JP2006325933A - Individual body of absorbent article and manufacturing apparatus for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an individual body of an absorbent article which is readily opened and stably maintained in packaged state until intentional opening, and a manufacturing apparatus for the same. <P>SOLUTION: This individual packaged body 1 of the absorbent article includes: an absorbent article 2 and a packaging material 3 for packaging it, wherein a pair of opposite edges 31, 31 of the packaging material 3 are respectively folded in the longitudinal direction and bonded to each other to form a pair of sealing parts 4, 4. The paired sealing parts 4, 4 respectively has a weak bonding part 41 where the packaging materials 3 are weakly bonded to each other at a part closer to the central part of the individual packaged body in a direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the sealing parts 4 and a strong bonding part 42 where the packaging materials are bonded more strongly than the soft bonding part 41 outside the weak bonding part 41. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an individual package of an absorbent article obtained by individually packaging an absorbent article such as a sanitary napkin with a packaging material, and an apparatus for manufacturing the same.

Conventionally, absorptive articles such as sanitary napkins and panty liners (orimono sheets) are commercially available in a state of being individually packaged with a packaging material in order to keep it hygienic until use (Patent Documents 1 and 2) reference).
In the individual package of absorbent articles, in general, a pair of opposite edges of a rectangular packaging material are joined in a state of being folded in the longitudinal direction to form a pair of seals, mainly by the seals The packaging is maintained.

JP-A-8-324635 JP-T 8-504638

However, in the individual package of the conventional absorbent article, a relatively large bonding strength between the packaging materials in the seal portion has a large resistance when opening the package and is difficult to open depending on the user. In addition, the stronger the bonding strength, the greater the peeling noise at the time of opening, which may cause the peeling noise to be annoying or uncomfortable.
On the other hand, if the bonding strength between the packaging materials in the seal portion is reduced in order to facilitate the peeling of the seal portion, the individual package may be unsealed before it is intentionally opened.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an individual package of an absorbent article that can be easily opened and that can stably maintain a packaged state until intentional opening, and an apparatus for manufacturing the same.

  The present invention comprises an absorbent article and a packaging material that wraps the absorbent article, and a pair of opposite edges of the packaging material are joined in a state of being folded in the longitudinal direction to form a pair of seal portions. Each of the pair of the sealing portions is a weakly bonded piece of the packaging material near the center of the individual packaging in a direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the sealing portions. An individual package of an absorbent article, characterized in that it has a joint part, and has a strong joint part on the outside of the weak joint part, wherein the packaging materials are joined more strongly than the weak joint part. By providing this, the above-mentioned object is achieved.

  Moreover, the present invention is an apparatus for manufacturing an individual package of absorbent articles for continuously producing the individual package of absorbent articles described above, wherein the absorbent article is intermittently included and includes at least two along the flow direction. In a long packaging material folded in the width direction so that a bent portion is formed, a first portion in which a pressurizing portion is intermittently formed in the circumferential direction of the peripheral surface of the site where the absorbent article does not exist. A sealing device that forms a wide seal part by intermittently hot-pressing between a roll and a second roll that is disposed opposite to the first roll, and a long object after the seal part is formed, A cutting device that cuts across the width direction at a substantially central portion of the seal portion to form individual individual bodies is provided, and the pressurizing portion of the first roll has a roll base surface at the central portion in the first roll circumferential direction. From the roll base surface on both sides sandwiching the high pressure portion. By height to provide a manufacturing apparatus for KoSokarada absorbent article having a low pressure portion that decreases with distance from the high pressure portion, it is obtained by achieving the above object.

The individual package of the absorbent article of the present invention is easy to open and the packaging state is stably maintained until intentional opening.
According to the individual package manufacturing apparatus for absorbent articles of the present invention, such individual packages can be efficiently and continuously produced.

The present invention will be described below based on preferred embodiments with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, a sanitary napkin package 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a sanitary napkin 2 (hereinafter simply referred to as a napkin 2) and a packaging material 3 for packaging the sanitary napkin 2.
The napkin 2 has the same configuration as a conventional general sanitary napkin, and is interposed between a liquid-permeable top sheet 21, a liquid-impermeable or water-repellent back sheet (not shown), and both the sheets. And a liquid-retaining absorbent (not shown). The non-skin contact surface (surface on the back sheet side) of the napkin 2 is provided with an adhesive layer (not shown) for attaching to the undergarment, and is peeled off from the inner surface of the packaging material 3 through the adhesive layer. Adhesive freely.

