Electronic vapor provision device

• US 10,398,180 B2
• Filed: 02/01/2018
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicoventures Trading Ltd. (British American Tobacco PLC)
• Original Assignee: Nicoventures Holdings Limited (British American Tobacco PLC)
• Inventors: Lord, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Yaary, Eric
• Application Number:
  US15/886,096
• Publication Number:
  US 20180153223A1
• Time in Patent Office: 579 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A24F 40/10 Devices using liquid inhalable precursors
• CPC Class Codes: A24F 40/53 Monitoring, e.g. fault detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 1/34 Filtering material out of the blood by passing it through a membrane, i.e. hemofiltration or diafiltration
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/50 with microprocessors or computers
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/345 using capacitors as storage or buffering devices
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 1/0244 Heating of fluids H05B1/0247 takes precedence

Abstract

An electronic vapor provision device comprising a battery assembly and a vaporizer, wherein the battery assembly comprises a power cell and a computer, the vaporizer is releasably connectable to the battery assembly and the computer comprises a computer processor and a memory, wherein the computer is configured to detect whether the vaporizer is connected to the battery assembly without use of the electronic vapor provision device by a user, and to substantially remain in a sleep mode until the vaporizer is connected to the battery assembly.

Claims

1. An electronic vapor provision device comprising:

a battery assembly and a vaporizer, wherein;

the battery assembly comprises a power cell and a computer,

the vaporizer is releasably-attachable to the battery assembly,

the computer comprises a computer processor, a memory and an input-output means,

the computer is configured in use to detect whether the vaporizer is connected to the battery assembly,

the vaporizer comprises a liquid store, an electrical heater, and a mouthpiece, and the computer is configured to control a supply of power from the power cell to the electrical heater to vaporize liquid from the liquid store from inhalation by a user through the mouthpiece,

the device is configured to substantially remain in a sleep mode until the vaporizer is connected to the battery assembly, wherein the sleep mode is a low power mode,

the computer is configured to enter a connected mode when the vaporizer is connected to the battery assembly,

the connected mode is a higher power state than the lower power mode to enable a more rapid activation once the device is activated by a user; and

the battery assembly further comprises a capacitor, wherein the computer is configured to first charge the capacitor and then determine that the vaporizer is not connected to the battery assembly when the capacitor is not substantially fully discharged, and to determine that the vaporizer is connected to the battery assembly when the capacitor is substantially fully discharged.

2. The electronic vapor provision device of claim 1, wherein the computer is configured to wake from the sleep mode after a predetermined sleep time to determine whether the vaporizer is connected to the battery assembly, wherein the computer is configured to re-enter the sleep mode if the vaporizer is not connected to the battery assembly.

3. The electronic vapor provision device of claim 1, wherein the computer consumes minimal power and performs no processing in the sleep mode.

4. The electronic vapor provision device of claim 1, wherein the computer is configured to control and interface with other electrical components of the battery assembly via the input-output means.

5. The electronic vapor provision device of claim 1, wherein a computer program for controlling operations of the computer is stored in the memory for access by the computer processor.

6. The electronic vapor provision device of claim 1, wherein the computer is located on a circuit board.

7. The electronic vapor provision device of claim 1, wherein the device further comprises battery terminals for electrically connecting the battery assembly to the vaporizer, and the computer is configured to check whether the vaporizer is connected to the battery assembly by sending an electrical pulse to the battery terminals.

8. The electronic vapor provision device of claim 7, wherein the checking comprises the computer controlling the power cell to supply a pulse of current to a first battery terminal and measuring a current reaching a second battery terminal.

9. The electronic vapor provision device of claim 1, further comprising a sensor for detecting an inhalation on the device when the vaporizer is connected to the battery assembly, wherein the computer controls the power cell to supply power to the vaporizer in response to detecting an inhalation.

10. The electronic vapor provision device of claim 1, wherein the computer determining whether the vaporizer is connected to the battery assembly does not require use of the device by a user.

11. The electronic vapor provision device of claim 1, wherein the computer is a microcontroller.

12. The electronic vapor provision device of claim 1, wherein the computer is a microprocessor.

13. The electronic vapor provision device of claim 1, wherein the computer is provided on a single chip.