EP3954239A1

EP3954239A1 - Heat-not-burn device, method, and system for tobacco product

Info

Publication number: EP3954239A1
Application number: EP19932835.2A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Dan Li; Huachen LIU; Yikun Chen; Ting Huang
Original assignee: China Tobacco Hubei Industrial LLC
Current assignee: China Tobacco Hubei Industrial LLC
Priority date: 2019-06-14
Filing date: 2019-10-31
Publication date: 2022-02-16
Also published as: EP3954239A4; WO2020248475A1; CN112075668A; KR102697093B1; KR20220002373A

Abstract

A heat-not-burn device, method, and system for tobacco products. The device includes a housing (10) and a heating body (11) and a power supply (14) provided inside the housing (10). The device further includes: an induction unit (12) configured to sense and generate induction signals; and a control circuit (13) electrically connected to the induction unit (12) and the heating body (11), and configured to receive the induction signals and to control, according to the received induction signals, an operating temperature of the heating body (11) to switch among a plurality of temperature intervals, wherein the plurality of temperature intervals at least includes a heat preservation interval and an excitation temperature interval. The heat-not-burn device, method, and system for tobacco products can reduce the heat loss of a heat-not-burn device.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure belongs to the field of heating tobacco products, and specifically relates to a heat-not-burn device, method and system for tobacco products.

BACKGROUND

It is intended to provide background or context for the embodiments of the present disclosure as stated in the claims. The description here is not recognized as prior art just because it is included herein.
At present, the heat-not-burn low-temperature cigarette is an important direction for the current development of new tobacco. Among them, the temperature control logic of the heating body that heats the low-temperature cigarettes directly affects user experience, smoking experience, work efficiency, battery durability and other issues. At present, the temperature of the heating body is generally controlled by changing the resistance temperature coefficient of the heater, causing the heating body to always be in a higher temperature state during the working process, and further causing the heat loss of the heating body to be too high.

SUMMARY

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present disclosure provides a heat-not-burn device, method and system for tobacco products. By controlling the operating temperature of the heating body to switch between a plurality of temperature intervals, it can solve the problem of heat loss caused by continuous excitation heating, and energy conversion can be efficient and smoking experience can be better.
The present disclosure provides the following solutions.
A heat-not-burn device for tobacco products, comprising a housing, a heating body and a power supply provided inside the housing, wherein further comprising:

an induction unit configured to sense and generate induction signals;
a control circuit electrically connected to the induction unit and the heating body, and configured to receive the induction signals and control an operating temperature of the heating body to switch among a plurality of temperature intervals according to the received induction signals;
wherein: the plurality of temperature intervals comprise at least a heat preservation interval and an excitation temperature interval.

In a preferred embodiment, the induction unit comprises a manual induction unit;
the manual induction unit is configured to generate the induction signals in response to at least one of the following control commands: mechanical button commands, touch button commands, grip button commands, and squeeze button commands.
In a preferred embodiment, the induction unit comprises an automatic induction unit;
the automatic induction unit is configured to detect at least one of the following environmental parameters: air pressure parameters, airflow parameters, pressure parameters, capacitance parameters, vertical displacement distance parameters, and lip touch pressure parameters; and according to at least one detected environmental parameter, automatic induction unit is configured to generate the induction signals.
In a preferred embodiment, the induction signals comprise at least a heat preservation induction signal; wherein
the induction unit generates the heat preservation induction signal in response to an activation signal of the heat-not-burn device, and the control circuit controls the heating body to preheat to the heat preservation temperature interval in response to the heat preservation induction signal.
In a preferred embodiment, the induction signal includes at least an excitation induction signal; wherein

when the operating temperature of the heating body falls within the heat preservation temperature interval, the control circuit controls the operating temperature of the heating body to switch to the excitation temperature interval in response to the excitation induction signal;
when the operating temperature of the heating body falls within the excitation temperature interval, the control circuit controls the operating temperature of the heating body to switch to the heat preservation temperature interval in response to an interruption of the excitation induction signal.

In a preferred embodiment, the excitation temperature interval comprises a plurality of excitation temperature sub-intervals; and,

when the operating temperature of the heating body falls within the heat preservation interval, the operating temperature of the heating body is controlled to switch to one of the plurality of the excitation temperature sub-intervals, according to the excitation induction signal and an accumulated duration of excitation heating of the heating body and/or an accumulated number of puffs;
when the operating temperature of the heating body falls within the excitation temperature interval, the operating temperature of the heating body is controlled to be switch among the plurality of the excitation temperature sub-intervals, according to the excitation induction signal and the accumulated duration of excitation heating of the heating body and/or the accumulated number of puffs.

