Heating engine control algorithm for non-nicotine e-vapor device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12453378-B2
Application number	US-202318361257-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 28, 2023
Priority date	Feb 10, 2020
Publication date	Oct 28, 2025
Grant date	Oct 28, 2025

Abstract

A method of controlling a heater of a device including a removable container that stores a material includes detecting, from the removable container, power information indicating a first operating point and a second operating point; and supplying power to the heater based on the detected power information by, determining a first amount of power based on the first operating point, supplying the first amount of power to the heater during a first operation mode of the heater, determining a second amount of power based on the second operating point, and supplying the second amount of power to the heater during a second operation mode of the heater, the second amount of power being higher than the first amount of power, the device being a non-nicotine e-vaping device or a heat-not-burn aerosol-generating device, the material being a non-nicotine pre-vapor formulation or an aerosol-forming substrate.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method of controlling a heater of a non-nicotine e-vapor device, the method comprising:
determining, with a controller of the non-nicotine e-vapor device, a heater temperature value by
determining a resistance of the heater from one or more electrical attributes of the heater obtained by one or more heating engine sensors of the heater, and
obtaining, from a look-up table (LUT), based on the determined resistance, a first temperature value, the first temperature value being the heater temperature value;
obtaining, with the controller, a target temperature value by
detecting, from a removable pod included in the non-nicotine e-vapor device, power information indicating a plurality of temperature setpoints;
determining a current operation mode of the non-nicotine e-vapor device; and
selecting, as the target temperature value, a temperature setpoint, from among a plurality of temperature setpoints, that corresponds to the determined current operation mode of the non-nicotine e-vapor device; and
controlling, by a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller, a level of power provided to the heater by a power supply of the non-nicotine e-vapor device, based on the heater temperature value and the target temperature value.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the
one or more electrical attributes of the heater include at least a voltage of the heater and a current of the heater as measured by the one or more heating engine sensors.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein
the LUT stores a plurality of temperature values that correspond, respectively, to a plurality of heater resistances, and the first temperature value is the temperature value, from among the plurality of temperature values stored in the LUT, that corresponds to the determined resistance.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the temperature setpoint includes at least one of a course preference level of a plurality of course preference levels or a fine preference level of a plurality of fine preference levels.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the current operating mode is at least one of a first operation mode or a second operation mode.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein controlling the level of power provided to the heater by the power supply comprises:
supplying a first amount of power during the first operation mode, the first amount of power being an amount that causes the heater to heat an aerosol-forming substrate stored in the non-nicotine e-vapor device to a temperature below an aerosolization temperature of the aerosol-forming substrate, and supplying a second amount of power during the second operation mode, the second amount of power is an amount that causes the heater to heat the aerosol-forming substrate stored in the non-nicotine e-vapor device to a temperature equal to, or greater than, the aerosolization temperature of the aerosol-forming substrate.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the removable pod includes PID parameters for calibrating the PID controller.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the PID parameters include at least one of a proportional gain, an integral gain, or a derivative gain.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the controlling of the level of power provided to the heater comprises:
controlling, by the PID controller, the level of power provided to the heater such that a magnitude of a difference between the target temperature value and the heater temperature value is reduced.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the controlling of the level of power provided to the heater by the power supply is further based on a timer outputting a timer shutdown signal.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
ceasing, via the PID controller, providing power to the heater by the power supply when the timer outputs the timer shutdown signal.

Assignees

• Altria Client Services Llc

Inventors

• Gallagher Niall
• Wykeham William
• Lau Raymond W
• Hawes Eric
• Bache Terry
• Sundar Rangaraj S
• Keen Jarrett

Classifications

• A24F40/60

  Devices with integrated user interfaces · CPC title

• A24F40/51

  Arrangement of sensors · CPC title

• A24F40/57 Primary

  Temperature control · CPC title

• A24F40/53

  Monitoring, e.g. fault detection · CPC title

• A61M2205/8212

  with means or measures taken for minimising energy consumption · CPC title