Method for evaluating transfer and release of aroma components of aroma-carrying material to mainstream smoke of cigarette

Abstract

The invention provides a method for evaluating transfer and release of aroma components of an aroma-carrying material to mainstream smoke of cigarettes, which comprises the following steps: step 1) arranging a hollow simulated filter tip cavity, and placing the aroma-carrying material in the simulated filter tip cavity for simulating the actual mounting environment of the aroma-carrying material; (2) pulse type hot air flow is released into the simulated filter tip cavity, the temperature of the hot air flow can excite the fragrance carrying material to release fragrance components, and the pulse mode is used for simulating the action of smoking cigarettes puff by puff; the method has the advantages that the real cigarette smoke characteristics can be simulated, and the transfer and release detection accuracy of the flavor components of the flavor carrying material can be improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of tobacco detection, and in particular to a method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor-carrying material into mainstream cigarette smoke. Background Art

[0002] In some products of traditional cigarettes and heated cigarettes, the flavor of cigarettes is enriched by adding flavor-carrying materials, making cigarettes more optional to meet the personalized needs of different consumer groups.

[0003] When developing corresponding flavor carrier materials, in addition to the flavor type of the flavor carrier material, the most important thing is to determine the release of the flavor components of the flavor carrier material. The characteristics of the flavor release will determine the size, position and other parameter information of the flavor carrier material placed in the cigarette.

[0004] At present, all the relevant research on the flavor release of cigarettes is carried out based on cigarettes. However, the tobacco leaves in cigarettes also release odors, which leads to more interference factors in the research on the flavor release of flavor carriers. However, if the research on flavor release of flavor carriers is only carried out, there is a lack of relevant experimental environment adapted to cigarette smoke. This problem has brought troubles to the research on flavor carriers.

[0005] To solve this problem, it is necessary to develop a method that can simulate the characteristics of cigarette smoke, and use this simulated smoke to stimulate the fragrance release process of the fragrance carrier material, so as to achieve the purpose of being close to the real environment. Summary of the invention

[0006] The purpose of the present invention is to address the deficiencies of the prior art and to provide a method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of flavor carrier materials into mainstream cigarette smoke, which can simulate the characteristics of real cigarette smoke and improve the accuracy of detecting the transfer and release of flavor components of flavor carrier materials.

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is: a method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor carrier material into mainstream cigarette smoke, comprising the following steps: Step 1) setting a hollow simulated filter tip cavity, placing the fragrance-carrying material in the simulated filter tip cavity to simulate the actual installation environment of the fragrance-carrying material; Step 2) releasing a pulsed hot air flow into the simulated filter cavity. The temperature of the hot air flow can stimulate the flavor carrier material to release flavor components. The pulse method is used to simulate the action of smoking a cigarette one puff at a time. During each pulse, the temperature of the air flow in the sample cavity rises rapidly, and the temperature drops rapidly after the pulse ends. Step 3) capturing aroma components in the airflow output from the simulated filter cavity; Step 4) Determine the amount of flavor component released and calculate the transfer rate.

[0008] Based on the above, in step 2), the pulsed hot air flow is an air flow equipped with a cooling component, which is used to cool the simulated filter cavity to room temperature during the intervals of the pulsed hot air flow.

[0009] Based on the above, the air flow rate of the pulsed hot air flow has a pulse characteristic, with a pulse every 20-100s, each pulse lasting 1-3s, each pulse air flow of 25-100 mL, and the number of pulses is more than 4 times; the air flow temperature has a pulse characteristic related to the air flow rate. During each pulse, the air flow temperature in the sample chamber rises rapidly, and the temperature drops after the pulse ends, and the peak air flow temperature is 30-80°C.

[0010] Based on the above, the pulsed hot air flow has a pulse every 60 seconds, each pulse lasts for 2 seconds, each pulse has an air volume of 35 mL, and the number of pulses is 5-8 times; the peak temperature of the air flow is 30-80°C. It is used to simulate the environmental conditions of the flavoring material when smoking a cigarette in the standard smoking mode.

[0011] Based on the above, the pulsed hot air flow pulses once every 30 seconds, each pulse lasts for 2 seconds, each pulse gas flow is 55mL, and the number of pulses is 5-8 times; the air flow temperature has a pulse characteristic related to the air flow, and the air flow temperature of the sample cavity rises rapidly during each pulse, and the temperature drops after the pulse ends, and the peak air flow temperature is 30-80°C. It is used to simulate the environmental conditions of the flavoring material when smoking a cigarette in the deep smoking mode.

