AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE AND MEDIUM RECEIVING ROD

TECHNICAL FIELD

One or more embodiments relate to an aerosol-generating device and a medium receiving rod.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, the demand for alternative items that overcome the disadvantages of tra-ditional cigarettes has increased. For example, there is an increasing demand for devices (e.g., cigarette-type electronic cigarettes) that generate aerosol by electrically heating cigarette sticks. Accordingly, research on electrically heated aerosol-generating devices and cigarette sticks (or aerosol-generating items) applied thereto is being actively conducted. For example, KR Patent Publication No. 10-2017-0132823 discloses a non-combustible type of a flavor aspirator, a flavor and aroma taste unit, and an atomization unit.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
Technical Problem

An aspect provides an aerosol-generating device and a medium receiving rod to transition nicotine through indirect heating of a medium by the aerosol.

An aspect provides an aerosol-generating device and a medium receiving rod (e.g., cigarette) that improve hygiene by configuring an indirect heated type (non-heated type) electronic cigarette using a disposable stick and provide a uniform flavor during nicotine transition.

Solution to Problem

According to an aspect, there is provided an aerosol-generating device including a receiver for receiving a medium receiving rod in a replaceable manner, an atomizer that generates aerosol, and a power supply for transmitting power required to heat the atomizer, and aerosol generated in the atomizer of the aerosol-generating device passes through the medium receiving rod received in the receiver such that a medium is transferred from medium pulp included in a filter segment of the medium receiving rod by heat of the aerosol.

According to another aspect, there is provided a medium receiving rod including a first filter segment disposed at the upstream end of the medium receiving rod, a second filter segment disposed downstream of the first filter segment and including the medium pulp, and a filter rod disposed downstream of the second filter segment and comprising a cooling segment and a mouthpiece segment.

The medium receiving rod may include an alkaline pH adjuster.

The medium receiving rod may include a tobacco pulp and may be manufactured by a compression granulation process.

The medium receiving rod may be a disposable cigarette.

The atomizer may include a liquid storage tank for storing a liquid composition material that generates the aerosol when heated, a heater for heating the liquid composition material, and a liquid transfer means for transferring the liquid composition material from the liquid storage tank to the heater.

The second filter segment including the medium pulp may be formed by applying a binder to one surface of the filter member, placing a plurality of particles of the medium pulp on the one surface of the filter member applied with the binder, folding the filter member multiple times, and wrapping the folded filter member with a wrapper.

The medium receiving rod used with the aerosol-generating device according to an example embodiment may include a first filter segment disposed at the upstream end of the medium receiving rod, and a second filter segment disposed downstream of the first filter segment and including medium pulp, a filter member, and a pH adjuster.

The pH adjuster may include an alkaline salt.

The medium receiving rod may further include a filter rod disposed downstream of the second filter segment, and including a cooling segment and a mouthpiece segment.

The first filter segment and the second filter segment may include an acetate material.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

An aerosol-generating device and a medium receiving rod, according to an example embodiment, may transfer nicotine through indirect heating of the medium by the aerosol.

The aerosol-generating device and the medium receiving rod according to an example embodiment may improve hygiene by configuring an indirect heated type (a non-heated type) electronic cigarette using a disposable stick and provide a uniform flavor during nicotine transition.

The effects of the aerosol-generating device and the medium receiving rod according to an example embodiment are not limited to those described above, and other effects not mentioned may be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1a is a diagram schematically illustrating an aerosol-generating device according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 1b is a diagram schematically illustrating an aerosol-generating device according to another example embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a structure of a medium receiving rod according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 3a is a diagram schematically illustrating a state in which a plurality of medium pulp particles are disposed on a filter member of a second filter segment according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 3b is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which a plurality of medium pulp particles are disposed inside a filter member of a second filter segment according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 4a is a diagram schematically illustrating a structure of a medium receiving rod according to an example embodiment; and

FIG. 4b is a diagram schematically illustrating a structure of a medium receiving rod according to another example embodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, example embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, various alterations and modifications may be made to the example embodiments. Here, the example embodiments are not to be construed as limited to the disclosure. The example embodiments should be understood to include all changes, equivalents, and replacements within the idea and the technical scope of the disclosure.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not to be limiting of the example embodiments. The singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises/comprising” and/or “includes/including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms including technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly-used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

When describing the examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, like reference numerals refer to like constituent elements and a repeated description related thereto will be omitted. In the description of the example embodiments, a detailed description of well-known related structures or functions will be omitted when it is deemed that such description will cause ambiguous interpretation of the present disclosure.

