Automatic cigarette injection machine and an operation method of the same

Abstract

A cigarette injection machine may include: a cigarettes tubes chamber configured to store an empty cigarette tube; a tobacco chamber configured to store tobacco, wherein the cigarettes tubes chamber and the tobacco chamber are arranged in a horizontal direction; a tobacco feed nozzle disposed between the cigarettes tubes chamber and the tobacco chamber in the horizontal direction, to guide and feed the tobacco into the empty cigarette tube; a cigarette tube loader barrel configured to load the empty cigarette tube from the cigarettes tubes chamber, rotate to a position of the tobacco feed nozzle, and move in the horizontal direction to a requested cigarette size position; and a tobacco feeder spiral rod configured to push the tobacco into the tobacco feed nozzle until the empty cigarette tube is filled with the tobacco when the cigarette tube loader barrel is at the requested cigarette size position.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A cigarette injection machine comprising:
 a cigarettes tubes chamber configured to store an empty cigarette tube;   a tobacco chamber configured to store tobacco, wherein the cigarettes tubes chamber and the tobacco chamber are arranged in a horizontal direction;   a tobacco feed nozzle disposed between the cigarettes tubes chamber and the tobacco chamber in the horizontal direction, to guide and feed the tobacco into the empty cigarette tube;   a cigarette tube loader barrel configured to load the empty cigarette tube from the cigarettes tubes chamber, rotate to a position of the tobacco feed nozzle, and move in the horizontal direction to a requested cigarette size position; and   a tobacco feeder spiral rod configured to push the tobacco into the tobacco feed nozzle until the empty cigarette tube is filled with the tobacco when the cigarette tube loader barrel is at the requested cigarette size position, to provide a filled cigarette.   
     
     
         2 . The cigarette injection machine of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a first electrical servo motor configure to rotate the cigarette tube loader barrel to load the empty cigarette tube into the cigarettes tubes chamber, and rotate the cigarette tube loader barrel to the position of the tobacco feed nozzle; and   a second electronic servo motor configured to move the cigarette tube loader barrel to the position of the tobacco feed nozzle in the horizontal direction after the cigarette tube loader barrel is rotated to the position of the tobacco feed nozzle;   wherein the first electrical servo motor is further configured to rotate the cigarette tube loader barrel to unload the filled cigarette.   
     
     
         3 . The cigarette injection machine of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 a memory configured to store one or more computer readable instructions; and   at least on processor configured to execute the one or more computer readable instructions to control the first electrical servo motor and the second electronic servo motor to provide the filled cigarette.   
     
     
         4 . The cigarette injection machine of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a third electrical servo motor configured to drive the tobacco feeder spiral rod.   
     
     
         5 . The cigarette injection machine of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a tobacco fluffing claws disposed at a bottom portion of the tobacco chamber and configured to break up the tobacco provided from the tobacco chamber; and   fluffing claw driving gears configure to drive the tobacco fluffing claws.   
     
     
         6 . The cigarette injection machine of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a first mechanical switching sensor configured to detect the empty cigarette tube in the cigarettes tubes chamber.   
     
     
         7 . The cigarette injection machine of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a second mechanical switching sensor configured to detect a starting position of the cigarette tube loader barrel for loading the empty cigarette tube from the cigarettes tubes chamber.   
     
     
         8 . The cigarette injection machine of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a position sensor configured to detect that the cigarette tube loader barrel reaches the requested cigarette size position.   
     
     
         9 . The cigarette injection machine of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 a cigarette size selector sensor configured to receive a user input indicating a user's requested tobacco size,   wherein the requested cigarette size position corresponds to the user's requested tobacco size.   
     
     
         10 . The cigarette injection machine of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a start button configured to receive a user input that requests a preset number count of cigarettes; and   at least on processor configured to control the cigarette injection machine to provide the preset number count of cigarettes.   
     
     
         11 . The cigarette injection machine of  claim 10 , wherein the start button comprises a first push button for requesting a first number count of cigarettes as the preset number count of cigarettes, and a second push button for requesting a second number count of cigarettes as the preset number count of cigarettes, wherein the second number count is different from the first number count. 
     
     
         12 . The cigarette injection machine of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a cigarette filled sensor configured to detect a fullness state of the tobacco in the empty cigarette tube while the tobacco feeder spiral rod rotates to fill the tobacco into the empty cigarette tube.   
     
     
         13 . A method of operating a cigarette injection machine, the method comprising:
 rotating a cigarette tube loader barrel to load an empty cigarette tube from a cigarettes tubes chamber;   rotating the cigarette tube loader barrel to a position of a tobacco feed nozzle to feed tobacco from a tobacco chamber into the empty cigarette tube;   moving the cigarette tube loader barrel to a requested cigarette size position in a horizontal direction, wherein the cigarettes tubes chamber and the tobacco chamber are arranged in the horizontal direction; and   rotating a tobacco feeder spiral rod to push the tobacco that is provided from the tobacco chamber into the tobacco feed nozzle when the cigarette tube loader barrel is at the requested cigarette size position, to fill the empty cigarette tube with the tobacco and thereby to provide a filled cigarette.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the rotating the cigarette tube loader barrel to a position of the tobacco feed nozzle comprises:
 operating a first electrical servo motor to rotate the cigarette tube loader barrel to the position of the tobacco feed nozzle, and   wherein the moving the cigarette tube loader barrel to the requested cigarette size position comprises:
 after the cigarette tube loader barrel is at the position of the tobacco feed nozzle, operating a second electronic servo motor to move the cigarette tube loader barrel to the requested cigarette size position in the horizontal direction. 
   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 after the empty cigarette tube is filled with the tobacco, operating a first electrical servo motor to rotate the cigarette tube loader barrel to unload the filled cigarette rotating onto a dispenser tray.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the requested cigarette size position comprises a first position corresponding to a first cigarette size, and a second position corresponding to a second cigarette size that is different from the first cigarette size, and
 wherein the method further comprises:
 when a size of the empty cigarette tube corresponds to the first cigarette size, stopping the cigarette tube loader barrel when the cigarette tube loader barrel reaches the first position, and 
 when the size of the empty cigarette tube corresponds to the second cigarette size, stopping the cigarette tube loader barrel when the cigarette tube loader barrel reaches the second position. 
   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 breaking up the tobacco provided from the tobacco chamber, by a tobacco fluffing claws disposed at a bottom portion of the tobacco chamber, and   providing the broken up tobacco to the tobacco feed nozzle so that the empty cigarette tube is filled with the broken up tobacco.