Abstract:
The present invention is an improved medicinal herb or tobacco smoking device making use of thermoelectric technology to increase performance over thermally passive systems, provides built-in self-cleaning properties, and utilizes easy to use electrical arrangement.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Field of Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention broadly relates to the field of medicinal herbs and tobacco-related inhalation devices. Particularly, the present invention improves the quality and comfort of use by actively controlling smoke or vapors temperature. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Prior Art 
         [0004]    The use of water pipe for the consumption of medicinal herbs and tobacco was introduced in ancient time originating in Asia. The premise of these devices is to make use of a fluid, often water, as a mean to cool, filter, and moisten the smoke or vapors to reduce the harshness of such smoke or vapors. In modern times various inventions provide for various means of achieving such functions. U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,353 to Kahler (1977); U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,109 to Kahler (1977) for example describe inventions making use of serpentine or pluralities of liquid passageways to improve on the device ability to cool vapors of smoke. U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,950 to Bechtold (1979) describes the use of a solid-phase medium to achieve the cooling mean. Other prior arts, such as the invention in U.S. Pat. No. 5,908,031 to Clark (1999) disclose a mean for easier maintenance of such apparatus, and prior art U.S. Pat. No. 7,445,007 to Balch (2008) discloses an alternative mean to generate smoke or vapors. 
         [0005]    It is a common limitation of the prior inventions to make use of the passive thermal exchange occurring between the smoke or vapors and the cooling media via various heat exchanger configurations. Practicality of use and manufacturing constraints of those devices in this field of use limits the extent to which the system&#39;s efficiency can be expanded. More particularly, high-efficiency ratio heat exchangers quickly reach size, technological advancements unpractical to this field of use. Other prior arts making use of solid-phase cooling medium, such as water-ice, does help increase the cooling capacity of such devices, but has the disadvantage of requiring user to plan for, and have access to such medium. A natural side effect of making use of such devices is their tendency to accumulate debris, as a result of the by-product of consuming tobacco or medicinal herbs, maintaining cleanness of such device, and therefore their ability to perform is an issue, some prior art do partially improve of this effect by allowing easier disassembly of the device for cleaning. Other prior art use a heat-based mean to generate smoke or vapors instead of flamed-based to alleviate such effect but not eliminate it and do not necessarily provide any cooling mean. 
       OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    With the prior art cited in this disclosure in mind, it is a primary object of the present invention to alleviate or partially alleviate the disadvantages of the prior inventions by providing a novel mean to actively rather than passively affect the temperature of smoke or vapors in the field of devices for use with tobacco consumption and/or medicinal herbs. 
         [0007]    It is another important aspect of the present invention to make use of phase-changing property of the cooling medium to induce a self-cleaning behavior of the device. 
         [0008]    Other novel features and novel objects of this invention will become apparent in the following detailed description, accompanying drawings, and appended claims. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the invention, showing a general external view of the invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a side plan view of the invention, showing an external view of the invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a side section view of the invention, showing the inner details of the invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a side partial section view of the invention, to detail the inner workings of the active cooling mean. 
           [0013]      FIG. 5   a  is a perspective view of the invention, illustrating a specific function of the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 5   b  is a perspective view of the invention, further illustrating a specific function of the present invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the invention, detailing a specific function of the present invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the invention, further explaining a specific function of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     REFERENCED NUMERALS IN DRAWINGS 
       [0000]    
       
           10  Invention 
           12  Water Cooling Tower 
           14  Receptacle 
           20  Thermoelectric Engine Assembly 
           40  Power Base 
           16  Medium/Media 
           17  Water Level 
           22  Cooling Rod 
           24  Thermoelectric Chip 
           26  Heat Sink 
           28  Fan 
           30  Water-proofing Seal 
           31  Water Cooling Tower Insulator 
           32  Thermoelectric Engine Insulator 
           33  Upper Enclosure 
           34  Lower Enclosure 
           35  and  36  Electrical Rings 
           42  and  44  Spring Electrical Contacts 
           46  Electrical Plug 
       
     
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0036]    The present invention provides the mean to actively change the temperature of vapors or smoke for human inhalation using thermoelectric technology. Turning to  FIG. 1  there is shown a perspective view of the present invention  10 . The present invention&#39;s function is to change the temperature of vapors or smoke prior to inhalation as to enhance said vapors or smoke effectiveness or comfort. 
         [0037]    Now turning to  FIG. 2  there is shown a plan side view of the invention with its main components identified. The invention principally consists of a Water Cooling Tower  12 , a Receptacle  14 , a Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20 , and a Power Base  40 . Media to be gasified or vaporized is placed onto Receptacle  14 . In an example typical application, the media is gasified or vaporized by means of an open flame, where such process most commonly releases the gasified or vaporized media at elevated temperatures higher than that of common surrounding ambient air. Said gasified and vaporized media is channeled and delivered to the user by way of Water Cooling Tower  12 . Typically, Water Cooling Tower  12  consists of a generally tubular shape, made of temperature resistant materials such as non-flammable plastics or borosilicate glass. Mean to actively change the temperature of said gasified or vaporized Media is provided by Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20  where said Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20  draws electrical power from Power Base  40 . 
         [0038]    Principally, the present Invention utilizes thermoelectric technology to affect the temperature of vapors or smoke. 
