JP3334233B2 - Diaper change sensor - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sensor for detecting diaper wetness, and more particularly to a sensor for detecting the degree of diaper wetness and informing a third party of a diaper replacement time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, disposable disposable diapers are composed of a surface absorbent layer that is in direct contact with the skin, an absorbent layer containing a superabsorbent polymer, and a waterproof film that prevents leakage of urine to the back side. Its use has been increasing due to an increase in the performance of conductive polymers and an increase in bedridden elderly people due to aging.

[0003] The disposable disposable diaper has an absorbent layer containing a superabsorbent polymer, absorbs urine, and is made so as not to cause discomfort to the user. However, when the amount of urine increases, it is not absorbed and gives the user discomfort as well as adversely affects the skin. Therefore, it is necessary for the caregiver to know when to change diapers and change them. In order to know this, there are those which notify the diaper replacement time by a color change and those which notify by a change in resistance or capacity due to contact of urine with the electrode. For example, there are JP-A-2-174846, JP-A-3-186259, and JP-A-4-67863, all of which are notified by a change in resistance or capacitance between electrodes.

[0004]

However, in these contrivances, for example, in the case of using the diaper at nighttime, a person who changes the color needs to see the diaper directly because a third person who changes the diaper must directly see the diaper. If you check each time just to see the situation of diapers, you will cause mental distress to the user.

[0005] In addition, what is seen by resistance and capacitance changes due to electrodes may cause malfunctions due to things other than urine such as sweat. Further, the conventional diaper sensor detects a diaper leak or urination, and is not a sensor for notifying the diaper replacement time. For this reason, the current disposable diapers do not necessarily need to be replaced by one urination, but when urination occurs, the urine causes a temporary change in resistance or volume due to urine, and judges that the diaper is wet. Since a third party is informed that the diaper should be replaced, the number of times the diaper needs to be replaced is greatly increased, so that the financial burden is increased and the labor required for the replacement by the third party is increased.

Accordingly, the present invention eliminates the mental distress of the user, reduces the economic burden, and reduces the economic burden by detecting the optimum time for changing the diaper and informing a third party changing the diaper. It is an object of the present invention to provide a diaper replacement time detection sensor that helps with a lack of manpower such as nursing care.

[0007]

Accordingly, in the present invention, as a first invention, a hydrophilic film that absorbs moisture in response to diaper wetting, and a hydrophilic film provided on the opposite surface of the hydrophilic film are provided. A pair of electrodes, a hydrophobic film provided so as to divide the hydrophilic film into predetermined sections, and a judging means for judging the water content of the hydrophilic film from the electric conductivity of the pair of electrodes. The present invention provides a diaper replacement time detection sensor comprising:

[0008]

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the invention, as the amount of urine discharged into the diaper increases, the water content of the hydrophilic membrane only in the hydrophilic membrane section divided by the hydrophobic membrane also increases. The conductivity between the electrodes provided on both sides of the hydrophilic film also increases. Then, by measuring the electric conductivity, the wetness of the diaper can be measured.

[0010]

[0011]

As described above, the present invention eliminates the mental distress of the user and reduces the economic burden by detecting the optimum time for changing the diaper and informing the third party changing the diaper of the diaper. In addition, it is possible to provide a diaper replacement time detection sensor that helps to reduce the manpower for nursing care and the like in the future.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of a diaper changing time detecting sensor according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view showing an example of disposition of a replacement time detecting sensor 1 of a diaper 10 in a diaper according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a front view , in which the upper side of the figure is the buttocks of the adherend not shown and the lower side of the figure is the ventral side of the adherend.

FIG. 2 showing a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 1 and FIG.
1, the sensor 1 is disposed between the absorber layer 3 of the diaper 10 and the waterproof cover 4 under the surface absorption layer 2 of the diaper 10 over the entire surface or a part of the absorber layer 3.

A wiring 5 is connected to the sensor 1 so that the sensor 1 is electrically connected to a measuring circuit 6 which is a determining means also serving as a transmitting unit. The measuring circuit 6 can be mounted on a waist or the like in a small size so as not to burden the user, and can be transmitted to the outside by a telemetry device (not shown) that also serves as the measuring circuit 6.

FIG. 3 shows a sensor 1 showing a cross section taken along line AA of FIG.
1 is a sectional view of FIG. The sensor 1 has an electrically insulating hydrophilic film 7 made of at least one of a hydrophilic Teflon film (Omnipore of Japan Millipore Co., Ltd.), a nylon film, a cellulose film and the like.
It has a three-layer structure in which a coated electrode 8, which is a pair of electrodes made of at least one of carbon, aluminum, copper, nickel, and the like, is formed to a thickness of several hundreds to several thousand angstroms by vacuum evaporation.

