CRIMPING ROLLER WITH INCREASED NUMBER OF INTERRUPTION GAPS

Abstract

A method for producing a plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article is provided, the method including: feeding a sheet along a longitudinal direction to a set of crimping rollers; forming a crimped sheet including corrugated regions and interruption bands, the sheet including corrugations extending in a longitudinal direction, in the interruption bands, the sheet having no corrugations or corrugations with smaller corrugation amplitude, the bands and the regions being alternatingly arranged, each band including leading and trailing portions arranged on opposite sides of the sheet, a width of the sheet being an extension of the sheet orthogonal to the longitudinal direction, and the leading portion being arranged at a different location than the trailing portion; gathering the sheet; and forming a plug from the gathered sheet.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A method for producing a plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article, the method comprising the steps of: feeding a sheet along a longitudinal direction of the sheet to a set of crimping rollers; forming a crimped sheet by crimping the sheet, wherein the crimped sheet comprises a plurality of corrugated regions and a plurality of interruption bands, wherein in the corrugated regions, the crimped sheet comprises a plurality of corrugations extending in a longitudinal direction, wherein in the interruption bands, the crimped sheet is free of corrugations or comprises corrugations having a smaller corrugation amplitude compared to the corrugations in the corrugated regions, wherein the interruption bands and the corrugated regions are alternatingly arranged, wherein each interruption band of the plurality of interruption bands comprises a leading portion and a trailing portion, wherein the leading portion and the trailing portion are arranged on opposite sides of the crimped sheet with respect to a width of the crimped sheet, wherein the width of the crimped sheet is an extension of the crimped sheet orthogonal to the longitudinal direction, and wherein the leading portion is arranged at a different location with respect to the longitudinal direction than the trailing portion; gathering the crimped sheet to form a gathered sheet; and forming a plug from the gathered sheet, wherein in the crimped sheet, a distance between two adjacent interruption bands in the longitudinal direction is smaller than half of a length of the plug in the longitudinal direction.

17. The method for producing a plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein the longitudinal distance between two adjacent interruption bands is smaller than one third of the length of the plug in the longitudinal direction.

18. The method for producing a plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein the step of forming a plug from the gathered sheet comprises the steps of forming a rod out of the gathered sheet and cutting the rod to form the plug.

19. The method for producing a plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein the plurality of interruption bands are uniformly spaced from each other.

20. The method for producing a plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein an angle between an extension of the interruption bands in the crimped sheet and the longitudinal direction is between 70 degrees and 90 degrees.

21. The method for producing a plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein an angle between an extension of the interruption bands in the crimped sheet and the longitudinal direction is about 84 degrees.

22. The method for producing a plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein an interruption band width is an extension of an interruption band in the longitudinal direction, and wherein a ratio of a longitudinal distance between two adjacent interruption bands to the interruption band width is between 0.5 and 5.

23. The method for producing a plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein an interruption band width is an extension of an interruption band in the longitudinal direction, and wherein a ratio of a longitudinal distance between two adjacent interruption bands to the interruption band width is about 2.

24. The method for producing a plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein the length of the plug in the longitudinal direction is between 5 millimeters and 20 millimeters.

25. The method for producing a plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, wherein the length of the plug in the longitudinal direction is about 12 millimeters.

26. A plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article, wherein the plug is formed according to claim 16, wherein the plug extends in a longitudinal direction, wherein the plug comprises a gathered sheet, wherein the gathered sheet comprises a plurality of corrugation lines extending in the longitudinal direction, wherein at least one corrugation line of the plurality of corrugation lines is interrupted at least three times in the longitudinal direction by interruption bands, wherein each interruption band comprises a leading portion and a trailing portion, wherein the leading portion is arranged at a different location with respect to the longitudinal direction than the trailing portion, wherein the leading portion and the trailing portion are arranged on opposite sides of the crimped sheet with respect to the width of the crimped sheet, and wherein the width of the crimped sheet is the extension of the crimped sheet orthogonal to the longitudinal direction.

27. The plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article according to claim 26, wherein the interruption bands are flat sections or sections with corrugations having a smaller corrugation amplitude compared to the rest of the corrugation lines.

28. An aerosol-generating article production machine comprising a crimping roller configured to rotate around a rotation axis that extends in an axial direction, the crimping roller comprising: a plurality of circumferential ridges, each circumferential ridge having a first ridge amplitude; and a plurality of interruption gaps, wherein in the interruption gaps, the plurality of circumferential ridges have a second ridge amplitude, wherein the second ridge amplitude is smaller than the first ridge amplitude, wherein the interruption gaps extend at an angle of less than 30 degrees with respect to the axial direction, and wherein at least three interruption gaps intersect a straight line along the axial direction on a circumferential surface of the crimping roller.

29. The aerosol-generating article production machine according to claim 28, wherein each of the plurality of interruption gaps is inclined with respect to the axial direction.

30. The aerosol-generating article production machine according to claim 28, wherein a difference between the first ridge amplitude and the second ridge amplitude is between 0.3 millimeters and 1 millimeter.

31. The aerosol-generating article production machine according to claim 28, wherein a difference between the first ridge amplitude and the second ridge amplitude is about 0.3 millimeters.

32. The aerosol-generating article production machine according to claim 28, further comprising a second crimping roller configured to rotate around a second rotation axis, wherein the second crimping roller comprises a plurality of circumferential ridges.

