Patent Application
20240225091
The present disclosure relates to a sidestream smoke removing device including a smoking article detection part. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a sidestream smoke removing device including a smoking article detection part configured to detect a smoking article suitable for the sidestream smoke removing device.
This application claims priority from and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0148385, filed on Nov. 2, 2021, which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if set forth herein.
Cigarette smoke produced through smoking may be classified as main stream delivered to the mouth through a cigarette filter and sidestream smoke discharged to air without passing through the filter.
A sidestream smoke removing device is a type of smoking accessory devised to, for example, reduce cigarette smell from hands, remove (or purify) sidestream smoke, and the like. The sidestream smoke removing device typically has defined therein an enclosed smoking space and a sidestream smoke removing means. A user may smoke by inserting a cigarette into the smoking space inside the sidestream smoke removing device.
In order to improve the functionality of the sidestream smoke removing device, it is important to insert a suitable cigarette into the sidestream smoke removing device. Otherwise, not only may the functionality of the sidestream smoke removing device not be fully realized, but also there may be a danger due to an unexpected situation. In this regard, the inventor has completed the present invention by continuously researching detection of a cigarette by a sidestream smoke removing device so that the sidestream smoke removing device may operate only when a suitable cigarette is inserted thereinto.
The present disclosure has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present disclosure is to propose a sidestream smoke removing device including a smoking article detection part configured to detect a smoking article suitable for a specific sidestream smoke removing device.
According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, provided is a sidestream smoke removing device including: a housing having a smoking space defined therein; an article inserting part positioned on one end of the housing and having an open area through which a smoking article is inserted into the smoking space; a sidestream smoke processing part positioned at a distance from an upstream end of the smoking article inserted into the smoking space and configured to process sidestream smoke produced from the smoking article; and an article detection part positioned in the article inserting part to be adjacent to the smoking article so as to detect the smoking article inserted into the article inserting part.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the smoking article may include low flammability coating portions within a cigarette paper surrounding the smoking material. The article detection part may be configured to detect the low flammability coating portions of the smoking article.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the sidestream smoke removing device may further include a control part configured to control overall operations of smoke removing device. A result of the sidestream detection of the smoking article by the article detection part may be transferred to the control part.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the low flammability coating portions of the smoking article may contain Arabic gum.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the sidestream smoke removing device may further include an ignition part positioned within the housing and configured to ignite the smoking article inserted into the smoking space. The ignition part may ignite the smoking article when the smoking article is detected by the article detection part to be suitable for the sidestream smoke removing device.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the sidestream smoke processing part may include: a filter configured to filter the sidestream smoke; and a ventilation fan through which the sidestream smoke is discharged. The ventilation fan may be operated by detecting the sidestream smoke produced from the smoking article.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the sidestream smoke removing device may further include an elastic support part disposed to elastically support an upstream end of the smoking article as the smoking article is inserted through the article inserting part. The ignition part may be coupled to the elastic support part and be disposed to be in contact with the upstream end of the smoking article as the smoking article is inserted. When the ignition part is first contacted with the upstream end of the smoking article, the low flammability coating portions of the smoking article may be positioned in the open area of the article inserting part.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the ignition part is first contacted with the upstream end of the smoking article, the article detection part may detect an adjacent portion of the smoking article.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the smoking article may include first low flammability coating portions and second low flammability coating portions spaced apart from the first low flammability coating portions in a longitudinal direction of the smoking article. The sidestream smoke removing device may further include a first article detector and a second article detector. The first article detector may be positioned in the article inserting part to be adjacent to the smoking article, and the second article detector may be positioned within the housing and spaced apart from the first article detector in the longitudinal direction by a distance equal to a distance by which the first low flammability coating portions are spaced apart from the second low flammability coating portions.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the smoking article is inserted, the sidestream smoke removing device may detect the smoking article to be suitable for the sidestream smoke removing device when the first low flammability coating portions and the second low flammability coating portions of the smoking article are simultaneously detected by the first article detector and the second article detector, respectively.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first article detector and the second article detector may be spaced apart from each other in a longitudinal direction of the sidestream smoke removing device by a distance of 5 mm to 10 mm.
