KR20200032505A - Apparatus and method for production of cast web of homogenized tobacco material - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing a cast web of slurry for a homogenized tobacco material, wherein the method comprises the steps of: casting slurry from a casting box containing slurry onto a conveyor belt; drying the cast web by using steam or dry air while the cast web of the cast slurry is transferred to the conveyor belt; cooling the dried cast web by spraying a liquid onto the cast web by using a mist nozzle; and winding the cooled cast web by using a bobbin. According to the present invention, various types of slurry tobacco sheets can be produced by using an aromatic or functional liquid as well as water for a liquid required for cooling.

Description

Manufacturing apparatus and method of casting web of homogenized tobacco material {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PRODUCTION OF CAST WEB OF HOMOGENIZED TOBACCO MATERIAL}

It relates to an apparatus and method for the production of a web of homogenised tobacco material.

In recent years, in the manufacture of tobacco products, in addition to tobacco leaves, homogenised tobacco materials have been used. This homogenised tobacco material is typically made from parts of tobacco plants that are less suitable for the production of cutting fillers, such as tobacco stems or tobacco powder. Typically, tobacco powder is produced as a by-product during handling of tobacco leaves during manufacture.

Common homogenised tobacco materials are reconstituted tobacco sheets and cast leaf. The process of forming a sheet of homogenised tobacco material is by mixing tobacco powder and a binder to form a slurry, using the slurry to create a tobacco web, and casting a viscous slurry onto a moving metal belt to produce a cast leaf. Alternatively, a low viscosity and high water content slurry can be used to produce reconstituted tobacco in a process similar to the papermaking process. The homogenized tobacco web can be cut in a manner similar to whole leaf tobacco to produce a tobacco cutting filler suitable for cigarettes and other smoking articles.

In heated non-combustion aerosol-generating articles, the aerosol-forming substrate is heated to a relatively low temperature to prevent combustion of the tobacco material to form an aerosol. The aerosol composition produced by the heated non-combustible aerosol-generating article is substantially based on a homogenised tobacco material. Therefore, it is important to properly control the composition of the homogenised tobacco material in order to control the taste of the aerosol.

Heterogeneity in the homogenized tobacco web can lead to difficulties in subsequent handling of the homogenized tobacco web in the manufacture of an aerosol-generating article. For example, heterogeneity can lead to tearing of the web or even rupture of the web during manufacture of the web or during further processing of the web. This can lead to mechanical stoppages or unintended differences in aerosol delivery between aerosol-generating articles made from the same homogenized tobacco web. Thus, optimized homogeneity of the slurry can be achieved through appropriate control processes for the physical properties of the slurry, for example consistency, viscosity, fiber size, particle size, moisture in the slurry, and the like.

On the other hand, in order to lower the elevated temperature after drying the slurry web during the slurry manufacturing process, the slurry leaflet may be cooled using a drum filled with cooling water. However, in the equipment of the manufacturing process, the drum is bulky and the equipment line of the manufacturing process can be long. Therefore, there is a need for a more efficient manufacturing process facility instead of a cooling drum.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2017-0063554 (released on June 8, 2017)

Various embodiments are directed to an apparatus and method for producing a web of homogenised tobacco material. The technical problem to be achieved by the present disclosure is not limited to the technical problems as described above, and other technical problems may be inferred from the following embodiments.

According to one aspect for solving the above-described technical problem, a method of manufacturing a casting web of a slurry for homogenised tobacco material comprises: casting a slurry from a casting box containing the slurry onto a conveyor belt; While the casting web of the cast slurry is being transferred onto the conveyor belt, drying the casting web using steam or dry air; Cooling the dried casting web by spraying a liquid onto the dried casting web using a mist nozzle; And winding the cooled casting web using a bobbin.

In addition, the liquid sprayed from the mist nozzle includes at least one of water and different types of perfumes.

In addition, the mist nozzle is provided on the casting web in a direction transverse to the width of the casting web.

In addition, the cooling step, the pressure of the mist nozzle is in the range of 5 ~ 20bar, the particle size of the particle size of the liquid to be sprayed is a diameter between 5 ~ 20㎛, the spray pressure of the mist nozzle is at least 3kg / cm3, The casting web is cooled by spraying the liquid so that the spray amount of the mist nozzle corresponds to 6 to 150 cc / min.

In addition, the mist nozzle includes a plurality of nozzles through which the liquid is injected, and the cooling step cools the casting web by spraying the liquid by controlling the spray conditions of each of the plurality of nozzles the same or differently. do.

