Heater for a vapor provision system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12357026-B2
Application number	US-202017439787-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2020
Priority date	Mar 15, 2019
Publication date	Jul 15, 2025
Grant date	Jul 15, 2025

Abstract

A heater for vaporizing aerosolizable substrate material in an electronic vapor provision system has an elongate format and is formed from a planar element of electrically resistive material having a length, a width, and two pairs of opposite edges comprising two major edges substantially parallel to the length and two minor edges substantially parallel to the width, wherein the planar element is curved to form the elongate format of the heater such that the edges of one of the pairs of opposite edges are located adjacent one another and the curved planar element defines a volume to accommodate a porous material for wicking aerosolizable substrate material to the heater.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An atomizer for an electronic vapor provision system, comprising a heater for vaporizing aerosolizable substrate material and a portion of porous material for wicking aerosolizable substrate material to the heater, the heater having an elongate format and formed from a planar element of electrically resistive material having a length, a width, and two pairs of opposite edges comprising two major edges substantially parallel to the length and two minor edges substantially parallel to the width, wherein the planar element is curved to form the elongate format of the heater such that the edges of one of the pairs of opposite edges are located adjacent one another and the curved planar element defines a volume, the portion of porous material accommodated in the volume,
wherein the planar element is curved around an axis substantially parallel to the length such that the two major edges are located adjacent one another to form a heater with a substantially tubular format, and
wherein the planar element additionally comprises an end portion, the end portion extending from one of said minor edges, and folded with respect to that minor edge to at least partially cover an end of the tubular format of the heater.

2. The atomizer according to claim 1 , wherein the two major edges are located so that major edge portions of the planar element overlap one another to form a heater with a tubular format closed along a length of the heater.

3. The atomizer according to claim 2 , wherein the overlapping major edge portions are able to slide over one another to alter the capacity of the volume.

4. The atomizer according to claim 2 , wherein the overlapping major edge portions are joined to one another to form a volume of fixed capacity.

5. The atomizer according to claim 1 , wherein the two major edges are located with an intervening gap to form a heater with a tubular format open along a length of the heater.

6. The atomizer according to claim 1 , wherein the tubular format has a substantially circular cross-section in a plane parallel to the minor edges.

7. The atomizer according to claim 1 , wherein the length of the planar element is L1 and the width of the planar element is L2, and the ratio L1:L2 is substantially in the range of 4:1 to 12:1, or 2:π to 6:π.

8. The atomizer according to claim 1 , wherein the elongate format of the heater has a length L H and a width W H such that the ratio L H :W H is substantially in the range of 2:1 to 6:1.

9. The atomizer according to claim 1 , wherein the electrically resistive material is metallic.

10. The atomizer according to claim 9 , wherein the electrically resistive material is one of mild steel, ferritic stainless steel, aluminum, nickel, nichrome, or an alloy of these materials.

11. The atomizer according to claim 1 , wherein the planar element has a plurality of perforations in it.

12. The atomizer according to claim 11 , wherein the plurality of perforations are for the passage of vaporized aerosolizable substrate material out of the volume.

13. The atomizer according to claim 12 , wherein the plurality of perforations are distributed over all or most of the area of the planar element.

14. The atomizer according to claim 11 , wherein the plurality of perforations comprises a line or lines of perforations substantially parallel to the width of the planar element to reduce transfer of heat in the material of the planar element across the line or lines of perforations.

15. The atomizer according to claim 1 , wherein the heater is a susceptor configured to be placed in an oscillating magnetic field to be heated by induction.

16. The atomizer according to claim 1 , wherein the heater is configured as a resistive heating element for the flow of electrical current to be heated by Joule heating.

17. The atomizer according to claim 1 , wherein the porous material comprises cotton or organic cotton.

18. The atomizer according to claim 1 , wherein the porous material comprises a rod of porous ceramic.

19. The atomizer according to claim 1 , further comprising a support member having a support portion defining a socket into which one or both minor edges of the planar element are inserted such that the heater is supported at one end of the elongate format only in a cantilevered arrangement.

20. An electronic vapor provision system comprising the atomizer according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Nicoventures Trading Ltd

Inventors

• Moloney Patrick

Classifications

• A24F40/42

  Cartridges or containers for inhalable precursors · CPC title

• H05B3/70

  Plates of cast metal · CPC title

• H05B3/72

  Plates of sheet metal · CPC title

• H05B3/748

  Resistive heating elements, i.e. heating elements exposed to the air, e.g. coil wire heater (H05B3/742 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H05B6/108

  for heating a fluid · CPC title