Electronic cigarettes having refillable top and replaceable heating element

Abstract

The present invention relates to an e-cigarette. The e-cigarette includes: a connecting assembly, a removable mouth piece, an e-liquid tank, a vaporizing assembly, and a rotatable vaporizer tube. The connecting assembly includes: a mouth piece connector, a connecting ring, an e-liquid injection plate, and one or more e-liquid injection holes. Removable mouth piece has a mouth piece plug to be inserted into the mouth piece connector. The e-liquid tank has an e-liquid tank separation plate for dividing e-liquid tank into an upper e-liquid chamber and a lower e-liquid chamber. E-liquid tank is connected to the connecting assembly. Vaporizing assembly is detachably connected to a lower end of e-liquid tank. Rotatable vaporizer tube is disposed on e-liquid tank separation plate. The rotatable vaporizer tube is insertably connected to the mouth piece 1 through the connecting assembly. The rotatable vaporizer tube is also connected to an air exhaust of the vaporizing assembly.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electronic cigarette, comprising:
 a connecting assembly;   a removable mouth piece having an upper end, an opposite, lower end, and a mouth piece plug at the lower end;   an e-liquid tank having an upper end and an opposite, lower end, an e-liquid tank separation plate configured to separate the e-liquid tank into an upper e-liquid chamber and a lower e-liquid chamber;   a vaporizing assembly detachably connected to the lower end of the e-liquid tank;   a rotatable vaporizer tube located on top of the e-liquid tank separation plate, wherein the rotatable vaporizer tube having an upper end insertably connected to the mouth piece through the connecting assembly, and an opposite, lower end connected to an air exhaust of the vaporizing assembly.   
     
     
         2 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 1 , wherein the connecting assembly comprises:
 an open lower end, and an opposite upper end, wherein the open lower end of the connecting assembly is connected to the upper end of the e-liquid tank;   a mouth piece connector having an upper end, and an opposite, lower end, wherein the upper end is detachably connected to the mouth piece plug of the mouth piece; and   a connecting ring having an upper end, and an opposite, lower end, and an e-liquid injection plate with one or more e-liquid injection holes, wherein the upper end is screwably and sealably connected to the lower end of the mouth piece connector, and the lower end is insertably connected to the upper end of the e-liquid tank.   
     
     
         3 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 2 , wherein the e-liquid tank may be refilled by removing the removable mouth piece, and injecting e-liquid into the upper e-liquid chamber of the e-liquid tank through the one or more e-liquid injection holes of the connecting assembly. 
     
     
         4 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 2 , wherein the mouth piece connector comprises
 a pressure ring disposed at the lower end of the mouth piece connector;   a first protrusion ring disposed at center of the e-liquid injection plate; and   a first sealing ring disposed between the first protrusion ring and the pressure ring for sealing the space between the first protrusion ring and the pressure ring,   
       wherein each of the pressure ring, the first protrusion ring, and the first sealing ring has a center through hole adapted for accommodating the rotatable vaporizer tube, and the through holes of the pressure ring, the first protrusion ring, and the first sealing ring are coaxial. 
     
     
         5 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 2 , wherein the mouth piece plug of the mouth piece comprises: a circular sealing groove and a mouth piece seal ring configured to seal an insertable connection between the mouth piece and the mouth piece connector. 
     
     
         6 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 2 , wherein the e-liquid tank separation plate comprises one or more e-liquid release holes configured to release e-liquid from the upper e-liquid chamber of the e-liquid tank to the lower e-liquid chamber of the e-liquid tank, wherein the one or more e-liquid release holes are evenly and symmetrically distributed on the e-liquid tank separation plate around the central axis of the rotatable vaporizer tube. 
     
     
         7 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 6 , wherein the mouth piece comprises a polygon mouth piece hole, and the upper end of the rotatable vaporizer tube has a polygon connecting tube having the same polygon shape and the polygon connecting tube is snugly-fitted inside of the polygon mouth piece hole such that the rotatable vaporizer tube can be rotated by rotating the mouth piece. 
     
     
         8 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 7 , wherein the polygon shape comprises a triangle, a quadrilateral, a pentagon, a hexagon, a heptagon, an octagon, a nonagon, a decagon, a dodecagon, and an n-gon. 
     
