Aerosol Generating Substrate and Aerosol Generating Product

This application is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2023/105951, filed on Jul. 5, 2023, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202310079540.2, filed on Jan. 20, 2023. The entire disclosure of both applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

The present application relates to the technical field of aerosol generating products, and in particular, to an aerosol generating substrate and an aerosol generating product.

Aerosol generating products include an aerosol generating product that generates an aerosol by ignition and an aerosol generating product that generates an aerosol by heat-not-burn. In a typical aerosol generating product that is heat-not-burn, it contains an aerosol generating substrate such as tobacco materials, flavor materials, and/or atomizing agents which can volatilize to generate aerosols when heated. The aerosol generating product is heated by an external heat source, and the aerosol generating substrate is just heated enough to generate an aerosol, and will not burn. An atomizing agent is loaded and is released by high-temperature heating when used, thus generating aerosol.

In related technologies, the aerosol generating substrate tends to cause difficult inhaling, and uneven aerosol release during user inhaling.

In an embodiment, the present invention provides an aerosol generating substrate, comprising: an airway that penetrates through at least one end of the aerosol generating substrate in a length direction, wherein, on a cross section perpendicular to the length direction of the aerosol generating substrate, a ratio of the total cross sectional area of the airway to a cross sectional area of the aerosol generating substrate is 5% to 95%.

In an embodiment, the present invention provides an aerosol generating substrate and an aerosol generating product to improve the release uniformity of an aerosol.

In an embodiment, the present invention provides an aerosol generating substrate, provided with an airway which penetrates through at least one end of the aerosol generating substrate in a length direction, and on the cross section perpendicular to the length direction of the aerosol generating substrate, the ratio of the total cross sectional area of the airway to the cross sectional area of the aerosol generating substrate is 5% to 95%. In some embodiments, the ratio is 40% to 85%.

In some embodiments, the airway includes an air hole which is arranged inside the aerosol generating substrate.

In some embodiments, the cross section of the air hole is circular, oval, sector, or polygonal. In some embodiments, a plurality of air holes are provided and are arranged in the aerosol generating substrate in an uniform distribution manner.

In some embodiments, a plurality of air holes are provided, all the air holes are divided into a plurality of air hole units, the plurality of air holes in the air hole units are arranged in a first direction, and the plurality of air hole units are arranged in a second direction, in which, the first direction is intersected with the second direction.

In some embodiments, the plurality of air holes in the air hole units are arranged in a straight line in the first direction, and the plurality of air hole units are arranged in a straight line in the second direction.

In some embodiments, the plurality of air holes in the air hole units are arranged in a circumferential manner in the first direction, and the plurality of air hole units are arranged by sleeving one by one in the second direction.

In some embodiments, the air holes in each of the air hole units have the same hydraulic diameter, and the hydraulic diameter of each of the air hole units gradually increases or decreases from inside to outside.

In some embodiments, partition walls between two adjacent air holes in each of the air hole units have the same thickness, and the spacing between the air hole units gradually increases or decreases from inside to outside.

In some embodiments, a plurality of air holes are provided and are arranged in the aerosol generating substrate in a non-uniform distribution manner.

In some embodiment, at least part of the air holes are different in hydraulic diameter.

In some embodiments, partition walls between at least part of two adjacent air holes are different in thickness. In some embodiments, the aerosol generating substrate includes at least one first area and at least one second area, the first areas are used for arranging the air holes, and the second areas are not provided with the air holes. In some embodiments, the airway includes a groove, and the groove is arranged in the circumferential surface of the aerosol generating substrate.

In some embodiments, the cross section of the groove is semicircular, semi-oval, or polygonal.

In some embodiments, the airway penetrates through two opposite ends of the aerosol generating substrate in the length direction. An embodiment of the present application further provides an aerosol generating product, which includes:

In some embodiments, the functional section further includes a cooling section which is located between the filtering section and the aerosol generating substrate.