The sidestream smoke removing device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure detects an inserted smoking article using the article detection part and is activated only when the smoking article is inserted thereinto so as not only to provide the functionality of the device to the maximum extent but also to have superior effects in terms of the durability and stability of the device.
Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the illustrative drawings. It should be understood that the same reference numerals will be used to refer to the same or like components throughout the drawings. In the description of embodiments, detailed descriptions of components or functions will be omitted when it is determined that the description may render the subject matter in some embodiments of the present disclosure rather unclear.
In addition, terms, such as “first”, “second”, “A”, “B”, “(a)”, and “(b)” may be used herein to describe components of the present disclosure. Each of these terms is not used to define the essence, order, sequence, or number of components, etc., but is used merely to distinguish the corresponding component from other components. When it is mentioned that a component “is connected, coupled, or joined to” another component, it should be interpreted that, not only can the component “be connected, coupled, or joined to” the other component, but the component and the other component can also “be connected, coupled, or joined to” to each other via a further component.
When a first component is included in a first embodiment and a second component having the same function as that of the first component is included in a second embodiment, the second component may be described using the same name as the first component. Unless stated to the contrary, a description of one embodiment may be applied to other embodiments, and a specific description of an overlapping range will be omitted.
Herein, the term “smoking article” may refer to any product that may be smoked or any product that may simulate smoking, irrespective of being based on tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco, or tobacco substitutes. For example, the smoking article may include a product that may be smoked, such as cigarette, cigar, or cigarillo.
Herein, the term “smoking material” may refer to a material that generates smoke and/or aerosols or is used in smoking. For example, the smoking material may include a tobacco material. The tobacco material may include, for example, tobacco leaf fragments, tobacco plant stems, or materials processed from at least one thereof. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the tobacco material may include ground tobacco leaves, ground reconstituted tobacco, expanded shredded tobacco, expanded tobacco midribs, reconstituted tobacco leaves, and the like, but is not limited thereto.
Herein, the term “upstream” or “upstream direction” may refer to a direction away from the oral region of a smoker, and the term “downstream” or “downstream direction” may refer to a direction toward the oral region of the smoker. The terms “upstream” and “downstream” may be used to describe relative positions of components of a smoking article. For example, in a smoking article 2 illustrated in
Herein, the term “longitudinal direction” may refer to a direction matching the longitudinal axis of the smoking article or the sidestream smoke removing device, and the term “perpendicular direction” refers to a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the smoking article or the sidestream smoke removing device.
Herein, the term “puff” refers to inhalation of a user. The inhalation refers to an instance of inhaling air or smoke into the oral cavity, the nasal cavity, or the lungs of the user through the mouth or the nose of the user.
Hereinafter, a variety of embodiments of the present will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The present disclosure relates to a sidestream smoke removing device, and is intended to provide a sidestream smoke removing device including a smoking article detection part configured to detect a smoking article suitable for the sidestream smoke removing device. Thus, a sidestream smoke removing device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is activated only when a suitable smoking article is inserted into the sidestream smoke removing device so as not only to provide the functionality of the device to the maximum extent but also to have superior effects in terms of the durability and stability of the device. Herein,
The housing 11 may define a smoking space within the sidestream smoke removing device 1, and define at least a portion of the exterior of the sidestream smoke removing device 1. Although the housing 11 is illustrated as designating a sidewall of the sidestream smoke removing device 1 in
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the housing 11 may have a vent hole A through which air may smoothly enter the smoking space. The vent hole A may promote combustion of the smoking article 2 by allowing air to enter during smoking, whereby smoking performance of the sidestream smoke removing device 1 may be significantly improved. Although
The article inserting part 12 may be located on one end (e.g., a downstream side) of the housing 11, and have an open area through which the smoking article 2 is to be inserted. A user may insert the smoking article 2 into the smoking space in the sidestream smoke removing device 1 through the article inserting part 12. In order to block heat from dissipating from inside the smoking space, the article inserting part 12 may be formed of a heat insulating material. In addition, in order to prevent the inserted smoking article 2 from shaking, the article inserting part 12 may have a holder structure capable of holding the smoking article 2.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the article inserting part 12 may have a size-adjustable structure. For example, the article inserting part 12 may have a structure by which the open area may be tightened or loosely expanded by a manual operation. In another example, the article inserting part 12 may be configured to automatically tighten the open area to be compliant with the smoking article 2. In a more specific example, the article inserting part 12 is controlled by the control part 18. When the control part 18 detects the smoking article 2 being inserted using a sensor or a user input (e.g., performed by pushing a button) is received, the control part 18 may control the article inserting part 12 to reduce the open area. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as the size of the open area is adjusted to be compliant with the smoking article 2, shaking of the smoking article 2 may be prevented and support stability of the smoking article 2 may be improved. Furthermore, a variety of sizes of smoking articles 2 may be inserted into the sidestream smoke removing device 1, and thus the usability of the sidestream smoke removing device 1 may be improved.
