Method and system for manufacture of multi-segment articles of tobacco industry
Method for manufacturing of multi-segment rod-like articles (25, 25′, 25″) of the tobacco industry in an apparatus (2) for manufacturing multi-segment rods (6) or segment rods (6′, 6″) comprising the steps of: feeding rod-like segments of at least one kind (A, B, C, E, F) constituting a multi-segment rod-like article (25, 25′, 25″); putting together rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F) in a segments train (ST) on a wrapping material (7); manufacturing a continuous segment rod (CR′, CR″) or multi-segment rod (CR) containing rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F) wrapped by the wrapping material (7), whereas the segments are pushed together or cavities are left between the segments; and cutting the continuous segment rod (CR′, CR″) or multi-segment rod (CR) into multi-segment rods (6) or segment rods (6′, 6″) containing any combination of H rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F), double rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F) and halves of rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F), whereas at the time of cutting of the continuous multi-segment rod (CR) the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) move in a longitudinal direction (T1); then changing conveying direction of the multi-segment rod (6) or the segment rod (6′, 6″) from the longitudinal direction (T1) to a transverse direction (T2), and fixing the end segments (D) to the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″), conveyed in the transverse direction (T2) in an end segment fixing apparatus (3) adapted to manufacture multi-segment rod-like articles (25, 25′, 25″). The method is characterised in that after the change of the conveying direction of the multi-segment rod (6) or the segment rod (6′, 6″) from the longitudinal direction (T1) to the transverse direction (T2), and before fixing the end segment (D), a step of checking quality the manufactured multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) is performed at a measuring unit (9) and defective multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) are rejected, next feeding the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) to a compensation unit (13) for storing the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) and for compensating the rejection of the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″), and then feeding the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) from the compensation unit (13) to the end segment fixing apparatus (3) so that the end segment fixing apparatus (3) is continuously fed with the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″).
The object of the invention is a method and a system for manufacturing of multi-segment articles of the tobacco industry.
In the tobacco industry, articles for smokers, generally rod-like articles, containing a tobacco or a material formed from by tobacco processing are manufactured, whereas the articles for smokers are usually provided with a filter tip. A filter tip may be made of one kind of filter material or of multiple different filter materials, and its task is to filter the smoke or to transmit the aerosol which is generated in such articles. The articles for smokers are most frequently manufactured on machines on which a continuous rod containing the said tobacco and/or filter elements is formed, after which such continuous rod is cut by means of a cutting head into semi-finished rods which usually have a double length and are cut into two semi-finished parts, i.e. two semi-finished articles, in further manufacturing operations on a filter tipping machine. The filter tipping machine is known among others from the U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,346A and from the patent application DE3706753A1. The cut semi-finished articles are axially parted, and filter-tip rods of a double length are placed between them. The filter-tip rods may be made of a filter material or of a tube-shaped material. After sticking a section of the wrapping material on the end piece of each semi-finished smoking article (each element of the smoking article) and the double filter-tip rod, the rod created in such a way, being a double smoking article, is cut into two individual finished articles. The filter tipping machine feeds the wrapping material sections continuously, i.e. one section of the wrapping material into each groove of a drum conveyor in which the semi-finished smoking articles and the double filter tip are transported, regardless of whether the semi-finished article and the filter rod have been delivered. If the double semi-finished rod is not delivered or if the double filter rod is not fed, a double smoking article is not manufactured, and the unused section of the wrapping material will uncontrollably fall from the drum conveyor causing the contamination of the machine. So the rejection of rods fabricated on the double semi-finished rod manufacturing machine will result in the occurrence of interruptions in the production process on the filter tipping machine and the resulting machine contamination.
In the prior art, there are no known solutions which could be installed on the filter tipping machine in order to avoid the machine contamination or the need to build units which would receive any unused sections of the wrapping material.
