(12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2014/ A1

Transcription

1 (19) United States US A1 (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2014/ A1 Liu (43) Pub. Date: Aug. 7, 2014 (54) ELECTRONIC CIGARETTE (52) U.S. Cl. CPC... A24F 47/008 ( ) (76) Inventor: Qiuming Liu, Shenzhen City (CN) USPC A329 (21) Appl. No.: 13/994,708 (57) ABSTRACT (22) PCT Filed: Sep. 11, 2012 This invention relates to an electronic cigarette includes an atomizer and a power Supply element for charging the atom (86). PCT No.: PCT/CN2O12/ izer. The power Supply element is a farad capacitor. The electronic cigarette of the present invention utilizes the farad S371 (c)(1), capacitor instead of the traditional batteries to charge, so as to (2), (4) Date: Jun. 14, 2013 achieve the technical effects of safely and reliably charging Publication Classification and discharging, charging rapidly, and having more charging and discharging times and simple structure, and being manu factured at lower cost. In addition, the volume of the farad (51) Int. Cl. capacitor is Small; therefore, releasing more internal space of A24F 47/00 ( ) the electronic cigarette for other elements. e

2 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2014 Sheet 1 of 5 US 2014/ A1 switch module: power Supply unit aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa integrated circuit. controller FIG.

3 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2014 Sheet 2 of 5 US 2014/ A1 - O a s FG. 2

4 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2014 Sheet 3 of 5 US 2014/ A1 FG, 3

5 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2014 Sheet 4 of 5 US 2014/ A1 FIG. 4

6 Patent Application Publication Aug. 7, 2014 Sheet 5 of 5 US 2014/ A1 F.G. 5

7 US 2014/ A1 Aug. 7, 2014 ELECTRONIC CGARETTE TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an electronic ciga rette. DESCRIPTION OF BACKGROUND 0002 Electronic cigarettes are a kind of simulating ciga rettes which heat and atomize materials having flavors through electric heating wire to generate Smoke for users Suction. Currently, electronic cigarettes generally utilize rechargeable batteries or disposable batteries for charging. The rechargeable batteries have the defects of less charging and discharging times, being unsafe (ease to fire and explode), long charging time and so on. The disposable bat teries also have the defects of being unsafe and unable to repeatedly use Additionally, rechargeable batteries and disposable batteries are all required to be equipped with corresponding protection circuits. During manufacturing of the electronic cigarettes, traditional batteries are easily to short circuit which causes bad circuit protection and further leads elec tronic cigarettes to be complicated in structure and to be dangerous in use and to be manufactured at higher cost. SUMMARY 0004 An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic cigarette which enables to realize safely and reli ably charging and discharging, rapid charging, more charging and discharging times and having simple structure, and a lower manufacturing cost To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides an electronic cigarette comprising an atomizer and a power Supply element for charging the atomizer. The power Supply element is a farad capacitor Furthermore, the electronic cigarette further com prises a controller disposed between and interconnecting the atomizer and the farad capacitor to control the atomizer. The controller comprises a Switch module generating a triggering signal in response to an external operation and an integrated circuit electrically connected to the switch module for elec trically connecting circuits between the farad capacitor and the atomizer according to the triggering signal Furthermore, the electronic cigarette further com prises a hollow rod body forming an inner chamber therein. The atomizer, the farad capacitor, and the controller are all accommodated in the inner chamber of the rod body Furthermore, the integrated circuit is configured on a circuit board. The circuit board is accommodated in the inner chamber of the rod body and electrically connecting with the farad capacitor Furthermore, the atomizer is disposed at an end of the rod body and the farad capacitoris disposed at another end of the rod body. The Switch module is disposed on an engag ing seat between the atomizer and the farad capacitor and electrically connecting with the circuit board Furthermore, a lamp cap is mounted on one end of the rod body. A light emitting unit is disposed on an inner side of the lamp cap and electrically connecting with the circuit board Furthermore, a charging hole is formed on the lamp cap for allowing the farad capacitor to be charged therefrom Furthermore, the rod body comprises an inhaling rod and a power rod connected with each other. The atomizer is disposed within the inhaling rod and the farad capacitor is disposed within the power rod Furthermore, a first connector is disposed at an end of the inhaling rod. A second connector is disposed at an end of the power rod and securely engaged with the first connec tor Furthermore, the first connector and the second con nector have an external electrode ring, an insulating ring and an internal electrode disposed in sequence to be engaged with the second connector Furthermore, the atomizer comprises a chamber and a heater disposed in the chamber, the chamber being formed by a cylindrical sleeve, a liquid accumulator, and a conduit mounted that are mounted to each otherinsequence, two ends of the chamber being sealed Furthermore, the heater comprises a liquid guiding element having two ends extending out of an outer side wall of the conduit to engage with the liquid accumulator, and an electric heating wire being wrapped around an outer Surface of the liquid guiding element Furthermore, the switch module is an airflow sensor disposed within the rod body Beneficial effects of the inventive embodiments of the present invention are described following. The farad capacitor replaces the traditional batteries to charge, so as to achieve the technical effects of safely and reliably charging and discharging, rapid charging, more charging and discharg ing times and having simple structure, and a lower manufac turing cost. In addition, the Volume of the farad capacitor is Small; therefore, releasing more internal space of the elec tronic cigarette for other elements. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0019 FIG. 1 is a circuit theory drawing of an electronic cigarette of the present invention FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the electronic cigarette in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention FIG. 3 is an exploded schematic view of the elec tronic cigarette of FIG FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an electronic cigarette in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention FIG. 5 is a partially exploded schematic view of the electronic cigarette of FIG. 4. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS It is noted that, without any confliction, embodi ments of the present invention and features thereof can be combined and are further described in detail in cooperation with accompanying drawings as follows As shown in FIGS. 1-3, an electronic cigarette is provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The electronic cigarette comprises a rod body 10, an atomizer 20, a power supply unit 30, and a controller The rod body 10 is a hollow rod. A lamp cap 11 is configured on an end surface of the rod body 10. A light emitting unit is disposed in the inside of the lamp cap 11. Specifically, the light emitting unit is a red Light-Emitting Diode (LED) for simulating and indicating a state of a burn

