AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE WITH INTEGRAL HEATING ELEMENT

Abstract

There is provided an aerosol-generating article including a tobacco plug, a mouthpiece positioned downstream of the tobacco plug, and a resistive heating element positioned within the tobacco plug. The resistive heating element includes an upstream portion protruding from an upstream end of the tobacco plug, wherein the upstream portion of the resistive heating element includes at least two heater electrical contacts configured to receive a supply of electrical energy from at least two device electrical contacts when the aerosol-generating article including the resistive heating element is inserted into an aerosol-generating device.

Claims

1.-15. (canceled)

16. An aerosol-generating article, comprising: a tobacco plug; a mouthpiece disposed downstream of the tobacco plug; and a resistive heating element disposed within the tobacco plug and comprising an upstream portion protruding from an upstream end of the tobacco plug, the upstream portion of the resistive heating element comprising at least two heater electrical contacts configured to receive a supply of electrical energy from at least two device electrical contacts when the aerosol-generating article comprising the resistive heating element is inserted into an aerosol-generating device.

17. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein the resistive heating element further comprises an electrically resistive heating track disposed on an elongate electrically insulating substrate, and wherein the electrically resistive heating track is electrically connected to the at least two heater electrical contacts.

18. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 17, wherein the elongate electrically insulating substrate is shaped in the form of one of a rod, a needle, a pin, a blade, or a cone.

19. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 17, wherein an upstream portion of the resistive heating element comprises a disc of electrically insulating material, wherein the disc comprises a downstream face abutting an upstream end of the tobacco plug, wherein the elongate electrically insulating substrate extends downstream from the downstream face of the disc, and wherein the disc further comprises an upstream face on which the at least two heater electrical contacts are disposed.

20. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 19, wherein the disc and the tobacco plug both have a substantially circular cross-sectional shape, and wherein a diameter of the disc is substantially the same as a diameter of the tobacco plug.

21. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, further comprising an article securing element configured to interact with a device securing element on the aerosol-generating device to releasably retain the aerosol-generating article within the aerosol-generating device.

22. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein at least one of the at least two heater electrical contacts and/or at least one of the at least two device electrical contacts comprises a magnetized material configured to releasably retain the at least two heater electrical contacts in electrical contact with corresponding device electrical contacts when the aerosol-generating article is inserted into the aerosol-generating device.

23. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein the aerosol-generating article has a substantially circular cross-sectional shape centered on a longitudinal axis of the aerosol-generating article, wherein the at least two heater electrical contacts comprise a first heater electrical contact having an annular shape centered on the longitudinal axis of the aerosol-generating article and a second heater electrical contact having a circular or an annular shape centered on the longitudinal axis of the aerosol-generating article, wherein an outer diameter of the second heater electrical contact is smaller than an inner diameter of the first heater electrical contact, and wherein the second heater electrical contact is disposed within the first heater electrical contact.

24. An electrically heated aerosol-generating system, comprising: an aerosol-generating article comprising: a tobacco plug, a mouthpiece disposed downstream of the tobacco plug, and a resistive heating element disposed within the tobacco plug and comprising an upstream portion protruding from an upstream end of the tobacco plug, the upstream portion of the resistive heating element comprising at least two heater electrical contacts; and an aerosol-generating device comprising: a tubular housing comprising a cavity configured to receive at least an upstream portion of the aerosol-generating article, a supply of electrical energy within the tubular housing, and at least two device electrical contacts connected to the supply of electrical energy, wherein the at least two device electrical contacts are disposed at an upstream end of the cavity and are configured to contact the at least two heater electrical contacts when the aerosol-generating article is inserted into the cavity to transfer electrical energy from the supply of electrical energy to the resistive heating element, and wherein the at least two heater electrical contacts are configured to receive a supply of electrical energy from at least two device electrical contacts when the aerosol-generating article comprising the resistive heating element is inserted into the aerosol-generating device.

25. The electrically heated aerosol-generating system according to claim 24, wherein the at least two device electrical contacts comprise a first device electrical contact spaced apart from a second device electrical contact, wherein the aerosol-generating article has a substantially circular cross-sectional shape centered on a longitudinal axis of the aerosol-generating article, wherein the at least two heater electrical contacts comprise a first heater electrical contact having an annular shape centered on the longitudinal axis of the aerosol-generating article and a second heater electrical contact having a circular or an annular shape centered on the longitudinal axis of the aerosol-generating article, wherein an outer diameter of the second heater electrical contact is smaller than an inner diameter of the first heater electrical contact, and wherein the second heater electrical contact is disposed within the first heater electrical contact.