The napkin 2 and the packaging material 3 are folded by being integrally folded at two locations in the longitudinal direction of the napkin 2, specifically, at the positions of the alternate long and short dash lines 34a and 35a in FIG. That is, the napkin 2 is included in the packaging material 3 in a state where the napkin 2 is folded into three.
In addition, a pair of opposite edge portions 31 and 31 of the packaging material 3 that extend outward from both side edges of the folded napkin 2 are also folded in a three-fold state in the longitudinal direction of the edge portion 31. ing. Then, the pair of edge portions 31, 31 in the folded state is subjected to seal processing to form a pair of seal portions 4, 4. The pair of seal portions 4 and 4 are formed on a pair of opposing edge portions of the individual package 1, and in each of them, the packaging materials 3 laminated in two or three layers are fused together. . The individual package 1 of the present embodiment is rectangular or square in plan view, and the pair of seal portions 4 are formed in parallel to each other.

  Thus, in the individual package 1 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the pair of seal portions 4, 4 are each in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the seal portion 4 extends (X in the figure). Direction) and a weakly joined portion 41 in which the packaging materials 3 are weakly joined to each other near the center of the individual package 1, and the packaging materials 3 are arranged on the outside of the weakly joined portion 41. It has the strong junction part 42 joined more strongly.

  The individual package 1 of this embodiment can be easily opened by picking and pulling the tab tape 5 provided at the opening start end 32 of the packaging material 3. At the time of opening, a force to peel off the bonding between the packaging materials 3 works in the direction indicated by the arrow P in FIG. The unsealing start end 32 of the packaging material 3 is an end portion located on the outer surface of the individual package 1 among both end portions of the packaging material 3 in the same direction as the direction in which the seal portions 4 and 4 extend.

  In the individual package 1 of the present embodiment, the weakly bonded portion 41 and the strong bonded portion 42 are formed on the seal portion 4 in this order from the central portion side to the outer side of the individual package 1. Since the resistance at the initial stage of peeling of the seal portion 4 is small, and the peeling of the seal portion 4 starts smoothly and progresses, the strong joint portion 42 is peeled off. Therefore, the individual package 1 can be smoothly opened with a light force. Moreover, generation | occurrence | production of the peeling sound at the time of opening is also suppressed, and fear that a peeling sound is worried or a peeling sound feels unpleasant can be reduced.

  In addition, the presence of the strong joint portion 42 can prevent the individual package from being unintentionally opened before intentional opening.

  In the individual package 1 of the present embodiment, the weakly bonded portions 41 in each of the pair of seal portions 4 and 4 are wrapping materials from the central portion side of the individual package 1 in the X direction toward the strongly bonded portion 42 side. The bonding strength of the steel continuously increases. Therefore, opening is easier and smoother. Moreover, as for each seal | sticker part 4 in this embodiment, the joining strength of packaging materials changes continuously in the whole area of the width direction. That is, the bonding strength between the packaging materials does not change abruptly at the boundary between the weakly bonded portion 41 and the strongly bonded portion 42. Each seal portion 4 is integrated in the thickness direction with portions 42 and 43 integrated in the thickness direction with the packaging material 3 laminated in two layers, and in the thickness direction with the packaging material 3 laminated in three layers. And a portion 44 that has been converted into a portion.

  Whether or not the above-described weakly-bonded portion 41 and strong-bonded portion 42 are present in the seal portion 4 is determined by, for example, changing the peel resistance when the seal portion 4 is peeled in the width direction of the seal portion as follows. It can be judged by measuring over the whole.

Measurement method of change in peel resistance A tensile tester or push-pull gauge is used for measurement.
As shown to Fig.8 (a), the rectangular shape whose width from the opening start end 32 of a packaging material is 30 mm and the length (X direction) orthogonal to the direction where the seal part 4 extends is 50 mm from an individual package. Is cut out as a measurement sample S. The measurement sample S does not include an absorbent article and has a seal portion 4 at one end portion or in the vicinity thereof.
As shown in FIG. 8B, the measurement sample S is subjected to a 180 ° peel test using a tensile tester or the like. In this peel test, the surface of the individual package on the opening start end 32 side (the surface with the tab tape 5 in the individual package 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) is considered as the upper surface. The layer forming the upper surface is separated from the layer located immediately below the layer. Peeling is performed by pulling the two layers on the side of the measurement sample S that does not have the seal portion 4 in the opposite direction by 180 degrees, and pulling the seal portion 4 outward from the center portion side in the X direction of the individual package. Remove. Then, a change in tensile load during the peel test (change in peel resistance) is recorded.

