JPH09192248A - Mask - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mask which has high gas permeability and collecting efficiency and is economical and superior in wearing performance by providing ear hanging parts and arranging a nonwoven fabric sheet inside a mask main body, which is formed by sewing a woven and knitted stuff, as a mouth cover ing. SOLUTION: This mask comprises a mask main body part 1 composed of a fiber sheet part and a string 3 and a nonwoven fabric part 4 having a lateral folded structure as a mouth covering cloth, and the mask main body part 1 and the nonwoven fabric part 4 are fixed to each other by a detachable planar fastener. Left/right both ends of this nonwoven fabric part 4 are sewn, the folded part is expanded so as to eliminate clearance around the mouth in the wearing part, and formation of an space in the front improves the wearing performance and increases a filtering area so that respiration can be performed extremely easily. In this case, it is preferable that, at least, a layer of heat melt nonwoven fabric sheet is provided as a nonwoven sheet for a mouth covering and one selected from among a low melting point component contained nonwoven fabric and a span bonded nonwoven fabric is used for this heat melt nonwoven fabric sheet.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mask which has high breathability and high collection efficiency, and is economical and has excellent wearability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, allergies have become a social problem from children to adults. Among allergies, various allergies that develop via the air, such as pollen allergy and house dust allergy, are attracting attention. In addition, various fine particles discharged from a diesel engine are suspected as allergens even if they do not directly cause allergies.

Under such circumstances, it has become common for allergic patients to wear a mask during breathing as a method for simply removing fine particles in the air. However, the masks up to now have not yet achieved both sufficient performance and wearability.

For example, as a conventionally used mask, one in which a plurality of gauze layers are stacked is known as the most general mask. However, with a mask in which a plurality of gauze layers are simply stacked, removal performance can be expected for extremely large particles, but no removal performance can be expected for pollen or house dust with a small particle size.

On the other hand, in order to improve the ability to collect these fine particles, various materials, for example, a filter material carrying calcium phosphate-based compound particles proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-115557 is used as the inner layer of the gauze mask. A method of stacking has been proposed, but if an attempt is made to improve the collection ability by such a method, the amount of the filter medium increases, and thus the more the collection ability is improved, the air permeability is impaired and the mask is worn. There is a problem that the drawback of being suffocating becomes remarkable.

On the other hand, various non-woven fabrics, particularly non-woven fabrics subjected to electret processing, are known as materials having high particulate collection efficiency and excellent breathability, and masks using such non-woven fabrics are marketed as various products. There is. However, this type of mask has a drawback that dirt is extremely conspicuous because fine particles are mainly collected on the mask surface.
Furthermore, since this type of mask uses a non-woven fabric, it does not have sufficient strength as a cloth and in most cases it cannot be washed at all, or even if it can be done, it can only be lightly pressed and washed, and stains can be sufficiently removed. There wasn't. For this reason, there is a problem in that the filter material must be replaced early although the performance as a filter medium is still sufficient. for these reasons,
Although non-woven masks have high performance and are supposed to be disposable, they are used only for very special purposes such as medical and industrial purposes, and are rarely used by general consumers who are troubled by allergies. It was real.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of such drawbacks of conventional masks, the present invention aims to provide an economical mask which has high breathability and high collection efficiency and which is economical and excellent in wearability. Is.

[0008]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to solve the above problems. That is, the mask of the present invention is characterized in that a non-woven fabric sheet is provided as a mouth cloth inside a mask main body having an ear hook portion and formed by sewing a woven or knitted fabric.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention has excellent breathability, has no appearance discomfort, is clean and has high collection efficiency, and
It was obtained as a result of earnestly studying the structure of a mask which is also excellent in economic efficiency. More specifically, we have made diligent studies on how to effectively apply the high collection ability of electretized non-woven fabrics, and combined this with a mask body with excellent breathability, and more preferably structurally high ventilation. When applied in combination with an electretized non-woven fabric having a pleated structure, it was clarified that it is possible to bring out the properties of the above electretized non-woven fabric at a remarkably high level and to provide one that exhibits an excellent function in face fitting. The present invention has been completed.

The structure of the mask of the present invention and the materials used are as follows. That is, it is a mask in which a nonwoven fabric sheet is arranged as a mouth cloth on the inner side, that is, on the side of the wearer, of a mask main body formed by sewing a woven or knitted fabric having an ear hook portion. According to the present invention, the wearability and the economical efficiency are remarkably improved as compared with the case where the non-woven fabric is used as a mask while keeping the high collection efficiency.

