JP6720674B2 - Absorber manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an absorbent body manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method using a breathable member that sucks and deposits absorbent body material, and particularly efficiently manufactures an absorbent body used for absorbent articles such as disposable diapers and absorbent pads. For technology.

Various improvements have been made to absorbent articles such as disposable diapers provided with an absorber that absorbs urine, feces, and the like, to improve the function and wearing feeling. For example, by forming grooves or recesses in the absorber, while improving the absorption performance of body fluids such as urine and the leakage suppression performance, fit to the crotch of the wearer following changes in the body shape and posture of the wearer. It has been devised to increase the.

As a method of manufacturing an absorber having such a recess, there is one disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. In the same document, a non-air-permeable convex member whose top portion projects outward from the outer peripheral surface of the rotating drum can be detachably attached to a part of the bottom surface of the air-permeable member for forming an absorber formed on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating drum. Is disclosed. Then, suction force is applied from the inside of the rotating drum to deposit the absorber material on the portion other than the convex member.

JP, 2009-240792, A

However, when manufacturing an absorber having a recess, the manufacturing apparatus or method disclosed in Patent Document 1 requires a separate non-air-permeable convex member for each breathable member. From this, as the number of breathable members provided on the rotary drum increases, the initial cost increases, and adjustment for aligning the breathable member and the non-breathable convex member may become complicated.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily manufacture an absorbent body having a recessed portion that is preferable for improving body fluid absorption performance, leakage suppression performance, and wearability.

Therefore, the absorber manufacturing apparatus of the present invention is an absorber manufacturing apparatus that conveys an absorber material by an air stream and deposits it on a molding die to manufacture an absorber, and the mask member is arranged to face the molding die. And the mask member partially blocks the air flow, thereby manufacturing an absorber having a groove.

Further, the present invention is an absorber manufacturing method of manufacturing an absorber by transporting an absorber material by an air flow and depositing it on a forming die, wherein a mask member is arranged facing the forming die, and the mask member is an air flow. It is characterized in that the absorber having a groove is manufactured by partially blocking the.

According to the present invention, it is possible to easily manufacture an absorber having a groove that is a preferable concave portion with a simple configuration in which a mask member that partially blocks an air flow is arranged facing a molding die. In addition, the depth of the groove can be easily controlled by changing the length of the molding die in the extending direction of the mask member.

It is a top view which partially cuts and shows the expansion|deployment type disposable diaper to which the absorber manufactured by embodiment of this invention was applied. It is the II-II sectional view taken on the line of the deployment type disposable diaper shown in FIG. It is a typical side view for showing the composition of the manufacturing device of an absorptive article typically, and also explaining the manufacturing process in a manufacturing method. FIG. 4 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of the rotary drum of FIG. 3 for manufacturing an absorber according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the rotary drum shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a part of the rotating drum along the one broken line shown in FIG. 4, showing a mask member according to one embodiment and a configuration related thereto. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating that the groove|channel of different depth is formed by making the extension length of the mask member on an air permeable member different in the structure shown in FIG. It is a top view showing other embodiments of a mask member. (A)-(d) is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the formation process of a groove|channel when using the mask member of FIG. It is a top view showing further another 3 examples of a mask member.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and also includes a manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method of an absorbent body used for other absorbent articles belonging to the concept of the present invention.

[Example of absorbent article]
FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway plan view of a deployable disposable diaper (hereinafter, sometimes simply referred to as “diaper”) to which an absorbent body manufactured according to an embodiment of the present invention described below is applied, The surface which contacts the wearer's skin is shown. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, the diaper 10 has a front body region 10F, a back body region 10R, and a crotch region 10C connecting the front body region 10F and the back body region 10R. In the diaper 10 shown in FIG. 1, the absorbent body 13 extends from the front body region 10F to the rear body region 10R in the longitudinal direction. The direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction is the width direction. However, the ratio between the longitudinal direction and the width direction of the diaper 10 is not limited to the illustrated example, and the ratio may be appropriately changed depending on the body shape of the wearer.

