Aerosol Generating Substrate and Aerosol Generating Article

This application is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2023/135427, filed on Nov. 30, 2023, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202310091250.X, filed on Jan. 20, 2023. The entire disclosure of both applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

This application relates to the technical field of aerosol generating articles, and in particular, to an aerosol generating substrate and an aerosol generating article.

Aerosol generating articles include aerosol generating articles that form aerosols by burning and aerosol generating articles that form aerosols by heating-not-burning. In a typical heat-not-burn cigarette article, it contains an aerosol generating substrate such as a tobacco raw material, a flavor raw material, and/or an aerosol former that can volatilize to generate aerosols when heated. The aerosol generating substrate is heated by an external heat source to a sufficient degree to diffuse. The aerosol generating substrate does not burn. When loaded with a large dose of aerosol former, the aerosol former is released by high-temperature heating to form aerosols.

In the existing technology, when aerosol generating articles are inhaled, the resistance to draw (RTD) is relatively high, and the difference in aerosol volume between puffs is significant, thus reducing the user experience.

In an embodiment, the present invention provides an aerosol generating substrate, comprising: at least one airway that passes through at least one end of the aerosol generating substrate along a length direction, and wherein a wall thickness range of the at least one airway is 0.1 mm to 9.8 mm.

In an embodiment, the present invention provides an aerosol generating substrate and an aerosol generating article that can improve the user experience.

In an embodiment, the present invention provides an aerosol generating substrate. The aerosol generating substrate is provided with at least one airway. The airway passes through at least one end of the aerosol generating substrate along a length direction, and a wall thickness range of the airway is 0.1 mm to 9.8 mm.

In an embodiment, the airway passes through the two opposite ends of the aerosol generating substrate along the length direction.

In an embodiment, the wall thickness range of the airway is 0.15 mm to 3.5 mm.

In an embodiment, the number of the airways is more than one, and the wall thickness of the airway includes the wall thickness D of a substrate wall between two adjacent airways, and the range of D is 0.1 mm to 2.5 mm.

In an embodiment, the wall thickness of the airway includes the wall thickness L of a substrate wall between the outermost airway and the outer sidewall of the aerosol generating substrate, and the range of L is 0.1 mm to 3.5 mm.

In an embodiment, at least one of the inside of the aerosol generating substrate and the outer sidewall of the aerosol generating substrate is provided with the airway.

In an embodiment, the airway has the cross section perpendicular to the length direction of the aerosol generating substrate; and the shape of the cross section of the airway provided inside the aerosol generating substrate is one of a circular shape, an elliptical shape, a runway shape, a polygonal shape, and a special shape.

In an embodiment, the shape of the cross section of the airway provided in the outer sidewall of the aerosol generating substrate is one of a semi-circular shape, a semi-elliptical shape, a trapezoidal shape, a polygonal shape, and a special shape, or the shape of the cross section of the airway provided in the outer sidewall of the aerosol generating substrate is the same as the local shape of the cross section of the airway provided inside the aerosol generating substrate.

In an embodiment, the airway has the cross section perpendicular to the length direction of the aerosol generating substrate; and the area of the cross section of the airway provided inside the aerosol generating substrate is 0.0019 mmto 30 mm.

In an embodiment, the area of the cross section of the airway provided in the outer sidewall of the aerosol generating substrate is 0.001 mmto 55 mm.

In an embodiment, the inside of the aerosol generating substrate is provided with multiple airways, and the airways are distributed on multiple trajectory lines. The airways on a single trajectory line are linearly arranged along a first direction, the multiple trajectory lines are arranged along a second direction, and the first direction and the second direction are not in parallel.

In an embodiment, the airways on the multiple trajectory lines are uniformly distributed.

In an embodiment, the airways on a single trajectory line are linearly arranged along the first direction, and the multiple trajectory lines are arranged along the second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

In an embodiment, the airways on a single trajectory line are arranged along the circumferential direction surrounding the center of the aerosol generating substrate, and the multiple trajectory lines are concentrically arranged along the radial direction of the aerosol generating substrate.

In an embodiment, the airways on a single trajectory line are repeatedly arranged, and the apertures of the airways on each trajectory line gradually increase or gradually decrease radially outward along the aerosol generating substrate.

In an embodiment, the airways on a single trajectory line are repeatedly arranged, and the distance between the airways on two adjacent trajectory lines gradually increases or gradually decreases radially outward along the aerosol generating substrate.

In an embodiment, the inside of the aerosol generating substrate is provided with multiple airways, and the airways are randomly distributed.

In an embodiment, the inside of the aerosol generating substrate is provided with multiple airways; and the airways are distributed in various regions inside the aerosol generating substrate.

In an embodiment, the inside of the aerosol generating substrate is provided with a first region and a second region, and the airways are distributed in the first region.

