Atomiser for use in electronic cigarette with optical vaporisation system
AssigneeJT International SA
InventorsMoritz Schmidlin, Damir Luso
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electronic cigarette includes a laser and a replaceable atomiser. A reservoir is provided for storing a vaporisable liquid. The replaceable atomiser includes a light guide, an absorber and a vaporisation chamber. A liquid inlet in the atomiser provides a flow path for liquid in the reservoir to flow towards the absorber and the vaporisation chamber. The light guide is configured to couple light from the laser towards the absorber which can generate heat by absorbing the emitted light and this can cause vaporisation of the vaporisable liquid. When the light guide becomes dirty or contaminated it can be replaced simply by replacing the atomiser.
Claims18
An atomiser for an electronic cigarette, comprising:
- a housing including at least one air inlet, at least one air outlet and a liquid inlet;
- a light guide extending into the housing;
- an optical absorber within the housing;
- and
- a vaporisation chamber within the housing, wherein a liquid flow path is provided from the liquid inlet towards the optical absorber and the vaporisation chamber, and an air flow path is defined from the at least one air inlet in the housing to the vaporization chamber, and wherein the light guide is configured to couple light from a vaporising light source towards the optical absorber which can generate heat by absorbing light from the vaporising light source,
- wherein the optical absorber includes a liquid absorber for absorbing vaporisable liquid received in the liquid inlet, and
- wherein the optical absorber is provided within the vaporization chamber axially above an end face of the light guide with respect to an axial direction of the housing.
An electronic cigarette device comprising a mouthpiece portion and a power supply portion, wherein the mouthpiece portion comprises:
- a liquid store,
- a receiving portion configured to receive a removable atomiser, and
- a mouthpiece having a vapor outlet channel,
- and wherein the power supply portion comprises:
- a power source;
- and
- a vaporising light source configured to receive electrical energy from the power source, wherein the vaporising light source is configured to couple light to a light guide located within the atomiser.
A method of operating an electronic cigarette, comprising the steps of:
- providing an atomiser comprising:
- a housing including at least one air inlet, at least one air outlet and a liquid inlet;
- a light guide;
- an optical absorber;
- and
- a vaporisation chamber received within the housing;
- providing a vaporising light source and a liquid reservoir separately from the atomiser;
- providing a flow of vaporisable liquid from the liquid reservoir towards the optical absorber and the vaporisation chamber;
- providing vaporising light from the vaposing light source;
- coupling the vaporising light from the vaporising light source towards the optical absorber using the light guide;
- and
- absorbing the light at the optical absorber in order to generate heat and vaporise the vaporisable liquid,
- wherein the optical absorber includes a liquid absorber for absorbing vaporisable liquid received in the liquid inlet, and
- wherein the optical absorber is provided within the vaporization chamber axially above an end face of the light guide with respect to an axial direction of the housing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.