The present application is a National Phase of International Application Number PCT/JP2012/051696, filed Jan. 26, 2012, and claims priority from Japanese Application Number 2011-040330, filed Feb. 25, 2011.
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for producing an absorbent.
In the past, there has been known an apparatus for producing an absorbent which is used for producing an absorbent product, which apparatus for producing an absorbent including a stacking unit which sequentially forms a plurality of stacks and discharges these stacks in a machine direction separated by gaps, a wrapping unit which wraps the stacks which are sequentially discharged from the stacking unit by a wrapping web to thereby form continuous wrapped stacks, a conveying unit which conveys the continuous wrapped stacks in the machine direction, and a cutting unit which cuts the continuous wrapped stacks to form predetermined shapes of absorbents.
Here, the stacking unit for example includes a rotary drum, a plurality of pattern plates which are held at the outer circumferential surface of the rotary drum in a removable state, and a material feeder which feeds the stacking material to the pattern plates (see PTL 1). The shape of pattern plates corresponds to the shape of the stacks which are to be produced. Therefore, by exchanging the pattern plates, it is possible to easily change the shapes of the stacks to be produced.
On the other hand, in the cutting unit, the continuous wrapped stacks are generally cut at the spaces between the adjoining stacks.
PTL 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2010-178919A
However, gaps are provided between the adjoining stacks. Therefore, the cutting unit cuts the wrapping web without cutting the stacks. In this regard, the wrapping web is comprised of a relatively thin nonwoven fabric or tissue, so it is difficult to reliably cut the wrapping web. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately form the absorbents into predetermined shapes. If raising the cutting pressure to reliably cut the wrapping web, lifetime of the cutting edge of the cutting unit may be shorter.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for producing an absorbent which is used for producing an absorbent product,
the apparatus being provided with
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing an absorbent which is used for producing an absorbent product,
the method comprising
The continuous wrapped stacks can be reliably cut, so the absorbents can be accurately formed into predetermined shapes.
Referring to
Referring to
At the inside space of the rotary drum 11, a negative pressure chamber 11N to which a negative pressure is applied and a positive pressure chamber 11P to which a positive pressure is applied are formed. Further, at the outer circumferential surface of the rotary drum 11, a plurality of through holes 11H which communicate with the negative pressure chamber 11N and the positive pressure chamber 11P are formed.
Each pattern plate 12, as shown in
The air-passing part 12B and non-air-passing part 12NB define a recess 12R. The recess 12R includes a shallow recess 12RS and a deep recess 12RD. Here, the shape of the recess 12R corresponds to the shape of the stack which is to be produced.
The material feeder 13 feeds stacking material such as pulp fiber, synthetic fiber and an absorbent polymer, in a flying state.
When the rotary drum 11 is made to rotate by a drive mechanism (not shown) in the arrow direction while stacking material is fed from the material feeder 13, the stacking material stacks in the recesses 12R of the pattern plates 12 which are communicated with the negative pressure chamber 11N whereby stacks S are formed in the recesses 12R. Next, when the pattern plates 12 reach the positive pressure chamber 11P together with the stacks S, the stacks S are made to separate from the pattern plates 12.
Again referring to
In this case, as shown in
In this way, in the stacking unit 10, a plurality of stacks S are sequentially formed and are discharged in the machine direction MD separated by gaps. Note that, in
As shown in
The stacks S are conveyed to the wrapping unit 20 together with the wrapping web WM. In the wrapping unit 20, the stacks S which are sequentially discharged from the stacking unit 10 are wrapped by the wrapping web WM whereby continuous wrapped stacks WB are formed. That is, the two side edges of the wrapping web WM in the machine direction MD are guided by the guide rolls 21 and superposed with each other. As a result, as shown in
The continuous wrapped stacks WB are next conveyed by the conveyor 31 of the conveying unit 30 in the machine direction MD and conveyed to the pressing unit 40.
Again referring to
In this embodiment according to the present invention, as shown in
The continuous wrapped stacks WB are next conveyed by the conveyor 32 to the cutting unit 50. The cutting unit 50 is provided with a cutter roll 51 and an anvil roll 52 which are arranged facing each other. When the continuous wrapped stacks WB are supplied between the cutter roll 51 and the anvil roll 52, the cutting edge of the cutter roll 51 cuts the continuous wrapped stacks WB whereby predetermined shapes of absorbents A are formed. The absorbents A include single stacks S and wrapping material which wraps the stacks S.
The absorbents A are next conveyed by a conveyor 53 to the sealer 60. At the sealer 60, the two ends of the absorbents A in the machine direction MD are sealed. The sealed absorbents A are next conveyed by the conveyor 61 to the next step. At the next step, the absorbents A are for example assembled with outer packages of the absorbent products.
Note that, the sealer 60 may be used to seal the continuous wrapped stacks WB, then the continuous wrapped stacks WB cut. Therefore, the sealer 60 seals the absorbents A or the continuous wrapped stacks WB so that the two ends of the absorbents A in the machine direction are sealed.
Now, in the cutting unit 50, the continuous wrapped stacks WB are cut at the connected parts C. That is, as shown in
When the continuous wrapped stacks WB are cut, as shown in
Furthermore, the pattern plates 12 are held at the rotary drum 11 in a removable manner, so the pattern plates 12 can be easily exchanged. Further, the pattern plates 12 respectively have single recesses 12R, so when there is some trouble with the single recesses 12R, the single pattern plates 12 need only be exchanged. Therefore, maintenance of the pattern plates 12 becomes easy.
In the embodiment which has been explained up to here, as shown in
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-040330, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference.
1 absorbent production apparatus
10 stacking unit
11 rotary drum
12 pattern plate
12RD deep recess
13 material feeder
20 wrapping unit
30 conveying unit
40 pressing unit
50 cutting unit
A absorbent
C connected part
G gap
S stack
WB continuous wrapped stacks
WM wrapping web
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2011-040330 | Feb 2011 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2012/051696 | 1/26/2012 | WO | 00 | 8/23/2013 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2012/114823 | 8/30/2012 | WO | A |
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3366115 | Champaigne, Jr. | Jan 1968 | A |
4216687 | Passafiume | Aug 1980 | A |
4274318 | Passafiume | Jun 1981 | A |
20030212376 | Walter et al. | Nov 2003 | A1 |
20120018078 | Ishikawa | Jan 2012 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2255765 | Dec 2010 | EP |
2010136899 | Jun 2010 | JP |
2010136900 | Jun 2010 | JP |
2010178919 | Aug 2010 | JP |
2004028426 | Apr 2004 | WO |
Entry |
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Corresponding International Application No. PCT/JP2012/051696 Search Report dated Mar. 19, 2012. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20130328233 A1 | Dec 2013 | US |