[0012] Based on the above, in step 2), the source of the pulsed hot air flow mainly includes a heating unit, the heating unit includes a cache chamber, a heating component and a first temperature measuring component, the cache chamber is used to cache the heated gas, the heating component is used to heat the gas in the cache chamber, the first temperature measuring component is used to detect the temperature of the gas in the cache chamber and feed back information to the heating component to adjust the heating power; the simulated filter cavity is provided with a second temperature measuring component for detecting the temperature value in the simulated filter cavity.

[0013] Based on the above, in step 2), the power device for generating the pulsed hot air flow is a smoking machine, which is arranged at the end of the air path and generates the pulsed air flow by setting the suction frequency and the suction pressure.

[0014] Based on the above, in step 3), the method of capturing the aroma components includes cold trap capture or adsorption tube capture.

[0015] Based on the above, the cooling component includes a heat exchange pipeline that wraps the simulated filter cavity, and exchanges heat for the internal space of the simulated filter cavity through heat exchange.

[0016] The present invention has outstanding substantive features and significant progress compared to the prior art. Specifically, the present invention has the following advantages: 1. The present invention only excites and captures the aroma components of the aroma-carrying material without interference from other interfering gases, which can improve the calculation accuracy of the aroma component transfer rate.

[0017] 2. The present invention utilizes a pulsed hot air flow to quickly pass through the flavor carrier material to stimulate the release of the flavor components of the flavor carrier material, thereby simulating the form of real cigarette smoke, and setting a simulated filter cavity for the flavor carrier material, so that the characteristics of the airflow and the environment are consistent with those during the smoking process of a real cigarette, that is, the characteristics of the cigarette as a carrier are retained, and the interference of other volatile components of the cigarette is eliminated, making the conclusion of the entire experiment more accurate.

[0018] 3. The pulsed hot air flow simulates the smoking action of a cigarette and can effectively evaluate the release behavior of flavor components.

[0019] 4. All parameters of the pulsed hot air flow can be adjusted, including temperature, airflow velocity, pulse duration and interval time. The installation position of the aroma-carrying material can also be adjusted. The size of the simulated filter cavity can be adapted according to different tobacco types, making the method highly flexible and able to simulate the forms of a variety of cigarette products. This makes the method widely applicable and can flexibly adjust various parameters according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of evaluating the release and transfer behavior of various cigarette flavor components.

[0020] 5. Due to the addition of temperature cooling components, the temperature rise and fall control is faster, which can better reflect the impact of temperature on the volatilization of aroma-carrying materials, avoid the problem of residual temperature of experimental equipment causing insufficient airflow discharge interfering with the aroma-carrying materials, and ensure the accuracy of the experiment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 It is a gas path principle diagram of a method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor-carrying material into mainstream cigarette smoke in the present invention.

[0022] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the simulated filter tip cavity temperature changing with pulse frequency in the present invention.

[0023] In the figure: 1. Simulated filter cavity; 2. Fragrance-carrying material; 3. Heating unit; 4. Smoking machine; 5. Cold trap unit; 6. Cooling component; 31. Cache chamber; 32. Heating component; 33. First temperature measuring component; 34. Second temperature measuring component. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The technical solution of the present invention is further described in detail below through specific implementation methods.

[0025] like Figure 1-Figure 2 As shown, a method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor carrier material into mainstream cigarette smoke comprises the following steps: Step 1) a hollow simulated filter tip cavity 1 is provided, and a fragrance-carrying material 2 is placed in the simulated filter tip cavity to simulate an actual installation environment of the fragrance-carrying material; Among them, the purpose of simulating the filter cavity 1 is mainly to simulate the particle segment size of the filter in the "acetate segment-particle segment-acetate segment", so that the external environment of the fragrance-carrying material during the heating and excitation process is consistent with the actual environment, thereby avoiding interference caused by different spatial sizes.

[0026] Step 2) releasing a pulsed hot air flow into the simulated filter cavity, the temperature of the hot air flow can stimulate the flavor carrier material to release flavor components, and the pulse mode is used to simulate the action of smoking a cigarette puff by puff; Among them, the generation of hot air flow depends on the heating unit 3, the heating unit 3 includes a cache chamber 31, a heating component 32 and a first temperature measuring component 33, the cache chamber 31 is used to cache the heated gas, the heating component 32 is used to heat the gas in the cache chamber, the first temperature measuring component 33 is used to detect the temperature of the gas in the cache chamber and feed back information to the heating component 32 to adjust the heating power; the simulated filter cavity 1 is provided with a second temperature measuring component 34, the second temperature measuring component 34 is used to detect the real-time temperature in the simulated filter cavity 1, and its purpose is to ensure that the effective gas temperature transmitted to the simulated filter cavity reaches the temperature range of fragrance release.

