KR102358588B1 - Tobacco smoke filter - Google Patents

Abstract

A tobacco smoke filter or filter element comprising: a core of tobacco smoke filtering material extending longitudinally and having a perimeter of 14 to 17 mm; and an additive release container completely enclosed within the core, wherein the filtering material is a filamentous material having a filamentary denier of at least 5.3 and a total denier of 18,000 or less.

Description

Tobacco Smoke Filter {TOBACCO SMOKE FILTER}

The present invention relates to tobacco smoke filters and filter elements for smoking articles such as, for example, cigarettes.

The manufacture and use of tobacco filters comprising rupturable capsules are well known. When ruptured by a smoker before, during, or after smoking, these capsules release a liquid or substance contained therein, and this liquid or substance, which is usually a flavorant, is released into the tobacco smoke during smoking. It can be delivered to the environment, or it can be delivered to the environment after the cigarette is extinguished.

It is also known to provide tobacco filters of various different circumferences, generally from about 25 mm to about 14 mm. This means that as the circumference of the filter decreases within this range (eg, from about 24.5 mm to about 23 mm, to about 16-17 mm, to about 14-15 mm, respectively), 'standard', 'slim', 'super They are known as 'slim', and 'microslim' products. However, to date, there has been no commercial development of filters comprising capsules in the form of superslim (circumference of about 16-17 mm) and microslim (circumference of about 14-15 mm). One of the problems is that the capsules tend to account for a relatively large proportion of the cross-sectional area of superslim or microslim filter products, resulting in an unacceptably high pressure drop (as smoke flows through the narrow conduit surrounding the capsule) because).

According to the present invention in a first aspect, a tobacco smoke filter or filter element is provided, extending longitudinally (eg substantially cylindrical) and having a perimeter (eg circumference) of 14-17 mm (eg 16-17 mm). a core of tobacco smoke filtering material having a; and an additive release container (eg, a capsule) completely enclosed within the core, wherein the filtering material is a filamentous material (eg, a filamentous filter tow) having a filament denier of at least 5.3 and a total denier of 18,000 or less.

Preferably, the longitudinally extending core of the tobacco smoke filtering material is a substantially cylindrical core of the tobacco smoke filtering material.

Preferably, the longitudinally extending core of the tobacco smoke filtering material has a circumference of 16 to 17 mm (ie the filter or filter element is a superslim filter or filter element).

The filter or filter element may further include a wrapper (eg, paper, plugwrap) coupled around a longitudinally extending core (eg, substantially cylindrical). The wrapper may be a paper wrapper, such as an air permeable paper wrapper.

The additive release container (eg, capsule) is completely enclosed within a longitudinally extending core (eg, substantially cylindrical) of tobacco smoke filtering material. This means that the additive release container (eg capsule) is not visible (to the smoker) at the mouth or buccal end of the filter/filter element in use, or at the mouth end of a cigarette comprising a filter of this aspect of the present invention. Preferably, at least one end of the longitudinally extending core (eg substantially cylindrical) of tobacco smoke filtering material has a uniform contour. Preferably, at least one end of the longitudinally extending core (eg substantially cylindrical) of the tobacco smoke filtering material has a uniform contour such that only the tobacco smoke filtering material is visible at that end of the core ( other components such as additives, channels, etc. are not visible at that end of the core). A uniform end profile (eg, an appearance such that only the smoke filtering material is visible at that end of the core) may advantageously satisfy the smoker.

The longitudinally extending core of the tobacco smoke filtering material may be any filamentous material conventionally employed for the manufacture of tobacco smoke filters. The filtering material may be, for example, a natural or synthetic filamentous tow of cotton, or a plastic such as polyethylene or polypropylene, or a cellulose acetate filamentary tow. Preferably, the filtering material is a filamentous cellulose acetate tow.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, in one aspect, there is provided a tobacco smoke filter or filter element that extends longitudinally (eg, substantially cylindrical) and has a perimeter (eg, circumference) of 14 to 17 mm (eg, 16 to 17 mm). The branch is a core of tobacco smoke filtering material; and an additive release container (eg, capsule) completely enclosed within the core, wherein the tobacco smoke filtering material has a (eg, filamentous) cellulose acetate (eg, cellulose acetate tow) having a filament denier of at least 5.3 and a total denier of 18,000 or less; )to be.

Preferably, the longitudinally extending core of the tobacco smoke filtering material is a substantially cylindrical core of the tobacco smoke filtering material.

Preferably, the longitudinally extending core of the tobacco smoke filtering material has a circumference or circumference of 16 to 17 mm (ie the filter or filter element is a superslim filter or filter element).