8 US 2014/ A1 Aug. 7, 2014 ing cigarette. The atomizer 20 is disposed at an end of the rod body 10 and the power supply unit 30 is disposed at another end of the rod body 10. Particularly, the power supply unit 30 is a farad capacitor. A charging hole 12 is formed on the lamp cap 11 for allowing the power supply unit 30 to be charged therefrom. Besides, an outer surface of the rod body 10 is wrapped with a layer of sticker The atomizer 20 is accommodated in an inner cham ber of the rod body 10. The atomizer 20 comprises a chamber 21 and a heater 22 disposed in the chamber 21. The chamber 21 is formed by a cylindrical sleeve 210, a liquid accumulator 211, and a conduit 212 that are mounted to each other in sequence, two ends of the chamber 21 being sealed. The heater 22 comprises a liquid guiding element 220 having two ends extending out of an outer side wall of the conduit 212 to engage with the liquid accumulator 211, and an electric heat ing wire 221 being wrapped around an outer Surface of the liquid guiding element 220. Specifically, in this embodiment, the liquid accumulator 211 is oil storage cotton. The conduit is a PVC silicone fiberglass sleeve. The liquid guiding ele ment 220 is an oil guiding rope. Two ends of the chamber 21 are respectively sealed by an inhaling cover 23 and an atom izer holder 24. The atomizer holder 24 is secured on an atomizer seat The farad capacitor is also disposed in the inner chamber of the rod body 10 as a working power of the elec tronic cigarette. Specifically, beneficial effects of using the farad capacitor instead of traditional rechargeable batteries or disposable batteries for charging the electronic cigarette are described as follows (1) Compared with rechargeable batteries needed to be charged for 2 to 3 hours, the charging time of the farad capacitor is shorter and only needs 1 to 30 seconds (2) Compared with rechargeable batteries config ured with complex protection circuits, the farad capacitor is unlike rechargeable batteries requiring complex charging cir cuits, and has a charging and discharging circuit that is simple in configuration with high safety factor and can be used for a long time without maintenance (3) Compared with rechargeable batteries having a life span of less than 500 times use, the farad capacitor has a long life span by cycle use, and the cycle use of deeply charging and discharging can be up to 10,000 to 500,000 times, and does not cause a memory effect (4) Compared with rechargeable batteries degraded in capacity after repeatedly charging and discharging, the capacity of the farad capacitor is more stable and will not change after repeatedly charging and discharging (5) Compared with traditional batteries that are eas ily to cause a short circuit and get on fire or explosion due to the electrification of traditional batteries during the manufac turing processes, the farad capacitor will not cause a short circuit, and explosion because it has not been electrified dur ing the manufacturing processes, whereby the farad capacitor is safe and reliable (6) Compared with the heavier weight of traditional batteries, the electronic cigarette becomes lighter because of the farad capacitor (7) Compared with traditional batteries that cause the pollution to the environment after being discarded, the farad capacitor is green environmentally friendly (8) Compared with traditional batteries having large Volume and occupying the limited accommodating space, the farad capacitor has Small Volume which releases more inter nal space of the electronic cigarette for other elements The controller 40 is also accommodated in the inner chamber of the rod body 10. The controller 40 is disposed between and interconnecting the atomizer 20 and the farad capacitor to control the atomizer 20. The controller 40 com prises a Switch module 41 and an integrated circuit The switch module 41 generates a triggering signal in response to an external operation. The Switch module 41 is a micro switch configured on a side wall of the rod body 10 or an airflow sensor 410 disposed within the rod body 10. In this present invention, the switch module 41 is exemplified by the air flow sensor The integrated circuit 42 electrically connects the Switch module 41 and is capable of electrically connecting circuits between the farad capacitor and the atomizer 20 according to the triggering signal. The integrated circuit 42 is configured on a circuit board 43. The circuit board 43 is accommodated in the inner chamber of the rod body 10 and electrically connects the farad capacitor and the light emitting unit. Correspondingly, the air flow sensor 410 is disposed on an engaging seat 411 between the atomizer 20 and the farad capacitor and electrically connects the circuit board Another embodiment as shown in FIGS. 4-5, differ ent from the above-mentioned embodiment, the rod body 10 comprises an inhaling rod 13 and a power rod 14 connected with each other The atomizer 20 is accommodated in the inhaling rod 13. A first connector 130 is disposed at an end of the inhaling rod 13. The farad capacitor is disposed within the power rod 14. A second connector 140 is disposed at an end of the power rod 14 and securely engages with the first connec tor The first connector 130 and the second connector 140 have an external electrode ring 131, an insulating ring 132 and an internal electrode 133 disposed in sequence to be engaged with the second connector 140. The insulating ring 132 is used to insulate the external electrode ring 131 and the internal electrode An operation principle of the electronic cigarette is described as follows. The farad capacitor is to be charged before using the electronic cigarette. The air flow sensor 410 generates a triggering signal when air flow is detected. The integrated circuit 42 electrically connects circuits between the farad capacitor and the atomizer 20 according to the triggering signal. Afterwards, the heater 22 disposed in the atomizer 20 atomizes cigarette liquid and converts it to Smoke. Simultaneously, the light emitting unit indicates the working state of the electronic cigarette In summary, the present invention utilizes the farad capacitor (as known as ultra capacitor or Super capacitor) instead of the traditional batteries or disposable batteries to charge the integral type electronic cigarette shown in FIGS. 2-3 or the detachable type electronic cigarette shown in FIGS. 4-5, so as to achieve the technical effects of being safe reli able, and charging rapidly, and having more charging and discharging times and simple structure, and being manufac tured at a lower cost. Moreover, the volume of the farad capacitor is Small; therefore, releasing more internal space of the electronic cigarette for other elements The above mentioned is only exemplary embodi ments of the present invention. It should be noted, for persons of ordinary skill in this art field, improvements and modifi cations within the spirit and principle of the present invention

