WO2014076224A1

WO2014076224A1 - Plant material alignment device and method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2014076224A1
Application number: PCT/EP2013/073911
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wojciech Jerzy Chojnacki
Original assignee: International Tobacco Machinery Poland Sp. Z O.O.
Priority date: 2012-11-16
Filing date: 2013-11-15
Publication date: 2014-05-22
Also published as: EP2919598A1; PL401656A1; PL221847B1

Abstract

Cutting machine for plant material in the form of oblong particles used for cigarette production, the cutting machine comprising a cutting head and a press feeder consisting of a lower press conveyor and an upper press conveyor, the two press conveyors being situated at least partially opposite each other, the plant material being supplied to the cutting machine as a bulk of disordered particles and being fed to the cutting head from the press feeder. In the zone of transport of the particles and upstream the press feeder the cutting machine comprises a device (10, 10', 10'', 10''', 10^IV, 10^V) for assisting the alignment of the transported particles along their direction of transport, the device (10, 10', 10", 10''', 10^IV, 10^V) being at least partially immersed in the bulk of the transported particles and extending partially to the area between the lower press conveyor and the upper press conveyor. Method of aligning oblong particles of plant material along their direction of transport in a cutting machine.

Description

PLANT MATERIAL ALIGN MENT DEVICE AND METHOD THEREOF

The invention relates to a cutting machine for plant material and a method of aligning the plant material particles along the direction of their transport in the cutting machine. Specifically, the invention relates to a cutting machine and a method applied to cloves that may be added in cigarette production.

The first stage of a cigarette production process includes preparation of cut tobacco consisting of cut tobacco leaf material and ribs. In the case of some kinds of cigarettes, another plant material is added e.g. cloves giving the cigarettes a specific aroma. Oblong particles like cloves or tobacco ribs need to be cut transversally to their lengths.

Apparatus for aligning tobacco ribs is known from GB 2 261 646. It discloses a cutting tool equipped with a vibrator conveyor exhibiting channels the width of which is smaller than the lengths of the cut ribs. The conveyor is located upstream the inlet of the lower transporter of a press conveyor. Such a solution is applicable to the tobacco ribs but not to the cloves which are much shorter. A disadvantage of this solution is that the orientation given to the ribs, substantially along the direction of their transport on the conveyor, will be changed and will not be retained due to the long distance of their transport on the press conveyor towards the cutting head.

The object of the present invention is to provide a device and a method for aligning oblong particles to be cut, e.g. the cloves, along the direction of their feed. The inventors have unexpectedly established that if a special aligning device, advantageously comprising substantially vertical separating elements, is positioned in a specific way within a stream of cloves or other oblong particles being fed, the alignment of the particles along their direction of feed may be improved.

According to the invention a cutting machine is provided for plant material in the form of oblong particles used for cigarette production, the cutting machine comprising a cutting head and a press feeder consisting of a lower press conveyor and an upper press conveyor, the two press conveyors being situated at least partially opposite each other, the plant material being supplied to the cutting machine as a bulk of disordered particles and being fed to the cutting head from the press feeder.

The cutting machine according to the invention is characterized in that in the zone of transport of the particles and upstream the press feeder it comprises an aligning device for assisting the alignment of the transported particles along their direction of transport, the device being at least partially immersed in the bulk of the transported particles and extending partially to the area between the lower press conveyor and the upper press conveyor.

The aligning device preferably comprises at least two substantially vertical mutually spaced sections aligning the particles of the material, said sections being mounted on a common frame that is fixed in the cutting machine.

Preferably, at least one section comprises at least two bars oriented along the direction of transport of the material . The free endings of the bars may preferably be provided with aligning plates constituting extensions of said bars.

In another preferred embodiment, the free endings of the bars may be provided with arrowhead-type elements constituting extensions of said bars.

Preferably, at least one pair of neighboring bars lying in a common vertical plane is connected by means of a wall .

In another preferred embodiment, at least one section consists of a substantially vertical plate mounted on the frame and oriented along the direction of transport of the material.

The at least one plate may comprise a corrugated portion, the corrugations being oriented substantially horizontally.

The at least one plate is preferably thinned on its upstream side.

