KR20110094363A - Water switch, lifesaving and sensor for absorption goods comprising the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A water switch, a sea disaster rescuing device with the same, and a sensor for an absorbing tool are provided to open/close a switch by the expansion power of an absorbing material due to water, thereby accurately maintaining a desired on/off state. CONSTITUTION: A water switch(100) includes electrodes(10,11) and an operating unit(20) which electrically connects or blocks the electrode. The electrode includes connection terminals(101,111) and fixing contact points(102,112). The operating unit includes an absorbing material. The operating unit comprises the conductive part(22) locating at the upper part of the absorbing material. The water switch comprises a porous housing(30).

Description

Water Switch, Lifesaving and Sensor for Absorption Goods comprising the same}

The present invention relates to a water switch, a sensor for marine rescue device ALC absorbent article comprising the same, and more particularly, to a water switch employing an absorbent material that expands in volume when absorbed by water as a switch operating portion, and an absorbent article including the same. It relates to a sensor and a rescue device.

A switch is also commonly called a switchgear. The switch has a contact structure and a mechanism for operating it. There are many ways and structures, from simple to hand-operated to large-scale operated by electromagnetic force.

In the case of electric power, some devices are provided to break quickly in order to avoid the damage of the contact caused by the flame or heat. A multi-contact switch is used for the signal circuit, and an electronic switch using a relay (relay), a vacuum tube, a semiconductor, or the like that operates as an electric signal is used as a logic circuit. As such, there are many types of switches according to voltage, current, purpose of use, and the like.

Conventionally, there is a switch or a sensor that is operated by using the electrical conductivity of water, but such a switch or sensor is exerted in water to exert its function, when the sensor is severely moved up and down by waves, the problem has been lowered accuracy.

On the other hand, super absorbent polymer (SAP) is a synthetic or natural polymer that has the ability to absorb water hundreds to thousands of times its own weight. Various applications using phosphorus superabsorbent polymer (SAP) have been developed.

Unlike paper, superabsorbent polymers are used in diapers and women's sanitary napkins because they hold the water firmly so that the absorbed water does not come out under pressure. In addition, interest in artificial kidney manure device, blood adsorbent, and recently, a high oil absorption polymer material that absorbs a lot of oil is increasing. The oil spilled into the sea can be removed efficiently, and the rubber can be adjusted in various ways to produce rubber that is completely different from the past.

However, there have been no examples where such superabsorbent polymers are applied to switches. On the other hand, if a ship or aircraft is in distress at sea, boats or life jackets are provided to passengers for their safety. When ships were distressed, it was common to indirectly locate a distress through the ship's location. Therefore, in recent years, the necessity of developing a device or system that accurately and quickly informs the distress position of each individual as well as the ship.

One object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art is to provide a water switch which keeps the operating state after the switch is quickly operated when it comes in contact with water.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a marine rescue device or a sensor for absorbent article using the water switch.

One aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object is two or more electrodes; A water switch includes an actuating portion for absorbing water and having an absorbent material that expands or contracts in volume to electrically connect or disconnect the electrodes.

In another aspect, the present invention provides the water switch; Power supply; GPS receiver; It relates to a marine rescue device including a control unit for driving the power supply by the operation of the water switch to grasp the position information through the GPS receiver and to transmit the radio information.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a sensor for an absorbent article comprising a diaper, a panty diaper, a sanitary napkin, an incontinence protector, a wound dressing, a bed protector, the sensor comprising: the water switch; Power supply; And a control unit for driving the power supply unit by the operation of the water switch to display the replacement time of the absorbent article on the display unit.

The water switch according to the present invention can open and close the switch by driving force based on the expansion force of the absorbent material when only a small amount of water is absorbed in contact with water, and also does not return to its original state once the water switch is operated continuously and accurately. It can be used in marine rescue devices or absorbent sensors because it can be kept on or off.

