Patent Description:
An electronic cigarette generally includes an e-liquid storage cavity used for storing e-liquid, a vaporizer configured to vaporize the e-liquid, and a battery component configured to supply power to the vaporizer. The vaporizer includes a heating body, and the e-liquid in the e-liquid storage cavity penetrates or is guided to the heating body to be vaporized. The vaporizer serves as a core device of the electronic cigarette to generate vaporized gas, and a vaporization effect of the vaporizer determines the quality and taste of vapor.

At present, the electronic cigarette has a relatively high requirement on the concentration of the e-liquid, but e-liquid with higher concentration also has higher viscosity and poorer penetrability or flowability, and is less likely to penetrate or be guided from the e-liquid storage cavity to the heating body. Therefore, the vaporized e-liquid may be less due to insufficient e-liquid supply. In addition, the current e-liquid is easily affected by a low temperature. Under a low temperature condition, the e-liquid is less likely to penetrate or be guided to the heating body. Therefore, the current electronic cigarette is often prone to producing less vapor or no vapor each time first inhalation is taken, resulting in poor user experience.

<CIT> discloses a heating assembly according to the preamble of claim <NUM>.

Accordingly, it is necessarily to provide a heating assembly capable of preheating e-liquid to cope with the problem of less vapor or no vapor that easily occurs at the beginning of inhalation.

A heating assembly includes a preheating portion and a vaporization portion located on the preheating portion. The preheating portion is made of a porous ceramic, the preheating portion is made of a positive temperature coefficient thermosensitive material, and a circuit in which the preheating portion is located is connected in parallel with a circuit in which the vaporization portion is located.

In addition, an electronic vaporization device and a vaporizer including the foregoing heating assembly capable of preheating e-liquid are provided.

Ae electronic vaporization device includes:.

To help understand the present invention, the following describes the present invention more fully with reference to the related accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings show some embodiments of the present invention. However, the present invention 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 the disclosed content of the present invention clearer and more comprehensive.

It should be noted that, when a component is referred to as "being fixed to" another component, the component may be directly on the another component, or there may be an intermediate component. When a component is considered to be "connected to" another component, the component may be directly connected to the another component, or an intermediate component may also be present. Unless otherwise defined, meanings of all technical and scientific terms used in this specification are the same as that usually understood by a person skilled in the technical field to which the present invention belongs. In this specification, terms used in the specification of the present invention are merely intended to describe objectives of the specific embodiments, but are not intended to limit the present invention. The term "and/or" used in this specification includes any and all combinations of one or more associated listed items.

Referring to <FIG>, an electronic vaporization device <NUM> according to an implementation is provided. The electronic vaporization device <NUM> includes a shell <NUM> and a vaporizer <NUM>. The vaporizer <NUM> is accommodated in the shell <NUM>, and the vaporizer <NUM> is configured to vaporize liquid. Certainly, the shape of the shell is not particularly limited, and may be designed according to an actual case, for example, as a column shape, a bar shape, or a square shape. Certainly, it may be understood that in some implementations, the shell <NUM> may be omitted.

In an embodiment, the electronic vaporization device <NUM> is an electronic cigarette, and the vaporizer <NUM> is configured to vaporize e-liquid. Certainly, in other implementations, in addition to the electronic cigarette, the electronic vaporization device <NUM> may also be other devices including the vaporizer <NUM>. The electronic vaporization device <NUM> can vaporize liquid with relatively high viscosity.

Specifically, the vaporizer <NUM> includes a liquid storage container <NUM>, a heating assembly <NUM>, a seal member <NUM>, a connection wiring, and a power supply.

Specifically, the liquid storage container <NUM> includes a liquid storage cavity <NUM> used for storing liquid (for example, e-liquid) to be vaporized. Certainly, the liquid storage cavity <NUM> includes a liquid outlet <NUM>. The liquid outlet <NUM> is used for inflow and/or outflow of the liquid to be vaporized.