The object of the invention is a method for manufacturing of multi-segment rod-like articles of the tobacco industry in an apparatus for the manufacturing of multi-segment or segment rods comprising the steps of: feeding rod-like segments of at least one kind constituting a multi-segment rod-like article; putting together rod-like segments in a segments train on a wrapping material; manufacturing a continuous segment or multi-segment rod containing the rod-like segments wrapped by the wrapping material, whereas the segments are pushed together or cavities are left between the segments; and cutting the continuous segment or multi-segment rod into multi-segment or segment rods containing any combination of rod-like segments, double rod-like segments and halves of rod-like segments, whereas at the time of cutting of the continuous multi-segment rod the multi-segment or the segment rods move in a longitudinal direction; then changing conveying direction of the multi-segment or the segment rod from the longitudinal direction to a transverse direction, and fixing the end segments to the multi-segments rods or the segment rods, conveyed in the transverse direction in an end segment fixing apparatus adapted to manufacture multi-segment rod-like articles. The method of manufacturing is characterised in that after the change of the conveying direction of the multi-segment or the segment rod from the longitudinal direction to the transverse direction, and before fixing the end segment, a step of checking a quality the manufactured multi-segment or the segment rods is performed at a measuring unit and defective multi-segment or the segment rods are rejected, next feeding the multi-segment or the segment rods into a compensation unit for storing multi-segment or the segment rods and for compensating the rejection of multi-segment or the segment rods, and then feeding the multi-segment or the segment rods from the compensation unit to the end segment fixing apparatus so that the end segment fixing apparatus is continuously fed with multi-segment or the segment rods.
Furthermore, the method according to the invention is characterised in that before feeding the multi-segment or segment rods to the measuring unit a step of checking quality of the multi-segment or segment rods is performed at the multi-segment or segment rod manufacturing apparatus, and rejecting defective multi-segment or segment rods.
Furthermore, the object of the invention is a production system for the manufacture of multi-segment rod-like articles comprising: an apparatus for manufacturing multi-segment or segment rods comprising rod-like segments of at least one kind or double rod-like segments or halves of rod-like segments delivered and conveyed in a longitudinal direction, whereas the segments in a continuous multi-segment or segment rod from which the multi-segment or the segment rods are cut are pushed together or cavities are left between the rod-like segments; an apparatus for changing the conveying direction of the multi-segment or the segment rod from the longitudinal to a transverse direction; a measuring unit for checking the quality of manufactured multi-segment or segment rods; a rejection unit for rejecting defective multi-segment or segment rods; and an end segment fixing apparatus adapted to manufacture multi-segment rod-like articles by fixing the end segments to the multi-segment or segment rods conveyed in the transverse direction.
Furthermore, the production system is characterised by comprising a compensation unit for storing multi-segment or segment rods, situated between the measuring unit and the end segment fixing apparatus, adapted to compensate the rejection of multi-segment or segment rods so that the end segment fixing apparatus is continuously fed with the multi-segment or segment rods.
Furthermore, the system according to the invention is characterised in that the multi-segment or the segment rod manufacturing apparatus is provided with a measuring unit and a rejection unit for rejecting defective segment or multi-segment rods.
Due to the application of the solution according to this invention, the efficiency of the production system for manufacturing rod-like articles was successfully increased.
The object of the invention was shown in detail in a preferred embodiment in a drawing in which:
In this description, the definitions for the following expressions/terms were adopted. The term ‘rod-like segment’ and ‘segment’ may refer to a segment having a final length which will not be divided, a segment which will be divided at a later production stage and a segment which has been previously divided. The expression ‘continuous segment rod’ means a continuous rod comprising segments or double segments of at least one kind. The expression ‘continuous multi-segment rod’ means a continuous rod comprising segments or double segments of at least two kinds. The expression ‘segment rod’ means a rod comprising one segment, a half of a segment or a double segment. The expression ‘multi-segment rod’ means a rod comprising at least two segments of different kinds, halves of such segments or such double segments. The expression ‘multi-segment article’ means an article comprising at least two segments of different kinds, halves of such segments or such double segments.
A production system 1 for manufacturing multi-segment rod-like articles shown in
A multi-segment rod-like article 25 manufactured by the production system 1 comprises rod-like segments of the types A, B, C and D, whereas the end segment of the type D is attached in the end segment fixing apparatus 3. An example multi-segment rod-like article 25 consists of a half of a rod-like segment of the type A, a rod-like segment of the type B, a half of a rod-like segment of the type C and a half of the end segment of the type D. The rod-like segment of the type A may be designed for being lit, and the material contained in it, after being lit, may be used to heat the adjoining rod-like segment of the type B being an element generating an aerosol. The rod-like segment of the type C contains a tobacco material. The end segment of the type D is a filter-tip segment. The end segment of the type D may be a filtering element or a tube-shaped element.