The filter or filter element may further include a wrapper (eg, paper, plugwrap) coupled around a longitudinally extending (eg, substantially cylindrical) core. The wrapper may be a paper wrapper, such as an air permeable paper wrapper.

Specifications of filamentous tobacco smoke filtering materials (eg, filter material tow), such as cellulose acetate, include denier per filament (dpf); total denier; and fiber cross-sectional shape. Filament denier is defined as the weight (grams) of a single filament of 9000 meters, and the total denier is simply the number of filaments in the tow multiplied by dpf. Thus, for example, a 5Y30,000 tow represents a material having a total denier of 30,000 grams per 9000 meters of length, including 6000 filaments with a dpf of 5 grams per 9000 meters of Y shape; 5.2Y18,000 tow represents a material having a total denier of 18,000 grams per 9000 meters of length, including approximately 3,500 Y-shaped filaments with a dpf of 5.2 grams per 9000 meters; The 6.8Y15,000 tow represents a material with a total denier of 15,000 grams per 9000 meters of length, including approximately 2200 filaments with a dpf of 6.8 grams per 9000 meters of Y shape.

The filamentous material (eg, filamentous filter tow, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate tow) has a filament denier of at least 5.3, such as 5.3 to 13, such as 5.3 to 12, such as 5.3 to 9, such as 5.4 to 8, such as 6 to 7 can have The filamentous material (eg, filamentous filter tow, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate tow) may have a filament denier of 5.3 to 7.9, 5.3 to 7.5, such as 6 to 7.5. The filamentous material (eg, filamentous filter tow, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate tow) is 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 6, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 6.8 Can have filament denier of , 6.9, 7, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, 8, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 9 have. For example, the filamentous material may be 5.3 or more, such as 5.4 or more, such as 5.5 or more, such as 5.6 or more, such as 5.7 or more, such as 5.8 or more, such as 5.9 or more, such as 6 or more, such as 6.1 or more, such as 6.2 or more, such as 6.3 or more, such as It may have a filament denier of 6.4 or greater, such as 6.5 or greater.

The filamentous material (eg, filamentous filter tow, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate tow) may have a total denier of 9,000 to 18,000, such as 10,000 to 18,000, such as 12,000 to 17,000, such as 14,000 to 16,000. The filamentous material (eg, filamentous filter tow, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate tow) may have a total denier of 15,000 to 18,000, such as 15,100 to 18,000, such as 15,500 to 17,000, such as 15,500 to 16,000. The filamentous material (eg, filamentous filter tow, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate tow) may have a total denier of 10,000, 11,000, 12,000, 13,000, 14,000, 15,000, 16,000, 17,000, 18,000. For example, a filamentous material may contain a total of 18,000 or less, such as 17,900 or less, such as 17,800 or less, such as 17,700 or less, such as 17,600 or less, such as 17,500 or less, such as 17,400 or less, such as 17,300 or less, such as 17,200 or less, such as 17,100 or less, such as 17,000 or less. You can have denier.

The filamentous material can have any cross-section (eg, Y-shaped cross-section, X-shaped cross-section, circular cross-section, those skilled in the art will understand that various cross-sections are known in the art). A filament-like material with a Y-shaped cross-section is preferred.

The additive release container may be a capsule, such as a rupturable capsule. The (eg, rupturable) capsules may include additives in the form of flavorants. The additive release container (eg, rupturable) capsules may contain one or more additives, such as flavorants and/or liquids, solids or other materials, such as activated carbon, for example, to aid in smoke filtration. The use of capsules containing additives in filters is well known in the prior art.

The flavoring agent may be any flavoring agent known or suitable for smoking articles such as tobacco, such as menthol, spearmint, peppermint, fenugreek, clove, and the like. Preferably the flavoring agent is or comprises menthol. The container (capsule) may contain one or more flavoring agents (which may also provide a mixture of different flavors, which may or may not contain menthol).

The filter or filter element may comprise an additive in the form of a flavoring agent (eg, in an additive release container (eg, in a rupturable) capsule), the amount of additive (flavoring agent) being less than 35 mg (per filter/filter element) . The filter or filter element may comprise an additive in the form of a flavorant [eg, in an additive release container (eg, in a rupturable) capsule], wherein the amount of additive (flavor) is 5 to 30 mg, such as 7 to 25 mg; for example 10 to 25 mg, such as 10 to 20 mg (per filter/filter element).