According to the invention a method is provided for aligning oblong particles of plant material along their direction of transport in a cutting machine used in cigarette production, the cutting machine comprising a press feeder consisting of a lower press conveyor and an upper press conveyor, the method including supplying the plant material to the cutting machine as a bulk of disordered particles.

The method according to the invention is characterized in that in the zone of transport of the particles and upstream the press feeder, the alignment of the transported particles along their direction of transport being assisted by an aligning device that is at least partially immersed in the bulk of the transported particles and extends partially to the area between the lower press conveyor and the upper press conveyor. Preferably, the aligning device is used comprising at least two substantially vertical mutually spaced sections aligning the particles of the material, said sections being mounted on a common frame that is fixed in the cutting machine.

Preferably, the aligning device is used in which at least one section comprises at least two bars oriented along the direction of transport of the material.

Preferably, the free endings of the bars are provided with aligning plates constituting extensions of said bars.

The free endings of the bars may be provided with arrowhead-type elements constituting extensions of said bars .

In another preferred embodiment of the method the aligning device is used in which at least one pair of neighboring bars lying in a common vertical plane is connected by means of a wall.

In still another preferred embodiment the aligning device is used in which at least one section consists of a substantially vertical plate mounted on the frame and oriented along the direction of transport of the material .

Preferably, the at least one plate comprises corrugated portions, the corrugations being oriented substantially horizontally.

The at least one plate may preferably be thinned on its upstream side.

The invention is advantageous in that it enables to align the oblong particles in a flowing bulk of material and to retain their orientation in the zone between the press conveyors, so that the alignment of the particles arriving to the cutting head is effectively improved. As it results from the tests performed, the improvement of the alignment of cloves may reach 30%.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference to the appended drawing in which: fig. 1 schematically shows a longitudinal cross- section of the cutting machine according to the invention; fig. 2 presents a perspective view of a first embodiment of the device for assisting the alignment of the transported particles; fig. 3 shows a side view of a second embodiment of the device for assisting the alignment of the transported particles; fig. 4 and fig. 5 show front views of two embodiments of the arrowhead elements; fig. 6 shows a perspective view of another embodiment of the device for assisting the alignment of the transported particles; fig. 7 shows a side view of an exemplary plate of the device for assisting the alignment; fig. 8 shows an enlarged front view of the plate of fig. 7; fig. 9 shows a side view of another example of the plate of the device for assisting the alignment; fig. 10 shows an enlarged front view of the plate of fig. 9; fig. 11 shows an enlarged edge of a part of the plate of fig. 9; fig. 12 shows a side view of yet another example of the plate of the device for assisting the alignment.

Fig. 1 schematically shows a cutting machine according to the invention. The cutting machine 1, similarly to the known cutting machines used in tobacco industry, is typically equipped with a cutting head 2 (e.g. a drum having knives mounted along its generatrices) and a press feeder 3 comprising an upper press conveyor 4 and a lower press conveyor 5, the conveyors 4 and 5 being situated at least partially opposite each other. A hopper 6 is located above the lower conveyor 5. The cutting machine may also be provided with an additional feeder 7 in the form of a belt conveyor, a vibrator conveyor, a shake conveyor or a vibratory element for the material 8 to be cut.

The cutting machine according to the invention is used for cutting plant material having the form of oblong particles. The plant material may consist of tobacco leaves, tobacco ribs as well as e.g. the cloves added to some types of cigarettes. The cutting machine shown in fig. 1 is equipped with a device 10 for assisting the alignment of the transferred material particles along their direction of transfer X.

The device 10 is located upstream the press feeder 3 and above the lower conveyor 5 so that on the one hand it is situated partially between the lower press conveyor 5 and the upper press conveyor 4, and on the other hand it is at least partially immersed in the transported material .

In the embodiment shown in fig. 2, the device 10 for assisting alignment of the oblong particles, e.g. the cloves G, comprises numerous aligning sections 11. An aligning section may comprise several substantially horizontal bars 12.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 2 the bars 12 are provided at their free endings with substantially vertical directing rectangular walls 13. The bars 12 may be mounted on supports 14.

