JP3408086B2 - Equipment for manufacturing absorbent articles - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing absorbent articles useful for manufacturing, for example, disposable diapers and sanitary napkins, and more particularly, the absorbent body on a mount so that the absorbent body does not fall apart. The present invention relates to a manufacturing apparatus for absorbent articles that can be delivered to a customer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, as shown in FIG. 2, an absorbent article manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a disposable diaper includes an absorbent body supply means 103 for scattering pulp 101 and a polymer 102, and a plurality of recesses provided on the peripheral surface of a drum. A drum 106 for accommodating and holding an absorbent body 105 composed of pulp 101 and polymer 102 in 104, and an absorbent body 105 for receiving the absorbent body 105,
It is composed of a pair of mounts 107 and 108 that sandwich the sheet 5 from above and below.

The absorber supply means 103, as shown in FIG. 2, is a crusher 11 for finely crushing the pulp base paper 109.
Polymer feeder 1 for supplying 0 and polymer 102
11, drum 101 with pulp 101 and polymer 102
6 and a charging mechanism (not shown) having a hood 112 for spraying toward 6.

The crusher 110 finely crushes the belt-shaped pulp base paper 109 which is continuously fed. On the other hand, the polymer feeder 111 is the crusher 110.
Is provided in front of the drum 102 and the polymer 102 is
6 is supplied to the recess 104. The throwing machine is adapted to throw the crushed pulp 101 and the polymer 102 at a high speed by the action of vacuum. A partition plate 113 is arranged in the hood 112, and the pulp 101 is placed on the drum 106 prior to the polymer 102.
It is adapted to be deposited in the recess 104.

The drum 106 is designed to rotate in the clockwise direction shown by the arrow A in FIG. 2, and has a plurality of recesses 104 for holding the absorber 105 on the circumferential surface of the drum at predetermined intervals. Further, inside the drum 106, suction means (not shown) for vacuum suction to hold the absorber 105 in the recess 104 is provided.

The portion from the position where the absorber 105 is received to the position where the absorber 105 is transferred to the mount 107 (hereinafter referred to as "
In the absorber transport section), the absorber 1 is sucked by suction means.
05 is sucked. Such a portion is indicated by a symbol (-) in FIG. At the portion where the absorber 105 is transferred to the mount 107 (hereinafter referred to as the absorber receiving portion), the suction by the suction means is released and a positive pressure is obtained by the air supply means such as a blower (not shown). Such a portion is indicated by a symbol (+) in FIG.

The one mount 107 is conveyed while being guided by a plurality of rollers 114, 115 and 116 consisting of a driving roller and a guide roller, and the drum 1 at the absorber receiving portion.
The concave portion 104 of 06 receives the absorber 105 on its upper surface.

A vacuum conveyor 117 is provided in the absorber receiving portion on the side opposite to the drum 106 with the mount 107 interposed therebetween. The vacuum conveyor 117 plays a role of sucking and holding the received absorber 105 on the mount 107, and is essential. In addition, such mount 1
In 07, hot melt is supplied by the hot melt supply means 118 before being conveyed to the absorber receiving section.

The other mount 108 is guided by a plurality of rollers 119 to 123, which also include driving rollers and guide rollers, and is supplied in the direction opposite to that of the one mount 107, and the absorber 105 is supplied to the one mount 107. It is designed to be sandwiched between and. It should be noted that the absorber 105 is attached to the mount 108 by the hot melt supply means 124.
The hot melt is supplied before sandwiching.

In the absorbent article manufacturing apparatus thus configured, the concave portion 104 of the rotating drum 106 is
First, the crushed pulp 101 enters. Next, the absorbent material composed of the pulp 101 and the polymer 102 enters the recess 104 and is deposited. The absorber 105 formed of the absorber material deposited in the recess 104 is
It is conveyed to the absorber receiving portion in a state of being sucked by the suction means.

Then, the absorber 105 is sucked by the vacuum conveyor 117 in the absorber receiving portion and delivered onto one of the mounts 107. After that, the other mount 108 conveyed from the opposite direction is overlaid on the absorber 105.

