JP6048344B2 - Method for manufacturing absorbent article - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an absorbent article in which an absorber is disposed between a liquid-impermeable back sheet on which a design and a marker are printed, and a liquid-permeable top sheet, and a method for manufacturing the same .

  In particular, disposable diapers for infants and the like are printed with patterns, characters, etc. in addition to the surface color in the same way as clothes, so that users and wearers can use them happily. For example, a liquid-impermeable back sheet is placed inside the cover sheet of a disposable diaper, and a pattern is printed on the surface of the back sheet so that the pattern on the surface of the back sheet can be seen through the cover sheet. Is known from Patent Document 1 and the like. In addition, a liquid-impermeable non-woven fabric printed with a colored non-woven fabric or a pattern is used as a cover sheet for disposable diapers, and a pattern such as a character is directly printed on the surface of a cover sheet.

  When manufacturing such a disposable diaper, the above-mentioned pattern is printed in advance on a continuous sheet of a cover sheet or a back sheet at predetermined intervals, and is cut out at a constant interval while being pulled out and supplied to a disposable diaper production line. It is common to do. For this reason, it is necessary to cut | disconnect the continuous body of a cover sheet or a back sheet | seat correctly according to the position of a pattern, and the marker for that is printed on the continuous body of the cover sheet and the back sheet with the pattern. A technique for detecting this marker using an optical sensor and controlling the cutting position of the continuous body of the cover sheet and the back sheet based on the marker is disclosed in Patent Document 2 and the like.

JP 2010-284430 A Japanese Patent No. 4246020

  The conventional markers disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 must be defined by relating the print position to the print position of the design, resulting in a drawback that the degree of freedom in selecting the design is reduced. It was.

  As one means for avoiding such a problem, there is also known a method of determining a cutting position of a continuous sheet by image processing using an image sensor capable of detecting a printing position of a pattern. However, in this method, it is necessary to newly incorporate expensive equipment including an imaging device for image processing, compared to the methods disclosed in References 1 and 2 in which a simple optical sensor can be used.

An object of the present invention is to provide an absorbent article that can improve the degree of freedom of selection of a pattern compared to the conventional one without using an expensive imaging device or image processing system, and a method for manufacturing the same.

  An absorbent article according to the present invention includes a cover sheet having a front body region, a back body region, and a crotch region, a liquid-impermeable back sheet bonded to the cover sheet, and a liquid permeability bonded to the back sheet. With a top sheet. This absorbent article, in which a design and a marker are printed on a backsheet, further comprises an absorber disposed between the topsheet and the backsheet, wherein the marker has at least two hues. is there.

  Designs intended by the present invention include figures, photographs or photographs of people, animals, plants, vehicles, food, tools, clothes, toys, buildings, natural objects, constellations, characters from myths and old tales, animated characters, etc. , Characters, symbols, figures, patterns and combinations thereof. Furthermore, differences in the background and their hues are also included.

  Moreover, the marker which this invention intends is formed with the pattern for every fixed interval in the continuous body of the back sheet | seat used in the manufacture process of this absorbent article. It is detected optically during the running of the backsheet continuum, and serves to define the cutting positions at regular intervals of the backsheet continuum. Therefore, the marker in the present invention only needs to have a contour shape that can be optically recognized by the sensor, and can include at least one of characters, symbols, symbols, and combinations thereof. It may be a part.

  It is also effective to print the markers on both the front and back sides of the back sheet and with these positions shifted from each other.

  One of at least two hues constituting the marker may include the hue of the material constituting the backsheet.

According to the onset bright, when the position is part of the symbol in the detection area of the printed marker continuum of the back sheet at the time of manufacture, so long as the hue of the symbols of this part is not exactly the same as the combination of hues of the marker The position of the marker can be reliably detected. As a result, the degree of freedom in selecting a symbol can be greatly increased as compared with the conventional one in which a marker having a single hue is printed.

  When a part of the symbol is also used as a marker, the symbol can be formed over the entire area of the back sheet, and the degree of freedom in selecting the symbol can be further increased.

  When the marker is printed on both the front and back sides of the back sheet and the positions are shifted from each other, the marker can be given a three-dimensional effect, which can be used effectively as part of the design. It becomes possible.

  When one of the at least two hues includes the hue of the material constituting the back sheet, the amount of printing ink used can be reduced.

It is a three-dimensional projection figure showing the external appearance of one Embodiment which applied the absorbent article by this invention to the underpants type disposable diaper. It is the stereographic projection figure which expand | deploys the diaper shown in FIG. 1, and represents in a decomposition | disassembly state. It is a top view of the continuous body of the back seat | sheet used for the diaper shown in FIG. It is an enlarged plan view of the part of the back sheet in other one embodiment of an absorptive article by the present invention.