33. The method for producing a plug for forming part of an aerosol-generating article according to claim 16, further comprising: forming, by interrupted circumferential ridges on a crimping roller, a plurality of interrupted crimp corrugations on a sheet prior to forming the plug out of the sheet; forming a rod from the sheet with the plurality of interrupted crimp corrugations; and cutting the plug from the rod, wherein the crimp corrugations extend in a longitudinal direction of the sheet, wherein a distance between two interruptions in a crimp corrugation in the longitudinal direction is smaller than half of a length of the plug in the longitudinal direction, wherein interruptions of adjacent crimp corrugations form interruption bands, and wherein the interruption bands are inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction.

Description

[0182] The examples will now be further described with reference to the figures.

[0183] FIG. 1 shows a front view of a production machine according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0184] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a set of crimping rollers according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0185] FIG. 3 shows a top view of a crimping roller according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0186] FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of the crimping rollers of FIG. 2.

[0187] FIG. 5 shows a schematic overview of how a plug for an aerosol-generating article is produced according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0188] A production machine 1 according to an embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 1. The production machine 1 comprises a bobbin 2 with sheet 3. The sheet 3 is unwound from the bobbin 2 and transferred to a crimping apparatus 4. The crimping apparatus 4 comprises a set of crimping rollers 5. The set of crimping rollers 5 comprises a first crimping roller 6 and a second crimping roller 7. The crimping rollers 6, 7 are configured to form a crimped sheet 8 out of the sheet 3. The production machine 1 further comprises a gathering tool 9 to gather the crimped sheet 8.

[0189] FIG. 2 shows the set of crimping rollers 5 of the production machine 1 of FIG. 1. The first crimping roller 6 rotates around a rotation axis 10. The second crimping roller 7 rotates around a second rotation axis 11. The rotation axes 10, 11 are parallel to each other and extend in an axial direction 200. The first crimping roller 6 and the second crimping roller 7 rotate in opposite directions. The first crimping roller 6 has a plurality of circumferential ridges 12 formed on its circumferential surface 13. The second crimping roller 7 also has a plurality of circumferential ridges 14 formed on its circumferential surface 15. The sheet 3 is transferred through the set of crimping rollers 5 along a longitudinal direction 100 of the sheet 3 to form a crimped sheet 8. The longitudinal direction 100 of the sheet 3 is orthogonal to the axial direction 200. The crimped sheet 8 comprises a plurality of corrugations 16 extending in the longitudinal direction 100 of the crimped sheet 8. The crimped sheet width 17 is the extension of the crimped sheet 8 in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction 100.

[0190] The first crimping roller 6 is shown in greater detail in FIG. 3. The circumferential ridges 12 (not shown in FIG. 3) form a ridge-and-trough pattern 18 on the circumferential surface 13 of the first crimping roller 6. The ridge-and-trough pattern 18 and thus the circumferential ridges 13 are interrupted by interruption gaps 19. The interruption gaps 19 extend across the circumferential surface 13 of the first crimping roller 6. The interruption gaps 19 extend at an angle 20 with respect to the rotation axis 10 extending in the axial direction 200. The second crimping roller 7 also comprises a ridge-and-trough pattern 18, but is free of interruption gaps 19.

[0191] FIG. 4 shows a close view of the set of crimping rollers 5, in particular the circumferential ridges 12 of the first crimping roller 6 and the circumferential ridges 14 of the second crimping roller 7. The ridge-and-trough pattern 18 of the first crimping roller 6 is axially offset to the ridge-and-trough pattern 18 of the second crimping roller 7, such that the circumferential ridges 12 of the first crimping roller 6 are aligned with the troughs 21 of the second crimping roller 7 and vice versa.

[0192] The first crimping roller 6 and the second crimping roller 7 are arranged close to each other, such that there is an overlap 22 between the circumferential ridges 12 of the first crimping roller 6 and the circumferential ridges 14 of the second crimping roller 7. The circumferential ridges 12 have a first ridge amplitude 23. The first ridge amplitude 23 is the distance in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction 200 from the peak of the circumferential ridge 23 to an adjacent trough 21. In the interruption gaps 19, the circumferential ridges 12 have a second ridge amplitude 24, which is smaller than the first ridge amplitude 23. FIG. 4 also shows the axial distance 25 between two interruption gaps 19.

[0193] A crimped sheet 8 according to an embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 5. The crimped sheet 8 comprises a plurality of corrugations 16 extending in the longitudinal direction 100. The corrugations 16 are interrupted by interruption bands 26. In the region of the interruption bands 26, crimped sheet 8 is free of corrugations 16. The interruption bands 26 are inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction 100. Each interruption band 26 has a leading portion 27 and a trailing portion 28. The leading portion 27 and the trailing portion 28 are arranged at different locations with respect to the longitudinal direction 100. Each interruption band 26 has an interruption band width 29, which is the extension of the interruption band 26 in the longitudinal direction 100. The interruption bands 26 are spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction 100 by a constant distance 30.

[0194] The crimped sheet 8 is gathered to form a gathered sheet 31, in particular a rod 32. The rod 32 is cut into multiple parts to form plugs 33 having a plug length 34. The distance 30 in the longitudinal direction 100 between two adjacent interruption bands 26 is smaller than half of the plug length 34, in particular smaller than one third of the plug length 34. The plugs 33 can be used in an aerosol-generating article.