Also, in the description of the components, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), (b) or the like may be used herein when describing components of the present disclosure. These terms are used only for the purpose of discriminating one constituent element from another constituent element, and the nature, the sequences, or the orders of the constituent elements are not limited by the terms. When one constituent element is described as being “connected”, “coupled”, or “attached” to another constituent element, it should be understood that one constituent element can be connected or attached directly to another constituent element, and an intervening constituent element can also be “connected”, “coupled”, or “attached” to the constituent elements.

The constituent element, which has the same common function as the constituent element included in any one example embodiment, will be described by using the same name in other example embodiments. Unless disclosed to the contrary, the configuration disclosed in any one example embodiment may be applied to other example embodiments, and the specific description of the repeated configuration will be omitted.

In the following example embodiments, a “moisturizer” may mean a material that may facilitate the formation of visible smoke and/or aerosol. Examples of the moisturizer may include glycerin (GLY), propylene glycol (PG), ethylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, tetracthylene glycol, and oleyl alcohol, but are not limited thereto. In the art, the moisturizer may be used inter-changeably in terms such as an aerosol-forming agent, a wetting agent, and the like.

In the following example embodiments, the “aerosol-forming substrate” may mean a material that may form aerosol. The aerosol may include a volatile compound. The aerosol-forming substrate may be solid or liquid.

For example, a solid aerosol-forming substrate may include a solid material based on raw tobacco materials such as reconstituted tobacco leaves, cut tobacco, and reconstructed tobacco, and the like, and a liquid aerosol-forming substrate may include a liquid composition material based on nicotine, tobacco extract, and/or various flavoring agents. However, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to these examples.

In the following example embodiments, the “aerosol-generating device” may mean a device that generates aerosol using the aerosol-forming substrate to generate aerosol that may be directly inhaled into lungs of a user through a mouth of a user.

In the following example embodiments, the “medium receiving rod” may mean an item that receives a medium. Here, the term “medium” refers to a tobacco material that generates nicotine when heated. A representative example of the medium receiving rod may be a cigarette, but the scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

In the following example embodiments, the “upstream” or “upstream direction” may mean a direction away from the oral region of a user (a smoker), and the “downstream” or “downstream direction” may mean a direction close to the oral region of a user. The terms upstream and downstream may be used to describe the relative positions of the elements including the medium receiving rod. For example, in a medium receiving rod 100 illustrated in FIG. 2, a pulp rod 120 is positioned in the upstream or upstream direction of a filter rod 140, and the filter rod 140 is positioned at the downstream or downstream direction of the pulp rod 120.

In the following example embodiments, the “puff” may mean inhalation of a user, and inhalation may mean an action which causes smoke to be pulled into oral cavity of a user, nasal cavity, or lungs through a mouth or nose of a user.

Hereinafter, various example embodiments according to the accompanying drawings will be described.

FIGS. 1a and 1b are diagrams schematically illustrating an aerosol-generating device according to some example embodiments. FIG. 1a illustrates that a cartridge 222 and a heater 224 are arranged in a line, and FIG. 1b illustrates that the cartridge 222 and the heater 224 are arranged in parallel.

Referring to FIGS. 1a and 1b, an aerosol-generating device 200 according to the example embodiment may include a housing, a receiver 210 (e.g., a cavity) for receiving the medium receiving rod 100 (e.g., a cigarette), an atomizer 220 for generating the aerosol, and a power supply 230. In this case, the atomizer 220 may include a cartridge 222 containing an aerosol generating material and a heater 224 for heating the aerosol generating material. Although only relevant components are illustrated in the example of FIGS. 1a and 1b, it may be apparent to those skilled in the art that other general-purpose components may be further included in addition to the components illustrated in FIGS. 1a and 1b. For example, the aerosol-generating device 200 may further include an input module for receiving a command from a user, and an output module for outputting information such as a state of the device, smoking information, and the like. Hereinafter, each component of the aerosol-generating device 200 will be described.

The housing may form an exterior of the aerosol-generating device 200. In addition, the housing may form the receiver 210 for receiving the medium receiving rod 100. It may be desirable that the housing is implemented with a material that may protect internal components.