Specifically, the heating assembly <NUM> is close to the liquid outlet <NUM>. The heating assembly <NUM> is configured to absorb the liquid to be vaporized in the liquid storage cavity <NUM>, and preheat and vaporize the liquid to be vaporized. Referring to <FIG> together, the heating assembly <NUM> includes a preheating portion <NUM> and a vaporization portion <NUM> located on the preheating portion <NUM>. The preheating portion <NUM> is made of a porous ceramic, and the preheating portion <NUM> is made of a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) thermosensitive material. Specifically, the preheating portion <NUM> includes a liquid inlet surface 131a and a liquid outlet surface 131b opposite to the liquid inlet surface 131a. The liquid inlet surface 131a is close to the liquid outlet <NUM>.

The preheating portion <NUM> is configured to absorb the liquid to be vaporized in the liquid storage cavity <NUM>, and preheat the liquid to be vaporized absorbed from the liquid storage cavity <NUM>, to improve the flowability of the liquid to be vaporized in the preheating portion <NUM>, so that the liquid to be vaporized in the liquid storage cavity <NUM> can reach the vaporization portion <NUM> more quickly to be vaporized into vapor for a user to inhale. Specifically, the preheating portion <NUM> is made of the porous ceramic, and the porous ceramic enables the preheating portion <NUM> to absorb the liquid to be vaporized in the liquid storage cavity <NUM>, to provide a liquid guide function. In addition, the preheating portion <NUM> is also made of the positive temperature coefficient thermosensitive material, that is, the preheating portion <NUM> is a thermistor. A resistance of the preheating portion <NUM> increases as the temperature increases, so that the preheating portion <NUM> can use electric energy to mainly preheat the liquid to be vaporized at an initial stage of energization, and can use the electric energy to mainly vaporize the liquid to be vaporized after the preheating ends. Therefore, the liquid to be vaporized is preheated, and it is avoided that only a small amount of the liquid to be vaporized is vaporized due to the poor flowability of the liquid to be vaporized. In addition, since a preheating circuit is not always in a working state (there is no large amount of current always flowing), when the electric energy is mainly used to vaporize the liquid to be vaporized, the preheating portion <NUM> preheats the liquid to be vaporized through a residual temperature, thereby further realizing energy saving.

In an embodiment, a Curie temperature of the preheating portion <NUM> does not exceed <NUM>. Further, the Curie temperature of the preheating portion <NUM> is in a range from <NUM> to <NUM>. The Curie temperature is a temperature at which a PTC resistance begins to increase steeply. The Curie temperature of the preheating portion <NUM> is set as above, so that the liquid to be vaporized is rapidly preheated. In addition, the Curie temperature of the preheating portion <NUM> is set as above, which also controls distribution of the electric energy. By controlling the electric energy on the preheating portion <NUM>, excessive electric energy on the preheating portion <NUM> being converted into heat energy and being wasted is avoided, and the utilization of the electric energy is improved.

In an embodiment, a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) intensity of the preheating portion <NUM> is greater than <NUM>×<NUM><NUM>. Further, the PTC intensity of the preheating portion <NUM> is in a range from <NUM> × <NUM><NUM> to <NUM> × <NUM><NUM>. Still further, the PTC intensity of the preheating portion <NUM> is in a range from <NUM><NUM>- to <NUM><NUM>. The PTC intensity of the preheating portion <NUM> is set as above, so that the resistance of the preheating portion <NUM> can be rapidly increased after a temperature range suitable for preheating is reached. In this way, the resistance of the preheating portion <NUM> is rapidly increased, so that the circuit in which the preheating portion <NUM> is located is turned into an open circuit more quickly, and then the current mainly flows to the circuit in which the vaporization portion <NUM> is located, to realize a rapid transition between the electric energy mainly being used for preheating and the electric energy mainly being used for vaporization.

In an embodiment, a resistivity of the preheating portion <NUM> under a normal temperature condition is in a range from <NUM>Ω/cm to <NUM>Ω/cm. Further, the resistivity of the preheating portion <NUM> under the normal temperature condition is in a range from <NUM>Ω/cm to <NUM>Ω/cm. The resistivity of the preheating portion <NUM> is set as above, so that the preheating portion <NUM> generates heat rapidly to heat the liquid to be vaporized in pores of the preheating portion <NUM>.