Herein,
The smoking article 2 may include one or more low flammability coating portions 31 inside the cigarette paper 35 surrounding the smoking material. A coating composition may be applied to the low flammability coating portions 31 to lower the porosity of the cigarette paper 35. Thus, when the combustion of the smoking article 2 reaches the low flammability coating portions 31, the amount of oxygen entering the smoking material portion 33 may be reduced, so that combustion of the smoking article 2 may be extinguished.
Although illustrated as single layers in
For example, two low flammability coating portions 31A and 31B may be disposed for each smoking article 2, in positions between 17 mm from the distal end of the smoking material portion 33 and 12 mm from the filter portion 32, by applying the coating composition to the cigarette paper 35 having a porosity of 10 cu to 100 cu. The distance between the low flammability coating portions 31A and 31B may be set to have a width of 5 mm to 10 mm. In addition, for example, the porosity of the cigarette paper 35 may be between 10 cu and 100 cu. The porosity of the low flammability coating portions 31 may be between 3 cu and 20 cu. The thickness of the base paper of the cigarette paper 35 may be between 30 μm and 100 μm. The basis weight of the base paper may be between 15 g/m2 and 80 g/m2. The thickness of the low flammability coating portions 3 may be between 110 μm and 50 μm. The basis weight of the low flammability coating portions 31 may be 15 g/m2 or less. The weight ratio of the coating composition with respect to the total weight of the cigarette paper 35 and the coating composition may be 40% or less. In addition, for example, when the low flammability coating portions 31 have the shape of bands, the weight of the coating composition of each band may be 2.5 mg or less.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
In order to overcome such problems, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first low flammability coating portions 31A and the second low flammability coating portions 31B may be designed to be different from each other in at least one of basis weight, thickness, size, number, coating composition amount, and coating composition viscosity. For example, the second low flammability coating portions 31B may have a lower basis weight, a lower thickness, or a smaller size. As a more specific example, the basis weight of the first low flammability coating portions 31A may range from 2.6 g/m2 to 5.5 g/m2, and the basis weight of the second low flammability coating portions 31B may range 0.5 g/m2 from to 2.5 g/m2. Here, the basis weight of the low flammability coating portions 31 is only the basis weight of a coating layer formed by application of the coating composition, and may indicate a value corresponding to the difference between the basis weight of the coating layer and the base paper and the basis weight of the base paper. As another example, the number of the second low flammability coating portions 31B (e.g., the number of bands) may be smaller or the amount of the coating composition of the second low flammability coating portions 31B may be smaller. As another example, the coating composition of the second low flammability coating portions 31B may have a lower viscosity. This is because the lower the viscosity of the coating composition, the smaller the performance of blocking pores may be.
A combustion accelerator may be applied to areas of the cigarette paper on which the second low flammability coating portions 31B are provided and an area of the cigarette paper corresponding to the second segment. In this manner, combustibility may be prevented from decreasing even in a position adjacent to the second low flammability coating portions 31B. Examples of the combustion accelerator may include alkali metal salts, alkaline earth metal salts, and mixtures thereof. More specific examples of the combustion accelerator may include, but are not limited to, carboxylate, acetate, citrate, malate, lactate, tartrate, carbonate, formate, propionate, glycolate, fumarate, oxalate, malonate, succinate, nitrate, phosphorate, and mixtures thereof, as well as potassium satrate, sodium citrate, potassium succinate, sodium succinate, and mixtures thereof.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, combustibility and the taste of tobacco in smoking may be guaranteed by lowering low flammability performance of the second low flammability coating portions 31B. Furthermore, enhancing low flammability performance of the first low flammability coating portions 31A may guarantee self-extinguishment at a time point when smoking is finished.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the coating composition may include Arabic gum, water, and fructo-oligosaccharide. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the coating composition may include Arabic gum, water, and galacto-oligosaccharide. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the coating composition may include Arabic gum, water, fructo-oligosaccharide, and galacto-oligosaccharide. Hereinafter, respective components of the coating composition will be described.
