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US 9,848,644 B2Granted
Electronic smoking article
AssigneeAltria Client Services LLC
InventorsSusan E. Plunkett, David B. Kane
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electronic smoking article includes a liquid supply region including liquid material and a heater-wick element operable to wick liquid material and heat the liquid material to a temperature sufficient to vaporize the liquid material and form an aerosol. The heater-wick element is formed of a carbon or graphite foam.
Claims20
An electronic vaping device comprising:
- a supply region configured to store a liquid material;
- and
- an integral heater-wick element in fluidic communication with the supply region, the integral heater-wick element including a heating portion and at least one wicking portion, the integral heater-wick element formed of a foamed carbon, the foamed carbon having impurities of less than about 100 ppm and a heat capacity of about 0.5 to 1.0 J/g-K,
- the at least one wicking portion extending into the supply region,
- the integral heater-wick element configured to transfer the liquid material from the supply region, through the at least one wicking portion, and to the heating portion via pores in the foamed carbon.
2 more elements
A method of producing a vapor in an electronic vaping device, comprising:
- transferring a liquid material from a supply region to a channel using an integral heater-wick element, the integral heater-wick element including a heating portion and at least one wicking portion, the integral heater-wick element formed of a foamed carbon, the foamed carbon having impurities of less than about 100 ppm and a heat capacity of about 0.5 to 1.0 J/g-K, the least one wicking portion extending into the liquid supply region, the heating portion being outside of the supply region and in the channel;
- and
- directing an electrical current through the heating portion of the integral heater-wick foam element to volatize the liquid material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.