A Method for Detecting the Uniformity of Flavor and Fragrance Distribution in Tobacco Based on Nano-CT Imaging

Abstract

This invention discloses a method for detecting the uniformity of flavoring and fragrance distribution in tobacco shreds based on Nano-CT imaging. The method involves taking Nano-CT images of finished cigarettes or flavored tobacco shreds from different angles. These images are used to create a three-dimensional image of characteristic elements in the flavored tobacco sample, and the spatial distribution of these elements is analyzed to determine the uniformity of flavoring and fragrance application. This invention requires a small sample size, is non-destructive, and enables efficient and accurate detection of both cigarette shreds and finished cigarettes.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a method for detecting the uniformity of flavoring and fragrance distribution in finished cigarettes or tobacco shreds, belonging to the field of tobacco testing and analysis. Background Technology

[0002] The flavoring process is a crucial part of cigarette production, and the uniformity of flavoring and fragrance distribution directly affects the sensory quality during smoking. Currently, most methods used in the tobacco industry to evaluate flavoring uniformity rely on chromatography and other techniques to macroscopically characterize the uniformity of applied flavoring and fragrance. This process is relatively complex, and there are few methods that provide a direct, accurate quantification and visualization of the distribution of flavoring and fragrance. Summary of the Invention

[0003] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention proposes a method for detecting the uniformity of flavoring and fragrance distribution in tobacco shreds based on Nano-CT imaging. The aim is to utilize specific marker elements inherent in tobacco flavoring and fragrance or non-toxic and harmless marker elements in added flavoring and fragrance, combined with Nano-CT imaging, to detect the distribution of flavoring and fragrance, thereby enabling intuitive, accurate, and non-destructive analysis of the uniformity of added flavoring and fragrance distribution in tobacco samples.

[0004] To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the present invention adopts the following technical solution:

[0005] The present invention provides a method for detecting the uniformity of flavoring and fragrance distribution in tobacco shreds based on Nano-CT imaging. This method is used to determine the uniformity of flavoring and fragrance distribution applied to finished cigarette products or materials, and includes the following steps:

[0006] a) Obtain the flavoring and fragrance to be applied, and add a marker with a marking element to the flavoring and fragrance to form a flavoring and fragrance with a marking element, thereby applying the flavoring and fragrance with the marking element to the test sample according to the process, wherein the test sample is cigarette tobacco or finished cigarette.

[0007] b) Set the X-ray wavelength to the absorption wavelength of the characteristic X-rays of the marker element in the marker, and use the Nano-CT imaging method to take pictures of the flavored and flavored test sample from different angles to obtain several cigarette images with the marker element. After superimposing them, a cigarette superimposed image containing the three-dimensional distribution information of the marker element is obtained, and the cigarette superimposed image is converted into a three-dimensional grayscale image composed of pixels with grayscale values ​​between 0 and 255.

[0008] c) Based on the resolution of the three-dimensional grayscale image, obtain the coordinate range information of the coordinate positions of each pixel in the three-dimensional grayscale image that belong to the coordinate positions of the test sample pixel.

[0009] d) Set a grayscale value threshold for noise, and based on the grayscale value of each pixel in the three-dimensional grayscale image, delete pixels that are lower than the grayscale value threshold from the three-dimensional grayscale image, thereby obtaining a set P of pixels with filtered spatial coordinates, and the set P contains n pixels.

[0010] e) Randomly generate one or more evaluation point sets Q containing n non-repeating three-dimensional pixels within the coordinate range information of step c);

[0011] f) Calculate the similarity J(P, Q) between set P and evaluation point set Q according to equation (1):

[0012]

[0013] In equation (1), |P∩Q| and |P∪Q| represent the lengths of the intersection and union of P and Q, respectively, i.e. the number of elements in the intersection and union;

[0014] g) The uniformity of the distribution of fragrances and flavorings on the test sample is determined based on the similarity degree J(P,Q), and the value of the similarity degree J(P,Q) is proportional to the uniformity of the distribution.

[0015] The method for detecting the uniformity of flavor and fragrance distribution in tobacco shreds based on Nano-CT imaging described in this invention is characterized in that: the labeling element in step a) is a uniformly dispersed nanoparticle containing a compound of elements from the 6th to the 56th elements in the periodic table or its composition, wherein the size of the nanoparticle is less than 500 nm.

[0016] The concentration of the labeled element in step a) is between 0.001M and 0.5M.

[0017] The present invention provides an electronic device, comprising a memory and a processor, characterized in that the memory is used to store a program supporting the processor to execute the method for detecting the uniformity of flavoring and fragrance distribution in tobacco as described in any one of claims 1-3, and the processor is configured to execute the program stored in the memory.