Directing walls 13 may have different shapes and they may also be vertically connected with the neighboring directing walls 13. For example the section 11A may be provided with one directing wall 13A formed by the two connected directing walls provided on three bars 12. The sections 11 may be fixed in a known manner to the support of the cutting machine (not shown) , on a substantially horizontal frame 16 extending transversally to the direction of transport of the plant material, the frame 16 being provided with typical supports, e.g. by means of openings 17.

The frame 16 may be mounted immovably on the cutting machine or else it may be mounted via vibration elements. In operation, once the device 10 has been mounted on the cutting machine, both the directing walls 13 and the bars 12 are at least partially immersed in the stream of the cloves G flowing along the direction of transport indicated by the arrow X in the figures.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 13 the device 10' comprises the sections 11' equipped with the bars 12' having their free endings provided with the directing elements in the form of arrowheads 18.

In figs. 4 and 5 two examples of the arrowheads 18 are shown - one being a double-fin arrowhead 18' (fig. 4) and the other being a four-fin arrowhead 18" (fig. 5), the fins 19 being vertical and the fins 19' being horizontal .

In the embodiment shown in fig. 6, the directing sections 11" have the form of substantially vertical plates 20 mounted on the frame 16 provided with supports 15' .

Fig. 7 shows an embodiment of the device 10''' similar to that of fig. 6, having the plates 20' belonging to the section 11''', formed as corrugated plates, the corrugation being substantially horizontal. The corrugated shape of the plates 20', as seen along the arrow A, is shown in fig. 8 (ridges and grooves may have triangular shapes) . It should be understood that the corrugation may also consist of substantially horizontal longitudinal grooves having other shapes as e.g. trapezoid, square etc. The plate 20' has the upstream side vertical edge beveled in order to facilitate introduction of the plant material into the space between the sections.

Figs. 9, 10 and 11 show still another embodiment of the device 10^IV, in which the plate 20'' belonging to the section 11^IV comprises two parts 22 and 23. The section part 22 is formed as a corrugated plate, its corrugation being substantially horizontal as shown as the cross- section B of fig. 10. The section part 22 is shown as the enlarged view C of fig. 11. The section part 23 is thinned and has a sharpened edge 24 on the upstream side, as shown by the arrow X.

Fig. 12 shows an embodiment of the device 10^v constituting a modification of the embodiments of figs.

9- 11. In this embodiment the plate 20''' has three beveled edges - in the section part 23' the vertical edge on the upstream side is beveled, in the section part 22', on the downstream side two horizontal edges are beveled.

In the above described embodiments of the cutting machine according to the invention, the plant material which is transported and cut is the cloves, shown as the particles G in figs. 2 and 3. For the sake of simplicity, the cloves are also shown as the longitudinal cylindrical particles G' .

According to the method of the invention, the oblong particles of plant material, e.g. the cloves G, G' are supplied to the cutting machine as a bulk of disordered particles. Next, before being fed the to the cutting head, the particles are aligned by means of the device

10- 10^v for assisting the alignment while they are transported towards the press feeder consisting of a lower press conveyor and an upper press conveyor, the two press conveyors being situated at least partially opposite each other.

The method according to the invention consists in rearranging the oblong particles while they are being fed to be cut so that as many particles as possible are moving towards the cutting head, their lengths being oriented along the direction of transport. This is realized by way of turning around the particles that are moving along the direction of transport which are not oriented in parallel to the direction of transport.

The particles G, G' to be cut are supplied to the lower press conveyor 5 via the hopper 6 and the feeder 7. Initially, the particles G, G' are transported on the lower press conveyor 5 in a random configuration in relation to the direction of transport towards the cutting head.

As it may be seen in fig. 11, the particles G, G' oriented substantially transversally to the direction of transport, reach the edge 24 and turn around so that they become oriented substantially along the direction of transport .

The particles reaching the supports 14, 14' (figs. 2 and 3) or the plates 20 (fig. 6) will react similarly. The corrugated section of the plate 20' has a similar aligning function. Further, the particles G, G' tend to become arranged along the grooves of the corrugated plates 20' or the section parts 22, 22' of the plates 20'', 20''', as shown in figs. 8 and 10. The arrowheads shown in figs. 4 and 5 have a similar function too. To a certain degree, the aligning action will be transferred from the particles G, G' located in direct contact with the elements of the aligning device to those located farther away therefrom.

