Patent Publication Number: US-2022232895-A1

Title: Cigarette device

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2020/114371, filed on Sep. 10, 2020, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201910884667.5, filed on Sep. 19, 2019. The disclosures of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This application relates to the field of electronic cigarette technologies, and in particular, to a cigarette device. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A low-temperature baking cigarette device is a cigarette device that heats a baked item (such as a cigarette) with a low temperature in a certain manner to generate vapor for a user to inhale. Current low-temperature baking cigarette devices generally use a heating element to heat a cigarette. The heating element is in direct contact with the cigarette, generates heat through the Joule effect, and transmits the heat to the cigarette to implement baking. Heating elements on the market are mainly in three forms: internal heating plates, core heating rods, and external heating tubes. However, these heating elements all have the following defects: on one hand, the cigarette is preheated for a relatively long time, leading to an inconsistent vaping taste, and tobacco near the heating element may be easily charred to generate a burnt taste; on the other hand, once the cigarette device is started, the whole cigarette needs to be consumed at one time, and the vaping process cannot be stopped and resumed in the middle. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to embodiments of this application, a cigarette device is provided, including: 
     a housing; 
     a loading cavity, disposed in the housing and configured to load a cigarette; 
     a fluid channel, located between the loading cavity and the housing, the fluid channel being in communication with the outside of the housing and a loading chamber of the loading cavity; 
     an airflow sensing apparatus, disposed in the housing, the airflow sensing apparatus being disposed in the fluid channel to sense an airflow speed in the fluid channel; 
     a power supply, disposed in the housing; 
     an electromagnetic induction heating element, surrounding the outside of the loading cavity, the electromagnetic induction heating element being electrically connected to the power supply; and 
     a circuit control unit, disposed in the housing, the circuit control unit being electrically connected to the airflow sensing apparatus and the electromagnetic induction heating element, and controlling, according to the airflow speed sensed by the airflow sensing apparatus, the electromagnetic induction heating element to work or stop. 
     In an embodiment, a material of the loading cavity is a non-magnetic shielding heat sink material with a thermal conductivity not lower than 20 W/(m·K). 
     In an embodiment, a material of the loading cavity is a ceramic material with a thermal conductivity not lower than 20 W/(m·K). 
     In an embodiment, the housing is provided with a cigarette insertion opening, the loading cavity is connected to the cigarette insertion opening, and the loading chamber of the loading cavity is in communication with the cigarette insertion opening. 
     In an embodiment, the housing is provided with a first air hole in communication with the fluid channel. 
     In an embodiment, there are one or more first air holes, and at least one of the first air holes is provided at an upper part of the housing. 
     In an embodiment, the first air holes are annular through holes surrounding the cigarette insertion opening. 
     In an embodiment, there are a plurality of first air holes, and the plurality of first air holes are arranged on an outer side of the cigarette insertion opening at uniform intervals. 
     In an embodiment, there are a plurality of first air holes, and at least one of the first air holes is provided at a lower part of the housing and located below the loading cavity. 
     In an embodiment, the loading cavity is provided with a second air hole in communication with the fluid channel. 
     In an embodiment, the second air hole is provided at a bottom wall of the loading cavity. 
     In an embodiment, there are a plurality of second air holes, and the plurality of second air holes are uniformly provided at the bottom wall of the loading cavity. 
     In an embodiment, there is one second air hole, and a hole diameter of the second air hole is equal to an inner diameter of the loading cavity. 
     In an embodiment, a support element is further included, and the loading cavity is connected to an inner wall of the housing through the support element. 
     In an embodiment, the support element is disposed at a bottom of the loading cavity, and the support element is an annular element. 
     In an embodiment, the support element is provided with a third air hole in communication with the fluid channel. 
