Patent Application
20220232882
This application relates to the field of microwave heating, and in particular, to a baked item, a method for preparing the baked item, and a microwave heating method for the baked item.
A heat not burn technology refers to a method of baking a specific baked item (for example, a cigarette) through low-temperature heating without burning to generate vapor for a user to inhale.
Conventional low-temperature baking apparatuses mainly energize a heating element, the heating element generates heat through the Joule effect, and the heating element is in direct contact with the baked item (tobacco) to transfer the heat to the tobacco for baking. This method has problems such as a long preheating time and non-uniform cigarette baking, and the utilization efficiency of the tobacco is low.
Microwave heating is a process of utilizing continuous polarization of a heated material in a microwave electromagnetic field, and heating the material by using a dielectric loss (similar to internal friction) generated due to high-frequency reciprocating movement of dipoles inside the heated material. This method is characterized by a high heating speed and being capable of heating various parts of the baked item, so that the problems of a long preheating time and poor cigarette baking uniformity of the conventional electric heating method may be resolved. However, when heating a conventional cigarette, general microwave heating apparatuses cannot effectively heat the baked item to a target temperature, so it is difficult to effectively bake a tobacco to obtain a good taste.
According to various embodiments of this application, a baked item is provided, including a tobacco and a microwave absorbing agent, where the tobacco and the microwave absorbing agent are both capable of absorbing microwaves to generate heat, the microwave absorbing agent is made of a non-volatile solid material with a stable dielectric loss constant, the dielectric loss constant of the microwave absorbing agent does not change along with temperature, the dielectric loss constant of the microwave absorbing agent is higher than a dielectric loss constant of lignocellulose in the tobacco, and the microwave absorbing agent is capable of stably absorbing microwaves to generate heat to heat the tobacco through thermal conduction.
In an embodiment, the microwave absorbing agent is one of or any combination of ceramic powder, an inorganic non-metal element, a ferrite absorbing agent, or metal powder.
In an embodiment, the ceramic powder includes one of or any combination of silicon carbide, silicon nitride, or aluminum nitride; the inorganic non-metal element includes one of or any combination of coke, carbon powder, or graphite powder; the ferrite absorbing agent includes Fe3O4; and the metal powder includes one of or any combination of Ti powder, Fe powder, or Ni powder.
In an embodiment, the microwave absorbing agent is uniformly distributed in the tobacco, and a particle size of the microwave absorbing agent ranges from 2 μm to 200 μm.
In an embodiment, a ratio of a volume of the microwave absorbing agent to a volume of the tobacco ranges from 1% to 30%.
In an embodiment, a thermal conductivity of the microwave absorbing agent is higher than a thermal conductivity of the tobacco.
In an embodiment, the baked item is a cigarette, and the cigarette includes a tobacco portion, a filter portion, and a microwave filter membrane, where the tobacco portion includes the tobacco and the microwave absorbing agent; and the microwave filter membrane is disposed in the filter portion or between the filter portion and the tobacco portion.
In an embodiment, the microwave filter membrane is a metal foil, the metal foil is provided with a first through hole, airflow is capable of circulating from the first through hole, the metal foil is configured to reflect microwaves to prevent microwave leakage, and the first through hole is configured to intercept transmission of the microwaves.
This application further provides a method for preparing the foregoing baked item, including the following steps:
S110: pulverizing a tobacco raw material into a first component;
S120: adding an additive to the first component to obtain a second component through uniform mixing, and adding powder of the microwave absorbing agent into the second component and uniformly mixing to obtain a third component; or adding the microwave absorbing agent and the additive to the first component and uniformly mixing to obtain a fourth component through uniform mixing; and
S130: shaping the third component or the fourth component.
In an embodiment, the additive in step S120 includes one of or any combination of an acidity regulator, a bulking agent, a humectant, a stabilization agent/coagulating agent, a thickening agent, or a natural flavoring agent.
In an embodiment, a manner for shaping the third component or the fourth component in step S130 includes at least one of coating, die-casting, or thermoforming.
