EP3981272B1

EP3981272B1 - Electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating e-cigarette liquid

Info

Publication number: EP3981272B1
Application number: EP20855912.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Guangrong LIN; Xianbin ZHENG
Original assignee: Huizhou Happy Vaping Technology Ltd
Current assignee: Huizhou Happy Vaping Technology Ltd
Priority date: 2019-08-26
Filing date: 2020-08-06
Publication date: 2024-12-18
Anticipated expiration: 2040-08-06
Also published as: CN110403253A; EP3981272A1; EP3981272A4; WO2021036727A1; US20220354164A1

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to the field of electronic cigarettes, more particularly to an electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid.

BACKGROUND

Existing electronic cigarettes usually consist of an electronic cigarette vaporizer and a battery rod connected with each other. Electronic cigarette liquid may be heated by means of a heating coil, to produce vapor for users to use. As the vapor produced by electronic cigarettes does not contain tobacco tar that is generally contained in tobaccos, the electronic cigarettes are widely used.
Existing electronic cigarette vaporizers without preheating function can merely vaporize the cigarette liquid having low viscosity and high fluidity rather than the cigarette liquid having high viscosity and low fluidity. For structural and manufacturing reasons, the flexible vaporizing base of existing electronic cigarette vaporizers is prone to deformation at high temperature and result in a leakage of cigarette liquid. Further, water droplets or liquid droplets contained in the vapor that is produced by vaporization of the cigarette liquid may result in a poor user experience.
WO 2019/137561 A1 discloses an electronic cigarette vaporizer having advantages of simple structure and leak prevention from the cigarette liquid store chamber. But it is silent about the droplets in the vaporized air that enter the battery rod and cause the circuit failure.
CN109700077A deals with an electronic cigarette with cartridge insertion sensors which activate the device when the sensors detect the insertion of the consumable but fails to disclose any sealing mechanism against droplets in the vaporised air.

SUMMARY

Technical problem

An object of the disclosure is to provide an electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid. The electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid is suitable to vaporize the cigarette liquid having high viscosity, avoids both leakage of cigarette liquid and entry of liquid droplets, and supplies sufficient cigarette liquid to produce a great amount of vapor during smoking. Technical solutions
The invention is as defined in the appended independent claim 1 with preferred embodiments presented in the dependent claims.
Preferably, the vapor outlet tube may be provided with a bell mouth structure expanding outwardly, at a position where the mouthpiece opening is provided.
Preferably, a portion of the mouthpiece housing above the insertion portion may have an oval shaped cross section and reducing outer diameters from bottom to top, and the insertion portion may have an oval shaped cross section.
Preferably, both the vaporizing base and the surrounding wall may have an oval shaped cross section, a long axis of the oval shaped cross section of the surrounding wall may be located at a certain angle with respect to a long axis of the cross section of a main body of the vaporizing base, the vaporizing base may be made of high temperature resistant silica gel, and the outer wall of the vaporizing base may be provided with a plurality of integrally-formed sealing rings.
Preferably, an annular support frame for supporting and fixing the vaporizing base may be provided and connected with the upper end of the vaporizing base.
Preferably, the lower portion of the annular support frame may be provided with support frame legs, and the upper portion of the vaporizing base may be provided with support frame recesses for receiving the support frame legs.
Preferably, the vaporizing base may be provided with a downwardly-extending annular groove at the outer wall of the surrounding wall, to receive and fix the heat conductive tube.
Preferably, the vaporizing base may be provided with a liquid filling through-hole penetrating up and down, the base member may be provided with a plunger at a position corresponding to the liquid filling through-hole, and the plunger may serve to close the liquid filling through-hole after a filling into the liquid storage chamber.
Preferably, the base member may have a baseplate and a side wall, wherein the side wall may be provided with male snaps for snap fitting with snap-in holes provided on the inner wall of the mouthpiece housing.

