DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PREPARING FULLY GRANULAR CIGARETTE/FILTER ROD, AND PREPARED FULLY GRANULAR CIGARETTE/FILTER ROD

Abstract

A device and method for preparing a fully granular cigarette/filter rod, and a prepared fully granular cigarette/filter rod are disclosed. In certain embodiments, negative pressure is used to adhere granular material onto a mesh-type conveyor belt. The granular material is preliminarily formed into fully granular cigarette/filter rod material by means of a pre-forming apparatus; the fully granular cigarette/filter rod material, traveling with the mesh-type conveyor belt, enters into a forming cavity, and undergoes heating and humidifying treatment, and a continuous solid porous substance is formed; the continuous solid porous substance is moved into the cooling/drying cavity, drying and cooling treatment are performed under the action of negative pressure, and a fully granular cigarette/filter rod with strong adhesion, porosity, permeability, and appropriate moisture is obtained.

Claims

1. A device for preparing a fully granular cigarette/filter rod, comprising a mesh conveyor belt mounted on a bracket, characterized in that a feeding apparatus, a pre-forming apparatus with a pre-forming cavity, a curing apparatus with a forming cavity, and a cooling/drying assembly with a cooling/drying cavity are sequentially disposed on the bracket in a conveying direction of the mesh conveyor belt; the mesh conveyor belt comprises an upper conveyor belt and a lower conveyor belt connected into a whole, and the upper conveyor belt passes a feeding port of the feeding apparatus and passes through the pre-forming cavity of the pre-forming apparatus, the forming cavity of the curing apparatus, and the cooling/drying cavity of the cooling/drying assembly; a side wall of the pre-forming cavity is provided with a plurality of first through holes for providing negative pressure; a side wall of the forming cavity of the curing apparatus is provided with a plurality of second through holes for providing water-containing hot air and/or saturated water vapor; a side wall of the cooling/drying cavity of the cooling/drying assembly is provided with a plurality of third through holes for providing negative pressure and discharging excess moisture; central positions of the pre-forming cavity, the forming cavity, and the cooling/drying cavity are kept on the same horizontal straight line; the pre-forming cavity, the forming cavity, and the cooling/drying cavity have the same cross-sectional shape, the cross-sectional area of a discharge port of the pre-forming cavity is slightly larger than that of the forming cavity, and the cross-sectional area of the forming cavity is slightly larger than that of the cooling/drying cavity.

2. The device for preparing the fully granular cigarette/filter rod according to claim 1, wherein the pre-forming apparatus comprises a first pressing plate and a first bottom plate buckled with each other, the pre-forming cavity is formed at the position where the first pressing plate and the first bottom plate are buckled with each other, and the cross-sectional area of the pre-forming cavity gradually reduces along a traveling direction of the material.

3. The device for preparing the fully granular cigarette/filter rod according to claim 2, wherein opposite surfaces of the first bottom plate and the first pressing plate are respectively provided with a U-shaped groove which shrinks in size along the traveling direction of the material, the U-shaped grooves of the first pressing plate and the first bottom plate correspond exactly to form the pre-forming cavity, and the first bottom plate is longer than the first pressing plate and extends to a position below the feeding port.

4. The device for preparing the fully granular cigarette/filter rod according to claim 1, wherein the curing apparatus comprises a second pressing plate and a second bottom plate joined together, opposite surfaces of the second pressing plate and the second bottom plate are respectively provided with a groove, and the grooves of the second pressing plate and the second bottom plate correspond exactly to form the forming cavity together; the cooling/drying assembly comprises a third pressing plate and a third bottom plate joined together, opposite surfaces of the third pressing plate and the third bottom plate are respectively provided with a groove, and the grooves of the third pressing plate and the third bottom plate correspond exactly to form the cooling/drying cavity together.

5. The device for preparing the fully granular cigarette/filter rod according to claim 4, wherein both the second pressing plate and the second bottom plate are provided with a first air cavity connected to external water vapor/humid hot air, and are provided with the second through holes; and the first air cavity is communicated with the forming cavity via the second through holes uniformly distributed.