[0027] Among them, the volume of the cache chamber 31 can be designed to be slightly larger, such as 1000mL-2000mL, so as to be filled with more heating gas. The gas can be air or nitrogen. The purpose of the larger volume is to ensure the stability of the output airflow. The specific detection position of the temperature measuring component 33 usually needs to be away from the heating component 32 and close to the output port position of the cache chamber 31 to ensure the accuracy of the output airflow temperature.

[0028] The function of generating pulsed airflow mainly depends on the smoking machine 4. In this embodiment, a single-channel smoking machine can be used. The smoking machine 4 is installed at the end of the air path. The pulsed airflow is generated by setting the suction frequency and suction pressure. The smoking machine is an existing device with high flexibility in parameter setting.

[0029] In terms of the specific parameter settings of the pulsed airflow, the airflow flow of the pulsed hot airflow has a pulse characteristic, with a pulse every 20-100 s, each pulse lasting 2-3 s, each pulse airflow of 25-100 mL, and 5-30 pulses; the airflow temperature has a pulse characteristic related to the airflow flow. During each pulse, the airflow temperature in the sample chamber rises rapidly, and the temperature drops after the pulse ends, and the peak airflow temperature is 40-80°C.

[0030] In one mode, the pulsed hot air flow pulses once every 60 seconds, each pulse lasts for 2 seconds, each pulse air volume is 35 mL, the number of pulses is 6-8 times, and the peak air flow temperature is 40-80°C. This mode simulates the air flow and temperature conditions of the fragrance-carrying material in the filter in the ISO smoking mode.

[0031] In another mode, the pulsed hot air flow pulses once every 30 seconds, each pulse lasts for 2 seconds, each pulse has an air volume of 55 mL, and the number of pulses is 6-8 times; the air flow temperature has a pulse characteristic related to the air flow volume, and the air flow temperature of the sample cavity rises rapidly during each pulse, and the temperature drops after the pulse ends, and the peak air flow temperature is 40-80°C. This mode simulates the air flow and temperature conditions of the flavoring material in the filter when the cigarette is smoked in the HCI smoking mode.

[0032] like Figure 2 As shown, the temperature variation in the filter cavity 1 with pulses in two simulated modes.

[0033] like Figure 2 As shown in a, in the standard suction mode, the peak temperature in the cylindrical cavity where the fragrance-carrying material is located remains unchanged as the suction port sequence changes.

[0034] like Figure 2 As shown in b, in the deep inhalation mode, the peak temperature in the cylindrical cavity where the aroma-carrying material is located remains unchanged as the inhalation sequence changes.

[0035] like Figure 2 As shown in c, under the standard inhalation mode, the peak temperature in the cylindrical cavity where the aroma-carrying material is located first increases and then remains unchanged as the order of the inhalation ports increases.

[0036] Step 3) capturing aroma components in the airflow output from the simulated filter cavity; In this step, the capture method may be a common means such as a cold trap capture unit 5 or an adsorption tube capture unit.

[0037] Step 4) Determine the amount of flavor component released and calculate the transfer rate.

[0038] In this embodiment, the transfer rate refers to the ratio of the amount of aroma component released to the amount of aroma component loaded by the aroma carrier material.

[0039] When analyzing the captured aroma components, the GC-MS / MS method or the thermal desorption-GC-MS / MS method can be used to calculate the release amount of the aroma components, while the aroma component loading amount of the aroma carrier material is a pre-designed value.

[0040] To achieve the generation of pulsed hot air flow, in step 2), the pulsed hot air flow is an air flow equipped with a cooling component 6, which is used to cool the simulated filter cavity to room temperature during the intervals of the pulsed hot air flow.

[0041] Specifically, in this embodiment, the cooling assembly 6 includes a heat exchange pipeline that wraps the simulated filter cavity, and exchanges heat with the internal space of the simulated filter cavity through heat exchange.

[0042] The purpose is to simulate the real smoking state. Every time a person takes a puff of cigarette, the filter segment will leave the mouth. Due to the temperature difference of the external environment, the location where the fragrance carrying material is located will quickly cool down to room temperature.