  An embodiment of an absorbent article according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and can be applied to other absorbent articles belonging to the spirit of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 shows an external appearance of a first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a pants-type disposable diaper. FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the continuum of a back sheet used for this. As shown in FIG. A pants-type disposable diaper (hereinafter may be simply referred to as a diaper) 10 in the present embodiment includes a front body region 10F, a back body region 10R, and a crotch region 10C that connects the front body region 10F and the back body region 10R. And have. Moreover, the waist periphery opening part 10W which surrounds a wearer's waist part with the front body area | region 10F and the back body area | region 10R at the time of wear is formed. Similarly, a pair of left and right leg openings 10L that surround the thighs of the wearer's legs are formed by the lower ends of the front body region 10F and the back body region 10R and the crotch region 10C.

  In this diaper 10, a cover sheet 11, a back sheet 12, an absorber 13, and a top sheet 14 that touches the wearer's skin are sequentially stacked and joined in order from the outside. The left and right side edges of the cover sheet 11 that define the front body region 10F and the back body region 10R of the diaper 10 together with the crotch region 10C are joined together to form a closing portion 10J. As a result, the front waist opening 10W and the pair of left and right leg openings 10L are defined, and the left and right sides of the crotch region 10C of the cover sheet 11 are semicircular arcs that respectively become leg openings 10L. A pair of notches 11c are formed.

  The cover sheet 11 in this embodiment includes an outer outer cover sheet 11o and an inner cover sheet 11i joined to the outer cover sheet 11o, which are each formed of a thin non-woven fabric in order to obtain a good touch. The The liquid-impermeable back sheet 12 is joined to the inner cover sheet 11 i, and the previous absorbent body 13 is disposed between the back sheet 12 and the liquid-permeable top sheet 14, and the top is interposed through the absorbent body 13. The sheet 14 is joined to the back sheet 12. Between the outer cover sheet 11o and the inner cover sheet 11i, which are formed of a thin non-woven fabric in order to obtain a good feel, the rubber threads 15 and 16 for forming the leg gathers and the waist gathers are formed. The rubber thread 17 for joining is joined in the extended state.

In the front body region 10F and the back body region 10R on the outer side surface (joint surface with the inner cover sheet 11i) of the liquid-impermeable back sheet 12 in the present embodiment, different patterns D ₁ and D ₂ are different in the front and back. 12 are formed over almost the entire region in the width direction. In addition, a part of the front body region 10F on the outer surface of the backsheet 12 is cut along a cutting line 12C (two-dot chain line in FIG. 3) at the time of manufacture. The marker M which is a reference for the case is also formed at one end in the width direction. The position of the marker M along the width direction of the back sheet 12 (left and right direction in FIG. 3) is in the formation area of the pattern D ₁ along the width direction of the back sheet 12. That is, when the formation region of the marker M is extended along the longitudinal direction of the back sheet 12 (see the hatched portion in FIG. 3), it overlaps with a part of the symbols D ₁ and D ₂ . For convenience, the shaded area in FIG. 3 is described as a marker detection area.

The marker M has at least two hues. In the present embodiment, for example, a petal pattern having two colors of pink on the outside and yellow on the inside is adopted as the marker M, and this is designed so as to constitute a part of the pattern D _1. ing. However, as previously described, the marker M can be composed of characters, symbols, designs, combinations thereof, and the like.

By the way, in manufacturing the diaper 10, it is necessary to accurately cut the back sheet continuous body 12w on which the patterns D ₁ and D ₂ are printed together with the markers M in advance to obtain individual back sheets 12. For this reason, the position of the marker M is detected by the color sensor arranged in the production line of the diaper 10, and the backsheet continuum 12w is taken along the cutting line 12C shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 3 based on this detection information. Is cut at almost regular intervals.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the symbols D ₁ and D ₂ are formed in almost the entire width direction of the back sheet 12, and therefore the symbol D ₁ in which the sensor for detecting the passage of the marker M is in the marker detection region. , D ₂ should not be misrecognized as the marker M. In order that such erroneous recognition of the sensor can be identified not by expensive image processing technology but by a simple sensor, the hue of the marker M with respect to the combination of the hues of the patterns D ₁ and D ₂ in the marker detection region. It is effective to use different combinations. As a result, even when an inexpensive color sensor is used, only the marker M can be accurately recognized. More specifically, when the symbols D ₁ and D ₂ are printed in the marker detection region, the combination of hues of the portions of the symbols D ₁ and D ₂ printed in the marker detection region is different from the combination of hues of the marker M. All you need to do is In other words, as long as this condition is satisfied, the marker M can be formed at an arbitrary position such as the center in the width direction or the center in the longitudinal direction of the back sheet 12. Thereby, a design can be formed in the whole area of the back sheet 12, and it is possible to raise the freedom degree of design of a design rather than the conventional one. In this case, the difference in the combination of the hues of the marker M and the patterns D ₁ and D ₂ only needs to be discriminable by a color sensor that optically detects the proportion of light of a plurality of specific wavelengths. There may be no problem even with similar combinations of hues.

