JP2023534535A - Electronic assemblies including aerosol-generating devices, such devices and associated charging bases - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is an aerosol generator (12) comprising a rechargeable battery (24) of predetermined maximum capacity and a power circuit (26; 126), a rechargeable battery (24) and a power circuit (26) to determine the battery charge level and the current provided by the power circuit (26) to the battery (24) according to a predetermined charging profile. and a battery charging circuit (28) configured to control charging of the aerosol generator (12). A given charge profile exhibits a bijective function that defines a unique current value for each battery charge level. [Selection drawing] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to an aerosol generator.

The invention also relates to electronic assemblies including such devices and associated charging bases.

Different types of aerosol generators are already known in the art. Generally, such devices include a reservoir for storing aerosol-forming precursors, which can include, for example, liquids or solids. A heating system is formed from one or more electrically activated resistive heating elements configured to heat the precursor to generate an aerosol. The aerosol is discharged into a channel extending between the inlet and outlet of the device. The outlet may be configured as a mouthpiece through which the user inhales and the aerosol is delivered.

In some aerosol generating devices, precursors are stored in removable cartridges. Therefore, when the precursor is consumed, the cartridge can be easily removed and replaced. A threaded connection, for example, can be used to attach the removable cartridge to the device body.

The heating system is generally powered by a battery, which is a rechargeable battery, for example a lithium-ion battery. Power from the battery is typically controlled by a microcontroller based on, for example, the properties of the heating system, such as the resistance of the heating coil.

Optionally, the aerosol generating device can communicate the charge level of its battery to an external device. Such an external device can be, for example, a docking station used for charging batteries. In these cases, a special data link is established that allows data transmission between the external device and the aerosol generator. A data link may be implemented by adding a data transmission contact to the contact pair used to charge the battery. Furthermore, it is generally necessary to add a microcontroller to both the external device and the aerosol generator to ensure data processing on each side.

Therefore, the transmission of the charge level from the aerosol generating device to the external device makes the construction of both devices more complicated and increases their manufacturing costs.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide the ability of an aerosol generator to transmit the charge level of the aerosol generator to an external device without increasing complexity and manufacturing costs.

To this end, the invention provides an aerosol generator comprising:
- a rechargeable battery of specified maximum capacity,
- a power circuit configured to connect the aerosol generator to an external DC source,
- a battery charging circuit configured to connect a rechargeable battery and a power circuit, determine the battery charge level, and control the current provided by the power circuit to charge the battery according to a predetermined charging profile; wherein the predetermined charging profile is for an aerosol generating device exhibiting a bijective function defining a unique current value for each battery charge level.

Because of these features, the external device measures the current consumed by the aerosol generator at each instant of its charging and correlates this measurement with the charge level according to a known charging profile, thereby A charge level can be determined. Therefore, no special data transmission link is required between the device and at least a dedicated microcontroller in the aerosol generator. Thus, it is possible to keep the structure of both devices relatively simple and avoid increasing manufacturing costs. Moreover, when wiring between devices, a simple wire pair is sufficient with no additional data wires.

According to some embodiments, the charging profile exhibits a continuous function or a step function.

According to some embodiments, the charge profile exhibits a decreasing function from the initial current value corresponding to the depleted charge level.

According to some embodiments, the function decreases linearly from an initial current value to a predetermined current value corresponding to at least half battery charge level.

These features allow the charge profile to be used to efficiently charge the battery and determine the battery charge level by external devices.

According to some embodiments, the charging profile exhibits a function of charging time or battery charge level.

These features make it possible to determine the charge level directly from the charge profile or by using this profile and a predetermined correspondence profile between charge level and charge time.

According to some embodiments, the power circuit includes only two electrical contacts capable of transmitting only power from an external current source to the battery charging circuit.

These features make it possible to simplify the construction of the aerosol generator.

The present invention
- an aerosol generator as defined above,
- also relates to an electronic assembly comprising a charging base configured to provide direct current to the power circuit of the aerosol generator.

According to some embodiments, the charging base is configured to determine the current consumed by the battery charging circuit at each instant.

According to some embodiments, the charging base stores the charging profile of the aerosol generator and uses the charging profile and the current consumed by the battery charging circuit at each instant to determine the battery charge level. is further configured as

These features allow the charging base to determine the charge level of the battery aerosol generator using a predetermined charging profile.

