DESC:
Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an aerosol generating article which ameliorates the issue of deposition of condensate in the device thereby enhancing the smoking experience. The present invention further relates to a method of reducing the aerosol deposition inside the aerosol generating device by modifying the aerosol generating article.

The present invention also relates to a method of detecting the aerosol generating article in the device by the device controlling mechanism and act as per the pre-fed program.

Background of Invention
There are known heated aerosol generating article which is substantially cylindrical in shape and comprises an aerosol generating substrate, a support segment and a cooling segment attached to the support segment and mouth end segment attached to the other end of cooling segment.

The Aerosol Generating substrate in the Aerosol Generating article when heated in a heating device releases aerosol. A small fraction of released aerosol remains in the device and has tendency to condense in the heating column of the device. The deposited condensate in the heating device requires frequent cleaning and might lead to undesired smell and smoking experience during the subsequent smoking. In fact, commercially available products also provide alcohol dipped swabs, in their packaging box, to facilitate frequent cleaning of the device.

The inventors of the present invention also realized that the existing aerosol generating article design wherein the aerosol generating segment containing aerosol generating substrate is attached with a tubular cooling segment which is further attached to the mouth end also generates condensates and requires cleaning.

Hence, there is a need to design an Aerosol Generating article that can address the issue of deposition of condensate in the device and can improve smoking experience.

US10104911B2 discloses an aerosol generating system for heating a liquid aerosol-forming substrate. The system includes an aerosol-forming chamber, and a leakage preventer for preventing or reducing leakage of liquid aerosol condensate from the aerosol generating system. The leakage preventer may include one or more of: at least one cavity in a wall of the aerosol-forming chamber, for collecting droplets of condensed liquid aerosol-forming substrate; at least one hooked member for collecting droplets of condensed liquid aerosol-forming substrate; an impactor for disrupting airflow in the aerosol-forming chamber so as to collect liquid droplets; and a closure member for substantially sealing the aerosol-forming chamber when the aerosol generating system is not in use. However, this prior art teaches heating liquid aerosol generating system wherein the leakage is prevented by creating at least one cavity in a wall of the aerosol generating chamber.

EP 4 104 690 A1 discloses an atomizer and an aerosol generation apparatus with the atomizer. The atomizer comprises a liquid storage part, a base arranged at an end of the liquid storage part, and a vapor output pipe arranged in the liquid storage part. The atomizer further comprises a connecting part arranged between the base and the vapor output pipe, wherein an air intake pipe is arranged in a protruding manner on the base, and the side of the connecting part close to the vapor output pipe is recessed to form a first collecting tank. In the atomizer, the connecting part is arranged between the base and the vapor output pipe, and corresponding to the vapor output pipe, the connecting part is provided with the first collecting tank, such that condensate generated in the vapor output pipe or an aerosol-forming substrate leaked from the atomizer is collected in the first collecting tank, the aerosol-forming substrate is prevented from leaking to the outside of the aerosol generation apparatus from the air intake pipe, thereby preventing liquid leakage, and achieving good user experience. However, this prior art teaches atomization of liquid from liquid storage tank.

Also, most of the commercially available aerosol generating substrate heating devices do not have automatic aerosol generating article detection feature. These devices are switched on manually. Such devices have tendency to get switched on unintentionally while in pockets or someone can carelessly switch on the device without inserting the aerosol generating article into it, which can lead to both burn risk and Heating Device preformation deterioration.

The known technology talks about the use of mechanical switch to detect the substrate. These mechanical switches are prone to failure and are independent of aerosol generating substrate and hence can be actuated manually/unintentionally.

Therefore, there is a need of technology that recognizes the certain feature/signature of the aerosol generating article to detect it and subsequently activate the Heating Cycle for heating the substrate.

Further to this, the solution of the present invention would facilitate identification of counterfeit aerosol generating article and prevent the use of such article in the heating device.

