US-12616237-B2 - Aerosol-generating article with ventilation

US12616237B2US 12616237 B2US12616237 B2US 12616237B2US-12616237-B2

Abstract

A conventional cigarette is lit when a user applies a flame to one end of the cigarette and draws air through the other end. The localised heat provided by the flame and the oxygen in the air drawn through the cigarette causes the end of the cigarette to ignite, and the resulting combustion generates an inhalable smoke. By contrast, in heated aerosol-generating articles, an aerosol is generated by heating a flavour generating substrate, such as tobacco. Known heated aerosol-generating articles include, for example, electrically heated aerosol-generating articles and aerosol-generating articles in which an aerosol is generated by the transfer of heat from a combustible fuel element or heat source to a physically separate aerosol forming material. For example, aerosol-generating articles according to the invention find particular application in aerosol-generating systems comprising an electrically heated aerosol-generating device having an internal heater blade which is adapted to be inserted into the rod of aerosol-generating substrate. Aerosol-generating articles of this type are described in the prior art, for example, in EP 0822760.

Inventors

Rui Nuno BATISTA
Valerio OLIANA
Alexandra SEREDA
Gianluca BONGIOVANNI
Bekele BEDASSO

Assignees

PHILIP MORRIS PRODUCTS S.A.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20211007
Priority Date: 20201009

Claims (20)

1 . An aerosol-generating article, comprising: an aerosol-generating substrate; a downstream section extending from a downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate to a downstream end of the aerosol-generating article, wherein the downstream section comprises a first ventilation zone configured to provide ventilation into the downstream section, wherein the first ventilation zone extends from a downstream end to an upstream end, the upstream end being less than 5 millimetres from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate, wherein a resistance-to-draw of the downstream section is less than 10 mm H 2 O, and wherein the first ventilation zone comprises a porous portion of the downstream section having a ventilation of at least 20 percent; and a wrapper circumscribing at least a portion of the downstream section, the first ventilation zone further comprising a porous portion of the wrapper, wherein the porous portion of the wrapper forming the first ventilation zone has a basis weight, which is lower than that of a portion of the wrapper that does not form part of the first ventilation zone.
2 . An aerosol-generating article, comprising: an aerosol-generating substrate; and a downstream section extending from a downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate to a downstream end of the aerosol-generating article, wherein the downstream section comprises a first ventilation zone configured to provide ventilation into the downstream section, wherein the first ventilation zone extends from a downstream end to an upstream end, the upstream end being less than 5 millimetres from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate, wherein a resistance-to-draw of the downstream section is less than 10 mm H 2 O, wherein the first ventilation zone comprises a porous portion of the downstream section having a ventilation of at least 20 percent, wherein the downstream section further comprises a hollow tubular element, and wherein the hollow tubular element is spaced apart from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate, the hollow tubular element being connected to the aerosol-generating substrate by a portion of porous paper wrapper.
3 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 2 , wherein the first ventilation zone further comprises the portion of porous paper wrapper.
4 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 3 , wherein the portion of the porous paper wrapper forming the first ventilation zone has a basis weight, which is lower than that of a portion of the porous paper wrapper that does not form part of the first ventilation zone.
5 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the downstream end of the first ventilation zone is less than 3 millimetres from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate.
6 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 2 , wherein the downstream end of the first ventilation zone is less than 3 millimetres from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate.
7 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the upstream end of the first ventilation zone is less than 1 millimetre from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate.
8 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 2 , wherein the upstream end of the first ventilation zone is less than 1 millimetre from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate.
9 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the first ventilation zone has a length of at least 2 millimetres.
10 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 2 , wherein the first ventilation zone has a length of at least 2 millimetres.
11 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the downstream section further comprises an unobstructed airflow pathway from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate to a downstream end of the downstream section.
12 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 2 , wherein the downstream section further comprises an unobstructed airflow pathway from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate to a downstream end of the downstream section.
13 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the downstream section has a length of at least 15 millimetres.
14 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 2 , wherein the downstream section has a length of at least 15 millimetres.
15 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the downstream end of the first ventilation zone is at least 10 millimetres from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating article.
16 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 2 , wherein the downstream end of the first ventilation zone is at least 10 millimetres from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating article.
17 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the upstream end of the first ventilation zone is located less than 15 percent of a way along a length of the downstream section from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate.
18 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 2 , wherein the upstream end of the first ventilation zone is located less than 15 percent of a way along a length of the downstream section from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate.
19 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1 , wherein the downstream section further comprises a hollow tubular element.
20 . The aerosol-generating article according to claim 19 , wherein the hollow tubular element is spaced apart from the downstream end of the aerosol-generating substrate, the hollow tubular element being connected to the aerosol-generating substrate by a portion of porous paper wrapper.

