Smoking system having a liquid storage portion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9420829-B2
Application number	US-91351010-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 27, 2010
Priority date	Oct 27, 2009
Publication date	Aug 23, 2016
Grant date	Aug 23, 2016

Abstract

A smoking system includes a capillary wick for holding liquid, at least one air inlet, at least one air outlet and a chamber between the air inlet and air outlet. The air inlet, the air outlet and the chamber are arranged so as to define an air flow route from the air inlet to the air outlet via the capillary wick so as to convey aerosol formed from the liquid to the air outlet. The smoking system further includes at least one guide for channeling the air flow in the air flow route, so as to control particle size in the aerosol. The smoking system optionally includes at least one heater for heating the liquid in at least a portion of the capillary wick to form the aerosol.

First claim

We claim:

1. A smoking system having a size comparable to a conventional cigar or cigarette comprising:
a housing including a cartridge containing liquid, a power supply, electric circuitry and an air flow sensor;
a capillary wick for holding liquid, one end of the wick extending into the cartridge containing the liquid, the capillary wick consisting of a plurality of threads;
at least one heater for heating the liquid in at least a portion of the capillary wick to form an aerosol when the sensor detects airflow indicative of a smoker taking a puff;
at least one air inlet, at least one air outlet and a chamber between the air inlet and air outlet; the air inlet, the air outlet and the chamber being arranged so as to define an air flow route from the air inlet to the air outlet around an outer periphery of the capillary wick so as to convey the aerosol to the air outlet; and
at least one guide for channeling air flow in the air flow route, said guide channeling air flow in a direction relative to the capillary wick, so as to control particle size in the aerosol;
wherein the at least one heater includes a coil of wire at least partially surrounding the capillary wick.

2. The smoking system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one guide is arranged so that air flow speed over the wick is greater than air flow speed upstream of the wick.

3. The smoking system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one guide is arranged to control the particle size of the aerosol to have a diameter substantially less than about 1.5 micro meters.

4. The smoking system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one guide for channeling the air flow is provided by the internal shape of the housing.

5. The smoking system of claim 1 , wherein an internal shape of the housing at least partially defines the shape of the chamber.

6. The smoking system of claim 1 , wherein the housing is internally shaped downstream of the capillary wick to form an impactor for trapping larger aerosol particles.

7. The smoking system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one guide for channeling the air flow is provided by one or more removable inserts contained in the housing.

8. The smoking system of claim 7 , wherein at least one of the removable inserts is downstream of the capillary wick and includes an impactor for trapping larger aerosol particles.

9. The smoking system of claim 1 , wherein the capillary wick is elongate and wherein the guides are configured to channel the air flow upstream of the capillary wick in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the capillary wick.

10. The smoking system of claim 1 , wherein the capillary wick is elongate and wherein the guides are configured to channel the air flow downstream of the capillary wick in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the capillary wick.

11. The smoking system of claim 1 , wherein the guides are configured to channel the air flow around the capillary wick in a spiral.

12. The smoking system of claim 1 , wherein the capillary wick is elongate and wherein the guides are configured to channel the air flow onto the capillary wick in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the capillary wick.

13. The smoking system of claim 1 , wherein the capillary wick is elongate and wherein the guides are configured to channel the air flow off the capillary wick in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the capillary wick.

14. The smoking system of claim 1 , wherein the capillary wick is elongate and wherein the guides are configured to channel the air flow off the capillary wick in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the capillary wick.

15. A smoking system having a size comparable to a conventional cigar or cigarette comprising:
a housing including a cartridge containing liquid, a power supply, electric circuitry and a manually operable switch;
a capillary wick for holding liquid, one end of the wick extending into the cartridge containing the liquid, the capillary wick consisting of a plurality of threads;
at least one heater for heating the liquid in at least a portion of the capillary wick to form an aerosol when the manually operable switch is activated;
at least one air inlet, at least one air outlet and a chamber between the air inlet and air outlet; the air inlet, the air outlet and the chamber being arranged so as to define an air flow route from the air inlet to the air outlet around an outer periphery of the capillary wick so as to convey aerosol formed from the liquid to the air outlet; and
at least one guide for channeling the air flow in the air flow route, so as to control particle size in the aerosol;
wherein the at least one heater includes a coil of wire at least partially surrounding the capillary wick.

16. An aerosol delivery system having a size comparable to a conventional cigar or cigarette comprising:
a housing including a cartridge containing liquid, a power supply, electric circuitry and an air flow sensor;
a capillary wick for holding liquid, one end of the wick extending into the cartridge containing the liquid, the capillary wick consisting of a plurality of threads;
at least one heater for heating the liquid in at least a portion of the capillary wick to form an aerosol when the sensor detects airflow indicative of a smoker taking a puff;
at least one air inlet, at least one air outlet and a chamber between the air inlet and air outlet; the air inlet, the air outlet and the chamber being arranged so as to define an air flow route from the air inlet to the air outlet around an outer periphery of the capillary wick so as to convey the aerosol to the air outlet; and
at least one guide for channeling air flow in the air flow route, so as to control particle size in the aerosol;
wherein the at least one heater includes a coil of wire at least partially surrounding the capillary wick.

17. The aerosol delivery system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one guide is arranged so that air flow speed over the wick is greater than air flow speed upstream of the wick.

18. The aerosol delivery system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one guide is arranged to control the particle size of the aerosol to have a diameter substantially less than about 1.5 micro meters.

19. The aerosol delivery system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one guide for channelling the air flow is provided by the internal shape of the housing.

20. The aerosol delivery system of claim 16 , wherein an internal shape of the housing at least partially defines the shape of the chamber.

21. The aerosol delivery system of claim 16 , wherein the housing is internally shaped downstream of the capillary wick to form an impactor for trapping larger aerosol particles.

22. The aerosol delivery system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one guide for channelling the air flow is provided by one or more removable inserts contained in the housing.

23. The aerosol delivery system of claim 22 , wherein at least one of the removable inserts is downstream of the capillary wick and includes an impactor for trapping larger aerosol particles.

24. The aerosol delivery system of claim 16 , wherein the capillary wick is elongate and wherein the guides are configured to channel the air flow upstream of the capillary wick in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the capillary wick.

25. The aerosol delivery

Assignees

• Thorens Michel
• Flick Jean-Marc
• Cochand Olivier Yves
• Dubief Flavien
• Philip Morris Usa Inc

Inventors

• Thorens Michel
• Flick Jean-Marc
• Cochand Olivier Yves
• Dubief Flavien

Classifications

• A61M2016/0039

  in the inspiratory circuit · CPC title

• A61M2016/0021

  with a proportional output signal, e.g. from a thermistor · CPC title

• A61M2205/8206

  battery-operated · CPC title

• A61M2206/14

  Static flow deviators in tubes disturbing laminar flow in tubes, e.g. archimedes screws · CPC title

• A61M11/002

  by flow deviation causing inertial separation of transported particles · CPC title