EP4268628A1

EP4268628A1 - Sidewall-punctured heated tobacco product

Info

Publication number: EP4268628A1
Application number: EP20966548.8A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Bin Li; Shuang Wang; Ke Zhang; Mingjian ZHANG; Feng Huang; Lili Fu; Qi Zhang; Nan DENG
Original assignee: Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute of CNTC
Current assignee: Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute of CNTC
Priority date: 2020-12-25
Filing date: 2020-12-25
Publication date: 2023-11-01
Also published as: KR20230128036A; CA3202972A1; MX2023007485A; US20240049771A1; JP2024506126A; WO2022133982A1

Abstract

A sidewall-punctured heated tobacco product (9), comprising a tobacco section (1) and a functional mouthpiece rod section (3). A vapor extraction section (2) is provided between the tobacco section (1) and the functional mouthpiece rod section (3). The tobacco section (1), the vapor extraction section (2), and the functional mouthpiece rod section (3) are wrapped and connected together by means of external wrapping and tipping materials. The vapor extraction section (2) is a cylinder comprising a hollow structure (2-1), and at least one sidewall through hole (2-2) communicated with the hollow structure (2-1) is formed on the sidewall of the cylinder. In use, the tobacco product (9) is inserted into a closed heating smoking set, and during vaping, vapor generated by the tobacco section (1) is mixed, after active migration, with air entering from the sidewall through hole (2-2) to form mainstream vapor. The tobacco product (9) can conveniently adjust the extraction efficiency, dilution rate, and temperature of vapor, thereby improving the organoleptic qualities of the heated tobacco product (9), and can effectively prevent cold air from passing through the tobacco section (1) during a vaping process, thus improving the heating efficiency, and effectively reducing the content of oxygen of the tobacco section (1) to achieve a heat-not-burn purpose. In addition, the tobacco product (9) is simple in structure and easy for industrial production.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of cigarette product manufacturing, in particular to a heated tobacco product with a perforated sidewall, which belongs to the category of heat-not-burn cigarettes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Traditional tobacco has a history for hundreds of years and has been integrated into the lives of most smokers. In recent years, along with the improvement of the people's living standard, issues such as smoking and health, harm of second-hand smoke and the like are more and more emphasized by people, and the harm brought by the traditional tobacco products is becoming increasingly prominent. Meanwhile, with the implementation of WHO's "Framework Convention on Tobacco Control", especially the gradual expansion of smoking bans in public places around the world, the development environment of tobacco products has undergone significant and profound changes, and the structure of tobacco products is moving towards diversification and smoke-free development (Xiaobing Cheng, Baojiang Li, Yandong Han. The Development Status of New Tobacco in the World [ J ]. China Tobacco, 2014 (3): 38.). New tobacco products have gradually become a realistic choice for major multinational tobacco companies to cope with the declining sales of traditional tobacco products (Yali Liu, Jinbang Wang, Xinzhang Zhao, et al. Development Status and the Prospect of Heat-not-burn Tobacco Products [J]. Chinese Journal of Tobacco, 2018,24 (4)) .
At present, most of electrical heating cigarettes use air as a carrier of smoke. In order to ensure that tobacco does not burn, the applied heating temperature is usually low and generally does not exceed 300 °C. Compared with the traditional cigarettes, the release amount of harmful components of the electrical heating cigarettes is reduced, but the aroma components of the tobacco are difficult to completely release, and the smoke amount is insufficient, so that such cigarettes are difficult to accept by traditional smokers. If a closed cigarette structure or a closed heating appliance structure ( Chinese patents No. 201911021676.8 and 201911021823.1 previously applied by the applicant of the present application) is adopted, the tobacco section of the cigarette is isolated from the air, fresh smoke is formed to continuously update the atmosphere of the closed tobacco section, so that the oxygen content is gradually reduced along with the heating process, and at this time, even the heating temperature is increased, the combustion phenomenon will not be occurred. The closed cigarette structure will not cause the condition under which the tobacco residues fall to pollute a smoking set, which can greatly improve the heating temperature for heated cigarettes and improve the utilization rate of tobacco and the release amount of the smoke. Smoke migration of the closed cigarette will become especially important since no air flow passes through the tobacco.
There are two ways to extract the smoke from the closed cigarette. One is to utilize the air flow carrier, such as the traditional cigarette smoke generation process; and the other is to use active migration of the smoke. There are two main driving forces for the active migration of the smoke, one is concentration difference, and the other is pressure difference. The present invention generates the driving force of the active migration of the smoke through a specific structural design, thereby forming a mainstream smoke by utilizing active migration and convection of the smoke, and a heated tobacco product with perforated sidewall is proposed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a heated tobacco product with a perforated sidewalls based on the status mentioned in above prior arts. The tobacco product is formed by a multi-section rolling connection mode, and the cigarette comprises a tobacco section, a smoke extraction section, a functional filter tip section and the like. Sidewall through holes are arranged at specific positions of cigarettes to form a smoke extraction section. When the cigarette is used, the cigarette is inserted into a closed heating smoking set. Smoke generated in the tobacco section is actively migrated through the driving force generated by the Bernoulli principle and the gas diffusion principle, and then is mixed with the air entering from the sidewall through holes to form mainstream smoke. The tobacco product can conveniently regulate the extraction efficiency, dilution rate and smoke temperature of the smoke, thereby improving the sensory quality of the heated tobacco product.