Arabic gum may be manufactured by drying and desalting Arabic gum tree sap. Arabic gum may block pores in the cigarette paper 35 to block the supply of oxygen, thereby realizing low flammability performance of the coating composition. Arabic gum may have a relatively low viscosity at a high concentration, thereby facilitating concentration adjustment at a low viscosity state. Thus, the coating composition having high-viscosity and high-concentration characteristics may be manufactured, and combustion strength may be easily controlled by adjusting coating concentration of the coating composition.
Arabic gum may have high solubility with water to improve dispersion stability of the coating composition to improve dispersion stability of the coating composition, thereby leading to formation of the low flammability coating portions 31 having uniform composition and concentration. In addition, the coating composition including Arabic gum has a higher drying speed at a high temperature than the related-art coating composition, and thus may improve the workability of a coating (application) process. Arabic gum may reduce aging, and thus availability time, storage time, viscosity retention time, or lifetime of the coating composition including Arabic gum may be increased compared to that of the related-art coating composition including alpha starch. In addition, in a dynamic situation in which a coating roller operates, the dynamic viscosity retention rate may be improved. Viscosity change that may occur in a low temperature situation of about 2° C. may be significantly reduced. In addition, the performance of the coating composition in high temperature conditions may be maintained due to superior heat resistance. When combusted in the drying process, the occurrence of odor may be reduced.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the content of Arabic gum may range, by weight, from 10% to 30% of the total weight of the coating composition. In this range, dispersion stability and drying speed of the coating composition may be improved, thereby further improving workability of the coating process. Low viscosity retention time may be significantly increased, and viscosity retention rate may be significantly improved. In addition, aging may be reduced, thereby increasing lifetime.
Fructo-oligosaccharide may block pores in the cigarette paper 35 to block the supply of oxygen, thereby improving low flammability performance of the coating composition like Arabic gum. Since the average size of fructo-oligosaccharide is smaller than that of Arabic gum, fructo-oligosaccharide may block fine pores having smaller diameters or sizes, thereby improving low flammability performance of the coating composition. In addition, fructo-oligosaccharide has an effect of improving dispersion of the coating composition, due to small molecular weight thereof. Thus, the cigarette paper 35 may be uniformly coated with the coating composition, thereby improving the workability of the coating process and reducing manufacturing time of the coating process.
Fructo-oligosaccharide may effectively reduce the aging rate of Arabic gum and significantly reduce the aging rate of the coating composition. Thus, compared to the related-art coating composition including alpha starch, the viscosity retention time may be increased, the viscosity retention rate may be improved, and viscosity change may be minimized even when exposed to a low temperature of about 2° C. in addition, fructo-oligosaccharide may be dissolved with ethanol and, when used with ethanol, lower the viscosity of the coating composition and improve bonding force between components of the coating composition. In addition, the coating composition including fructo-oligosaccharide may have a higher drying rate at a high temperature than the coating composition of the related art. Thus, the coating composition according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may improve the workability of the coating process.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the content of fructo-oligosaccharide may range, by weight, from 5% to 35% of the total weight of the coating composition. In this range, the low viscosity retention time may be significantly increased, the viscosity retention rate may be significantly improved, the lifetime may be increased due to significantly reduced aging, and the workability of the coating process may be improved.
Galacto-oligosaccharide may also be included in a weight percent similar to that of fructo-oligosaccharide, and may produce an effect similar to that of fructo-oligosaccharide. In order to exclude repetition, descriptions relating to galacto-oligosaccharide will be omitted.