In a preferred embodiment, in a working cycle, a temperature peak value of the excitation temperature interval increases as an extension of the accumulated duration of excitation heating of the heating body, or maintains constant.
In a preferred embodiment, wherein the control circuit is electrically connected to the power supply to detect a remaining power; and

when it is detected that the remaining power is lower than a preset threshold, and/or
when it is detected that the accumulated duration of excitation temperature of the heating body reaches a predetermined duration, and/or
the accumulated number of puffs reaches a predetermined number,
the heating body is controlled to end heating.

A heat-not-burn method for tobacco products, wherein adopting the heat-not-burn device above-mentioned to heat a smoking substrate.
A heat-not-burn system for tobacco products, wherein comprising the heat-not-burn device for tobacco products above-mentioned and a smoking substrate.
The above-mentioned at least one technical solution adopted in the embodiments of the present disclosure can achieve the following beneficial effects: by providing the induction unit and the control circuit, the operating temperature of the heating body can be manually or automatically switched in a plurality of temperature intervals, so that the heat loss during the working process of the heating body can be reduced.
It should be understood that the above description is only an overview of the technical solution of the present disclosure, so that the technical means of the present disclosure can be understood more clearly, so that it can be implemented in accordance with the content of the description. In order to make the above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure more obvious and understandable, the following specifically describes the specific embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

By reading the detailed description of the exemplary embodiments below, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand the advantages and benefits described herein as well as other advantages and benefits. The drawings are only intended for illustrating exemplary embodiments, and are not considered as a limitation to the present disclosure. And throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals are used to denote the same parts. In the attached figures:

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view illustrating a heat-not-burn device for tobacco products according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an operating temperature curve according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure;
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating another operating temperature curve according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

In the drawings, the same or corresponding reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the drawings show exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be limited by the embodiments set forth herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided to enable a more thorough understanding of the present disclosure and to fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art.
In the present disclosure, the embodiments of the present disclosure and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other if there is no conflict. Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings and in combination with the embodiments.
The technical solutions of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below in combination with the accompanying drawings in the present disclosure.

Embodiment One

Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a schematic diagram of a heat-not-burn device 1 for tobacco products according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.
As shown in FIG. 1, the heat-not-burn device 1 may include a housing 10 provided with a long strip heating body 11 with a sharp port, and at least a part of the heating body 11 may be provided in the heating cavity with a side opening. Therefore, the smoking substrate including low-temperature cigarettes can be inserted on the heating body 11 and then received in the heating cavity. Optionally, the heating body 11 may also be formed in other shapes, such as a ring-shaped heating body enclosed in the heating cavity, which is not specifically limited in the present disclosure.
An induction unit 12 may be provided on the surface or inside of the housing 10, and the induction unit 12 may be used for sensing and generating induction signals. Specifically, the induction unit 12 receives a user's control instruction and senses and generates induction signals in the form of electrical signals, where the user can issue the control instruction through multiple actions such as keystroke action, puffing action, lip contact, and so on. Specifically, the above-mentioned induction signals may include an excitation induction signal induced in response to a control instruction for indicating a user's puffing demand. Optionally, the above-mentioned induction signals may also include a heat preservation induction signal induced in response to a control instruction for indicating that the user does not need to puff temporarily. For example, the induction unit 12 may be formed as an air pressure sensor or an airflow sensor, so that in response to the user's smoking action on the smoking substrate, it can receive a control instruction for indicating the user's puffing demand, then generate an excitation induction signal by induction, and transmit the excitation induction signal to a control circuit 13 to realize the user's control of the heating process.
The control circuit 13 may be provided inside the housing 10. The control circuit 13 may be electrically connected to the induction unit 12 and the heating body 11 for receiving induction signals from the induction unit 12 and controlling the operating temperature of the heating body 11 switched among a plurality of temperature intervals according to the received induction signals. Wherein the plurality of temperature intervals may include at least a heat preservation interval and an excitation temperature interval. Specifically, the temperature in the heat preservation temperature interval is lower than the smoking temperature of the smoking substrate, and the temperature in the excitation temperature interval is higher than the smoking temperature of the smoking substrate. Therefore, the control circuit 13 can rapidly increase the operating temperature of the heating body 11 to an excitation temperature interval higher than the smoking temperature of the smoking substrate after receiving the excitation induction signal from the induction unit 12, so that the smoking substrate can be heated and smoked to meet the user's smoking requirements. Further, when the above-mentioned excitation induction signal is interrupted or the heat preservation induction signal sent by the induction unit is received, the operating temperature of the heating body 11 can be lowered to a heat preservation and smoking temperature lower than the smoking temperature of the smoking substrate, so that the smoking substrate stops smoking and may be kept in a heat-preservation state higher than room temperature, thereby avoiding continuous smoking when the user has no puffing demand, and can help quickly respond to the user's next puffing demand.
A power supply 14 may be also provided inside the housing 10 for supplying power to the heat-not-burn device 1 including the heating body 11, the induction unit 12, and the control circuit 13.
In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 1, further, the induction unit 12 may include a manual induction unit 121. The manual induction unit 121 may be configured to generate the induction signals in response to at least one of the following control commands: mechanical button commands, touch button commands, grip button commands, squeeze button commands.
In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 1, further, the induction unit 12 may further include an automatic induction unit 122. The automatic induction unit 122 may be formed to include a variety of sensors, such that it may be used to detect at least one of the following environmental parameter: air pressure parameter, airflow parameter, pressure parameter, capacitance parameter, vertical displacement distance parameter, lip touch pressure parameter; and an induction signal may be generated according to at least one detected environmental parameter. For example, for control instructions that are not directly triggered by the user, it is impossible to directly obtain the control instruction indicating the puffing demand. Therefore, the present disclosure uses sensors to obtain environmental parameters through the sensors, and then indirectly derives the user from the obtained environmental parameters. For example, when the automatic induction unit detects that the air pressure in the flue of the heat-not-burn device exceeds a preset threshold, it can be analyzed to deduce that the user has performed a puffing action, and then generate an excitation induction signal.
Optionally, the above-mentioned induction unit 12 may be separately provided with a manual induction unit 121, or separately provided with an automatic induction unit 122, Alternatively, the manual induction unit 121 may be combined with the automatic induction unit 122, which is not specifically limited in the present disclosure.
The following briefly describes the control logic of the control circuit in the present embodiment:

