MXPA98001417A - Elastified product for incontinence with better fluid management capacity - Google Patents

Abstract

A sanitary absorbent article, for example a sanitary pad, comprises a fluid absorbent core (4) a first fluid receiving layer (1) positioned on one side of the fluid absorbent core, and separated therefrom on at least a part of its surface by elasticity, to define a gap between the core and the first fluid receiving layer. A second fluid receiving layer (5) is placed on the opposite side of the core to the first receiving layer, the second fluid receiving layer being in fluid communication with the core and with the first fluid receiving layer.

Description

PRODUCT ELASTIFIED FOR INCONTINENCE WITH IMPROVED FLUID MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY The present invention relates to an absorbent article. This is particularly committed to an absorbent article, for example in the form of a pad, which can be used by women suffering from mild and moderate incontinence. The invention will be thus described below. However, the invention is of greater general applicability in relation to the absorption of bodily fluids either urine or menstruation. A problem associated with these articles is that the urine can not go directly into the article, and be absorbed into it, and yet it can flow along the user's body in a backward direction and is never able to enter the absorbent material of the article. Article. This is particularly true in the case of urine discharges that are low volume or low flow rate. In our co-pending Italian application filed on the same date as the present application, entitled elasticized pad for product for body contact incontinence, and identified as CR133 describes an absorbent article that is thus formed to handle this problem. In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the article described in said copending application. Figure 2 is a length section through the article of Figure 1, taken along the longitudinal center line thereof, Figure 3 is a cross section through the article of Figure 1, taken on the center line cross section of it; and Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3, but showing a modified form of the article. Figures 1 to 3 show an absorbent sanitary pad for use by a woman suffering from light incontinence. It comprises a fluid-permeable upper sheet 1, a fluid-impermeable backsheet 2 which is sealed thereto by a seal 3 at the periphery of the article, for example by heat sealing or adhesive. The article further comprises an absorbent core 4, for example, one containing a gelling absorbent material (AGM), and a secondary upper sheet 5 which serves to receive the fluid and transfer it to the core. The materials used for the top sheet comprise the backsheet and the absorbent core, which may be those conventionally used for absorbent sanitary products. However, attention is directed to International Patent Publication W094728838 which discloses an absorbent product having a secondary top sheet of high volume, and WO94 / 01069 and PCT / EP94 / 04215 disclosing cores including AGM for further details of some appropriate materials. The article further comprises an elasticizing system that serves to cause the article to curve in a manner that allows it to closely conform to the wearer's body, and at least to substantially avoid, or reduce, the risk of leaking urine passing through it. . In Figures 1 to 3 this elasticizing system comprises a filament or elastic yarn 6 running along at least a greater portion of the length of the article, preferably substantially the total length of the article, below the upper sheet secondary 5, and is fixed at its ends, or along its total length, or at selected points along its length, to the secondary upper sheet and / or to the core. As can be seen, this causes the pad to add a configuration that is concave upward as seen in the longitudinal section (Figure 2), and convex upward as seen in the cross section (Figure 3). The pad is thus raised elastically towards the user's body and kept in close contact with it, in such a way as to provide a better fit and a better ability to uniformly acquire the lighter urine release. The core is relatively rigid and remains substantially flat as seen in the cross section, thus allowing to maintain good contact with the user's panties. Figure 4 shows a modified article further comprising a filament or elastic yarn 7 running transversely above the core 2 and below the secondary upper sheet 5 with its longitudinal elastic yarn 6. The transverse elastic yarn 7 is shown fixed to the secondary upper sheet 5, although if it were slightly longer it can alternatively, or additionally, be additionally fixed to the primary upper sheet 1. In any event, it is preferably fixed only at its ends. By pulling the sides of the secondary upper sheet and / or the primary upper sheet inwardly, the transverse elastic yarn helps to give the article, as seen in the cross section, the desired upwardly related shape. Various other modifications are also possible. For example, only a transverse elastic yarn may be provided, without any longitudinal elastic yarn, or a plurality of transverse yarns may be provided (with or without a longitudinal yarn), the plurality being arranged to be close to each other or spaced apart from each other. length of the article, and the single longitudinal yarn can be replaced by a plurality of longitudinal yarns arranged closely together. The articles described above with reference to Figures 1 to 4, particularly when placing the or each elastic thread under the secondary upper sheet, are advantageous from the point of view of its adjustment to the user and, consequently, its ability to collect evenly small amounts of urine. However, the construction employed means that a hollow space is formed, indicated V in Figures 2,3 and 4, between the secondary upper sheet and the core. The purpose of the secondary upper sheet is to temporarily receive the fluid and transmit it to the core for storage, and that hollow space can cause difficulties in the transmission process. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article of the type described above with reference to Figures 1 to 4, but in which this problem of fluid transmission is eliminated or at least reduced. According to the invention, a sanitary absorbent article is provided herein, which comprises a fluid absorbent core, a first fluid receiving layer positioned on a side of the core separated therefrom on at least a portion of its surface, to define a gap between the core and the fluid receiving layer, and a second fluid receiving layer positioned on the opposite side of the core to the first fluid receiving layer, the second fluid receiving layer being in fluid communication with the core and with the first fluid receiving layer. Two embodiments of the invention are shown in Figures 5 to 7 of the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 5 is a longitudinal section, taken on the longitudinal centerline of the first embodiment of the article; Figure 6 is a cross section taken on the transverse centerline of the embodiment of Figure 5, and Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 6, but showing a second embodiment. Figures 5 and 6 show a pad for light incontinence which has, like the article of Figures 1 to 3, an upper sheet 1, a rear sheet 2, an absorbent core 4 and a secondary upper fluid receiving sheet 5, there is also an additional fluid receiving sheet 15 which is placed between the core and the back sheet 2. The sheets 5 and 15 are in fluid communication with each other on at least part of the edge regions thereof. As shown in Figures 5 and 6 respectively, the leaves are both longer and wider than the core. And they are joined together, for example by adhesive at their longitudinal ends and the lateral edges, the seal between them extending completely around the periphery of both sheets. However, this is possible alternately, for example, so that the leaves are joined together only by their longitudinal ends (in which case it is not essential that they are wider than the core), or only by their side edges, in which case it is not essential that they must be longer than the core. Figures 5 and 6 show by arrows the trajectories of the fluid entering the article through the upper sheet not permeable to the liquid. As can be seen, it flows longitudinally and laterally through the secondary sheet 5 and from there to the sheet 15 where it again flows longitudinally and laterally. The fluid can then be absorbed through the sheet 15 by the core 4, which is in intimate contact with it. Under some circumstances, for example in the case of a sudden large liquid discharge, some liquid acquired by the secondary upper sheet 5 can enter the V-hole directly from the secondary upper sheet, and this liquid can then be absorbed by the core 4 without pass through the sheet 15. The sheet 15 can be of the same material as the sheet 5, although this need not be. Whether or not they are the two sheets of the same material, these may have the same or different thickness. Attention should be directed to our Italian patent application TO94A000982, filed on December 1, 1994, which describes an absorbent pad having fluid receiving layers both above and below the core.