Next, the receiver 210 may be a space that may receive the medium receiving rod 100. The receiver 210 may include a coupling structure in order to firmly hold the medium receiving rod without falling out when the medium receiving rod 100 is received in the receiver 210. The coupling structure may be implemented by interference fit. Also, the coupling structure may be implemented using a magnetic material, a coupling structure using an electromagnetic material, or the like. In addition, the medium receiving rod 100 received in the receiver 210 may be in the form of a stick or cigarette that is replaceable as will be described later.

Next, the atomizer 220 may further include a liquid storage tank, a liquid transfer means (e.g., a wick), and a heater. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the atomizer 220 may further include other components. In addition, the cartridge 222 may be manufactured to be detachable from the heater 224 or may be manufactured integrally with the heater 224.

The liquid storage tank may store liquid composition materials. The liquid composition materials may be a liquid including tobacco-containing materials or nicotine-containing materials, or non-tobacco materials. For example, the liquid composition materials may include water, solvent, ethanol, plant extract (e.g., tobacco extract), fragrance, an aerosol-forming agent, a flavoring agent, or a vitamin mixture. The fragrance may include menthol, peppermint, spearmint oil, and various fruit flavoring components and the like, but is not limited thereto. The flavoring agent may include components that may provide various flavors to a user. The vitamin mixture may be a mixture of at least one of vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, and vitamin E, but is not limited thereto. The liquid composition materials may further include a moisturizer. The moisturizer may be glycerin (VG), polypropylene glycol (PG), sorbitol, or a mixture thereof, but is not limited thereto.

The liquid transfer means may transfer the liquid composition material stored in the liquid storage tank to the heater 224. For example, the liquid transfer means may be a wick element such as cotton fiber, ceramic fiber, glass fiber, and porous ceramic, but is not limited thereto.

Next, the heater 224 may heat the liquid composition material stored in the cartridge 222 such that the aerosol is generated from the liquid composition material. For example, the heater 224 may form aerosol by heating the liquid composition material transferred by the liquid transfer means. The formed aerosol may pass through the medium receiving rod 100 and be delivered to a user. That is, the aerosol formed by heating of the heater 224 may move along the airflow path of the medium receiving rod 100, and the airflow path may be configured such that aerosol formed by the liquid composition material stored in the cartridge may pass through the medium receiving rod 100 and be delivered to a user. For example, the heater 224 may be made of a coil, ceramic, a metal mesh, a conductive filament, and the like, but is not limited thereto. Also, the heating temperature of the heater 224 may be 270 degrees (° C.) or less, desirably 240° C. or less, and more desirably 200° C. or less. As will be described later, when a medium pulp P includes a pH adjuster, the minimum temperature at which nicotine may be transferred is lowered, and thus the heating temperature of the heater 224 may be lowered, and accordingly, an aerosol-generating system having better electrical efficiency may be configured.

For reference, in the art, the cartridge 222 and the heater 224 may be collectively referred to as various terms such as a cartomizer, an atomizer, a vaporizer, and the like. Next, the power supply 230 may supply power used to operate the aerosol-generating device 200. For example, the power supply 230 may supply power so that the heater 224 may heat the medium receiving rod 100. In addition, the power supply 230 may supply power required for operating electrical components such as a display (not shown), a sensor (not shown), and a motor (not shown) installed in the aerosol-generating device 200.

Hereinafter, the medium receiving rod 100 according to some example embodiments will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a structure of the medium receiving rod 100 according to some example embodiments.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the medium receiving rod 100 may include the pulp rod 120 and the filter rod 140. In addition, the medium receiving rod 100 may include the medium in the form of pulp, reconstituted tobacco, general cut tobacco leaves, or the like. For example, the medium receiving rod 100 may include a pulp-type medium. When the medium is received in the medium receiving rod 100 in the form of pulp particles, the amount of nicotine transferred to the oral region of a user per puff may be uniform compared to the case where the medium is provided in the form of general cut tobacco leaves or the like. In addition, if the medium in the form of the pulp-type medium (e.g., the pulp particles P) is disposed in the filter of the medium receiving rod 100, the dispersibility of the medium may be improved, and thus a uniform taste of smoking may be provided to consumers. In addition, the medium receiving rod 100 may further include a wrapper for wrapping the rod. Although only relevant components are illustrated in the example of FIG. 2, it may be apparent to those skilled in the art that other general-purpose components may be further included in addition to the components illustrated in FIG. 2. Hereinafter, each component of the medium receiving rod 100 will be described.