That is, according to the present invention, large particles of several tens μm to several hundreds μm or more are collected in the mask body made of a woven or knitted fabric. Since these particles are filtered not only on the outer surface of the mask body but also on the inner surface, dirt is not concentrated on the surface and can be worn for a long time in a relatively clean state. When the mask body is significantly soiled by long-term use, the mask body can be reused after being cleaned by ordinary washing. At this time, it is more desirable that the non-woven fabric sheet portion be easily and detachably fixed to the mask body. In addition, only a part of the large particles that have passed through the mask body can be collected by the non-woven sheet placed inside, that is, on the wearer side. Of course, the large particles collected by the nonwoven fabric sheet of the present invention are extremely small as compared with the amount collected in the case of the conventional mask composed of the nonwoven fabric sheet alone, and the filtration life of the nonwoven fabric sheet is extended accordingly. be able to.

On the other hand, most of the fine particles of several μm to several tens of μm pass through the mask main body made of a woven or knitted material, but almost all of the fine particles can be collected in the nonwoven sheet portion. The filtration of the non-woven fabric sheet part is mainly performed on the surface, so several μ
The outer surface of the nonwoven fabric sheet becomes dirty due to long-term use due to particles of m to several tens of μm. However, since the non-woven sheet is covered with the mask body, stains cannot be seen from the outside and it is not unsightly from the appearance, so it can be used as it is, and as a result, it is sufficient to reach the filtration life of the non-woven sheet. Can be used. This result means that, practically, it can be used almost infinitely considering the amount of fine particles collected by respiration. Further, in the case where the fine particles to be removed are very small, such as submicron house dust, it is desirable to use an electretized non-woven fabric as the non-woven fabric, more preferably a melt blow electretized non-woven fabric, and among them, particularly those having a small fiber diameter, A nonwoven fabric sheet composed of fibers having a single yarn fineness of preferably 0.7 d or less, and more preferably 0.001 to 0.5 d is preferable.

Further, in the present invention, when a non-woven fabric sheet is placed on the mask body as a mouthpiece fabric, it is necessary to form the non-woven fabric sheet having a plurality of substantially parallel fold-like folds so as to improve the ventilation resistance. It is preferable because it can be remarkably lowered. Conventionally, masks that have been subjected to the shaping with a non-woven fabric alone are also on the market, but because the appearance when worn is different from ordinary masks, it is for extremely special use, especially for mild allergic patients such as hay fever that has a large number of patients. It gave the impression of something. For this reason, there was a fatal problem that the feeling of psychological discomfort during wearing was extremely great.

According to the mask of the present invention, since the non-woven sheet portion having the line-shaped folds is arranged inside the mask body, the structure is completely invisible from the outside. , There is an advantage that the psychological discomfort during wearing can be extremely reduced.

In the present invention, the streak shaped folds preferably have a structure formed by superposing the non-woven fabric sheets on each other in view of air permeability and filtration function. As such a mouth cloth, one having a structure in which a plurality of nonwoven fabric sheets are laminated is preferably used rather than a single nonwoven fabric sheet. That is, a more functional mask can be provided by sharing the shaping function and the filtering function separately. As the non-woven fabric sheet excellent in shaping function, a heat-bonding non-woven fabric sheet is preferable, and for example, at least one non-woven fabric sheet selected from low melting point component-containing non-woven fabric and spunbonded non-woven fabric is used. Such a heat-sealing nonwoven fabric sheet is preferably used in the form of a laminated nonwoven fabric sheet having at least one layer for a nonwoven fabric sheet having an excellent filtering function. Since such a heat-sealing nonwoven fabric sheet is easy to form streak-shaped folds and overlapping folds and has a spring function, it exhibits a function of easily fitting to the face.

The mouth cloth may be used alone, but preferably at least the inner surface of the outermost surface of the mouth cloth is made of a mesh sheet, which brings about an effect of giving a slat feeling to the face and gives a comfortable feeling. can do.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an example of a mask according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a rear view, FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a rear view of the main body, and FIG. 5 is a view of the surface side of the removed non-woven fabric part fixed to the mask main body. The present mask is composed of a fiber sheet portion 2 made of a woven or knitted fabric, a mask body portion 1 made of a string 3, and a non-woven fabric portion portion 4 having a lateral pleated structure. The mask body portion 1 and the non-woven fabric portion 4 are fixed to each other by a hook-and-loop fastener 5. The left and right ends of the non-woven fabric part 4 are sewn together, and when worn, the folds are widened to eliminate the gap around the mouth and to create a space in front, which improves the feeling of wearing and, at the same time, increases the filtration area. Breathing can be extremely easy.
Further, since the non-woven fabric part is fixed so that it can be replaced, when the mask body part becomes dirty, only the mask body part can be separately washed.

