Patents Examined by Thor S. Campbell
  • Patent number: 11662122
    Abstract: A tankless water heater system (100), with a heat exchanger device (20) comprising at least one hollow chamber (21, 22, 23, 24) and at least one electrical heating element (52, 53, 54), and a controller device (30) with a temperature control unit (35), a tap event counter unit (32), a down-time counter unit (33) and a time delay unit (34); an electrical switching element (41, 42, 43) for connecting or is connecting one or several heating elements (52, 53, 54) to/from a power supply; an outlet temperature sensor (27) linked with the temperature control unit (35); a flow rate sensor (29); wherein: the tap counter unit (32) is connected to the flow rate sensor (29) and is triggered when water flow rate exceeds a tap indication threshold the down-time counter unit (33) is triggered and retriggered by the tap counter unit (32) and both provide a down-time event signal after any inactivity period with no water flow and records the duration of inactivity; the time delay unit (34) is connected to and triggered by the
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: Stiebel Eltron GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Hubert Nolte, Michael Dion, Frank Stiebel
  • Patent number: 11653643
    Abstract: A scent vaporizing and distribution device uses an electric heating element to rapidly vaporize a liquid scent material. An airflow generator is used to create a distribution airflow that distributes the vapor from the device. The airflow generator can be an electric-powered fan or a manually-powered pump or squeezable bladder. The liquid scent material can include a glycol or a water-glycol mixture. A scent material such as liquid or powdered deer urine or a pleasant scent that can be used as a room or automobile or room freshener is mixed with the liquid. The vapor generator can be removable and replaceable such that different scents can be used with a single airflow generator or an empty generator can be replaced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: Wyndscent, LLC
    Inventor: Robert M. Wynalda, Jr.
  • Patent number: 11653421
    Abstract: The described technology provides an electric heating apparatus with multiple heating lamps that can increase the heat emitted by a single heating apparatus, thereby allowing a minimal number of heating apparatus installations in the space where heating is needed, and can prevent fires by turning the power off immediately in the event of the heating apparatus falling off. According to the described technology, multiple heating lamps may be positioned within the reflector dish, and the heating lamps may have particular inclinations to allow a broader range of irradiation and increase efficiency in terms of installing, maintaining, and operating the electric heating apparatus; the heat of the reflector dish and the heating lamps themselves may be discharged by way of conduction at the upper portion of the reflector dish.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: JK Lighting Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Hak Sil Kim
  • Patent number: 11647566
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods and systems to vaporize extract, plant material containing organic material and the like, including a removable carriage with a chamber having an annular wall with and an open side within the removable carriage. The chamber having at least one intake inlet fluidly connected with the chamber and at least one outlet configured to connect the chamber to an inhalation opening. The carriage fits into a base which includes a controller and power supply. The base provides at least two heating elements oriented to cover the open side of the chamber when the carriage is fully inserted, an insulator separating the two heating elements; and, two temperature sensors each one in thermal contact with a heating element and in signal communication with the controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Inventor: Mark Krietzman
  • Patent number: 11641697
    Abstract: An aerosol-generating article may comprise a liquid storage portion containing a liquid aerosol-forming substrate, and a hydrochromic material provided on the liquid storage portion. The hydrochromic material has a first colour when in the presence of or when in contact with the liquid aerosol-forming substrate and a second colour when in the absence of or when not in contact with the liquid aerosol-forming substrate. An aerosol-generating system may comprise the aerosol-generating article, an aerosol-generating element, and an aerosol-generating device. An aerosol-generating device may comprise an electrical power supply, an electronic photosensor, and a controller configured to control a supply of electrical power from the electrical power supply based on a value of an optical property sensed with the electronic photosensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2023
    Assignee: Altria Client Services LLC
    Inventors: Stephane Bilat, Guillaume Colotte
  • Patent number: 11638443
    Abstract: A vaporizer device may include a controller and a heater control circuitry. The controller may generate, based at least on a temperature of a heating coil in a cartridge coupled with the vaporizer device, an output signal for controlling a discharge of a battery of the vaporizer device. The battery may be discharged to the heating coil to increase the temperature of the heating coil and cause a vaporization of a vaporizable material contained in the cartridge. The heater control circuitry may determine the temperature of the heating coil. The heater control circuitry may further control, based on the output signal from the controller, the discharge of the battery to the heating coil. The heater control circuitry may be powered by a voltage rail coupled to a voltage regulator configured to regulate an output voltage of the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2023
    Assignee: JUUL Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua Fu, Christopher Loental, Marko Markovic, Alexander Weiss, Alexander Ringrose, David Carlberg, Robyn Nariyoshi, Devin Spratt, Nicholas J. Hatton, Yen Jen Chang, Chen Yu Li, Barry Tseng, Prince Wang, Thomas Germann, Andreas Schaefer
  • Patent number: 11641695
    Abstract: An aerosol-generating system may include a liquid storage portion configured to hold aerosol-forming substrate, a vaporizer, and a pump. The liquid storage portion includes a movable wall and an outlet. The vaporizer includes a heating element having a structure that at least partially defines an internal passage. The pump may deliver liquid aerosol-forming substrate from the outlet of the liquid storage portion to the internal passage of the heating element. The pump may include a micro stepper motor with a drive shaft that is configured to rotate a particular amount based on performing an individual step, a piston connected to the movable wall, and a lead screw connecting the drive shaft to the piston and configured to translate rotation of the drive shaft into axial movement of the piston and the movable wall. The vaporizer may at least partially vaporize the delivered liquid aerosol-forming substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2023