In an embodiment, the preheating portion <NUM> is one selected from a BaTiO<NUM>-based PTC ceramic with a porous structure, a SrTiO<NUM>-based PTC ceramic with a porous structure, a PbTiO<NUM>-based PTC ceramic with a porous structure, or a V<NUM>O<NUM>-based PTC ceramic with a porous structure.

The PTC ceramic is a semiconductor ceramic formed by sintering and is mainly composed of barium titanate (or strontium titanate and lead titanate), added with additives such as a small amount of rare earth elements (Y, Nb, Bi, and Sb), acceptor (Mn, Fe) elements, and glass (silicon oxide and aluminum oxide). The ceramic PTC has a small resistance below the Curie temperature, and the resistance thereof increases stepwise by a factor of <NUM>,<NUM> times to a million times above the Curie temperature. In a commonly used doping method, a donor is doped with ions such as La, Y, Nb, and Sb, and an acceptor is doped with 3d group metal elements such as Mn, Cu, and Fe. Through doping, the resistivity of the PTC ceramic under the normal temperature condition is reduced, and the PTC intensity is increased.

In this implementation, the BaTiO<NUM>-based PTC ceramic with a porous structure is a porous ceramic made of barium titanate as basic material and doped with other polycrystalline ceramic materials. A PTC effect of BaTiO<NUM> is related to ferroelectricity of BaTiO<NUM>, and abrupt change of the resistivity of BaTiO<NUM> corresponds to the Curie temperature. However, a BaTiO<NUM> single crystal without a grain boundary does not have the PTC effect. Only a BaTiO<NUM> ceramic whose grains are fully semiconducted and whose grain boundary has proper insulation has the PTC effect. During preparation of the BaTiO<NUM>-based PTC ceramic, the grains are fully semiconducted by using donor doping, and the grain boundary and vicinity of the grain boundary are oxidized by sintering under oxygen atmosphere, to provide proper insulation. Slow cooling also makes the grain boundary fully oxidized, and the PTC effect is enhanced.

Specifically, the preheating portion <NUM> is doped with at least one of La, Y, Nb, or Sb. The rare earth elements are doped, so that impedance of the BaTiO<NUM>-based PTC ceramic under the normal temperature condition is lower, and the PTC intensity thereof is also increased.

Further, the preheating portion <NUM> is doped with La, and the doping amount of La is in a range from <NUM>% to <NUM>%. Doping La may cause the resistivity of the preheating portion <NUM> to reach <NUM>Ω/cm, and the PTC intensity thereof to reach <NUM>×<NUM><NUM>. Certainly, in other embodiments, the preheating portion <NUM> is not limited to be the above BaTiO<NUM>-based PTC ceramic with a porous structure, and may be other PTC ceramics with a porous structure.

Certainly, the preheating portion <NUM> is provided with an end electrode. The end electrode of the preheating portion <NUM> is electrically connected to the power supply. It may be understood that the shape of the preheating portion <NUM> is not particularly limited, for example, may be a bar shape, a cylinder shape, or a step shape.

Specifically, the vaporization portion <NUM> is located between the preheating portion <NUM> and the liquid outlet <NUM>, and is configured to vaporize the liquid to be vaporized guided by the preheating portion <NUM>. More specifically, the vaporization portion <NUM> is located on the liquid outlet surface 131b, and the vaporization portion <NUM> is configured to vaporize the liquid to be vaporized. In a static state, the circuit in which the preheating portion <NUM> is located and the circuit in which the vaporization portion <NUM> is located form a parallel circuit. In the illustrated implementation, the vaporization portion <NUM> is provided on the liquid outlet surface 131b in a contact manner.

In an embodiment, under the normal temperature condition, a ratio of a resistance of the vaporization portion <NUM> to a resistance of the preheating portion <NUM> is in a range from <NUM>: <NUM> to <NUM>. Under the normal temperature condition, the ratio of the resistance of the vaporization portion <NUM> to the resistance of the preheating portion <NUM> is in a range from <NUM>: <NUM> to <NUM>. Further, under the normal temperature condition, the ratio of the resistance of the vaporization portion <NUM> to the resistance of the preheating portion <NUM> is in a range from <NUM>: <NUM> to <NUM>. According to the foregoing settings, the electric energy may be mainly used for the preheating portion <NUM> to generate heat in the initial stage of energization, to preheat the liquid to be vaporized.