  And when the area | region where tensile load (peeling resistance, seal strength) is high in the outward side rather than the center part side of the individual package 1 in the seal part 4, the weakly joined part 41 and the strongly joined part 42 exist. When the tensile load (peeling resistance) of the seal portion is constant, the bonding strength between the packaging materials is uniform in the width direction of the seal portion, and the weakly bonded portion 41 and the strongly bonded portion 42 do not exist. to decide. The measurement sample S may be cut out so as to include the two-layer structure portions 42 and 43 as a seal portion.

  In addition, when sealing is performed using a seal block having a large number of convex portions on the surface to form a seal portion in which a large number of dot-like joint points are dispersed, the joint points are parallel to the direction in which the seal portion 4 extends. Many rows are formed. In such a case, in the above peeling test, when the portion corresponding to the row of joint points is peeled off and when the portion corresponding to the portion between the rows of joint points is peeled off, the tensile load is Slightly different. Therefore, although the tensile load varies with a minute width, such a minute variation is ignored in determining whether or not the weakly joined portion 41 and the strongly joined portion 42 exist.

  In the seal portion 4 according to the present invention, when the change in the peeling resistance is measured over the entire width direction of the seal portion 4 by the above-described method, the ratio between the minimum value and the maximum value of the tensile load is 0. .10 to 0.95, particularly preferably 0.30 to 0.70. The minimum value is preferably 30 to 300 cN.

The above-described individual package 1 of the napkin 2 can be efficiently and continuously produced by using, for example, the following manufacturing apparatus.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view schematically showing a main part in an embodiment of the absorbent article manufacturing apparatus of the present invention.
The manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment is a manufacturing apparatus of the individual package 1 of the napkin 2, and as shown in FIG. 3, the napkin which arrange | positions the napkin 2 intermittently on the elongate packaging material 3 conveyed continuously. Folding part B for folding the packaging material 3 in a state in which the placement part A and the napkin 2 are placed so as to form two folding parts 34 and 35 along the flow direction, the length of the folded state A seal portion forming portion C that forms a wide seal portion 40 by heat-pressing a portion of the scale-shaped packaging material 3 where the napkin 2 does not exist inside between the pair of rolls 51 and 55 in the seal device 5, and the seal portion The long object after forming 40 is cut | disconnected across the width direction in the approximate center part of this seal | sticker part 40, and the cutting part D used as the individual individual body 1 is comprised.

  The napkin arrangement portion A is configured to sequentially arrange a large number of napkins 2 on one side of the packaging material 3 at intervals in the flow direction of the packaging material 3 by a known intermittent napkin arrangement device (not shown). Yes.

  In the folding part B, a known folding means (not shown) such as a pair of folding guides arranged on both sides of the packaging material 3 is arranged. In FIG. 3, the napkin 2 and the packaging are placed at the position of the alternate long and short dash line 35a. The material 3 is bent integrally, and a portion S1 located on the edge 33 side of the two-dot chain line 35a is overlapped on the central region M sandwiched between the one-dot chain line 35a and the one-dot chain line 34a. Next, the napkin 2 and the packaging material 3 are integrally bent at the position of the one-dot chain line 34a in FIG. 3, and the portion S2 located on the edge 32 side from the one-dot chain line 34a is folded into the central region M. Overlay on the portion S2.

  The seal part forming part C includes a first roll 51 in which a pressurizing part 52 is intermittently formed in the circumferential direction of the peripheral surface, and a second roll 55 arranged to face the first roll 51. 5 is arranged.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the pressurizing part 52 of the first roll 51 has a high pressurizing part 52 a having a high height from the roll base surface 53 at a substantially central part in the circumferential direction of the first roll. On both sides of the pressurizing part 52a, there is a low pressurization part 52b whose height from the roll base surface 53 decreases as the distance from the high pressurization part 52a increases. The arcs of the alternate long and short dash lines shown in FIG. 4 are arcs centered on the axis of the rotation axis of the first roll, and each virtually indicates a position where the height from the roll base surface 53 is the same. It is.