FIG. 6 is a rear view of a mask showing another example of the mask according to the present invention, FIG. 7 is a view of the side of the mask non-woven fabric portion fixed to the mask body in FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is B in FIG. −
It is sectional drawing which followed the B line. The mask body and the non-woven fabric portion are fixed with double-sided tape 6. When fixing with double-sided tape, for example, the double-sided tape with the release tape already attached to both ends of the non-woven fabric part is attached to the required shape, and the release tape is peeled off and adhered to the mask body in actual use. be able to. It may have a vertical fold structure as shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the fold does not have to be completely folded.

FIG. 9 is a front view of a mask showing another example of the mask according to the present invention, FIG. 10 is a rear view of the mask showing a state in which a nonwoven fabric portion is inserted, and FIG. 11 is a line CC of FIG. FIG. The main body of this mask is sewn into a pocket shape, and can be freely attached and detached as shown in FIG. Of course, pockets may be provided on both sides of the mask body, and both ends may be inserted and grasped to be detachably fixed.

Further, in the present invention, when the electretized meltblown nonwoven fabric is used for the nonwoven fabric portion, it is desirable to use it by laminating it with another nonwoven fabric. Because
This is because the electretized meltblown nonwoven fabric has a very small fiber diameter, and the strength alone is not sufficient. Furthermore, a more comfortable mask can be provided by subjecting at least one of the laminated non-woven fabric or the mask body to a treatment having an antibacterial or deodorant function.

As the material for the electretized non-woven fabric according to the present invention, a non-woven fabric made of a thermoplastic resin such as a polyolefin resin, a polyamide resin, a polyester resin or a thermosetting resin such as a phenol resin or formaldehyde resin can be used. Among these, a non-woven fabric using a polymer having an α-olefin as a main component, which has excellent electret performance, such as ethylene, polypropylene or a copolymer thereof is preferable.

The electretized non-woven fabric in the present invention means all non-woven fabrics having a stable electric charge on the surface. The electretization method may be any conventionally known method, for example, a thermal electret method, an electro electret method, a radio electret method, a magnet electret method, a photo electret method, or a mechano electret method.

Further, the amount of such charges of the electretized nonwoven fabric of the present invention is preferably 7 from the viewpoint of maintaining the performance in consideration of fine particle collecting performance at the submicron level.
× 10 ^-11 c / cm ² or more, more preferably 2 × 10
Good those having ^{over 10} c / cm ² or more polarization charge.

The electretized meltblown nonwoven fabric used in the present invention can be manufactured, for example, by the method shown in FIG. That is, a melt-blown nonwoven fabric formed by an appropriate method is placed on a water electrode having a specific resistance of 1 × 10 + 3 Ω · cm, a needle-shaped electrode is arranged on the surface of the melt-blown nonwoven fabric, and a high DC voltage is applied. The applied voltage varies depending on the material and thickness of the non-woven fabric, the shape of the needle electrode and the distance between the electrodes, but for example, at least 10 KV, preferably 15 to 50 KV when the distance between the needle electrode and the water electrode is 3 cm. Is preferred.

[0026]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to the following examples.

The characteristics of the mask in the embodiment are shown in FIG.
It is measured by the method of 3. The filter particles of the mask were dust in the air, and the upstream side was open to the atmosphere. The mask to be measured was placed so as to be sandwiched between the upper and lower ducts. The shape of the filtration portion is a circular shape having a diameter of 67 mm. The downstream blower was adjusted so that the air velocity during filtration was always 1.5 m on the mask surface. In this state, pressure loss and collection efficiency were measured as characteristics of the mask. The pressure loss was measured by connecting a differential pressure gauge to the upstream and downstream parts of the mask. Regarding the collection efficiency, a particle counter (KC-01B type manufactured by RION) was arranged at the upstream and downstream parts of the mask, the number of each particle during the test period was measured, and the collection efficiency was calculated by the following formula.

Collection efficiency (%) = (ab) / a × 100
Here, a represents the number of upstream particles, and b represents the number of downstream particles.

