Smoking article for selective delivery of an aerosol precursor composition, a cartridge, and a related method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020113232-A1
Application number	US-201916713503-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 13, 2019
Priority date	Dec 14, 2016
Publication date	Apr 16, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A cartridge for selective delivery of aerosol precursor compositions includes a housing, and a reservoir disposed within the housing and defining three chambers each having an aerosol precursor composition therein. The reservoir is in fluid communication with an aerosol forming arrangement configured to form an aerosol from any of the aerosol precursor compositions. A selector defines one or more dispensing selectively aligned with one or more of the three chambers, such that the aerosol precursor composition disposed within each of the three chambers is capable of being dispensed therefrom through the selectively aligned dispensing ports to the aerosol forming arrangement. The cartridge further includes a flow tube extending longitudinally through a central axis of the reservoir and the selector so that each of the three chambers is arranged circumferentially around the flow tube, the flow tube being disposed so that the formed aerosol is transported through the flow tube.

First claim

1 . A smoking article, comprising:
a control body; and a cartridge engaged with the control body, the cartridge comprising:
a housing having a proximal end and an opposing distal end engagable with the control body;
a reservoir disposed within the housing and extending longitudinally from a first end disposed toward the proximal end of the housing to a second end disposed toward the distal end of the housing, the reservoir defining three chambers each having an aerosol precursor composition disposed therein,
an aerosol forming arrangement in fluid communication with the reservoir, and configured to form an aerosol from any of the aerosol precursor compositions dispensed from any of the three chambers;
a selector disposed between the three chambers and the aerosol forming arrangement, and defining one or more dispensing ports configured to be selectively aligned with one or more of the three chambers, such that the aerosol precursor composition disposed within each of the one or more of the three chambers is capable of being dispensed therefrom through the selectively aligned one or more dispensing ports to the aerosol forming arrangement; and
a flow tube extending longitudinally through a central axis of the reservoir and the selector so that each of the three chambers is arranged circumferentially around the flow tube, a first end of the flow tube being disposed toward the proximal end of the housing and an opposing second end of the flow tube being disposed toward the distal end of the housing proximate to an aerosolization zone that receives the formed aerosol from the aerosol forming arrangement so that the formed aerosol is transported from the aerosolization zone through the flow tube toward the first end of the flow tube.

2 . The smoking article according to claim 1 , wherein the proximal end of the housing defines a mouthpiece element and the first end of the flow tube is in fluid communication with the mouthpiece element so that the formed aerosol is transported from the aerosolization zone through the flow tube to the mouthpiece element in response to suction applied to the mouthpiece element.

3 . The smoking article according to claim 1 , wherein the selector comprises two aligned discs, a first disc being independently rotatable relative to a second disc, about the central axis, the discs being serially disposed with respect to each other along the central axis.

4 . The smoking article according to claim 3 , wherein the second disc defines three dispensing ports equidistantly disposed along a radius originating from the central axis, and wherein the dispensing ports are substantially equally angularly spaced apart about the second disc, each one of the three dispensing ports of the second disc being aligned with a respective one of the three chambers.

5 . The smoking article according to claim 4 , wherein the first disc defines six dispensing ports equidistantly disposed along the radius originating from the central axis, wherein rotation of the first disc into one of eight positions aligns one or more of the six dispensing ports of the first disc with one or more of the three dispensing ports of the second disc so as to allow a quantity of the respective aerosol precursor composition to be dispensed from the reservoir through the aligned dispensing ports of the second disc, or rotation of the first disc into one of the eight positions does not align any of the six dispensing ports of the first disc with any of the three dispensing ports of the second disc so as to prevent any aerosol precursor composition from being dispensed from the reservoir.

6 . The smoking article according to claim 5 , wherein the selector defines a gripping surface extending about a first portion of the first disc external to the housing.

7 . The smoking article according to claim 6 , wherein the selector defines ridges extending about a remaining, second portion of the first disc external to the housing, each ridge corresponding to a position of selective alignment between the dispensing ports of the first disc and the dispensing ports of the second disc, and wherein the housing of the cartridge defines a position marker alignable with one of the ridges so as to provide a visual indication of the position of selective alignment between the dispensing ports of the first and second discs corresponding to one or more of the three chambers.

8 . The smoking article according to claim 7 , wherein the selector defines two shoulders, each shoulder arranged at an interface between the first portion and the second portion of the first disc external to the housing and between which the ridges are arranged, the shoulders restricting selective alignment of the dispensing ports and one or more of the three chambers to one of the positions associated with the respective ridge by preventing rotation of the first disc past either of the two shoulders.

9 . The smoking article according to claim 1 , wherein the control body comprises a control component, a flow sensor, and a battery, and wherein the aerosol forming arrangement includes a resistive heating element in electrical communication with the battery and configured to generate heat in response thereto, the aerosol precursor compositions directed to the aerosol forming arrangement for forming the aerosol upon interaction with the heat generated by the heating element.

10 . The smoking article according to claim 9 , comprising a transport element configured to direct the aerosol precursor compositions into interaction with the heat generated by the heating element, and a sorptive element operably engaged between the three chambers and the transport element, the sorptive element being configured to sorptively receive the aerosol precursor compositions, and to supply the aerosol precursor compositions to the transport element.

11 . The smoking article according to claim 1 , wherein each of the three chambers includes a different flavor, a different percentage of an active ingredient, or a different composition of the aerosol precursor composition.

12 . A cartridge for a smoking article, comprising:
a housing having a proximal end and an opposing distal end engagable with a control body of the smoking article; a reservoir disposed within the housing and extending longitudinally from a first end disposed toward the proximal end of the housing to a second end disposed toward the distal end of the housing, the reservoir defining three chambers each having an aerosol precursor composition disposed therein, an aerosol forming arrangement in fluid communication with the reservoir, and configured to form an aerosol from any of the aerosol precursor compositions dispensed from any of the three chambers; a selector disposed between the three chambers and the aerosol forming arrangement, and defining one or more dispensing ports configured to be selectively aligned with one or more of the three chambers, such that the aerosol precursor composition disposed within each of the one or more of the three chambers is capable of being dispensed therefrom through the selectively aligned one or more dispensing ports to the aerosol forming arrangement; and a flow tube extending longitudinally through a central axis of the reservoir and the selector so that each of the three chambers is arranged circumferentially around the flow tube, a first end of the flow tube being disposed toward the proximal end of the housing and an opposing second end of the flow tube being disposed toward the distal end of the housing proximate to an aerosolization zone that receives the formed aerosol from the aerosol forming arrangement so that the formed aerosol is transported from the aerosolizati

Assignees

• Rai Strategic Holdings Inc

Inventors

• Bless Alfred Charles
• Novak Iii Charles Jacob
• Sears Stephen Benson
• Dominique Joseph
• Aller Jared
• Short Jason M

Classifications

• A24F40/40 Primary

  Constructional details, e.g. connection of cartridges and battery parts · CPC title

• H05B1/0244

  Heating of fluids (H05B1/0247 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A24F40/485

  Valves; Apertures · CPC title

• A24F40/48

  Fluid transfer means, e.g. pumps · CPC title

• A24F40/30 Primary

  Devices using two or more structurally separated inhalable precursors, e.g. using two liquid precursors in two cartridges · CPC title