The pulp rod 120 includes medium pulp P or a segment including the medium pulp P and may supply tobacco components such as nicotine or components that provides a taste of smoking as it is heated. The pulp rod 120 may be directly heated by a heater or indirectly heated by a flow of a high-temperature aerosol. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the pulp rod 120 may include a filter segment, and desirably include a first filter segment 122 and a second filter segment 124.

The first filter segment 122 may be disposed at the upstream end of the medium receiving rod 100. The first filter segment 122 may perform a function of preventing the medium pulp P from falling off and may allow a segment including the medium pulp P to be disposed at the appropriate position in the aerosol-generating device 200 when the medium receiving rod 100 is inserted into the aerosol-generating device 200. In addition, the first filter segment 122 may prevent the liquefied aerosol from flowing into the aerosol-generating device 200. Examples of the first filter segment 122 may include a paper filter or an acetate filter. It may be desirable that the filter material is arranged in a longitudinal direction in order to secure a smooth airflow path, but is not limited thereto.

The second filter segment 124 may be disposed downstream of the first filter segment 122. The second filter segment 124 may include a medium in the form of pulp particles, reconstructed tobacco, general cut tobacco, and the like. For example, the medium may be in the form of a pulp-type medium. The medium pulp P may be tobacco pulp or nicotine pulp, but is not limited thereto. In addition, the second filter segment 124 may further perform a filtering function and a cooling function or the like with respect to the aerosol. Examples of the second filter segment 124 may include a paper filter or an acetate filter. It may be desirable that the filter material is arranged in a longitudinal direction in order to secure a smooth airflow path, but is not limited thereto.

FIG. 3a is a diagram schematically illustrating a state in which a plurality of medium pulp particles P are disposed on a filter member F of a second filter segment 124 according to some example embodiments. FIG. 3b is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which a plurality of medium pulp particles P are disposed inside a filter member F of a second filter segment 124 according to some example embodiments. The medium receiving rod 100 in which the filter segment 124 and a plurality of medium pulp particles P of FIGS. 3a and 3b are disposed together has fewer segments than a structure in which the medium pulp particles are disposed in a cavity structure, and thus it is easy to dispose the medium pulp particles in the rod, thereby simplifying a manufacturing process.

According to FIGS. 3a and 3b, the filter member F included in the second filter segment 124 may be a filter sheet which is crimped. The filter sheet may be disposed in the second filter segment 124 in such a manner that a plurality of medium pulp particles P are irregularly scattered on the filter sheet and then the filter sheet is folded multiple times.

More specifically, referring to FIG. 3a, a medium may be disposed on the filter sheet to form the second filter segment 124, and the medium may desirably be a plurality of medium pulp particles P. As the roundness of the pulp particles is lower (i.e., the shape of the pulp particles is irregular), the plurality of medium pulp particles P may be evenly distributed on the filter sheet since the plurality of medium pulp particles P are seated well on the filter sheet. In this case, however, the possibility of contamination of the exterior of the filter segment or the like may be increased due to the fine powder generated by the breakage of a portion of the medium pulp particles P during the manufacturing process. Accordingly, the roundness of the pulp particles P may be desirably 30% or more and 90% or less, and more desirably 60% or more and 90% or less. Additionally, referring to FIG. 3b, the second filter segment 124 may be formed by a process of folding the filter sheet on which the medium pulp P is disposed multiple times in a longitudinal direction and wrapping the filter sheet with a wrapper (not shown). When the medium receiving rod 100 is filled with the medium in this way, the uniformity of a taste of smoking may be improved since the medium is evenly distributed without being biased or lopsided in the cross-section of the medium receiving rod 100.

At this time, a binder may be applied to one surface of the filter sheet to improve the adhesion between the medium pulp P and the filter sheet. That is, the second filter segment 124 may be formed by applying a binder applied to one surface of the filter sheet, scattering a plurality of medium pulp particles P on one surface of the filter member F, folding the filter member multiple times such that a plurality of medium pulp particles P are disposed in the space between the folded parts of the filter members F, and wrapping the filter member F with a wrapper (not shown).