The aerosol generating substrate provided by the embodiment of the present application is heated to generate the aerosol. Under the condition that the ratio of the total cross sectional area of the airway to the cross sectional area of the aerosol generating substrate is less than 5%, on one hand, the total cross sectional area of the airway is small, and the flow resistance of the aerosol is large, which will lead to large inhaling resistance when a user inhales, resulting in difficult inhaling; and on the other hand, the substrate mass of the aerosol generating substrate is large, which does not facilitate the penetration and/or diffusion of heat, consequently, the heating rate of the aerosol generating substrate in the heating process will be slow, the preheating time will be increased, and the heating uniformity will be poor. Under the condition that the ratio of the total cross sectional area of the airway to the cross sectional area of the aerosol generating substrate is greater than 95%, the substrate mass of the aerosol generating substrate is small, the release time of the aerosol is short, and the heat extremely easily penetrates, which will cause that the aerosol generating substrate is burnt, and the aerosol generating substrate easily releases an aerosol unevenly in the inhaling process, for example, the release amount of the aerosol at the first few inhalations is large, and the release amount of the aerosol at the last few inhalations is small, which influences the inhaling feeling of the user. The ratio of the total cross sectional area of the airway to the cross sectional area of the aerosol generating substrate is 5% to 95%, therefore, the flow resistance of the aerosol, the substrate mass, and the heating uniformity can be balanced, the phenomenon that the aerosol generating substrate is burnt and the uneven release phenomenon of the aerosol can be reduced, and the inhaling experience of the user is improved.

It is to be noted that, without conflict, the embodiments in the present application and the technical features in the embodiments may be combined with each other, and the detailed description in the specific embodiments shall be understood as an explanation of the purpose of the present application, and shall not be regarded as an undue restriction on the present application.

With reference toto, an embodiment of the present application provides an aerosol generating substrate. The aerosol generating substrateis heated to generate an aerosol.

Exemplarily, the aerosol generating substratemay be applicable to generating the aerosol in a heat-and-burn manner. The aerosol generating substratemay also be applicable to generating the aerosol in a heat-not-burn manner. That is, the aerosol generating substrateis heated to be below an ignition point to generate the aerosol. The aerosol generating substratedoes not burn in the process of generating the aerosol.

With continuous reference toto, the aerosol generating substrateis provided with airways, and the airwayspenetrate through at least one end of the aerosol generating substratein a length direction. The airwaysare used for collecting and circulating the aerosol.

On the cross section perpendicular to the length direction of the aerosol generating substrate, the ratio of the total cross sectional area of the airwaysto the cross sectional area of the aerosol generating substrateis 5% to 95%. Exemplarily, the ratio of the total cross sectional area of the airwaysto the cross sectional area of the aerosol generating substrateis 5%, 5.5%, 6%, 8%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 71%, 72%, 75%, 77%, 80%, 83%, 84%, 85%, 88%, 90%, 91%, 93%, or 95% and the like.

The aerosol generating substrateprovided by the embodiment of the present application is used in an aerosol generating product. With reference toto, the aerosol generating product includes the aerosol generating substratein any embodiment of the present application, a functional section, and an outer wrapping layer. The functional sectionis arranged at one end of the aerosol generating substratein the length direction, and the functional sectionincludes a filtering sectionused for filtering the aerosol. The outer wrapping layerwraps the periphery of the functional sectionand the periphery of the aerosol generating substrate.

The filtering sectionis used for filtering the aerosol generated by the aerosol generating substrate.

The aerosol generating product is used by a user to inhale the aerosol generated by the aerosol generating substrate. For example, the user can inhale the filtered aerosol by holding the filtering sectionin the mouth. The aerosol generated by the aerosol generating substrateis conveyed to the filtering sectionthrough the airwaysunder inhaling negative pressure.

The aerosol generating substrateprovided by the embodiment of the present application is heated to generate the aerosol. Under the condition that the ratio of the total cross sectional area of the airwaysto the cross sectional area of the aerosol generating substrateis less than 5%, on one hand, the total cross sectional area of the airwaysis small, and the flow resistance of the aerosol is large, which will lead to large inhaling resistance when the user inhales, resulting in difficult inhaling; and on the other hand, the substrate mass of the aerosol generating substrateis large, which does not facilitate the penetration and/or diffusion of heat, consequently, the heating rate of the aerosol generating substratein the heating process will be slow, the preheating time will be increased, and the heating uniformity will be poor. Under the condition that the ratio of the total cross sectional area of the airwaysto the cross sectional area of the aerosol generating substrateis greater than 95%, the substrate mass of the aerosol generating substrateis small, the release time of the aerosol is short, and the heat extremely easily penetrates, which will cause that the aerosol generating substrateis burnt, and the aerosol generating substrateeasily releases the aerosol unevenly in the inhaling process, for example, the release amount of the aerosol at the first few inhalations is large, and the release amount of the aerosol at the last few inhalations is small, which influences the inhaling feeling of the user. The ratio of the total cross sectional area of the airwaysto the cross sectional area of the aerosol generating substrateis 5% to 95%, therefore, the flow resistance of the aerosol, the substrate mass, and the heating uniformity can be balanced, the phenomenon that the aerosol generating substrate is burnt and the uneven release phenomenon of the aerosol can be reduced, and the inhaling experience of the user is improved.