The design mechanism of the present invention is as follows: the tobacco product is provided with sidewall through holes at a specific position of a cigarette to form a smoke extraction section, a concentration difference and a pressure difference are formed between the tobacco section and the smoke extraction section, and fresh smoke generated in the sealed cigarette tobacco section is extracted into mainstream smoke by utilizing the gas migration principle.
The purpose of the present invention is realized by the following technical solutions:
A heated tobacco product with a perforated sidewall, comprising a tobacco section and a functional tip section, wherein a smoke extracting section is arranged between the tobacco section and the functional tip section, the tobacco section, the smoke extracting section and the functional tip section are wrapped and connected together by an external rolling material, said smoke extracting section is a cylinder with a cavity structure, at least one sidewall through hole communicated with the cavity structure is opened on a side wall of the cylinder, and a coaxial through hole is provided on the external rolling material at a position corresponding to the sidewall through hole.
The forms of the hollow structure can be divided into the following three types:
One is that the cross section of the cavity structure (hollow structure) has a regular or an irregular shape such as circle, regular hexagon, hexagon, pentagon, heart shape and the like (as shown in FIG. 2).
The second type is that the hollow structure is an annular platform typed through cavity (shown in FIG. 3) composed of sections having different diameters, the annular platform type through cavity may have 2-5 sections, preferably 2-3 sections, and the circumferential inner diameter of the cavity can be adjusted arbitrarily, which can be 2-10mm.
The third type is that the cavity structure is composed of a plurality of evenly distributed channels penetrating in an axial direction (as shown in FIG. 4), and the number and the diameter of the channels can be adjusted arbitrarily. In this structure, the sidewall through holes directly lead to the center of the smoke extraction section along the radial direction or at a certain angle, so that the plurality of channels are connected to the sidewall through holes.
The length of the smoke extraction section can be adjusted according to actual conditions, which may be 5~30 mm.
The included angle α between the sidewall through holes and the axis of the hollow cavity is 90°-150° (as shown in FIG. 5), preferably 90°. The diameter of the through holes can be adjusted according to the actual requirement, the optimal diameter is 0.01-3mm; the number of the through holes can be adjusted as required, the optimal number is 1-30, and the through holes are uniformly distributed along the circumference; the diameter of the through holes and the number of the through holes are adjusted and matched according to actual conditions; the distance from the through hole to the tobacco section can be adjusted arbitrarily, and the optimal distance is 0.5-15mm.
The diameter of the coaxial through hole on the external rolling material is not less than that of the through hole on the side wall.
The tobacco section is formed by tobacco raw materials in various forms or other smoking substrates wrapped with cigarette paper; the tobacco raw materials are tobacco substances composed of a certain formula, which can be in the form of sheets, filaments, granules, shaped rods, porous rods, or gel; and the cigarette paper is an airtight material or a material with controllable air-permeability.
The smoke extraction section is made of a hard material with certain hardness, including metal, PEEK, polytetrafluoroethylene, organic glass, acetate fiber, a paper-based material and the like.
The heated tobacco product is used in conjunction with a closed tobacco heating appliance, the closed tobacco heating appliance is composed of a heating cavity and a sealing ring (see FIG. 6), the heating cavity has a cylindrical cavity structure, the heating mode thereof can be either circumferential heating or inner core heating, and the heating cavity may partially or completely cover the entire tobacco section. The sealing structure may be a soft sealing ring, an artificial lip, or other sealing structures for sealing the circumference. A cap 7 may be provided for enhance the sealing effect. The cap has a hollow cylindrical structure, and the inner diameter of the cap is slightly greater than the outer diameter of the cigarette in order to guarantee that the air can enter the sidewall through hole, the inner cavity of the cap has a gradually-expanding trumpet structure, and if the cap has a trumpet structure, the included angle with the central axis is greater than or equal to 0° to less than or equal to 5°. The heating cavity, the sealing ring and the cap are coaxial, and the cap is connected with the heating cavity by the means of threads, snaps or magnetic attraction. After the cigarette is inserted into the smoking set, the sidewall through hole 2-2 is positioned outside the sealing ring of the smoking set (i.e., must be in communication with the outside air).
When in use, the cigarette (namely a tobacco product) according to the present invention is inserted into a closed heating appliance, and the tobacco in the tobacco section generates smoke after being heated, so that the smoke concentration of the tobacco section is increased, and the air pressure is increased; during suction, air enters the smoke extraction section via the through hole on the side wall, and a lower smoke concentration and lower air pressure area is formed in the hollow cavity; under the combined action of concentration difference and air pressure difference between the tobacco section and the smoke extraction section, smoke in the tobacco section actively migrates to the position of the sidewall through hole, and is carried into the functional tip section by the air flowed from the sidewall through hole to form mainstream smoke. By adjusting the number, the diameter, the perforating direction and the distance from the tobacco sections of the sidewall through holes, the extraction efficiency of the smoke, the dilution efficiency of the smoke and the temperature of the mainstream smoke can be adjusted.