Advantages

The electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid is provided with the heat conductive tube and the liquid guiding strip which laterally and straightly extends into the liquid storage chamber. When the electronic cigarette starts a preheating program, the vaporizing unit generates the heat for preheating. The preheating heat or excess working heat may be transferred to the heat conductive tube by the liquid guiding strip, or by radiation or through hot air. The heat collected by means of the heat conductive tube may be quickly transferred to the cigarette liquid, such that the cigarette liquid may be preheated to decrease its viscosity and increase its fluidity. In such a case, the cigarette liquid may be quickly fed to the heating coil through the liquid guiding strip. Thus, the amount of cigarette liquid vaporized by the heating coil may be increased, and thus the amount of vapor may be increased. With such preheating function, the electronic cigarette vaporizer is suitable to vaporize the cigarette liquid with high viscosity, the paste-like or waxy cigarette liquid substances, and so on. In addition, due to the bell mouth structure which is formed at a position where the mouthpiece opening is provided, and due to the seal plate provided at the upper end of the air intake pipe of the base member, the droplets can be prevented from being inhaled by the user. Further, with the liquid guiding strip being held down at the notch of the heat conductive tube, with the annular support frame being disposed on the vaporizing base, and with the plunger being provided on the base member, the liquid guiding strip and the vaporizing base can be supported and fixed, and can be prevented from being deformed to loosen at high temperature. Thus, a leakage of the cigarette liquid may be avoided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG.1 is a perspective view according to an embodiment of the disclosure;
FIG.2 is a front sectional view illustrating a mouthpiece housing according to an embodiment of the disclosure;
FIG.3 is a front sectional view of an electronic cigarette vaporizer according to an embodiment of the disclosure;
FIG.4 is a side sectional view of an electronic cigarette vaporizer according to an embodiment of the disclosure;
FIG.5 is an exploded structural view of an electronic cigarette vaporizer according to an embodiment of the disclosure;
FIG.6 is a perspective view illustrating a sealing sleeve, a heat conductive tube, an annular support frame, and a vaporizing base which are connected according to an embodiment of the disclosure;
FIG.7 is a perspective view illustrating a vaporizing base according to an embodiment of the disclosure;
FIG.8 is a sectional view illustrating a vaporizing base according to an embodiment of the disclosure;
FIG.9 is a perspective view illustrating a heat conductive tube according to an embodiment of the disclosure;
FIG.10 is a perspective view illustrating a base member according to an embodiment of the disclosure;
FIG. 11 is a front sectional view illustrating a base member according to an embodiment of the disclosure;
FIG.12 is a side sectional view illustrating a base member according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Herein, reference numerals of main components are as follows.
1. mouthpiece housing; 10. mouthpiece opening; 11. vapor outlet tube; 12. opening; 13. liquid storage chamber; 14. insertion portion; 2. sealing sleeve; 3. heat conductive tube; 31. notch; 4. vaporizing unit; 41. liquid guiding strip; 42. heating coil; 43. leads; 5. vaporizing base; 51. surrounding wall; 52. concave cavity; 53. first air inlet; 54. semi-annular grooves; 55. annular groove; 56. liquid filling through-hole; 57. support frame recesses; 58. sealing rings; 6. base member; 61. second air inlet; 62. positive and negative electrodes; 621. electrode holes; 63. plunger; 64. baseplate; 65. side wall; 651. male snaps; 66. air intake pipe; 661. seal plate; 7. annular support frame; 71. support frame legs; 8. vaporizing chamber.