METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERMEDIATELY STORING DOUBLE-LENGTH SEMI-FINISHED PRODUCTS

• US 20170238600A1
• Filed: 09/17/2015
• Published: 08/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Philip Morris Products SA (Philip Morris Limited)
• Original Assignee: Philip Morris Products SA (Philip Morris Limited)
• Inventors: Grant, Christopher John
• Granted Patent: US 10,638,790 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A24C 5/00 Making cigarettes; Making tipping materials for, or attaching filters or mouthpieces to, cigars or cigarettes
• CPC Class Codes: A24C 5/35 Adaptations of conveying apparatus for transporting cigarettes from making machine to packaging machine
• CPC Class Codes: A24C 5/478 Transport means for filter- or cigarette-rods in view of their assembling
• CPC Class Codes: A24D 1/22 Cigarettes with integrated combustible heat sources, e.g. with carbonaceous heat sources
• CPC Class Codes: A24F 42/10 Devices with chemical heating means

Abstract

The method for intermediately storing double-length substantially cylindrical semi-finished products comprises the step of providing a tipping apparatus and forming double-length substantially cylindrical semi-finished products in the tipping apparatus. The method further comprises the steps of providing a cutting device and cutting the double-length semi-finished product into single products with the cutting device and providing a packer and packing single products in the packer. The method yet further comprises the steps of transporting the double-length semi-finished products from the tipping apparatus to the cutting device and transporting the single products from the cutting device to the packer, and intermediately buffering double-length substantially cylindrical semi-finished products in a buffer arranged between the tipping apparatus and the cutting device.

Claims

1. Method for intermediately storing double-length substantially cylindrical semi-finished products, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a tipping apparatus and forming double-length substantially cylindrical semi-finished products in the tipping apparatus;

providing a cutting device and cutting the double-length semi-finished product into single products with the cutting device;

providing a packer and packing single products in the packer;

transporting the double-length semi-finished products from the tipping apparatus to the cutting device and transporting the single products from the cutting device to the packer, and

intermediately buffering double-length substantially cylindrical semi-finished products in a buffer arranged between the tipping apparatus and the cutting device.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the step of packing single products directly follows the step of cutting the double-length semi-finished products.

3. Method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of detecting an interruption of the manufacturing process in the cutting device or downstream of the cutting device, and transporting the double-length semi-finished products from the tipping apparatus into an expandable buffer section, thereby at least partially filling the expandable buffer section.

4. Method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of emptying the expandable buffer section towards the cutting device, thereby at least partially emptying the expandable buffer section.

5. Method according to claim 1, wherein a segment in the double-length semi-finished product is at least one of an aerosol-forming substrate, an aerosol-cooling segment, a support element and a mouthpiece.

6. Method according to claim 1, wherein the double-length semi-finished products comprise sequences of aerosol-forming substrate, support element, aerosol-cooling segment and mouthpiece, wherein the support element is arranged between the aerosol-forming substrate and the aerosol-cooling segment.

7. Method according to claim 1, wherein a distance between a center of mass of the single product and a midpoint along a length of the single products is between about 5 percent and 20 percent of a total length of the single product.

8. Method according to claim 1, wherein a distal portion of the single product and a proximal portion of the single product have different diameters due to a tipping paper being wrapped around the proximal portion of the single product, and wherein the different diameters describe a stacking angle by which a distal end may be tilted with respect to a horizontal plane the single product is laid onto, and wherein the stacking angle is in a range between 0.08 degree and 0.35 degree.

16. Method according to claim 1, wherein the step of packing single products directly follows the step of cutting the double-length semi-finished products, and being separated only by a step of orienting the single products in a same orientation.

17. Method according to claim 2, further comprising the steps of detecting an interruption of the manufacturing process in the cutting device or downstream of the cutting device, and transporting the double-length semi-finished products from the tipping apparatus into an expandable buffer section, thereby at least partially filling the expandable buffer section.

18. Method according to claim 1, wherein a distal portion of the single product and a proximal portion of the single product have different diameters due to a tipping paper being wrapped around the proximal portion of the single product, and wherein the different diameters describe a stacking angle by which a distal end may be tilted with respect to a horizontal plane the single product is laid onto, and wherein the stacking angle is in a range between 0.09 degree and 0.30 degree.

19. Method according to claim 4, wherein a segment in the double-length semi-finished product is at least one of an aerosol-forming substrate, an aerosol-cooling segment, a support element and a mouthpiece.

9. Apparatus for intermediately storing double-length substantially cylindrical semi-finished products, the apparatus comprising:

a tipping apparatus for forming double-length substantially cylindrical semi-finished products,

a cutting device for cutting the double-length semi-finished products into single products;

a packer for packing the single products; and

a transport system for transporting the double-length semi-finished products from the tipping apparatus to the cutting device and the single products from the cutting device to the packer, wherein a buffer is arranged between the tipping apparatus and the cutting device for intermediately storing double-length substantially cylindrical semi-finished products.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein a transport distance between the cutting device and the packer is less than about 50 percent of the total transport distance between the tipping apparatus and the packer.

11. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the buffer is a mass-flow buffer system.

12. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the buffer has a capacity corresponding to a production capacity of the apparatus of about 5 minutes to 30 minutes.

13. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the buffer has a capacity to buffer at least 10,000 semi-finished products.

14. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the buffer comprises a conveyor band for transporting double-length semi-finished products arranged on the conveyor band, and support guides for guiding sections of the conveyor band to different levels arranged above each other.

15. Apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a control device for online controlling semi-finished products.

20. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the buffer has a capacity corresponding to a production capacity of the apparatus of about 10 minutes to 20 minutes.