This application further provides a microwave heating method for the foregoing baked item, including the following steps:
S210: generating, by a microwave generator, microwaves to heat the baked item; and
S220: absorbing, by the tobacco and the microwave absorbing agent, the microwaves to generate heat, and further heating, by the microwave absorbing agent, the tobacco through thermal conduction.
In an embodiment, the microwave heating method for the baked item further includes a temperature control step S230: detecting, by a temperature detection unit, a temperature of the baked item, and transmitting a result of the detection to a circuit control unit, so that the circuit control unit controls a heating temperature of the baked item by controlling a working power of the microwave generator. In an embodiment, a manner in which the temperature detection unit detects the temperature of the baked item in step S230 includes at least one of thermocouple temperature measurement, optical pyrometer temperature measurement, or infrared optical fiber temperature measurement.
In an embodiment, a manner in which the temperature detection unit detects the temperature of the baked item in step S230 includes at least one of calculating a temperature of a cigarette according to a variation of a physical parameter of the cigarette or calculating a temperature of a cigarette according to a working power of the microwave generator.
Details of one or more embodiments of this application are provided in the accompanying drawings and descriptions below. Other features, objectives, and advantages of this application will become apparent from the specification, the accompanying drawings, and the claims.
To better describe and illustrate embodiments and/or examples in this application disclosed herein, reference may be made to one or more accompanying drawings. Additional details or examples used to describe the accompanying drawings should not be considered as limiting the scope of any of the disclosed application, currently described embodiments and/or examples, and the best modes of this application currently understood.
To help understand this application, the following describes this application more comprehensively with reference to the related accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings show exemplary implementations of this application. However, this application may be implemented in many different forms, and is not limited to the implementations described in this specification. On the contrary, the implementations are provided to make understanding of the disclosed content of this application more comprehensive.
It should be noted that, when a component is referred to as “being fixed to” another component, the component may be directly on the component, or an intervening component may be present. When a component is considered to be “connected to” another component, the component may be directly connected to the other component, or an intervening component may also be present. The terms “inter”, “outer”, “left”, “right” and similar expressions used in this specification are only for purposes of illustration but do not indicate a unique implementation.
When a baked item such as a conventional cigarette is heated by microwaves, the cigarette can hardly be effectively heated to a target temperature, so it is difficult to obtain a good taste. It is found through research that a specific reason mainly lies in that, general microwave heating frequency is 2.45 GHz, and a heating power of a material of a unit volume under action of a microwave field is P=2πf·ε0ε′ tan δ·/E/2, where f is microwave frequency, ε′ tan δ is a dielectric loss constant of the material, ε0 is a vacuum dielectric constant, and E is an intensity of a microwave electric field, so that the microwave heating is closely related to the dielectric loss constant of the material and the intensity of the microwave electric field. Main components of a cigarette include lignocellulose, some water, and additives such as glycerol and flavoring agent. A tobacco baking process mainly includes volatilization of the water, the glycerol, nicotine, and a plant volatile substance and thermolysis of some cellulose and lignin. In a microwave heating early stage of the cigarette, dielectric loss constants of the water (the dielectric loss constant is 10 to 20) and the glycerol are relatively high, so that the temperature of the tobacco can rise quickly. However, along with volatilization of the water and the glycerol, and a dielectric loss constant of the lignocellulose being relatively small, a temperature-rising rate of the tobacco may decrease quickly. Therefore, when a baked item such as a conventional cigarette is heated by microwaves, the baked item cannot be effectively heated to a target temperature, and according to a design of the cigarette, the target temperature is generally 250° C. to 400° C.