Further, in the cooling step, the liquid sprayed from the nozzle located at the center cools the casting web more strongly than the liquid sprayed from the nozzle located outside of the nozzles.

According to another aspect of the present invention for solving the above technical problem, an apparatus for manufacturing a casting web of a slurry for homogenized tobacco material includes: a conveyor belt receiving a slurry cast from a casting box including the slurry; A dry air generator for drying the casting web using steam or dry air while the casting web of the cast slurry is transferred onto the conveyor belt; A mist nozzle that cools the dried casting web by spraying a liquid onto the dried casting web; And a bobbin winding the cooled casting web.

In addition, the mist nozzle is provided on the casting web in a direction transverse to the width of the casting web, the mist nozzle is the liquid containing at least one of water and different types of flavoring liquid on the casting web Spray on.

According to the above, it is possible to increase the cooling effect by cooling the slurry platelet directly with atomized cooling water sprayed from a mist nozzle that fits the width of the slurry platelet rather than the drum for cooling the slurry platelet. Various types of slurry leaflets can be produced by using not only water but also aromatic or functional liquids.

1 is a flow chart for explaining a process for producing a homogenised tobacco material according to an embodiment.
2 is a flowchart illustrating a slurry casting process according to an embodiment.
3 is a view for explaining a method of cooling the casting web according to an embodiment.
4 is a view for explaining a casting process after cooling the casting web by a mist nozzle according to an embodiment.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It goes without saying that the following description is only for the purpose of embodying the embodiments and does not limit or limit the scope of the invention. From the detailed description and examples, what can be easily inferred by experts in the art is interpreted as belonging to the scope of rights.

As used herein, terms such as 'consist of' or 'comprises' should not be construed to include all of the various components, or various steps described in the specification, and some components or some of them. It should be construed that they may not be included or may further include additional components or steps.

Various terms used in the present specification have selected general terms that are currently widely used as possible while considering functions in the present invention, but this may vary depending on the intention or precedent of a person skilled in the art or the appearance of new technologies. In addition, in certain cases, some terms are arbitrarily selected by the applicant, and in this case, their meanings will be described in detail in the description of the applicable invention. Therefore, the terms used in the present invention should be defined based on the meanings of the terms and the contents of the present invention, not simply the names of the terms.

In an embodiment, the homogenised tobacco material is used to include any tobacco material formed by agglomeration of particles of tobacco material. A sheet or web of homogenised tobacco material is formed by agglomerating particulate tobacco obtained by grinding or otherwise grinding one or both of the tobacco leaf lamina and tobacco leaf stem. In addition, the homogenised tobacco material may include traces of one or more of tobacco powder, tobacco fines and other particulate tobacco by-products formed during the handling, handling and delivery of tobacco.

Homogenized tobacco material may include one or more endogenous binders, one or more exogenous binders, or combinations thereof to help agglomerate the tobacco particles. In addition, the homogenised tobacco material may include, but is not limited to, other additives including tobacco and non-tobacco fibers, aerosol formers, wetting agents, plasticizers, flavoring agents, fillers, aqueous and non-aqueous solvents, and combinations thereof. .

When it is desired to use homogenised tobacco as an aerosol-forming substrate for a heated aerosol-generating article, it may be desirable for the homogenized tobacco to have an aerosol-forming agent content of greater than about 5% on a dry weight basis. Preferably, the homogenised cigarette for use in a heated aerosol-generating article may have an aerosol former content of between about 5% and about 30% on a dry weight basis.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a flow chart for explaining a process for producing a homogenised tobacco material according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, in step 100, a tobacco material is selected. Tobacco material is to select one or more types of tobacco, for example, at least about 30% lighter cigarettes by dry weight of the total amount of cigarettes in the blend, and about 0% by dry weight of the total amount of cigarettes in the blend. To about 40% dark tobacco may be selected, and about 0% to about 40% fragrant tobacco may be selected based on the dry weight of the total amount of tobacco in the formulation. Here, although the cigarette material has been described as selecting light cigarettes, dark cigarettes, and fragrant cigarettes, the present invention is not limited thereto, and it is needless to say that various types of cigarettes may be selected in combination.

Light cigarettes are generally large, light-colored leafy tobacco. Bright cigarettes are used for flue cured cigarettes. Bright tobacco is a cigarette with a reducing sugar content of about 2.5% to about 20% based on the dry weight of the leaf and a total ammonia content of less than about 0.12% based on the dry weight of the leaf. Here, reducing sugars include, for example, glucose or fructose, and total ammonia includes, for example, ammonia and ammonia salts.