According to some embodiments, the charging base includes a user interface configured to indicate the determined battery charge level.

With these features, the charge level can be communicated to the user.

According to some embodiments, the charging base is further configured to use the charging profile to determine the maximum capacity of the battery.

These features allow the user to determine if the battery is fully charged.

According to some embodiments, the charging base further comprises a shunt resistor and an analog-to-digital converter mounted on the shunt resistor for determining the current consumed by the battery charging circuit at each instant. include.

These features make it possible to determine the current consumed by the battery charging circuit at each instant.

According to some embodiments, the charging base is connected to the aerosol generator by a unidirectional power link only.

According to some embodiments the power link is a wire link or a wireless link.

These features make it possible to simplify the construction of both the charging base and the aerosol generating device.

The present invention is a charging base configured to provide direct current to a power circuit of an aerosol generating device, comprising:
- an analog-to-digital converter capable of determining the current consumed by the battery charging circuit at each instant in order to charge the battery of the aerosol generator,
- a level converter that stores the charging profile used by the charging circuit to charge the battery and that can use this charging profile to determine the charging level of the battery, the predetermined charging profile being for each battery; It also relates to a charge base, which exhibits a bijective function defining specific current values for charge levels.

The invention and its advantages will be better understood on reading the following description, given as a non-limiting example only and described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an electronic assembly according to a first embodiment of the invention, the assembly including an aerosol generator and a charging base; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a charging profile used by the aerosol generator of FIG. 1 to charge the battery of the aerosol generator of FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a charging profile used by the aerosol generator of FIG. 1 to charge the battery of the aerosol generator of FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the charging base of FIG. 1 in more detail; FIG. Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a power circuit of an electronic assembly according to a second embodiment of the invention;

Before describing the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the details of construction set forth in the following description. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways.

As used herein, the term "aerosol-generating device" or "device" refers to an aerosol-generating unit (e.g., aerosol-generating unit for inhalation by a user, e.g., an aerosol before being delivered to the outlet of the device, e.g., in a mouthpiece). a vapor inhalation device for delivering an aerosol to a user, including an aerosol for vapor inhalation. The device can be portable. "Portable" can refer to a device that is held and used by a user. The device can be adapted to generate a variable amount of aerosol (as opposed to a metered amount of aerosol), for example by activating the heater system for a variable amount of time, which can be controlled by a trigger. The trigger may be user actuable, such as a vapor inhalation button and/or an inhalation sensor. The inhalation sensor can be sensitive to inhalation intensity as well as inhalation duration, allowing variable amounts of vapor to be provided (so that conventional combustible smoking devices such as cigarettes, cigars or pipes mimicking the effects of smoking). The apparatus includes a heater and/or a heater and/or a heater for raising the temperature of the heated aerosol-generating material (aerosol precursor) to a certain target temperature and then maintaining the temperature at the target temperature to enable efficient generation of the aerosol. A temperature regulation control may be included.

As used herein, the term "aerosol" may include suspensions of one or more precursors of solid particles, droplets, gases. The suspension may be in a gaseous state, including air. Aerosol herein may generally refer to/include vapor. The aerosol may contain one or more components of the precursor.

As used herein, the term "aerosol-forming precursor" or "precursor" or "aerosol-forming substance" or "substance" refers to a liquid, solid, gel, mousse, foam or other substance may refer to one or more of The precursor may be processable by the heating system of the device to form an aerosol, as defined herein. Precursors may include one or more of nicotine, caffeine, or other active ingredients. The active ingredient can be carried by a carrier that can be liquid. Carriers may include propylene glycol or glycerin. Perfume may also be included. Flavoring agents may include ethyl vanillin (vanilla), menthol, isoamyl acetate (banana oil), and the like. The solid aerosol-forming material can be in the form of a rod containing processed tobacco material, crimped sheets or oriented strips of reconstituted tobacco (RTB).

First Embodiment of the Invention Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic assembly 10 includes an aerosol generator 12 and a charging base 14 .