Ethanol may increase the solid content of the coating composition. The viscosity of the coating composition may be adjusted by adjusting the content of ethanol. In addition, ethanol may reduce the surface tension of the coating composition, thereby improving the affinity between the coating roller and the coating composition in the coating process. Thus, the amount of coating may be increased and may be maintained uniformly, thereby improving the workability of coating. In addition, low flammability performance may be improved. In addition, ethanol may improve the drying ability of the coating composition and improve the drying rate at a high temperature, thereby improving the workability of the coating process. A phenomenon in which the cigarette paper is absorbed to water and the strength thereof is reduced may be prevented.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the content of ethanol may range, by weight, from 15% to 30% of the total weight of the coating composition. In this range, the viscosity of the coating composition may be suitably maintained, the workability of the coating process may be further improved to improve the productivity of the smoking article. The low flammability performance of the smoking article may be further improved.
Water may be used to adjust the concentrations of other components or the concentration of the coating composition. In addition, water may improve the absorptiveness of the cigarette paper 35 to the coating composition.
The sidestream smoke processing part 16 is positioned at a distance from the upstream end of the smoking article 2 inserted into the smoking space, and may perform a variety of processing functions regarding sidestream smoke produced from the smoking article. For example, the sidestream smoke processing part 16 may be positioned between the inserted smoking article 2 and the back cover 13 to purify the sidestream smoke. In addition, the sidestream smoke processing part 16 may perform a ventilation function to facilitate discharge of the purified sidestream smoke. Here, the specific structure and the operating system of the sidestream smoke processing part 16 may be variously designed, and may vary according to the embodiment.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
The article detection part 22 detects the smoking article 2 inserted through the article inserting part 12 of the sidestream smoke removing device 1, thereby determining whether or not the smoking article 2 is suitable for the sidestream smoke removing device 1. In order to correctly detect the inserted smoking article 2, the article detection part 22 may be positioned to be adjacent to the smoking article 2 in the sidestream smoke removing device 1. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the article detection part 22 may be positioned adjacent to the smoking article 2 in the article inserting part 12, as illustrated in
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the article detection part 22 detects the low flammability coating portions 31 of the smoking article 2. The low flammability coating portions 31 have the above-described functions. Although the low flammability coating portions 31 are not particularly introduced for detection of the smoking article 2, the low flammability coating portions 31 have a structure or a composition by which the smoking article 2 may be sufficiently identified. Thus, the low flammability coating portions 31 may be properly regarded as article indicators. Specifically, the article detection part 22 includes a physical or chemical sensor commonly known in the art to which the present disclosure pertains, which may evaluate the position, thickness, size, basis weight, pores, thermal conductivity, electric conductivity, chemical composition, etc. of the low flammability coating portions. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the chemical sensor may be implemented as an ion sensor. When the potential of an ion selective electrode is EI, the potential of a reference electrode is Er, and the potential of a contact portion between the reference electrode and a sample solution is Ej, E may be expressed by the following Equation 1:
The ion sensor is an electrode that selectively responds to a specific ion in a solution to be analyzed and generates a linear potential according to the concentration (activity) of the ion. The ion sensor obtains an ion concentration in a sample solution by measuring a potential difference occurring in a solid-liquid phase boundary or a liquid-liquid phase boundary.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the low flammability coating portions 31 of the smoking article 2 suitable for the sidestream smoke removing device 1 characteristically contains Arabic gum. Thus, when the article detection part 22 detects the smoking article 2 on the basis of the physical or chemical properties of the low flammability coating portions 31 containing Arabic gum, the article detection part 22 may more accurately determine whether or not the smoking article 2 is suitable for the sidestream smoke removing device 1. Provided is a sensing method of measuring the application position of Arabic gum is and the potential difference occurring in the boundary between Arabic gum and the coating portion when the positions of the low flammability coating portions 31 in the smoking article 2 are constant. Although common gums are not properly dissolved at a concentration of 5% or higher, Arabic gum may be dissolved as long as the content thereof does not exceed 55%. In addition, Arabic gum has a spherical molecular shape, and thus the viscosity thereof is lower than those of linear gums that are commonly used. A component of Arabic gum is branched arabinogalactan in which B-D-galactopyranose is connected by 1-3 bond. As a main chain, two to four side chains, in each of which β-D-galactopyranose is connected by 1-3 bond, are connected by 1-6 bond. Guar gum has a main formed of β-D-mannopyranose connected by galactomannan 1-4 bond. A single unit of a-D-galactose is connected to a main chain unit of about 56% by 1-6 bond. Thus, the corresponding material may be sensed on the basis of the difference between gum materials, the difference between viscosities, and uniform application in position.
