This invention relates to urine absorbent structures and more specifically to urine absorbent structures suitable for automatically aspirating urine discharged by, for example, bedridden patients.
Conventionally, urine absorbent structures adapted for automatic aspiration of urine discharged by bedridden patients or the like are known.
For example, the urine receiver disclosed in JP 2004-267517 A (PTL 1) is connected with the vacuum pump and includes the urine absorbent material wrapped with the liquid-pervious upper sheet. The urine absorbent material is connected with the conduit tube normally under the effect of vacuum so that urine having been absorbed by the urine absorbent material may be guided by the conduit tube into the urine collecting reservoir. The urine absorbent material includes hydrophilic fibers or the like and/or a water-absorbent spongy material in the upper layer and a hydrophilic foamed material and/or a suitable void structure in the lower layer. In this urine receiver, in order to prevent back-flow of urine once absorbed by the urine absorbent material from the lower layer toward the upper layer, the water absorbing rate of the urine absorbent material is set so as to be higher in the lower layer than in the upper layer.
The fluid aspiration system for the management of urinary incontinence disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,166 B2 (PTL 2) includes the urine absorbent pad and the tube connected to the vacuum source. The urine having been absorbed by the urine absorbent pad flows toward via the tube into the urine collecting container under the effect of vacuum. In this system, as the urine absorbent material, at least one of fluff pulp, a tissue laminate, a cellulosic core including open cells and the like is used.
In such urine absorbent structures designed so that urine is absorbed by the urine absorbent pad containing water-absorbent fibers such as fluff pulp first and then the urine is aspirated into the reservoir under the effect of vacuum, some amount of urine might stay in the pad even after the step of such aspiration. If the wearer's body weight is exerted on the pad in such a state, the urine staying in the pad might flow back toward the wearer's skin and wet the wearer's skin so as to provide a feeling of discomfort.
An object of the present invention is to provide a urine absorbent structure improved so as to prevent urine once having been absorbed by the pad from flowing back under the effect of the wearer's body weight exerted on the pad.
Some embodiments of the present invention provide a urine absorbent structure having a length direction, a width direction and a thickness direction being orthogonal to one another. The urine absorbent article includes a urine absorbent pad and a urine collecting cup. The urine absorbent pad includes an aggregate of water-absorbent materials and inner and outer surfaces opposed to each other in the thickness direction. The urine collecting cup is located on the outer surface of the urine absorbent pad and is configured to be connectable with a vacuum suction source.
In this invention, the aggregate of water-absorbent materials contains at least fluff pulp and superabsorbent polymer particles.
According to one embodiment of this invention, the aggregate of water-absorbent materials is covered with a liquid-pervious inner sheet on the side of the inner surface and covered with a liquid-impervious outer sheet on the side of the outer surface, the outer sheet being formed with an opening in communication with the aggregate of water-absorbent materials, and the urine collecting cup is attached to the outer sheet along a peripheral edge of the opening.
According to another embodiment of this invention, the aggregate of water-absorbent materials is formed with a through-hole in communication with the opening and extending in the thickness direction, and wherein the through-hole is covered with the inner sheet.
According to even another embodiment of this invention, the aggregate of water-absorbent materials has a layered structure composed of an inner layer lying on the side of the inner surface and an outer layer lying on the side of the outer surface, and a first through-hole and a second through-hole formed in the inner layer and the outer layer, respectively, are contiguous to each other in the thickness direction to define the through-hole.
According to yet another embodiment of this invention, the through-hole has a dimension in the width direction being gradually reduced in a direction extending from the inner surface toward the outer surface.
According to still another embodiment of this invention, the dimension of the through-hole in the width direction is larger in the inner layer than in the outer layer.
According to a further embodiment of this invention, superabsorbent polymer particles are contained in the inner layer alone.
The urine absorbent pad included in the urine absorbent structure according to this invention contains at least fluff pulp and particulate or fibrous superabsorbent polymer particles. Urine having been absorbed by the superabsorbent polymer having a water retention performance higher than that of fluff pulp does not readily leave superabsorbent polymer and, in consequence, an uncomfortable feeling which might be experienced by the wearer of the urine absorbent structure due to backflow of urine can be alleviated.
Embodiments of a urine absorbent structure according to this invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The cup body 31 includes a bottom 33, a peripheral wall 34, a flange 36 extending outward from the peripheral wall 34 in the length direction and an opening 37 defined by the peripheral wall 34 so as to be in fluid-communication with the through-hole 24 of the core 23. A plastic film 41 for sealing is attached to the flange 36 with an adhesive 41a or by fusion bond and the plastic film 41 is bonded to the outer sheet 22 around an opening 22a formed in the outer sheet 22 with adhesive 42 applied to the plastic film 41. Immediately below the opening 22a, an breathable and liquid-pervious topsheet 38 is provided to cover the opening 37 of the cup body 31. The topsheet 38 is bonded to the flange 36 of the cup body 31 with the adhesive 41a and the adhesive 42. A portion of the plastic film 41 extending outward beyond the periphery of the topsheet 38 in the length direction A and the width direction B is bonded to the outer sheet 22.
