Method for manufacturing inductively heatable tobacco rods

Abstract

The method for manufacturing inductively heatable tobacco rods comprises the steps of providing a continuous profile of a susceptor, guiding an aerosol-forming tobacco substrate along a tobacco substrate converging device, positioning the continuous profile of susceptor in the aerosol-forming tobacco substrate and converging the aerosol-forming tobacco substrate to a final rod shape. Therein, the step of positioning the continuous profile of susceptor in the aerosol-forming tobacco substrate is performed before performing the step of converging the aerosol-forming tobacco substrate to its final rod shape.

Claims

1. Inductively heatable smoking article comprising an inductively heatable tobacco segment of an inductively heatable tobacco rod, the inductively heatable tobacco rod manufactured by: providing a continuous profile of a susceptor; guiding an aerosol-forming tobacco substrate along a tobacco substrate converging device; forming a channel in partially converged aerosol-forming tobacco substrate; positioning the continuous profile of the susceptor in the aerosol-forming tobacco substrate channel; converging the aerosol-forming tobacco substrate to a final rod shape, wherein the step of positioning the continuous profile of the susceptor in the aerosol-forming tobacco substrate is performed before performing the step of converging the aerosol-forming tobacco substrate to its final rod shape, wherein the inductively heatable tobacco segment comprises aerosol-forming tobacco substrate and a susceptor element.

2. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 1, wherein a length of the susceptor element in the tobacco segment is equal to the length of the tobacco segment.

3. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 1, wherein the susceptor element is positioned in a central portion of the inductively heatable tobacco segment.

4. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 1, wherein a length dimension of the susceptor element is arranged to be approximately parallel to a longitudinal direction of the inductively heatable tobacco segment.

5. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 1, wherein the susceptor element is arranged along a longitudinal axis of the inductively heatable tobacco segment.

6. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 1, wherein the inductively heatable tobacco segment is provided with a longitudinally running folding structure.

7. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 6, wherein the longitudinally running folding structure provides the inductively heatable tobacco segment with a wave-like cross-section.

8. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 6, wherein the susceptor element is arranged parallel to and in between the longitudinally running folding structure of the inductively heatable tobacco segment.

9. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 1, wherein the inductively heatable tobacco segment is made from of a gathered sheet.

10. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 9, wherein the sheet is a gathered sheet of crimped homogenized tobacco material.

11. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 1, wherein the inductively heatable tobacco segment has a length in a range between 2 millimeter and 20 millimeter.

12. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 1, wherein the susceptor element has a width that is smaller than a diameter of the inductively heatable tobacco segment.

13. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 1, wherein the susceptor element has the form of a band, wherein the width of the susceptor element is between about 2 millimeter and about 8 millimeter.

14. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 13, wherein a thickness of the susceptor element is between about 0.03 millimeter and about 0.15 millimeter.

15. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 1, wherein the susceptor element is a multi-layer susceptor.

16. Inductively heatable smoking article according to claim 1, wherein the inductively heatable tobacco segment is attached to a mouthpiece.

Description

(1) The invention is further described with regard to embodiments, which are illustrated by means of the following drawings, wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an embodiment of the method according to the invention;

(3) FIGS. 2, 3 show cross-sections through the manufacturing line of FIG. 1 at different positions;

(4) FIG. 4 schematically illustrates another embodiment of the method according to the invention;

(5) FIG. 5 shows a cross-section through the manufacturing line of FIG. 4;

(6) FIG. 6 illustrates a susceptor supply from below a manufacturing line;

(7) FIG. 7 shows a view onto a longitudinal cross section of an inductively heatable tobacco segment;

(8) FIG. 8A is a plan view of a susceptor for use in a tobacco product;

(9) FIG. 8B is a side view of the susceptor of FIG. 8A.

(10) In FIG. 1 a continuous tobacco sheet 2 is guided along a converging device, where the tobacco sheet 2 is gathered from an essentially flat shape to a rod shape. The tobacco sheet 2, for example a cast leaf, may be crimped already or being crimped in-line before being gathered.

(11) A continuous band 1 of a susceptor material, for example a ferromagnetic stainless steel band, is provided on a horizontally arranged bobbin 30. The continuous band 1 is unwound from the bobbin 30 and guided to be arranged parallel to the tobacco sheet 2. When arranged parallel to each other, the tobacco sheet 2 and band of susceptor material 1 run in the same transport direction at the same speed.

(12) A deflection roller 31 is provided to support the guiding and alignment of the continuous band 1 relative to the tobacco sheet. In this embodiment the band 1 is arranged with its small side directing versus the tobacco sheet 2. Thus, the band is arranged in a vertical plane, while the tobacco sheet 2 is arranged in a horizontal plane or, more generally, band 1 and sheet 2 are arranged in planes perpendicular to each other.