Example 1 Four sheets of gauze having a basis weight of 34 g / m ² were sewn in a stack of 110 mm length × 150 mm width, and after passing through the ear rubber, male surface fasteners of 6 mm × 70 mm were sewn on both sides, as shown in FIG. I made a simple mask body. On the other hand, a meltblown nonwoven fabric composed of polypropylene fibers having a basis weight of 18 g / m ² was electretized by using the apparatus shown in FIG. The applied condition is that the distance between the needle electrode and the water electrode is 3 cm, and the applied voltage is -30K.
V was treated on one side for 60 seconds and then dried, and the other side was treated with an applied voltage of +20 KV for 60 seconds to obtain an electret meltblown nonwoven fabric. The amount of polarization charge of this meltblown nonwoven fabric was 8 × 10 ^-10 c / cm ² . This electretized meltblown nonwoven fabric has a basis weight of 20 g
A laminated non-woven fabric was formed by sandwiching the non-woven fabric of rayon short fibers of / m ² . This non-woven fabric is sewn to a length of 70 mm and a width of 130 mm,
Furthermore, female fasteners 6 mm x 60 mm were sewn on both ends to obtain a removable non-woven fabric portion. The laminated non-woven fabric was fixed to the mask body via a hook-and-loop fastener to obtain the desired mask.

The collection efficiency and pressure loss of this mask were measured. The results are shown in Table 1. From the measurement results, a high performance mask was obtained with high collection performance at each particle size with low pressure loss.

A wear test of this mask on a person with hay fever showed that there was little discomfort in appearance and that the invasion of pollen could be completely prevented. Moreover, even after being worn continuously for one week or more, the dirt on the mask was not noticeable and the evaluation was extremely high in practical use.

Example 2 The laminated non-woven fabric of Example 1 was obtained, in which three longitudinal pleats having a fold-fold width of 14 mm were provided at three places, and the length was 70 mm and the width was 130 mm. Female hook-and-loop fastener female 6 mm x 6 on the laminated nonwoven fabric
0 mm was sewn on both ends to obtain a pleated laminated nonwoven fabric portion as shown in FIG. The non-woven fabric portion was fixed to the mask body via a surface fastener to obtain the desired mask.

The collection efficiency and pressure loss of this mask were measured. The results are shown in Table 1. From the measurement results, a mask having an extremely high performance was obtained with lower pressure loss and high collection performance at each particle size.

A wear test of this mask on a person with hay fever showed that there was little discomfort in appearance, it was very comfortable to breathe, and there was no gap around the mouth to prevent invasion of pollen, and it was highly evaluated practically. Obtained.

Comparative Example 1 Twenty-four sheets of gauze having a basis weight of 42 g / m ² were piled up to produce a gauze mask which is 90 mm in length and 130 mm in width and is most commonly used. The collection efficiency and pressure loss of this mask were measured. The results are shown in Table 1.

As is clear from Table 1, the pressure loss of Comparative Example 1 is lower than those of Examples 1 and 2, but the collection performance is not sufficient and fine particles such as house dust are not collected. I could not supplement.

[0037]

[Table 1] Comparative Example 2 Various commercially available masks for hay fever, which were characterized in that various filters were sandwiched in a gauze mask, were measured for collection efficiency and pressure loss. The results are shown in Table 2.

[Table 2] As is clear from Table 2, among commercially available masks, a mask having a high collection performance tends to have a large pressure loss, and a mask having a low pressure loss tends to have a low collection performance.

That is, it can be seen that it is difficult to produce a mask having both a low pressure loss and a high collection performance as in the case of the conventional known method.

Example 3 A composite continuous filament having polyethylene terephthalate having a melting point of 260 ° C. as a core component, isophthalic acid copolyester having a melting point of 230 ° C. as a sheath component, and a weight ratio of the core component to the sheath component being 8: 2. Melt-spun with a single yarn fineness of 1d,
After the fibers are opened by air pressure, they are deposited on a moving net and a surface temperature of 19
It was pressure-bonded at 0 ° C. and a linear pressure of 40 kg / cm to obtain a thermocompression-bonded nonwoven fabric sheet having a basis weight of 40 g / m ² and a thickness of 0.1 mm.

The thermocompression-bonded non-woven fabric sheet thus obtained was excellent in dust collection efficiency and filter performance with low initial pressure loss, and was also excellent in pleating processability.