6. The device for preparing the fully granular cigarette/filter rod according to claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional area of the cooling/drying cavity is 85-95% of that of the forming cavity.

7. The device for preparing the fully granular cigarette/filter rod according to claim 4, wherein both the third pressing plate and the third bottom plate are provided with a second air cavity connected to the negative pressure apparatus, and are provided with the third through holes; and the second air cavity is communicated with the cooling/drying cavity via the third through holes uniformly distributed.

8. The device for preparing the fully granular cigarette/filter rod according to claim 1, wherein the cooling/drying assembly is composed of 1 to 10 modular assemblies connected in series with the same structure.

9. A method for preparing a fully granular cigarette/filter rod, characterized in that the method comprises the following steps: continuously and quantitatively introducing a granular material with an adhesive on granules of the granular material onto a mesh conveyor belt located on a first bottom plate by a feeding apparatus, and adsorbing the granular material to the mesh conveyor belt through a U shaped groove of the first bottom plate and negative pressure provided by first through holes of the first bottom plate; conveying the granular material to a shrinking pre-forming cavity of a pre-forming apparatus along with the mesh conveyor belt under action of negative pressure, shrinking the granular material together with the mesh conveyor belt in the pre-forming cavity until a cross-sectional area of the granular material is slightly larger than that of a forming cavity of a curing apparatus, to preliminarily form a fully granular cigarette/filter rod blank, the fully granular cigarette/filter rod blank and the mesh conveyor belt enters the forming cavity of the curing apparatus through a discharge port of the pre-forming apparatus, and heating and/or humidifying the fully granular cigarette/filter rod blank in the forming cavity to activate the adhesive on granules of the granular material, so that the granules of the granular material bond to each other to form a continuous solid porous material; and introducing the formed continuous solid porous material into a cooling/drying cavity of a cooling/drying assembly through the mesh conveyor belt for cooling and drying, and applying negative pressure to the continuous solid porous material to obtain a fully granular cigarette/filter rod adhered firmly and having appropriate moisture content.

10. A fully granular cigarette/filter rod, characterized that the fully granular cigarette/filter rod is prepared by the method according to claim 9.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] In order to describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or in the prior art more clearly, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings required in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description show some embodiments of the present invention, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may still derive other drawings from these accompanying drawings without any creative effort.

[0042] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an overall elevation structure according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0043] FIG. 2 is a top view structural diagram of a curing apparatus according to the present invention.

[0044] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional structural diagram of the curing apparatus according to the present invention.

[0045] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional structural diagram of the curing apparatus added with heating assemblies according to the present invention.

[0046] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional structural diagram of a cooling/drying assembly according to the present invention.

[0047] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an overall structure according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0048] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an overall structure according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

[0049] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an overall structure according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[0050] In the figures: 1—guide wheel; 2—bracket; 3—feeding apparatus; 4—pre-forming apparatus; 5—first pressing plate; 6—first bottom plate; 7—fully granular cigarette/filter rod not wrapped in paper; 8—driving wheel; [0051] 9—curing apparatus; 91—forming cavity; 92—second through hole; 93—first air cavity; 94—second pressing plate; 95—second bottom plate; 96—heating assembly; 10—cooling/drying assembly; 101—cooling/drying cavity; 102—third through hole; 103—third pressing plate; 104—third bottom plate; 105—second air cavity; 11—mesh conveyor belt; 12—cutting and sorting apparatus; 13—paper wrapping apparatus; [0052] 15—filter rod forming machine; 151—forming paper; 152—garniture of a forming machine; 153—paper-wrapped fully granular cigarette/filter rod; 16—cigarette making machine; 161—cigarette paper; 162—garniture of a cigarette making machine; 163—filter rod; 164—tipping paper.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0053] The present invention will be further described below with reference to specific preferred embodiments, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereby.

[0054] For ease of description, the relative positional relationships of components, such as the descriptions of top, bottom, left, right, etc., are described according to the layout direction of the accompanying drawings in the specification, and do not limit the structure of this patent application.