When the diaper 10 is worn, the front body region 10F is located on the ventral side of the wearer, and the back body region 10R is located on the back side of the wearer. A pair of left and right fastening tapes 10A capable of connecting to the front body region 10F when worn and forming leg opening 11A are joined to the left and right edge portions of the rear body region 10R of the cover sheet 11 located outside the diaper 10. ing. The fastening tape 10A is releasably joined to the front patch sheet 10B joined to the cover sheet 11 in the front body region 10F. An elastic sheet 10D that extends along the width direction of the cover sheet 11 and that gives the wearer an appropriate wearing feeling around the waist is joined to the upper end of the rear body region 10R of the cover sheet 11. Has been done.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the diaper 10 includes a cover sheet 11 arranged on the outermost side opposite to the skin contact surface, a liquid impermeable back sheet 12, an absorbent body 13, and a core wrap 15. , And a liquid-permeable top sheet 14 that is a skin contact surface in this order. The core wrap 15 is a thin hydrophilic sheet made of non-woven fabric or tissue, and has a function of preventing the shape of the absorbent body 13 from being deformed by wrapping the absorbent body 13. In the case of an absorbent article such as a urine leakage pad that is attached to underwear or the like and absorbs body fluid, the back sheet 12, the absorbent body 13 wrapped with the core wrap 15 and the top sheet 14 only have a laminated structure. You can Further, as long as the effects of the present invention are not impaired, the core wrap 15 may wrap the absorbent body 13 in any form, and further, the core wrap 15 may not be used.

A pair of notched portions 11A each having a semi-circular arc shape and serving as leg openings are formed on both left and right sides of the crotch region 10C of the cover sheet 11. The liquid-impermeable back sheet 12 is bonded to the cover sheet 11, and the absorbent body 13 is arranged between the back sheet 12 and the liquid-permeable top sheet 14, and the absorbent body 13 is interposed therebetween. The topsheet 14 is joined to the backsheet 12. Thread rubbers 19 for forming gathers around the legs are joined in an extended state near the centers of the left and right side edges of the back sheet 12 in the width direction.

A pair of liquid-impermeable side sheets 18 forming three-dimensional gathers are provided at the left and right side edges of the liquid-permeable top sheet 14 in the present embodiment in the width direction. The pair of side sheets 18 have outer edge portions formed in the same shape as the pair of cutout portions 11A of the cover sheet 11, and stand up along the left and right side edge portions of the absorbent body 13 when worn, and are excreted by the wearer. This is a member for preventing lateral leakage of the collected urine. A thread rubber 19 as a three-dimensional gather elastic member is arranged in an expanded state in each of the pair of side sheets 18 such that the inner edge of the side sheet 18 is folded back toward the absorbent body 13 and held, and when the thread rubber 19 contracts. In addition, it stands up toward the wearer's skin contact direction. The three-dimensional gather can employ a known configuration used in a conventional disposable diaper. For example, it can be formed by sandwiching and fixing the stretched three-dimensional gather elastic material between the layers of the water repellent sheet. The side sheet 18 is pulled in the longitudinal direction by the expansion and contraction of the rubber thread 19 and becomes a three-dimensional gather with its inner edge portion raised.

Next, the structure of the absorber portion in the present embodiment will be described.

The absorber 13 of the present embodiment, which is located under the top sheet 14, is mainly composed of pulp and a super absorbent polymer (Super Absorbent Polymer, hereinafter also referred to as "SAP"). The absorber 13 has an elongated shape so as to extend over the front body, the inseam, and the back body. In the crotch region 10C, a pair of arc-shaped notches 13A are formed so as to match the pair of left and right leg openings that surround the thighs of both legs. The cutout portion 13A does not necessarily have to be formed in the absorber 13. That is, the absorber 13 of the present embodiment is an hourglass type in which the width of the central portion is narrower than the front and rear ends because the notch portion 13A is provided, but the shape of the absorber is not limited to this. Instead, it can have various shapes according to the shapes of various absorbent articles. Then, in accordance with this, the shape of the molding die plate 87 described later can be appropriately determined.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the absorbent body 13 is formed with a groove 22 that is a concave portion in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent body 13, and the bottom surface of the groove 22 also has a thickness direction in the absorbent material. Exists. Further, three grooves 22 extend in parallel with each other at a predetermined interval. Below, the structure which manufactures this absorber 13 is demonstrated. However, the number of grooves is not limited to this, and can be appropriately determined.