[0012]

However, in the above manufacturing apparatus, the delivery of the absorbent body 105 is likely to be unstable at the absorbent body receiving portion indicated by the arrow B in FIG. That is, in the absorber receiving section, the absorber itself is fragile, and it is difficult to cleanly release it from the recess 104 of the drum 106 due to the action of static electricity or the like. An air supply means (+) (not shown) is provided to assist the mold release. However, when the air flow rate is small, the mold release is not sufficient, and when it becomes too large, the absorber 105 itself breaks up into pieces. Adjustment is difficult. In particular, the faster the drum 106 is rotated, the thinner the absorber 105 is, or the w of the water-absorbing polymer is increased.
Due to the fact that the absorber itself becomes brittle such as high t%, the delivery of the absorber 105 becomes more unstable.

[0013] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention, in the non-woven fabric, intake
Absorbent body, the absorbent body, in particular made of ground pulp and polymer
It is an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article manufacturing apparatus capable of biting an absorbent body formed of a material and delivering the absorbent body onto a mount while maintaining the shape of the absorbent body.

[0014]

The invention according to claim 1 is
The absorbent material consisting of crushed pulp and polymer is scattered to disperse the absorbent material discontinuously on the circumferential surface with a plurality of concave portions.
After being deposited on the nonwoven fabric wound around the peripheral surface of the rotary drum formed in, a absorbent body which is formed by the absorber material in the manufacturing apparatus of the absorbent article so as to pass on the base sheet together with the non-woven fabric The above-mentioned absorber material is
Is adapted to scatter faster, the inside of the rotary drum, the absorber deposited on the nonwoven fabric that is disposed above the recess, is provided with suction means for attracting the nonwoven fabric, the Receiving the absorber by suction means
From the picking position to the position where the absorber is delivered to the mount
In the part, so that the absorbent body is adsorbed and held on the non-woven fabric
The non-woven fabric is placed on the peripheral surface of the rotary drum.
In the state in which the shape of the concave portion and the convex portion is closely attached, the rotation
It is designed to rotate in synchronization with the drum and absorb the above.
At the position where the body is transferred to the mount, sandwich the mount.
A vacuum conveyor is installed on the opposite side of the rotating drum.
And a method for manufacturing an absorbent article, characterized in that the absorbent body is sandwiched between the non-woven fabric and the mount when the absorbent body adsorbed on the nonwoven fabric is transferred to the mount. By providing it, the said objective was achieved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for manufacturing an absorbent article according to the first aspect, characterized in that hot melt is discharged onto the non-woven fabric before being wound around the drum. The above-mentioned objects are achieved.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an absorbent article manufacturing apparatus of the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus for manufacturing an absorbent article according to the present embodiment scatters an absorbent material composed of crushed pulp 1 and polymer 2 to form the absorbent material into a plurality of recesses 8. After being deposited on the nonwoven fabric 4 wound around the peripheral surface of the rotating drum 3 formed discontinuously on the peripheral surface, the absorbent body 5 formed of the absorbent material is mounted together with the nonwoven fabric 4 on the mount 6
It is an apparatus for manufacturing absorbent articles that is delivered above.

As shown in FIG. 1, the absorbent article manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment has an absorbent body supplying means 7 for scattering the absorbent material composed of the crushed pulp 1 and the polymer 2.
A suction means (not shown) provided inside the rotary drum 3 and the absorber material wound around the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 3 and supplied from the absorber supply means 7 on its surface. The non-woven fabric 4 and the mount 6 for receiving the absorbent body 5 formed of the absorbent body material are provided.

As shown in FIG. 1, the absorber supply means 7 has a crusher 10 for finely crushing a pulp base paper 9, a polymer feeder 11 for supplying a polymer 2, and a pulp 1
And a charging mechanism (not shown) having a hood 12 for spraying the polymer 2 toward the rotary drum 3.

The crusher 10 finely crushes the belt-shaped pulp base paper 9 which is continuously fed, and is composed of a roll having a plurality of crushing blades. Such a crusher 10
The pulp base paper 9 is finely crushed by rotating in a counterclockwise direction indicated by an arrow A in FIG. 1 by a plurality of blades provided on the circumferential surface of the roll.

The polymer feeder 11 is provided in front of the crusher 10 and supplies the polymer 2 to the nonwoven fabric 4 wound around the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 3. The charging machine is configured to charge the absorber material composed of the crushed pulp 1 and the polymer 2 at a high speed by the action of vacuum. The throwing machine is composed of, for example, a screw feeder and its rotation driving device. The pulp 1 and the polymer 2 are scattered in the hood 12 by a throwing machine, mixed, and deposited on the nonwoven fabric 4 arranged in the recess 8 of the rotary drum 3.

