Process for producing sandwich structures with particulate material pattern
AssigneeThe Procter & Gamble Company
InventorsHorst Blessing, Hans-Adolf Jackels
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention is concerned with a process for forming a very well defined pattern of particulate material in a composite material comprising a web material and particulate absorbent material. The present invention relates also to a method for determining the equipment design and process parameter for such a process. In a particular application, the present invention provides a process for preparing liquid absorbent structures, such as may be useful for disposable absorbent articles.
Claims9
A method for continuously producing a pattern of particulate material in a sandwich structure, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing
- a particulate material;
- a transfer device for receiving said particulate material in a receiving region and transferring it to a discharging region, said transfer device comprising a first pattern forming means;
- at least one essentially flat web material as carrier and/or cover material;
- an essentially endless carrier support means for said carrier material having a support pattern corresponding to the pattern of said first pattern forming means of said transfer device;
- a carrier material holding means for temporarily attaching said carrier material to said surface of said carrier support means;
- a sandwich fixation means for combining the sandwich structure;
- executing the process steps of
- transferring said particulate material to said receiving region of said transfer device, whereby said first pattern forming means defines a particulate cluster pattern;
- moving said pattern of particulate material to the discharging region of said transfer device;
- guiding said carrier material over said carrier support means at a carrier speed corresponding to the carrier support speed;
- deforming said carrier material by said carrier material holding means, such that an indentation is formed in the unsupported regions, thereby forming a pattern corresponding to said particulate cluster pattern;
- expelling said particulate material from said transfer device towards said carrier material;
- depositing said expelled particulate material on said deformed carrier material;
- applying said cover material to said carrier material and said patterned particulate material, thereby forming a sandwich structure;
- and
- providing a fixation means for bonding the outer sandwich layers to each other,
- at least in parts of the bonding area.
A method for determining the equipment design and process parameters for a process for selectively positioning particulate material onto a moving surface, the method comprising the steps of:
- a.) providing a set of physical equations forming a physical model, said set of physical equations being connected by interaction boundary conditions, optionally including sub-models connected by sub-model connectivity boundary conditions;
- b.) selecting a set of fixed boundary conditions, comprising the overall equipment set-up, overall process requirements, and a set of initial operating conditions (fixed model input);
- c.) providing a set of predetermined model targets;
- d.) selecting a set of variable boundary conditions, which may vary throughout one simulation (variable model input);
- e.) performing calculus operations on the physical equations by using the initial operating conditions and variable boundary conditions;
- f.) transforming the calculus results into a model output which is readable to a human analyst directly or by a means of a computing device;
- g.) comparing the model output to predetermined model targets and determining the deviation there between;
- h.) modifying the set of variable boundary conditions using computational equations for minimizing the deviation between said model output to predetermined model targets;
- and
- i.) reiterating steps d.) to h.) until a preset exit criterion is met.
A system for determining the equipment design and process parameter for a process for selectively positioning particulate material onto a moving surface, said system comprising a memory device and a processor, disposed in communication with said memory device, said processor being configured to receive virtual simulation programs and overall boundary conditions, simulation targets, and simulation starting parameters, so as to calculate a set of pre-defined output parameters and to transmit the output parameters to an output device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.