Dark tobacco is generally a large, dark-colored leafy tobacco. Dark cigarettes are used in air cured cigarettes. In addition, dark tobacco can be fermented. Cigarettes used primarily for chewing, snuff, cigar, and pipe blends are also included in this category.

Aromatic cigarettes are often small, light-colored leafy cigarettes. Aromatic cigarettes are used in other cigarettes with a high aromatic content, such as high essential oil content.

The blend may include so-called filler tobacco. Filler tobacco is not a specific type of cigarette, but it is primarily used to supplement other types of cigarettes used in formulations and includes a type of cigarette that does not induce the fragrance direction of certain properties in the final product. Filler tobacco can be stems, stems, or petioles of other tobacco types.

In step 101, the tobacco material is ground. Various tobacco types are usually available from leaf bodies and stems. To prepare a slurry for homogenised tobacco material, the selected tobacco type must be ground to achieve a suitable tobacco size, a tobacco size suitable for forming the slurry. For example, the crushed tobacco size may be tobacco powder having an average size of approximately 0.03 mm to about 0.12 mm. The slurry obtained using this average sized tobacco powder is smooth and uniform. In general, the term tobacco powder (tobacco powder), may mean to mean a cigarette having an average size of about 0.03 mm to about 0.12 mm, but is not limited thereto.

In step 102, a slurry is prepared. The slurry preparation step includes transferring the pre-mixed solution of the aerosol-forming agent and binder to the slurry mixing tank, and transferring the pulp to the slurry mixing tank. In addition, for preparing the slurry, a tobacco powder formulation may be administered to a slurry mixing tank with pulp and guar (glycerol suspension). Here, the slurry can be processed with a high shear mixer to ensure uniformity and homogeneity of the slurry. In addition, water is added to the slurry to obtain the desired viscosity and moisture.

In step 103, the slurry is cast. To form a homogenised tobacco web, the slurry formed according to the slurry preparation step is cast in the casting step. This casting step means transporting the slurry to a casting station and casting the slurry onto a support with a homogeneous and uniform film thickness web.

In step 104, the casting web is dried. The homogenized cast web is capable of, for example, uniform and gentle drying of the cast web in an endless stainless steel belt dryer. For example, an endless stainless steel belt dryer can include individually controllable zones, and the drying step monitors the cast leaf temperature in each drying zone to ensure a mild drying profile in each drying zone, and homogenize casts. The support on which the web is formed may be heated.

In step 105, the casting web is wound up. The homogenized tobacco web dried to the target moisture content is wound up in a winding step. For example, a single master bobbin can be formed. Master bobbins can be used to perform the production of smaller bobbins with slit forming and small bobbin forming processes. Smaller bobbins can then be used in the manufacture of aerosol-generating articles.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a slurry casting process according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 2, in step 200, the slurry casting apparatus injects the slurry prepared by the slurry production process 102 of FIG. 1 into the casting box and casts the slurry from the casting box onto an endlessly transportable conveyor belt. An exit is formed at the bottom of the casting box, and a gap is formed between the exit of the casting box and the conveyor belt. The slurry is discharged from the casting box through this gap so that the slurry can be cast on a conveyor belt. At this time, the degree of slurry discharged from the casting box can be controlled by adjusting the size of the gap by the casting blade. That is, the thickness of the casting web can be determined by the casting blade.

The conveyor belt can be transported endlessly by the rotation of the main drum 8, and can be made of stainless steel, for example.

In step 201, the slurry casting apparatus dries the cast web of the cast slurry. The slurry casting apparatus can dry the casting web using a dry air generator for discharging steam, preferably heated steam or dry air, to the casting web located at the bottom or top of the conveyor belt. Here, the flow rate, temperature, etc. of steam and dry air are controllable and changeable. For example, the flow rate of steam or dry air can be from about 80 kg / h to 300 kg / h, and the temperature of the steam or dry air can preferably range from about 100 ° C to 140 ° C. Meanwhile, the drying step 201 may be a step corresponding to the casting web drying step 104 of FIG. 1.

In step 202, the slurry casting apparatus monitors the temperature of the casting web in the drying zone to ensure proper drying profile during drying. Monitoring step 202 may be performed to measure the number of defects and moisture content present in the dried casting web at the end of drying step 201 as well as the thickness of the casting web.

