JP3604594B2 - Method for producing absorbent article - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an absorbent article that can simplify the manufacturing process of the absorbent article and efficiently manufacture the absorbent article continuously.
[0002]
Problems to be solved by the prior art and the invention
Conventionally, in a method of continuously manufacturing absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins and disposable diapers, after forming a continuous body of the absorbent articles, the continuous body is cut into individual absorbent articles.
Usually, in the step of forming such a continuous body, it is necessary to arrange an adhesive between the constituent members of each part and press the part where the adhesive is arranged at a different pressure for each part. Conventionally, such a press is performed using a different press device for each part.
However, when a plurality of press devices are used, a large space is required for their installation, and devices and control for adjusting the press position are required. In particular, in recent years, the structure of an absorbent article has become complicated, and each part cannot be pressed efficiently, so that the manufacturing process thereof is also complicated.
[0003]
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing an absorbent article that enables a plurality of portions to be joined of the absorbent article to be simultaneously pressed, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process of the absorbent article. It is in.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention is a method for producing a substantially vertically long absorbent article comprising a liquid-permeable top sheet, a liquid-impermeable back sheet, and a liquid-retentive absorber interposed between the two sheets. A laminating step of interposing the absorber between the top sheet and the back sheet, and laminating the two sheets on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article with an adhesive interposed therebetween, and passing through the laminating step. The absorbent article, at least one of the pressing rolls is inserted between a pair of pressing rolls having a plurality of portions having different diameters or materials in the axial direction, and both sides and the center in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article. The absorbent article has a pressing step of pressing simultaneously, and the absorbent article has both side edges of the topsheet positioned on the non-skin contact surface side on both sides of the absorbent body. In the sheet The adhesive is interposed between a portion of the absorbent body located on the non-skin contact surface side and both side portions of the back sheet in the longitudinal direction, and the absorbent article comprises a non-skin of the absorbent body in the top sheet. A leak-proof sheet is disposed between a portion located on the contact surface side and both side portions in the longitudinal direction of the absorber, and is interposed between the top sheet and the back sheet in the pressing step. The object is achieved by providing a method of manufacturing an absorbent article in which the adhesive is pressed so as to penetrate the topsheet, and the topsheet and the leakproof sheet are joined by the permeated adhesive. It was done.
[0005]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on preferred embodiments.
First, a press apparatus preferably used for performing the method for manufacturing an absorbent article according to the present embodiment will be described.
[0006]
The press device 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes an upper roll unit and a lower roll unit. The upper roll unit includes an upper roll 2, a rotation shaft (not shown) of the upper roll 2, a drive motor (not shown) connected to the rotation shaft, and suction for maintaining the inside of the upper roll 2 at a negative pressure. The upper roll 2 is rotated in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 by driving the drive motor. Further, the lower roll unit includes a lower roll 3 disposed so as to face the upper roll 2, a rotation shaft (not shown) of the lower roll 3, and a drive motor (not shown) connected to the rotation shaft. The lower roll 3 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow B in FIG. 1 at the same peripheral speed as the upper roll 2 by driving of the drive motor.
[0007]
The upper roll 2 is a roll made of a hard material and has a smooth surface, and has a plurality of suction holes 21 on the outer peripheral surface thereof. It is made to be able to do. On the other hand, the lower roll 3 is a roll having a smooth surface made of a soft material, and as shown in FIG. 31 and 31 and a small diameter portion 32 between both large diameter portions. A step d of, for example, about 1 to 10 mm is formed on the peripheral surface of the lower roll 3. Incidentally, reference numeral 11 in FIG. 1 denotes a cutter for cutting the release paper 47 into a size corresponding to one product.
[0008]
The upper roll 2 and the lower roll 3 press the continuous body of the absorbent article inserted between the two rolls 2 and 3 from above and below.
[0009]
Next, a method for manufacturing an absorbent article using the present press device 1 will be described.
First, a sanitary napkin 4 as an absorbent article obtained in the present embodiment will be described.