Description

The present invention relates to an aerosol-generating article comprising an aerosol-generating substrate and adapted to produce an inhalable aerosol upon heating. Aerosol-generating articles in which an aerosol-generating substrate, such as a tobacco-containing substrate, is heated rather than combusted, are known in the art. Typically, in such heated smoking articles an aerosol is generated by the transfer of heat from a heat source to a physically separate aerosol-generating substrate or material, which may be located in contact with, within, around, or downstream of the heat source. During use of the aerosol-generating article, volatile compounds are released from the aerosol-generating substrate by heat transfer from the heat source and are entrained in air drawn through the aerosol-generating article. As the released compounds cool, they condense to form an aerosol. A number of prior art documents disclose aerosol-generating devices for consuming aerosol-generating articles. Such devices include, for example, electrically heated aerosol-generating devices in which an aerosol is generated by the transfer of heat from one or more electrical heater elements of the aerosol-generating device to the aerosol-generating substrate of a heated aerosol-generating article. For example, electrically heated aerosol-generating devices have been proposed that comprise an internal heater blade which is adapted to be inserted into the aerosol-generating substrate. As an alternative, inductively heatable aerosol-generating articles comprising an aerosol-generating substrate and a susceptor arranged within the aerosol-generating substrate have been proposed by WO 2015/176898. A further alternative has been described in WO 2020/115151, which discloses an aerosol-generating article used in combination with an external heating system comprising one or more heating elements arranged around the periphery of the aerosol-generating article. Aerosol-generating articles in which a tobacco-containing substrate is heated rather than combusted present a number of challenges that were not encountered with conventional smoking articles. First of all, tobacco-containing substrates are typically heated to significantly lower temperatures compared with the temperatures reached by the combustion front in a conventional cigarette. This may have an impact on nicotine release from the tobacco-containing substrate and nicotine delivery to the consumer. At the same time, if the heating temperature is increased in an attempt to boost nicotine delivery, then the aerosol generated typically needs to be cooled to a greater extent and more rapidly before it reaches the consumer. However, technical solutions that were commonly used for cooling the mainstream smoke in conventional smoking articles, such as the provision of a high filtration efficiency segment at the mouth end of a cigarette, may have undesirable effects in an aerosol-generating article wherein a tobacco-containing substrate is heated rather than combusted, as they may reduce nicotine delivery. In order to address one or more of the challenges specifically associated with heating rather than combusting an aerosol-generating substrate to generate an aerosol, a number of aerosol-generating articles have been proposed wherein multiple elements are combined, for example in longitudinal alignment, with an aerosol-generating element containing the aerosol-generating substrate. By way of example, the aerosol-generating element has been combined with a support element to impart improved structural strength to the article, an aerosol-cooling element adapted to lower the temperature of the aerosol, a low-filtration mouthpiece element, etc. A need is generally felt for aerosol-generating articles that are easy to use, have improved practicality, and are more eco-friendly. Additionally, it would be desirable to provide aerosol-generating articles that are easier to manufacture and that may make the whole production chain more sustainable and cost-effective. There is also a need for an aerosol-generating article that is especially suitable for use in combination with an external heating system, and particularly one that has improved aerosol generation and aerosol former delivery. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a new and improved aerosol-generating article adapted to satisfy at least one of the needs described above. Further, it would be desirable to provide one such aerosol-generating article that can be manufactured efficiently and at high speed, preferably with a satisfactory low RTD variability from one article to another. Aerosol-generating articles may comprise ventilation to dilute and cool the aerosol. Where this is the case, it may be desirable to effectively mix the diluting air with the aerosol before the aerosol is delivered. The present disclosure relates to an aerosol-generating article. The aerosol-generating article may be suitable for producing an inhalable aerosol upo