In addition, the second filter segment 124 may include a pH adjuster. The pH adjuster may desirably be an alkaline salt, and may be, for example, potassium carbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate, calcium oxide, and the like, but is not limited thereto. In addition, the pH adjuster, which generates the least negative scent during puffing, may be selected and used. When the pH adjuster is included in the second filter segment 124, the pH of the tobacco pulp particles P included in the second filter segment 124 increases, and accordingly, even when the medium is heated with a relatively low temperature, nicotine may be sufficiently transferred from the tobacco pulp particles. Accordingly, as a result, nicotine may be transferred by a small amount of heat delivered to the tobacco pulp by the hot aerosol which is generated from the cartridge 222 and flows along the airflow path to the medium receiving rod 100, without directly heating the second filter segment 124. The pH adjuster may be included in the pulp itself by being mixed together during a manufacturing process of the medium pulp P or may be disposed separately from the medium pulp P. Besides, the pH adjuster may temporarily improve the adhesion of the medium pulp P to the filter sheet when applied to the filter sheet instead of binder materials.

The medium pulp P, particularly the tobacco pulp, may be manufactured by a compression granulation process. The compression granulation process corresponds to a wet process, and the nicotine transition rate of the produced tobacco pulp particles is relatively higher than that of the fluidized bed granulation process. Accordingly, when the temperature at which the medium pulp P is heated is relatively low, it may be more advantageous in terms of the nicotine transition to include the tobacco pulp P manufactured by the compression granulation process than to include the tobacco pulp P manufactured by the fluidized bed granulation process.

The filter rod 140 may be positioned downstream of the pulp rod 120 and may perform a filtering function with respect to the aerosol. For this, the filter rod 140 may include filter materials such as paper, cellulose acetate fiber, and the like. The filter rod 140 may further include a wrapper for wrapping filter materials.

The filter rod 140 may include a cooling segment 142 and a mouthpiece segment 144. The cooling segment 142 may perform a cooling function with respect to the aerosol, and the mouthpiece segment 144 may perform a filtering function with respect to the aerosol.

In addition, the filter rod 140 may be manufactured to generate flavors. For example, a flavoring liquid may be sprayed onto the filter rod 140, or fibers to which the flavoring liquid is applied may be inserted into the filter rod 140. Referring to FIG. 2, the mouthpiece segment 144 may include a flavoring agent capsule C. In some cases, the filter rod 140 may further include at least one segment that performs another function.

The medium receiving rod 100 described above may be a disposable cigarette that is received in the aerosol-generating device 200 and discarded after being used once. When the medium receiving rod 100 is configured for one-time use, the uniformity and durability of a taste of smoking may be higher than that of a multiple-use cartridge type that is designed for about 50 to 100 puffs. In addition, when the medium receiving rod 100 is configured for one-time use, hygiene may be improved compared to when the medium receiving rod 100 is configured for multiple use.

FIGS. 4a and 4b illustrate an aerosol-generating system 10 according to some example embodiments and illustrate a state in which the medium receiving rod 100 is received in the aerosol-generating device 200 as an example. FIG. 4a illustrates the aerosol-generating system 10 in which the cartridge 222 and the heater 224 are disposed in a line, and FIG. 4b illustrates the aerosol-generating system 10 in which the cartridge 222 and the heater 224 are disposed in parallel.

As illustrated in FIGS. 4a and 4b, the aerosol-generating system 10 according to the present disclosure may generate the aerosol when the liquid composition material inside the cartridge 222 is heated by the heater 224 of the aerosol-generating device 200. Also, nicotine may be generated as the generated aerosol passes through the medium receiving rod 100 and the medium pulp particles P, thereby indirectly heating the tobacco pulp particles. As described above, the minimum transferable temperature of nicotine is lowered by the pH adjuster included in the second filter segment 124, and thus nicotine may be transferred even when the tobacco pulp particles are heated at a relatively low temperature compared to a case where nicotine is transferred by burning tobacco leaves. The generated nicotine may be delivered to a user along the airflow path (see arrow directions of FIGS. 4a and 4b) with aerosol.

While this disclosure includes specific examples, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made in these examples without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims and their equivalents. The examples described herein are to be considered in a descriptive sense only, and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects in each example are to be considered as being applicable to similar features or aspects in other examples. Suitable results may be achieved if the described techniques are performed in a different order, and/or if components in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit are combined in a different manner, and/or replaced or supplemented by other components or their equivalents.

Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.

AEROSOL-GENERATING DEVICE AND MEDIUM RECEIVING ROD

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