         [0039]    Now Turning to  FIG. 3  there is shown a plan section view of present Invention  10 . Media  16  to be gasified or vaporized is placed into Receptacle  14 . Using an external source of heat Media  16  is gasified or vaporized. By applying Suction Action at top section of Water Cooling Tower  12 , gas or vapors are drawn down the Receptacle&#39;s  14  tubular section, submerged and mix with water present at the lower section of Water Cooling Tower  12  and finally exit at the top of the device. Water Level in  FIG. 3  is represented by Line  17 , for illustrative purpose. General movement of vapors or gas is indicated by the directional black arrows shown on drawing. 
         [0040]    As gas or vapors travel down Receptacle  14  and enter the bottom section of Water Cooling Tower  12 , said gas or vapors become submerged in water. Said water temperature is actively changed by the Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20 . In a typical application, water is cooled by Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20  to temperatures near water&#39;s freezing point. Gas or vapors are rapidly cooled by the water as they mix, delivering gas or vapors at much lower temperatures when they exit the system then without the aid of such device. Water is a very effective thermal transfer element, having a heat capacity of 4.18 joules per gram-Centigrade (j/g-c). 
         [0041]    Now Turning to  FIG. 4  there is shown a plan section Partial View of the present invention. The focus of  FIG. 4  is to describe the workings of Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20 . Receptacle  14  and Water Cooling Tower  12  are partially shown. Gas or Vapors are cooled when they come in contact with the water. Water in turn is cooled to near freezing temperature as it remains in contact with Cooling Rod  22 . Cooling Rod  22  is generally made of metallic element that exhibit good to excellent thermal conductivity, such as aluminum or copper. Said Cooling Rod  22  in turn is cooled by a typical industry standard Thermoelectric Chip  24 . Heat extracted from the water, conducted through Cooling Rod  22 , actively transferred by Thermoelectric Chip  24 , is absorbed via thermal conduction by Heat Sink  26 . Similar to Cooling Rod  22 , Heat sink  26  is generally made of aluminum or copper. Lastly, captured and conducted heat is finally expelled from the system where Heat sink  26  release its heat via convection at its finned area, and is expelled to the surrounding ambient air aided by air circulating Fan  28 . Additional necessary components are part of Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20 , to make the invention practical for use and realistically functioning and comprises a Water-proofing Seal  30  that prevents water from leaking out of Water Cooling Tower  12 ; a Water Cooling Tower Insulator  31  that thermally insulates Water Cooling Tower  12 ; a Thermoelectric Engine Insulator  32  that thermally insulates Cooling Rod  22  and Thermoelectric Chip  24 . Thermal insulators, while not absolute necessity to achieve cooling function, are instrumental to achieve notable performance in case of elevated ambient air temperatures. The various components comprised in Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20 , are housed in Upper enclosure  33  and Lower Enclosure  34 . Said enclosures can be made of various structurally supporting materials such as polypropylene plastics, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or sheet metals. Small, commonly used and miscellaneous hardware such as screws, washers, nuts, are not detailed here but expected to be present in the invention. 
         [0042]    Another important aspect of the present invention is its ability to build up and accumulate water in the form of ice on the surface of Cooling Rod  22  further increasing the performance of the heat exchange setup as ice has 100 times the heat-calorie absorbency versus liquid water. This unique configuration allows the device to cool vapors or smoke via both means of liquid water, and keeping said water at very near freezing temperature, even during active use, by the constant exposure to an ice layer built upon Cooling Rod  22 , and where said ice layer continues to build upon itself so long the device is energized. 
         [0043]    The invention&#39;s ability to build up an ice layer, also provides for another beneficial aspect of the present invention. Said ice layer provides a natural physical barrier between Cooling Rod  22  and debris resulting from the vaporization or burning of tobacco or herbal medicine media. Debris accumulation onto surfaces meant to cool vapors and smoke has always been a major shortcoming of this type of devices, some inventions even provide for easy access to internal parts for easier cleaning, but do not incorporate built-in means to alleviate of prevent such accumulation, the present invention remedies this issue by tackling the root cause of the effect, while still allowing for easy access to critical components where the bond between Water-proofing Seal  30  and Water Cooling Tower  12  is a non-permanent, user detachable interface, allowing user to remove Water Cooling Tower  12  and directly access Cooling Rod  22 . 
         [0044]    Now turning to  FIG. 5   a  and  FIG. 5   b  there is shown an important feature of the present Invention. Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20  while comprising all the required components to realize a functioning thermoelectric engine, draws its electrical power from said Power Base  40 . The novelty in this field of invention is where the electrical bond between those two assemblies neither permanent nor at a fixed orientation.  FIG. 5   a  demonstrates the ability of Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20  to be detached from Power Base  40 .  FIG. 5   b  shows when Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20  is installed onto Power Base  40 . The directional arrows in  FIG. 5   b  show Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20 , able to rotate freely 360 degrees around the Power Base  40 . This configuration enables the system to continuously cool vapors or smoke while not in active use by a user, and when ready for use, user simply picks up Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20  off its Power Base  40 . While off said Power Base, said Thermoelectric Engine Assembly becomes unpowered. The ability to freely rotate 360 degrees allow for “blind insertion” when mating the these two assemblies, “blind insertion” here being commonly referred in technical lingo as a system where the user does not need to mate two parts together at a specific angle or orientation, rendering the whole device more intuitive and easier to use. Turning to  FIG. 6  details the electrical interface between Thermoelectric Engine Assembly  20  and Power Base  40 . Electrical Rings  35  and  36  capture electricity from Power Base, rings are generally made of electrically conducting material, such as copper.  FIG. 7  respectively shows the matching electrical connections of Power Base  40 , where Spring Electrical Contacts  42  and  44  will make electrical contacts with Electrical Rings  35  and  36 . External power connects to Power Base  40  via Electrical Plug  46 .