AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE COMPRISING A MOUTH-END COOLING ELEMENT

Abstract

An aerosol-generating article is provided, including: a rod of aerosol-generating substrate including an aerosol former, the substrate having an aerosol former content of greater than 10 percent on a dry weight basis; a hollow tubular support element positioned immediately downstream of the rod; an aerosol-cooling element downstream of the support element, the aerosol-cooling element extending all the way to a downstream end of the article, the aerosol-cooling element including a hollow tubular segment having a transverse wall at a location between an upstream end and a downstream end of the hollow tubular segment, such that it defines a first cavity upstream of the transverse wall and a second cavity downstream of the transverse wall, and the transverse wall including one or more openings establishing a fluid communication between the first cavity and the second cavity.

Claims

1.-15. (canceled)

16. An aerosol-generating article for producing an aerosol upon heating, the aerosol-generating article comprising: a rod of aerosol-generating substrate comprising an aerosol former, the aerosol-generating substrate having an aerosol former content of greater than 10 percent on a dry weight basis; a hollow tubular support element positioned immediately downstream of the rod of aerosol-generating substrate; an aerosol-cooling element downstream of the hollow tubular support element, the aerosol-cooling element extending all the way to a downstream end of the aerosol-generating article, wherein the aerosol-cooling element comprises a hollow tubular segment having a transverse wall at a location between an upstream end and a downstream end of the hollow tubular segment, such that the hollow tubular segment defines a first cavity upstream of the transverse wall and a second cavity downstream of the transverse wall, and wherein the transverse wall comprises one or more openings establishing a fluid communication between the first cavity and the second cavity.

17. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein the transverse wall has a single substantially central opening provided therein and having an equivalent diameter of between 0.3 mm and 0.6 mm.

18. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein the transverse wall has a plurality of substantially equally circumferentially spaced apart openings, each opening having an equivalent diameter of between 0.1 mm and 0.5 mm.

19. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein the transverse wall has a plurality of substantially radial slits extending from a center of the transverse wall over a length less than a radius of the transverse wall.

20. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein a length of the aerosol-cooling element is at least about 5 mm.

21. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein a length of the aerosol-cooling element is less than about 20 mm.

22. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein a length of the first cavity is less than a length of the second cavity.

23. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein a ratio between a length of the first cavity and a length of the second cavity is from about 0.15 to about 0.8.

24. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein a length of the first cavity is at least about 3 mm.

25. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein a length of the first cavity is less than about 13 mm.

26. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein a length of the second cavity is at least about 5 mm.

27. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein a length of the second cavity is less than about 17 mm.

28. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein a thickness of a peripheral wall of the hollow tubular segment is at least about 2 mm.

29. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein an outer diameter of the hollow tubular segment is at least about 3 mm.

30. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, further comprising a further aerosol-cooling element between the tubular support element and the aerosol-cooling element, wherein a length of the first aerosol-cooling element is from about 4 mm to about 20 mm.

Description

[0124] The invention will now be further described with reference to the figures in which:

[0125] FIG. 1 shows a schematic side sectional view of an aerosol-generating article in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention;

[0126] FIG. 2 shows a schematic side sectional view of an aerosol-generating article in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention;

[0127] FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 show schematic cross-sectional views of variants of the aerosol-generating article of FIG. 1 taken along the plane A-A illustrating different arrangements for the transverse wall of the aerosol-cooling element; and

[0128] FIG. 9 shows a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of an aerosol-generating system comprising an electrically operated aerosol-generating device and the aerosol-generating article shown in FIG. 1.

[0129] The aerosol-generating article 10 shown in FIG. 1 comprises a rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12, a tubular support element 14, and an aerosol-cooling element 16. These three elements are arranged sequentially and in coaxial alignment and are circumscribed by a wrapper 18 to form the aerosol-generating article 10. The aerosol-generating article 10 has a mouth end or downstream end 20, and an upstream end 22 located at the opposite end of the article to the mouth end 20. The aerosol-generating article 10 shown in FIG. 1 is particularly suitable for use with an electrically operated aerosol-generating device comprising a heater for heating the rod of aerosol-generating substrate.

[0130] The rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12 has a length of approximately 12 millimetres and a diameter of approximately 7 millimetres. The rod 12 is cylindrical in shape and has a substantially circular cross-section.

[0131] The tubular support element 14 is provided as a hollow tube of cellulose acetate. The tubular support element 14 has a length of approximately 8 millimetres. An external diameter of the tubular support element 14 is approximately 7 millimetres. A peripheral wall of the tubular support element 14 has a thickness of about 1.85 millimetres.

[0132] The aerosol-cooling element 16 is made of a cellulose-based, thermoplastic compound and has an overall length of about 14 millimetres. The aerosol-cooling element 16 comprises a hollow tubular segment comprising a peripheral 24 wall having a thickness of about 0.5 millimetres. Further, the hollow tubular segment comprises a transverse wall 26 at a location between an upstream end and a downstream end of the hollow tubular segment. As such, the hollow tubular segment defines a first cavity 28 upstream of the transverse wall 26 and a second cavity 30 downstream of the transverse wall 26.