In the production system 1, between the segment or multi-segment rod manufacturing apparatus 2 and the end segment fixing apparatus 3, there is situated a transferring apparatus 8 designed to change the movement direction of the multi-segment rods 6 from the longitudinal direction T1 to the movement in a transverse direction T2 (
The course of the process taking place in the end segment fixing apparatus 3 was illustrated in a simplified way in
Claims
1. Method for manufacturing of multi-segment rod-like articles (25, 25′, 25″) of the tobacco industry
- in an apparatus (2) for manufacturing multi-segment rods (6) or segment rods (6′, 6″) comprising the steps of: feeding rod-like segments of at least one kind (A, B, C, E, F) constituting a multi-segment rod-like article (25, 25′, 25″); putting together the rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F) in a segments train (ST) on a wrapping material (7); manufacturing a multi-segment rod (CR) or a continuous segment rod (CR′, CR″) containing the rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F) wrapped by the wrapping material (7), whereas the segments (A, B, C, E, F) are pushed together or cavities are left between the segments; and cutting the multi-segment rod (CR) or the continuous segment rod (CR′, CR″) into multi-segment rods (6) or segment rods (6′, 6″) containing any combination of rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F), double rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F) and halves of rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F), whereas at the time of the cutting of the continuous multi-segment rod (CR) or the continuous segment rod (CR′, CR″) the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) move in a longitudinal direction (T1); then
- changing the conveying direction of the multi-segment rod (6) or the segment rod (6′, 6″) from the longitudinal direction (T1) to a transverse direction (T2), and
- fixing end segments (D) to the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″), conveyed in the transverse direction (T2) in an end segment fixing apparatus (3) adapted to manufacture multi-segment rod-like articles (25, 25′, 25″),
- characterised in that
- after the change of the conveying direction of the multi-segment rod (6) or the segment rod (6′, 6″) from the longitudinal direction (T1) to the transverse direction (T2), and before fixing the end segment (D), a step of checking quality of the manufactured multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) is performed at a measuring unit (9) and defective multi-segment rods (6) or segment rods (6′, 6″) are rejected, next
- feeding the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) to a compensation unit (13) for storing the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) and for compensating the rejection of the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″), and then
- feeding the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) from the compensation unit (13) to the end segment fixing apparatus (3) so that the end segment fixing apparatus (3) is continuously fed with the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″).
2. Method as in claim 1 characterised in that before the feeding the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) to the measuring unit (9) a step of checking quality of the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) and a step of rejecting defective multi-segment rods (6) or segment rods (6′, 6″) are performed at the apparatus (2) for manufacturing multi-segment rods (6) or segment rods (6′, 6″).
3. Production system (1) for manufacturing of multi-segment rod-like articles (25, 25′, 25″) comprising:
- an apparatus (2) for manufacturing multi-segment rods (6) or segment rods (6′, 6″) comprising rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F) of at least one kind or double rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F) or halves of rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F) delivered and conveyed in a longitudinal direction (T1), whereas the segments in a continuous multi-segment rod (CR) or segment rod (CR′, CR″) from which the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) are cut are pushed together or cavities are left between the rod-like segments (A, B, C, E, F),
- an apparatus (8) for changing the conveying direction of the multi-segment rod (6) or the segment rod (6′, 6″) from the longitudinal direction (T1) to a transverse direction (T2),
- a measuring unit (9) for checking the quality of manufactured multi-segment rods (6) or segment rods (6′, 6″),
- a rejection unit (9A) for rejecting defective multi-segment rods (6) or segment rods (6′, 6″), and
- an end segment fixing apparatus (3) adapted to manufacture multi-segment rod-like articles (25, 25′, 25″) by fixing the end segments (D) to the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) conveyed in the transverse direction (T2),
- characterised in that
- the production system (1) comprises a compensation unit (13) for storing the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″), situated between the measuring unit (9) and the end segment fixing apparatus (3), adapted to compensate the rejection of the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″) so that the end segment fixing apparatus (3) is continuously fed with the multi-segment rods (6) or the segment rods (6′, 6″).
4. System as in claim 3 characterised in that the apparatus (2) for manufacturing multi-segment rods (6) or segment rods (6′, 6″) is provided with a measuring unit and a rejection unit for rejecting defective segment rods (6′, 6″) or multi-segment rods (6).
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 30, 2018
Publication Date: Jan 16, 2020
Inventor: Krzysztof Stolarski (Radom)
Application Number: 16/469,144