Aerosol generating system with multiple susceptors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11793239-B2
Application number	US-201816636533-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 9, 2018
Priority date	Aug 9, 2017
Publication date	Oct 24, 2023
Grant date	Oct 24, 2023

Abstract

An aerosol-generating system is provided, including: an aerosol-generating device, including a housing, a heating chamber defining a heating zone and being sized to receive at least a portion of an aerosol-forming substrate within the heating zone, an induction element disposed around, or adjacent to, the heating zone, a power supply, and a controller connected to the induction element and configured to provide an alternating electric current to the induction element to generate an alternating magnetic field within the heating zone, the induction element being configured to be controlled to sequentially provide a first alternating magnetic field having a first frequency for a first period of time followed by a second alternating magnetic field having a second frequency for a second period of time.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An aerosol-generating system, comprising:
an aerosol-generating device, comprising
a housing,
a heating chamber defining a heating zone and being sized to receive at least a portion of an aerosol-forming substrate within the heating zone,
an induction element disposed around, or adjacent to, the heating zone,
a power supply, and
a controller electrically connected to the induction element and to the power supply, and being configured to provide an alternating electric current to the induction element to generate an alternating magnetic field within the heating zone,
the controller and the power supply being contained within the housing,

wherein the induction element is configured to be controlled to sequentially provide a first alternating magnetic field having a first frequency for a first period of time followed by a second alternating magnetic field having a second frequency for a second period of time,
wherein the induction element comprises a first coil and a second coil, the first coil actuatable to provide the first alternating magnetic field and the second coil actuatable to provide the second alternating magnetic field.

2. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 1 , wherein the first alternating magnetic field causes preferential heating of a first susceptor disposed within the heating zone and the second alternating magnetic field causes preferential heating of a second susceptor disposed within the heating zone.

3. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 2 , wherein, during the first period of time the first susceptor is heated to a higher temperature than the second susceptor and during the second period of time the second susceptor is heated to a higher temperature than the first susceptor, or during the first period of time the second susceptor is heated to a higher temperature than the first susceptor and during the second period of time the first susceptor is heated to a higher temperature than the second susceptor.

4. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 1 , wherein the induction element is further configured to be controlled to provide three or more different alternating magnetic fields for three or more separate periods of time, each of the three or more different alternating magnetic fields having a different frequency.

5. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 2 , wherein the aerosol-generating device comprises the first susceptor and the second susceptor.

6. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 2 , wherein the aerosol-generating device further comprises a plurality of elongate susceptor elements projecting into the chamber, the plurality of elongate susceptor elements extending in a longitudinal direction of the chamber and being spaced apart from each other, and the plurality of elongate susceptor elements comprising at least the first susceptor and the second susceptor.

7. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 6 , wherein the plurality of elongate susceptor elements are substantially parallel with each other.

8. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 6 , wherein the first susceptor and the second susceptor, or each of the plurality of elongate susceptor elements, are removably attached to the aerosol-generating device.

9. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 8 , further comprising the first susceptor and the second susceptor, or the plurality of elongate susceptor elements, and a base portion configured to removably attach to the housing of the aerosol-generating device,
wherein the first susceptor and the second susceptor, or the plurality of elongate susceptor elements, are attached to the base portion such that the first susceptor and the second susceptor, or the plurality of elongate susceptor elements, project into the heating chamber when the base portion is removably coupled to the housing.

10. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 1 , further comprising an aerosol-generating article, the aerosol-generating article comprising the aerosol-forming substrate and being dimensioned to be received by the heating chamber such that at least a portion of an aerosol-forming substrate is within the heating zone.

11. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 2 , further comprising an aerosol-generating article, the aerosol-generating article comprising the aerosol-forming substrate and being dimensioned to be received by the heating chamber such that at least a portion of an aerosol-forming substrate is within the heating zone, the aerosol-generating article further comprising the first susceptor and the second susceptor.

12. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the first susceptor has a first shape, a first cross-section, a first length dimension, a first width dimension, and a first thickness dimension, and the second susceptor has a second shape, a second cross-section, a second length dimension, a second width dimension, and a second thickness dimension, and
wherein at least one of the first and the second shapes, the first and the second cross-sections, the first and the second length dimensions, the first and the second width dimensions, and the first and the second thickness dimensions, are different.

13. The aerosol-generating system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the first susceptor is formed from a first material and the second susceptor is formed from a second material,
wherein the first material has one or more material properties different from that of the second material, and
wherein the one or more material properties comprises resistivity and magnetic permeability.

14. A method of using an aerosol-generating system as recited in claim 1 , the method comprising:
inserting the aerosol-generating article into the heating chamber of the aerosol-generating device such that at least a portion of an aerosol-forming substrate is located within the heating zone;
actuating the induction element to provide a first alternating magnetic field having a first frequency for a first period of time, thereby preferentially heating a first susceptor located within the heating zone for the first period of time; and
actuating the induction element to provide a second alternating magnetic field having a second frequency for a second period of time, thereby preferentially heating a second susceptor located within the heating zone for the second period of time,
wherein a first portion of the aerosol-forming substrate is heated by the first susceptor during the first period of time, and a second portion of the aerosol-forming substrate is heated by the second susceptor during the second period of time.

15. An aerosol-generating system, comprising:
an aerosol-generating device, comprising
a housing,
a heating chamber defining a heating zone and being sized to receive at least a portion of an aerosol-forming substrate within the heating zone,
an induction element disposed around, or adjacent to, the heating zone,
a power supply,
one or more external susceptor elements, and
a controller electrically connected to the induction element and to the power supply, and being configured to provide an alternating electric current to the induction element to generate an alternating magnetic field within the heating zone,
the controller and the power supply being contained within the housing,

wherein the induction element is configured to be controlled to sequentially provide a first alternating magnetic field having a first frequency for a first period of time followed by a second alternating magnetic field having a second frequency for

Assignees

• Philip Morris Products Sa

Inventors

• Courbat Jerome Christian
• Mironov Oleg
• Reevell Tony
• Rossoll Andreas Michael
• Stura Enrico

Classifications

• A24F40/465 Primary

  specially adapted for induction heating · CPC title

• A24F40/50

  Control or monitoring · CPC title

• A24F40/57

  Temperature control · CPC title

• H05B6/06

  Control, e.g. of temperature, of power · CPC title

• H05B6/108

  for heating a fluid · CPC title