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US 12,739,945 B2Granted
Vaporizer device heater control
AssigneeJUUL Labs, Inc.
InventorsJoseph R. Fisher, Jr., Nicholas J. Hatton, Andrew L. Murphy, Hugh Pham, Val Valentine
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system includes a current source circuit; a system power input; and load switching circuitry coupling the current source circuit and the system power input to an output configured to couple to a vaporizer heating element. The current source circuit, the system power input, and the load switching circuitry form part of an integrated circuit. Related apparatus, systems, techniques, and articles are also described.
Claims20
A system, comprising:
- a power source;
- a connector configured to electrically couple to a heating element configured to heat vaporizable material;
- one or more sensors comprising at least one pressure sensor;
- a power management unit electrically coupled to the connector and configured to:
- provide a flow of current to the heating element through the connector to heat the heating element, the flow of current associated with a provided electrical power;
- intermittently interrupt the flow of current to the heating element;
- measure, during an interruption, an electrical property of the heating element;
- and
- control the flow of current to the heating element based at least in part on the electrical property;
- and
- a controller electrically coupled to the power management unit, the controller configured to:
- control the provided electrical power to the power management unit based on the one or more sensors;
- and
- control, over one or more input terminals interfacing with the power management unit, operation of the power management unit, wherein the one or more input terminals comprises a heat ready input configured to enable the power management unit to heat the heating element and a heater stop input configured to disable the power management unit from heating the heating element.
11 more elements
A vaporizer device comprising:
- a power source;
- a cartridge receptacle configured to insertably receive a cartridge comprising a heating element and a vaporizable material;
- one or more sensors comprising at least one pressure sensor;
- a power management unit configured to electrically couple to the heating element, the power management unit configured to:
- provide a flow of current to the heating element to heat the vaporizable material, the flow of current associated with a provided electrical power;
- intermittently interrupt the flow of current to the heating element;
- measure, during an interruption, an electrical property of the heating element;
- and
- control the flow of current to the heating element based at least in part on the electrical property;
- and
- a controller electrically coupled to the power management unit, the controller configured to:
- control the provided electrical power to the power management unit based on the one or more sensors;
- and
- control, over one or more input terminals interfacing with the power management unit, operation of the power management unit, wherein the one or more input terminals comprises a heat ready input configured to enable the power management unit to heat the heating element and a heater stop input configured to disable the power management unit from heating the heating element.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.