The additive release container [(eg, rupturable) capsule] is from 2.0 to 4 mm, such as It may have a width of 2.5 to 3.9 mm, such as 3.0 to 3.8 mm, such as 3.2 to 3.7 mm, such as 3.5 mm. The additive release container (eg, rupturable) capsules may contain less than 35 mg of flavorant. The additive release container (eg, rupturable) capsules may contain 5 to 30 mg, such as 7 to 25 mg, such as 10 to 25 mg, such as 10 to 20 mg of flavorant.

The filter or filter element may have a length of 10 to 30 mm, such as 14 to 27 mm, such as 17 to 25 mm.

As shown in Example 1 below, Applicants made a capsule-free superslim filter to determine the minimum, maximum, and optimal tow weight for the relevant filter dimensions, and then to evaluate the effect of the capsule on the pressure drop. I have created a corresponding filter with this. Surprisingly, Applicants have disclosed that the inclusion of a capsule in a filter comprising a core of a filamentous filtering material (e.g., cellulose acetate tow) having a filament denier of at least 5.3 (e.g., 6.8) and a total denier of less than or equal to 18,000 (e.g., 15,000) has been disclosed. was found to be related only to very small increases in pressure drop. This means that a filamentous filtering material (e.g., cellulose acetate tow) having a filament denier of at least 5.3 (e.g., 6.8) and a total denier of less than or equal to 18,000 (e.g., 15,000) would be particularly suitable for use in superslim or microslim filters with capsules. indicates that it can

The filter element according to the invention can be used as one segment of a multi-segment slim filter, for example a double, triple or other multiple filter. Such filters are well known in the prior art. If the filter element is used as or in one segment of a multi-segment filter, it may be used in (or within) the mouth or buccal end segment of the filter, or as (or within) any other segment of the filter. If the filter element is used as or in one segment of a multi-segment filter, the other segments may be, for example, wound or unwound acetate segments; segments comprising activated carbon or particulate or liquid additives such as flavor (eg, active acetate filter segments, flavor thread filter segments); segments comprising paper or non-woven materials; other capsule encapsulation segments, or the like. The filter element according to the invention can be used on its own, eg as a single segment superslim or microslim filter (eg in the same way as a monoacetate filter).

The filter of the present invention may be packaged and sold for use in Roll Your Own or Make Your Own smoking articles, such as homemade cigarettes. This filter may be packaged in a similar fashion to the Pop-a-Tip(TM) filter for Roll-Your-Own (RYO) smokers, which is well known and available from Filtrona Filter. The Pop-a-Tip filter format includes a series of filters (filter tips) wound on a transparent film made of, for example, BOPP or cellophane. The filters are individually pushed (or popped out) from the clear packaging by the smoker of the RYO product, who then uses the filter as he rolls the cigarette. According to the present invention in a further aspect, in accordance with any aspect of the present invention, a plurality (eg at least two, such as 4 to 6) individual tobacco smoke filters (or according to any aspect of the present invention) end-joined to each other. a plurality of individual tobacco smoke filters comprising filter elements); and a (common) wrapper coupled around the plurality of filters or filter elements. A common envelope may be a transparent material made, for example, of BOPP or cellophane.

In the filter cigarette according to the present invention, the filter of the present invention (or a filter comprising the filter element of the present invention) is coupled to a rolled tobacco rod, and one end of the filter faces towards the cigarette. The filter may be bonded to the rolled tobacco rod by ring tipping, which bonds around the immediately adjacent end of the (rolled) filter and rod, exposing most of the filter packaging. The filter may be joined by a full tipping overwarp, which binds around the entire length of the filter and the proximal end of the tobacco rod.

A filter, filter element or filter cigarette according to the invention can be vented in a manner well known in the art, for example using pre-perforated or air-permeable envelopes, and/or laser perforation of the envelope and tipping overlap, if present. Likewise, in vented products where a vented full tipping overlap is essentially air permeable or provided with vent holes, venting through the overlap is generally (and preferably) vented through the shroud (e.g., a plug will be customized with the plugwrap). Ventilation holes through the filter sheath or tipping overlap or both simultaneously can be made by laser perforation in the manufacture of filters or filter cigarettes, as is well known in the prior art.

According to the present invention in a further aspect, a plurality of (eg, 2, 4, 6, etc.) filters (or filter elements) integrally coupled to each other at the ends in a mirror image relationship, as described above and/or herein described. ) is provided.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 shows a tobacco smoke filter according to an example of the present invention.
Fig. 2 shows the tobacco smoke filter of Fig. 1, partially cut away to show the interior of the filter;
3 shows a performance curve for 5.2Y18000 described in Example 1 below.
4 shows a performance curve for 6.8Y15000 described in Example 1 below.

