A plug wrap forming apparatus and method

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of filter rod manufacturing for cigarettes, in particular to a core shaft filter rod forming equipment with an outer spiral groove and a process. The core shaft filter rod forming equipment with the outer spiral groove comprises a wire feeder, a hot forming unit, a cold forming unit and an outer spiral groove forming unit arranged in sequence. The outer spiral groove forming unit is designed to roll press an outer spiral groove on a preformed wire bundle filter rod cooled and shaped by the cold forming unit, so that the core shaft filter rod with the outer spiral groove is obtained. Compared with the existing straight channel hollow filter rod, the smoke travels along the inner spiral groove of the filter rod during the cigarette smoking process, thereby forming a new smoking feeling.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application mainly relates to the technical field of tobacco filter rod manufacturing equipment, and in particular to a mandrel filter rod forming equipment and process with an external spiral channel. Background Technology

[0002] Cigarette filter rods are mainly used in the filter structure of cigarettes. Existing cigarette filter rods are usually round; currently, there are also hollow round filter rods with irregular patterns. The cross-section of these hollow filter rods mainly includes a straight cavity structure with an irregular pattern, and the cavity flue is a straight channel. As people's needs gradually increase, the diversification and uniqueness of cigarette filter rod design in cigarette design has become a research and development focus. Based on this, new filter rod designs and supporting filter rod molding equipment and processes have become the focus of researchers in this field. Summary of the Invention

[0003] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention provides a mandrel filter rod forming equipment and process with an external spiral channel.

[0004] The technical solution provided by this invention is as follows:

[0005] A mandrel filter rod forming device with an external spiral groove includes a wire feeder, a thermoforming unit, a cold forming unit and an external spiral groove forming unit arranged in sequence.

[0006] Both the thermoforming unit and the cold forming unit have forming cavities;

[0007] The wire feeder is used to output the wire bundle;

[0008] The thermoforming unit is used to heat and preform the filament bundle from the filament feeder to obtain a preformed filament bundle.

[0009] The cold forming unit is used to cool and shape the preformed filament bundle to obtain a preformed filament bundle filter rod.

[0010] The external spiral groove forming unit is used to roll the outer periphery of the pre-formed filament filter rod to obtain a mandrel filter rod with an external spiral groove.

[0011] Furthermore, the external spiral groove forming unit includes a mounting plate base, and a first roller cutter, a second roller cutter, and a drive module arranged on the mounting plate base;

[0012] The first roller cutter component includes a first roller cutter and a first transmission wheel arranged coaxially;

[0013] The second roller cutter component includes a second roller cutter and a second transmission wheel arranged coaxially;

[0014] The first and second roller cutters are arranged opposite each other, and a rolling opening adapted to the filter rod is formed between them;

[0015] The drive module includes a rotating power component and a drive wheel, with the drive wheel located on the output shaft of the rotating power component; a transmission belt connects the drive wheel, the first transmission wheel, and the second transmission wheel; the drive module is used to drive the first and second roller cutters to rotate.

[0016] Furthermore, the external spiral groove forming unit also includes a movable module, and the mounting plate base is deployed on the movable module.

[0017] Furthermore, the first roller cutter includes a first roller with a first cutter groove along its circumference; the second roller cutter includes a second roller with a second cutter groove along its circumference. It is understood that the first and second roller cutter components are disposed opposite to each other on the mounting plate, and the first cutter groove on the first roller corresponds to the second cutter groove on the second roller.

[0018] Furthermore, the filter rod forming equipment of this application also includes a coating device for coating the surface of the mandrel filter rod rolled into the outer spiral groove with forming paper; the coating device is arranged on the outlet side of the outer spiral groove forming unit. More preferably, it also includes a paper feeding roller for providing the forming paper to the coating device.

[0019] Furthermore, the filter rod forming equipment of this application also includes a slitting unit, which is connected to the outlet side of the coating equipment and is used to slit the mandrel filter rod with external spiral grooves after being coated with forming paper into target filter rods of the required specifications and lengths.

[0020] Furthermore, the wire feeder is a negative pressure type wire feeder; the thermoforming unit is connected to a hot steam source; and the cold forming unit is connected to a cold dry gas source.

[0021] This application also provides a mandrel filter rod forming process with an external spiral channel, including the above-mentioned mandrel filter rod forming equipment with an external spiral channel, including the steps of opening, wire feeding, steam thermoforming, cold forming and external spiral channel rolling.