     Details of one or more embodiments of this application are provided in the accompanying drawings and descriptions below. Other features, objectives, and advantages of this application will become apparent from this specification, the accompanying drawings, and the claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional view of a cigarette device according to an implementation; 
         FIG. 2  is a top view of the cigarette device in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a top view of a cigarette device according to another implementation; 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of a loading cavity in a cigarette device according to another implementation; and 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic structural diagram of a cigarette used in combination with the cigarette device in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     To better describe and illustrate embodiments and/or examples disclosed herein, reference may be made to one or more accompanying drawings. Additional details or examples used to describe the accompanying drawings should not be considered as limiting the scope of any of the disclosed application, currently described embodiments and/or examples, and the best modes of the applications currently understood. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     To help understand this application, the following describes this application more fully with reference to the related accompanying drawings. Exemplary embodiments of this application are provided in the accompanying drawings. However, this application may be implemented in many different forms, and is not limited to the embodiments described in this specification. On the contrary, the embodiments are provided to make understanding of the disclosed content of this application more comprehensive. 
     It should be noted that, when an element is referred to as “being fixed to” another element, the element may be directly on the another element, or an intervening element may be present. When an element is considered to be “connected to” another element, the element may be directly connected to the another element, or an intervening element may also be present. The terms “vertical”, “horizontal”, “left”, and “right” and similar expressions used in this specification are merely used for the purpose of description, and “outer” and “inner” are relative to a profile of a structure. 
     Unless otherwise defined, meanings of all technical and scientific terms used in this specification are the same as those usually understood by a person skilled in the art to which this application belongs. In this application, terms used in the specification of this application are merely intended to describe objectives of the specific embodiments, but are not intended to limit this application. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a cigarette device  200  is provided according to an implementation. The cigarette device  200  includes a housing  201 , and a loading cavity  203 , a power supply  205 , an airflow sensing apparatus  208 , and a circuit control unit  209  are disposed in the housing  201 . 
     The housing  201  is provided with a cigarette insertion opening  202 , and the loading cavity  203  is disposed in the housing  201  and connected to the cigarette insertion opening  202 . The loading cavity  203  is configured to load a cigarette  100 , and a loading chamber  207  of the loading cavity  203  is in communication with the cigarette insertion opening  202 . 
     An electromagnetic induction heating element  204  surrounds the outside of the loading cavity  203 , and the electromagnetic induction heating element  204  is electrically connected to the power supply  205 . The cigarette device  200  may be used in combination with a cigarette  100  including a magnetic material. In such a cigarette, the magnetic material is uniformly distributed in tobacco and in direct contact with the tobacco. In this way, in a working state of the cigarette device  200 , the electromagnetic induction heating element  204  generates a high-frequency magnetic field; the magnetic materials in the cigarette generate heat quickly under magnetic induction Eddy current and magnetic hysteresis, and transmits the heat to the tobacco quickly, so that the preheating time of the cigarette is reduced, thereby achieving quick cigarette lighting for vaping. In addition, the entire cigarette is approximately heated at the same time, achieving higher utilization of the tobacco, and a burnt taste due to charred tobacco is avoided, thereby obtaining a relatively good taste. The electromagnetic induction heating element  204  may be an electromagnetic induction coil and surrounds the outside of the loading cavity  203  in a winding manner. 