The sanitary napkin 4 has a substantially vertically long shape, and has a liquid-permeable top sheet 42, a liquid-impermeable back sheet 43, and a liquid-retaining absorbent interposed between the sheets 42, 43. As shown in FIG. 2 (a), joining portions C1 and C1 are formed on both sides in the longitudinal direction by bonding the two sheets 42 and 43 via a hot melt adhesive 45 as an adhesive. Have. An adhesive 46 for fixing the napkin 1 to the wearer's clothes is applied to the non-skin contact surface side of the back sheet 43, and a release paper 47 is attached via the adhesive 46. ing.
[0010]
More specifically, the absorber 44 has a substantially rectangular shape in which both ends in the longitudinal direction are formed in an arc shape, and the non-skin contact surface side is in contact with the back sheet 43 and is placed on the back sheet 43. It is placed. The left and right side edges in the longitudinal direction of the topsheet 42 cover the left and right side portions of the absorber 44 and are located on the non-skin contact surface side of the absorber 44.
[0011]
Further, between the portion of the topsheet 42 located on the non-skin contact surface Q side of the absorber 44 and the both sides in the longitudinal direction of the absorber 44, a leakproof sheet 48 is disposed. More specifically, a pair of left and right leak-proof sheets 48, 48 are arranged on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the absorber 44 so as to cover each of the both sides.
The leak-proof sheets 48, 48 are band-shaped, and one edge 48a along the longitudinal direction is located on the skin contact surface side of the absorber 44, and the other edge 48b is a non-skin of the absorber 44. It is arranged to be located on the contact surface side. The top sheet 42 and the back sheet 43 extend outward beyond the front and rear ends of the absorber 44, and the extended portions are heat-sealed. In addition, the skin contact surface means the surface P which comes into contact with the wearer's skin at the time of wearing, and the non-skin contact surface is the surface on the opposite side to the skin contact surface, and Means the outer surface Q. In addition, the skin contact surface and the non-skin contact surface in each member mean a surface that is arranged toward the skin contact surface side and the non-skin contact surface side when the absorbent article is made. .
[0012]
The sanitary napkin 4 is manufactured through a laminating step, a pressing step, and a cutting step.
<Lamination process>
First, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of absorbers 44, 44 arranged in a line in the vertical direction are wrapped by a topsheet 42 and a pair of leak-proof sheets 48, 48, and one from the other is not shown. The back sheet 43 fed from the raw material and transported is merged and stacked on the continuous absorbent body 51 continuously transported by the transport means.
[0013]
At this time, the hot melt adhesives 45, 45 are applied to the portions 42a, 42a of the topsheet 42 constituting the continuous absorbent body 51, which are located on the non-skin contact surface Q side of the absorbent body 44, by the application devices 61, 61. (Hot melt adhesive) 45 between the portions 42 a, 42 a of the top sheet 42 located on the non-skin contact surface side of the absorber 44 and both longitudinal sides of the back sheet 43. , 45 are interposed.
In the laminating step, the absorbent body 44 is interposed between the top sheet 42 and the back sheet 43 in this manner, and the two sheets 42, 43 on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article are bonded with an adhesive. It is laminated with interposition.
[0014]
The laminating step in the present embodiment includes a step of laminating a release paper 47 on the non-skin contact surface side of the back sheet 43 with an adhesive 46 interposed therebetween.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the adhesives 46, 46 are applied to the release paper 47 before lamination by a coating device 62 having a pair of discharge ports, and then the release paper 47 is reduced to a predetermined size by the cutter 11. After cutting, the adhesive surfaces 46 and 46 are laminated with the application surface of the adhesive material 46 as the back sheet side 43.
Through such a laminating step, a continuous absorbent article 41 including the continuous absorbent body 51, the back sheet 43, and the release paper 47 is obtained. The absorbent article continuum 41 is an “absorbent article that has undergone a laminating step”.
[0015]
<Pressing process>
The absorbent article continuum 41 is inserted between the pair of pressing rolls 2 and 3 simultaneously with completion.