Aerosol generating device 12 includes a power block 22 designed to power device 12 and a number of internal components configured to perform different functions of device 12 . Said internal components include, among others, a heating system, a payload compartment, a controller, a plurality of sensors, and the like. These internal components are known per se and will not be described in further detail. Power block 22 includes rechargeable battery 24 , power circuitry 26 , and battery charging circuitry 28 .

Rechargeable battery 24 is, for example, a lithium-ion battery with a predetermined maximum capacity Q. As shown in FIG. Battery 24 is rechargeable from at least a depleted charge level to a maximum charge level. The maximum charge level corresponds to the fully charged state of the battery, ie when its maximum capacity Q is fully used to store power. The depleted charge level corresponds to the battery's minimum state of charge, i.e., when the battery is unable to power an external device. At the minimum charge state, the battery stores some charge to prevent damage to the battery.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the charge level of battery 24 may be represented by a continuous variable that can take any value contained between the depleted charge level and the maximum charge level. In this case, the term "arbitrary value" should be understood as any real number from said interval with a numerical approximation commonly used in the art. According to another embodiment of the invention, the charge level may be represented by a discrete variable that can take any of a fixed number of values contained between the depleted charge level and the maximum charge level. For example, with linear discretization, it is possible to define 5 charge levels, each level exhibiting 20% accuracy. The discretization can also be non-linear, for example the levels could be 90%, 50%, 20%, 5% depending on what the level of importance the user should be aware of.

Power circuit 26 is configured to connect power block 22 to an external DC source, such as charging base 14 , by establishing a power link between block 22 and base 14 . According to a first embodiment of the present invention, power circuit 26 includes a pair of contacts capable of establishing a wire link with charging base 14 . In particular, according to different implementations, the contact pairs are incorporated into plugs or slots designed to cooperate with corresponding elements of the charging base 14 to transfer power from the charging base 14 to the power block 22. can be

A battery charging circuit 28 is configured to connect the rechargeable battery 24 and the power circuit 28 . To this end, battery charging circuit 28 is an integrated circuit (IC) capable of determining the battery charge level and controlling the current provided by power circuit 26 to charge battery 24 according to a predetermined charging profile. )including. In particular, the battery charging circuit 28 can provide a current value to the battery 24 determined from the charge level of the battery 24 according to the charging profile. According to the invention, the predetermined charge profile presents a bijective function defining a unique current value for each battery charge level.

A charge profile can be formed by a continuous function or a step (discrete) function of the battery charge level. In the first case, the charge profile defines a unique current value for each battery charge level defined by a continuous variable. In the second case, the charge profile defines a unique current value for each battery charge level defined by discrete variables.

In some embodiments, the charge profile exhibits a decreasing function from the initial current value corresponding to the depleted charge level of battery 24 . This function may, for example, decrease linearly from an initial current value to a predetermined current value corresponding to at least half the battery charge level.

Instead of battery charge level, the charge profile can be formed by a continuous function or step function of charge time. In this case, the battery charge level is assumed to increase with charging time according to a known correspondence profile.

An example of a charging profile according to the invention is shown in FIG. In particular, FIG. 2 shows the current function I(t) at charging time t. In this figure, instant t0 of zero charging time corresponds to a depleted charge level, instant t1 corresponds to at least half battery charge level, and instant t2 corresponds to maximum charge level. Therefore, the function I(t) decreases linearly from 0 to t1 and then non-linearly from t1 to t2. A non-linear decrease is, for example, an exponential or polynomial decrease. This portion of the curve may be the result of, for example, controlling the topping of charge with voltage rather than current.

Charging base 14 is, for example, a docketing station that can receive aerosol generating device 12 for charging of aerosol generating device 12 . The charging base 14 is connected to an external power source, for example an alternating current source. According to another embodiment, charging base 14 is connected to a common power source, such as a USB plug.

Referring to FIG. 4 , charging base 14 includes power circuit 36 , shunt resistor 38 , analog-to-digital converter 40 , level converter 42 and user interface 44 . Power circuit 36 is complementary to power circuit 26 of aerosol generator 12 . In particular, the power circuit 36 of the charging base 14 makes it possible to establish a power link with the power circuit 26 of the device, which according to the first embodiment of the invention is a wire link. Thus, according to this embodiment, the power circuit 26 includes a pair of contacts designed to contact a corresponding pair of contacts of the aerosol generator 12 to charge the aerosol generator 12 . According to different implementations, the pairs of contacts of power circuit 36 may be incorporated into plugs or slots designed to cooperate with corresponding elements of aerosol generator 12 .

