Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the technical problems in the prior art, the invention provides an electronic cigarette, which comprises an atomization unit, a power supply unit, a detection unit and a control unit, wherein the atomization unit is configured to heat tobacco tar, the power supply unit is coupled to the atomization unit and is configured to supply power to the atomization unit, the voltage which can be output by the power supply unit is reduced along with the increase of the working time of the electronic cigarette, the detection unit is configured to detect the voltage or the residual electric quantity which can be output by the power supply unit, the control unit comprises a switch module, the switch module is coupled between the power supply unit and the atomization unit and is configured to control the voltage for supplying power to the atomization unit, the processing module is coupled to the switch module and the detection unit and is configured to generate the control signal according to the detection result of the detection unit and control the state of the switch module based on the control signal, wherein the processing module is configured to generate a first control signal when the detection result is larger than or equal to a first threshold voltage, the first control signal controls the state of the switch module so that the voltage which can be supplied to the atomization unit is equal to the first modulation voltage in a first time period, and the switch module is controlled by the first control voltage until the voltage is smaller than the first threshold voltage.
The processing module is further configured to generate a second control signal when the detection result is smaller than the first threshold value but larger than or equal to the second threshold voltage, wherein the second control signal controls the state of the switch module to enable the voltage provided by the switch module to be equal to the output voltage provided by the power supply unit in a second time period, and controls the state of the switch module after the second time period so that the voltage provided by the switch module is equal to the second modulation voltage until the power supply voltage is smaller than the second threshold voltage.
In particular, the processing module is further configured to generate a third control signal when the detection result is smaller than the second threshold voltage, and the third control signal controls the state of the switch module so that the voltage supplied to the atomizing unit is equal to the output voltage supplied by the power supply unit.
In particular, the first threshold voltage is selected from 3.5v to 3.7v, and/or the second threshold voltage is selected from 3.25v to 3.5v.
In particular, the first modulation voltage is selected between a first threshold voltage and a second threshold voltage, and/or the second modulation voltage is selected between the second threshold voltage and 3.25V.
In particular, the first time period and/or the second time period is 0.5s.
In particular, the power supply unit comprises a voltage source for providing a supply voltage, and a voltage stabilizing device coupled between the supply voltage and a ground level.
In particular, the switch module comprises a switch transistor, a first end of which is coupled to the output end of the power supply unit, a second end (input end) of which is coupled to the input end of the atomizing unit as the output end of the control unit, and a control end (output end) of which is coupled to the output end of the processing module.
The invention further provides an electronic cigarette output voltage modulation method, which comprises the steps of detecting power supply voltage in real time, generating a first control signal to enable voltage provided to a load to be equal to first modulation voltage in a first time period when the current power supply voltage is larger than or equal to first threshold voltage, enabling the voltage provided to the load to be equal to second modulation voltage after the first time period until the power supply voltage is smaller than the first threshold voltage, generating a second control signal to enable the voltage provided to the load to be equal to the current power supply voltage in a second time period when the current power supply voltage is smaller than the first threshold voltage but larger than or equal to second threshold voltage, enabling the voltage provided to the load to be equal to second modulation voltage after the second time period until the power supply voltage is smaller than the second threshold voltage, and generating a third control signal to enable the modulation voltage to be equal to the current power supply voltage when the current power supply voltage is smaller than the second threshold voltage.
In particular, the first threshold voltage is selected from 3.5v to 3.7v, and/or the second threshold voltage is selected from 3.25v to 3.5v.
In particular, the first modulation voltage is selected between a first threshold voltage and a second threshold voltage, and/or the second modulation voltage is selected between the second threshold voltage and 3.25V.
In particular, the first time period and/or the second time period is 0.5s.
Detailed Description
For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more apparent, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the invention without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the invention.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments of the application. In the drawings, like reference numerals describe substantially similar components throughout the different views. Various specific embodiments of the application are described in sufficient detail below to enable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings of the application. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized or structural, logical, or electrical changes may be made to embodiments of the present application.
The amount of TPM (total particular matter) of the existing electronic cigarette is insufficient to satisfy users, and the size of the TPM can be intuitively considered as the shade of the taste of the users. By adopting the traditional output mode, the obtained voltage output is unstable, and the voltage drop can be gradually generated along with the increase of the using times, so that the generated TPM is gradually reduced, and the user has poor experience of taste lightening.
In order to solve the problems, the application provides an electronic cigarette structure. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an electronic cigarette according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the electronic cigarette includes an atomizing unit 11, a power supply unit 12, a detection unit 13, and a control unit 14.