An embodiment of this application further provides an aerosol generating article, which includes:

In an embodiment, the function segment further includes a cooling section, and the cooling section is located between the filtering section and the aerosol generating substrate.

The embodiments of this application provide the aerosol generating substrate and the aerosol generating article. The aerosol generating substrate is provided with at least one airway. The airway passes through at least one end of the aerosol generating substrate along the length direction, and the wall thickness range of the airway is 0.1 mm to 9.8 mm. When heating the aerosol generating substrate, aerosols are released by heating the aerosol generating substrate. The aerosols flow out through gaps or micropores in the substrate walls between the airways, are collected in the airway, and are conveyed to an inhalation end under the action of negative inhalation pressure. That is to say, by providing the airway, the surface area of the aerosol generating substrate can be increased (the sidewall of the airway is equivalent to a part of the surface of the aerosol generating substrate), so that the heat of the aerosol generating substrate can enter the inside of the aerosol generating substrate from the surface of the aerosol generating substrate. Compared with the structure that the heat is directly transferred inside the aerosol generating substrate in the related technologies, the heating efficiency can be improved. In addition, since the wall thickness of the airway is set to 0.1 mm to 9.8 mm, the flow resistance of the aerosol generating substrate is relatively small, the flow rate of the aerosols is appropriate, the aerosols inside the aerosol generating substrate can be easily extracted, the aerosols can be released uniformly, the utilization rate is higher, the aerosol generating substrate is less prone to burning, the user experience is better, and the manufacturing is facilitated. That is, compared with the material of the aerosol generating section in the related technologies, the aerosol generating substrate provided in the embodiment of this application can improve the user experience.

Without causing any conflict, the embodiments of this application and the technical features in the embodiments may be combined with each other, and the detailed description in the specific embodiments should be understood as an explanation of the purpose of this application and should not be regarded as an undue limitation on this application.

An embodiment of this application provides an aerosol generating article. Referring toto, the aerosol generating articleincludes a function segment, an outer wrapping layer, and an aerosol generating substrate. The function segmentis arranged at one end of the aerosol generating substratealong a length direction. The function segmentat least includes a filtering segment for filtering aerosols. The filtering segment may also be referred to as a filter.

The outer wrapping layerwraps the peripheral sides of the function segmentand the aerosol generating substrate.

The aerosol generating articleis used in conjunction with an aerosol generating device with a heating component. Specifically, the heating component heats the aerosol generating substrateto produce aerosols, and the user inhales the filtered aerosols through the filtering segment of the function segment.

The aerosol generating articlegenerates aerosols by virtue of the aerosol generating substrate, while the function segmentdoes not generate aerosols.

The aerosol generating article in the embodiment of this application is applicable to inhalation by means of heating and burning, and is also applicable to inhalation by means of heating-not-burning. In the embodiment of this application, description is made by taking the aerosol generating articlebeing applicable to inhalation by means of heating-not-burning as an example.

There are various heating methods for the heating component. Exemplarily, the heating methods include central heating, circumferential heating, bottom air heating, and the like. The central heating method refers to baking and heating the aerosol generating articlefrom the inside to the outside through the heating component inserted into the aerosol generating article. The circumferential heating method refers to baking and heating the aerosol generating articlefrom the outside to the inside through the heating component arranged on the periphery of the aerosol generating article. The bottom heating method refers to first heating the air by using the heating component, and then baking and heating the aerosol generating articlefrom the bottom to the top through the hot air. These heating methods may specifically include resistance heating, electromagnetic heating, infrared heating, microwave heating, laser heating, and the like, which will not specifically limited here.

The function segmentmay be provided with only a filtering segmentas shown in, or may be provided with a filtering segmentand a cooling segmentas shown in. For the function segmentprovided with the cooling segment, the cooling segmentis provided between the filtering segmentand an aerosol generating substrate structureto cool the aerosols before the filtering segmentfilters the aerosols.

The cooling segment is used for cooling the aerosols before the filtering segment filters the aerosols, so as to reduce the temperature of the aerosols and improve the situation that “the mouth feels hot” when the user inhales the aerosols.

In some embodiments, the function segmentmay be further provided with a supporting segment. The supporting segment has certain structural strength and plays a role of axially limiting the aerosol generating substrate. Specifically, when the aerosol generating articleis inserted into a heating chamber of a cigarette device, or when a heating element is inserted into the aerosol generating substrate, the supporting segment provides a reaction force to the aerosol generating substrate, so as to prevent the aerosol generating substratefrom moving axially.

Another embodiment of this application provides an aerosol generating substrate. The aerosol generating substrateis used for the aerosol generating articledescribed in the embodiment of this application. Referring toto, the aerosol generating substrateis provided with at least one airway. The airwaypasses through at least one end of the aerosol generating substratealong the length direction, that is, the airwayextends along the longitudinal direction of the aerosol generating substrate. In some embodiments, referring to, the airwayspass through the same end of the aerosol generating substratealong the length direction, and the other end is a closed end.

