Non-nicotine electronic vaping devices having dryness detection and auto shutdown

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12569010-B2
Application number	US-202016929417-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 15, 2020
Priority date	Jul 15, 2020
Publication date	Mar 10, 2026
Grant date	Mar 10, 2026

Abstract

The non-nicotine electronic vaping device includes processing circuitry configured to: determine a plurality of resistance values for a heater during a time window; calculate a percent change in resistance of the heater between a first of the plurality of resistance values and a second of the plurality of resistance values; decide whether the percent change in resistance of the heater exceeds a percent change in resistance threshold; and disable power to the heater in response to deciding that the percent change in resistance of the heater exceeds the percent change in resistance threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A non-nicotine electronic vaping device comprising:
processing circuitry configured to
detect that a resistance of a heater has stabilized based on a current through the heater,
determine a plurality of resistance values for a heater during a time window in response to detecting that the resistance of the heater has stabilized,
calculate a percent change in resistance of the heater between a first of the plurality of resistance values and a second of the plurality of resistance values,
decide whether the percent change in resistance of the heater exceeds a percent change in resistance threshold,
disable power to the heater in response to deciding that the percent change in resistance of the heater exceeds the percent change in resistance threshold,
decide whether a non-nicotine pod assembly has been removed from the non-nicotine electronic vaping device within a first threshold time interval after disabling the power to the heater, and
power off the non-nicotine electronic vaping device in response to deciding that the non-nicotine pod assembly has not been removed from the non-nicotine electronic vaping device within the first threshold time interval after disabling the power to the heater.

2 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first-in-first-out (FIFO) memory configured to store the plurality of resistance values for the heater; wherein
the first of the plurality of resistance values for the heater is an oldest resistance value stored in the FIFO memory, and
the second of the plurality of resistance values for the heater is a most recent resistance value stored in the FIFO memory.

3 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 1 , further comprising:
the non-nicotine pod assembly, wherein the non-nicotine pod assembly includes a memory storing the percent change in resistance threshold; and wherein
the processing circuitry is configured to obtain the percent change in resistance threshold from the memory in the non-nicotine pod assembly.

4 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to detect that the resistance of the heater has stabilized based on the current through the heater and a wetting current threshold.

5 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to output an indication of dry puff conditions in response to deciding that the percent change in resistance of the heater exceeds the percent change in resistance threshold.

6 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to return the non-nicotine electronic vaping device to an operational mode by clearing a fault associated with dry puff conditions at the non-nicotine electronic vaping device in response to deciding that the non-nicotine pod assembly has been removed from the non-nicotine electronic vaping device within the first threshold time interval after disabling the power to the heater.

7 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 6 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to
determine whether another non-nicotine pod assembly has been inserted into the non-nicotine electronic vaping device within a second threshold time interval after returning the non-nicotine electronic vaping device to the operational mode, and enable vaping at the non-nicotine electronic vaping device in response to determining that another non-nicotine pod assembly has been inserted into the non-nicotine electronic vaping device within the second threshold time interval after returning the non-nicotine electronic vaping device to the operational mode.

8 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 6 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to
determine whether another non-nicotine pod assembly has been inserted into the non-nicotine electronic vaping device within a second threshold time interval after returning the non-nicotine electronic vaping device to the operational mode, and power off the non-nicotine electronic vaping device in response to determining that another non-nicotine pod assembly has not been inserted into the non-nicotine electronic vaping device within the second threshold time interval after returning the non-nicotine electronic vaping device to the operational mode.

9 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 6 , wherein the fault associated with dry puff conditions at the non-nicotine electronic vaping device is based on at least one of a threshold parameter for the non-nicotine pod assembly, pod sensor information from a pod sensor, and sensor information from a sensor of a device body electrical system.

10 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a non-nicotine reservoir configured to store non-nicotine pre-vapor formulation; and the heater, wherein
the heater is configured to heat non-nicotine pre-vapor formulation drawn from the non-nicotine reservoir.

11 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 1 , wherein the first threshold time interval is within a range of 5 minutes and 120 minutes.

12 . A non-nicotine electronic vaping device comprising:
processing circuitry configured to cause the non-nicotine electronic vaping device to
determine a plurality of resistance values for a heater during a time window,
calculate a percent change in resistance of the heater between a first of the plurality of resistance values and a second of the plurality of resistance values,
detect whether the percent change in resistance of the heater exceeds a percent change in resistance threshold,
output an indication of dry puff conditions at the non-nicotine electronic vaping device in response to determining that the percent change in resistance of the heater exceeds the percent change in resistance threshold,
decide whether a non-nicotine pod assembly has been removed from the non-nicotine electronic vaping device within a first threshold time interval after outputting the indication of the dry puff conditions, and
power off the non-nicotine electronic vaping device in response to deciding that the non-nicotine pod assembly has not been removed from the non-nicotine electronic vaping device within the first threshold time interval after outputting the indication of dry puff conditions.

13 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 12 , further comprising:
a first-in-first-out (FIFO) memory configured to store the plurality of resistance values for the heater; wherein
the first of the plurality of resistance values for the heater is an oldest resistance value stored in the FIFO memory, and
the second of the plurality of resistance values for the heater is a most recent resistance value stored in the FIFO memory.

14 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 12 , further comprising:
the non-nicotine pod assembly, wherein the non-nicotine pod assembly includes a memory storing the percent change in resistance threshold; and wherein
the processing circuitry is configured to obtain the percent change in resistance threshold from the memory in the non-nicotine pod assembly.

15 . The non-nicotine electronic vaping device of claim 12 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to
detect that the resistance of the heater has stabilized based on a current through the heater, and determine the plurality of resistance values for the heater during the time window in response to detecting that the resistance of the heater has stabilized.

Assignees

• Altria Client Services Llc

Inventors

• Gallagher Niall
• Bache Terrance Theodore
• Sundar Rangaraj S
• Keen Jarrett
• Lau Raymond W
• Hawes Eric

Classifications

• A24F40/51

  Arrangement of sensors · CPC title

• A24F40/57

  Temperature control · CPC title

• A24F40/50

  Control or monitoring · CPC title

• A24F40/10

  Devices using liquid inhalable precursors · CPC title

• A24F40/46 Primary

  Shape or structure of electric heating means · CPC title