In an embodiment, the baked item is a cigarette 100. As shown in
The microwave absorbing agent 132 has a relatively stable dielectric loss constant. It should be noted that, the relatively stable dielectric loss constant of the microwave absorbing agent described herein refers to that the microwave absorbing agent is generally in a solid state and may not be volatilized or undergo a chemical reaction, so that the dielectric loss constant thereof may not change along with temperature, and the microwave absorbing agent can stably absorb microwaves to generate heat. The microwave absorbing agent 132 may be granular or sheet ceramic powder (for example, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, or aluminum nitride), an inorganic non-metal element (for example, coke, carbon powder, or graphite powder), a ferrite absorbing agent (for example, Fe3O4), or even metal powder (for example, Ti, Fe, or Ni). The microwave absorbing agent 132 is added in a reproduction process of the tobacco, so that the microwave absorbing agent is uniformly distributed in the tobacco 131. The microwave absorbing agent 132 may be one of or any combination of the foregoing ceramic powder, the inorganic non-metal element, the ferrite absorbing agent, or the metal powder. The dielectric loss constant of the microwave absorbing agent is generally higher than a dielectric loss constant of lignocellulose in the tobacco. For example, a dielectric loss constant of the silicon carbide is generally 0.02 to 0.2, a dielectric loss constant of graphite ranges from 0.01 to 0.2, and a dielectric loss constant of lignocellulose is generally lower than 1*10−3.
Mixing of the microwave absorbing agent 132 and the tobacco 131 is not common mechanical mixing, but is to dope the microwave absorbing agent 132 in the reproduction process of the tobacco 131. In an embodiment, and with reference to
S110: pulverizing a tobacco raw material into a first component;
S120: adding a required additive to the first component obtained in step S110 and uniformly mixing to form a second component, the required additive mainly including an acidity regulator, a bulking agent, a humectant, a stabilization agent/coagulating agent, a thickening agent, or a natural flavoring agent; and adding powder of the microwave absorbing agent 132 into the second component and uniformly mixing to obtain a third component; or adding the microwave absorbing agent 132 and the additive to the first component and uniformly mixing to obtain a fourth component; and
S130: shaping the third component or the fourth component by coating, die-casting, or thermoforming. According to the foregoing method for preparing the tobacco 131 product, the microwave absorbing agent 132 can be mixed in the tobacco 131 quite uniformly, to heat to the tobacco 131 through thermal conduction subsequently.
For a particle size of the microwave absorbing agent 132, the portability of being mixed into the tobacco 131 is mainly considered, and it is difficult to mix the microwave absorbing agent into the tobacco when the particle size is too large. Therefore, in an embodiment, the particle size of the microwave absorbing agent 132 ranges from 2 μm to 200 μm. In another embodiment, the particle size of the microwave absorbing agent 132 ranges from 2 μm to 50 μm, and a ratio of a volume of the microwave absorbing agent 132 to a volume of the tobacco 131 ranges from 1% to 30%. In addition, generally, a thermal conductivity of the powder of the microwave absorbing agent 132 is higher than a thermal conductivity of the tobacco 131. Therefore, adding the microwave absorbing agent 132 into the tobacco 131 can further improve the thermal conductivity of the entire cigarette 100, to further improve the temperature uniformity of the cigarette 100 after being heated.
After the cigarette 100 including the microwave absorbing agent 132 is placed into a microwave heating apparatus, in addition to absorbing microwaves to generate heat, the tobacco 131 of the tobacco portion 130 may be further heated by the microwave absorbing agent 132 through thermal conduction, and temperature rising of the tobacco 131 is more stable and uniform under a double heating mechanism of microwave radiation and thermal conduction. In a volatilization process of materials such as water and glycerol in the tobacco 131, the microwave absorbing agent 132 can provide stable heating through thermal conduction, to enable the temperature of the tobacco 131 to continue to rise to an effective baking temperature and produce unique smoked incense through thermolysis, thereby obtaining a good taste.
A main function of the microwave filter membrane 120 is to prevent microwaves from being leaked out from the filter portion 110, and the microwave filter membrane may be located in the middle of the filter portion 110 or may be located at a boundary of the filter portion 110 and the tobacco portion 130. In the embodiment shown in
In an embodiment,
In an embodiment, as shown in
In a specific embodiment, as shown in
In the embodiment shown in
In an embodiment, and with reference to
S210: generating, by the microwave generator 240, microwaves to heat the cigarette 100; and
S220: absorbing, by the tobacco 131 and the microwave absorbing agent 132 in the cigarette 100, the microwaves to generate heat, and further heating, by the microwave absorbing agent 132, the tobacco 131 through thermal conduction. The temperature of the tobacco 131 rising to an effective baking temperature under a dual heating mechanism of microwave radiation and thermal conduction. In some other embodiments, the microwave heating method for the cigarette 100 further includes a temperature control step S230: detecting, by the temperature detection unit 400, a temperature of the cigarette 100, and transmitting a result of the detection to the circuit control unit 230, so that the circuit control unit 230 controls a heating temperature of the cigarette 100 by controlling a working power of the microwave generator 240.
