Aerosol-generating device comprising semiconductor heaters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10645972-B2
Application number	US-201715493821-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2017
Priority date	Apr 22, 2016
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

An aerosol-generating device includes an electrical power supply, a cavity structure configured to receive an aerosol-generating article, and a plurality of semiconductor heaters within the cavity structure. Each of the plurality of semiconductor heaters includes a substrate layer and a heating layer on the substrate layer. The heating layer is a continuous layer. The aerosol-generating device includes a controller configured to control a supply of electrical power from the electrical power supply to each of the plurality of semiconductor heaters.

First claim

I claim:

1. An aerosol-generating device comprising:
an electrical power supply;
a housing defining a cavity, the cavity configured to receive an aerosol-generating article;
a plurality of semiconductor heaters positioned within the housing, each of the plurality of semiconductor heaters including,
a substrate layer, and
a heating layer on the substrate layer, the heating layer being a continuous layer; and

a controller configured to control a supply of electrical power from the electrical power supply to each of the plurality of semiconductor heaters,
wherein the heating layer of at least one of the semiconductor heaters is a combined heating and gas sensing layer,
wherein the controller is configured to measure an electrical resistance of the combined heating and gas sensing layer to determine an amount of at least one gas within the housing, and
wherein the controller is configured to simultaneously:
control a supply of electrical power from the electrical power supply to the combined heating and gas sensing layer; and
measure the electrical resistance of the combined heating and gas sensing layer to determine an amount of the at least one gas within the housing.

2. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1 , wherein
each of the plurality of semiconductor heaters shares a same substrate layer, and
the heating layer of one of the plurality of semiconductor heaters is spaced apart from the heating layer of another one of the plurality of semiconductor heaters, and the heating layer of each of the plurality of semiconductor heaters is on the substrate layer.

3. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1 , wherein the heating layer of each of the plurality of semiconductor heaters has a convex polygonal shape.

4. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of semiconductor heaters is on an internal surface of the housing.

5. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 4 , wherein the housing comprises:
a planar wall, and
wherein the plurality of semiconductor heaters is on the planar wall.

6. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1 , wherein each of the semiconductor heaters is substantially planar.

7. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1 , wherein each of the semiconductor heaters extends over a total area of less than 7 square millimetres.

8. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one semiconductor gas sensor.

9. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the supply of electrical power to the combined heating and gas sensing layer in response to the determined amount of the at least one gas within the housing.

10. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 8 , wherein the at least one semiconductor gas sensor comprises:
a semiconductor gas sensor overlying a gas sensor heater, the gas sensor heater being one of the plurality of semiconductor heaters.

11. An aerosol-generating device comprising:
an electrical power supply;
a housing defining a cavity, the cavity configured to receive an aerosol-generating article;
a plurality of semiconductor heaters positioned within the housing, each of the plurality of semiconductor heaters including,
a substrate layer, and
a heating layer on the substrate layer, the heating layer being a continuous layer;

a controller configured to control a supply of electrical power from the electrical power supply to each of the plurality of semiconductor heaters; and
at least one semiconductor gas sensor including,
a semiconductor gas sensor overlying a gas sensor heater, the gas sensor heater being one of the plurality of semiconductor heaters,

wherein the controller is configured to simultaneously:
control a supply of electrical power from the electrical power supply to the gas sensor heater to heat the at least one semiconductor gas sensor; and
measure an electrical resistance of the at least one semiconductor gas sensor to determine an amount of at least one gas within the housing.

12. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 11 , wherein the controller is configured to control the supply of electrical power to the gas sensor heater in response to the determined amount of the at least one gas within the housing.

13. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 8 , wherein the at least one semiconductor gas sensor comprises:
at least two semiconductor gas sensors, each of the at least two semiconductor gas sensors being sensitive to different gases within the housing.

14. The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the supply of electrical power from the electrical power supply to each of the plurality of semiconductor heaters sequentially.

Assignees

• Altria Client Services Llc

Inventors

• Batista Rui Nuno

Classifications

• A24F40/50

  Control or monitoring · CPC title

• H05B2203/021

  Heaters specially adapted for heating liquids · CPC title

• G01N27/14

  of an electrically-heated body in dependence upon change of temperature · CPC title

• G01N33/0036

  specially adapted to detect a particular component (physical analysis of gaseous biological material G01N33/497) · CPC title

• H05B1/0244

  Heating of fluids (H05B1/0247 takes precedence) · CPC title