Claims

Patent claims

1. Cutting machine for plant material in the form of oblong particles used for cigarette production, the cutting machine comprising a cutting head and a press feeder consisting of a lower press conveyor and an upper press conveyor, the two press conveyors being situated at least partially opposite each other, the plant material being supplied to the cutting machine as a bulk of disordered particles and being fed to the cutting head from the press feeder, characterized in that in the zone of transport of the particles and upstream the press feeder it comprises an aligning device (10, 10', 10", 10'", 10^IV, 10^v) for assisting the alignment of the transported particles along their direction of transport, the aligning device (10, 10', 10", 10"', 10^IV, 10^v) being at least partially immersed in the bulk of the transported particles and extending partially to the area between the lower press conveyor and the upper press conveyor.

2. Cutting machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the aligning device (10, 10', 10", 10"', 10^IV, 10^v) comprises at least two substantially vertical mutually spaced sections (11, 11', 11", 11"', 11^IV, ll^v) aligning the particles of the material, said sections being mounted on a common frame (16) that is fixed in the cutting machine.

3. Cutting machine according to claim 2, characterized in that at least one section (11, 11') comprises at least two bars (12, 12') oriented along the direction of transport of the material.

4. Cutting machine according to claim 3, characterized in that the free endings of the bars (12) are provided with aligning plates (13) constituting extensions of said bars.

5. Cutting machine according to claim 3, characterized in that the free endings of the bars (12') are provided with arrowhead-type elements (18) constituting extensions of said bars.

6. Cutting machine according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that at least one pair of neighboring bars lying in a common vertical plane is connected by means of a wall (13A) .

7. Cutting machine according to claim 2, characterized in that at least one section (11, 11', 11", 11"', 11^IV, ll^v) consists of a substantially vertical plate (20, 20', 20", 20'") mounted on the frame (16) and oriented along the direction of transport of the material.

8. Cutting machine according to claim 7, characterized in that the at least one plate (20, 20', 20", 20'") comprises a corrugated portion, the corrugations being oriented substantially horizontally.

9. Cutting machine according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the at least one plate (20, 20', 20", 20'") is thinned on its upstream side.

10. Method of aligning oblong particles of plant material along their direction of transport in a cutting machine used in cigarette production, the cutting machine comprising a press feeder consisting of a lower press conveyor and an upper press conveyor, the method including supplying the plant material to the cutting machine as a bulk of disordered particles, characterized in that in the zone of transport of the particles and upstream the press feeder, the alignment of the transported particles along their direction of transport is assisted by an aligning device (10, 10', 10'', 10''', 10^IV, 10^v) that is at least partially immersed in the bulk of the transported particles and extends partially to the area between the lower press conveyor and the upper press conveyor.

11. Method according to claim 11, characterized in that the aligning device (10, 10', 10'', 10''', 10^IV, 10^v) is used comprising at least two substantially vertical mutually spaced sections (11, 11', 11'', 11''', 11^IV, ll^v) aligning the particles of the material, said sections being mounted on a common frame (16) that is fixed in the cutting machine.

12. Method according to claim 11, characterized in that the aligning device (10, 10', 10'', 10''', 10^IV, 10^v) is used in which at least one section (11, 11') comprises at least two bars (12, 12') oriented along the direction of transport of the material.

13. Method according to claim 12, characterized in that the free endings of the bars (12) are provided with aligning plates constituting extensions of said bars .

14. Method according to claim 11, characterized in that the free endings of the bars (12') are provided with arrowhead-type elements (18) constituting extensions of said bars.

15. Method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the aligning device (10, 10', 10'', 10''', 10^IV, 10^v) is used in which at least one pair of neighboring bars lying in a common vertical plane is connected by means of a wall (13A) .

16. Method according to claim 11, characterized in that the aligning device (10, 10', 10'', 10''', 10^IV, 10^v) is used in which at least one section (11, 11', 11", 11"', 11^IV, ll^v) consists of a substantially vertical plate (20, 20', 20", 20'") mounted on the frame (16) and oriented along the direction of transport of the material.

17. Method according to claim 16, characterized in that the at least one plate (20, 20', 20", 20"') comprises corrugated portions, the corrugations being oriented substantially horizontally.

18. Method according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that the at least one plate (20, 20', 20", 20'") is thinned on its upstream side.