Fiber stacking device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9464371-B2
Application number	US-201214352952-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 12, 2012
Priority date	Oct 19, 2011
Publication date	Oct 11, 2016
Grant date	Oct 11, 2016

Abstract

A rotating drum ( 1 ) has a collecting/stacking recess ( 2 ) in the outer peripheral surface thereof, and includes: a drum body ( 3 ); and an air-permeable porous member ( 4 ) that forms the bottom surface ( 2 A) of the collecting/stacking recess ( 2 ). The porous member ( 4 ) is sandwiched between: an outer shaping member ( 6 ) arranged so as to oppose the bottom surface ( 2 A); and an inner shaping member ( 7 ) arranged between the porous member ( 4 ) and the drum body ( 3 ). Both the shaping members ( 6, 7 ) are arranged so as to overlap the porous member ( 4 ). Each shaping member ( 6, 7 ) has a recess-bottom-surface corresponding section ( 6 A, 7 A) that overlaps the bottom surface ( 2 A) of the collecting/stacking recess ( 2 ) in a planar view thereof, and that is constituted by: a plurality of openings ( 65, 75 ) that penetrate the recess-bottom-surface corresponding section ( 6 A, 7 A) in the thickness direction; and an opening defining section ( 60, 70 ) that partitions and forms the openings ( 65, 75 ). The opening defining section ( 70 ) of the inner shaping member ( 7 ) corresponds to the opening defining section ( 60 ) of the outer shaping member ( 6 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fiber stacking device for forming a shaped product, the device comprising:
a rotating drum that has, in an outer peripheral surface thereof, a collecting/stacking recess for forming the shaped product by stacking a shaped-product material by sucking the material with a bottom surface of the collecting/stacking recess, wherein
the rotating drum comprises:
a drum body;
an inner shaping member;
an outer shaping member; and
an air-permeable porous member that forms the bottom surface of the collecting/stacking recess,
each of the inner and outer shaping members has an opening defining section that partitions and forms a plurality of openings,
the inner shaping member is disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the drum body,
the air-permeable porous member is disposed on the inner shaping member,
the outer shaping member is disposed on the air-permeable porous member, so that i) the air-permeable porous member is sandwiched between the outer shaping member and the inner shaping member ii) the inner and outer shaping members are arranged so as to overlap with the air-permeable porous member, iii) the openings of the inner and outer shaping members overlap with each other via the air-permeable porous member so that the opening defining section of the outer shaping member and the air-permeable porous member define together the collecting/stacking recess in a planar view thereof,
an air permeability of the opening defining section of each said shaping member is lower than an air permeability of the air-permeable porous member,
the plurality of the openings of the outer shaping member respectively overlap with the plurality of the openings of the inner shaping member, so that in a planar view of the collecting/stacking recess, the opening of the outer shaping member and the opening disposed in the inner shaping member which overlaps with the opening of the outer shaping member have substantially the same shape in terms of planar-view shape.

2. The fiber stacking device according to claim 1 , wherein the opening defining section of each said shaping member is air-impermeable.

3. The fiber stacking device according to claim 1 , wherein the porous member includes an air-impermeable section in a section corresponding to the opening defining section of the outer shaping member or the inner shaping member.

4. The fiber stacking device according to claim 3 , wherein the air-impermeable section is formed by joining the porous member with the outer shaping member and the inner shaping member.

5. The fiber stacking device according to claim 3 , wherein the air-impermeable section is formed by: (1) a welding method in which sections to be joined in the porous member, the outer shaping member, and the inner shaping member are molten by heat, and the molten sections are directly fused together; or (2) a method in which the porous member is joined with the outer shaping member and the inner shaping member by means of an adhesive.

