 and the second product is vaporized in step 68. For example, the first product may be vaporized in cartridge 24 and the second product may be vaporized in auxiliary tank 40. The two vapors are then combined in stage 70. The two vapors may be combined passing the second vapor through channel 46 and through the evaporator 10. The second vapor then enters the cartridge 24 to be mixed with the first vapor. The combined vapor is then removed in step 72. The combined vapor may be removed through the outlet port of the evaporator 10.

The foregoing descriptions of embodiments of the invention are intended to be illustrative and non-limiting. Various modifications of the invention, in addition to those described here, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Such modifications are also intended to be within the scope of the concept described here. The content of each patent, patent application and publication cited or described in this document is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The foregoing description of possible embodiments consistent with the present invention is not an exhaustive list of all such embodiments or all variations of the described embodiments. The description of some embodiments should not be construed as an intent to exclude other embodiments. For example, those skilled in the art will appreciate how to carry out the invention in many other ways, using equivalents and variations that do not depart from the scope of the invention. Moreover, unless otherwise noted in the foregoing description, none of the components described in the embodiments are essential to the invention. It is hereby intended that the embodiments disclosed in the description be regarded as illustrative, with the true scope and spirit of the invention being set forth in the claims of the following claims.

Claims (11)

1. The evaporator, including the first element (10) of the evaporator, containing the first housing (20), having an upper end (12) and a lower end (14), and the first housing has a cavity at the upper end to accommodate the cartridge (18, 24), the first an air inlet (15, 19) and a first steam outlet (17), a first cartridge (18, 24) placed in the cavity, the first cartridge containing the first evaporating product and the first atomizer (13) for spraying the first evaporating product, and an accumulator (22) fixed in the first body; the second element (40) of the evaporator, including the second housing (41) containing the heating element (54), the second air inlet, the second steam outlet (46, 56) and the second evaporated product, the second housing having a recess (42) , consistent in shape with the lower end (14) of the first housing, thereby allowing the insertion of the lower end of the first evaporator element into the recess; a controller (16) in electrical connection with the first cartridge (18, 24) and the second evaporator element (40), the controller being designed to control the amount of steam produced by the first cartridge (18, 24) and the second housing (41); - 3 039233 a first fluid passage extending from the second vapor outlet through the first air inlet to the first cartridge for combining the vapor from the second evaporator element with the vapor generated by the first cartridge; and a second fluid passage extending from the first cartridge to the first vapor outlet. 2. An evaporator according to claim 1, wherein the first cartridge (18, 24) is removable from the first housing. 3. An evaporator according to claim 1, wherein the fluid passage and electrical connection between the first housing (20) and the second housing (41) is established by inserting the lower end of the first housing into the recess of the second housing. 4. The evaporator of claim 1, wherein the first vaporizable product is a material containing any of a solid material, a waxy material, and a liquid. 5. Evaporator according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to identify the connection of the second element (40) of the evaporator. 6. The evaporator of claim 1, wherein the first vaporizable product comprises a first material and the second vaporizable product comprises a second material different from the first material. 7. The vaporizer of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to recognize the type of the first cartridge and adjust the voltage applied to the cartridge. 8. An evaporator according to claim 1, wherein the second steam outlet (46, 56) is configured to match the first steam inlet. 9. The evaporator according to claim 1, in which the first element (10) of the evaporator further comprises a power supply port for charging the battery (22). 10. The evaporator according to claim 1, in which the first element (10) of the evaporator further comprises an inductive element for wireless charging of the battery. 11. A method for delivering a combination of steam from a first vaporizable product and a second vaporizable product, the method comprising forming an evaporator according to claim 1; attaching the second evaporator element to the first evaporator element; selection of operating parameters for the first atomizer and heating element; evaporation of the first evaporated product; evaporation of the second evaporated product; combining the vaporized first vaporized product with the vaporized second vaporized product; and withdrawing the combined vapor from the evaporator.