Embodiment 1

[0055] As shown in FIG. 1, the first embodiment of a device for preparing fully granular cigarette/filter rod according to the present invention includes a mesh conveyor belt 11 mounted on a bracket 2. A feeding apparatus 3, a pre-forming apparatus 4, a curing apparatus 9, a cooling/drying assembly 10 (the cooling/drying assembly is a modular assembly, 1 to 10 sets of the cooling/drying assembly may be disposed according to requirements, and two sets are disposed in this embodiment), and a driving wheel 8 are sequentially mounted above the mesh conveyor belt 11.

[0056] The mesh conveyor belt 11 includes an upper conveyor belt and a lower conveyor belt connected into a whole, and two ends of the mesh conveyor belt are horizontally supported on a guide wheel 1 and a driving wheel 12. The upper conveyor belt passes a feeding port of the feeding apparatus 3 and passes through the pre-forming apparatus 4, the curing apparatus 8, and the cooling/drying assembly 10 in sequence.

[0057] A bottom of the feeding apparatus 3 is provided with a feeding port. A material is conveyed onto the mesh conveyor belt 11 through the feeding port. The feeding apparatus 3 is a commercially available high-precision quantitative feeding apparatus, which may be a constant volume feeding apparatus, a constant mass feeding apparatus, a constant flow feeding apparatus, a screw feeding apparatus, a pipeline feeding apparatus, similar apparatuses, or a combination thereof. Preferably, the feeding apparatus 3 may perform quantitative and uniform feeding of liquid, and/or perform pre-heating treatment.

[0058] The pre-forming apparatus 4 includes a first pressing plate 5 and a first bottom plate 6 buckled with each other to form a whole, the first bottom plate 6 is longer than the first pressing plate 5, and the first bottom plate 6 extends to a position below the feeding port of the feeding apparatus 3. The first bottom plate 6 is provided with a plurality of first through holes connected with a negative pressure apparatus to provide negative pressure to adsorb the granular material onto the mesh conveyor belt 11. A bottom of the first pressing plate 5 is provided with a U-shaped groove, and a top of the first bottom plate 6 is provided with a U-shaped groove. After the first pressing plate 5 and the first bottom plate 6 are buckled with each other, the U-shaped groove of the first pressing plate 5 is oppositely combined with the U-shaped groove of the first bottom plate 6 to form a pre-forming cavity, and the pre-forming cavity has a diameter reducing along a traveling direction of the material. When the mesh conveyor belt 11 carries the granular material to pass through the pre-forming cavity, the mesh conveyor belt 11 gradually shrinks in size and wraps the granular material with the shrinking of the pre-forming cavity.

[0059] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the curing apparatus 9 includes a second pressing plate 94 and a second bottom plate 95 joined together, and a forming cavity 91 is formed at the joint of the second pressing plate 94 and the second bottom plate 95. The cross-sectional shape of the forming cavity 91 is determined by the cross-sectional shape of fully granular cigarette/filter rod, and may be any of a circle, an ellipse, a diamond, a square, etc.; or it may also have any hollow pattern in the aforementioned shapes.

[0060] Both the second pressing plate 94 and the second bottom plate 95 are provided with a first air cavity 93 connected to external water vapor/humid hot air, and are provided with second through holes 92; and the first air cavity 93 is communicated with the forming cavity 91 via the second through holes 92. The second through holes 92 have a diameter of 0.3 to 0.8 mm and a distance between adjacent second through holes 92 is 5 to 10 mm. The second through holes 92 are used to provide water-containing hot air and/or saturated water vapor, so that granules have wet surfaces and are preliminarily adhered and formed.

[0061] As shown in FIG. 4, heating assemblies 96 may be further disposed in the second pressing plate 94 and the second bottom plate 95 of the curing apparatus 9 in the present invention. The heating assemblies 96 are preferably power adjustable microwave generating apparatuses or electric heating tubes, for directly heating the granular material, or assisting in heating the water-containing hot air and/or saturated water vapor, and quickly realizing curing formation.