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGs.1 and 2, an electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid according to the disclosure is provided, wherein the electronic cigarette vaporizer can be connected with a battery rod to constitute an electronic cigarette. The vaporizer comprises a mouthpiece housing 1. A mouthpiece opening 10 is provided at the center of one end of the mouthpiece housing 1, and an opening 12 is provided at the other opposite end thereof. The mouthpiece opening 10 vertically extends inwardly to connect with a vapor outlet tube 11. A liquid storage chamber 13, i.e., a chamber for storing cigarette liquid, is provided inside of the one end of the mouthpiece housing 1 where the mouthpiece opening 10 is provided. An insertion portion 14 having tapering outer diameter is provided exterior of the one end of the mouthpiece housing 1 where the opening 12 is provided. The insertion portion 14 serves to be plugged into a connection end of the battery rod (not shown in the drawings). A portion of the mouthpiece housing 1 above the insertion portion 14 has an oval shaped cross section and reducing outer diameters from bottom to top, such that it is convenient to hold the upper portion of the mouthpiece housing 1 in mouth ergonomically. Further, the insertion portion has an oval shaped cross section, facilitating a natural transition from top to bottom and also a connection with the oval shaped battery rod as well.
Referring to FIGs.3-5, a sealing sleeve 2, a heat conductive tube 3, a vaporizing unit 4, a vaporizing base 5, and a base member 6 are provided inside the mouthpiece housing 1 and are connected sequentially from the side where the vapor outlet tube 11 is provided to the side where the opening 12 is provided. The vaporizing unit 4 comprises a liquid guiding strip 41 and a heating coil 42 wound around a middle portion of the liquid guiding strip 41, and leads 43 are connected to two ends of the heating coil 42. The inner wall of the sealing sleeve 2 is sleeved on the outer wall of the vapor outlet tube 11. The inner wall of the upper portion of the heat conductive tube 3 is sleeved on the outer wall of the sealing sleeve 2. The sealing sleeve functions to sealingly connect the vapor outlet tube 11 and the heat conductive tube 3. The vapor outlet tube 11 is provided with a bell mouth structure expanding outwardly, at a position where the mouthpiece opening 10 is provided. The bell mouth structure contributes to increase the amount of vapor and reduce water or liquid droplets contained in the vapor. When the water or liquid droplets contained in the vapor pass through the bell mouth structure, they are prone to attach to the inner wall of the bell mouth, and thus their chance to be inhaled by the user may be reduced. The liquid storage chamber 13 is defined by and formed between the inner wall of mouthpiece housing 1, the outer wall of vapor outlet tube 11, the outer wall of heat conductive tube 3, and the upper end of the vaporizing base 5. As the heat conductive tube 3 directly contacts with the cigarette liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber 13, the heat generated during the heating of the heating coil 42 can be transferred to the cigarette liquid, to preheat the cigarette liquid, such that its viscosity can be decreased and its fluidity can be increased.
The heat conductive tube 3 is made of highly thermally conductive material such as metal material. When the electronic cigarette starts a preheating program, the vaporizing unit 4 generates the heat for preheating. Alternatively, when the electronic cigarette normally works, the vaporizing unit 4 generates the heat for working. The preheating heat or excess working heat may be transferred to the heat conductive tube 3 by the liquid guiding strip 41, or by radiation or through hot air. The heat collected by means of the heat conductive tube 3 may be quickly transferred to the cigarette liquid, such that the cigarette liquid may be preheated to decrease its viscosity and increase its fluidity. In such a case, the cigarette liquid may be quickly fed to the heating coil 42 through the liquid guiding strip 41. Thus, the amount of cigarette liquid vaporized by the heating coil 42 may be increased, and thus the amount of vapor may be increased. With such preheating function, the electronic cigarette vaporizer is suitable to vaporize the cigarette liquid with high viscosity, the paste-like or waxy cigarette liquid substances, and so on.