[Outline of manufacturing process of absorbent article]
FIG. 3 is a schematic side view for schematically showing the basic structure of the absorbent article manufacturing apparatus and also for explaining the manufacturing steps in the manufacturing method. Hereinafter, the manufacturing method of the absorbent article and the absorbent body will be described with reference to FIG. 3. However, this drawing is merely a schematic diagram for explanation, and does not correspond to an actual shape or size accurately. Absent.

The method for manufacturing the diaper 10 which is an absorbent article includes a step of using the absorbent body manufacturing apparatus 100 to manufacture the absorbent body 13 having the plurality of grooves 22 on the surface opposite to the surface in contact with the breathable member 121. (Detailed later). The produced absorber 13 is passed from the rotating drum 110 of the manufacturing apparatus 100 rotating in the direction X to the reversing drum 200 rotating in the opposite direction X′ and inverted. Then, the surface not provided with the groove 22 is arranged in contact with the long web 215 for the core wrap 15 unwound from the roll 210, and is conveyed in the Y direction. Then, for example, after the left and right sides of the core wrap web 215 are folded back onto the absorbent body 13 to wrap it, the long core wrap web 215 wrapping the absorbent body 13 is placed in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction. A process for cutting along is performed (a configuration for performing the process is not shown). Further, the long web 214 for the top sheet 14 is arranged so as to cover the core wrap 15 which is folded back in this way and covers the upper surface of the absorber 13. Here, by applying an adhesive to the appropriate portion of the top sheet web 214 by the adhesive application section 247 in advance, the core wrap 15 and the top sheet of the core wrap 15 and the top sheet are processed in the process of passing through the joining roll pair 248. Webs 214 are glued together.

Next, the long web 212 for the backsheet 12 is arranged so as to cover the surface of the core wrap 15 located on the back surface side of the absorbent body 13 and to contact the topsheet web 214 around the surface. .. By applying an adhesive agent to the backsheet web 212 at an appropriate portion in advance, the backsheet web 212, the core wrap 15, and the topsheet web 214 are separated from each other in the process of passing through the joining roll pair 249. It can be adhered to each other.

Further, a long cover sheet web 211 is arranged so as to cover the outer surface of the back sheet web 212. Here, the cover sheet web 211 and the back sheet web 212 are adhered to each other in the process of passing through the joining roll pair 250 by applying an adhesive agent to appropriate portions of the cover sheet web 211 in advance. Can be done. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, by further adding a step of attaching a required portion (side sheet 18 etc.) and a required cutting to the continuous body of the absorbent article thus obtained. It is possible to obtain the diaper 10 which is a different absorbent article.

[Embodiment of Absorber Manufacturing Apparatus and Manufacturing Method]
An absorber manufacturing apparatus 100 and a manufacturing method, which are main parts of one embodiment of the present invention, will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the rotating drum 110 of the manufacturing apparatus 100 as seen from a slightly oblique lower direction of the duct 151 of the absorber material supplying apparatus 150 in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the rotating drum 110. is there. These drawings are merely schematic diagrams for explanation, and do not correspond exactly to the actual shape and size of each part or the arrangement of each part.

In the manufacturing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, a plurality of (four in the illustrated example) molding dies 120 are arranged on the outer peripheral surface 111, and a cylindrical rotary drum 110 that rotates around the axis C and the outer peripheral surface 111 thereof. Absorber material supply device 150 that is disposed so as to face a part of the absorber material supply device 150.