A shunt resistor 38 presents a known value of resistance, for example 100 mΩ, and is connected between the external power supply and the power circuit 36 . An analog-to-digital converter 40 is mounted across the shunt resistor 40 so that the current consumed by the battery charging circuit 28 can be determined by measuring the voltage across the shunt resistor 36 at each instant. In particular, the current at each instant t uses the formula V(t)=RI(t), where V(t) is the voltage at said instant t and R is the value of resistor 38 can be determined by

Level converter 42 may store a charging profile that is used by battery charging circuit 28 to charge battery 24 . A charging profile may be a curve representing a function (and thus exhibiting a correspondence) of one variable with respect to another, or a table storing correspondences between two or more variables. In this last case, the table may contain two columns for current values and corresponding charge values, respectively. For discretization on 5 levels, the table is 2×5 cells.

Level converter 42 can use the charge profile and the current determined by analog-to-digital converter 40 to determine the level of charge of battery 24 . If the profile exhibits a one-to-one correspondence between current and charge level (ie, a one-to-one/bijective function), the charge level is determined directly from the current determined by converter 40 . If the profile shows a function of current over time, the level converter 42 can first determine the charging time, then the level converter 42 uses the correspondence profile showing a function of capacity over time. can be used to determine the charge level. In this case, the function of current and the correspondence profile are strictly monotonic functions over time, as can be seen in FIG. In this figure, I(t) denotes the function of current and Q(t) denotes the correspondence profile. According to this example, the user may be informed not only of the battery charge level, but also of the time remaining until charging is completed.

Level converter 42 may also determine the maximum capacity Q of battery 24 using the charge profile. This capacity Q can be determined by determining the area under the function of current according to the charging profile. Level converter 42 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC).

According to one embodiment of the invention, the user interface 44 is formed, for example, by an indicator or display arranged on the housing of the charging base 14 to indicate to the user the charge level determined by the level converter 42. can be done. In some embodiments, user interface 44 may also indicate charging time or/and charging time remaining using corresponding data from level converter 42 . In some embodiments, user interface 44 may also indicate to the user the maximum capacity Q of battery 24 . According to some other embodiments, user interface 44 presents a communication interface with a user device, such as a smart phone. In this case, the user interface 44 can transmit the data determined by the level converter 42 to the user device so that the user device can provide an indication regarding the charging process of the aerosol generator.

In another embodiment, the aerosol generator 12 is configured to establish a communication link, either a wired or wireless link (eg, Bluetooth), with a user device such as a smart phone. After communication is established, the user device can be used to update the firmware (including the charging profile) of the aerosol generator 12 and charging base 14 . Accordingly, the charging profiles stored in the aerosol generator 12 and the charging base 14, respectively, can be updated and synchronized to improve accuracy. Updating can be performed, for example, on aging batteries or upon battery replacement.

The operation of electronic assembly 10 will now be described. When the aerosol generating device 12 is connected to the charging base 14, a power link is established between the power circuits 26, 36 of both devices. Advantageously, according to the invention, the power link is a unique link established between charging base 14 and device 12 . Battery charging circuit 28 determines the actual charge level of battery 24 and controls the current provided by power circuit 26 according to a charge profile taken from points corresponding to the actual charge level. Analog-to-digital converter 40 determines the current consumed by battery charging circuit 28 . Using this data and the charge profile, level converter 42 determines the battery's charge level and transmits this to user interface 44 . User interface 44 may thus indicate the charge level to the user. When charging is complete, user interface 44 may indicate the maximum capacity Q of the battery, for example.

Second Embodiment of the Invention An electrical assembly according to a second embodiment of the present invention also includes an aerosol generating device and charging base similar to the aerosol generating device 12 and charging base 14 described above. An inherent difference of this embodiment of the invention is the power circuitry used by these devices to establish the power link.

In particular, the power circuits 126, 136 used by the charging base and the aerosol generator, respectively, according to the second embodiment of the invention, are capable of establishing a wireless power link. These power circuits 126, 136 are shown schematically in FIG. 5, in which power circuit 126 is called the transmitter and power circuit 136 is called the receiver.