In some other embodiments, referring to, some of the airwayspass through one end of the aerosol generating substratealong the length direction, while the other airwayspass through the other end of the aerosol generating substratealong the length direction.

In yet some other embodiments, referring toto, each airwaypasses through the two ends of the aerosol generating substratealong the length direction. It can be understood that compared with the airwaypassing through one end of the aerosol generating substratealong the length direction, the airwaypassing through the two ends of the aerosol generating substratealong the length direction is more conducive to reducing the resistance to draw (RTD) when the user inhales the aerosols.

The hole wall of the airwayforms the surface of the aerosol generating substrate. The airwaycan increase the surface area of the aerosol generating substrate, thus facilitating the heat transfer and improving the heating efficiency. In addition, the aerosols flow out through micropores, are collected into the airway, and are conveyed to an inhalation end under the action of negative inhalation pressure, thus reducing the RTD when the user inhales the aerosols and improving the user experience. The RTD is positively correlated with the flow resistance of the aerosols. The smaller the flow resistance of the aerosols in the aerosol generating substrate, the smaller the RTD experienced by the user; and the larger the flow resistance of the aerosols in the aerosol generating substrate, the larger the RTD experienced by the user.

The specific structure of the aerosol generating substrateis not limited here. Exemplarily, in an embodiment, the aerosol generating substratemay be made of an atomizing substrate itself, such as an aerosol generating flavor substrate.

In some other embodiments, the aerosol generating substratemay also include a substrate and an atomizing substrate arranged on the substrate. The substrate may be, for example, high-temperature resistant carbon fibers. By arranging the substrate, the strength of the aerosol generating substratecan be improved, and it can also withstand certain degree of high temperature without producing peculiar smells.

The aerosol generating substrate, for example, is a recombinant tobacco substrate containing components such as an aerosol generating agent and tobacco, is manufactured through an extrusion process, and is an integral structure. In this way, when the aerosol generating substrateis heated for inhaling or heating is stopped, it is an integral substrate without the problem of disintegration and falling, thus solving the problems that the filamentary or granular aerosol generating substratefalls apart and is difficult to clean in the existing technology.

The aerosol generating substratemay be formed through a process such as compression or extrusion molding.

In addition, micropores are formed between granules of a granular combination, and the micropores are communicated to form micro airways communicated with the airway. The airwaypasses through the two ends of the substrate, playing a role of uniformly introducing air and collectively conveying the aerosols. The recombinant tobacco substrate containing components such as an aerosol generating agent and tobacco releases aerosols when heated. The aerosols are collected into the airwaythrough gaps or micropores between wall materials and conveyed to the inhalation end under the action of negative inhalation pressure.

The wall thickness range of the airwayis 0.1 mm to 9.8 mm. In the case of one airway, referring toto, the wall thickness of the airwaymay be the wall thickness of a substrate wall between the airwayand the outer sidewall of the aerosol generating substrate. In the case of multiple airways, referring to, the wall thickness of the airwaymay be the wall thickness of a substrate wall between the hole wall of the airwayand the outer sidewall of the aerosol generating substrate, as well as the wall thickness of the substrate wall between two adjacent airways

Different combinations of substrate wall thickness may be designed to regulate the RTD, effective component release rate, heat transfer rate, inhalation uniformity and the like of the aerosol generating substrate.

In the embodiment of this application, the wall thickness range of the airwayis 0.1 mm to 9.8 mm. The thicker the substrate wall, the larger the mass of the aerosol generating substrateand the more inhalation ports it has, but the overall RTD of the aerosol generating substrateis large and the heat transfer efficiency is low, which is not conducive to aerosol release and leads to overheating of the contact surface with the heat source; and the thinner the substrate wall, the better the penetration or diffusion of heat and the higher the heat transfer efficiency, but the smaller the mass of the aerosol generating substrateand the fewer inhalation ports it has, and the thinner the substrate wall, the lower the overall structural strength of the aerosol generating substrate. That is to say, the wall thickness setting of the airwayneeds to be coordinated and unified with the aerosol release amount, heat transfer efficiency, and the overall structural strength of the aerosol generating substrate. Therefore, when the wall thickness range of the airwayis 0.1 mm to 9.8 mm, the flow resistance of the aerosol generating substrateis relatively small (that is, the RTD is relatively small), the flow rate of the aerosols is appropriate, the aerosols inside the aerosol generating substratecan be easily extracted, the aerosols can be released uniformly, the utilization rate is higher, the aerosol generating substrateis less prone to burning, the user experience is better, and the manufacturing is facilitated.