As shown in FIG. 5, the main body of the rotating drum 110 connects the pair of ring members 113 arranged at both ends of the rotating drum 110 in the axial direction, and the ring members 113 to each other while keeping the axial distance therebetween. And a plurality of connecting plates 115, which are connected to each other. The breathable member 121 is supported by the pair of ring members 113 and the connecting plate 115, and the molding die plate 125 is further arranged thereon. The pair of ring members 113 are circular bodies having the same diameter and the same diameter. A circular wall 130 having a shape similar to that of the ring member 113 is fixed to both end surfaces of the rotary drum 110, so that a substantially closed space is defined inside the rotary drum 110.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the cylindrical wall 130 is provided with a boss 131 having a hole 131a concentric with the shaft C, and the shaft 135 is fitted into the hole 131a via a bearing 133. .. Therefore, the rotary drum 110 can rotate around the fixed shaft 135. The rotary drum 110 can be driven, for example, by connecting the outer circumference of the boss 131 to a motor or a drive roller via a transmission mechanism or directly.

The shaft 135 supports the partition wall at the position indicated by the alternate long and two short dashes line in FIG. 3, whereby the interior of the rotary drum 110 has a space N and a space P which are divided. The space N is a space that is in a negative pressure state for sucking the absorbent material through the breathable member 121. On the other hand, the space P is a space that is in a pressurized state in order to facilitate the operation of releasing the absorber 13 produced by depositing the absorber material from the mold plate 125 and passing it to the reversing drum 200. is there. In order to obtain the negative pressure state of the space N and the pressurized state of the space P, they may be connected to a vacuum pump and an air compressor, respectively. As for the connection path, for example, the shaft 135 may be hollow, a partition wall dividing each connection path may be formed inside, and a communication hole with each space may be formed outside. Similar negative pressure space and pressurizing space are formed for the above-described reversing drum 200 so that the absorber 13 can be smoothly transferred from the rotary drum 110 and to the core wrap web 215. You may do it.

The mold 120 is composed of a breathable member 121 and an arc-shaped plate (mold plate) 125 having a length obtained by equally dividing the circumferential length of the rotary drum 110 by the number of molds to be provided (four in this embodiment). To be done. In the molding die plate 125, a molding die opening portion 128 having a shape matching the outer peripheral shape of the absorber 13 (in the present embodiment, the shape including the cutout portion 13A) is formed. As shown in FIG. 4, the mold opening 128 exposes the breathable member 121 so that the exposed surface of the breathable member 121 forms the bottom surface of the mold on which the absorber material is to be deposited. .. The breathable member 121 is, for example, a mesh-like member that forms a plurality of vent holes. The breathable member 121 is fixed in a sealed state to the peripheral edge portion of the mold opening 128. The coupling plate 115 is, for example, a strip-shaped member extending parallel to the axis of the rotary drum 110, and is arranged so as not to overlap the molding die opening 128 of the molding die plate 120. Thereby, the breathable member 121 is held without impairing the breathability.

The absorber material supply device 150 may have a structure including, for example, a duct 151 that is disposed so as to face a part of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating drum 110 so as to face each other and conveys an air flow. In addition, a supply unit (not shown) that supplies pulp and SAP, which are the raw materials of the absorber material, to the inside of the duct 151 is provided on the upstream side in the air flow conveying direction. Therefore, the absorber material is dispersed in the air flow and is transferred to the portion facing the rotating drum 110.

In order to deposit the absorbent material on the inside of the mold opening 128, that is, on the breathable member 121, for example, while continuously rotating the rotating drum 110 in the direction X, the breathable member 121 is removed from the absorbent material supply device 150. Supply absorber material on top. On the other hand, by making the space N in the rotary drum 110 into a negative pressure state, the absorber material is deposited on the breathable member 121 while sucking the absorber material through the vent holes penetrating the breathable member 121. be able to.