Referring to this FIG. 5, the power circuit 136 incorporated in the charging base is connected to a primary coil 141, a DC-AC power stage 142 connected to the primary coil 141, and an external power source through a shunt resistor. It includes a front-end DC-DC stage 143 and a controller 145 that can control the operation of the DC-AC power stage 142 and the front-end DC-DC stage 143 to generate a magnetic field in the primary coil 141 . A power circuit 126 incorporated in the aerosol generator includes a secondary coil 151, a rectifier unit 152 connected to the secondary coil 151, a V/I regulator 153 connected to the battery charging circuit of the aerosol generator, The current generated by the secondary coil 151 can be used to generate a direct current for the battery charging circuit and also for magnetic interaction with the primary coil 141 to control the operation of the rectifier unit 152 and the V/I regulator 153. and a controller 155 that can

The operation of the electronic assembly according to the second embodiment of the invention is similar to the operation of the electronic assembly according to the first embodiment of the invention described above.

Claims (16)

An aerosol generator (12),
- a rechargeable battery (24) of predetermined maximum capacity,
- a power circuit (26; 126) configured to connect said aerosol generator (12) to an external DC source,
- connecting said rechargeable battery (24) and said power circuit (26; 126), determining the battery charge level and adjusting the current provided by said power circuit (26; 126) according to a predetermined charging profile; a battery charging circuit (28) configured to control the charging of the battery (24);
an aerosol generator (12), wherein the predetermined charge profile exhibits a bijective function defining a unique current value for each battery charge level from an initial current value corresponding to a depleted charge level. The aerosol generator (12) of claim 1, wherein the charging profile exhibits a continuous function or a step function. 3. The aerosol generating device (12) of claim 1 or 2, wherein the charging profile exhibits a decreasing function. 4. The aerosol generator (12) of claim 3, wherein the function decreases linearly from the initial current value to a predetermined current value corresponding to at least half the battery charge level. The aerosol generating device (12) of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the charging profile is a function of charging time or battery charge level. The power circuit (26) of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the power circuit (26) comprises only two electrical contacts capable of transmitting only power from the external current source to the battery charging circuit (28). aerosol generation (12) device of. An electronic assembly (10) comprising:
- an aerosol generator (12) according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
- a charging base (14) configured to provide direct current to said power circuit (26; 126) of said aerosol generator (12);
An electronic assembly (10) comprising: The electronic assembly (10) of claim 7, wherein the charging base (14) is configured to determine the current consumed by the battery charging circuit (28) at each instant. The charging base (14) stores the charging profile of the aerosol generator (12) and uses the charging profile and the current consumed by the battery charging circuit (28) at each instant to The electronic assembly (10) of claim 8, further configured to determine the battery charge level. The electronic assembly (10) of claim 9, wherein the charging base (14) includes a user interface (44) configured to indicate the determined battery charge level. 11. The electronic assembly (10) of claim 9 or 10, wherein the charging base (14) is further configured to determine the maximum capacity of the battery using the charging profile. The charging base (14) is mounted on a shunt resistor (38) and for determining the current consumed by the battery charging circuit (28) at each instant. An electronic assembly (10) according to any one of claims 8 to 11, further comprising an analog-to-digital converter (40). An electronic assembly (10) according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein the charging base (14) is connected to the aerosol generator (12) only by a unidirectional power link. 14. The electronic assembly (10) of claim 13, wherein said power link is a wire link or a wireless link. a charging base (14) configured to provide direct current to a power circuit (26; 126) of the aerosol generator (12), comprising:
- an analog-to-digital converter (40) capable of determining at each instant the current consumed by the battery charging circuit (28) to charge the battery (24) of the aerosol generator (12);
- a level converter (42) capable of storing a charging profile used by said charging circuit to charge said battery (24) and using said charging profile to determine the charge level of said battery (24); )
a charging base (14), wherein said predetermined charging profile exhibits a bijective function defining a unique current value for each battery charge level from an initial current value corresponding to a depleted charge level. 16. Charging according to claim 15, wherein the level converter (42) is configured to determine the charge level of the battery (24) based on the current consumed by the battery charging circuit (28). base.

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