The aerosol generating product is used in match with an aerosol generating device that is provided with a heating assembly. Specifically, the heating assembly is used for heating to atomize the aerosol generating substrateto generate the aerosol.

The heating assembly has a plurality of heating manners. Exemplarily, the heating manners include center heating, periphery heating, and/or bottom heating. The center heating manner refers to that the heating assembly is inserted into the aerosol generating product to bake and heat the aerosol generating product from inside to outside. The periphery heating manner refers to that the heating assembly is arranged at the periphery of the aerosol generating product to bake and heat the aerosol generating product from outside to inside. The bottom heating manner refers to that the heating assembly is positioned below the aerosol generating product and is used for heating air, and then hot air is used for baking and heating the aerosol generating product from bottom to top.

The heating mechanisms of the heating assembly include but are not limited to resistance heating, electromagnetic heating, infrared heating, microwave heating, or laser heating and the like.

In some embodiments, with reference to, the functional sectionmay be provided with the filtering sectiononly.

In some other embodiments, with reference to, the functional sectionfurther includes a cooling section, and the cooling sectionis located between the filtering sectionand the aerosol generating substrate. The cooling sectionis used for cooling the aerosol before the filtering sectionfilters the aerosol. The cooling sectioncan relieve the phenomenon of “the mouth is scalded” when the user inhales the aerosol.

The outer wrapping layerincludes but is not limited to one or a combination of more of materials such as fiber paper, metal foil, metal foil composite fiber paper, polyethylene composite fiber paper, PE (Polyethylene), and PBAT (Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate).

The cooling materials of the cooling sectioninclude but are not limited to one or a combination of more of materials such as PE (Polyethylene), PLA (Polylactic Acid), PBAT (Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate), PP (Polypropylene), cellulose acetate fibers, and propylene fibers.

The filtering materials of the filtering sectioninclude but are not limited to one or a combination of more of materials such as PE (Polyethylene), PLA (Polylactic Acid), PBAT (Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate), PP (Polypropylene), cellulose acetate fibers, and propylene fibers.

The materials of the cooling sectionand the filtering sectionmay be the same or different.

In some embodiments, the aerosol generating substratemay be of a columnar structure approximately. That is, the aerosol generating substrateis in a long strip shape approximately instead of a sheet. The size of the aerosol generating substratein the length direction is larger than the maximum distance between two points on the cross section thereof.

Exemplarily, on the cross section perpendicular to the length direction of the aerosol generating substrate, the shape of the cross section of the aerosol generating substrateincludes but is not limited to a circular shape, an oval shape, a runway shape, or a polygon shape or the like.

The cross section of the aerosol generating substrateis in the above regular shape, so the product consistency is good, and the product quality is convenient to monitor. This embodiment of the present application takes the cross section of the aerosol generating substratebeing a circular shape as an example for illustration, that is, the aerosol generating substrateis a cylinder. The size of the aerosol generating substratein the length direction is larger than the maximum distance between two points on the cross section thereof, for example, the diameter.

The specific components of the aerosol generating substrateare not limited here. Exemplarily, in one embodiment, the aerosol generating substratemay include components such as plants, auxiliaries, smoke producing agents, and adhesives. In one embodiment, the plants are one or a combination of more of powder arranged by crushing tobacco raw materials, tobacco fragments, tobacco stems, tobacco wastes, fragrant plants and the like. The plants are used for generating an aerosol with alkaloid when heated.

In one embodiment, the auxiliaries may be one or a combination of more of an inorganic filler, a lubricating agent, and an emulsifying agent. The inorganic filler includes one or a combination of more of heavy calcium carbonate, light calcium carbonate, zeolite, attapulgite, talcum powder, and kieselguhr. The inorganic filler may provide a framework support for the plants, and moreover, the inorganic filler has micro-pores, which can improve the wall material porosity after the plants are molded, thereby improving the aerosol release rate.