In the sealing device 5 shown in FIG. 3, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a pressurizing portion 56 is intermittently formed in the circumferential direction of the peripheral surface of the second roll 55 as well. The pressure part 56 of the second roll 55 has substantially the same height from the roll base surface 57 in substantially the entire area in the second roll circumferential direction.
The first and second rolls 51 and 55 in the sealing device 5 rotate in synchronism so that the pressurizing part 52 of the first roll and the pressurizing part 56 of the second roll 55 are in intermittent contact or proximity. It is made to do. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 3, in the long packaging material 3 ′ in which the napkin 2 is intermittently included, a portion where the napkin 2 does not exist is intermittently provided between the pressure parts 52 and 56. The wide seal part 40 is sequentially formed by heat pressure. The term “wide” in the case of a wide seal portion means that it is wider than the seal portion 4 in each individual package after cutting.

  In the cutting part D, a known cutting device (not shown) is arranged. As a known cutting means, a roller cutter, a laser cutter, a water jet cutter or the like can be used. As a roller cutter, it comprises a cutter roll provided with cutting blades at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction and a receiving roll arranged to face the cutter roll, and by inserting an object to be cut between the two rolls, A roller cutter or the like that can intermittently cut the workpiece can be preferably used.

  In order to continuously produce the individual package 1 using the manufacturing apparatus of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the napkin 2 is placed in the napkin arrangement portion A on the long packaging material 3 that is continuously conveyed. After disposing intermittently, the packaging material 3 on which the napkin 2 is placed is folded in the width direction so that two folding portions 34 and 35 along the flow direction are formed together with the napkin 2 in the folding portion B. . And the long packaging material 3 ′ in the folded state is inserted between the first and second rolls 51 and 55 of the sealing device 5 arranged in the seal part forming part C, and in the packaging material 3 ′, The part where the napkin 2 is not present is hot-pressed between the pressurizing part 52 of the first roll and the pressurizing part 56 of the second roll to form the seal part 40. Then, the long object after forming the seal part 40 is cut in the cutting part D across the width direction of the long object at the center part in the width direction of the seal part 40, and the individual package 1. Get. The tab tape 5 is opened at an appropriate stage after folding in the folded portion B, for example, after the seal portion 40 is formed and before cutting at the cutting portion D or after cutting at the cutting portion D. Provided.

  According to this embodiment, the individual package 1 of the napkin 2 of the above-described embodiment can be efficiently and continuously produced in this manner.

  As a forming material of each part of the napkin individual package 1, those conventionally used for individual packages of absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins can be used without particular limitation. For example, as the packaging material 3, a film made of a resin such as polyethylene, a laminate material of a resin film and a nonwoven fabric, a nonwoven fabric, or the like can be used. On the inner surface of the packaging material 3, a release treatment is performed or a release sheet is fixed so that the adhesive layer of the napkin 2 can be peeled off. As the top sheet of the napkin 2, a hydrophilic and liquid-permeable nonwoven fabric, an apertured film, or the like can be used, and as the back sheet, a resin film, a laminate material of the resin film and the nonwoven fabric, or the like is used. As the absorbent body, an aggregate of fibers such as pulp fibers, or a substance in which a superabsorbent polymer is held thereon, coated with a water-permeable sheet such as tissue paper can be used.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not restrict | limited to embodiment mentioned above, It can change suitably.
For example, the pressurizing part 52 of the first roll 51 may have a cross-sectional shape as shown in FIG. In the first roll 51 shown in FIG. 4, the high pressurization part 52a and the low pressurization parts 52b and 52b on both sides thereof are flat, but the high pressurization part in the first roll 51 shown in FIG. 52a and the low pressure portions 52b and 52b on both sides thereof are formed in a curved surface shape in which the cross section in the roll circumferential direction is an arc and the cross section in the roll axis length direction is a straight curved surface. There is no corner between the pressure part 52 and the pressure part 52.
In the case of using the pressurizing part 52 having the cross-sectional shape shown in FIG. 6, the sealing part 4 formed in each individual package has a bonding strength between the packaging materials in the entire region from one end to the other end in the width direction. Will gradually increase. In such a seal portion 4, for example, one is considered as a weakly joined portion and the other as a strongly joined portion with the central portion in the width direction as a boundary.
Moreover, as for the seal | sticker part 4, the joining strength of packaging materials may change discontinuously between the weak junction part and the strong junction part. In addition, one or two or more regions where the bonding strength between the packaging materials shows an intermediate value may exist between the weakly bonded portion and the strongly bonded portion.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the seal portion 4 of the individual package 1 has a weak joint 41 formed near the center of the individual package and a strong joint 42 on the outer side, and further on the outer side. You may have the 2nd weak junction part 43 whose joining strength of packaging materials is lower than the strong junction part 42. FIG. Further, the second roll 55 does not have the pressurizing portion 56 protruding from the roll base surface 57, and heats the object to be sealed between the roll base surface 57 and the pressurizing portion 52 of the first roll 51. It may be.
Moreover, the edge part 31 of a packaging material may be folded in two in the longitudinal direction of this edge part 31, or it may be folded into four or more folds, and the seal part 4 may be integrated in the thickness direction.