     After the cigarette  100  is loaded into the loading cavity  203 , the cigarette is in close contact with a cavity wall of the loading cavity  203 . A fluid channel  216  is formed between the loading cavity  203  and the housing  201 , and the fluid channel  216  is in communication with the outside of the housing  201  and the loading chamber  207  of the loading cavity  203 . The circuit control unit  209  is electrically connected to the electromagnetic induction heating element  204  and the airflow sensing apparatus  208 . The airflow sensing apparatus  208  is disposed in the fluid channel  216  to sense an airflow speed in the fluid channel  216 , and the circuit control unit  209  controls, according to the airflow speed sensed by the airflow sensing apparatus  208 , the electromagnetic induction heating element  204  to work or stop. In this way, when the cigarette  100  is vaped by using the cigarette device  200 , air may enter the housing  201  and enter the loading cavity  203  through the fluid channel  216 ; the airflow sensing apparatus  208  senses airflow changes and feeds back an electrical signal to the circuit control unit  209 ; the circuit control unit  209  controls the electromagnetic induction heating element  204  to apply a high-frequency alternating electric field to generate a high-frequency alternating magnetic field in the loading cavity  203 , and the magnetic material in the cigarette generates heat quickly under the action of electromagnetic induction to bake the cigarette. After the vaping is stopped, the airflow sensing apparatus  208  may sense that the airflow stops and feed back an electrical signal to the circuit control unit  209 ; the circuit control unit  209  controls the electromagnetic induction heating element  204  to stop applying the high-frequency alternating electric field, and heating is stopped immediately. Therefore, the cigarette device  200  allows for immediate vaping and immediate stopping. It is unnecessary to vape the whole cigarette at one time. When the vaping is resumed from interruption, the cigarette is still baked uniformly and quickly according to the foregoing process, and no abnormal taste is generated. 
     To prevent the magnetic material in the cigarette from being interfered, a material for manufacturing the loading cavity  203  needs to have a non-magnetic shielding property, for example, paramagnetism or diamagnetism. Further, the material of the loading cavity  203  is a heat sink material with a thermal conductivity not lower than 20 W/(m·K). The material has good thermal conduction performance and a temperature thereof may not rise significantly with a high temperature of the cigarette during vaping, which helps the cigarette cool to a low temperature quickly after vaping is stopped, thereby further achieving immediate vaping and immediate stopping and ensuring a good taste when the vaping process is resumed from interruption. Specifically, the material of the loading cavity  203  may be a ceramic material such as aluminum oxide or aluminum nitride with a thermal conductivity not lower than 20 W/(m·K). 
     Further, the housing  201  may be provided with a first air hole  206  in communication with the fluid channel  216 , to achieve communication between the fluid channel  216  and the outside of the housing  201 . That is, air may enter the fluid channel  216  through the first air hole  206 . There may be one or more first air holes  206 . In an embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 1 , at least one first air hole  206   a  is provided at an upper part of the housing  201 . In this case, the first air hole  206   a  may be an annular through hole surrounding the cigarette insertion opening  202  as shown in  FIG. 2 ; or as shown in  FIG. 3 , a plurality of first air holes  206   a  are arranged on an outer side of the cigarette insertion opening  202  at uniform intervals. 
     The loading cavity  203  may be provided with a second air hole  217  in communication with the fluid channel  216 , to achieve communication between the fluid channel  216  and the loading chamber  207 . There may be one or more second air holes  217 . The second air hole  217  may be provided at a side wall and/or a bottom wall of the loading cavity  203 . In an embodiment, the second air hole  217  is provided at the bottom wall of the loading cavity  203 . In this case, a plurality of second air holes  217  may be disposed uniformly as shown in  FIG. 1 . Alternatively, one second air hole  217  may be disposed and a hole diameter of the second air hole  217  is equal to an inner diameter of the loading cavity  203 . That is, in this embodiment, the bottom wall of the loading cavity  203  is fully opened, as shown in  FIG. 4 . In addition, when the second air hole  217  is provided at the bottom wall of the loading cavity  203 , at least one first air hole  206   b  may be further provided at a lower part of the housing  201 , and the first air hole  206   b  is located below the loading cavity  203 , so that a part of air enters the housing  201  through the first air hole  206   b  and further enters the loading chamber  207  through the second air hole  217  at the bottom wall of the loading cavity  203  during usage, and this part of air helps further adjust an airflow amount and resistance against vaping, thereby providing a better vaping experience. 
     The airflow sensing apparatus  208  may be disposed at any position that helps sense airflow in the housing  201 , for example, disposed near the first air hole  206  or disposed near the second air hole  217 . 