26. A method of manufacturing an aerosol-generating article, comprising: providing a tobacco plug and a mouthpiece; wrapping a wrapper around at least a portion of the tobacco plug and the mouthpiece to secure the mouthpiece to a downstream end of the tobacco plug; providing a resistive heating element comprising an electrically resistive heating track on an elongate electrically insulating substrate, and at least two heater electrical contacts configured to receive a supply of electrical energy and being connected to the electrically resistive heating track; and inserting at least a portion of the elongate electrically insulating substrate into the tobacco plug at an upstream end of the tobacco plug, the upstream portion of the resistive heating element protruding from the upstream end of the tobacco plug, wherein the upstream portion of the resistive heating element comprises the at least two heater electrical contacts configured to receive the supply of electrical energy.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the elongate electrically insulating substrate is shaped in the form of one of a rod, a needle, a pin, a blade, or a cone, and wherein the step of inserting at least the portion of the elongate electrically insulating substrate into the tobacco plug further comprises inserting the rod, the needle, the pin, the blade, or the cone into the tobacco rod.

28. The method according to claim 26, wherein the upstream portion of the resistive heating element comprises a disc of electrically insulating material, wherein the disc comprises an upstream face on which the at least two heater electrical contacts are disposed and a downstream face from which the electrically insulating substrate extends, and wherein the step of inserting at least the portion of the elongate electrically insulating substrate into the tobacco plug further comprises inserting the elongate electrically insulating substrate until the downstream face of the disc abuts the upstream end of the tobacco plug.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the disc and the tobacco plug both have a substantially circular cross-sectional shape, and wherein a diameter of the disc is substantially the same as a diameter of the tobacco plug.

30. The A method of manufacturing a tobacco plug, comprising: positioning a resistive heating element on a forming belt, the resistive heating element comprising at least two heater electrical contacts configured to receive a supply of electrical energy; depositing a tobacco shiny onto the forming belt; drying the tobacco slurry to form a dried tobacco sheet comprising the resistive heating element; and forming the dried tobacco sheet comprising the resistive heating element into a tobacco plug, the resistive heating element positioned within the tobacco plug and comprising an upstream portion protruding from an upstream end of the tobacco plug, wherein the upstream portion of the resistive heating element comprises the least two heater electrical contacts configured to receive the supply of electrical energy.

Description

[0089] The invention will now be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0090] FIG. 1 shows an aerosol-generating article in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

[0091] FIG. 2 shows a detailed view of the heater electrical contacts of the aerosol-generating article of FIG. 1;

[0092] FIG. 3 shows an alternative arrangement of heater electrical contacts for use with the aerosol-generating article of FIG. 1;

[0093] FIG. 4 shows an aerosol-generative device for use with the aerosol-generating article of FIG. 1;

[0094] FIG. 5 shows the aerosol-generating article of FIG. 1 inserted into the aerosol-generating device of FIG. 4 to form an electrically heated aerosol-generating system;

[0095] FIG. 6 illustrates a method of forming the aerosol-generating article of FIG. 1, in accordance with the present invention; and

[0096] FIG. 7 shows an aerosol-generating article in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention and configured for use with the aerosol-generating device of FIG. 4.

[0097] FIG. 1 shows an aerosol-generating article 10 in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, the aerosol-generating article 10 comprising a tobacco plug 12, a hollow acetate tube 14, a polymeric filter 16, a mouthpiece 18 and an outer wrapper 20.

[0098] The aerosol-generating article 10 further comprises a resistive heating element 22 positioned within the tobacco plug 12, the resistive heating element comprising a disc of electrically insulating material 24 and an elongate electrically insulating substrate 26 extending from a downstream face of the disc of electrically insulating material 24. The disc of electrically insulating material 24 and the elongate electrically insulating substrate 26 are formed integrally as a single piece from a ceramic material.

[0099] An electrically resistive heating track 28 is embedded within the elongate electrically insulating substrate 26. Provided on an upstream face of the disc of electrically insulating material 24 are heater electrical contacts 30, which are connected to the electrically resistive heating track 28 for conducting a supply of electrical energy from an aerosol-generating device to the electrically resistive heating track 28.