In step 203, the slurry casting apparatus operates the casting web to an appropriate moisture content after the drying step 201. At this time, the slurry casting apparatus may be performed a process of further removing the moisture content of the casting web again to reach a desired moisture target. That is, feedback control of the drying step 201 may be performed by changing the flow rate, temperature, or other parameters of the steam or dry air.

In step 204, the slurry casting apparatus cools the dried casting web. It is preferred that the temperature of the casting web is reduced before winding the casting web into a bobbin. The purpose of the cooling step 204 is to facilitate the winding of the homogenised tobacco material into the bobbin. The cooling step 204 will be described in more detail in FIGS. 3 and 4 below.

In step 205, the slurry casting apparatus winds the cooled casting web into one or more bobbins to have a desired target temperature. Here, the cast web can be wound to form a single master bobbin, which can be used to perform the production of smaller bobbins by slits. Finally, smaller bobbins can be used in the manufacture of aerosol-generating articles. Meanwhile, the winding step 205 may be a step corresponding to the casting web winding step 105 of FIG. 1.

3 is a view for explaining a method of cooling the casting web according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3, in the cooling step 204 of FIG. 2, the slurry casting apparatus cools the dried casting web 31 using a mist nozzle 35. For example, the mist nozzle 35 sprays liquid into the casting web 31 so that the casting web 31 dried at a temperature in the range of about 100 ° C to 140 ° C is cooled to a temperature of about 15 ° C to 30 ° C. The casting web 31 can be cooled.

The mist nozzle 35 is preferably provided in a length capable of cooling both the width direction of the casting web 31 to correspond to the drying width of the casting web 31.

When the mist nozzle 35 cools the casting web 31 by spraying the liquid of the fine particles, the pressure of the mist nozzle 35 ranges from 5 to 20 bar, and the particle size of the liquid fine particles to be sprayed is between 5 and 20 μm. With a diameter and a minimum spray pressure of ³ kg / cm ^3, the spray amount can be sprayed with liquids with parameters of 6 to 150 cc / min. However, the parameter values in this range are merely exemplary ranges, and are not limited thereto, and it is possible to spray the mist nozzle 35 with other numerical ranges.

The liquid sprayed from the mist nozzle 35 includes not only cooling water such as pure water, but also aromatic or functional liquid. That is, the mist nozzle 35 can be supplied with a liquid for cooling spray from the water source 311 connected to the mist nozzle 35, the fragrance 1 source 312, the fragrance n source 313 have. Here, the flavoring liquid 1 source 312, ... the flavoring liquid n source 313 corresponds to different kinds of aromatic or functional liquids. Therefore, the casting web cooled by the liquid sprayed from the mist nozzle 35 can be cooled by pure water as well as aromatic and functional liquids, and thus can be made of platelets of the casting web having various properties.

The control unit 300 determines the liquid to be supplied to the mist nozzle 35 (water source 311, fragrance 1 source 312, ... fragrance n source 313), and the determined liquid is the mist nozzle It is controlled to be supplied to (35). At this time, the liquid to be supplied to the mist nozzle 35 may correspond to one or more of the water source 311, the fragrance 1 source 312, the fragrance n source 313.

The sensor 301 may be installed in the vicinity of the casting web 31 to measure the temperature, moisture content, thickness, etc. of the casting web 31. The values measured by the sensor 301 are transmitted to the control unit 300, and if the measured values are not within a desired setting range, the control unit 300 sets a target set value (for example, temperature) of the casting web to be cooled. , Water content, thickness, etc.), the pressure of the mist nozzle 35, the amount of spraying, the size of the particle size, etc. can be adjusted.

The control unit 300 may control the pressure, particle size, spray amount, and the like of the liquid to be sprayed from each of the one or more nozzles provided in the mist nozzle 35. The control unit 300 may control all nozzles of the mist nozzle 35 to operate under the same parameter spray condition, or may control the nozzles to operate under different parameter spray conditions.

For example, the dried cast web 31 may have a lower temperature than the center at the border of the side edge. This is because heat exchange and air convection are improved in terms of the casting web 31. Experimentally, the temperature at the side boundary of the casting web 31 can be lowered to about 5 ° C to 15 ° C than the temperature at the center. Therefore, the control unit 300 is one of the one or more nozzles provided in the mist nozzle 35 located in the width direction of the casting web 31, the liquid sprayed from the nozzle located in the center than the liquid sprayed from the nozzle located outside the casting In order to cool the web 31 more strongly, the use pressure, spray amount, particle size, etc. of the nozzles of the mist nozzle 35 can be adjusted differently. As a liquid spray of the nozzles of the mist nozzle 35, the casting web 31 is preferably cooled to have the same or similar temperature distribution across the width direction. Thereby, the properties of a homogeneous casting web can be achieved.