(13) The partially but not entirely gathered tobacco sheet 201 is guided along a groove 330 in a final rod formation and transport line 33. At position 100 arranged at an upstream region of the transport line 33, an inserter 32 is inserted from above into the partially gathered tobacco sheet 201. This is shown in more detail in FIG. 2. The inserter 32 is a tube with an oval shape, for example a metal tube. The tube is arranged parallel to the susceptor band 1 and parallel to the tobacco sheet in an insertion position 100. The tube is with its more narrow side partly inserted into the sheet material 2 along the length of the tube. The length may, for example be more than 3 centimeter, for example between 3 centimeter and 20 centimeter. The inserter 32 forms a channel in the partially gathered tobacco sheet 201 for insertion of the susceptor band 1. The tube is split in a direction perpendicular (vertical) to the transport direction (horizontal) of the tobacco sheet forming a slit 321 in the tube. The slit 321 serves as guiding and positioning means for the susceptor band 1 in the tobacco sheet. The inserter 32 is stationary and the susceptor band 1 passes the slit 321 of the inserter 32. Preferably, a depth of the slit 321 limits a movement of the band 1 in a direction away from the gathered tobacco sheet 201. Thus, the insertion depth of the inserter 32 in the gathered tobacco sheet 201, possibly in combination with the depth of the slit 321 may define the insertion depth of the susceptor band 1 in the final tobacco rod.

(14) A continuous wrapper material 4, for example a paper sheet or plastics foil, is provided from below the tobacco sheet 2. The wrapper material 4 is inserted into the groove 330 of the transport line 33 such that the partially gathered tobacco sheet 201 comes to lie on the wrapper material 4 in the transport line 33. After susceptor band insertion at position 200, which is shown in more detail in FIG. 3, the susceptor band 1 is entirely enveloped by tobacco substrate around its circumference. In the following, the wrapper material 4 is wrapped entirely around the susceptor containing tobacco substrate forming the final inductively heatable tobacco rod.

(15) FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the method according to the invention with a different inserter 32. The same references are used for the same or similar features. The inserter 32 is wedge-shaped with a narrow tip portion 320 inserted into the sheet material 2 at the insertion position 100. This is also shown in FIG. 5 in more detail. The inserter 32 forms a channel in the partially gathered tobacco sheet 201 for insertion of the susceptor band 1. The tip portion 320 of the inserter 32 is split in a direction perpendicular (vertical) to the transport direction (horizontal) of the tobacco sheet forming a slit 321 in the inserted tip portion 320. The slit 321 serves as guiding and positioning means for the susceptor band 1 in the tobacco sheet. The inserter 32 is stationary and the susceptor band 1 passes the slit 321 of the inserter 32. Preferably, a length of the slit 321 limits a movement of the band 1 in a direction away from the gathered tobacco sheet 201. Thus, the insertion depth of the inserter 32 in the gathered tobacco sheet 201, possibly in combination with the length of the slit 321 may define the insertion depth of the susceptor band 1 in the final tobacco rod.

(16) A vertical insertion and orientation of the continuous profile of susceptor in a rod may be advantageous for a subsequent cutting of the rod into segments. It has been found that by a cutting of the rod also in vertical direction, that is, along the small side of the susceptor sheet, no of low deformation of a susceptor band occurs.

(17) FIG. 6 illustrates a susceptor band 1 insertion from below a manufacturing line 33. This may be advantageous in limited space conditions, since a compact arrangement of a manufacturing line may be provided. Depending on the crimping and gathering process of a tobacco sheet, various apparatus elements are arranged along the transport line 33 upstream of the insertion position 100 (no shown in FIG. 6). Thus, the susceptor supply may be arranged beneath the transport line. The bobbin 30 with susceptor band 1 is arranged vertically. Several deflection and guide rollers 31 are provided to transport the susceptor band 1 in a controlled and defined manner to and along the transport line 33. The deflection rollers 31 are arranged and designed to align the susceptor band 1 in the desired orientation in the insertion position 100. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 the band is turned by 90 degree from an initial horizontal position at the bobbin 30 to a vertical position at the insertion position 100.

(18) Bobbin 30, rollers 31 and further equipment is mounted to a rack 7. Equipment for tobacco sheet processing, as well as an inserter 32 may also be mounted to the rack 7.

(19) The tobacco rod is cut into segments of desired final length forming individual tobacco plugs 20. FIG. 7 shows a view onto a longitudinal cross section through an inductively heatable tobacco plug 20. A strip of susceptor material 10 is arranged along a longitudinal axis 300 of the tobacco plug and has a same length 102 as the tobacco plug. The width 101 of the strip 10 is smaller than the diameter of the tobacco plug. The length of the tobacco plug may for example be 12 millimeter, while the width 101 of the susceptor strip may for example be 4 millimeter. The tobacco substrate preferably comprises a gathered sheet of crimped homogenized tobacco material. The crimped sheet of homogenized tobacco material preferably comprises glycerine as an aerosol-former.

(20) FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B illustrate an example of a unitary multi-material susceptor for use in a tobacco plug as for example shown in FIG. 7. The susceptor 1 is in the form of an elongate strip having a length of 12 mm and a width of 4 mm. The susceptor is formed from a first susceptor material 15 that is intimately coupled to a second susceptor material 14. The first susceptor material 15 is in the form of a strip of grade 430 stainless steel having dimensions of 12 mm by 4 mm by 25 micrometres. The second susceptor material 14 is in the form of a strip of nickel having dimensions of 12 mm by 4 mm by 10 micrometres. The susceptor is formed by cladding the strip of nickel 14 to the strip of stainless steel 15. The total thickness of the susceptor is 35 micrometres. The susceptor 1 of FIG. 8 may be termed a bi-layer or multilayer susceptor.