The lubricating agent includes one or a combination of more of candelilla wax, carnauba wax, shellac, sunflower wax, rice bran, beewax, stearic acid, and palmitic acid. The lubricating agent can increase the fluidity of particles, reduce the friction force among the particles, and make the overall density of particle distribution uniform, and also can reduce the pressure for mold forming and reduce mold abrasion.

The emulsifying agent includes one or a combination of more of polyglycerol fatty acid ester, tween-80, and polyvinyl alcohol. The emulsifying agent can slow down the loss of flavor materials in the storage process to a certain extent, thus improving the stability of the flavor materials, as well as improving the sensory quality of the product.

The smoke producing agents have the effect of generating a large amount of vapor when heated, thereby increasing the smoke amount of the smoke generating product. In one embodiment, the smoke producing agents may include: one or a combination of more of monohydric alcohol (such as menthol), polyhydric alcohol (such as propylene glycol, triethylene glycol, 1,3-butanediol, and glycerinum), ester of polyhydric alcohol (such as glyceryl monoacetate, glyceryl diacetate, or glyceryl triacetate), monocarboxylic acid, polycarboxylic acid (such as lauric acid, and myristic acid) or aliphatic ester of polycarboxylic acid (such as dimethyl dodecanedioate, dimethyl tetradecanedioiate, erythritol, 1,3-butanediol, tetraethylene glycol, triethyl citrate, propylene carbonate, ethyl laurate, Triactin, meso-erythritol, a glyceryl diacetate mixture, diethyl suberate, triethyl citrate, benzyl benzoate, phenyl methyl acetate, ethyl vanillin, glycerol tributyrate, and lauryl acetate).

In one embodiment, the adhesive is a natural plant extract, and is non-ionized modified viscous polysaccharide, including one or a combination of more of tamarind polysaccharide, pulullan, algal polysaccharide, locust bean gum, guar gum, and xyloglucan. The adhesive is used for bonding the particles together and making them not easy to loosen. Moreover the adhesive improves the water resistance of the aerosol generating substrate, is harmless to human bodies, and has a certain health care effect.

In one embodiment, the aerosol generating substrateis of an integrally-molded structure. For example, the aerosol generating substratemay be of an integrated structure arranged by processes such as injection molding, compression molding, or extrusion. The extrusion molding refers to a processing method of adding a raw material mixture into an extruder, heating and plasticizing the raw material mixture by a charging barrel and a screw of the extruder, and simultaneously, pushing the raw material mixture forward by the screw, and continuously passing through a handpiece to obtain a product or semi-product with various cross sections. The aerosol substrate arranged by the extrusion molding is strip-shaped. Therefore, the aerosol generating substrateis an integrated substrate after being heated and inhaled or stopped from being heated, and is not easy to disintegrate and fall off. It solves the problems in the prior art that three aerosol generating substrates of a sheet-shaped aerosol generating substrate, a dispersed particle shaped aerosol generating substrate, and a filament shaped aerosol generating substrate are subjected to sheet loosening, and filamentous components and particular components falling off, and are not easy to clean.

In one embodiment, the ratio is 40% to 85%. Exemplarily, the ratio of the total cross sectional area of the airwaysto the cross sectional area of the aerosol generating substrateis 40%, 40.5%, 41%, 42%, 43%, 44%, 45%, 48%, 50%, 51%, 52%, 55%, 59%, 60%, 61%, 65%, 67%, 68%, 69%, 71%, 73%, 74%, 76%, 77%, 78%, 79%, 81%, 82%, 84.5%, or 85% and the like. According to this design, the total cross sectional area of the airwaysis moderate, so the airflow flow resistance is appropriate. The substrate mass of the aerosol generating substrateis appropriate, therefore the structural strength of the aerosol generating substrateis good, and the overall form can be stably kept. Moreover, it can also be ensured that the aerosol release amount of the aerosol generating substrateis appropriate, uniform heating and uniform release of the aerosol can be achieved, the aerosol release time is moderate, it is ensured that the inhaling frequency meets the customer demand, thus the situation that the inhaling amount is not enough or excessive waste is caused is avoided, and the inhaling experience of the user is good.