The physical or chemical properties of the low flammability coating portions 31 containing Arabic gum may include not only component properties of Arabic gum that is a polymer mixture of glycoprotein and polysaccharide but also physical properties, such as transmittance and conductivity, of the low flammability coating portions 31 containing Arabic gum.
In the sidestream smoke removing device 1, the article detection part 22 may work in concert with the control part 18 so as to drive related components according to the result of the article detection by the article detection part 22. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the article detection part 22 detects the smoking article 2 suitable for the sidestream smoke removing device 1, the control part 18 controls the ignition part 15 to ignite the smoking article 2. In this regard, when the smoking article 2 is ignited by the ignition part 15, the sidestream smoke removing device 1 may be controlled to operate the ventilation fan 16B by detecting the sidestream smoke produced by the smoking article 2.
The back cover 13 is positioned on the other end (e.g., the upstream end) of the housing 11, and may serve as a cover for the sidestream smoke removing device 1. The back cover 13 may have gas discharge passages through which the sidestream smoke processed (purified) through the sidestream smoke processing part 16 may be discharged. For example, the back cover 13 may be provided with gas discharge passages, such as fine holes.
The heat insulating part 14 may be formed of a low heat conductivity material to block heat from being discharged from inside the smoking space. Since the heat insulating part 14 is disposed on the outer surface of the housing 11, the heat insulating part 14 may prevent a risk of burn due to internal heat of the sidestream smoke removing device 1 when a body portion of the user is in contact with the sidestream smoke removing device 1 (e.g., when the user holds the sidestream smoke removing device 1 to smoke).
The temperature sensor 20 may be disposed within the smoking space to measure the temperature of the smoking article 30 inserted into the smoking space. The number, shape, disposed position, disposed distances, and the like of the temperature sensor 20 may be variously designed and may differ depending on the embodiment.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a plurality of temperature sensors 20 may be disposed in different positions within the smoking space. A plurality of temperature sensors 20 may be disposed in the longitudinal direction of the smoking article 30. Alternatively, the plurality of temperature sensor 20 may be disposed in positions opposite to each other. Here, the distances between the temperature sensors 20 may be the same or different. When the plurality of temperature sensors 20 are used, smoking progress (e.g., the degree of progress of smoking) may be more accurately monitored, and a variety of pieces of monitoring information to be described below may be obtained.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, starting of smoking may be detected (determined) by a temperature sensor disposed adjacent to the upstream end of the smoking material part. For example, the control part 18 may determine that smoking has started when the temperature measured by the temperature sensor is equal to or higher than the reference temperature. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the degree of progress of smoking (e.g., a position of current smoking (or combustion)) of the smoking article 2 may be determined by comparing temperatures measured by a plurality of temperature sensors disposed in the longitudinal direction of the smoking article.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the plurality of temperature sensors 20 may be disposed in positions opposite to each other with respect to the inserted smoking article 2 or in the circumferential direction of the smoking article 2 within the smoking space (e.g., four temperature sensors 20 may be disposed at 90° intervals). In this case, the degree of tilting (shaking) of the smoking article 2 may be determined by comparing temperatures measured by the plurality of temperature sensors 20. For example, when the temperature measured by a specific temperature sensor is higher than the temperatures measured by the other temperature sensors, the control part 18 may determine that the inserted smoking article 2 is tilted in the direction of the specific temperature sensor. Alternatively, when temperatures measured by the plurality of temperature sensors 20 change to be equal to or higher than the reference temperature, the control part 18 may determine that the inserted smoking article 2 is shaking.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the temperature sensor 20 having an elongated body may be disposed within the smoking space. For example, the elongated temperature sensor 20 may be disposed in the longitudinal direction of the smoking article 2. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the temperature sensor 20 may be configured such that a first portion of the elongated body measures the temperature of a first corresponding portion of the smoking material part of the smoking article 2 and a second portion of the elongated body measures the temperature of a second corresponding portion of the smoking material part of the smoking article 2. The temperature sensor may be specifically configured in any manner. In this case, the progress of smoking may be monitored on the basis of the temperature measured by the specific portion of the elongated body. For example, the control part 18 may determine the degree of progress of smoking of the smoking article 2 by measuring temperatures measured by respective portions of the elongated body.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the temperature sensor (s) 20 may be disposed on the basis of a combination of the above-described embodiments.