[0018] The present invention discloses a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, characterized in that the computer program, when executed by a processor, performs the steps of the method for detecting the uniformity of flavoring and fragrance distribution in tobacco as described in any one of claims 1-3.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows:

[0020] This invention utilizes the penetrating properties of X-rays and, with the aid of Nano-CT imaging, selects a specific wavelength of X-ray beam to irradiate a specific area of ​​the sample based on the different labeled elements, creating a three-dimensional model of the tobacco sample without damaging it. After simple algorithm processing, the uniformity of the distribution of added flavorings and fragrances in the tobacco sample can be visually detected. The detection method used in this invention has low requirements for the labeling materials used, and can select and utilize labeling materials containing the labeled elements that do not damage the sensory quality of the cigarette product. In addition, this detection method can achieve rapid, accurate, and non-destructive testing of tobacco samples, and has high compatibility with the morphology of the test samples. Detailed Implementation

[0021] In this embodiment, a method for detecting the uniformity of flavoring and fragrance distribution in tobacco shreds based on Nano-CT imaging is used to determine the uniformity of flavoring and fragrance distribution applied to finished cigarette products or materials, and includes the following steps:

[0022] a) Obtain the flavoring and fragrance to be applied, and add a marker with a marking element to the flavoring and fragrance to form a flavoring and fragrance with a marking element. Then, apply the flavoring and fragrance with the marking element to the test sample according to the process. The test sample is cigarette tobacco or finished cigarette.

[0023] In specific implementation, the labeling element in step a) is a compound containing elements from element number 6 to 56 in the periodic table, or uniformly dispersed nanoparticles of its composition, with a nanoparticle size less than 500 nm. Furthermore, the concentration of the labeling element is between 0.001 M and 0.5 M.

[0024] b) Set the X-ray wavelength to the absorption wavelength of the characteristic X-rays of the marker elements in the marker, and use the Nano-CT imaging method to take pictures of the flavored and flavored test samples from different angles to obtain several cigarette images with marker elements. After superimposing them, a cigarette superimposed image containing the three-dimensional distribution information of the marker elements is obtained, and the cigarette superimposed image is converted into a three-dimensional grayscale image composed of pixels with grayscale values ​​between 0 and 255.

[0025] c) Based on the resolution of the three-dimensional grayscale image, obtain the coordinate range information of the coordinate positions of the pixels belonging to the test sample in the coordinate positions of each pixel in the three-dimensional grayscale image;

[0026] d) Set a grayscale threshold for noise, and based on the grayscale values ​​of each pixel in the three-dimensional grayscale image, delete pixels below the grayscale threshold from the three-dimensional grayscale image to obtain a set P of pixels with spatial coordinates after filtering, and set P contains n pixels in total.

[0027] e) Randomly generate one (or more) evaluation point sets Q containing n non-repeating three-dimensional pixels within the coordinate range information in step c);

[0028] f) Calculate the similarity J(P, Q) between set P and evaluation point set Q according to equation (1):

[0029]

[0030] In equation (1), |P∩Q| and |P∪Q| represent the lengths of the intersection and union of P and Q, respectively, i.e. the number of elements in the intersection and union;

[0031] g) The uniformity of the distribution of fragrances and flavorings on the test sample is determined based on the similarity degree J(P,Q), and the value of the similarity degree J(P,Q) is proportional to the uniformity of the distribution.

[0032] Example 1:

[0033] The example uses cigarette tobacco as an example. Since X-rays have penetrating power, the test method is also effective when the tobacco is wrapped in cigarette paper.

[0034] In specific implementation, a method for testing the uniformity of flavor and fragrance distribution in tobacco shreds based on Nano-CT imaging is as follows:

[0035] h) Obtain the fragrance to be applied and add a marker element Fe at a concentration of 0.1M to the fragrance. 3+ After the FeCl3 marker is added, flavorings with the marked elements are formed. The flavorings with the marked elements are then applied to the test samples according to the process. The test samples are cigarette tobacco or finished cigarettes.

[0036] i) The tobacco shreds were laid flat on the sample stage, the X-ray energy was set to 710eV, and the flavored tobacco shreds or finished cigarettes were photographed using Nano-CT imaging technology to obtain 43 Nano-CT images from different angles. After being superimposed, a cigarette superimposed image containing the three-dimensional distribution information of the marked elements was obtained, and the cigarette superimposed image was converted into a three-dimensional grayscale image composed of pixels with grayscale values ​​between 0 and 255.