6. The fiber stacking device according to claim 3 , wherein the porous member includes an opening-defining-section corresponding section in a section corresponding to the opening defining section of the outer shaping member or the inner shaping member,
an entire area or a partial area of the opening-defining-section corresponding section constitutes the air-impermeable section, and
the opening-defining-section corresponding section, as a whole, has an air permeability, which is lower than the air permeability of sections, in the porous member, other than the opening-defining-section corresponding section.

7. The fiber stacking device according to claim 1 , wherein the opening defining section of each of the inner and outer shaping members is constituted by linear members extending along the bottom surface of the collecting/stacking recess.

8. The fiber stacking device according to claim 7 , wherein the width of each of the linear members of the outer shaping member is different from the width of each of the linear members of the inner shaping member that overlaps the linear member of the outer shaping member in a planar view of the collecting/stacking recess.

9. The fiber stacking device according to claim 1 , wherein
a plurality of bolt holes are made in the opening defining section of the inner shaping member,
the outer shaping member is fixed to the bolt holes of the inner shaping member by bolts.

10. The fiber stacking device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the drum body has a recess-bottom-surface corresponding section that overlaps the bottom surface of the collecting/stacking recess in a planar view of the collecting/stacking recess; the recess-bottom-surface corresponding section is constituted by a plurality of through holes that penetrate the recess-bottom-surface corresponding section in the thickness direction, and air-impermeable ribs each located between the two adjacent through holes; and
in a planar view of the collecting/stacking recess, the ribs overlap the opening defining sections of the respective shaping members.

11. The fiber stacking device according to claim 1 , wherein the bottom surface of the collecting/stacking recess has a flat form.

12. A fiber stacking device for forming a shaped product, the device comprising:
a rotating drum that has, in an outer peripheral surface thereof, a collecting/stacking recess for forming the shaped product by stacking a shaped-product material by sucking the material with a bottom surface of the collecting/stacking recess, wherein
the rotating drum comprises:
a drum body;
an inner shaping member;
an outer shaping member; and
an air-permeable porous member that forms the bottom surface of the collecting/stacking recess,
each of the inner and outer shaping members has an opening defining section that partitions and forms a plurality of openings,
the inner shaping member is disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the drum body,
the air-permeable porous member is disposed on the inner shaping member,
the outer shaping member is disposed on the air-permeable porous member, so that i) the air-permeable porous member is sandwiched between the outer shaping member and the inner shaping member ii) the inner and outer shaping members are arranged so as to overlap with the air-permeable porous member, iii) the openings of the inner and outer shaping members overlap with each other via the air-permeable porous member so that the opening defining section of the outer shaping member and the air-permeable porous member define together the collecting/stacking recess in a planar view thereof,
an air permeability of the opening defining section of each said shaping member is lower than an air permeability of the air-permeable porous member,
the inner shaping member and the outer shaping member are disposed so that the opening defining section of the inner shaping member opposes to the opening defining section of the outer shaping member, and
each of the opening defining sections of the inner and outer shaping members is constituted by linear members, and a width of each of the linear members of the outer shaping member is equal to a width of each of the linear members of the inner shaping member that overlap the linear members in a planar view, or the widths of the linear members of the inner shaping member are greater than the widths of the linear members of the outer shaping member.

13. A method for manufacturing an absorbent article that includes an absorbent core and a sheet material to which the absorbent core is fixed, the absorbent article manufacturing method comprising:
a step of providing a fiber stacking device comprising:
a rotat

Assignees

• Kao Corp

Inventors

• Matsunaga Ryuji
• Maruyama Hiroshi
• Motegi Tomoyuki

Classifications

• A61F13/15626 Primary

  Making fibrous pads without outer layers · CPC title

• D04H1/732

  by fluid current, e.g. air-lay · CPC title

• A61F2013/15926

  for vacuum forming · CPC title

• A61F13/15617

  Making absorbent pads from fibres or pulverulent material with or without treatment of the fibres · CPC title

• D04H1/736

  characterised by the apparatus for arranging fibres (D04H1/728, D04H1/732 take precedence) · CPC title