And an atomization unit 11 configured to heat the tobacco tar so as to atomize the tobacco tar.
A power supply unit 12, coupled to the atomizing unit 11, configured to supply power to the atomizing unit 11. In some embodiments, the power supply unit 12 may include, for example, a dry cell or a secondary cell. Since the output voltage of the battery decreases with time, the voltage that the power supply unit 12 can output decreases with the increase of the operation time of the electronic cigarette. In some embodiments, the output voltage of the power supply unit 12 is a power supply voltage. In some embodiments, the power supply unit further comprises a voltage stabilizing device. In some embodiments, the voltage stabilizing device is a capacitor.
And a detection unit 13 coupled between the power supply unit 12 and the control unit 14, configured to detect an output voltage of the power supply unit 12, and to feed back a detection result to the control unit 14. The output voltage of the power supply unit 12 decreases with the increase of the working time of the electronic cigarette, and the detection unit 13 detects the output voltage of the power supply unit 12 in real time and feeds back the detection result to the control unit 14, wherein the output voltage is the average output voltage of the power supply unit 12.
The control unit 14 includes a switching module 141 coupled between the power supply unit 12 and the atomizing unit 11 and configured to change its own switching state according to a control signal so as to control the power supply unit 12 to supply power to the atomizing unit 11, i.e., the input voltage received by the atomizing unit 11 is the voltage modulated by the control unit 14. The control unit 14 further comprises a processing module 142 coupled between the switching module 141 and the detection unit 13 and configured to compare the detection result of the detection unit 13 with a set threshold value and generate a corresponding control signal according to the comparison result. In some embodiments, the processing module 142 controls the modulation scheme of the switching module 141 to PWM (pulse width modulation (Pulse width modulation)).
After the electronic cigarette is started, the detecting unit 13 starts to detect the output voltage of the power supply unit 12 in real time and feeds the output voltage back to the processing module 142 in the control unit 14.
When the comparison result of the processing module 142 is that the output voltage of the power supply unit 12 is greater than or equal to the first threshold voltage, the first control signal is generated such that the voltage provided to the atomizing unit 11 (i.e. the modulated voltage modulated by the control unit 14) is equal to the first modulated voltage during the first period, and the effective voltage provided to the atomizing unit 11 is equal to the second modulated voltage after the first period until the output voltage is less than the first threshold voltage. The first threshold may be any voltage from 3.5V to 3.7V, for example, 3.6V, the first period may be, for example, 0.5s or other time length, and the second threshold may be any voltage from 3.3V to 3.5V, for example, 3.4V. The first modulation voltage is selected between a first threshold voltage and a second threshold voltage, and the second modulation voltage is selected between the second threshold voltage and 3.25V. The first control signal may control on and off times of the switch module 141, thereby implementing different modulation voltages. Wherein the first threshold voltage is higher than the second threshold voltage. The first modulation voltage is higher than the second modulation voltage.
When the processing module 142 compares the output voltage of the power supply unit 12 to be less than the first threshold value but equal to or greater than the second threshold voltage, a second control signal is generated to make the voltage supplied to the atomizing unit 11 equal to the output voltage supplied by the power supply unit 12 for a second period of time, and to make the voltage supplied to the atomizing unit 11 equal to the second modulation voltage after the second period of time. Wherein the second time period may be, for example, 0.5s or other length of time. The second control signal may control the on and off times of the switch module 141 to achieve different modulation voltages.
When the processing module 142 compares that the output voltage of the power supply unit 12 is less than the second threshold voltage, a third control signal is generated to make the voltage supplied to the atomizing unit 11 equal to the output voltage supplied by the power supply unit 12. The third control signal is to control the switch module 141 to be continuously turned on.
Further description is provided below in connection with specific circuit diagrams. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an electronic cigarette circuit according to an embodiment of the invention. Here, the first threshold value is 3.6V, the second threshold value is 3.4V, the first modulation voltage is 3.6V, the second modulation voltage is 3.4V, the first and second time periods are 0.5s, and the load resistance (i.e., the equivalent resistance of the atomizing unit 11) is 1.2 ohms. As shown in fig. 2, the circuit includes an atomizing unit 21, a power supply unit 22, a detection unit 23, and a control unit 24.
The power supply unit 22 includes a voltage source Vb to supply a power supply voltage. A capacitor 221 coupled between the power supply voltage Vb and ground. The capacitor 221 is used to improve the stability of the circuit operation. The power supply voltage Vb is the current output voltage provided by the battery.