The temperature detection unit 400 can directly or indirectly detect the temperature of the cigarette 100. A direct temperature measurement manner includes thermocouple temperature measurement, optical pyrometer temperature measurement, and infrared optical fiber temperature measurement, where the infrared optical fiber temperature measurement is performed according to infrared electromagnetic waves radiated on a surface of the cigarette. An indirect temperature measurement manner mainly includes calculating according to experience, for example, calculating the temperature of the cigarette according to a variation of a physical parameter of the cigarette or calculating the temperature of the cigarette according to the working power of the microwave generator. A temperature control manner of the cigarette may be power feedback-type temperature control, namely, the heating temperature of the cigarette is controlled by the circuit control unit by controlling working frequency of the microwave generator. The microwave power control button 280 includes a certain quantity of adjustment grades. For example, in an embodiment, the microwave power control button includes six grades, which indicates that the cigarette includes six different balance temperatures, and generally, the balance temperatures range from 250° C. to 400° C. with 20° C. as a stage.
According to the baked item in this application, the microwave absorbing agent 132 is added into the tobacco 131, the microwave absorbing agent 132 is made of a non-volatile solid material with a stable dielectric loss constant, and the microwave absorbing agent 132 is capable of stably absorbing microwaves to generate heat to heat the tobacco 131 through thermal conduction. After the baked item of this application is placed into a microwave heating apparatus, in addition to absorbing microwaves to generate heat, the tobacco 131 of the tobacco portion 130 may be further heated by the microwave absorbing agent 132 through thermal conduction, and temperature rising of the tobacco 131 is more stable and uniform under a double heating mechanism of microwave radiation and thermal conduction. In a volatilization process of materials such as water and glycerol in the tobacco 131, the microwave absorbing agent 132 can provide stable heating through thermal conduction, to enable the temperature of the tobacco 131 to continue to rise to an effective baking temperature and produce unique smoked incense through thermolysis, thereby obtaining a good taste.
In an embodiment, silicon carbide ceramic powder, carbon powder, Fe3O4, and a composite additive of silicon carbide and carbon powder (a weight proportion is 1:1) are used as the microwave absorbing agent, to measure a temperature-rising rate of the cigarette under action of microwaves in different particle sizes and mixture ratios. A working power of the microwave generator is 30 W, frequency of microwaves generated by the microwave generator is 2.45 GHz, an internal temperature of the cigarette is measured through thermocouple temperature measurement, and the temperature is controlled to be around 300° C. in the power feedback-type temperature control manner. As shown in Table 1, D50 in Table 1 refers to a median of the particle sizes.
As can be seen from the data in Table 1, after the temperature of the common cigarette rises to about 80° C., it is difficult for the temperature to continue to rise. Addition of the microwave absorbing agent can increase the temperature-rising rate of the cigarette, to raise the temperature of the cigarette to a temperature designed by temperature control. As the content of the microwave absorbing agent increases, the temperature-rising rate of the cigarette may be increased, and the particle size of the microwave absorbing agent has no apparent impact on the temperature-rising rate.
The technical features in the foregoing embodiments may be combined. For concise description, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the embodiments are described. However, provided that combinations of the technical features do not conflict with each other, the combinations of the technical features are considered as falling within the scope described in this specification.
The foregoing embodiments merely express several implementations of this application. The descriptions thereof are relatively specific and detailed, but should not be understood as limitations to the scope of this application. It should be noted that for a person of ordinary skill in the art, several transformations and improvements can be made without departing from the idea of this application. These transformations and improvements belong to the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of the patent of this application shall be subject to the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201910899623.X | Sep 2019 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2020/114540, filed on Sep. 10, 2020, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201910899623.X, filed on Sep. 23, 2019. The disclosures of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/CN2020/114540 | Sep 2020 | US |
| Child | 17699438 | US |