An annular support frame 7 for supporting and fixing the vaporizing base is provided and connected with the upper end of the vaporizing base 5. The annular support frame 7 serves to downwardly and laterally brace the flexible vaporizing base 5. The vaporizing base 5 may further soften and deform at high temperature, which may result in a poor connection between the heat conductive tube 3 and the vaporizing base 5 and thus result in a leakage. The cigarette liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber 13 may easily leak into the concave cavity 52 and then may leak out of the electronic cigarette. Further, the lower portion of the annular support frame 7 is provided with support frame legs 71, and the upper portion of the vaporizing base 5 is provided with support frame recesses 57 for receiving the support frame legs 71. Due to the snap fit connection between the support frame legs 71 and the support frame recesses 57, the vaporizing base 5 may be better supported and fixed by the annular support frame 7, thereby avoiding a leakage of the cigarette liquid when the electronic cigarette vaporizer works at high temperature.
Referring to FIGs.5-9, the vaporizing base 5 is disposed on the inner wall of the insertion portion 14. The upper end of the vaporizing base 5 is protrudingly provided with a surrounding wall 51, and a concave cavity 52 extending downwardly is provided in the surrounding wall. A first air inlet 53 extending downwardly is provided at the center of the bottom portion of the concave cavity. The surrounding wall is provided with semi-annular grooves 54 which are oppositely arranged, and the liquid guiding strip is disposed at the semi-annular grooves 54. The inner wall of the lower end of the heat conductive tube 3 is sleeved on the outer wall of the surrounding wall 51. The lower end of the heat conductive tube 3 is provided with a notch 31 to allow the liquid guiding strip to pass through. Due to the protruding surrounding wall 51, the concave cavity 52, and the semi-annular grooves 54, the liquid guiding strip 41 can be appropriately disposed. A larger vaporizing chamber 8 can be constituted by the concave cavity 52 and a cavity of the heat conductive tube 3 above it. The liquid guiding strip 41 and the heating coil 42 may contact with more air, to allow the cigarette liquid to be vaporized more sufficiently to produce much more electronic cigarette vapor. As the lower end of the heat conductive tube 3 is provided with the notch 31 through which the liquid guiding strip 41 can laterally and straightly pass through, two ends of the liquid guiding strip 41 can be held down by the heat conductive tube 3 from the above, to make sure the middle portion of the liquid guiding strip 41 would not be deformed to fall down, thereby maintaining a stable vaporizing condition. The liquid guiding strip 41 extends outside the heat conductive tube 3, i.e., extends to the bottom portion of the liquid storage chamber 13, such that two ends of the liquid guiding strip 41 can directly contact with the cigarette liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber 13. In such a case, the cigarette liquid can be more efficiently and sufficiently fed to the vaporizing unit 4, thereby achieving a smooth vaporization of the cigarette liquid and thus a better user experience. In addition, as the liquid guiding strip 41 is laterally and straightly disposed in such a manner that its two ends extending into the liquid storage chamber 13 to directly contact with the cigarette liquid, the heat of the heating coil 42 during a preheating of the electronic cigarette may be transferred to the cigarette liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber 13, to play a role in the preheating.
Both the vaporizing base 5 and the surrounding wall 51 have an oval shaped cross section, and the long axis of the oval shaped cross section of the surrounding wall 51 is located at a certain angle with respect to the long axis of the cross section of the main body of the vaporizing base. With such arrangement, the concave cavity 52 may have a larger volume, which not only increases the vaporization amount, but also facilitates a compact arrangement of an after-mentioned liquid filling through-hole 56. In such a case, an increase in a transverse area of the vaporizing base, i.e., an increase in a transverse area of the electronic cigarette, may be prevented. The vaporizing base 5 is made of high temperature resistant silica gel, and the outer wall of the vaporizing base 5 is provided with a plurality of integrally-formed sealing rings 58. With such arrangement, the sealing between the vaporizing base 5 and the inner wall of the mouthpiece housing 1 can be improved, and the cigarette liquid can be prevented from leaking out of the liquid storage chamber.