[0062] As shown in FIG. 5, the cooling/drying assembly 10 roughly has the same structure as the curing apparatus 9, and also includes a third pressing plate 103 and a third bottom plate 104 joined together, and a cooling/drying cavity 101 is formed at the joint of the third pressing plate 103 and the third bottom plate 104. The third pressing plate 103 and the third bottom plate 104 are respectively provided with a second air cavity 105 connected to the negative pressure apparatus and a large number of third through holes 102 uniformly distributed, and the second air cavity 105 is communicated with the cooling/drying cavity 101 via the third through holes 102. The third through holes 102 have a diameter of 0.5 to 2 mm and a distance between adjacent third through holes 102 is 2 to 8 mm. The third through holes 102 are used to provide negative pressure, so as to quickly discharge excess moisture from the preliminarily adhered and formed fully granular cigarette/filter rod and reduce their temperature.

[0063] When the present invention is used, the mesh conveyor belt 11 is driven by the driving wheel 8 to move circularly around the guide wheel 1. The granular material uniformly falls on the mesh conveyor belt 11 located on the first bottom plate 3 through the feeding apparatus 3, the U-shaped groove of the first bottom plate 3 preliminarily gathers the granular material together, and the granular material is adsorbed onto the mesh conveyor belt 11 through negative pressure. The mesh conveyor belt 11 preliminarily wraps the granular material with gradual reduction of the U-shaped groove of the first bottom plate 6, then the granular material enters the pre-forming cavity, the mesh conveyor belt 11 further shrinks in the pre-forming cavity to wrap and form the granular material until the granular material has a cross-sectional area equal to that of the forming cavity 91, and the granular material enters the forming cavity 91 of the curing apparatus 9. The material is heated and humidified in the forming cavity 91 of the curing apparatus 9, so that adhesives on the surface of the granular material interact with each other for adhesion. Next, the material enters the cooling/drying assembly for cooling, drying, and dehumidification, and then the material is taken out by the mesh conveyor belt 11 to form a fully granular cigarette/filter rod 7 not wrapped in paper.

Embodiment 2

[0064] As shown in FIG. 6, the second embodiment of a device for preparing fully granular cigarette/filter rod according to the present invention is roughly the same as the first embodiment, except that a cutting and sorting apparatus 12 is disposed at an output end of the cooling/drying assembly. The cutting and sorting apparatus 12 cuts, sorts, and packs the formed fully granular cigarette/filter rod 7 not wrapped in paper. The cutting and sorting apparatus 12 may be a general cutting unit of an existing cigarette making machine and/or a filter rod forming machine, and the general cutting unit may also be reformed according to actual requirements.

Embodiment 3

[0065] As shown in FIG. 7, the third embodiment of a device for preparing fully granular cigarette/filter rod according to the present invention is roughly the same as the first embodiment, except that the output end of the cooling/drying assembly 10 is connected to a paper wrapping apparatus 13 and a cutting and sorting apparatus 12 in sequence. In this embodiment, the paper wrapping apparatus 13 is preferably an existing filter rod forming machine 15. The formed fully granular cigarette/filter rod 7 not wrapped in paper and forming paper 151 are fed into a garniture 152 of the forming machine by a certain way for forming, and then cut and sorted into boxes by the cutting and sorting apparatus 13 to form paper-wrapped fully granular cigarette/filter rod 153.

Embodiment 4

[0066] As shown in FIG. 8, the fourth embodiment of a device for preparing a fully granular cigarette/filter rod according to the present invention is roughly the same as the first embodiment, except that the output end of the cooling/drying assembly 10 is connected to an existing cigarette making machine 16 for integration and docking. The formed fully granular cigarette/filter rod 7 not wrapped in paper and cigarette paper 161 are fed into a cigarette gun 162 of the cigarette making machine by a certain way for forming, then the cut material segments are docked with filter rod 163, and the both are connected by tipping paper 164 to form paper-wrapped fully granular cigarette products.

[0067] The forgoing descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present application, and do not limit the present application in any form. Although the present application is disclosed above with the preferred embodiments, the present application is not limited thereto. Some variations or modifications made by any skilled person familiar with the art using the disclosed technical contents without departing from the scope of the technical solution of the present application are equivalent to the embodiments, and all fall within the scope of the technical solution.