     To improve the stability of the loading cavity  203  in the housing  201 , a support element  210  configured to support the loading cavity  203  may be further disposed, and the loading cavity  203  is connected to an inner wall of the housing  201  through the support element  210 . In an embodiment, the support element  210  may be disposed at a bottom of the loading cavity  203  and is an annular element, to achieve good support and fixing functions. In this case, if the first air hole  206   a  is provided only at the outer side of the cigarette insertion opening  202  and the second air hole  217  is provided at the bottom wall of the loading cavity  203 , the support element  210  needs to be provided with a third air hole  218  in communication with the fluid channel  216  to allow air entering the housing  201  from the first air hole  206   a  to enter the loading chamber  207  through the third air hole  218  and the second air hole  217  sequentially. The support element  210  may be manufactured with the housing  201  at the same time or may be an independent element. 
     In this way, during usage, an airflow channel shown by arrows in  FIG. 1  may be formed in the cigarette device  200 . External air enters the housing  201  from the first air hole  206   a  on the outer side of the cigarette insertion opening  202 , moves downward, and then moves upward to enter the loading chamber  207  through the third air hole  218  of the support element  210  and the second air hole  217  at the bottom wall of the loading cavity  203 . A part of heat generated by the electromagnetic induction heating element  204  during working can be taken away by airflow, to cool down the electromagnetic induction heating element  204  and an outer side wall of the loading cavity  203 , reduce heat transmitted to the housing  201 , and prevent the temperature from being excessively high when the cigarette device is held. In addition, heated air entering the cigarette also improves utilization of energy. 
     The cigarette device  200  may further include conventional components in this field, such as a switch  212 , a display screen  213 , a control button  214 , and a charging interface  215 , and the foregoing components may be disposed on the housing  201 . 
     The following briefly describes a cigarette  100  that can be vaped by using the foregoing cigarette device  200  according to an implementation. Referring to  FIG. 5 , the cigarette  100  includes a cigarette body  110  and a filter  120 , and the cigarette body  110  is connected to the filter  120 . The filter  120  includes a function of condensing and filtering vapors. 
     The cigarette body  110  includes tobacco  111  and a magnetic material  112  uniformly distributed in the tobacco  111 . The magnetic material  112  is used for heating the tobacco  111  under the action of electromagnetic induction. That is, under the action of electromagnetic induction, a temperature of the magnetic material  112  rises, and heat is transmitted to the tobacco  111  to bake the tobacco  111 . Since the magnetic material  112  is uniformly distributed in the tobacco  111 , under the action of electromagnetic induction, the magnetic materials  112  form uniform heating points in the cigarette body  110 , so that the tobacco  111  is uniformly heated, achieving high taste consistency, and the tobacco  111  will not be partially charred, thereby avoiding a burnt taste and achieving higher tobacco utilization efficiency. In addition, the addition of the magnetic material  112  causes the heat to be transmitted fast in the tobacco  111 , thereby effectively shortening the preheating time and generating vapor quickly. 
     To achieve a good induction heating effect, a ratio of a volume of the magnetic material  112  to a total volume of the cigarette body  110  is 1% to 30%. In an embodiment, the ratio of the volume of the magnetic materials  112  to the total volume of the cigarette body  110  is 3% to 10%. 
     The magnetic material  112  is in the shape of particles, and a particle size may range from 10 μm to 200 μm, and range from 50 μm to 150 μm in an embodiment. The magnetic material  112  within the foregoing particle size range can achieve a good induction heating effect and can be easily doped into the tobacco  111  more uniformly. 
     The magnetic material  112  may be various materials generating heat under the action of electromagnetic induction. Specifically, the magnetic material  112  may be ferromagnetic metal powder, such as Fe powder, Co powder, Ni powder, silicon steel powder, permalloy powder, or Al—Ni—Co powder. In an embodiment, the magnetic material  112  is Fe powder or Ni powder, which has high magnetic conductivity and electrical resistivity and can be heated quickly, and also has high thermal conductivity, thereby achieving high heating uniformity for the cigarette. 