In some embodiments, the induction unit 12 can generate a heat preservation induction signal in response to an activation signal of the heat-not-burn device 1, and the control circuit 13 further controls the heating body 11 to preheat to the heat preservation temperature interval in response to the heat preservation induction signal. In this way, the smoking substrate may be maintained at a temperature higher than normal temperature but does not atomize and emit smoke, facilitating the subsequent rapid response to the user's puffing demand to generate smoke.
In some embodiments, further, when the operating temperature of the heating body 11 falls within the heat preservation interval, the control circuit 13 may control the operating temperature of the heating body 11 to switch to the exciting temperature interval in response to the excitation induction signal, such that the smoke substrate stimulates heat and generates smoke to meet the user's puffing needs. Further, when the operating temperature of the heating body 11 falls within the excitation temperature interval, the control circuit 13 may control the operating temperature of the heating body 11 to switch to the heat preservation temperature interval in response to the interruption of the excitation induction signal and/or the heat preservation induction signal, so that the smoking substrate stops smoking and may be kept in a heat-preservation state higher than room temperature, such that it can prevent the smoking substrate from continuing to smoke when the user has no puffing demand, and can help quickly respond to the user's next puffing demand.

Optionally, when the operating temperature of the heating body 11 falls within the heat preservation temperature interval, the operating temperature of the heating body 11 may be controlled to be kept in the heat preservation temperature interval in response to the heat preservation induction signal; when the operating temperature of the heating body 11 falls within the excitation temperature interval, the control circuit 13 may control the operating temperature of the heating body 11 to maintain at the excitation temperature interval in response to the excitation induction signal.
Optionally, the induction signals may also include a stop heating induction signal for instructing the user to stop smoking, so that when the operating temperature of the heating body 11 is in any temperature interval, the control circuit 13 may controls the heating body 11 to stop heating in response to stop heating induction signal.
In some embodiments, further, the excitation temperature interval may include a plurality of excitation temperature sub-intervals; and, in a working cycle, when the operating temperature of the heating body 11 falls within the heat preservation interval, according to the excitation induction signal and an accumulated duration of the excitation heating of the heating body 11 and/or an accumulated number of puffs, the operating temperature of the heat body 11 may be controlled to switch from the heat preservation interval to one of the plurality of excitation temperature sub-intervals. Specifically, as the accumulated duration of excitation heating is increased, the operating temperature of the heating body may be controlled to switch to the excitation temperature sub-interval with a higher temperature. In a working cycle, when the operating temperature of the heating body 11 falls within the excitation temperature interval, according to the excitation induction signal and an accumulated duration of excitation heating of the heating body 11 and/or an accumulated number of puffs, the operating temperature of the heating body can be controlled to switch among the plurality of the excitation temperature sub-intervals. Specifically, the operating temperature of the heating body can be controlled to switch to an excitation temperature sub-interval with a higher temperature as the accumulated duration of excitation heating increases. By setting a plurality of excitation temperature sub-intervals, the characteristics of the smoking substrate can be better matched, and the continuity and uniformity of the smoke generated by the smoking substrate before and after smoking can be ensured.
In some embodiments, the control circuit 13 may be electrically connected to the power supply 14 to detect a remaining power, and when the remaining power is detected to be lower than a preset threshold, the heating body 11 may be controlled to end heating. Optionally, when the control circuit 13 detects that the accumulated duration of excitation heating of the smoking substrate reaches a predetermined duration, or the accumulated number of puffs reaches a predetermined number, the heating body 11 may be controlled to end heating, so as to prevent the smoking substrate from still being heated continuously after exhausted.