9 US 2014/ A1 Aug. 7, 2014 can be further made, and Such improvements and modifica tions should be seemed to be included in the claimed scope of the present invention. 1. An electronic cigarette, comprising an atomizer and a power Supply element for charging the atomizer, wherein the power Supply element is a farad capacitor. 2. The electronic cigarette as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electronic cigarette further comprises a controller dis posed between and interconnecting the atomizer and the farad capacitor to control the atomizer, the controller comprising: a Switch module generating a triggering signal in response to an external operation; and an integrated circuit electrically connected to the Switch module for electrically connecting circuits between the farad capacitor and the atomizer according to the trig gering signal. 3. The electronic cigarette as claimed in claim 2, wherein the electronic cigarette further comprises a hollow rod body forming an inner chamber therein, and the atomizer, the farad capacitor, and the controller are all accommodated in the inner chamber of the rod body. 4. The electronic cigarette as claimed in claim 3, wherein the integrated circuit is configured on a circuit board, the circuit board accommodated in the inner chamber of the rod body and electrically connecting with the farad capacitor. 5. The electronic cigarette as claimed in claim 4, wherein the atomizer is disposed at an end of the rod body and the farad capacitor is disposed at another end of the rod body, the switch module disposed on an engaging seat between the atomizer and the farad capacitor and electrically connecting with the circuit board. 6. The electronic cigarette as claimed in claim 4, wherein a lamp cap is mounted on one end of the rod body, and a light emitting unit is disposed on an inner side of the lamp cap and electrically connecting with the circuit board. 7. The electronic cigarette as claimed in claim 6, wherein a charging hole is formed on the lamp cap for allowing the farad capacitor to be charged therefrom. 8. The electronic cigarette as claimed in claim 3, wherein the rod body comprises an inhaling rod and a power rod connected with each other, the atomizer is disposed within the inhaling rod, and the farad capacitor is disposed within the power rod. 9. The electronic cigarette as claimed in claim 8, wherein a first connector is disposed at an end of the inhaling rod, and a second connector is disposed at an end of the power rod and securely engaged with the first connector. 10. The electronic cigarette as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first connector has an external electrodering, an insulating ring and an internal electrode disposed in sequence to be engaged with the second connector. 11. The electronic cigarette as claimed in claim 1, wherein the atomizer comprises a chamber and aheater disposed in the chamber, the chamber being formed by a cylindrical sleeve, a liquid accumulator, and a conduit mounted that are mounted to each other in sequence, two ends of the chamber being sealed. 12. The electronic cigarette as claimed in claim 11, wherein the heater comprises a liquid guiding element having two ends extending out of an outer side wall of the conduit to engage with the liquid accumulator, and an electric heating wire being wrapped around an outer Surface of the liquid guiding element. 13. The electronic cigarette as claimed in claim 11, wherein the switch module is an air flow sensor disposed within the rod body.