[Embodiment of Mask Member and Related Configuration]
In the present invention, a plurality of grooves extending along the entire length of the absorbent body 13 are formed at the position of the broken line G in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a part of the rotary drum 110 taken along one broken line G in FIG. Here, reference symbol L is a circumferential region (deposition region) of the mold opening 128 in which the absorbent material is deposited on the breathable member 121 by the supply from the absorbent material supply device 150 and the suction from the negative pressure space N. ) Is shown. A strip-shaped mask member 161 having a width corresponding to the width of the groove to be formed can be extended in the region L. The mask member 161 is formed of, for example, a member that can be unwound/wound by a roll 165 of a mask member extension device 163 attached to the outer wall of the duct 151. If the roll 165 is in the form of a removable cartridge, for example, when the width of the groove 22 to be formed is changed, the mask member 161 having a corresponding width can be replaced with a wound one.

The mask member 161 is guided to the deposition region L via the guide member 167. The guide member 167 exposes the mask member 161 at a position Lu, which is offset to the downstream side by a predetermined distance from the most upstream position in the rotation direction X in the region L. Further, by adjusting the amount of unwinding/winding by the roll 165 of the mask member extending device 163, the mask member is moved from the position Lu to a desired position Ld which is biased to the upstream side from the most downstream position in the rotation direction X. 161 can be extended.

The mask member 161 is a member having improved conductivity, for example, a member having a layer structure in which an antistatic tape is adhered on a base material of aluminum foil, the antistatic tape side faces the rotating drum 110 side, and the base material Can be grounded. As a result, the absorber material is not deposited on the mask member 161 due to charging, and the spark is not generated due to the sliding contact with the deposited absorber material.

When the mold opening 128 enters the region L as the rotary drum 110 rotates, the absorbent material gradually accumulates between the position L and the position Lu due to the suction force from the breathable member 121. Go on. Between the position Lu and the position Ld, the mask member 161 blocks the suction and thus the air flow from the absorbent material supply device 150, so that deposition does not occur and the thickness of the absorbent material 13′ on the breathable member 121 is almost the same. Is kept constant. Further, deposition occurs again from the position Ld until it passes through the region L. Therefore, the portion of the absorber 13 that has relatively passed through the mask member 161 has a smaller deposited thickness of the absorber material 13 ′ than the other portions, and thus becomes visible as the groove 22.

Here, the region from the position Lu where the mask member 161 extends to the position Ld is a region where the deposition of the absorber material does not proceed. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the depth of the groove 22 to be formed is adjusted by appropriately setting the position Ld according to the required depth of the groove and changing the extension length of the mask member 161. be able to. In the present embodiment, a plurality of (three) grooves 22 are formed, and if the corresponding mask members 161 are made to extend in the same amount, the grooves 22 having the same depth are formed. However, if different depths are required between the plurality of grooves, the mask member extension device 163 may be configured so that different extension amounts of the mask member 161 are obtained.

Further, according to the present embodiment, with a simple configuration in which the mask member is arranged so as to face the molding die, a preferable concave portion that meets the requirements of the bodily fluid absorption performance, the leakage suppression performance, and the fit to the wearer is provided. It becomes possible to easily and surely manufacture the absorbent body having the same.

Further, the recess formed according to the present embodiment is the groove 22 that does not penetrate the absorber 13 in the thickness direction. On the other hand, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, basically, the recess that penetrates the absorber is formed. In order to prevent the body fluid from staying in the recesses and to quickly permeate into the absorbent body, it is preferable that the absorbent body material also exists on the bottom surface of the recessed body. It cannot be manufactured only by using the technology disclosed in. That is, the step of producing the first absorber layer having the through recesses by the technique disclosed in the same document, the step of producing the second absorber layer having a constant thickness, and the one surface of the first absorber layer (convex) 3 steps of joining the second absorber layer to the surface where the top of the member was projected) are required. Therefore, the initial cost further increases and the adjustment becomes more complicated. However, according to the present embodiment, the absorber 13 having the groove 22 in which the absorber material exists also on the bottom surface side can be easily and reliably manufactured only by performing the absorber material deposition process.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the groove 22 can be formed by simply adjusting the extension amount of the mask member 161 from the mask member extension device 163, that is, the extension length of the mask member 161 above the breathable member 121. It is possible to control the thickness of the absorber material on the bottom side of the depth of the absorber.