The sanitary napkin may have a pair of wing parts. The wing portion is a portion that is bent to the outer surface side of the shorts and is fixed to the outer surface or a portion that is bent to the outer surface side of the shorts and is fastened to each other on the outer surface side. When having a wing portion in this way, before folding the napkin with the packaging material in the longitudinal direction, the wing portion is folded so as to overlap the central portion in the width direction of the napkin, and further, an adhesive layer is provided on the wing portion It is preferable to coat it with release paper. You may use a mechanical fastener, an anti-slip agent, etc., without using the adhesion layer for fixing to the underwear of the napkin 2.
In addition to sanitary napkins, the absorbent article in the present invention may be other absorbent articles such as a panty liner (cage sheet), an incontinence pad, and the like.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an individual package of a sanitary napkin as one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view showing the vicinity of an opening start end in the individual package of FIG. 1 in an enlarged manner. FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing the main part of the device for manufacturing an individual package of sanitary napkins as one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the vicinity of the hot press part by the first and second rolls of the sealing device in the manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another shape of the pressing portion of the first roll. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing still another shape of the pressing portion of the first roll. FIG. 7 is a view showing another embodiment of the individual package according to the present invention, and corresponds to the substantially right half of FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a method for measuring a change in peeling resistance.

Explanation of symbols

1 Individual packaging of sanitary napkins (single packaging of absorbent articles)
2 Sanitary napkins (absorbent articles)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 Exterior material 4 Seal part 41 Weak joint part 42 Strong joint part 5 Seal apparatus

Claims (3)

An absorbent article comprising an absorbent article and a packaging material for wrapping the absorbent article, wherein a pair of opposite edges of the packaging material are joined in a folded state in the longitudinal direction to form a pair of seal parts. An individual body,
Each of the pair of seal portions has a weak joint portion in which the packaging materials are weakly joined to each other near the center of the individual package in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the seal portion extends. An individual package of an absorbent article, characterized in that, on the outer side, the packaging material has a strong joint part joined more strongly than the weak joint part.   The individual package of the absorbent article according to claim 1, wherein the weakly bonded portion has a continuous increase in bonding strength between the packaging materials from the central portion side to the strong bonded portion side of the individual package. . An apparatus for manufacturing an individual body of an absorbent article for continuously producing the individual body of an absorbent article according to claim 1,
In a long packaging material that includes the absorbent article intermittently and is folded in the width direction so as to form at least two bent parts along the flow direction, A sealing device that forms a wide sealing portion by intermittently hot-pressing between a first roll in which a pressurizing portion is intermittently formed in the circumferential direction of the surface and a second roll disposed to face the first roll. And a cutting device that cuts the long object after forming the seal portion across the width direction at the substantially central portion of the seal portion to form individual individual bodies,
The pressurizing part of the first roll has a high pressurizing part having a high height from the roll base surface at the center in the circumferential direction of the first roll, and a roll base is provided on each of both sides sandwiching the high pressurizing part. An apparatus for manufacturing an individual package of absorbent articles having a low pressurization portion whose height from the surface decreases as the distance from the high pressurization portion increases.

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