[0133] An opening 32 is formed into the transverse wall 26 to establish a fluid communication between the first cavity 28 and the second cavity 30. The first, upstream cavity 28 has a length of about 6 millimetres. The second, downstream cavity 30 has a length of about 8 millimetres. Thus, a ratio between a length of the first cavity and a length of the second cavity is about 0.75.

[0134] The opening 32 is arranged at a central location in the transverse wall 26, and has an equivalent diameter of about 0.5 millimetres.

[0135] FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of an aerosol-generating article 50 in accordance with the present invention. The aerosol-generating article 50 is similar to the aerosol-generating article 10 of FIG. 1 and will be described in the following only insofar as it differs from the aerosol-generating article 10. Wherever possible, the same reference numerals will be used to identify components of the article that are present in both embodiments.

[0136] The aerosol-generating article 50 shown in FIG. 2 comprises a rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12, a tubular support element 14, and an aerosol-cooling element 16. Further, the aerosol-generating article 50 comprises a secondary aerosol-cooling element 40 between the tubular support element 14 and the aerosol-cooling element 16. All four elements are arranged sequentially and in coaxial alignment and are circumscribed by a wrapper 18 to form the aerosol-generating article 50. The aerosol-generating article 50 has a mouth end or downstream end 20, and an upstream end 22 located at the opposite end of the article to the mouth end 20.

[0137] The secondary aerosol-cooling element 40 comprises a gathered, crimped sheet of a PLA, that defines a plurality of longitudinally extending channels. Arrows show schematically the direction of flow of the aerosol flowing through the article. After travelling through the secondary aerosol-cooling element, the aerosol flow is concentrated through the opening 32 in the transverse wall 26 prior to being distributed more broadly into the downstream cavity 30 of the aerosol-cooling element 16 and prior to reaching the consumer's mouth.

[0138] FIGS. 3 to 8 show details of alternative embodiments of aerosol-generating articles in accordance with the invention. In particular, FIGS. 3 to 8 illustrate different arrangements for the one or more openings in the transverse wall of the aerosol-cooling element by means of cross-sectional views taken in planes corresponding to the plane X-X shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0139] FIGS. 3 to 5 show embodiments wherein the transverse wall comprises a plurality of substantially equally circumferentially spaced apart openings 34 on top of a central opening. In the embodiment of FIG. 3 the plurality of openings 34 are provided as two sub-sets of openings provided at different radial distances from the central opening (that is, from a longitudinal axis of the article). In the embodiments of FIGS. 4 and 5, the transverse wall comprises only a set of circumferentially aligned openings 34. In the embodiments of FIGS. 6 to 8, on the other hand, the transverse wall comprises a plurality of substantially radial slits 36 extending from a central position to a location between the centre and the periphery of the transverse wall. Thus, in these embodiments, a star-shaped or asterisk-shaped opening is effectively provided in the transverse wall. Without wishing to be bound by theory, it is understood that by varying the size and position of the plurality of openings 32, 34, 36 in the transverse wall 26, it is possible to adjust and tune the homogenisation and mixing of the air and airborne volatilised aerosol species prior to the aerosol being delivered to the consumer's mouth. At the same time, by concentrating the flow of aerosol at locations more or less close to the longitudinal axis of the aerosol-generating article, it is possible to favour transfer of heat from the aerosol to selected portions of the transverse wall over transfer of heat from the aerosol to the peripheral wall of the aerosol-cooling element. Thus, it is advantageously easy to ensure that the surfaces of the article that, during use, come into contact with the consumer's mouth do not reach temperatures above a given threshold.

[0140] FIG. 9 shows a portion of an electrically operated aerosol-generating system 200 that utilises a heater blade 210 to heat the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12 of the aerosol-generating article 10 shown in FIG. 1. The heater blade 210 is mounted within an aerosol-generating article chamber within a housing of an electrically operated aerosol-generating device 212. The aerosol-generating device 212 defines a plurality of air holes 214 for allowing air to flow to the aerosol-generating article 10, as illustrated by the arrows in FIG. 9. The aerosol-generating device 212 comprises a power supply and electronics, which are not shown in FIG. 9.

[0141] The aerosol-generating article 10 shown in FIG. 1 is designed to engage with the aerosol-generating device 212 shown in FIG. 9 in order to be consumed.

[0142] The user inserts the aerosol-generating article 10 into the aerosol-generating device 212 so that the heater blade 210 is inserted into the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12. The aerosol-cooling element 16 projects outwards from the mouth end of the device 212. Once the aerosol-generating article 10 is engaged with the aerosol-generating device 212, the user draws on the aerosol-cooling element 16 defining a mouthpiece of the aerosol-generating article 10 and the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12 is heated by the heater blade 210 to a temperature sufficient to generate an aerosol from the rod of aerosol-generating substrate 12. The aerosol is drawn through the aerosol-cooling element 16 and into the user's mouth.

[0143] It will be appreciated that the aerosol-generating article 10 shown in FIG. 1 may also be suitable for use with other types of aerosol-generating devices.