The vaporizing base 5 is provided with a downwardly-extending annular groove 55 at the outer wall of the surrounding wall 51, to receive and fix the heat conductive tube 3. In such a case, the heat conductive tube 3 can be secured in the annular groove 55 to achieve a tight connection therebetween, thereby providing good supporting and fixing functions and achieving improved sealing.
The vaporizing base 5 is provided with a liquid filling through-hole 56 penetrating up and down, and the base member 6 is provided with a plunger 63 at a position corresponding to the liquid filling through-hole 56. The plunger 63 serves to close the liquid filling through-hole 56, after a filling of the cigarette liquid into the liquid storage chamber 13 through the liquid filling through-hole 56, to avoid a leakage of the cigarette liquid. The plunger 63 extends through the liquid filling through-hole 56 and thus further functions to support and fix the vaporizing base 5. Thus, it may prevent the flexible vaporizing base 5 from being deformed at high temperature to loosen from the mouthpiece housing, and thus may avoid a leakage of the cigarette liquid caused by such loosening.
Referring to FIGs.10-12, the base member 6 is disposed at the bottom end of the vaporizing base 5 and snap-fitted with the inner wall of the one end of the mouthpiece housing 1 where the opening is provided. The base member 6 is provided with a second air inlet 61, positive and negative electrodes 62 electrically connected with the leads arranged at two ends of the heating coil, and electrode holes 621 for mounting the positive and negative electrodes 62. The base member 6 functions to upwardly support and fix the vaporizing base 5.
The base member 6 has a baseplate 64 and a side wall 65. Herein, the side wall 65 is provided with male snaps 651 for snap fitting with snap-in holes provided on the inner wall of the mouthpiece housing 1. Due to the side wall 65, a clearance space is formed between the baseplate 64 and the bottom portion of the vaporizing base 5, and allows the air to enter the first air inlet 53 of the vaporizing base 5. In addition, the clearance space can receive and collect the droplets which are generated during the vaporization of the cigarette liquid in the vaporizing chamber 8, attached to the inner wall of the vaporizing chamber 8 and flow downwardly, thereby preventing the droplets from being inhaled by the user.
The base member 6 is provided with an air intake pipe 66. The bottom portion of the air intake pipe 66 penetrates through the base member 6 to communicate with outside air. A seal plate 661 for sealing is inclinedly provided at the upper end surface of the air intake pipe 66, and a second air inlet 61 is provided at a side surface of the upper end of the air intake pipe 66, close to the higher side of the seal plate 661. The seal plate 661 functions to prevent the droplets falling downwardly through the first air inlet 53 from falling outside the base member 6 directly through the air intake pipe 66 or further falling to the inside of the battery rod. It is known that long-term leakage of droplets may corrode circuits and result in circuit failure. Due to the seal plate 661 which is inclinedly disposed, the droplets can be blocked and then guided to the clearance formed between the baseplate 64, the side wall 65, and the bottom portion of the vaporizing base 5. In such a case, the droplets contained in the vapor are prevented from leaking out of the base member, and thus circuit failure can be avoided.
Referring to FIG.3, a series of arrows from bottom to top indicate a direction in which the air and the vapor flow. The working principle of vaping according to the disclosure is described as follows. During vaping, a negative pressure is generated at the mouthpiece opening 10 and the vaporizing chamber 8, such that outside air is suctioned through the air intake pipe 66 of the base member 6, through the first air inlet 53 of the vaporizing base, the concave cavity 52, and the vaporizing chamber 8. The cigarette liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber 13 is transferred to the heating coil 42 through the liquid guiding strip 41. The heating coil 42 is energized to work and generate heat for heating the cigarette liquid and produce vapor in the vaporizing chamber 8. Then, due to the suction force of the user, the vapor in the vaporizing chamber 8 flows upwardly to the vapor outlet tube 11, flows through the mouthpiece opening 10, and then can be inhaled by the user.