The ignition part 15 may be disposed within the smoking space to ignite the smoking article 2 inserted into the smoking space. The ignition part 15 may be controlled by the control part 18 and may perform an ignition function in response to a manual operation of the user. The number, shape, disposed position, and the like of the ignition parts 15 may be variously designed and may differ depending on the embodiment.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the ignition part 15 may be disposed in fixed positions. Specifically, the ignition part 15 may be disposed to ignite the upstream end or a portion adjacent to the upstream end of the inserted smoking article 2. In this case, the structure of the sidestream smoke removing device 1 may be simplified, thereby minimizing the defect rate of manufacturing.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the ignition part 15 may be designed and configured to be movable. The ignition part 15 may be specifically configured in any manner. For example, the ignition part 15 may be configured to move in the longitudinal direction by manual operation of the user or under the control of the control part 18. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the control part 18 may move the ignition part 15 toward the upstream end of the smoking article 2 in response to the smoking article 2 being detected. In this case, the sidestream smoke removing device 1 may be universally applied to the smoking articles 2 having a variety of lengths, thereby significantly improving the usability of the sidestream smoke removing device 1.
As illustrated in, for example,
The ignition part 15 and the elastic support part 21 may be variously designed to be coupled to each other or not and/or to have a variety of arrangements. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in
A portion of the ignition part 15 in close contact with the upstream end of the smoking article 2 may have a sharp protruding shape (e.g., a needle shape). In this case, the ignition part 15 extends through the upstream end of the smoking article 2 as the smoking article 2 is inserted. Thus, the smoking article 2 may be more strongly supported in ignition. Consequently, both support stability and ignition stability of the sidestream smoke removing device 1 may be further improved. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the ignition part 15 may be disposed in a position different from the elastic support part 21, and the ignition part 15 may be configured to be movable. In this case, the smoking article 2 may be supported through the elastic support part 21, and the ignition part 15 may be manually or automatically moved toward the upstream end of the smoking article 30 to perform the ignition function.
Although not shown in this specification, the sidestream smoke removing device 1 may be provided with a structure configured to prevent the elastic support part 21 from stretching again due to elasticity after being compressed by the insertion of the smoking article 2. The structure may be configured in any manner.
The elastic support part 21 may be configured in association with the article detection part 22, since the elastic support part 21 may determine the position of the smoking article 2 inserted into the sidestream smoke removing device 1. When the smoking article 2 is inserted into the sidestream smoke removing device 1, the smoking article 2 may be in contact with the ignition part 15 coupled to the elastic support part 21 as illustrated in
As described above, as illustrated in
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the smoking article is inserted, the sidestream smoke removing device may detect the smoking article to be suitable for the sidestream smoke removing device when the first low flammability coating portions and the second low flammability coating portions of the smoking article are simultaneously detected by the first article detector and the second article detector, respectively. When both the first article detector 22A capable of detecting the first low flammability coating portions 31A and the second article detector 22B capable of detecting the second low flammability coating portions 31B are included, the reliability of the article detection part 22 may be improved, since one or more parameters related to detection may be further included. When two or more article detection parts 22 are included, the reliability of the article detection parts 22 may be improved. Thus, the elastic support part 21 as a means for improving the reliability of the article detection parts 22 may not be separately required.
In this specification,
The mesh part 17 may be disposed between the sidestream smoke processing part 16 and the back cover 13 to serve as a safety net. For example, the mesh part 17 may prevent a specific object (e.g., a fragment of the filter 16A) within the smoking space from moving toward the back cover 13.