The filter 1 shown in FIG. 1 (and FIG. 2 ) comprises a longitudinally extending cylindrical core 2 of a tobacco smoke filter having a circumference of 16.8 mm and a length of 27 mm (in practice the cylindrical core 2 is circular Since it has a cross-section, the core 2 has a circumference of 16.8 mm). The filtering material is a 6.8Y15,000 filter tow of filamentous cellulose acetate. 1 also includes a sheath 3 of plugwrap, which sheath is held together around the longitudinally extending core 2 by a lapped and stuck seam as is well known in the prior art. do.

The filter 1 also comprises an additive release container in the form of a rupturable capsule 5 containing flavor, the container being completely enclosed inside the cylindrical core 2 , and the filtering material completely surrounding the capsule. This is probably best illustrated in FIG. 2 (showing a cut-away view of the filter and capsule), but the location of the capsule 5 inside the core 2 is also shown in FIG. 1 using the dashed line 5a. The additive release container is a spherical capsule (5) having a diameter of 3.5 mm, comprising a rupturable outer shell (6) of gelatin or similar material, the outer shell enclosing a liquid (7) containing menthol. Such fragile or rupturable spherical capsules 5 containing a flavoring agent therein and methods of making them are well known in the art.

Methods for making filters comprising capsules are well known. Cellulose acetate filamentous tows are drawn from the raw material, the longitudinally advancing tows are collected (eg, by passing through a nozzle), and a longitudinally extending rod of newly formed filtering material is wrapped around the plugwrap and the plugwrap is a nested seam. It is well known to make longitudinally extending filter rods from filamentous filter materials, such as cellulose acetate tow, by advancing the gathered/compressed tow through a garment that is held in place by a The longitudinally advancing rods may be cut into individual filters, or more generally into a plurality of rods comprising a plurality of (eg, 2, 4, 6, etc.) filters. This method may be suitable for making a filter comprising capsules by including in the process a machine for inserting capsules (such machines are well known). In one such machine, (spherical) capsules 5 are held in stacks and fed continuously into filter-type cellulose acetate tows advancing longitudinally as they are collected, so that the advancing tows enter the part through a nozzle. It is then collected and compressed around the capsule 5 . The resulting longitudinal advancing rod containing the capsule is cut into the filter/rod in the usual manner.

The filter of FIG. 1 may be coupled to a tobacco rod (not shown) wrapped so that one end of the filter faces toward the tobacco by a method well known in the prior art. The filter may be coupled to the wrapped tobacco rod by tipping a ring that engages around the immediately adjacent end of the wrapped filter 1 and rod, or may be engaged around the entire length of the filter 1 and the adjacent end of the tobacco rod. They can be joined using full tipping overlap.

Example 1 - super slim Attempts to manufacture capsule filters

Multi-length 'mono' filter rods were prepared by methods known in the art. Each of the multi-length filter rods includes a longitudinally extending substantially cylindrical core of filamentous cellulose acetate having a length of 108 mm and a circumference of 16.8 mm. It will be appreciated that this rod is a plurality of rods (so-called "4 up" rods) that can be cut into 4 filters with a length of 27 mm. Two different cellulose acetate filter tows (5.2Y18000 and 6.8Y15000) were used. As is well known, the first number (5.2 or 6.8) indicates the filament denier, Y indicates the filament cross-sectional shape, and the second number (15000 or 18000) indicates the total denier of the tow.

The mono filter/filter rods without capsules were evaluated to determine the minimum, maximum and optimal tow weights for these filter dimensions and a so-called 'tow capability curve' could be drawn. Such curves are well known to those skilled in the art. Determine these 3 points for a 'mono' rod (and ensure that these values match those predicted by the standard modeling program 'Virtual Tow Selector'), then 4 capsules evenly spaced per rod of 108 mm Corresponding rods with (one per filter on rod) (spherical and with a diameter of 3.5 mm) were made to evaluate the effect of the capsule on the pressure drop of the filter.

Tables 1 and 2 below show the performance versus pressure drop results for 'mono' filter rods containing 5.2Y18000 tows (Table 1) and 6.8Y15000 tows (Table 2) and filter rods with capsules, according to the evaluations, These data are also shown graphically in FIGS. 3 and 4 .

The minimum was determined as the tow weight giving a recess of 1 mm in the finished rod (i.e. the tow was cut and then 'spring back' to give the finished filter/rod a dish-shaped end) . The maximum was determined by the tow weight (higher dispersion values generally considered unacceptable) producing a pressure drop (PD) coefficient of variation (CoV) of about 6%. The tow weight was entered into a hypothetical tow selection program to determine the “capability percentage” shown in the table. A 5.2Y18000 tow item provided a performance range of -1 to 36%. A 6.8Y15000 tow item was A performance range of 0-70% was yielded.