    Assignee: Altria Client Services LLC
    Inventors: Rui Nuno Batista, Ben Mazur
  • Patent number: 11628810
    Abstract: A washer liquid heating device is provided. The device includes a heating unit that is positioned at a lower end of a reservoir. A washer pump is connected to one end of the heating unit and a controller adjusts a heat generation of the heating unit. Accordingly, at least some of washer liquid contained in the reservoir flows into the heating unit and is then discharged to the washer pump.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation, DY Auto CORP
    Inventors: Nak Kyoung Kong, Jong Min Park, Ki Hong Lee, Young Ik Cho, Seung Hyeok Chang, Jong Wook Lee, Jong Hyun Jin
  • Patent number: 11629885
    Abstract: A safety system and method to prevent water within a top portion of a tank of an electric water heater to drop below a safe temperature during a load shedding period, other than a full emergency grid failure, by a power provider whereby to prevent the propagation of harmful bacteria in a top portion the tank. A control device monitors the water temperature in the top portion of the tank by the use of a temperature sensor. If the control device detects a temperature of the water in the top portion of the tank inferior to 140 degrees F., it will by-pass the instructions of the power provider and connect power to one or more of the resistive heating elements of the tank until a predetermined temperature above 140 degrees F. is attained before switching off the resistive heating elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: Giant Factories Inc.
    Inventor: Claude Lesage
  • Patent number: 11617396
    Abstract: There is provided a cartridge for use in an aerosol-generating system, the aerosol-generating system including an aerosol-generating device, the cartridge configured to be used with the device, wherein the device includes a device housing, an inductor coil positioned on or within the housing, and a power supply connected to the inductor coil and configured to provide a high frequency oscillating current to the inductor coil, the cartridge including a cartridge housing containing an aerosol-forming substrate and a ferrite mesh susceptor element positioned to heat the aerosol-forming substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Oleg Mironov, Michel Thorens, Ihar Nikolaevich Zinovik
  • Patent number: 11619401
    Abstract: An instant hot water dispenser system includes a main body, having a water flow control valve seat, a water inlet and a water outlet, the water flow control valve seat being provided with a first flow control valve and a second flow control valve; a faucet being provided with a first pull member, a second pull member and a water outlet pipe; a first heating unit having a first water storage space and a heater; a second heating unit having a circulating water path and an instantaneous heater, the instantaneous heater being configured to instantaneously heat a water supply in the circulating water path to a predetermined temperature; a processing unit electrically connected to a control interface, the processing unit being further electrically connected to the water flow control valve seat, the first heating unit and the second heating unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Inventor: Shao-Yu Peng
  • Patent number: 11608818
    Abstract: An aerosol-generating system may include a liquid storage portion configured to hold liquid aerosol-forming substrate, a vaporizer including a heating element with an internal passage at least partially defined by a surface of the heating element, and a micro pump configured to deliver liquid aerosol-forming substrate from the liquid storage portion to the internal passage of the heating element, such that the vaporizer is configured to heat the delivered liquid aerosol-forming substrate at the internal passage to a temperature sufficient to volatilize at least a part of the delivered liquid aerosol-forming substrate. The micro pump may be configured to deliver a particular amount of liquid aerosol-forming substrate to the internal passage based on the micro pump performing an individual pump cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: Altria Client Services LLC
    Inventors: Shaun Phillips, Bruce Renfrew, Ben Mazur, Ben Bright, Rui Nuno Batista
  • Patent number: 11589621
    Abstract: An aerosol delivery device is provided that includes at least one housing structured to retain an aerosol precursor composition. The device includes an atomizer, and a microprocessor configured to operate in an active mode in which the control body is configured to control the atomizer to activate and produce an aerosol from the aerosol precursor composition. And the device includes a heart rate monitor including a plurality of biopotential electrodes affixed to the housing and configured to obtain biopotential measurements from a user, and including signal conditioning circuitry configured to produce an electrocardiogram signal from the biopotential measurements. The microprocessor is coupled to the signal conditioning circuitry and further configured to control operation of at least one functional element of the aerosol delivery device based on the electrocardiogram signal or a heart rate of the user calculated therefrom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: RAI Strategic Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Rajesh Sur, Sawyer A. Hubbard, Kyung Soo Hong, Stephen B. Sears
  • Patent number: 11588350
    Abstract: An aerosol delivery device includes a receptacle configured to receive a substrate configured to carry an aerosol precursor composition, and a resonant transformer including a transmitter coupling device and a resonant receiver coupling device that is positioned in proximity to the substrate when received in the receptacle. The aerosol delivery device also includes a pulse width modulation (PWM) inverter configured to drive the resonant transformer. The PWM inverter includes a bridge circuit coupled to the transmitter coupling device, and a PWM controller embodied as an integrated circuit and configured to output a PWM signal to the bridge circuit configured to drive the transmitter coupling device to generate an oscillating magnetic field and induce an alternating voltage in the resonant receiver coupling device when exposed to the oscillating magnetic field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: RAI STRATEGIC HOLDINGS, INC.