     
         9 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 7 , wherein the rotatable vaporizer tube on the e-liquid tank separation plate comprises one or more e-liquid stoppers disposed symmetrically around the axis of the rotatable vaporizer tube, each of the e-liquid stoppers corresponds to one of the e-liquid release holes on the e-liquid tank separation plate, and the e-liquid tank separation plate comprises one or more e-liquid stop protrusions, each of the of the e-liquid stop protrusions corresponds to one of the e-liquid release holes, such that when the rotatable vaporizer tube is rotated to an “on” position, the e-liquid in the upper e-liquid chamber is released to the lower e-liquid chamber, when the rotatable vaporizer tube is rotated to an “off” position, the e-liquid in the upper e-liquid chamber is not released to the lower e-liquid chamber, and when the rotatable vaporizer tube is rotated to a position between the “on” position and the “off” position, the amount of the e-liquid released from the upper e-liquid chamber to the lower e-liquid chamber is controlled by a user. 
     
     
         10 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 9 , wherein the e-liquid tank separation plate comprises a second protrusion ring, and the rotatable vaporizer tube comprises a sleeve disposed outside of the second protrusion ring, and sealed by a sealing gasket  8 . 
     
     
         11 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 10 , wherein the rotatable vaporizer tube further comprises:
 a spring sleeved outside of the rotatable vaporizer tube, wherein the spring has an upper end connected to the connecting assembly, and an opposite, lower end connected to the sleeve; and   a metal tube sleeved outside of the spring.   
     
     
         12 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 11 , wherein the spring is installed pressurized such that the resilient force of the spring acts on the e-liquid chamber separator to seal the e-liquid release holes when the rotatable vaporizer tube is turned to the “off” position. 
     
     
         13 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 12 , wherein each of the e-liquid chamber separator comprises a second sealing element 1  for providing additional sealing between the e-liquid chamber separator and the e-liquid tank separation plate. 
     
     
         14 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 1 , wherein the vaporizing assembly comprises:
 one or more e-liquid media for receiving e-liquid from the lower e-liquid chamber;   one or more heating wires, each of the heating wires has a positive terminal, and a negative terminal for vaporizing the received e-liquid in the e-liquid media;   a DC power source connector screwably connected to an external DC power source, wherein the DC power source connector comprises a positive terminal connected to each of the positive terminals of the heating wires, and a negative terminal connected to each of the negative terminals of the heating wires; and   an insulation layer disposed between the positive terminal and the negative terminal to insulate the positive terminal and the negative terminal.   
     
     
         15 . The electronic cigarette of  claim 13 , wherein the e-liquid media comprise at least one of cotton, organic cotton, ceramic bar, polypropylene fiber, terylen fiber, and nylon fiber. 
     
     
         16 . A method of using a refillable e-cigarette, comprising one or more of following operations:
 filling the refillable e-cigarette with e-liquid;   connecting a DC power supply to a DC power source connector of the e-cigarette;   rotating a mouth piece to allow the e-liquid in an upper e-liquid chamber to flow to a lower e-liquid chamber and soak one or more of e-liquid media;   turning on the DC power supply to energize one or more heating wires of a vaporizing assembly and to vaporize the e-liquid soaked in the e-liquid media; and   sucking the vaporized e-liquid from the mouth piece.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the operation of filling the refillable e-cigarette with e-liquid comprising one or more of following operations:
 removing a mouth piece connector from the e-cigarette; and   injecting e-liquid into the upper e-liquid chamber through one or more e-liquid injection holes on a connecting assembly of the e-cigarette.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the operation of turning the mouth piece comprising:
 rotating the mouth piece in one direction to allow the e-liquid in the upper e-liquid chamber to flow to the lower e-liquid chamber; and   rotating the mouth piece in an opposite direction to stop the e-liquid flow.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the operation of turning the mouth piece comprising:
 rotating the mouth piece in one direction to increase the e-liquid flow from the upper e-liquid chamber to the lower e-liquid chamber; and   rotating the mouth piece in an opposite direction to decrease the e-liquid flow.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising an operation of replacing a vaporizing assembly by unscrewing the vaporizing assembly from a lower end of the e-cigarette, and screwing on a new replacement vaporizing assembly.