This thermocompression bonded non-woven fabric sheet was preliminarily heat-molded into a superposed structure to form one having the same number of pleats as in Example 1, and then the superposed structure heat-formed non-woven fabric was stretched under tension. In this state, the electretized melt-blown nonwoven fabric sheet of Example 1 and the polyamide filament mesh sheet were laminated and sewn into one body, and then stretch tension was relieved to form a mouthpiece cloth having a superposed structure. The peripheral portion of this mouth cloth was trimmed with narrow gauze to obtain a mouth cloth with pleats similar to that shown in FIG. This mouthpiece cloth was fixed to the mask body via a hook-and-loop fastener to obtain the desired mask.

When the collection efficiency and pressure loss of this mask were measured, the same results as in Example 1 were obtained, that is, the collection performance was low with low pressure loss and high in each particle size, and the mask of extremely high performance was obtained. Met.

A wear test of this mask on a person suffering from hay fever showed that all the functions possessed by Example 1 were satisfied, and that the comfort of the face-fitting property was excellent due to the spring effect of the thermocompression bonded nonwoven sheet having a superposed structure. It was a high-quality mask with no gaps around the mouth, and it was highly evaluated that it had a good feel due to the slat feel of the mesh sheet.

[0044]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a mask which is highly breathable, has a high collection efficiency, has no appearance discomfort, is clean, and is economical.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an example of a mask according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of FIG.

3 is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a back view of the outer mask body with the nonwoven fabric portion removed.

FIG. 5 is a view of the surface side of the removed non-woven fabric portion fixed to the mask body.

FIG. 6 is a rear view of a mask showing another example of the mask according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view of a surface side of the mask nonwoven fabric portion of FIG. 6 fixed to the mask body.

8 is a sectional view taken along the line BB ′ of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a front view of a mask showing another example of the mask according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram when the nonwoven fabric portion is inserted in the rear view of FIG. 9.

11 is a sectional view taken along the line CC ′ of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of an apparatus for producing the electretized nonwoven fabric used in the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic sectional view of an apparatus for measuring the collection efficiency and pressure loss in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Mask body part 2: Woven and knitted fiber sheet part 3: String 4: Nonwoven fabric part 5: Hook and loop fastener 6: Double-sided tape 7: Needle-like electrode 8: Nonwoven fabric 9: Water electrode 10: Duct 11: For upstream side dust count measurement Particle counter 12: Particle counter for measuring the number of dusts on the downstream side 13: Mask for measurement 14: Manometer 15: Blower

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. A mask characterized in that a non-woven fabric sheet is provided as a mouth cloth inside a mask body having an ear hooking portion and constructed by sewing a woven or knitted fabric. 2. The mask according to claim 1, wherein the mouthpiece cloth has a plurality of substantially parallel fold-shaped folds. 3. The mask according to claim 2, wherein the streak shaped folds have a structure in which the nonwoven fabric sheets are superposed. 4. The mask according to claim 1, wherein the mouth cloth has a structure in which a plurality of nonwoven fabric sheets are laminated. 5. The mask according to claim 4, wherein the mouthpiece cloth is a laminated non-woven fabric sheet having at least one layer of the heat-sealing non-woven fabric sheet. 6. The mask according to claim 5, wherein the heat-fusible nonwoven fabric sheet is at least one selected from a low melting point component-containing nonwoven fabric and a spunbonded nonwoven fabric. 7. The mask according to claim 1, wherein the mouth cloth is made of ultrafine fibers. 8. The mask according to claim 7, wherein the ultrafine fibers have a single yarn fineness of 0.7d. 9. The mask according to claim 7, wherein the mouthpiece cloth is composed of a melt blown nonwoven fabric. 10. The mask according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein at least the innermost side surface of the mouthpiece cloth is formed of a mesh sheet. 11. The mask according to claim 1, wherein the mouth cloth contains an electretized sheet. 12. The mask according to claim 11, wherein the electretized sheet is at least a non-woven fabric sheet. 13. The electretized sheet is 7 × 10.
^{11. The method according} to any one of claims 11 to 1, which has a polarization charge amount of ¹¹ c / cm ² or more.
2. The mask according to any one of 2. 14. The mask according to claim 1, wherein the mouth cloth is removably provided on the mask body. 15. The mask according to claim 14, wherein the detachable mechanism is a mechanism for fixing the mouth cloth to the inside of the mask body with a surface fastener or a double-sided adhesive tape. 16. The mask according to claim 14, wherein the detachable mechanism has a mouthpiece cloth insertion / holding structure having an annular or bag-like structure provided on at least a part of the mask body. 17. The mouthpiece cloth insertion / holding mechanism having an annular or bag-like structure is composed of a mesh sheet.
6. The mask according to 6.