Apparatus for an aerosol generating device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12004566-B2
Application number	US-201917250740-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2019
Priority date	Aug 31, 2018
Publication date	Jun 11, 2024
Grant date	Jun 11, 2024

Abstract

Apparatus for an aerosol generating device comprises a circuit comprising an inductive element for heating a susceptor arrangement to heat an aerosol generating material. The apparatus also comprises a controller configured to determine a change in an electrical parameter of the circuit when the circuit is changed between an unloaded state wherein the susceptor arrangement is not inductively coupled to the inductive element, and a loaded state wherein the susceptor arrangement is inductively coupled to the inductive element. The controller is configured to determine a property of the susceptor arrangement from the change in the electrical parameter of the circuit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for an aerosol generating device, the apparatus comprising:
a circuit comprising an inductive element for heating a susceptor arrangement to heat an aerosol generating material; and
a controller configured to:
determine a change in an electrical parameter of the circuit when the circuit is changed between an unloaded state wherein the susceptor arrangement is not inductively coupled to the inductive element, and a loaded state wherein the susceptor arrangement is inductively coupled to the inductive element; and
determine a property of the susceptor arrangement from the change in the electrical parameter of the circuit,
wherein the electrical parameter is one of a resonant frequency of the circuit and an effective grouped resistance r of the inductive element and the susceptor arrangement.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the circuit is changed from the unloaded state to the loaded state when the susceptor arrangement is received by the device, and
the circuit is changed from the loaded state to the unloaded state when the susceptor arrangement is removed from the device.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the change in the electrical parameter is determined by comparing a value of the parameter measured when the circuit is in the loaded state to a value of the parameter measured when the circuit is in the unloaded state.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the change in the electrical parameter is determined by comparing a value of the parameter measured when the circuit is in the loaded state to a predetermined value of the parameter corresponding to the circuit in the unloaded state.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein determining the property of the susceptor arrangement comprises comparing the determined change in the value of the electrical parameter to a list of at least one stored value, wherein the property of the susceptor arrangement is indicated by determining to which value in the list the determined change corresponds.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to allow activation of the aerosol generating device for use or not allow activation of the aerosol generating device for use depending on the determined property of the susceptor arrangement.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to cause the device to operate in a first heating mode depending on the determined property of the susceptor arrangement.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a property of the susceptor arrangement based on the magnitude of the change in the electrical parameter of the circuit.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a property of the susceptor arrangement based on the sign of the change in the electrical parameter of the circuit.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the property of the susceptor arrangement is whether or not the susceptor arrangement is present in the device, and the controller is configured to determine that the susceptor arrangement is present in the device based on whether a change in the electrical parameter is present.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a temperature measuring device wherein the controller is configured to receive a measured temperature of the susceptor arrangement from the temperature measuring device at a time when the circuit is changed between the loaded state and the unloaded state and use the measured temperature of the susceptor arrangement in determining the property of the susceptor arrangement.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the susceptor arrangement is arranged within a consumable product comprising the aerosol generating material to be heated and the controller is configured to determine a property of the consumable from the determined property of the susceptor arrangement.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the property of the consumable comprises an indicator of whether the consumable is an approved consumable or not an approved consumable, and the controller is configured to determine whether or not the consumable is an approved consumable and activate the device for use if the consumable is an approved consumable and not activate the device for use if the consumable is not an approved consumable.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the electrical parameter is the effective grouped resistance r of the inductive element and the susceptor arrangement, and wherein the apparatus further comprises a capacitive element and a switching arrangement for enabling a varying current to be generated from a DC voltage supply and flow through the inductive element; and the controller is configured to determine the effective resistance r from a frequency of the varying current being supplied to the inductive element, a DC current from the DC voltage supply, and a DC voltage of the DC voltage supply, and wherein the effective grouped resistance r of the inductive element and susceptor arrangement is determined by the controller according to the relationship:

r
=

I
s

V
s

⁢

1

(

2
⁢
π
⁢

⁢

f
0

⁢
C

)

2

where V s is the DC voltage and I s is the DC current, C is a capacitance of the circuit, and f 0 is the frequency of the varying current being supplied to the inductive element.

15. An aerosol generating device comprising apparatus according to claim 1 .

16. A method of determining a property of a susceptor arrangement for an aerosol generating device, wherein the susceptor arrangement is for heating an aerosol generating material, the method being performed by a controller of an aerosol generating device comprising the controller and a circuit comprising an inductive element for heating the susceptor, wherein the method comprises:
determining, by the controller, a change in an electrical parameter of the circuit when the circuit is changed between an unloaded state wherein the susceptor arrangement is not inductively coupled to the inductive element, and a loaded state wherein the susceptor arrangement is inductively coupled to the inductive element; and
determining, by the controller, the property of the susceptor arrangement from the change in the electrical parameter of the circuit
wherein the electrical parameter is one of a resonant frequency of the circuit and an effective grouped resistance r of the inductive element and the susceptor arrangement.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein:
the ci

Assignees

• Nicoventures Trading Ltd

Inventors

• Korus Anton
• Moloney Patrick

Classifications

• H05B6/108

  for heating a fluid · CPC title

• H05B6/06 Primary

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

• A24F40/53

  Monitoring, e.g. fault detection · CPC title

• A24F40/57

  Temperature control · CPC title

• H05B6/105

  using a susceptor · CPC title