[Material of mask member]
In the above-described embodiment, the belt-shaped mask member 161 is placed on the surface of the portion where the absorber material is deposited to some extent by the suction force from the breathable member 121 side. Here, the breathable member 121 does not have a uniform curvature due to a manufacturing error or the like, and due to the mesh structure of the breathable member 121, unevenness occurs on the surface of the deposited absorber material 13′. It is possible that Therefore, the mask member 161 is required to be flexible enough to follow the irregularities. This is preferable in order to prevent the absorber material from entering from the side of the mask member 161, and to form the groove 22 having a bottom surface with no large disturbance in depth. Further, when the mask member extending device 163 described above is used, the mask member 161 preferably has flexibility so that it can be unwound/rolled up with respect to the roll 165.

On the other hand, if the mask member 161 has a rigidity that does not follow the unevenness, the absorber material may invade from the side, but if the gap due to the unevenness is filled, the invasion will stop, so that the indenter has a certain depth. A groove 22 having a bottom surface can be formed. If the mask member has such rigidity that it cannot be unwound/rewound, a mask member having a curvature slightly larger than that of the breathable member 121 is formed, and a mechanism is provided that linearly unwinds the mask member to face the rotary drum 110. May be. Since the absorber material is deposited until the gap between the breathable member 121 and the mask member is filled, the absorber 13 has a concave portion that does not penetrate in the thickness direction, that is, the groove 22 in which the absorber material is present also on the bottom surface side. It is possible to obtain an absorber having

Therefore, the mask member can be formed of a material having preferable flexibility or rigidity in consideration of the above matters.

[Other Embodiments of Mask Member]
In the case of using the belt-shaped mask member 161, which has a constant width, both side portions in the width direction of the mask member 161 are in sliding contact with the portion of the absorber material deposited outside (that is, the inner side surface of the groove). If the mask member 161 has a certain thickness, for example, if it has a thickness equal to or larger than the depth of the groove 22 to be formed, the inner surface of the mask member 161 has an inner surface throughout the groove forming process. Since it is supported while being in sliding contact with the side surface of the absorber, the absorber material does not collapse on the surface of the mask member 161 on the outer peripheral side of the drum. However, when the thickness of the mask member 161 is small, the absorbent material deposited at a position higher than the surface of the mask member 161 on the drum outer peripheral side falls due to sliding contact with both side edges of the mask member 161, and the shape of the groove 22 is reduced. It is possible to disturb. In consideration of such a case, another embodiment of the mask member adopts the following shape.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a part of the duct 151 on the side of the breathable member 121 for explaining the embodiment. In this embodiment, the mask member 171 has a shape of an isosceles triangle having a base at the uppermost stream in the rotation direction X of the rotary drum 110, that is, the relative movement direction of the breathable member 121.

According to this structure, as the rotating drum 110 rotates, that is, the absorber material 13 ′ is deposited, the side edges of the mask member 171 or the two hypotenuses relatively move away from the outer deposit portion. The degree of contact is reduced. 9A to 9D show cross sections corresponding to the positions a to d in FIG. 8 and show that a groove having a stable shape can be formed without disturbance due to collapse.

When the groove length is controlled by changing the extension length of the mask member 171, the length of the base that is located at the position Lu in the case of an isosceles triangle changes, so the width of the groove 22 also changes. Will be done. However, if the base angle is large to some extent and the change in the base length in the height direction of the isosceles triangle is small, it is considered that no substantial problem occurs. However, if strict control of the width of the groove 22 is required, a plurality of isosceles triangular mask members having the same base length and different heights located at the position Lu may be prepared and appropriately selected and used. Good. At this time, for example, by using the cartridge type roll 165 as described above, it becomes easy to deal with it.