Thereby, the both sides and the central part in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article continuous body 41 are simultaneously pressed by the pair of pressing rolls. That is, the space between the top sheet 42 and the back sheet 43 in which the hot melt adhesive 45 is interposed and the space between the release paper 47 and the back sheet 43 in which the adhesive 46 is interposed are simultaneously pressed.
[0016]
As described above, the press device 1 used in this pressing step includes the large-diameter portions 31, 31 at the left and right ends in the width direction, that is, the small-diameter portions 32 between both large-diameter portions. Since the absorbent article continuum 41 has been inserted, the absorbent article continuum 41 has the long side portions, that is, the portions where the hot melt adhesives 45, 45 are present, on the large diameter portions 31 of the upper roll 2 and the lower roll 3, respectively. 31, while the central portion in the longitudinal direction, that is, the portion where the adhesive 46 and the release paper 47 are present, is weakly compressed between the upper roll 2 and the small-diameter portion 32 of the lower roll 3. . In this manner, in the present embodiment, a pair of pressing rolls 2 and 3 is used to separate the release paper 47 between the top sheet 42 and the back sheet 43 where the hot melt adhesive 45 is interposed and the release paper 47 where the adhesive 46 is interposed. And the back sheet 43 can be bonded, so that the manufacturing process can be simplified. In addition, since excessive pressure is not applied to the central portion in the longitudinal direction, the absorbent portion is not excessively compressed, and the soft wearing feeling is not impaired.
[0017]
Also, in the present embodiment, the hot melt adhesives 45, 45 are not compressed by the absorbents 44, 44... In the topsheet 42 due to the strong compression by the large diameter portions 31, 31 of the upper roll 2 and the lower roll 3. The portions 42a, 42a of the topsheet 42 and the leak-proof sheets 48, 48 are joined by the hot-melt adhesives 45a, 45a that penetrate and pass through the portions 42a, 42a located on the skin contact surface side. Thus, it is not necessary to separately apply an adhesive between the top sheet 42 and the leakage prevention sheet 48.
[0018]
<Cutting process>
The continuous absorbent article body 41 after the pressing step is cut between the absorbent bodies 44 to obtain individual sanitary napkins 4. At the same time as or before the cutting, the cutting between the top sheet 42 and the back sheet 43 in the continuous absorbent article body 41 is performed at a portion not provided by each of the absorbers 44, 44. Do.
The cross-sectional structure of the sanitary napkin 1 obtained by the cutting step is the same as the cross-sectional structure of the portion of the absorbent article continuum 41 where the absorber 44 exists.
[0019]
Incidentally, the method of the present invention can be carried out by using the following press apparatus instead of the above-described press apparatus 1. That is, as shown in FIG. 2B, a press device having a roll 3 ′ having a plurality of portions B 1 and B 2 having different materials in the axial direction as the upper roll 2 and / or the lower roll 3 may be used. .
[0020]
The lower roll 3 in this press device has a plurality of portions B1 and B2 of different materials in the axial direction of the roll 3, and the surface of the portion B2 is made more flexible than the surface of the portion B1. That is, in the pressing step, the portion of the absorbent article continuous body 41 where the hot melt adhesives 45 and 45 are present is pressed by the hard portion B1, and the portion where the adhesive 46 and the release paper 47 are present is replaced by the flexible portion B2. May be applied.
[0021]
Examples of the material of the portion B1 include steel and aluminum, and examples of the material of the portion B2 include urethane rubber, silicone rubber, and sponge that are softer than the material of the portion B1. A particularly preferred combination is that B1 is steel and B2 is urethane rubber.
Even with such a press device, the both sides and the central portion of the absorbent article continuous body 41 can be pressurized by the optimum pressing force .
Also, the lamination process, as described above, instead of laminating a release paper 47 by an adhesive 46 is interposed in the non-skin contact surface side of the backsheet 43 in the longitudinal direction central portion of the absorbent article, A step of interposing an adhesive (not shown) between the absorbent body 44 and the skin contacting surface side of the back sheet 43 at the longitudinal center of the absorbent article may be provided.