Claims

An electronic cigarette vaporizer for preheating cigarette liquid and connectable with a battery rod to constitute an electronic cigarette, the electronic cigarette vaporizer comprising:
a mouthpiece housing (1) comprising:
a mouthpiece opening (10) provided at a center of one end of the mouthpiece housing (1) and extending inwardly to connect with a vapor outlet tube (11), and

another opening (12) provided at the opposite end of the mouthpiece opening (10),

a liquid storage chamber (13) for storing cigarette liquid an insertion portion (14) provided with a tapering outer diameter on the exterior of one end of the mouthpiece housing (1), which serves to be plugged into a connection end of the battery rod; and

wherein a sealing sleeve (2), a heat conductive tube (3), a vaporizing unit (4), a vaporizing base (5) and a base member (6) are connected sequentially inside the mouthpiece housing (1) from the vapor outlet tube (11) to the opening (12) provided at the opposite end of the mouthpiece opening (10);

the sealing sleeve (2) sleeved on an outer wall of the vapor outlet tube (11) and on an inner wall of an upper portion of the heat conductive tube (3),

the vaporizing base (5) disposed on an inner wall of the insertion portion (14) with an upper end protrudingly provided with a surrounding wall (51) provided with oppositely arranged semi-annular grooves (54) and having a downwardly extending concave cavity (52) provided with a first air inlet (53) extending downwardly at a center of a bottom portion thereof, wherein a vaporizing chamber (8) is defined by the concave cavity (52) and the heat conductive tube (3),

the heat conductive tube (3) with a lower end provided with a notch (31) to allow a liquid guiding strip (41) to extend from the vaporizing chamber (8) to the liquid storage chamber (13) outside the heat conductive tube (3) and sleeved to an outer wall of the surrounding wall (51) of an insertion portion (14) of the vaporizing base (5),

the vaporizing unit (4) comprising the liquid guiding strip (41) disposed in the semi-annular grooves (54) of the surrounding wall (51) of the vaporizing base (5) and a heating coil (42) wound around a middle portion of the liquid guiding strip (41); and

the base member (6) disposed at the bottom end of the vaporizing base (5) and snap-fitted with an inner wall of the mouthpiece housing opening (12) provided at the opposite end of the mouthpiece opening (10) and provided with a second air inlet (61) and positive and negative electrodes (62) electrically connected with leads (43) arranged at two ends of the heating coil (42);

the liquid storage chamber (13) defined by and formed between an inner wall of the mouthpiece housing (1), an outer wall of the vapor outlet tube (11), an outer wall of the heat conductive tube (3), and an upper end of the vaporizing base (5),

the heat conductive tube (3) directly contacts the cigarette liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber (13), such that heat generated during heating of the heating coil (42) can be transferred to the cigarette liquid to preheat the cigarette liquid and decrease viscosity of the cigarette liquid; and characterized in that

the base member (6) is provided with an air intake pipe (66), a bottom portion of the air intake pipe (66) extending through the base member (6) to communicate with outside air, a seal plate (661) for sealing inclinedly provided at an upper end surface of the air intake pipe (66), and wherein the second air inlet (61) is provided at a side surface of an upper end of the air intake pipe (66) close to a higher side of the seal plate (661).
The electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid according to claim 1, characterized in that the vapor outlet tube (11) is provided with a bell mouth structure expanding outwardly at a position where the mouthpiece opening (10) is provided.
The electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid according to claim 1, characterized in that a portion of the mouthpiece housing (1) above the insertion portion (14) has an oval shaped cross section and reducing outer diameters from bottom to top, and the insertion portion (14) has an oval shaped cross section.
The electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid according to claim 3, characterized in that the vaporizing base (5) has an oval shaped cross section, the surrounding wall (51) has an oval shaped cross section, a long axis of the oval shaped cross section of the surrounding wall (51) is located at a certain angle with respect to a long axis of the cross section of a main body of the vaporizing base (5), the vaporizing base (5) is made of high temperature resistant silica gel, and the outer wall of the vaporizing base (5) is provided with a plurality of integrally-formed sealing rings (58).
The electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid according to claim 1, characterized in that an annular support frame (7) for supporting and fixing the vaporizing base (5) is provided and connected with an upper end of the vaporizing base (5).
The electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid according to claim 5, characterized in that a lower portion of the annular support frame (7) is provided with a support frame leg (71), and an upper portion of the vaporizing base (5) is provided with a support frame recess (57) for receiving the support frame leg (71).
The electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid according to claim 1, characterized in that the vaporizing base (5) is provided with a downwardly-extending annular groove (55) at an outer wall of the surrounding wall (51), to receive and fix the heat conductive tube (3).
The electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid according to claim 1, characterized in that the vaporizing base (5) is provided with a liquid filling through-hole (56) penetrating up and down, the base member (6) is provided with a plunger (63) at a position corresponding to the liquid filling through-hole (56), and the plunger (63) serves to close the liquid filling through-hole (56) after a filling into the liquid storage chamber (13).
The electronic cigarette vaporizer capable of preheating cigarette liquid according to claim 1, characterized in that the base member (6) has a baseplate (64) and a side wall (65), wherein the side wall (65) is provided with a male snap (651) for snap fitting with a snap-in hole provided on an inner wall of the mouthpiece housing (1).