# US 12,599,179 B2 · Aerosol-generating device with means for detecting the presence, absence, or displacement of an aerosol-generating article in a cavity of the device > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,599,179 B2 - Document ID: US12599179B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/003,033 - Filed: 2021-06-21 - Published: 2023-08-10 - Granted: 2026-04-14 - Earliest claimed: 2020-06-23 - Assignees: Philip Morris Products S.A. - Applicants: Philip Morris Products S.A. - Inventors: Enrico Stura; Maxime Chateau - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12599179B2 ## CPC - A24F 40/51: Arrangement of sensors - A24F 40/20: Devices using solid inhalable precursors - A24F 40/465: specially adapted for induction heating - A24F 40/53: Monitoring, e.g. fault detection - H05B 6/105: {using a susceptor} - A24F: SMOKERS' REQUISITES; MATCH BOXES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES (inhaling appliances for medical purposes, shaped like cigars, cigarettes or pipes A61M15/06) - H05B: ELECTRIC HEATING; ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES, IN GENERAL ## Abstract An aerosol-generating device for heating an aerosol-forming substrate to form an inhalable aerosol when heated, the device including: a cavity configured to removably receive at least a portion of an article, including the substrate to be heated; an electrical heating arrangement including an electronic circuitry and a heating element operatively coupled to the electronic circuitry configured to heat the substrate when the article is received in the cavity; and a controller including a temperature sensor configured to output a signal indicative of a temperature or a temperature increase of at least one portion of the electronic circuitry during operation of the heating arrangement, the controller being configured to detect a presence, absence, or displacement of the article in the cavity in response to the signal indicating that the temperature or the temperature increase has breached a predefined temperature threshold or a predefined temperature increase threshold, respectively. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An aerosol-generating device for heating an aerosol-forming substrate to form an inhalable aerosol when heated, the aerosol-generating device comprising: a cavity configured to removably receive at least a portion of an aerosol-generating article, comprising the aerosol-forming substrate to be heated; an electrical heating arrangement comprising an electronic circuitry and a heating element operatively coupled to the electronic circuitry configured to heat the aerosol-forming substrate when the aerosol-generating article is received in the cavity; and a controller comprising a temperature sensor configured to output a signal indicative of a temperature or a temperature increase of at least one portion of the electronic circuitry during operation of the electrical heating arrangement, wherein the controller is configured to detect an absence or a displacement of the aerosol-generating article in the cavity in response to the signal indicating that the temperature or the temperature increase has breached a predefined temperature threshold or a predefined temperature increase threshold, respectively, wherein the controller is configured to stop or restrict the operation of the electrical heating arrangement in response to detecting the absence or the displacement of the aerosol-generating article. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1, wherein the predefined temperature threshold is in a range between 80 degrees Celsius and 180 degrees Celsius. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1, wherein the predefined temperature threshold is in a range between 100 degrees Celsius and 160 degrees Celsius. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1, wherein the predefined temperature increase threshold is a predefined function of an initial temperature of the at least one portion of the electronic circuitry at a beginning of the operation of the aerosol-generating device. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 4, wherein the controller is further configured to detect the initial temperature of the at least one portion of the electronic circuitry at the beginning of the operation of the aerosol-generating device and to determine the predefined temperature increase threshold as a function of the detected initial temperature. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to detect an initial temperature of the at least one portion of the electronic circuitry at a beginning of the operation of the aerosol-generating device and to re-scale the signal indicative of the temperature increase by a predefined function of the detected initial temperature in order to detect the absence or the displacement of the aerosol-generating article in the cavity in response to the re-scaled signal. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1, wherein the temperature sensor comprises at least one of a thermocouple, a thermistor, or a semiconductor integrated circuit sensor. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1, wherein the electrical heating arrangement is an inductive heating arrangement configured to inductively heat the aerosol-forming substrate within the aerosol-generating article. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1, wherein the electrical heating arrangement is a resistive heating arrangement configured to resistively heat the aerosol-forming substrate within the aerosol-generating article. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic circuitry and the heating element are arranged in separate portions of the aerosol-generating device. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to detect a presence of the aerosol-generating article at a desired position in the cavity in response to the signal indicating that the temperature or the temperature increase has fallen below the predefined temperature threshold or the predefined temperature increase threshold, respectively. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to enable a heating operation of the electrical heating arrangement in response to detecting the presence of the aerosol-generating article at a desired position in the cavity. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to monitor the temperature of the at least one portion of the electronic circuitry at least every 10 seconds. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The aerosol-generating device according to claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to monitor the temperature of the at least one portion of the electronic circuitry at least every second. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) An aerosol-generating system comprising an aerosol-generating device according to claim 1 and an aerosol-generating article for the aerosol-generating device, wherein the aerosol-generating article comprises an aerosol-forming substrate to be heated by the aerosol-generating device. ### Claim 16 A method for detecting an absence or a displacement of an aerosol-generating article in a cavity of an aerosol-generating device, wherein the aerosol-generating device comprises a cavity for removably receiving at least a portion of the aerosol-generating article, and an electrical heating arrangement comprising an electronic circuitry and a heating element operatively coupled to the electronic circuitry for heating an aerosol-forming substrate comprised in the aerosol-generating article when the aerosol-generating article is received in the cavity, the method comprising: measuring a temperature or an temperature increase of at least one portion of the electronic circuitry during operation of the electrical heating arrangement; detecting the absence or the displacement of the aerosol-generating article in the cavity in response to the temperature or the temperature increase having breached a predefined temperature threshold or a predefined temperature increase threshold, respectively; and stopping or restricting the operation of the electrical heating arrangement in response to the detecting the absence or the displacement of the aerosol-generating article. ### Claim 17 An aerosol-generating device for heating an aerosol-forming substrate to form an inhalable aerosol when heated, the aerosol-generating device comprising: a cavity configured to removably receive at least a portion of an aerosol-generating article, comprising the aerosol-forming substrate to be heated; an electrical heating arrangement comprising an electronic circuitry and a heating element operatively coupled to the electronic circuitry configured to heat the aerosol-forming substrate when the aerosol-generating article is received in the cavity; and a controller comprising a temperature sensor configured to output a signal indicative of a temperature or a temperature increase of at least one portion of the electronic circuitry during operation of the electrical heating arrangement, wherein the controller is configured to detect a presence of the aerosol-generating article in the cavity in response to the signal indicating that the temperature or the temperature increase has breached a predefined temperature threshold or a predefined temperature increase threshold, respectively, wherein the controller is further configured to enable the operation of the electrical heating arrangement in response to detecting the presence of the aerosol-generating article at a desired position in the cavity. ### Claim 18 A method for detecting a presence of an aerosol-generating article in a cavity of an aerosol-generating device, wherein the aerosol-generating device comprises a cavity for removably receiving at least a portion of the aerosol-generating article, and an electrical heating arrangement comprising an electronic circuitry and a heating element operatively coupled to the electronic circuitry for heating an aerosol-forming substrate comprised in the aerosol-generating article when the aerosol-generating article is received in the cavity, the method comprising: measuring a temperature or an temperature increase of at least one portion of the electronic circuitry during operation of the electrical heating arrangement; detecting the presence of the aerosol-generating article in the cavity in response to the temperature or the temperature increase having breached a predefined temperature threshold or a predefined temperature increase threshold, respectively; and enabling the operation of the electrical heating arrangement in response to the detecting the presence of the aerosol-generating article.