In this case, similarly, the absorbent article continuous body 41 inserted between the pair of rolls 2 and 3 is strongly compressed on both sides in the longitudinal direction, and is weakly compressed on the central portion in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, the bonding between the top sheet 42 and the back sheet 43 and the bonding between the absorber 44 and the back sheet 43 can be performed simultaneously with the optimum pressing force, and the manufacturing process is simplified. be able to.
In addition, it is preferable to bond the absorber 44 and the back sheet 43 because a gap between the two can be prevented, and the absorbent article can be prevented from being twisted or the like. In addition, as a method of interposing an adhesive between the absorber 44 and the back sheet 43, for example, hot melt is applied to the central portion of the absorber continuous body 45 on the non-skin contact surface side before the back sheet 43 is laminated. What is necessary is just to apply a mold adhesive spirally .
Further, the laminating step includes a step of laminating a non-skin contact surface side release paper 47 by interposing an adhesive 46 to the backsheet 43 in the longitudinal direction central portion of the absorbent article, the longitudinal center of the absorbent article And a step of interposing an adhesive between the skin contact surface side of the back sheet 43 and the absorber 44 in the portion.
[0022]
As a material for forming the top sheet 42, the back sheet 43, the absorber 44, the hot melt adhesive 45, the adhesive 46, and the release paper 47, those commonly used in conventional absorbent articles can be used without any particular limitation.
The material for forming the leak-proof sheets 48, 48 is preferably a polyethylene film, a polypropylene film, or a polyethylene laminated paper, and particularly preferably a polyethylene film.
[0023]
The lower roll 3 may have a different partial diameters and material more than three. The upper roll 2 may have a plurality of portions having different diameters and materials, and the two rolls 2 and 3 may have a plurality of portions having different diameters and materials. Further, the leakage prevention sheet 48 may not be divided into the left and right sides of the absorber 44.
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
The method for manufacturing an absorbent article according to the present invention enables a plurality of portions to be joined of the absorbent article to be simultaneously pressed, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process and the manufacturing apparatus of the absorbent article. is there.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a part of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 1, showing a cross section of a contact point between upper and lower rolls. In FIG. 2A, the gap between the upper and lower rolls is enlarged and the thickness of the object to be pressed is exaggerated.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of an absorbent article obtained by the method of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Press apparatus 2 Upper roll 3 Lower roll 4 Absorbent articles (sanitary napkins)

Claims (3)

A method for producing a substantially vertically absorbent article, comprising a liquid-permeable top sheet, a liquid-impermeable back sheet and a liquid-retentive absorber interposed between the two sheets,
A laminating step of interposing the absorber between the top sheet and the back sheet, and laminating the two sheets on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article with an adhesive therebetween.
The absorbent article that has passed through the laminating step, at least one of the pressing rolls is inserted between a pair of pressing rolls having a plurality of portions having different diameters or materials in the axial direction, and both sides in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent article And a pressing step of pressing the central part simultaneously .
In the absorbent article, both side edges of the topsheet are located on non-skin contact surfaces on both sides of the absorber, and in the laminating step, non-skin contact surfaces of the absorber in the topsheet. The adhesive is interposed between the part located on the side and the longitudinal both sides of the back sheet,
The absorbent article, between the portion of the top sheet located on the non-skin contact surface side of the absorber and the longitudinally opposite sides of the absorber, a leak-proof sheet is disposed,
In the pressing step, the adhesive to be interposed between the top sheet and the back sheet is pressed so as to pass through the top sheet, and the top sheet and the leakproof sheet are pressed by the passed adhesive. A method for producing an absorbent article, wherein the absorbent article is bonded . The laminating step is a step of interposing an adhesive between the skin-contacting surface side of the back sheet and the absorber in the longitudinal center portion of the absorbent article, and / or the longitudinal center portion of the absorbent article. 2. The method for producing an absorbent article according to claim 1, further comprising the step of laminating release paper on the non-skin contact side of the back sheet with an adhesive therebetween. The method for manufacturing an absorbent article according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the adhesive interposed between the top sheet and the back sheet is a hot melt adhesive.

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