Summary of Invention
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention to provide basic understanding of some aspects of the invention, neither to identify the critical elements nor to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form, as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.
In an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an aerosol generating article comprising: at least one aerosol generating segment having an aerosol generating substrate, optionally having a metal piece (susceptor) embedded therein; one tubular cooling segment, at least one segment which is the mouth end and at least one segment which is a condensate absorbing segment; wherein said at least one of the segment(s) is wrapped with a functional wrapper.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an aerosol generating system for receiving an aerosol-forming article, the system comprising: a cavity so as to receive the aerosol generating article; at least one heating means for heating the aerosol generating article; and an electric circuitry configured to activate the system by sensing the presence of the aerosol generating article therein.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an aerosol generating article comprising a functional wrapper to identify and detect the aerosol generating article and its variant(s) authenticity, when inserted within the system, trigger specific heating profile, heating time and the like, relating to the aerosol generating article and its variant(s).

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an aerosol generating article adapted to be heated by means of electrical resistive heating, electromagnetic induction and the like.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an aerosol generating system comprising means for identification and detection of the aerosol generating article, said means includes but not limited to magnetic sensor or radio frequency based near field communication reader sensor, Photo Sensor and the like.

Other aspects, advantages and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

Brief Description of the accompanying drawings
The above and other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter will be better understood with regard to the following description and accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 illustrates non limiting design of the aerosol generating article.

Figure 2 illustrates non limiting example of the position of a functional wrapper on the tubular cooling segment and a sensor on the inner wall of the device to sense presence of the functional wrapper.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may not have been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

Detailed Description of the Invention
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.

Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known structure and method are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” if used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or component but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

In an embodiment, as illustrated in figures 1 and 2, the present invention describes an aerosol generating article having an absorbing material at the distal end thus defining an absorbing segment (1), an aerosol generating segment (2) downwardly disposed to the absorbing material, a tubular cooling segment (3) intermediately juxtaposed between the aerosol generating segment (2) and a mouth end (4). The absorbing material as disclosed, absorbs the condensates leaking from the aerosol generating substrate. The absorbing material can be natural or synthetic in nature. Natural absorbing material such as crimped paper, reconstituted plant material and the like. Synthetic material such as cellulose acetate-based materials, crimped polymeric film, cellophane based material, etc. Furthermore, the aerosol generating article comprises a mechanism to activate the device while the aerosol generating article has been inserted. The downwardly disposed segment attached to the substrate is substantially cylindrical in shape, porous and is made of absorbent material that can absorb the constituent of aerosol. This prevents the condensation of aerosol in the heating device by absorbing the aerosol releasing from the distal side of the aerosol generating substrate and tend to condensate in the absorbing segment (1), resulting into elimination of frequent cleaning issue. In a non-limiting example of the mechanism, the functional wrapper (5) is non-limitedly an aluminium foil which is wrapped on the tubular cooling segment and non-limitedly a Hall sensor as a part of the device which is mounted adjacent to the tubular segment. When the aerosol generating article is inserted in the device, the Hall sensor would detect the change in inductance before (without the article) and after (with the article). If the change in inductance matches the pre-defined value, stored in the controller, the device will recognize this aerosol generating article as authentic and would activate the heater as per the pre-fed heating profile.

In an embodiment, the present invention describes the change in inductance as a signal to activate the device while the aerosol generating article has been inserted. The present invention discloses a ferromagnetic or paramagnetic metal in the aerosol generating article and a coil to generate magnetic field in the device for the said purpose. The electric controller has been programmed to detect the change in the magnetic field before and after inserting the aerosol generating article in the coil cavity and perform accordingly as per the pre-fed program.

In another embodiment, the present invention discloses aluminium foil wrapped around the aerosol absorbing segment. Alternatively, the present invention discloses aluminium wrapping around the aerosol generating segment. The present invention discloses the use of aluminium wrapper around the tubular cooling segment. The presence of aluminium wrapping material at different segment depends on the placement of the magnetic coil inside the device and exposure of that coil to the temperature while the device is on.

In a further embodiment, the aerosol generating device detects the aerosol generating article automatically by suitable sensing technology such as infrared sensor, Radio frequency-based sensor (RFID), Capacitive sensor and type of photo sensor like through beam or retro reflective sensor. The aerosol generating article has a conductive foil placed within different segment of the aerosol generating article whose unique signature can be detected by the device for automatic aerosol generating article detection and can prevent the unintentional/accidental switching on of the device without the article.

