Activated Color Web Substrate for Aligned Deformed Regions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current manufacturing processes for absorbent articles face challenges in cost-effectively producing web substrates with mechanically deformed regions that coincide with colored regions, requiring additional printing and registration capabilities, which increases capital costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
The development of web substrates with activatable colorants that change color in response to external stimuli, such as ultraviolet light and heat induced by mechanical deformation, allowing for the creation of colored regions that coincide with deformed regions without the need for additional printing or registration capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If printing capability is added to the manufacturing process to highlight deformed regions, then visual appeal and functionality are improved, but capital cost and manufacturing complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the coloring function with the mechanical deformation process by integrating activatable colorants into the web substrate. The coloration occurs simultaneously with deformation through mechanical activation during the same manufacturing step, eliminating the need for separate printing equipment and registration systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical printing system with a chemically-based color activation mechanism. Instead of using printing heads, ink, and registration systems, the invention uses activatable colorants that respond to mechanical deformation through chemical or physical changes, substituting a complex mechanical system with a simpler material-based solution.
2Ease of manufacture
If printing capability is added to the manufacturing process to highlight deformed regions, then visual appeal and functionality are improved, but capital cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the coloring function with the mechanical deformation process by integrating activatable colorants into the web substrate. The coloration occurs simultaneously with deformation through mechanical activation during the same manufacturing step, eliminating the need for separate printing equipment and registration systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical printing system with a chemically-based color activation mechanism. Instead of using printing heads, ink, and registration systems, the invention uses activatable colorants that respond to mechanical deformation through chemical or physical changes, substituting a complex mechanical system with a simpler material-based solution.
3Manufacturing precision
If registration capability is added to align colored regions with deformed regions, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity and capital cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The activatable colorants are integrated directly into the web substrate material itself. When the substrate undergoes mechanical deformation, the colorants automatically activate in the deformed regions through the mechanical stimulus, eliminating the need for external registration systems to align separate coloring and deformation processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the coloring function with the mechanical deformation process by integrating activatable colorants into the web substrate. The coloration occurs simultaneously with deformation through mechanical activation during the same manufacturing step, eliminating the need for separate printing equipment and registration systems.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables the cost-effective production of absorbent articles with visually distinct, mechanically deformed regions that change color, enhancing visual appeal and functionality without incurring significant additional capital costs for printing and registration equipment.
Implementation Method 1
The activatable colorant can have both photoreactive and thermochromic material properties such that it first changes color to a first color upon exposure to electromagnetic radiation such as ultraviolet light
Implementation Method 2
The activatable colorant can have both photoreactive and thermochromic material properties such that it first changes color to a first color upon exposure to electromagnetic radiation such as ultraviolet light and then changes to a second color upon exposure to heat
Implementation Method 3
The heat can be induced by strain associated with mechanical deformation during formation of the deformed regions
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a web substrate comprising an activatable colorant and at least one deformed region. A first activated color region is produced in the web substrate upon exposure to a first external stimulus and a second activated color region is produced within the first activated color region upon exposure to a second external stimulus. The second activated color region coincides with the deformed region.