US 12,446,621 B2
Evaporator tank unit for an inhaler, preferably an electronic cigarette product, electronic cigarette product and wick structure
Michael Kleine Wächter, Lankau (DE); Thomas Müller, Hamburg (DE); and Lennart Kock, Hamburg (DE)
Assigned to KÖRBER TECHNOLOGIES GMBH, Hamburg (DE)
Appl. No. 17/430,933
Filed by KÖRBER TECHNOLOGIES GMBH, Hamburg (DE)
PCT Filed Feb. 11, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/053404
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 13, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/165131, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 20, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2019 202 046.1 (DE), filed on Feb. 15, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0117302 A1, Apr. 21, 2022
Int. Cl. A24F 40/44 (2020.01); A24F 40/42 (2020.01)
CPC A24F 40/44 (2020.01) [A24F 40/42 (2020.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vaporizer tank unit for an electronic cigarette product, comprising:
an electric vaporizer for vaporizing liquid fed to the electric vaporizer, wherein the vaporizer comprises a plurality of microchannels that liquidly connect an inlet side of the vaporizer to an outlet side of the vaporizer;
a liquid reservoir for storing liquid;
a capillary wick structure;
wherein the liquid is feedable by capillary forces from the liquid reservoir to an inlet side of the electric vaporizer;
wherein the wick structure is one-piece and contacts and/or forms the liquid reservoir over at least one circumferential section of the liquid reservoir and wherein the wick structure comprises a U-shaped cross-section with an apex and is arranged such that the wick structure contacts the inlet side of the vaporizer at the apex of the wick structure;
wherein the wick structure comprises a mechanical retainer;
wherein the mechanical retainer serves for retaining a carrier holding the vaporizer and/or for retaining the wick structure in the vaporizer tank unit;
wherein the wick structure has a ring shape and comprises a centrally arranged feed section and a ring-shape wick section;
wherein the ring-shape wick section is connected in a liquid-conducting manner to the ring-shape wick section by webs extending radially from the feed section to the ring-shape wick section,
the wick structure comprises eccentric openings or recesses that form the retainer,
and wherein the inlet side of the vaporizer is connected to the liquid reservoir via the wick structure in a liquid conducting manner, the wick structure contacts the inlet side of the vaporizer, and the vaporizer vaporizes liquid, which is fed to the vaporizer from the liquid reservoir by the wick structure by means of capillary forces, and adds the vaporized liquid as an aerosol or vapor to an air flow in an air channel at the outlet side of the vaporizer.