In an embodiment, the vaporization portion <NUM> is made of at least one selected from the groups consisting of a single metal, an alloy, an NTC ceramic, a carbon fiber, graphite, and combination thereof. Specifically, the single metal may be selected from metals commonly used in the art for generating heat, for example, nickel, aluminum or the like. The alloy may be selected from alloys commonly used in the art for generating heat, for example, a nickel alloy, a silver alloy, an aluminum alloy or the like.

In an embodiment, the vaporization portion <NUM> is made of the NTC ceramic. A resistance of the NTC ceramic gradually decreases as the temperature increases. The vast majority of NTC ceramics are spinel-type oxides, mainly manganese-containing binary and manganese-containing ternary oxides. For example, the manganese-containing binary oxides include MnO-CuO-O<NUM>-based oxides, MnO-CoO-O<NUM>-based oxides, MnO-NiO-O<NUM>-based oxides, etc., and the manganese-containing ternary oxides include Mn-Co-Ni-based oxides, Mn-Cu-N-based oxides, Mn-Cu-Co-based oxide, etc. A MnO-CoO-O<NUM>-based oxide ceramic contains <NUM>% to <NUM>% (mass fraction) of manganese, and has main crystal phases of a cubic spinel MnCo<NUM>O<NUM> and a tetragonal spinel CoMn<NUM>O<NUM>, and a main conductive phase of MnCo<NUM>O<NUM>. After energization, the resistance of the vaporization portion <NUM> is relatively large, and enabling of the vaporization function is relatively delayed, so that the electric energy is mainly concentrated on the preheating portion <NUM>. As the preheating portion <NUM> generates heat continuously, the liquid to be vaporized is preheated, and, part of the heat is also transferred to the vaporization portion <NUM> so that the resistance of the vaporization portion <NUM> is reduced, thereby enabling the vaporization function of the vaporization portion <NUM>. Therefore, when the vaporization portion <NUM> is made of the NTC ceramic, the heating assembly <NUM> can perform preheating and vaporization more quickly.

Specifically, when the vaporization portion <NUM> is made of the NTC ceramic, the resistivity of the vaporization portion <NUM> under the normal temperature condition is in a range from <NUM>×<NUM><NUM> Ω/cm to <NUM> ×<NUM><NUM> Ω/cm. In an embodiment, a resistivity of the vaporization portion <NUM> under a condition of <NUM> to <NUM> is in a range from <NUM>×<NUM>-<NUM> Ω/cm to <NUM> ×<NUM><NUM> Ω/cm. Further, the resistivity of the vaporization portion <NUM> under the normal temperature condition is in a range from <NUM> ×<NUM><NUM> Ω/cm to <NUM> ×<NUM><NUM> Ω/cm; and/or, the resistivity of the vaporization portion <NUM> under the condition of <NUM> to <NUM> is in a range from <NUM>×<NUM>-<NUM> Ω/cm to <NUM>×<NUM><NUM> Ω/cm.

In an embodiment, the vaporization portion <NUM> is made of a normal temperature NTC thermistor ceramic. Further, the vaporization portion <NUM> is doped with at least one of La, Nd, or Ce. Doping at least one of La, Nd, or Ce reduces a thermosensitive constant and the resistivity under the normal temperature condition. In an embodiment, the vaporization portion <NUM> is doped with La. Further, the doping amount of La is <NUM>%.

Certainly, the vaporization portion <NUM> is also provided with an end electrode, and the end electrode of the vaporization portion <NUM> is electrically connected to the power supply. The end electrode of the vaporization portion <NUM> also forms an ohmic contact with the preheating portion <NUM>. The formation of ohmic contact between a metal and a semiconductor means that a pure resistor is located at the contact position, and the resistor is as small as possible, so that when the component operates, most of voltage is applied in an active region and not on a contact surface. Therefore, I-V characteristics of the ohmic contact exhibits a linear relationship. The larger the slope, the smaller the contact resistance of the ohmic contact. The magnitude of the contact resistance directly affects performance index of a device. The ohmic contact is widely applied to metal processing, and is achieved mainly by high doping or the introduction of a large number of recombination centers in a semiconductor surface layer.