[0100] FIG. 2 shows a detailed view of the heater electrical contacts 30 on the upstream face of the disc of electrically insulating material 24. The heater electrical contacts 30 comprise a first heater electrical contact 32 having an annular shape and a second heater electrical contact 34 having a circular shape and positioned within the first heater electrical contact 32. The first and second heater electrical contacts 32, 34 are centred on the longitudinal axis of the disc of electrically insulating material 24 so that the orientation of the first and second heater electrical contacts 32, 34 is not dependent upon the rotational orientation of the aerosol-generating article 10 around its longitudinal axis.

[0101] FIG. 3 shows an alternative arrangement of heater electrical contacts for the aerosol-generating article 10 of FIG. 1. The alternative arrangement of heater electrical contacts comprises a first heater electrical contact 36 spaced apart from a second heater electrical contact 38. Depending upon the configuration of device electrical contacts in the aerosol-generating device with which the aerosol-generating article 10 is used, it may be necessary to insert the aerosol-generating article 10 into the aerosol-generating device with a particular rotational orientation when using the alternative heater electrical contact arrangement show in FIG. 3. Therefore, in such embodiments the aerosol-generating article 10 can be provided with an indexing indicator to ensure correct rotational orientation of the aerosol-generating article 10. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a groove 40 may be provided in the disc of electrically insulating material 24, wherein the groove must be matched with a correspondingly shaped ridge on an aerosol-generating device to allow insertion of the aerosol-generating article 10 into the aerosol-generating device.

[0102] FIG. 4 shows an aerosol-generating device 50 for use with the aerosol-generating article of FIG. 1. The device 50 includes a supply of electrical energy 52 in the form of a rechargeable battery. A controller 54 controls the operation of the device 50, including the supply of electrical energy from the battery to the resistive heating element 22 of an aerosol-generating article 10. The aerosol-generating device 50 comprises a tubular housing 55 housing the supply of electrical energy 52 and the controller 54, the tubular housing 55 defining a cavity 57 for receiving the aerosol-generating article 10. A plurality of airflow inlets 59 are provided in the tubular housing 55 to allow air to flow into the cavity 57 during use of the aerosol-generating device 50 with the aerosol-generating article 10.

[0103] The aerosol-generating device 50 also comprises first and second device electrical contacts 56, 58 that are arranged to contact the heater electrical contacts 30 of the aerosol-generating article 10 when the article is inserted into the cavity 57 to form an electrically heated aerosol-generating system 60, as shown in FIG. 5. During operation of the electrically heated aerosol-generating system 60, electrical energy is supplied from the battery to the resistive heating track 28 of the resistive heating element 22 via the first and second device electrical contacts 56, 58 and the first and second heater electrical contacts 32, 34.

[0104] FIG. 6 illustrates a method of forming the aerosol-generating article 10 of FIG. 1 in which the tobacco plug 12, the hollow acetate tube 14, the polymeric filter 16, the mouthpiece 18 and the outer wrapper 20 are pre-assembled. The resistive heating element 22 is then inserted into the tobacco plug 12 until the downstream face of the disc of electrically insulating material 24 abuts the upstream face of the tobacco plug 12, thus forming the aerosol-generating article 10 of FIG. 1.

[0105] FIG. 7 illustrates an aerosol-generating article 100 in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. The aerosol-generating article 100 is substantially the same as the aerosol-generating article 10 shown in FIG. 1, with the exception of the resistive heating element, and like reference numerals are used to designate like parts.

[0106] The aerosol-generating article 100 comprises a resistive heating element 122 comprising an electrically resistive wire 126 positioned within the tobacco plug 12. The electrically resistive wire 126 may be incorporated into the tobacco plug 12 during the process of forming the tobacco plug 12. For example, the electrically resistive wire 126 can be combined with a tobacco slurry on a forming belt, after which the tobacco slurry is dried to form a dried tobacco sheet comprising the electrically resistive wire 126, the dried tobacco sheet then being formed into the tobacco plug 12.

[0107] The resistive heating element 122 also comprises heater electrical contacts 130 provided at the upstream end of the aerosol-generating article 100 and connected to the electrically resistive wire 126. The heater electrical contacts 130 can be configured to permit use of the aerosol-generating article 100 with the aerosol-generating device 50 of FIG. 4.