Meanwhile, in the slurry casting process, a cooling drum filled with cooling water is used to cool the dried cast web. However, the use of the cooling drum in the slurry casting process requires the installation of an additional separate drum for cooling, and the cooling drum is only capable of cooling, and it is difficult to impart other functions, such as agitation to the casting web. . On the other hand, cooling by the liquid spray of the mist nozzle 35 according to the present embodiment does not require an additional drum facility for cooling the dried casting web 35, and it is possible to spray not only cooling water but also perfume liquid. The production of platelets of the cast web with properties is facilitated.

4 is a view for explaining a casting process after cooling the casting web by a mist nozzle according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 4, in the process after cooling using the mist nozzle 35, a winding step by a bobbin (205 in FIG. 2) may be performed, but optionally, an additional drying step 410 and a cooling step 420. ) May be performed.

An additional drying step 410 re-drys the casting web in contact with the drying drum as hot water of high temperature filled in the drying drum. In order to obtain a homogenized casting web with minimal defect formation in the casting web, a slurry casting web having a desired density and moisture must be finally formed, so that the properties of the casting web are once again homogeneously controlled through an additional drying step 410. .

An additional cooling step 420 is performed to cool the dried casting web again as low-temperature cooling water filled in the cooling drum, so that target set values (for example, temperature, moisture content, thickness, etc.) of the casting web can be achieved. do.

The casting web, which has undergone an additional cooling step 420, may be used in the manufacture of an aerosol-generating article through a winding step with a bobbin (205 in FIG. 2).

Meanwhile, the additional drying step 410 and the cooling step 420 described in FIG. 4 are optional steps, which may be omitted in the slurry casting process.

Those of ordinary skill in the art related to the present embodiment will understand that it may be implemented in a modified form without departing from the essential characteristics of the above-described substrate. Therefore, the disclosed methods should be considered in terms of explanation, not limitation. The scope of the present invention is shown in the claims rather than the foregoing description, and all differences within the equivalent range should be interpreted as being included in the present invention.

Claims (8)

A method for producing a casting web of a slurry for homogenised tobacco material,
Casting the slurry from the casting box containing the slurry onto a conveyor belt;
While the casting web of the cast slurry is being transferred onto the conveyor belt, drying the casting web using steam or dry air;
Cooling the dried casting web by spraying a liquid onto the dried casting web using a mist nozzle; And
And winding the cooled casting web using a bobbin. According to claim 1,
The liquid sprayed from the mist nozzle comprises at least one of water and different types of fragrances. According to claim 1,
The mist nozzle
Method provided on top of the casting web in a direction transverse to the width of the casting web. According to claim 1,
The cooling step
The pressure of the mist nozzle is in the range of 5 to 20 bar, the particle size of the particle size of the liquid to be sprayed is a diameter between 5 and 20 μm, the spray pressure of the mist nozzle is at least 3 kg / cm3, and the spray amount of the mist nozzle is 6 A method of cooling the casting web by spraying the liquid to correspond to ~ 150 cc / min. According to claim 1,
The mist nozzle includes a plurality of nozzles through which the liquid is injected,
The cooling step
A method of cooling the casting web by spraying the liquid by controlling the spray conditions of each of the plurality of nozzles identically or differently. The method of claim 5,
The cooling step
A method in which the liquid sprayed from the nozzle located at the center cools the casting web more strongly than the liquid sprayed from the nozzle located on the outside of the nozzles. In the apparatus for producing a casting web of a slurry for homogenized tobacco material,
A conveyor belt for receiving the slurry cast from the casting box containing the slurry;
A dry air generator for drying the casting web using steam or dry air while the casting web of the cast slurry is transferred onto the conveyor belt;
A mist nozzle that cools the dried casting web by spraying a liquid onto the dried casting web; And
And a bobbin that winds the cooled casting web. The method of claim 7,
The mist nozzle is provided on the casting web in a direction transverse to the width of the casting web,
And the mist nozzle sprays the liquid containing water and at least one of different types of flavoring liquids onto the casting web.

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