Apparatus and method for the production of sheet like tobacco material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020337361-A1
Application number	US-201816604691-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 12, 2018
Priority date	Apr 12, 2017
Publication date	Oct 29, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus ( 10 ) for crimping a sheet ( 40 ) of material, the apparatus comprising a first and second facing crimping roller ( 11, 21 ) defining a first and second rotation axis, respectively, the first roller including:•a first plurality of circumferential ridges ( 16 ), each ridge defining a ridge amplitude;•wherein each of said first plurality of ridges is interrupted along its circumferential extension forming an interruption gap where for a given interruption angle an amplitude of the ridge differs from the ridge amplitude in the remaining circumferential extension of the ridge;•wherein said plurality of interruption gaps forms an interruption band defining a direction of extension, said direction of extension being angled with respect to a direction defined by the first rotation axis of an angle comprised between about 2° to about 25°. The invention also relates to a method for crimping a sheet of material as well as a crimped sheet of material and a rod made of a crimped sheet.

First claim

1 - 19 . (canceled)

20 . An apparatus for crimping a sheet of material, the apparatus comprising a first and second facing crimping roller defining a first and second rotation axis, respectively, the first roller including:
a first plurality of circumferential ridges, each ridge defining a ridge amplitude; wherein each of said first plurality of ridges is interrupted along its circumferential extension forming an interruption gap where for a given interruption angle an amplitude of the ridge differs from the ridge amplitude in the remaining circumferential extension of the ridge; and wherein said plurality of interruption gaps forms an interruption band defining a direction of extension, said direction of extension being angled with respect to a direction defined by the first rotation axis of an angle comprised between about 2° to about 25°.

21 . The apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein the amplitude of the ridge within the interruption gap is smaller than the ridge amplitude in the remaining circumferential extension of the ridge.

22 . The apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein a distance between the first roller axis and a surface of the first roller in the interruption gap and a distance between the first roller axis and the surface of the first roller between two adjacent ridges are substantially identical.

23 . The apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein in the interruption band a second plurality of ridges is formed, circumferentially extending parallel to the first plurality for the interruption angle and positioned offset from the first plurality of ridges.

24 . The apparatus according to claim 20 , including a plurality of interruption bands.

25 . A method for crimping a sheet of material, the method comprising:
feeding a substantially continuous sheet of material to a set of crimping rollers in a transport direction, the set of rollers comprising a first roller and a second roller, at least one of the first or second roller including a first non-uniform plurality of ridges across at least a portion of its width; crimping the substantially continuous sheet of material to form the crimped sheet by feeding the substantially continuous sheet between the first and second rollers in the transport direction of the sheet such that the corrugations of the first or second rollers apply a plurality of crimp corrugations to the substantially continuous sheet, the crimp corrugations having a first crimp pattern for a first portion and a second pattern for a second portion; the crimp corrugations forming a plurality of bands onto the crimped sheet, each band alternatively including the first or the second crimp pattern, the bands defining a direction of extension, and said direction of extension forms an angle comprised between about 2° to about 25° with an axis perpendicular to the transport direction.

26 . The method according to any of claim 25 , including:
gathering the crimped sheet of material, and forming a rod using the crimped sheet of material.

27 . The method according to claim 26 , including:
cutting the continuous rod into a plurality of rod-shaped components, each rod-shaped component having a gathered crimped sheet formed from a cut portion of the crimped sheet, the crimp corrugations of the crimped sheet defining a plurality of channels in the rod-shaped component.

28 . A crimped sheet for an aerosol generating article, the crimped sheet having a longitudinal direction and including:
a plurality of bands, each band including crimp corrugations of a first or of a second pattern, two adjacent bands having crimp corrugations having different patterns, each band defining a direction of extension which forms an angle comprised between about 2° to about 25° with an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the sheet.

29 . The crimped sheet according to claim 28 , wherein the crimp corrugations of the first pattern have a smaller amplitude than the crimp corrugation of the first pattern.

30 . The crimped sheet according to claim 29 , wherein the first pattern is free from corrugations.

31 . The crimped sheet according to claim 28 , wherein the sheet defines a first and a second lateral edge, opposed to each other, and the bands extend from the first lateral edge to the opposite lateral edge.

32 . The crimped sheet according to claim 28 , wherein the ratio between bands having crimp corrugations of a first pattern and bands having crimp corrugation having a second pattern is comprised between about 0.125 and about 1.

33 . A rod for an aerosol generating article, said rod including a portion of the crimped sheet according to claim 28 .

34 . The rod of claim 33 , said rod having a given length, the distance between two adjacent bands in the crimped sheet being substantially equal to the rod length.

Assignees

• Philip Morris Products Sa

Inventors

• Zappoli Stefano
• Lodi Ilario

Classifications

• A24B3/14 Primary

  Forming reconstituted tobacco products, e.g. wrapper materials, sheets, imitation leaves, rods, cakes; Forms of such products (delustering A24C1/40) · CPC title

• A24B3/18

  Other treatment of leaves, e.g. puffing, crimpling, cleaning · CPC title

• A24D3/0204 Primary

  Preliminary operations before the filter rod forming process, e.g. crimping, blooming (A24D3/0275 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A24C5/01

  Making cigarettes for simulated smoking devices · CPC title

• A24C5/18

  Forming the rod · CPC title