The rotary drum 3 is adapted to rotate in the clockwise direction shown by the arrow B in FIG. 1, and has a plurality of recesses 8 on the drum peripheral surface. Absorber material is deposited in the recesses 8. Further, inside the rotary drum 3, a suction means for adsorbing the absorbent body 5 deposited on the nonwoven fabric 4 arranged in the recess 8 to the nonwoven fabric 4 is provided. As the suction means, for example, a blower connected to a drum or the like is used.

In a portion from the position where the absorber 5 is received to the position where the absorber 5 is delivered to the backing sheet 6 (hereinafter referred to as the absorber transporting section), the absorber 5 is sucked and held by the nonwoven fabric 4 by suction means. I am doing it. Such a portion is indicated by a symbol (-) in FIG. At the portion where the absorber 5 is transferred to the backing sheet 6 (hereinafter referred to as the absorber receiving portion), the suction by the suction means is released and the pressure becomes positive. Such a portion is indicated by a symbol (+) in FIG.

The non-woven fabric 4 has an absorber 5 deposited on its surface.
Is absorbed to allow a part or all of the absorbent body 5 to enter the voids existing between the fibers. The non-woven fabric 4 is supplied from the upstream side where the raw fabric 13 is guided by a plurality of rollers 14 to 18 composed of a driving roller and a guide roller to scatter the pulp 1 and the like, and then is wound around the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 3. It is designed to return to the upstream side again.

The non-woven fabric 4 adheres to the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 3 along the shape of the peripheral surface of the drum 3 when wound around the peripheral surface. That is, the nonwoven fabric 4 is adapted to rotate in synchronization with the rotary drum 3 while being in close contact with the shapes of the recesses 8 and the protrusions provided on the drum peripheral surface. It should be noted that the hot melt is supplied to the nonwoven fabric 4 by the hot melt supply means 19 before being wound around the rotary drum 3. By preliminarily hitting the nonwoven fabric 4 with the hot melt, the shape stability of the absorber 5 is improved.

On the other hand, the backing sheet 6 is guided from the original fabric 20 to a plurality of rollers 21 to 23, which are driving rollers and guide rollers, and is supplied from the downstream side to the upstream side. The mount 6 is configured to receive the absorbent body 5 adsorbed on the non-woven fabric 4 by being sandwiched between the non-woven fabric 4 and the mount 6 in the absorber receiving portion.

The absorber receiving section is provided with a vacuum conveyor 25 on the opposite side of the rotary drum 3 with the backing sheet 6 interposed therebetween. The vacuum conveyor 25 serves to ensure and ensure receipt of the absorber 5 on the mount 6. In addition, in order to enhance the shape stability of the absorbent body 5, the hot melt is supplied to the mount sheet 6 by the hot melt supply means 24 before being conveyed to the absorbent body receiving portion. There is.

Next, the operation of the absorbent article manufacturing apparatus configured as described above will be described. The non-woven fabric 4 is guided by the plurality of rollers 14 to 18 and fed out from the raw fabric 13, and after the hot melt 2 is discharged, the non-woven fabric 4 is wound around the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 3. Then, when the non-woven fabric 4 is wound around the peripheral surface of the rotary drum 3 and is provided at a position facing the hood 12 while traveling, the pulp 1 and the pulp 1 which are scattered at high speed in the hood 12 on the non-woven fabric 4 by the vacuum action. The absorber material consisting of polymer 2 adheres.

In the recess 8 of the rotary drum 3, the absorber material is deposited to form the absorber 5. In particular, when the absorbent material is deposited on the non-woven fabric 4, part or all of the absorbent material can enter the voids existing between the fibers of the non-woven fabric 4 to form a single paper-like absorbent body. . Therefore, it is possible to form the thin absorber 5. When a mount is used as the carrier instead of the non-woven fabric, the mount is inferior to the non-woven fabric in air permeability and has a small number of voids, so that the absorbent material cannot be bited into the inside.