Some materials suitable for the purpose are described in it. In the modification shown in Figure 7, the sheets 5 and 15 are replaced by a single sheet 25 that surrounds the core 4 and the recess V and is itself joined along its lateral edges to give it a tubular shape. This can also or alternatively, be joined together along its end edges. In a further modification, a transversely extending elastic yarn is provided which runs through the surface of the core facing the gap V and is fixed at its ends to the secondary upper sheet 5 and / or to the upper sheet 1 as shown in Figure 4 in relation to an article without a second fluid receiving sheet 15.

Claims (1)

1. - A sanitary absorbent article, which comprises a fluid absorbing core, a first fluid receiving layer positioned on one side of the core and separated therefrom on at least part of its surface, to define a gap and its receiving layer. fluid, and a second fluid receiving layer positioned on the opposite side of the core to the first fluid receiving layer, the second fluid receiving layer being in fluid communication for the core and the first fluid receiving layer. 2 - An article according to claim 1 comprising elastification means located between the core and the first fluid receiving layer, the elasticizing means being in tension when the article is in a generally flat condition and acting to lift the first layer fluid receptor away from the fluid absorbing layer to create the gap. 3. An article according to claim 2, wherein the elasticizing means comprise at least one elastic yarn running substantially along at least a greater portion of the longitudinal centerline of the article. 4. An article according to claim 3, wherein the or each thread is joined at its ends to at least one of the first fluid receiving layer and the core. 5. The article according to claim 3, wherein the or each thread is joined at selected points along its length to at least one of the fluid receiving layer and the core. 6. An article according to any of claims 2 to 5, further comprising at least one additional elastic yarn extending transversely of the article and joining at its ends to at least 1 of the upper sheet and the first fluid receiving layer. 7. An article according to any preceding claim, wherein the first and second fluid receiving layers are joined together along a first edge region and along a second edge region on the opposite side or end. of the layers. 8. An article according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first and second fluid receiving layers are joined together at least substantially along their entire peripheries. 9. An article according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first and second fluid receiving layers are constituted by a single sheet of material folded around the core. 10. An article according to any preceding claim, further comprising a fluid impermeable backsheet on the side of the second fluid receiving layer remote from the core. 11. An article according to any preceding claim that is in the form of a sanitary pad.