The detection unit 23 comprises a detection module 231 with a voltage detection function, the input of the detection module 231 being coupled to the output of the power supply unit 22, and the ground being coupled to ground.
The control unit 24 includes a switching module 241 and a processing module 242. The switching module 241 includes a switching transistor 2411 having a first terminal coupled to an output terminal of the power supply unit 22 and a second terminal coupled as an output terminal of the control unit 24 to an input terminal of the atomizing unit 21. Further included within the switching module 241 is a resistor 2412 having a first terminal coupled to a first terminal of the switching transistor 2411 and a resistor 2413 having a first terminal coupled to a control terminal of the switching transistor 2411. The second ends of resistors 2412 and 2413 are coupled to each other. An output of the processing module 242 is coupled to a second terminal of the resistor 2412, and an input thereof is coupled to an output of the detection module 231. The ground of the processing module 242 is coupled to ground.
The atomizing unit 21 includes a load 211 having an equivalent resistance of 1.2 ohms. One end of the load 211 is coupled to the second end of the switching transistor 2411 to receive the output voltage modulated by the control unit 24, and the other end thereof is coupled to a ground level.
The detection module 231 in the detection unit 23 detects the magnitude of the power supply voltage Vb in real time and then sends the voltage value of Vb to the processing module 242 in the control unit 24. The processing module 242 compares the current power supply voltage Vb with a set threshold voltage.
When Vb is greater than or equal to 3.6V, the processing module 242 generates the first control signal. The first control signal controls the switching module 241 to be turned on or off by means of PWM, modulates the original power voltage Vb to 3.6V, and continuously and stably supplies the voltage of 3.6V to the atomizing unit 21 for 0.5 s. After 0.5s, the original power supply voltage Vb is modulated to 3.4V, and the voltage of 3.4V is maintained to be continuously supplied to the atomizing unit 21.
When Vb is less than 3.6V and greater than or equal to 3.4V, the processing module 242 generates the second control signal. The original power supply voltage Vb is directly supplied to the atomizing unit 21 within 0.5 s. After 0.5s, the original power supply voltage Vb is modulated to 3.4V, and the voltage of 3.4V is maintained to be continuously supplied to the atomizing unit 21.
When Vb is less than 3.4V, the processing module 242 generates a third control signal to control the switching transistor 2411 to be continuously turned on, and the original power voltage Vb is directly provided to the atomizing unit 21.
Compared with the traditional structure, the application can obtain stable voltage output in the long-time use process, and can not generate great voltage drop along with the increase of the use times, so that the generated TPM is more stable, and the taste sucked by a user is kept consistent.
Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a relationship between output voltage and number of ports of an electronic cigarette according to an embodiment of the present invention. The horizontal axis represents the number of ports for analog pumping, and the vertical axis represents the voltage (i.e., the modulation voltage) modulated in the above manner and output to the load. Because the circuit also comprises other functional structure voltage division, the actual detection voltage value is smaller than the output voltage value of the control unit, but the actual working effect is not affected. From the graph, it can be seen that the output voltage gradually becomes smooth when the number of suction ports exceeds 20 ports. The output voltage is the modulation voltage output to the atomization unit, and the size of the modulation voltage directly influences the size of the TPM generated by the atomization unit. Therefore, the generated TPM is also very stable, and the taste obtained by the electronic cigarette user is kept consistent for a long time.
Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the relationship between the voltage output to the load by the conventional electronic cigarette and the modulating voltage output to the load in the embodiment of the application. In the figure, the horizontal axis represents the number of ports for analog pumping, and the vertical axis represents the voltage (i.e., the modulated voltage) modulated in the above manner and output to the load. Because the circuit also comprises other structure voltage division, the actual detection voltage value is smaller than the output voltage value of the control unit, but the actual working effect is not affected. The graph comprises four curves, namely a voltage value blurt out number change curve 401-403 output to a load by the existing electronic cigarette and a modulation voltage blurt out number change curve 404 output to the load in the embodiment of the application. Wherein curve 404 is the same as the curve shown in fig. 3. As shown in the figure, in the prior art, no matter what voltage is provided to the load, continuous drop of the voltage cannot be avoided, and the drop further causes the decrease of the TPM of the electronic cigarette, which affects the taste. The voltage value provided by the application is more stable, and the taste is better.