    Inventors: Rajesh Sur, James W. Rogers, Stephen B. Sears, Eric T. Hunt
  • Patent number: 11559175
    Abstract: A full body dryer. The dryer includes a semi-circular base with a plurality of air tubes extending arcuately upward therefrom. The air tubes are extendable and retractable to adjust a height of the air tubes for use or for compact storage or transport. An upper end of each air tube of the plurality of air tubes includes an air vent to direct forced air toward a portion of an individual's body to dry the individual's body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Inventor: Capujene Wright
  • Patent number: 11549693
    Abstract: A hot water tank including: a shell enclosing a chamber containing a heat exchange liquid, the shell including a base, side wall and lid; a cold water inlet connected to a first end of a heat exchanger, and a hot water outlet connected to a second end of the heat exchanger, wherein the heat exchanger is located in an upper portion of the chamber; a primary heating element connected to a power source for heating the heat exchange liquid, the primary heating element being located in a lower portion of the chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: WISE EARTH PTY LTD
    Inventors: Garry Frederick Baverstock, Sam Peter Paolino, Stephen Frederick Lucks
  • Patent number: 11546971
    Abstract: An aerosol-generating system may comprise a releasably connectable capsule and vaporizing unit. The capsule may comprise a reservoir for containing an aerosol-generating substrate, an opening in fluidic communication with the reservoir, and a valve configured to control a flow of the aerosol-generating substrate from the reservoir through the opening. The valve may comprise one or more resilient closing members biased towards a closed position. The vaporizing unit may comprise a transfer element and a heating element disposed in a housing. The heating element is configured to heat the aerosol-generating substrate in the transfer element. The vaporizing unit may also comprise an elongate element configured to engage with the valve to deflect the one or more resilient closing members from the closed position to an open position so as place the transfer element in fluidic connection with the reservoir when the capsule is connected to the vaporizing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: ALTRIA CLIENT SERVICES LLC
    Inventor: Eric Force
  • Patent number: 11540359
    Abstract: An electronic vaping device includes a housing, a planar heater, a heater support, a tank, and a wick. The housing extends in a longitudinal direction and has a tip end and a mouth-end. The tip end is closed and the mouth-end has an opening therein. The heater support supports the planar heater. The tank contains a pre-vapor formulation and is configured to slide into and out of the opening of the mouth-end of the housing. The wick extends from the tank and is configured to be in contact with the planar heater when the tank is inserted in the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: Altria Client Services LLC
    Inventor: Peter Lipowicz
  • Patent number: 11536491
    Abstract: An electric integrated circuit water heater apparatus includes: a cold water inlet for allowing input of cold water into a storage tank with heating elements comprised of integrated circuits configured to exchange heat from the heating elements to the water in the storage tank through a heat exchanger, in which heat produced by running the integrated circuits is recovered into the heat exchanger, thereby heating the stored water by using heat from the integrated circuits. A hot water outlet is provided in the upper portion of storage tank such that the water will have passed all of the heating elements prior to exiting the hot water outlet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Inventor: Kurt Schramm
  • Patent number: 11517053
    Abstract: An aerosol delivery device is provided. The aerosol delivery device comprises a control component and a digital pressure sensor. The digital pressure sensor is configured to measure a pressure imposed thereon, and generate a corresponding signal that indicates the pressure so measured. The control component or the digital pressure sensor is further configured to control at least one functional element of the aerosol delivery device based on the pressure indicated by the corresponding signal, or a condition of the aerosol delivery device or a user thereof determined from the corresponding signal. Control of the at least one functional element includes output of the pressure or the condition for presentation by a display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: RAI Strategic Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Rajesh Sur, Eric T. Hunt, Stephen B. Sears