[0037] j) Based on the resolution of the three-dimensional grayscale image, obtain the coordinate range information of the coordinate positions of the pixels belonging to the test sample in the coordinate positions of each pixel in the three-dimensional grayscale image, which are X:[0,512], Y:[0,512], Z:[0,43];

[0038] k) Set the gray value threshold for noise to 15, and based on the gray value of each pixel in the three-dimensional gray image, delete pixels below the gray value threshold from the three-dimensional gray image to obtain the set P of pixels with spatial coordinates after filtering. The set P contains a total of 637,162 pixels (due to the extremely large amount of data, some data is given in Table 1).

[0039] Table 1. Partial data of point set P

[0040]

[0041] l) Randomly generate an evaluation point set Q containing 637,162 unique 3D pixels within the coordinate range information in step c);

[0042] Table 2. Partial data from the evaluation point set Q

[0043]

[0044] m) Calculate the similarity J(P,Q) between set P and evaluation point set Q according to equation (1):

[0045]

[0046] In equation (1), |P∩Q| and |P∪Q| represent the lengths of the intersection and union of P and Q, respectively, i.e. the number of elements in the intersection and union;

[0047] n) The uniformity of the distribution of fragrances and flavorings on the test sample is judged based on the similarity degree J(P,Q). The value of the similarity degree J(P,Q) is directly proportional to the uniformity of the distribution. The smaller the value, the worse the dispersion, and vice versa.

[0048] In this embodiment, an electronic device includes a memory and a processor. The memory stores a program that supports the processor in executing the above-described method, and the processor is configured to execute the program stored in the memory.

[0049] In this embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, which is executed by a processor to perform the steps of the above method.

Claims

1. A method for detecting the uniformity of flavoring distribution in tobacco based on Nano-CT imaging, characterized in that, A method for determining the distribution uniformity of flavoring essence applied to cigarette tobacco or a finished cigarette, comprising the following steps: a) obtaining a flavoring essence to be applied, adding a marker with a marker element to the flavoring essence to form a flavoring essence with a marker element, and applying the flavoring essence with the marker element to a test sample according to a process, the test sample being cigarette tobacco or a finished cigarette; b) setting the X-ray wavelength to be the absorption wavelength of the characteristic X-ray of the marker element in the marker, using a Nano-CT imaging method to take images of the test sample after flavoring and perfuming at different angles, obtaining a plurality of test sample images with the marker element and superimposing them to obtain a test sample superimposed image containing three-dimensional distribution information of the marker element, and converting the test sample superimposed image into a three-dimensional gray scale image composed of pixel points with gray scale values between 0 and 255; c) according to the resolution of the three-dimensional gray scale image, obtaining the coordinate range information of the coordinate positions of the test sample pixel points in the coordinate positions of each pixel point of the three-dimensional gray scale image; d) setting a gray scale value threshold of noise, and according to the gray scale values of each pixel point of the three-dimensional gray scale image, deleting the pixel points below the gray scale value threshold from the three-dimensional gray scale image to obtain a pixel point set P of the screened spatial coordinate positions, and the set P contains n pixel points in total; e) randomly generating one or more evaluation point sets Q containing n non-repeating three-dimensional pixel points within the coordinate range information of step c); f) calculating the degree of similarity between the set P and the set of evaluation points Q according to formula (1) : (1) In formula (1), and respectively represent the length of the intersection and the union between P and Q, i.e. the number of elements in the intersection and the union; g) according to the degree of similarity The uniformity of the distribution of the fragrance on the test sample is determined, and the degree of similarity The value of the degree of similarity is proportional to the uniformity of the distribution.

2. The method for detecting the uniformity of flavor distribution in tobacco based on Nano-CT imaging according to claim 1, characterized in that: The marker element in step a) is a compound containing elements 6 to 56 in the periodic table of elements or a uniformly dispersed nanoparticle composed of the same, the size of the nanoparticle being less than 500 nm.

3. The method for detecting the uniformity of flavor distribution in tobacco based on Nano-CT imaging according to claim 1, characterized in that: The concentration of the marker element in step a) is between 0.001 M and 0.5 M.

4. An electronic device comprising a memory and a processor, characterized in that The memory is used to store a program supporting the processor to execute the method for detecting the distribution uniformity of flavoring essence in tobacco according to any one of claims 1-3, and the processor is configured to execute the program stored in the memory.

5. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, characterized in that The computer program is executed by the processor to perform the steps of the method for detecting the distribution uniformity of flavoring essence in tobacco according to any one of claims 1-3.

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