1 is a schematic view before the operation of the water switch according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing that the water switch in FIG. 1 is activated.
3 is a schematic view before operation of a water switch according to another embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a schematic view after the operation of the water switch according to FIG.
5 is a schematic view showing that the conductive portion and the first electrode system are electrically connected before the water switch is operated.
6 is a schematic diagram showing that the conductive portion is disconnected from the first electrode system and electrically connected to the second electrode system after the water switch operation.
Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing an off state before the water switch operation as another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating that the conductive portion and the first electrode system according to the operation of the water switch of FIG. 7 are electrically connected.
FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating that the absorbent material expands in accordance with the operation of the water switch of FIG. 7 to electrically connect the conductive part and the second electrode system.
10 is a configuration diagram of a marine rescue apparatus including a water switch.

The water switch according to an embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the absorbent material that expands in volume when absorbing water is used as the switch operating part.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram before the operation of the water switch according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing that the water switch in Figure 1 has been operated.

1 and 2, the water switch 100 includes two or more electrodes 10 and 11 and an actuating part 20 for electrically connecting or disconnecting them.

The switch has a contact and a mechanism for operating it. In the present invention, the electrodes 10 and 11 serve as contacts of the switch, and the actuating part 20 serves as an operating mechanism of the switch.

The actuator 20 includes an absorbent material 21 that absorbs water and expands or contracts in volume.

The water switch 100 of the present invention can open and close the switch to the operating unit 20 using the expansion force of the absorbent material 21 as a driving force.

The water switch 100 has a porous housing 30. The porous housing is made of a material through which the absorbent material 21 can be stored or filled while water or a liquid containing water can pass therethrough. Examples of such materials include liquid permeable sheets such as spunbond type nonwoven fabrics, meltblown materials, carded jointing materials, porous plastic coatings, and plastic coated nonwoven fabrics.

Such materials may also use cellulose fluff pulp with large capillaries, chemically reinforced cellulose fibers, other types of synthetic fiber structures, and porous foams.

The absorbent material 21 is a material that expands in volume when water or a liquid containing water (hereinafter, referred to as water) is absorbed.

The absorbent material 21 may be at least one of an absorbent polymer, a super porous hydrogel, a compressive pulp or tissue, an absorbent foam, and an absorbent gelling material.

Examples of the 'liquid containing water' include body fluids such as seawater and urine, blood and wound discharge.

The absorbent polymer may be a super absorbent polymer (SAP) such as starch, cellulose, or synthetic polymer. Although there is no definite definition in the academic and industrial fields for superabsorbent polymers, superabsorbent polymers are generally polymers that exhibit fluid absorption due to introduction of hydrophilic groups in a three-dimensional network or single-chain structure through crosslinking between polymer chains. It can be defined as. The SAP has high liquid absorption and high liquid retention. The SAP of the said synthetic polymer includes polyacrylate type, polyvinyl alcohol type, polyacrylamide type, polyoxyethylene type and the like. In addition, water-insoluble hydrogels other than SAP are also used. In addition, other absorbent substances such as pulverized pulp may be added together with the absorbent polymer.

As SAP products, various forms such as particles, granules, films, and nonwovens have been developed, all of which can be used in the present invention. For a detailed description of the superabsorbent polymer, reference may be made to "Korean Patent Application Nos. 10-1999-7005258, 10-2005-7014568, and a super absorbent polymer published by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information in December 2002."

On the other hand, the hydrogel is composed of a hydrophilic polymer forming a three-dimensional network structure through a chemical or physical bond, and has a feature of absorbing a large amount of water without melting in an aqueous environment. The degree of water swelling of the hydrogels depends on the chemical structure, hydrophilicity, and degree of crosslinking between the polymer chains.

Superporous hydrogel (SPH) refers to a hydrogel having an open-channel structure in which pores of various sizes ranging from several hundred μm to thousands of μm are connected in three dimensions. Due to this structural characteristic, the time of swelling to equilibrium is very short and can be swollen up to several hundred times by rapid absorption process by capillary phenomenon. That is, it has both rapid swelling and high water absorption regardless of shape and size. Various pore structures can be formed according to the manufacturing and processing method of the hydrogel, and the swelling speed can also vary greatly depending on the size and shape of the pore.