The foregoing describes that the present application can still maintain the stability of the output voltage at a larger number of suction ports than in the prior art. But in some special cases the TPM is not positively correlated with the output voltage. To further illustrate the advantages of the present application, the present application also examined the relationship between the number of suction ports and the TPM value in different schemes, and the results are shown in the following table. The longitudinal columns respectively correspond to the direct power supply of the electronic cigarette 1:3.5V, the direct power supply of the electronic cigarette 2:3.4V, the direct power supply of the electronic cigarette 3:3.3V and the scheme of the application. In the transverse row, the number of the corresponding ports of each group is 20, the first group is sucking ports 1-20, the second group is sucking ports 21-40, and so on.
The data in the table is a TPM value corresponding to a certain group (20 ports in total) in the current scheme, and the unit is mg.
|
Electronic cigarette 1 |
Electronic cigarette 2 |
Electronic cigarette 3 |
The proposal is that |
First group of |
190.5 |
187.3 |
177.8 |
180.6 |
Second group of |
183.6 |
184.1 |
174.0 |
172.8 |
Third group of |
181.1 |
179.4 |
171.3 |
165.7 |
Fourth group |
173.0 |
172.5 |
168.7 |
165.4 |
Fifth group of |
165.8 |
165.0 |
163.9 |
162.7 |
Sixth group of |
162.3 |
162.2 |
162.0 |
163.1 |
Seventh group |
157.6 |
160.7 |
157.5 |
162.9 |
Eighth group of |
142.0 |
156.8 |
152.6 |
162.4 |
Ninth group of |
135.3 |
142.8 |
149.5 |
162.2 |
As can be seen from the data in the table, the output mode in the prior art can greatly reduce the TPM value after multiple pumping, so that the taste can be gradually weakened in the pumping process. In the existing direct output scheme, starting from the third group, the difference between the groups is basically more than 2 mg. In the present application, the difference between the groups is about 0.5 mg. Obviously, with the increase of the suction port number, the scheme provided by the application is more stable in TPM, so that the taste is better. In addition, in the prior art, the TPM difference between the first group and the ninth group is more than 28mg, and in the scheme of the application, the TPM difference between the first group and the ninth group is 18.4mg, so that the overall taste decline trend is smaller than that of the prior art, and the difference between the front taste and the rear taste of the electronic cigarette is smaller.
The comparison test results clearly show that the structure related to the scheme can provide more stable modulation voltage for the load under the condition that the output voltage of the battery continuously drops. This stabilization manifests itself in a small change in TPM values during pumping, as well as a small TPM gap during the first pumping and the last pumping. The electronic cigarette can provide more uniform taste for users sucking the electronic cigarette, and the sucking experience is better.
The application further comprises a method for modulating the output voltage of the electronic cigarette. According to one embodiment, the electronic cigarette may detect the voltage of its power output or may report its voltage level to the control unit. Fig. 5 is a flowchart of a method for modulating output voltage of an electronic cigarette according to an embodiment of the present application.
Step 501, determining whether the power supply voltage is greater than or equal to a first threshold voltage. When the power voltage is greater than or equal to the first threshold voltage, step 502 is performed. When the power supply voltage is less than the first threshold voltage, step 504 is performed. Wherein the first threshold voltage may be selected from 3.5v to 3.7v.
Step 502 of generating a first control signal such that a voltage provided to a load during a first period of time is equal to the first modulation voltage. The first time period may be 0.5s, but may be set to other times as needed. In some embodiments, the load comprises the aforementioned atomizing unit.
Step 503, making the voltage provided to the load equal to the second modulation voltage after the first period of time.
Step 504, determining whether the power voltage is greater than or equal to the second threshold voltage. When the power voltage is greater than or equal to the second threshold voltage, step 505 is performed. When the power voltage is less than the second threshold voltage, step 507 is performed. The second threshold voltage is selected from 3.3V to 3.5V.
Step 505 is generating a second control signal for providing to the load a voltage equal to the current supply voltage for a second period of time. The second time period may be 0.5s, but may be set to other times as needed.
Step 506 provides the voltage to the load after a second period of time equal to the second modulation voltage.
Step 507, generating a third control signal, the voltage provided to the load being equal to the current supply voltage.
The first modulation voltage is selected between a first threshold voltage and a second threshold voltage, and the second modulation voltage is selected between the second threshold voltage and 3.25V.
Compared with the traditional method, the method can obtain stable voltage output in the long-time use process, and can not generate large voltage drop along with the increase of the use times, so that the generated TPM is more stable, and the taste sucked by a user is kept consistent.
The above embodiments are provided for illustrating the present invention and not for limiting the present invention, and various changes and modifications may be made by one skilled in the relevant art without departing from the scope of the present invention, therefore, all equivalent technical solutions shall fall within the scope of the present disclosure.