In addition, the present invention discloses the use of magnetic susceptor (6) (optional) inside aerosol generating substrate to inductively heat the susceptor and thereby heat the aerosol generating substrate.

In a heat not burn aerosol generating device wherein the aerosol generating substrate is heated to the desired temperature to release aerosol for the consumer to take, some portion of the aerosol escapes and condenses in the device resulting in the requirement of frequent cleaning.

The present invention modified the existing three segment aerosol generating article by introducing a segment upward to the aerosol generating substrate segment. The additional segment attached to the substrate is substantially cylindrical in shape, porous and is made of absorbent material that can absorb the constituent of aerosol. The proposed design absorbs the condensates leaking from the aerosol generating substrate resulting into elimination of frequent cleaning issue.

An advanced feature in the device with which the device can detect the aerosol generating article automatically by suitable technology and proposes an aerosol generating article having a conductive foil placed within different segment of the aerosol generating article whose unique signature can be detected by the device for automatic detection of the aerosol generating article and can prevent the unintentional/accidental switching on of the device without the aerosol generating article.
,CLAIMS:1. An aerosol generating article comprising:
an absorbing segment (1) located at the distal end of the article, said absorbing segment (1) defining an absorbing material;
an aerosol generating segment (2), downwardly disposed to the absorbing material;
a tubular cooling segment (3) intermediately juxtaposed between the said aerosol generating segment (2) and a mouth end (4);
wherein said absorbing material absorbs condensates leaking from said aerosol generating substrate;
wherein said absorbing segment attached to said substrate is substantially cylindrical in shape, porous, and made of absorbent material capable of absorbing constituents of aerosol to prevent condensation in a heating device.

2. The aerosol generating article as claimed in claim 1, wherein said absorbing material being selected from natural or synthetic materials and the like.

3. The aerosol generating article as claimed in claim 1, wherein said natural absorbing material selectively comprising crimped paper, reconstituted plant material, or equivalents.

4. The aerosol generating article as claimed in claim 1, wherein said synthetic absorbing material is selected from cellulose acetate-based materials, crimped polymeric film, cellophane based material and the like.

5. The aerosol generating article of claim 1, further comprising a mechanism to activate the device when the aerosol generating article is inserted, said mechanism comprising:

a functional wrapper (5), non-limitedly comprising aluminium foil wrapped around said tubular cooling segment;
a Hall sensor as a part of the device, mounted adjacent to said tubular segment;
wherein said Hall sensor detects a change in inductance before and after insertion of the aerosol generating article, and if said change in inductance matches a pre-defined value stored in a controller, the device recognizes the aerosol generating article as authentic and activates the heater according to a pre-fed heating profile.

6. The aerosol generating article of claim 1 comprising a ferromagnetic or paramagnetic metal and a coil to generate magnetic field in the device.

7. The aerosol generating article as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an aluminium foil wrapped around the said aerosol absorbing segment.

8. The aerosol generating article as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an aluminium foil wrapped around the tubular cooling segment.

9. The aerosol generating article as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a conductive foil placed within different segment of the aerosol generating article whose unique signature can be detected by the device for automatic aerosol generating article detection and can prevent the unintentional/accidental switching on of the device.

10. The aerosol generating article as claimed in claim 1, wherein said aerosol generating substrate optionally comprising a magnetic susceptor (6) inside aerosol generating substrate to inductively heat the susceptor and thereby heat the aerosol generating substrate.

11. An aerosol generating system comprising the aerosol generating article as claimed in any one of claims 1-10, adapted to display the change in inductance as a signal to activate the device while the aerosol generating article has been inserted.

12. An aerosol generating device, said aerosol generating device adapted to detect the aerosol generating article automatically by suitable sensing technology such as infrared sensor, Radio frequency-based sensor (RFID), Capacitive sensor and type of photo sensor like through beam or retro reflective sensor.