On the other hand, in the convex portions provided between the adjacent concave portions 8 and the concave portions 8, the absorber material is not deposited and is collected in the absorber collecting portion (not shown). The absorber 5 formed of the absorber material deposited in the concave portion 8 is conveyed to the absorber receiving portion in a state of being sucked by the nonwoven fabric 4 by the suction means provided in the rotary drum 3.

Then, the absorbent body 5 is overlapped with the nonwoven fabric 4 on the mount 6 conveyed from the downstream side to the upstream side in the absorbent body receiving portion. That is, in the absorbent body receiving section, the absorbent body 5 is delivered onto the mount paper 6 in a so-called sandwich state in which it is sandwiched between the nonwoven fabric 4 and the mount paper 6. In this way, since the absorbent body 5 is passed over the mount 6 in a state of being sandwiched by the nonwoven fabric 4 and the mount 6 from the vertical direction, the absorbent body 5 does not become disjointed and is surely recessed. It is released from the mold and delivered onto the mount 6. That is, the absorber 5 is transferred onto the mount 6 while maintaining the shape of the recess 8.

When the absorber 5 is received on the mount 6, the absorber 5 is attracted to the mount 6 by the vacuum conveyor 25, so that the absorber 5 can be delivered reliably.

According to the absorbent article manufacturing apparatus of the present embodiment, the absorbent body 5 formed of the absorbent material on the non-woven fabric 4 is used.
Since the absorbent material is absorbed, the absorbent material enters the voids between the fibers of the non-woven fabric 4 to form a single paper-like absorbent material, and a paper diaper or the like having a thinner absorbent material 5 can be manufactured. Moreover, since the absorbent material enters the voids between the fibers of the nonwoven fabric 4, the rotary drum 3 can be rotated at a high speed, and the productivity can be improved.

Further, according to the absorbent article manufacturing apparatus of the present embodiment, the absorbent body 5 is transferred between the absorbent body 5 and the backing paper 6 such that the absorbent body 5 is sandwiched between the nonwoven fabric 4 and the backing paper 6. The absorbent body 5 can be transferred onto the mount 6 in a state where the absorbent body 5 does not fall apart and retains the shape of the concave portion 8.

The specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the mount 6 is used to receive the absorber 5, but a nonwoven fabric may be used instead of the mount 6.

[0037]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the absorbent article manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the absorbent body made of pulp and polymer is bitten into the nonwoven fabric and the shape of the absorbent body is maintained. It is possible to provide an apparatus for manufacturing an absorbent article that can deliver the absorber onto the mount as it is.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an absorbent article manufacturing apparatus of the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional manufacturing apparatus for absorbent articles.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 pulp 2 polymer 3 rotating drums 4 non-woven fabric 5 absorber 6 mount 7 groove 8 recess 19,24 Hot melt supply means

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --- Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-56-60556 (JP, A) JP-A-63-197456 (JP, A) JP-A-6-311998 (JP, A) JP-A-63- 139547 (JP, A) Actual development Sho 62-136507 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A61F 13 / 15-13 / 84

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A non-woven fabric in which an absorbent material composed of crushed pulp and a polymer is scattered, and the absorbent material is wound around the peripheral surface of a rotary drum having a plurality of recesses formed discontinuously on the peripheral surface. A method of manufacturing an absorbent article, wherein the absorbent body formed by the absorbent material is delivered together with the non-woven fabric onto a backing sheet after being deposited on the base material, wherein the absorbent material is operated at a high speed by the action of a vacuum. I'll scatter
In the inside of the rotary drum, suction means for adsorbing the absorbent material deposited on the nonwoven fabric arranged in the recess to the nonwoven fabric is provided, and the suction means absorbs the absorbent material. From the position to receive the body
In the portion reaching the position where the absorber is transferred to the mount,
The absorbent body is adapted to be adsorbed and held by the non-woven fabric, and the non-woven fabric is the recessed portion provided on the peripheral surface of the rotary drum.
And synchronized with the rotating drum in close contact with the shape of the protrusion
It is designed to rotate, and at the position where the absorber is transferred to the mount, the mount
Vacuum conveyor on the opposite side of the rotary drum
Is provided , and when the absorbent body adsorbed on the non-woven fabric is transferred to the mount, the absorbent body is sandwiched between the non-woven fabric and the mount paper. apparatus. 2. The apparatus for manufacturing an absorbent article according to claim 1, wherein hot melt is discharged onto the non-woven fabric before being wound around the drum.