[0022] Specifically, the filament bundle is opened by the opening machine unit and then fed to the filament feeder;

[0023] The filament bundle is introduced into the thermoforming unit for preforming by a filament feeder to obtain a preformed filament bundle;

[0024] The preformed filament bundle is cooled and shaped by a cold forming unit to obtain a preformed filament bundle filter rod;

[0025] The outer circumference of the pre-formed filament filter rod is rolled by the external spiral groove forming unit to obtain the mandrel filter rod with external spiral groove.

[0026] Furthermore, it also includes a paper wrapping step;

[0027] Specifically, forming paper is coated onto the surface of a filter rod with an external spiral groove using a coating equipment.

[0028] Furthermore, it also includes a filter rod cutting step.

[0029] Specifically, the filter rods covered with forming paper are cut into filter rods of the required target specifications by the slitting unit.

[0030] Beneficial effects:

[0031] This application provides a mandrel filter rod forming device with an external spiral groove, comprising a wire feeder, a thermoforming unit, a cold forming unit, and an external spiral groove forming unit arranged sequentially. The external spiral groove forming unit rolls the pre-formed wire tow filter rod obtained by the cold forming unit through cooling and shaping to create an external spiral groove, thus obtaining a mandrel filter rod with an external spiral groove. Compared to existing straight-channel hollow filter rods, during cigarette smoking, the smoke travels along the spiral groove inside the filter rod, creating a new smoking experience. Attached Figure Description

[0032] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments recorded in this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0033] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a mandrel filter rod forming device with an external spiral channel according to this embodiment;

[0034] Figure 2 for Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the structure of the spiral groove forming unit;

[0035] Figure 3 for Figure 2 Side view;

[0036] Figure 4 for Figure 2 The front view;

[0037] Figure 5 for Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the rolling process between the roller cutter and the fiber filter rod in the spiral groove forming unit.

[0038] Figure 6 for Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a two-dimensional planar combination;

[0039] Reference numerals: 10, wire feeder; 20, thermoforming unit; 30, cold forming unit; 40, external spiral groove forming unit; 41, mounting plate base; 42, first roller cutter; 421, first roller cutter groove; 43, second roller cutter; 431, second roller cutter groove; 44, rolling port; 45, transmission belt; 46, drive wheel; 50, moving module; 60, mandrel filter rod of external spiral groove. Detailed Implementation

[0040] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions in this application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this application, and not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in this application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0041] It should be noted that when a component is referred to as being "fixed to" or "set on" another component, it can be directly on or indirectly set on the other component; when a component is referred to as being "connected to" another component, it can be directly connected to or indirectly connected to the other component.

[0042] It should be understood that the terms "length", "width", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this application.

[0043] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of this application, "a plurality of" or "several" means two or more, unless otherwise explicitly specified.

[0044] It should be noted that the structures, proportions, sizes, etc., shown in the accompanying drawings of this specification are only for the purpose of assisting those skilled in the art in understanding and reading the content disclosed in the specification, and are not intended to limit the conditions under which this application can be implemented. Therefore, they have no substantial technical significance. Any modifications to the structure, changes in the proportions, or adjustments to the size should still fall within the scope of the technical content disclosed in this application, provided that they do not affect the effects and purposes that this application can produce.

[0045] See Figures 1 to 6 A mandrel filter rod forming device with an external spiral groove includes a wire feeder 10, a thermoforming unit 20, a cold forming unit 30 and an external spiral groove forming unit 40 arranged in sequence.

[0046] Both the thermoforming unit and the cold forming unit have forming cavities;

[0047] The wire feeder is used to output the wire bundle;

[0048] The thermoforming unit is used to heat and preform the filament bundle from the filament feeder to obtain a preformed filament bundle.

[0049] The cold forming unit is used to cool and shape the preformed filament bundle to obtain a preformed filament bundle filter rod.

[0050] The outer spiral groove forming unit is used to roll the outer periphery of the pre-formed filament filter rod to obtain a mandrel filter rod 60 with an outer spiral groove.

[0051] In the above scheme, the pre-formed filament filter rod obtained by the cold forming unit is rolled with an external spiral groove by the designed external spiral groove forming unit to obtain a mandrel filter rod with an external spiral groove. Compared with the existing straight channel hollow filter rod, the smoke travels along the spiral groove inside the filter rod during the smoking process, forming a new smoking sensation.