The display part 19 may be on the outer surface of the housing 11 to display a variety pieces of information under the control of the control part 18. For example, the display part 19 may display information regarding the smoking progress, information regarding the device, smoking history information, information regarding the user, etc. Here, the information regarding the smoking progress may include information regarding the progress of smoking (e.g., all pieces of information regarding the progress of smoking, such as the degree of progress of smoking, the current position of smoking, the remaining number of puffs, a smoking time, a remaining smoking time, etc.) and puff information (e.g., all pieces of information regarding puff events, such as the number of puffs, the length of puff, the interval of puff, the strength of puff, whether or not the user is puffing, etc.), but is not limited thereto. The device may include information, such as power state, malfunction, a battery state (e.g., the state of charge of the battery, the necessity to charge, etc.), but is not limited thereto. The smoking history information may include the cumulative number of cigarettes smoked, etc., but is not limited thereto.
The display part 19 may visually display various types of information by including a visual display means, such as a light-emitting diode (LED) display. Here, a form of the display means may be variously specific modified.
The control part 18 may control the overall operation of the sidestream smoke removing device 1. For example, the control part 18 may control the operation of the ventilation fan 16B, the operation of the display part 19, or the operation of other components of the sidestream smoke removing device 1. In addition, the control part 18 may review the smoking progress of the smoking article 2. The control part 18 may determine whether or not the sidestream smoke removing device 1 is able to operate by reviewing the state of each of the components of the sidestream smoke removing device 1.
The control part 18 may be implemented as at least one processors. The processor may be implemented as an array of a plurality of logic gates, or a combination of a universal microprocessor and a memory in which a program executable by the microprocessor is stored. In addition, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains that the control part 18 may be implemented as another type of hardware.
Although the control part 18 is illustrated as being positioned outside the housing 11 of the sidestream smoke removing device 1 in
In addition, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the sidestream smoke removing device 1 may further include a module configured to provide audible and/or tactile outputs. For example, the sidestream smoke removing device 1 may further include a speaker, a vibration module, and the like. In this case, the control part 18 may provide various types of information to the user using the above-described module (s).
In addition, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, a cutting part may further be disposed within the smoking space. The cutting part may cut the smoking article 2 during combustion to prevent further combustion.
In this manner, it is possible to provide a safe extinguishing function at a time point desired by the user and minimize a risk of burn that may occur due to the carelessness of the user (e.g., a risk of burn that may occur due to carelessness when the user extinguishes by him/herself) and a danger of fire. Here, the cutting part may be variously implemented and designed.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the cutting part may be disposed in a fixed position and configured to cut a specific portion of the inserted smoking article 2. For example, the cutting part may be fixedly disposed in a position at which the filter 16A and the smoking material part are cut apart from each other. In this case, it is possible to guarantee a safe extinguishing function irrespective of the current smoking (combustion) position of the smoking article 2 and simplify the structure of the sidestream smoke removing device 1.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the cutting part may be configured to be movable. For example, the cutting part may be configured to be moved by external force (e.g., a manual operation) of the user and configured to be moved under the control of the control part 18. As a more specific example, the cutting part may be automatically moved to a position adjacent to the current smoking (combustion) position of the smoking article 2 by the control part 18.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the cutting part may be operated by the user by pressing a push button provided on the exterior of the housing 11, twisting the housing 11, stretching or compressing the housing 11 in the longitudinal direction, etc. The cutting part may have a structure mechanically cooperating with the housing 11 so as to perform the illustrated operations, or may be implemented such that the control part 18 operates the cutting part according to the illustrated operations.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the sidestream smoke removing device 1 may include one or more support portions capable of supporting a side surface of the inserted smoking article 2 so that the smoking article 2 inserted into the sidestream smoke removing device 1 may be stably supported.
Although the embodiments of the disclosure have been disclosed with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes in forms may be made without departing from technical idea or essential features of the disclosure. Accordingly, the foregoing embodiments shall be interpreted as being illustrative, while not being limitative, in all aspects. The spirit and scope of the present disclosure should be interpreted by the appended claims and encompass all equivalents falling within the scope of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2021-0148385 | Nov 2021 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2022/016666 | 10/28/2022 | WO |