In the case where the pattern D ₁ and D ₂ located in the marker detection area has a size and shape that cannot be recognized by the color sensor, the hue combination of the pattern D ₁ and D ₂ in this area is the hue of the marker M. There is no problem even if it is the same as the combination. Further, one of the hues constituting the marker M may be the hue of the material itself constituting the back sheet 12 on which the marker M is printed.

These symbols D ₁ and D ₂ and the marker M can be recognized from the outside through the previous cover sheet 11.

  In general, the absorbent body 13 is obtained by dispersing SAP (Super Absorbent Polymer) in a fluff pulp having a mat shape and enclosing it with tissue. The absorber 13 is arranged so as to extend from the front body region 10F to the back body region 10R through the crotch region 10C. The absorbent body 13 in the present embodiment has an outline shape like an hourglass in which the width of the crotch region 10C located in the center in the longitudinal direction is narrow.

  In the present embodiment, a liquid-impermeable side sheet 18 is joined to the left and right side edges of the liquid-permeable top sheet 14, and a three-dimensional gather is formed on the inner edge of the left and right side sheets 18. The rubber thread 19 is joined in an extended state.

  Note that the manufacturing procedure of the diaper 10 is well known in Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-346825, and deviates from the gist of the present invention, so the description thereof is omitted. To do.

The structure of the diaper 10 targeted by the present invention is not limited to the above-described structure, and any structure may be used as long as it is a diaper including the configuration of the absorbent article defined in the claims. It may be a structure. For example, the present invention can be applied to an unfolded disposable diaper. Moreover, when the back sheet 12 has translucency, it is possible to print the marker M and the patterns D ₁ and D ₂ described above on the inner side surface (the surface in contact with the absorber 13) of the back sheet 12. .

For example, as shown in FIG. 4 in which the portion of the back sheet 12 is extracted and enlarged, the pattern D ₁ and the marker M similar to those of the previous embodiment are formed on the surface of the back sheet 12 in contact with the cover sheet 11. . The pattern D ₁ ′ and the marker M ′ are also printed on the inner side surface (the surface in contact with the absorber 13) of the back sheet 12 so as to overlap. In this case, by printing by shifting the bit position the position of the _'part and the marker M' of symbol D ₁ with respect to the position of symbol D ₁ and the marker M on the surface side, a portion of the symbol D ₁ and the marker M Can be visually enhanced. Of course, it is also possible to shift the entire printing position of the pattern D ₁ ′ on the back side. In this case, the markers M on both the front and back sides of the backsheet 12 can be detected correctly so that the color sensor can correctly detect the front-side markers M printed by shifting the position with respect to the markers M ′ printed on the backside of the backsheet 12. , M ′ must be specified.

  As described above, the present invention should be construed only from the matters described in the scope of the claims, and in the above-described embodiments, the matters described in all the changes and modifications included in the concept of the present invention are described. Other than possible. That is, all matters in the above-described embodiment are not intended to limit the present invention, and include any configuration not directly related to the present invention. To get.

D ₁ and D ₂ designs M marker 10 disposable diaper 10F front body area 10R back body area 10C crotch area 10W waist opening 10L leg opening 10J closing part 11 cover sheet 11c notch part 11o outer cover sheet 11i inner cover Sheet 12 Back sheet 12w Back sheet continuum 12C Cutting line 13 Absorber 14 Top sheet 15-17 Rubber thread 18 Side sheet 19 Rubber thread

Claims (4)

A cover sheet having a front body region, a back body region, and a crotch region, a liquid-impermeable back sheet bonded to the cover sheet, a liquid-permeable top sheet bonded to the back sheet, and the top sheet And an absorbent article comprising an absorbent body disposed between the backsheet and the backsheet,
Printing a marker having at least two hues serving as a reference for a cutting position when cutting the backsheet continuum at regular intervals on the backsheet continuum together with a pattern at regular intervals;
Detecting more passage of said backsheet continuum said backsheet continuum to printed the markers during transport of the color sensor,
Cutting the backsheet continuum at a predetermined cutting position based on the detection of the marker by the color sensor, and the marker detection area in the backsheet continuum by the color sensor includes: The manufacturing method of the absorbent article characterized by not having the design which has the combination of the same hue as the said marker . The method of manufacturing an absorbent article according to claim 1, wherein the marker is a part of a pattern formed on the absorbent article. Said marker is printed on both sides of the continuous body of the backsheet, and the absorbent article according to claim 1 or claim 2 these positions, characterized in that it is printed with a shift from each other Production method. Method of manufacturing an absorbent article according to claim 1, any one of claims 3 wherein one of the at least two hues is characterized in that it comprises a color of the material of the back sheet.

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