[0052] Understandably, in order to ensure the preformed fiber filter rod is cooled and shaped stably, multiple cold forming units can be set up sequentially for multiple cooling and shaping processes.

[0053] In a preferred embodiment, the external spiral groove forming unit includes a mounting plate base 41, and a first roller cutter 42, a second roller cutter 43, and a drive module arranged on the mounting plate base;

[0054] The first roller cutter component includes a first roller cutter and a first transmission wheel arranged coaxially;

[0055] The second roller cutter component includes a second roller cutter and a second transmission wheel arranged coaxially;

[0056] The first and second roller cutters are arranged opposite each other, and a rolling opening adapted to the filter rod is formed between them;

[0057] The drive module includes a rotating power component and a drive wheel, with the drive wheel located on the output shaft of the rotating power component; a transmission belt 45 connects the drive wheel 46, the first transmission wheel, and the second transmission wheel; the drive module is used to drive the first and second roller cutters to rotate.

[0058] Furthermore, the external spiral groove forming unit also includes a moving module, and the mounting plate base is deployed on the moving module 50. The moving module is preferably an existing XYZ three-directional moving module.

[0059] In a preferred embodiment, the first roller cutter includes a first roller with a first roller cutter groove 421 along its circumference; the second roller cutter includes a second roller with a second roller cutter groove 431 along its circumference. It is understood that the first and second roller cutter components are disposed opposite to each other on the mounting plate, and the first roller cutter groove on the first roller corresponds to the second roller cutter groove on the second roller.

[0060] One end of the preformed filament filter rod enters the outer spiral groove forming unit through the rolling port 44. The rotating first and second roller cutters act on the outer circumference of the preformed filament filter rod, forming an outer spiral groove by rolling on the outer circumference. See details. Figure 5 and Figure 6 .

[0061] It should be noted that the shafts of both the first and second roller cutters achieve their rotational freedom by sleeved bearings; the bearings are used for shaft positioning and fixation. It is understood that a guide plate can be installed between the cold forming unit and the outer spiral groove forming unit. One end of the guide plate connects to the outlet end of the cold forming unit, and the other end connects to the side of the rolling port. The guide plate has a slide rail that matches the diameter of the fiber filter rod, facilitating the sliding of the fiber filter rod into the rolling port of the outer spiral groove forming unit along the slide rail of the guide plate.

[0062] Furthermore, the filter rod forming equipment of this application also includes a coating device for coating the surface of the mandrel filter rod rolled into the outer spiral groove with forming paper; the coating device is arranged on the outlet side of the outer spiral groove forming unit. More preferably, it also includes a paper feeding roller for providing the forming paper to the coating device. By wrapping and binding the forming paper with the coating device, the tearing and unraveling of the fiber bundle can be effectively prevented, thus better protecting the formed filter rod. More preferably, it also includes a shaped filter rod conveying device to convey the formed filter rod to the coating device for coating with forming paper. It should be noted that the shaped filter rod conveying device is prior art equipment, referring to existing negative pressure adsorption filter rod conveying equipment.

[0063] Furthermore, the filter rod forming equipment of this application also includes a slitting unit, which is connected to the outlet side of the coating equipment and is used to slit the mandrel filter rod with external spiral grooves after being coated with forming paper into target filter rods of the required specifications and lengths.

[0064] Furthermore, the wire feeder is a negative pressure type wire feeder; the thermoforming unit is connected to a hot steam source; the cold forming unit is connected to a cold dry air source; the thermoforming unit is a steam forming mold base, and the cold forming unit is a cold air forming mold base.

[0065] This application also provides a mandrel filter rod forming process with an external spiral channel, including the above-mentioned mandrel filter rod forming equipment with an external spiral channel, including the steps of opening, wire feeding, steam thermoforming, cold forming and external spiral channel rolling.

[0066] Specifically, the filament bundle is opened by the opening machine unit and then fed to the filament feeder;

[0067] The filament bundle is introduced into the thermoforming unit for preforming by a filament feeder to obtain a preformed filament bundle;

[0068] The preformed filament bundle is cooled and shaped by a cold forming unit to obtain a preformed filament bundle filter rod;

[0069] The outer circumference of the pre-formed filament filter rod is rolled by the external spiral groove forming unit to obtain the mandrel filter rod with external spiral groove.