Further, the mask member 171 is not limited to the shape of an isosceles triangle as long as the sliding contact with the absorber material deposited on the outside is suppressed, and the shape may be such that the width is narrowed in the X direction. For example, in addition to the trapezoidal shape (isosceles trapezoidal shape) as shown in FIG. 10A, the shapes shown in FIGS. 10B and 10C, the isosceles triangular shape, and the masonry pyramid shape can be used. However, in order to obtain a stable non-sliding contact state on both side edges of the mask member and to prevent a deviation in the width direction between the bottom position (Lu) and the tip position (Ld) of the mask member, the width gradually decreases in the X direction. In addition, it is preferable that the shape be symmetrical with respect to the axis in the height direction.

[Other]
Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and modifications described elsewhere, and the configuration and shape/dimensions of the mask member, the configuration of the mask member extending device, and the like are determined according to the specifications of the absorber to be manufactured. It can be set as appropriate.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, four breathable members are arranged in one row in the circumferential direction of the rotary drum at an equal pitch, but the number of breathable members, the arrangement pitch, and the direction parallel to the rotation axis are set. The number of sequences is not limited to this, and can be set appropriately. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the absorbers that are individually separated are manufactured. However, a long absorber is provided by providing a mold plate and a breathable member having a continuous shape along the circumferential direction of the rotating drum. The sheet may be formed and then cut into a predetermined length to form individual absorbent bodies.

In addition, although the above-mentioned embodiment illustrated the case where the absorber 13 manufactured based on the present invention was applied to the deployable diaper 10, it is also applicable to the production of the absorber for the pants-type diaper. Needless to say. Further, the application target of the absorbent body is not limited to such diapers, but is applicable to all other general absorbent articles such as absorbent pads and urine leakage pads.

10 Diaper 11 Cover Sheet 12 Back Sheet 13 Absorber 13' Absorber Material 14 Top Sheet 15 Core Wrap 22 Groove 100 Absorber Manufacturing Device 110 Rotating Drum 120 Mold 121 Breathable Member 125 Mold Plate 150 Absorber Material Supply Device 161, 171 mask member 163 mask member extending device L deposition area Lu deposition area upstream position Ld deposition area downstream position N negative pressure space L pressurized space

Claims (6)

An absorber manufacturing apparatus that conveys an absorber material by an air flow and deposits it on a molding die to manufacture an absorber,
The mask member is disposed so as to face the molding die, and the mask member is formed so as to partially block the air flow so as to manufacture an absorber having a groove having sidewalls on both side surfaces. Cage,
The forming die is supported so as to move relative to the mask member, and the mask member extends in the movement direction to form a groove extending along the movement direction. West,
The mask member, absorbent body production device according to claim Rukoto which have a shape which width along the direction of the extending is reduced. The absorber manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the mold is formed on a peripheral surface of a rotating drum, and the moving direction is a rotating direction of the rotating drum. The absorber manufacturing according to claim 2 , wherein the absorber material is deposited by applying a suction force from the inside of the rotating drum through a ventilation hole provided in the mold. apparatus. Absorbent body production apparatus according to any one of 3 claims 1, wherein the length in the direction in which the mask member extends relative to the mold can be changed. The mask member, absorbent body production apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it has the shape of an isosceles triangle having a base in the most upstream in the direction of the movement. An absorbent body manufacturing method of manufacturing an absorbent body by transporting an absorbent body material by an air flow and depositing the material on a molding die,
In order to manufacture an absorber having a groove having side walls on both side surfaces, a mask member formed so as to partially block the air flow is arranged facing the molding die, and the deposition is performed .
Supporting the mold to move relative to the mask member, by extending the mask member in the direction of movement, to form a groove extending along the direction of movement,
The mask member, absorbent body production method characterized by have a shape in which the width along the direction of the extending is reduced.