The sensor 1 according to the present embodiment includes a diaper 10.
The part of the sensor that contacts the wetted part of the absorber layer 3 of
Utilization corresponding to the wet area of the absorber layer 3 is used. Therefore, urine that penetrates into the sensor 1 from the absorber layer 3 must not penetrate beyond the wetted area of the absorber layer 3. For this purpose, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, for example, a hydrophobic film 9 impregnated with a silicone-based adhesive or a cyanoacrylate-based instantaneous adhesive and dried is applied to the hydrophilic film 7 of the sensor 1. By partitioning the conductive film 7 into blocks by a predetermined amount, as shown in FIG. 4, urine can be soaked into the sensor 1 only in the area 12 corresponding to the actually wet portion 11.

The operation when the diaper replacement time detecting sensor having the above configuration is used will be specifically described below. FIG.
As described above, only a part of the sensor 1 can be wet depending on the degree of wetness (area) of the absorbent layer of the diaper due to urination.

According to an experiment conducted by the present applicant, there was a relationship between the wet area of the sensor 1 and the electrical conductivity as shown in FIG. That is, as described above, since the structure of the sensor 1 is configured such that the wet area of the sensor 1 corresponds to the wet area of the absorber layer 3, the absorption of the diaper 10 is measured by measuring the conductivity of the sensor 1. You can see the wet area of the body layer. Therefore, after the measurement circuit 6 detects that the conductivity has reached a predetermined value, a signal notifying the replacement of the diaper 10 may be transmitted by the telemetry device.

In the first embodiment, as a method of forming the coated electrode 8 on the hydrophilic film 9, a vacuum deposition method is employed.
The present invention is not limited to this, for example, a bonding method,
A printing method, a sputtering method, a CVD method, or the like can be used. What is possible if the thickness of the electrode can be reduced so that urine can penetrate into the hydrophilic film, or the formation of the electrode can be partially restricted by a mask or the like. Any other forming method may be used.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show a diaper changing time detecting sensor according to a second embodiment. In the second embodiment, in the first embodiment, the configuration of the sensor 1 is changed so that the hydrophilic film 7 is interposed therebetween.
Instead of providing the covering electrode 8 by vacuum deposition, the sensor 14 may be formed with the hydrophilic film 7 interposed between the mesh electrodes 13 formed in a mesh shape.

The reticulated electrode 8 is a reticulated electrode or film made of a metal wire made of gold, platinum, or, in some cases, aluminum, copper, nickel, etc., having a thickness of several hundred to several thousand angstroms by vacuum evaporation. You may wire to a transmission part.

Further, in the configuration shown in FIG. 6, the two covered electrodes are not limited to the mesh electrode 13, and the mesh electrode 13
The layer sandwiched between the layers is not limited to the hydrophilic film 7 and may be any water-absorbing material such as a hydrophilic film and a film-like dry gel substance.

In such a case, as described above, when a hydrophilic film is used, it is necessary to provide a hydrophobic portion in order to prevent the permeation area from expanding. However, in the case of a film-like dry gel, it has a characteristic of gradually penetrating into the urine volume, and in that case, it may be provided as needed.

As a third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, a sensor 20 in which the absorber layer 3 of the diaper 10 itself is sandwiched between mesh electrodes 13 may be used. In this case, it means that the hydrophilic film and the absorber layer 3 of the diaper 10 are also used.

Also in this case, when the polymer absorber absorbs urine, it is possible to detect the diaper replacement time by utilizing the fact that the upper and lower electrodes are conductive. Also in this case, instead of providing the mesh electrodes 13 on both surfaces of the absorber layer 3, a structure in which the mesh electrodes 13 are formed on only one surface may be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of the inside of a diaper viewed from the front when a sensor is disposed in the diaper.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a BB section of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an AA section of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view showing how to permeate when urine adheres to the electrode.

FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing an increase in conductivity with respect to a flooded area of the membrane electrode.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sensor 6 Measurement circuit as a judgment means 7 Hydrophilic film 8 Electrode 9 Hydrophobic film 13 Reticulated electrode

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuation of the front page Examiner Toshimitsu Suzuki (56) References JP-A-64-25049 (JP, A) JP-A-50-102396 (JP, A) JP-A-4-36440 (JP, U) Kaisho 55-51733 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01N 27/00-27/24 A61F 13/42

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A hydrophilic film that absorbs water in response to diaper wetting, a pair of electrodes provided on opposing surfaces of the hydrophilic film, and the hydrophilic film is divided into predetermined sections. A diaper replacement timing detection sensor, comprising: a hydrophobic film provided so as to be divided; and determination means for determining the water content of the hydrophilic film based on the electrical conductivity of the pair of electrodes.