[0070] Furthermore, it also includes a paper wrapping step;

[0071] Specifically, forming paper is coated onto the surface of a filter rod with an external spiral groove using a coating equipment.

[0072] Furthermore, it also includes a filter rod cutting step.

[0073] Specifically, the filter rods covered with forming paper are cut into filter rods of the required target specifications by the slitting unit.

[0074] The hollow filter rod forming process of the external spiral channel of this application can form and manufacture a core filter rod with an external spiral channel, and the overall process is simple.

[0075] It should be noted that the opening machine, filament feeder, steam forming die holder, cold forming die holder, slitting unit, covering equipment, and paper feeding roller equipment in this application are all existing technology components; the parts not described in detail in the application documents refer to the conventional settings of the prior art.

[0076] The above description of the disclosed embodiments enables those skilled in the art to make or use the invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Therefore, the invention is not to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A mandrel filter rod forming device with an external spiral channel, characterized in that, It includes a wire feeder, a thermoforming unit, a cold forming unit, and an external spiral groove forming unit arranged in sequence; Both the thermoforming unit and the cold forming unit have forming cavities; The wire feeder is used to output the wire bundle; The thermoforming unit is used to heat and preform the filament bundle from the filament feeder to obtain a preformed filament bundle. The cold forming unit is used to cool and shape the preformed filament bundle to obtain a preformed filament bundle filter rod. The outer spiral groove forming unit is used to roll the outer periphery of the pre-formed filament filter rod to obtain a mandrel filter rod with an outer spiral groove. The external spiral groove forming unit includes a mounting plate base, and a first roller cutter, a second roller cutter, and a drive module arranged on the mounting plate base; The first roller cutter component includes a first roller cutter and a first transmission wheel arranged coaxially; The second roller cutter component includes a second roller cutter and a second transmission wheel arranged coaxially; The first and second roller cutters are arranged opposite each other, and a rolling opening adapted to the filter rod is formed between them; The drive module includes a rotary power component and a drive wheel, with the drive wheel located on the output shaft of the rotary power component; a drive belt connects the drive wheel, the first transmission wheel, and the second transmission wheel. The drive module is used to drive the first and second roller cutter components to rotate.

2. The mandrel filter rod forming equipment with external spiral channels as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The external spiral groove forming unit also includes a movable module, and the mounting plate base is deployed on the movable module.

3. The mandrel filter rod forming equipment with an external spiral channel as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The first roller cutter includes a first roller, and the first roller has a first roller cutter groove along its circumference; the second roller cutter includes a second roller, and the second roller has a second roller cutter groove along its circumference.

4. The mandrel filter rod forming equipment with an external spiral channel as described in claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a coating device for coating the surface of the mandrel filter rod rolled into the outer spiral groove with forming paper; the coating device is arranged on the outlet side of the outer spiral groove forming unit.

5. The mandrel filter rod forming equipment with an external spiral channel as described in claim 4, characterized in that, It also includes a slitting unit, which is connected to the outlet side of the coating equipment and is used to slit the mandrel filter rod with external spiral grooves after being coated with forming paper into target filter rods of the required specifications and lengths.

6. The mandrel filter rod forming equipment with an external spiral channel as described in any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, The wire feeder is a negative pressure type wire feeder; the thermoforming unit is connected to a hot steam source; the cold forming unit is connected to a cold dry gas source.

7. A mandrel filter rod forming process with an external spiral channel, comprising the mandrel filter rod forming equipment with an external spiral channel as described in any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, It includes the steps of opening, wire feeding, steam thermoforming, cold forming and external spiral groove rolling; The filament bundle is opened by the opening machine unit and then fed to the filament feeder. The filament bundle is introduced into the thermoforming unit for preforming by a filament feeder to obtain a preformed filament bundle; The preformed filament bundle is cooled and shaped by a cold forming unit to obtain a preformed filament bundle filter rod; The outer circumference of the pre-formed filament filter rod is rolled by the external spiral groove forming unit to obtain the mandrel filter rod with external spiral groove.

8. The mandrel filter rod forming process with external spiral channels as described in claim 7, characterized in that, It also includes the forming paper wrapping step; Forming paper is coated onto the surface of a filter rod with an external spiral groove using a coating device.

9. The mandrel filter rod forming process with external spiral channels as described in claim 8, characterized in that, It also includes a filter rod cutting step; The filter rods, after being covered with forming paper, are cut into filter rods of the required target specifications by the slitting unit.

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