     The magnetic material  112  may be added into the tobacco  111  in a preparation process of the cigarette  100 , to be uniformly distributed in the tobacco  111 . For example, the tobacco  111  and the magnetic material  112  may be mixed uniformly in advance, and then the cigarette body  110  is obtained through coating and shaping in a manner of die-casting or thermoforming. 
     When the cigarette  100  is used in combination with the cigarette device  200 , the cigarette can be heated uniformly and generate vapor quickly, to ensure a consistent vaping taste and improve the utilization of the tobacco while achieving immediate vaping and immediate stopping, which helps improve user experience. 
     In some specific examples, the cigarette  100  may be used as a part of the cigarette device  200 , that is, the cigarette device  200  may include the cigarette  100 . 
     This application is further described below by using an embodiment, but the embodiment is not intended to limit this application. 
     Embodiment 1 
     A structure of a cigarette device of this embodiment is shown in  FIG. 1 . The cigarette device  200  includes a housing  201 . The housing  201  is provided with a cigarette insertion opening  202 . A loading cavity  203  is connected to the cigarette insertion opening  202 . An outer side of the cigarette insertion opening  202  is provided with a first air hole  206   a . A lower part of the housing  201  is located below a lower part of the loading cavity  203  and is provided with a first air hole  206   b , and a bottom wall of the loading cavity  203  is provided with a second air hole  217 . The loading cavity  203  is connected to the housing  201  through an annular support element  210  connected to a bottom of the housing  201 , and the support element  210  is provided with a third air hole  218 . An electromagnetic induction heating element  204  surrounds the outside of the loading cavity  203 , the electromagnetic induction heating element  204  is electrically connected to a power supply  205  and a circuit control unit  209 , and the circuit control unit  209  is electrically connected to an airflow sensing apparatus  208 . The housing  201  is further provided with a switch  212 , a display screen  213 , a control button  214 , and a charging interface  215 . A material of the loading cavity  203  is an alumina ceramic, with a thermal conductivity of 25 W/(m·K). 
     Tobacco and Fe powder (with a particle size of 100 μm) used as a magnetic material were mixed uniformly and shaped as a cigarette body, where a volume proportion of the Fe powder was 10%. The cigarette body was then connected to a filter, to obtain a cigarette with the structure shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     The cigarette was placed into the loading cavity  203  of the cigarette device of this embodiment for vaping tests. Test results are as follows: quick vapor generation, good vapor consistency, a pure taste, and no foreign taste; immediate vaping and immediate stopping are allowed, and after vaping is stopped, the cigarette can be cooled down to 150° C. or below within 1 second, and a good taste can be still obtained when the cigarette is vaped again. 
     Comparative Embodiment 
     A cigarette device of this embodiment is a low-temperature baking cigarette device sold on the market, and a heating element thereof is a sheet internal heating plate. 
     A conventional low-temperature baking cigarette was placed into the cigarette device of this embodiment for vaping tests. Test results are as follows: slow vapor generation, poor vapor taste consistency, and presence of a foreign taste; after vaping is stopped, the temperature of the cigarette decreases slowly and is still in a baked state, that is, once the cigarette device is started, immediate vaping and immediate stopping are not allowed, and an abnormal taste may be generated when the baking of the cigarette is resumed from interruption. 
     The technical features in the foregoing embodiments may be combined. For concise description, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the embodiments are described. However, provided that combinations of the technical features do not conflict with each other, the combinations of the technical features are considered as falling within the scope described in this specification. 
     The foregoing embodiments merely express several implementations of this application. The descriptions thereof are relatively specific and detailed, but should not be understood as limitations to the scope of this application. It should be noted that for a person of ordinary skill in the art, several transformations and improvements can be made without departing from the idea of this application. These transformations and improvements belong to the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of the patent of this application shall be subject to the appended claims.