It may be understood that, the shape of the vaporization portion <NUM> is not particularly limited, and may adopt a common shape in the art. For example, the shape may be a sheet shape, a grid shape, a bar shape or the like.

Specifically, the seal member <NUM> is located between the heating assembly <NUM> and the liquid storage container <NUM>, and is configured to seal a gap between the heating assembly <NUM> and the liquid storage container <NUM>, so that the liquid to be vaporized can reach the vaporization portion <NUM> to be vaporized without flowing out from a liquid guide portion and/or a side wall of the preheating portion <NUM>.

The connection wiring is configured to electrically connect the preheating portion <NUM> and the vaporization portion <NUM> to the power supply. The preheating portion <NUM> and the vaporization portion <NUM> are connected in parallel by the connection wiring, and then connected to the power supply. It may be understood that in some other embodiments, the connection wiring may be omitted. When the connection wiring is omitted, the vaporizer <NUM> during use causes, through the connection wiring provided outside, the power supply to supply power to the preheating portion <NUM> and the vaporization portion <NUM> that are connected in parallel.

The power supply is configured to supply power to the vaporizer <NUM>. Further, the power supply is configured to supply power to the heating assembly <NUM>. In this implementation, the power supply is accommodated in the shell <NUM>. Certainly, in other implementations, the power supply may not be accommodated in the shell <NUM>. In this case, the power supply may be separately accommodated in a housing, or the power supply may be accommodated in a space formed by extending the liquid storage container <NUM> in an extending direction of the liquid storage container. It may be understood that in some other implementations, the power supply may be omitted. When the power supply is omitted, the vaporizer <NUM> supplies power to the heating assembly <NUM> through an external power supply.

The electronic vaporizer <NUM> has the following advantages.

Referring to <FIG> and <FIG>, an electronic vaporization device <NUM> according to another embodiment is shown. A structure of the electronic vaporization device <NUM> is basically the same as that of the electronic vaporization device <NUM>, except a difference lying in that a heating assembly <NUM> of the electronic vaporization device <NUM> further includes a liquid guide portion <NUM>. The liquid guide portion <NUM> is located on a side of a preheating portion <NUM> away from a vaporization portion <NUM>, and the liquid guide portion <NUM> is made of a porous ceramic. Specifically, the liquid guide portion <NUM> is located between a liquid outlet <NUM> and a preheating portion <NUM>, so that liquid to be vaporized reaches the preheating portion <NUM> through the liquid guide portion <NUM> after flowing out from the liquid outlet <NUM>. More specifically, the liquid guide portion <NUM> is located on a liquid inlet surface 231a of the preheating portion <NUM>. The liquid guide portion <NUM> includes a liquid absorbing surface 235a. The liquid absorbing surface 235a is far away from the liquid inlet surface 231a.

The electronic vaporization device <NUM> has a structure similar to that of the electronic vaporization device <NUM>, and therefore, also has advantages similar to those of the electronic vaporization device <NUM>. In addition, the electronic vaporization device <NUM> is provided with the liquid guide portion <NUM>, so that heat generated by the preheating portion <NUM> mainly heats the liquid to be vaporized in pores of the preheating portion <NUM>, thereby reducing dissipation of the heat generated by the preheating portion <NUM> and improving preheating efficiency of the preheating portion <NUM>. On the other hand, since the vaporizer has a certain requirement on a thickness of an element that provides a liquid guide function, and both the liquid guide portion <NUM> and the preheating portion <NUM> have the liquid guide function, the provision of the liquid guide portion <NUM> is also cost-saving.

The technical features in the foregoing embodiments may be randomly 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.

Claim 1:
A heating assembly (<NUM>, <NUM>), comprising:
a preheating portion (<NUM>); and
a vaporization portion (<NUM>, <NUM>);
circuit in which the preheating portion (<NUM>, <NUM>) is located is connected in parallel with a circuit in which the vaporization portion (<NUM>, <NUM>) is located;
characterised in that the preheating portion (<NUM>) is made of a porous ceramic, the preheating portion (<NUM>) is made of a positive temperature coefficient thermosensitive material, and the vaporization portion (<NUM>, <NUM>) is located on the preheating portion (<NUM>, <NUM>).