The conduit 32 in the urine collecting cup 30 extends in the length direction A through the peripheral wall 34 of the cup body 31 and has an inner side opening 32a inside the cup body 31 and an outer side opening 32b outside the cup body 31. A vacuum pipe 46 indicated by an imaginary line extending from a vacuum suction source (not shown) such as a vacuum pump is detachably connected to the outer side opening 32b. In order that the vacuum provided with the vacuum pipe 46 and the conduit 32 may rapidly act on the cup body 31 and the inner side of the urine absorbent pad 10, the urine collecting cup 30 is attached to the outer sheet 22 of the urine collecting pad 10 in an air-tight fashion.
In the pad assembly 1, the core 23 of the urine absorbent pad 10 contains at least one of fluff pulp 23a, other water-absorptive natural fibers and semisynthetic fibers as constituents having relatively high water absorption rate. The core 23 contains, in addition, particulate and/or fibrous superabsorbent polymer having a relatively high water retention performance, more preferably, superabsorbent polymer particles 23b. In a specific embodiment, the core 23 is formed of an aggregate of water-absorbent materials which contains at least fluff pulp 23a and superabsorbent polymer particles 23b. While not particularly specified, fluff pulp in the core 23 may be, for example, in a range of 300 to 800 g/m2 on the assumption that the pad assembly 1 is for adults having a body weight in a range of 30 to 70 kg. Superabsorbent polymer particles 23b to be used may have a water retention performance higher than that of fluff pulp 23a. Examples of such superabsorbent polymer particles 23b include starch acrylonitrile copolymer, starch acrylic acid graft copolymer and polyvinyl alcohol. The amount of superabsorbent polymer particles 23b to be used is preferably equivalent to 10 to 100% of the amount of fluff pulp 23a to be used. In this regard, the superabsorbent polymer particles 23b may be partially replaced by fibrous superabsorbent polymer.
While a size of the through-hole 24 may be appropriately adjusted depending on a size of the urine absorbent pad 10, this through-hole 24 may be dimensioned to be in a range of 50 to 200 mm in the length direction A and in a range of 10 to 30 mm in the width direction, for example, assuming that the pad assembly 1 is for adult having body weight in a range of 30 to 70 kg. A taper angle of the peripheral wall 24d defining the through-hole 24 is preferably in a range of 3 to 45° with respect to the perpendicular line extending in parallel to the transverse center line Q-Q in
The urine collecting cup 30 is obtained by injection molding a flexible elastic material such as low density polyethylene or silicon rubber so that the cup body 31 and the conduit 32 may be integrally formed. As material of the topsheet 38 for the urine collecting cup 30, for example, at least one of a breathable and liquid-pervious nonwoven fabric formed of thermoplastic synthetic fibers and a breathable and liquid-pervious mesh fabric formed of, for example, a thermoplastic synthetic resin may be used. As material of the plastic film 41 used to attach the urine collecting cup 30 to the urine absorbent pad 10, for example, at least one of a polyethylene film, a polypropylene film, a polyester film and a laminate film composed of a polyethylene film and a polyester film may be used.
The pad assembly 1 configured as has been described above may be used so as to cooperate with a sensor (not shown) incorporated therein so that this sensor may electrically detect that the inner sheet 21 and/or the core 23 is wetted with urine. For example, when a pair of electrodes is wetted with urine and becomes conductive state, the sensor detects it and thereupon actuates a vacuum suction source such as the vacuum pump so that the inner space of the cup body 31 may be pressure reduced via the vacuum pipe 46 (See
When the pad assembly 1 is put on the wearer's body, the urine absorbent pad 10 is set with respect to the wearer's body so that the core 23 may be opposed to the wearer's urethral orifice, more preferably the through-hole 24 of the core 23 may face the urethral orifice. Upon urination toward the urine absorbent pad 10 set in this manner, a portion of urine flows into the through-hole 24 to wet the topsheet 38 and moves into the cup body 31. The topsheet 38 is wetted and some of meshes and/or fiber interstices thereof are infilled with urine to enhance vacuum within the cup body 31. In consequence, the cup body 31 intensely sucks urine. Another portion of urine flows into the core 23. Urine having flown into the core 23 partially passes through the core 23 and the topsheet 38 under the effect of vacuum within the cup body 31 into the cup body 31 and the remaining portion of urine is absorbed by fluff pulp 23a and superabsorbent polymer particles 23b of the core 23 and stays behind in the core 23. The portion of urine transferred into the cup body 31 flows through the inner opening 32a into the conduit 32 and is guided to the outside of the pad assembly 1 via the vacuum pipe 46. When the wearer's body weight is exerted on the urine absorbent pad 10, of urine staying behind in the core, a fraction absorbed by fluff pulp 23a absorbed in fluff pulp 23a may partially flow back toward the wearer's skin but a fraction absorbed in superabsorbent polymer particles 23b having high water retention performance does not readily leave these superabsorbent polymer particles 23b. In this way, the pad assembly 1 makes it possible to reduce the amount of urine which may flow back toward the wearer's skin at least by the amount of urine absorbed in superabsorbent polymer particles 23b and uncomfortable feeling which might be experienced by the wearer due to back-flow of urine may be correspondingly alleviated.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2010-073668 | Mar 2010 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2011/057460 | 3/25/2011 | WO | 00 | 9/14/2012 |