METHOD FOR HUMIDIFYING STARTING TOBACCO MATERIAL

摘要

A moisture conditioning method is provided in which tobacco material and steam are supplied to the interior of a rotor to condition the moisture of the tobacco material while the tobacco material passes through the rotor. In the conditioning method, a deviation between the temperature of the tobacco material at the outlet of the rotor and a target temperature is obtained, and cascade control is performed on the supply flow rate of the steam supplied to the rotor so as to eliminate the deviation. The cascade control includes a main control process having a plurality of control areas for controlling the supply flow rate based on a reference flow rate in the individual control areas, and a sub-control process executed in parallel with the main control process for changing the reference flow rate in accordance with an average value of the deviations within a fixed period.