The ultra-porous hydrogel is characterized by fast absorption enough to complete swelling in tens of seconds or minutes. The most widely used method for preparing a superporous hydrogel is to generate a large number of connected pores inside the hydrogel using gas ejection by adding a blowing agent during the synthesis and crosslinking of the polymer. These pores are fast swelling by a fast absorption process through the capillary formed by connecting to each other. For details on the superporous hydrogel, see Polymer Science and Technology Vol. 17, No. 3, June 2006.

The compressed pulp may be a known one used by compressing various natural pulp such as cellulose fiber, wood pulp fiber, regenerated cellulose or cotton fiber.

The absorbent material may comprise tissues, including compressible tissue wraps and tissue laminates, absorbent foams, absorbent gelling materials; Or an already known expandable liquid absorbing material.

The absorbent material may be manufactured in various sizes and shapes (eg, square, hourglass, T-shaped, asymmetrical, etc.).

The operation part 20 may include a conductive part 22 positioned on the absorbent material 21. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the electrodes 10 and 11 have connection ends 101 and 111 electrically connected to external circuits at one end thereof, and fixed contacts 102 and 112 contactable with the conductive portion at the other end thereof. ).

The connection terminals 101 and 111 may be connected to an external power supply device or a control unit as an input terminal or an output terminal, respectively, to form a circuit. Positions of the connection terminals 101 and 111 of the electrode may be fixedly attached to the housing, for example, may protrude out of the housing.

3 is a schematic view before operation of a water switch according to another embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a schematic view after the operation of the water switch according to FIG. 3 and 4, the water switch may further include a transfer part 40 for supporting and transporting the conductive part 22 on the absorbent material 21.

Although there is no particular limitation on the material of the transfer part 40, it is preferable to use a material that does not resist the movement of the conductive part due to the expansion of the absorbent material.

Referring to FIG. 1, the water switch 100 has a structure in which the switch is opened before absorbing water (before operation). Referring to FIG. 2, the water switch is operated by contacting the electrodes 10 and 11 with the conductive portion 22 as the absorbent material 21 is expanded.

Referring to FIG. 3, the water switch 100 is in an electrically on state as the switch is closed before absorbing water (before operation). In FIG. 4, the water switch is electrically turned off by operating the switch as the absorbent material 21 is expanded.

1 to 4, when the water switch 100 is in contact with water, the water switch 100 may open and close the switch by using the expansion force of the absorbent material as a driving force with only a small amount of water absorption. In addition, since the absorbent material 21 stores and accommodates water therein, even when the water switch 100 comes out of the water, the absorbent material 21 may continuously maintain the operating state without returning to the original state. Therefore, since the state (on or off state) can be maintained continuously and accurately compared to the conventional water sensor, it can be used for marine rescue devices or disposable absorbent articles.

Referring to FIG. 3, the water switch 100 has a space portion 50 on which the absorbent material may expand on the conductive portion 22 or on the upper portion of the moving portion, that is, the upper side of the housing 30. The space part 50 is a space for accommodating the volume expansion portion of the absorbent material 21, and preferably has a structure of low resistance so that the conductive part 22 and the transfer part 40 are easily moved. The upper layer of the housing forming the space 50 may be porous freely inflow and outflow of water, preferably, the outflow of water and the like from the inside to the outside is free, but difficult to enter the structure. In addition, it is possible to form a non-porous material that can facilitate the movement of the conductive portion 22 and the transfer portion 40 by blocking the inflow of impurities or water into the space portion 50.

In the water switch 100, the two electrodes form one electrode system, and two or more electrode systems are formed in the direction of expansion of the absorbent material so that the operation unit sequentially moves the electrode systems in accordance with the expansion of the absorbent material. You can connect or disconnect.

5 and 6 illustrate a structure in which one electrode is connected to two electrode systems. Referring to FIG. 5, the first electrode system is formed of electrodes 10 and 11, and the second electrode system is formed of electrodes 12 and 13. Before the water switch 100 is operated, it is electrically connected to the first electrode system, and FIG. 6 is a structure in which the first electrode system is cut off and electrically connected to the second electrode system after the water switch is operated.

The first electrode system and the second electrode system may be connected to the first circuit unit 60 and the second circuit unit 70 having different control functions, respectively. Only the first circuit portion may transmit position information via GPS, and the second circuit portion may have a function of executing a rescue request signal or other safety measures as well as transmitting position information.

