Folding machine and method for manufacturing absorbent article
AssigneeUnicharm Corporation
InventorHiroki Yamamoto
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A folding machine includes a conveyance roll configured to come into contact with both a first region and the second region being flush with each other; a web guide mechanism configured to cause the first region and the second region to face each other with reference to the folding line so that an angle between the first region and the second region becomes smaller toward downstream; a press mechanism configured to press at least any one of the first region and the second region. The press mechanism changes a pressing strength on the web to change at least either a track length (first track length) in which one side edge provided on a downstream of a conveyance roll is conveyed or a track length (second track length) in which other side edge is conveyed.
Claims20
A folding machine which overlays a first region and a second region of a successively conveyed web for an absorbent article with reference to a folding line parallel with a machine direction along a flow direction of a manufacturing process for the absorbent article, the first region formed between the folding line and one side edge of the web, the second region formed between the folding line and another side edge of the web, the folding machine comprising:
- a reference roll configured to come into contact with both the first region and the second region being flush with each other and to rotate with conveyance of the web;
- a web guide mechanism provided downstream of the reference roll in the machine direction, and configured to cause the first region and the second region to face each other with reference to the folding line so that an angle between the first region and the second region becomes smaller toward downstream;
- and
- a press mechanism provided downstream of the reference roll in the machine direction, and configured to press at least any one of the first region and the second region, wherein
- the press mechanism includes a variable roll configured to come into contact with at least one of the first region and the second region, and a position changer configured to change a position of the variable roll,
- the variable roll includes a central axis along a cross direction crossing the machine direction in a plan view of the web,
- the position changer is configured to move the central axis of the variable roll,
- the position changer includes:
- a detector configured to detect a first predetermined position in the one side edge and a second predetermined position in the other side edge;
- and
- a controller configured to control movement of the central axis of the variable roll when the controller determines that the first predetermined position and the second predetermined position are misaligned with each other in the machine direction, and
- the press mechanism changes a pressing strength on the web to change at least any one of lengths of tracks in which the one side edge and the other side edge are respectively conveyed downstream of the reference roll in the machine direction.
A method for manufacturing an absorbent article by overlaying a first region and a second region of a successively conveyed web for the absorbent article with reference to a folding line parallel with a machine direction along a flow direction of a manufacturing process for the absorbent article, the first region formed between the folding line and one side edge of the web, the second region formed between the folding line and another side edge of the web, the method comprising the steps of:
- causing the first region and the second region of the web to face each other with reference to the folding line by a web guide mechanism so that an angle between the first region and second region becomes smaller toward downstream, the web guide mechanism provided downstream of a reference roll in the machine direction, the reference roll coming in contact with the first region and the second region being flush with each other, and
- pressing at least one of the first region and the second region by a press mechanism provided downstream of the reference roll in the machine direction, wherein
- the step of pressing at least one of the first region and the second region includes changing a pressing strength on the web by the press mechanism to change at least one of lengths of tracks in which the one side edge and the other side edge are respectively conveyed downstream of the reference roll in the machine direction,
- the press mechanism includes a variable roll configured to come into contact with at least one of the first region and the second region, and a position changer configured to change a position of the variable roll,
- the variable roll includes a central axis along a cross direction crossing the machine direction in a plan view of the web,
- the position changer moves the central axis of the variable roll,
- the position changer includes a detector and a controller, and
- the method further comprises:
- detecting a first predetermined position in the one side edge and a second predetermined position in the other side edge by the detector;
- and
- controlling movement of the central axis of the variable roll when the controller determines that the first predetermined position and the second predetermined position are misaligned with each other in the machine direction.
A folding machine for overlaying a first region and a second region of a successively conveyed web for an absorbent article with reference to a folding line parallel with a machine direction along a flow direction of a manufacturing process for the absorbent article, the first region formed between the folding line and a first side edge of the web, the second region formed between the folding line and a second side edge of the web, the second side edge opposite the first side edge in a cross direction crossing the machine direction, the folding machine comprising:
- a reference roll configured to come into contact with both the first region and the second region being flush with each other and to rotate with conveyance of the web;
- a web guide mechanism provided downstream of the reference roll in the machine direction, and configured to cause the first region and the second region to face each other with reference to the folding line so that an angle between the first region and the second region becomes smaller toward downstream in the machine direction;
- and
- a press mechanism provided downstream of the reference roll in the machine direction, and including
- a variable member configured to come into contact with at least one of the first region and the second region, and
- a position changer configured to move the variable member for changing at least one of lengths of tracks in which the first side edge and the second side edge are respectively conveyed downstream of the reference roll in the machine direction,
- the position changer includes:
- a detector configured to detect a first predetermined position in the first side edge and a second predetermined position in the second side edge at a location downstream of the web guide mechanism;
- and
- a controller configured to control movement of the variable member when the controller determines that the first predetermined position and the second predetermined position are misaligned with each other in the machine direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.