The invention has following advantages: 1. the mode of indirectly carrying the smoke by utilizing the smoke extraction section may effectively prevent the cold air from passing through the tobacco section during suction, the heating efficiency is improved, and at meanwhile, the oxygen content of the tobacco section is effectively reduced, and the purpose of heat-not-burn is achieved; 2. the extraction efficiency of the smoke, the dilution efficiency of the smoke and the temperature of the mainstream smoke can be conveniently adjusted by adjusting the number, the diameter, the perforating direction and the distance from the sidewall through holes to the tobacco section, so that the sensory quality of the cigarette is improved; 3. the device has a simple structure and is easy to industrialize.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic axial cross-sectional view of a heated tobacco with a perforated sidewall,
In FIG. 1: 1 a tobacco section, 2, a smoke extraction section, 2-1 a cavity structure, 2-2 sidewall through holes, 3 a functional tip section, 4 cigarette paper, 4-1 a coaxial through hole, 5 tipping paper.
FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of the smoke extraction section in a first form.
FIG. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of the smoke extraction section in a second form.
FIG. 4 is a structural schematic diagram and a structural schematic sectional diagram of the smoke extraction section in a third form.
FIG. 5 is a structural schematic diagram showing the perforated direction on the side wall.
FIG. 6 is a structural schematic sectional view of the cigarette and smoking set in the state of use.
In FIG. 6: 6 a heating cavity, 7 a cap, 8 a sealing ring, 9 a cigarette.
FIG. 7 is a data chart showing mass flow data as well as the calculated smoke extraction efficiency and the dilution rate data for each section obtained by using Fluent software simulation under the sidewall through hole with different diameters and the cavity with different inner diameters.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings:
As shown in FIG. 1, a heated tobacco product with a perforated sidewall comprises a tobacco section (1) and a functional tip section (3), wherein: a smoke extraction section (2) is arranged between the tobacco section (1) and the functional tip section (3), the tobacco section (1), the smoke extraction section (2) and the functional tip section (3) are wrapped and connected together through an external rolling material (namely cigarette paper 4 and tipping paper 5), the smoke extraction section is a cylinder with a cavity structure (2-1), at least one sidewall through hole (2-2) communicated with the cavity structure (2-1) is opened on the side wall of the cylinder, and a coaxial through hole (4-1) is provided on the cigarette paper (4) at a position corresponding to the sidewall through hole (2-2).
The hollow cavity structure may be structured in the following three types:
One is that the cross section of the cavity structure (2-1) has a regular or an irregular shape such as circle, regular hexagon, hexagon, pentagon, heart shape and the like (as shown in FIG. 2).
The second type is that the cavity structure (2-1), an annular platform typed through cavity (shown in FIG. 3), is composed of sections with different diameters, preferably, composed of 2-3 sections, and the circumferential inner diameter of the cavity can be adjusted arbitrarily, which can be 2-10mm.
The third type is that the cavity structure (2-1) is composed of a plurality of evenly distributed channels penetrating in an axial direction (as shown in FIG. 4), and the number and the diameter of the channels can be adjusted arbitrarily.
The included angle α between the sidewall through holes and the axis of the hollow cavity is 90°-150° (as shown in FIG. 5), preferably 90°. The aperture diameter of the through holes can be adjusted arbitrarily, the optimal diameter is 0.01-3mm; the number of the through holes can be adjusted arbitrarily, the optimal number is 1-30, and the through holes are uniformly distributed along the circumference; the diameter of the through holes and the number of the through holes are adjusted and matched according to actual conditions; the distance from the through hole to the tobacco section can be adjusted arbitrarily, and the optimal distance is 0.5-15mm.
The tobacco section is composed of tobacco raw materials in various forms or other smoking substrates wrapped with cigarette paper; the tobacco raw materials are tobacco substances composed of a certain formula, which can be in the form of sheets, filaments, granules, shaped rods, porous rods, or gel; and the cigarette paper is an airtight material or a material with controllable air-permeability.
The smoke extraction section is made of a hard material with certain hardness, including metal, PEEK, polytetrafluoroethylene, organic glass, acetate fiber, a paper-based material and the like.
The heated tobacco product is used in conjunction with a closed tobacco heating appliance, the closed tobacco heating appliance is composed of a heating cavity 6 and a sealing ring 8 (see FIG. 6), the heating cavity has a cylindrical cavity structure, the heating mode thereof can be either circumferential heating or inner core heating, and the heating cavity covers the entire tobacco section. The sealing structure may be a soft sealing ring, an artificial lip, or other sealing structures for sealing the circumference. A cap 7 may be provided for enhance the sealing effect. The cap has a hollow cylindrical structure, and the inner diameter of the cap is slightly greater than the outer diameter of the cigarette in order to guarantee that the air can enter the sidewall through-hole, the inner cavity of the cap has a gradually-expanding trumpet structure (in FIG. 6, it has a trumpet structure or a cylindrical structure), and an included angle thereof with the central axis is more than or equal to 0° to less than or equal to 5°. The heating cavity 6, the sealing ring 8 and the cap 7 are coaxial, and the cap is connected with the heating cavity by the means of threads, snaps or magnetic attraction. After the cigarette is inserted into the smoking set, the sidewall through hole 2-2 is positioned outside the sealing ring 8 of the smoking set, so as to ensure that the outside air can flow into the hollow cavity 2-1 through the through hole.
Fig. 7 is a data chart showing the mass flow data of each section obtained by using Fluent software simulation under different sidewall through hole diameters and cavity inner diameters, as well as the calculated smoke extraction efficiency and dilution rate data. It can be seen from the table, the extraction efficiency and the dilution rate of the smoke can be conveniently adjusted by adjusting the aperture diameter of the sidewall through holes and the inner diameter of the cavity.