In some embodiments, the induction unit 12 may be also used to detect the state of the smoking substrate. When it is detected that the user replaces a new smoking substrate, it sends out a heat preservation induction signal, so that the control circuit 13 controls the operating temperature of the heating body 11 to be adjusted to the heat preservation temperature interval in response to the heat preservation induction signal.
In some embodiments, in a working cycle, the peak temperature of the excitation temperature interval increases/or remains unchanged as the accumulated duration of excitation heating of the heating body increases, or increases/or remain unchanged as the accumulated number of puffs increases. Specifically, a working cycle specifically refers to a heating working cycle of a smoking substrate. For example, FIGS. 2 and 3 show preset operating temperature curves for different smoking substrates. T1 represents the peak temperature of the excitation temperature interval, and TO represents the lowest value of the heat preservation temperature interval. Among them, the smoking substrate corresponding to the operating temperature curve shown in FIG. 2 contains a substrate with a similar atomization temperature, so there is no need to adjust the temperature peak of the excitation temperature interval. The smoking substrate corresponding to the operating temperature curve shown in FIG. 3 contains a variety of substrates with different atomization temperatures, and the compositions and atomization points are also different. Some compositions can be released rapidly under lower temperature conditions. To improve the uniformity of the smoke in the subsequent puffing process, it is necessary to increase the temperature of the subsequent puffing, so a heating mode that the temperature peak T1 of the excitation temperature interval increases continuously as the accumulated duration of the excitation heating of the heating body 11 increases in a working cycle can be adopted.

Embodiment Two

The second embodiment of the present disclosure provides a heat-not-burn method for tobacco products, the method may include: using the heat-not-burn device as described in the above embodiment to heat the smoking substrate.
For example, the heating steps in a working cycle may specifically include:

(1) activating the heat-not-burn device, and controlling, by the control circuit, the heating body to be preheated to the heat preservation temperature interval in response to the activation signal of the heat-not-burn device, wherein the temperature of the heat preservation temperature interval is lower than the atomization temperature of the smoking substrate, so that the smoking substrate may be maintained at a state higher than the room temperature without atomizing or smoking.
(2) receiving, by the induction unit, a control instruction for instructing the user's puffing demand, such as a puffing action, thereby inducing an excitation induction signal and transmitting it to the control circuit, and controlling, by the control circuit, the operating temperature of the heating body to switch to the excitation temperature interval, according to the received excitation induction signal; wherein the temperature in the excitation temperature interval is higher than the atomization smoking temperature of the smoking substrate, so that the smoking substrate may be excited and heated to produce smoke, and the smoke may be puffed into the user's mouth through the airway to complete the puffing action.
(3) interrupting the excitation induction signal received by the control circuit, after the control instruction used to indicate the user's puffing demand is interrupted, so that the control circuit switches the operating temperature of the heating body back to the heat preservation interval, thereby the smoking substrate stopping producing smoke.
Optionally, when the induction unit receives a control instruction for instructing the user that there is no need to puff temporarily, such as a key action, it can induce and generate a heat preservation induction signal and transmit it to the control circuit. The control circuit controls the operating temperature of the heating body to switch to the heat preservation temperature interval, according to the received heat preservation induction signal.
(4) controlling, by the control circuit, the operating temperature of the heating body to circulate between the heat preservation temperature interval and the excitation temperature interval according to the received various induction signals, so as to complete a working cycle;
(5) generating, by induction unit, an end heating induction signal, after a control instruction for instructing the user to end the puffing demand is received, and/or after that the power supply is below a preset threshold is detected, and/or after that the excitation heating duration of the heating body in a working cycle reaches the preset time period is detected, or after that the accumulated number of puffs reaches a predetermined number is detected; and controlling, by the control circuit, the heating body to end heating according to the end heating induction signal.