7 to 9 are yet another embodiment of the present invention, one switch may be electrically connected to a plurality of electrode systems sequentially according to the degree of expansion of the absorbent material. FIG. 7 shows an off state before the water switch is operated, and FIG. 8 is electrically connected to the conductive part and the first electrode system by the operation of the water switch. The second electrode system is electrically connected.

7 to 9, the water switch is used that the degree of expansion of the volume of the absorbent material varies depending on the amount of water absorption.

In another aspect the present invention relates to a marine rescue device comprising the water switch. 10 is a configuration diagram of a marine rescue apparatus including a water switch. Referring to FIG. 10, the marine rescue apparatus includes a water switch 100, a power supply device 200, a controller 300, and a GPS receiver 400. By operating the water switch 100, the power supply device 200 drives the controller 300, and the controller 300 may grasp the position information of the distress through the GPS receiver 400 and wirelessly transmit it.

When the marine rescue device is attached to a life jacket, float, lifeboat, etc. (hereinafter, lifeboat), the control unit 300 may expand the lifeboat by opening the valve of the compressed gas mounted in the lifeboat.

In another aspect the invention relates to a sensor for an absorbent article comprising the water switch. Absorbent articles include diapers, panty diapers, sanitary napkins, incontinence guards, wound dressings, bed protectors and the like.

Absorbent article has a function of receiving the body discharge, such as urine does not discharge to the outside, the present invention relates to a sensor that informs the replacement cycle of such an absorbent article.

The sensor of the present invention includes the water switch, a power supply and a display. The control unit drives the power supply unit by the operation of the water switch to display the replacement time of the absorbent article on the display unit.

The water switch is preferably provided with a plurality of electrode systems as shown in Figures 7 to 9. The number of the electrode system may vary depending on the expansion rate of the absorbent material, the specific use of the switch, and the like. For example, when used in the display sensor of the diaper may include 1 to 5 of the electrode system, in order to drive each system in sequence by contacting the first electrode system to the fifth electrode system in accordance with the degree of water absorption. have. Each electrode system may display the color or sound on the display unit.

The display portion may be attached to the sensor of the absorbent article, or may be attached and displayed at a specific place.

In the above, preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, but these are merely for the purpose of explanation and the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto.

100: water switch
10, 11 electrode 20: operating part
21: absorbent material 22: conductive part
30 housing 40 transfer part
50: space part
210: water switch 220: power supply device
230: control unit 240: GPS receiver

Claims (8)

Two or more electrodes;
And an actuating portion for absorbing water or a liquid including water to provide an absorbent material that expands or contracts in volume to electrically connect or disconnect the electrodes. 2. The water switch of claim 1, wherein the water switch includes a porous housing, the actuating part includes the absorbent material filled in the housing and a conductive part disposed on the absorbent material, and the electrode has an external circuit at one end thereof. And a fixed contact point which is in contact with the conductive portion at a connection end electrically connected to the other end thereof. 3. The water switch of claim 2, wherein the water switch further comprises a transfer portion for carrying and transporting the conductive portion on the absorbent material. The water switch of claim 2, wherein when the water switch absorbs water, the absorbent material expands to contact or separate the conductive portion and the fixed contact point. The water switch of claim 1, wherein the absorbent material is at least one of an absorbent polymer, a superporous hydrogel, a compressive pulp or tissue, an absorbent foam, and an absorbent gelling material. The method of claim 1, wherein the two electrodes form one electrode system, and the electrode system is formed in two or more directions in the expansion direction of the absorbent material such that the operation unit sequentially connects the electrode systems in accordance with the expansion of the absorbent material. Or a water switch, characterized in that the cut off. A water switch according to any one of claims 1 to 6;
Power supply;
GPS receiver;
And a control unit which drives the power supply unit by operation of the water switch to grasp position information through a GPS receiver and wirelessly transmits the position information. A sensor of an absorbent article comprising a diaper, panty diaper, sanitary napkin, incontinence guard, wound dressing, bed protector, the sensor comprising:
A water switch according to any one of claims 1 to 6;
Power supply;
And a control unit for driving the power supply unit to display the replacement time of the absorbent article by the operation of the water switch.

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