[0043] In the experimental environment, due to the existence of the simulated filter cavity 1, after the puffing is finished, a certain amount of hot air flow will always remain in the pipe and the simulated filter cavity 1. Even if there is no flow movement, it will still stimulate the release of the fragrance carrying material 2. In order to eliminate this interference, a rapid cooling structure needs to be set up to ensure the cooling rate, so as to keep it consistent with the actual puffing state as much as possible.

[0044] On the one hand, this method eliminates the interference of other released gases in cigarettes on the detection of gas release and transfer of flavor carriers, and at the same time simulates the smoking environment of real cigarettes and the installation environment of flavor carriers, that is, it retains the advantages of cigarette morphology and eliminates related interference items, so that the final detection accuracy is guaranteed and the accuracy is improved. Moreover, since the various parameters of the entire method are highly flexible, it can be used to evaluate the release behavior of flavor components in different types of cigarettes and under different smoking modes, and has wide applicability.

[0045] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, ordinary technicians in the field should understand that the specific implementation methods of the present invention can still be modified or some technical features can be replaced by equivalents without departing from the spirit of the technical solution of the present invention, which should be included in the scope of the technical solution for protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor carrier material into mainstream cigarette smoke, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Step 1) setting a hollow simulated filter tip cavity, placing the fragrance-carrying material in the simulated filter tip cavity to simulate the actual installation environment of the fragrance-carrying material; Step 2) releasing a pulsed hot air flow into the simulated filter cavity. The temperature of the hot air flow can stimulate the flavor carrier material to release flavor components. The pulse method is used to simulate the action of smoking a cigarette one puff at a time. During each pulse, the temperature of the air flow in the sample cavity rises rapidly, and the temperature drops rapidly after the pulse ends. Step 3) capturing aroma components in the airflow output from the simulated filter cavity; Step 4) Determine the amount of flavor component released and calculate the transfer rate.

2. The method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor carrier material into mainstream cigarette smoke according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 2), the pulsed hot air flow is an air flow equipped with a cooling component, which is used to cool the simulated filter cavity to room temperature during the intervals of the pulsed hot air flow.

3. The method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor carrier material into mainstream cigarette smoke according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The airflow rate of the pulsed hot airflow has a pulse characteristic, with a pulse every 20-100 seconds, each pulse lasting 1-3 seconds, each pulse airflow of 25-100 mL, and the number of pulses being more than 4 times; the airflow temperature has a pulse characteristic related to the airflow rate, with each pulse, the airflow temperature in the sample chamber rising rapidly, and falling back after the pulse ends, and the peak airflow temperature is 30-80°C.

4. The method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor carrier material into mainstream cigarette smoke according to claim 3, characterized in that: The pulsed hot air flow pulses once every 60 seconds, each pulse lasts for 2 seconds, the air volume of each pulse is 35 mL, the number of pulses is 5-8 times; the peak temperature of the air flow is 30-80°C.

5. The method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor carrier material into mainstream cigarette smoke according to claim 3, characterized in that: The pulsed hot air flow pulses once every 30 seconds, each pulse lasts for 2 seconds, each pulse gas flow is 55mL, and the pulse number is 5-8 times; the air flow temperature has a pulse characteristic related to the air flow rate. During each pulse, the air flow temperature in the sample chamber rises rapidly, and the temperature drops after the pulse ends. The peak air flow temperature is 30-80°C.

6. The method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor carrier material into mainstream cigarette smoke according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that: In step 2), the source body of the pulsed hot air flow includes a heating unit, which includes a cache chamber, a heating component and a first temperature measuring component. The cache chamber is used to cache the heated gas, and the heating component is used to heat the gas in the cache chamber. The first temperature measuring component is used to detect the temperature of the gas in the cache chamber and feed back information to the heating component to adjust the heating power; a second temperature measuring component is provided in the simulated filter cavity for detecting the temperature value in the simulated filter cavity.

7. The method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor carrier material into mainstream cigarette smoke according to claim 6, characterized in that: In step 2), the power device for generating the pulsed hot air flow is a smoking machine, which is arranged at the end of the air path and generates the pulsed air flow by setting the suction frequency and the suction pressure.

8. The method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor carrier material into mainstream cigarette smoke according to claim 7, characterized in that: In step 3), the method of capturing the aroma components includes cold trap capture or adsorption tube capture.

9. The method for evaluating the transfer and release of flavor components of a flavor carrier material into mainstream cigarette smoke according to claim 2, characterized in that: The cooling component includes a heat exchange pipeline that wraps the simulated filter cavity, and exchanges heat with the internal space of the simulated filter cavity through a heat exchange method.

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