It can be understood that in the present embodiment, multiple heating logics of the heat-not-burn device can be combined or used alone to form a new heat-not-burn method. The above steps (1)-(5) of the present disclosure are only as an example, the heat-not-burn method of the present disclosure is not limited to this.

Embodiment Three

The third embodiment of the present disclosure provides a heat-not-burn system for tobacco products, including: a smoking substrate and the heat-not-burn device described in the above embodiments. Wherein the working principle of the system is to use the above-mentioned heat-not-burn device for tobacco products described in the examples to heat the smoking substrate.
In one embodiment, the smoking substrate may be a low-temperature cigarette formed by any one or more of tobacco particles, tobacco shred, and longitudinal bundle columnar flakes.
Although the spirit and principle of the present disclosure have been described with reference to several specific embodiments, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosed specific embodiments, and the division of various aspects does not mean that the features in these aspects cannot combine to obtain benefit, this division is only for the convenience of presentation. The present disclosure is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

A heat-not-burn device for tobacco products, comprising a housing, a heating body and a power supply provided inside the housing, wherein further comprising:
an induction unit configured to sense and generate induction signals;

a control circuit electrically connected to the induction unit and the heating body, and configured to receive the induction signals and control an operating temperature of the heating body to switch among a plurality of temperature intervals according to the received induction signals;

wherein: the plurality of temperature intervals comprise at least a heat preservation interval and an excitation temperature interval.
The heat-not-burn device according to claim 1, wherein the induction unit comprises a manual induction unit;
the manual induction unit is configured to generate the induction signals in response to at least one of the following control commands: mechanical button commands, touch button commands, grip button commands, and squeeze button commands.
The heat-not-burn device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the induction unit comprises an automatic induction unit;
the automatic induction unit is configured to detect at least one of the following environmental parameters: air pressure parameters, airflow parameters, pressure parameters, capacitance parameters, vertical displacement distance parameters, and lip touch pressure parameters; and according to at least one detected environmental parameter, automatic induction unit is configured to generate the induction signals.
The heat-not-burn device according to claim 1, wherein the induction signals comprise at least a heat preservation induction signal; wherein
the induction unit generates the heat preservation induction signal in response to an activation signal of the heat-not-burn device, and the control circuit controls the heating body to preheat to the heat preservation temperature interval in response to the heat preservation induction signal.
The heat-not-burn device according to claim 1 or 4, wherein the induction signal comprises at least an excitation induction signal; wherein
when the operating temperature of the heating body falls within the heat preservation temperature interval, the control circuit controls the operating temperature of the heating body to switch to the excitation temperature interval in response to the excitation induction signal;

when the operating temperature of the heating body falls within the excitation temperature interval, the control circuit controls the operating temperature of the heating body to switch to the heat preservation temperature interval in response to an interruption of the excitation induction signal.
The heat-not-burn device according to claim 5, wherein the excitation temperature interval comprises a plurality of excitation temperature sub-intervals; and,
when the operating temperature of the heating body falls within the heat preservation interval, the operating temperature of the heating body is controlled to switch to one of the plurality of the excitation temperature sub-intervals, according to the excitation induction signal and an accumulated duration of excitation heating of the heating body and/or an accumulated number of puffs;

when the operating temperature of the heating body falls within the excitation temperature interval, the operating temperature of the heating body is controlled to be switch among the plurality of the excitation temperature sub-intervals, according to the excitation induction signal and the accumulated duration of excitation heating of the heating body and/or the accumulated number of puffs.
The heat-not-burn device according to claim 1, wherein, in a working cycle, a temperature peak value of the excitation temperature interval increases as an extension of the accumulated duration of excitation heating of the heating body, or maintains constant.
The heat-not-burn device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit is electrically connected to the power supply to detect a remaining power; and
when it is detected that the remaining power is lower than a preset threshold, and/or

when it is detected that the accumulated duration of excitation temperature of the heating body reaches a predetermined duration, and/or

the accumulated number of puffs reaches a predetermined number,

the heating body is controlled to end heating.
A heat-not-burn method for tobacco products, wherein adopting the heat-not-burn device according to any one of claims 1-8 to heat a smoking substrate.
A heat-not-burn system for tobacco products, wherein comprising the heat-not-burn device for tobacco products according to any one of claims 1-8 and a smoking substrate.