Claims

A heated tobacco product with a perforated sidewall, comprising a tobacco section (1) and a functional tip section (3), characterized in that,
a smoke extracting section (2) is arranged between said tobacco section (1) and said functional tip section (3),

the tobacco section (1), the smoke extracting section (2) and the functional tip section (3) are wrapped and connected together by an external rolling material,

said smoke extracting section is a cylinder with a cavity structure (2-1), at least one sidewall through hole (2-2) communicated with the cavity structure (2-1) is opened on a side wall of the cylinder, and a coaxial through hole (4-1) is provided on the external rolling material (4) at a position corresponding to the sidewall through hole (2-2).
The heated tobacco product with the perforated sidewall as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, said cavity structure (2-1) has a through column structure, and the section of the through column structure has a regular shape or an irregular shape such as circular, regular hexagon, hexagon, pentagon, heart shape, and so on.
The heated tobacco product with the perforated sidewall as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, said cavity structure (2-1) has an annular platform typed through cavity formed by sections with different diameters.
The heated tobacco product with the perforated sidewall as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, said cavity structure (2-1) is composed of a plurality of channels evenly distributed penetrating in an axial direction, and the number and the diameter of the channels can be adjusted according to the need.
The heated tobacco product with the perforated sidewall as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the included angle α between the sidewall through hole (2-2) and the central axis of the cavity structure (2-1) is 90°-150°.
The heated tobacco product with the perforated sidewall as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the diameter of said coaxial through hole (4-1) is not smaller than that of the sidewall through hole (2-2).
The heated tobacco product with the perforated sidewall as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the tobacco section (1) is formed by tobacco raw materials in various forms or other smoking substrates wrapped with the cigarette paper; the tobacco raw material is a tobacco substance being composed of a certain formula, which can be in the forms of sheet, filament, granule, shaped rod, porous rod or gel; the cigarette paper is made of an airtight material or a material with controllable air-permeability.
The heated tobacco product with the perforated sidewall as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, said smoke extraction section (2) is made of a hard material with a certain hardness, including metal, PEEK, polytetrafluoroethylene, organic glass, acetate fiber, a paper-based material and the like.
The heated tobacco product with the perforated sidewall as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the heated tobacco product is a heat-not-burn tobacco product.
The heated tobacco product with the perforated sidewall as claimed in claims 1 or 8, characterized in that, said heating tobacco product (9) is used in conjunction with a closed tobacco heating appliance, said closed tobacco heating appliance is composed of a heating cavity (6) and a sealing structure, said heating cavity (6) has a cylindrical cavity structure, the heating mode thereof can be either circumferential heating or inner core heating, and the heating device partially or completely covers the entire tobacco section.