Table 1 - 5.2Y18000 toe result

Table 2 - 6.8Y15000 toe result

* Compensated for circumferential differences and 4 tips per bar

Pressure drop is a major parameter in filter design. The criterion for determining the range of possible pressure drop is generally based on data points producing a coefficient of variance of 6% or less from the tow item. The range of possible pressure drops from capsule filters using these tows was thus found to be 270-380 mm water gauge for the 6.8Y15000 tow and 480-550 mm water gauge for the 5.2Y18000 tow. The use of such tows outside of this range may produce poorly operated and performed products (ie, difficult to manufacture or have inferior performance).

As expected, the addition of the capsule caused an increase in the pressure drop of the rod. The 5.2Y18000 tow showed an average pressure drop increase of 33 mm per tip (based on results for a 108 mm/4-up rod), and the average tip pressure drop increase for the 6.8Y15000 tow was only 18 mm.

Thus, unexpectedly, Applicants have encapsulated in a filter comprising a core of a filamentous filtering material (e.g., cellulose acetate tow) having a filament denier of at least 5.3 (e.g., 6.8) and a total denier of less than or equal to 18,000 (e.g., 15,000). It was found that inclusion was only related to a very small increase in pressure drop. This means that a filamentous filtering material (eg cellulose acetate tow) having a filament denier greater than 5.3 (eg 6.8) and a total denier less than or equal to 18,000 (eg 15,000) is used in a superslim or microslim filter comprising capsules, particularly indicates that it may be suitable.

Claims (23)

A cigarette smoke filter element comprising:
a core of tobacco smoke filtering material extending longitudinally and having a perimeter of 14 to 17 mm; and an additive release vessel completely enclosed within the core;
wherein the filtering material is a filamentous material having a filament denier of between 6.6 and 7.0 and a total denier of between 14,000 and 16,000. According to claim 1,
wherein the longitudinally extending core of tobacco smoke filtering material is a substantially cylindrical core of tobacco smoke filtering material. According to claim 1,
wherein the longitudinally extending core of tobacco smoke filtering material has a perimeter or circumference of 16 to 17 mm. According to claim 1,
and a wrapper coupled around the longitudinally extending core. According to claim 1,
wherein the filtering material is filamentous cellulose acetate tow. According to claim 1,
wherein the filamentous material has a filament denier of between 6.7 and 6.9. According to claim 1,
wherein the filamentous material has a filament denier of 6.8 and a total denier of 15,000. A cigarette smoke filter element comprising:
a core of tobacco smoke filtering material extending longitudinally and having a perimeter of 14 to 17 mm; and an additive release container completely enclosed within the core;
wherein the tobacco smoke filtering material is cellulose acetate having a filament denier of 6.6 to 7.0 and a total denier of 14,000 to 16,000. 9. The method of claim 8,
wherein the longitudinally extending core of tobacco smoke filtering material is a substantially cylindrical core of tobacco smoke filtering material. 9. The method of claim 8,
wherein the longitudinally extending core of tobacco smoke filtering material has a perimeter or circumference of 16 to 17 mm. 9. The method of claim 8,
and a wrapper coupled about the longitudinally extending core. 9. The method of claim 8,
wherein the cellulose acetate has a filament denier of 6.8. 9. The method of claim 8,
wherein the cellulose acetate has a total denier of 15,000. According to claim 1,
wherein the additive release container is a capsule or a rupturable capsule. According to claim 1,
wherein the additive release container comprises an additive in the form of a flavoring agent. According to claim 1,
wherein the additive release container has a width of 2.0 to 4 mm, alternatively 3.2 to 3.7 mm, or 3.5 mm. 9. The method of claim 8,
wherein the additive release container is a capsule or a rupturable capsule. 9. The method of claim 8,
wherein the additive release container comprises an additive in the form of a flavoring agent. 19. The method of claim 18,
wherein the additive release container has a width of 2.0 to 4 mm, alternatively 3.2 to 3.7 mm, or 3.5 mm. A tobacco smoke filter comprising the filter element according to claim 1 . 21. A filter cigarette comprising a filter according to claim 20, wherein the filter is connected to a wrapped tobacco rod with one end of the filter facing toward the tobacco (tobacco). A plurality of rods comprising a plurality of filters according to claim 20, wherein the plurality of filters are end-connected to each other, a plurality of rods. a plurality of individual tobacco smoke filters according to claim 20; and a wrapper coupled around a plurality of said filters, wherein said plurality of individual tobacco smoke filters abut one another.

Images