Folded Absorbent Article with Convex-Concave End Folds
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional absorbent articles deform during wear, leading to undesired shapes and configurations that cause irritation and discomfort, especially when adhesive fasteners contact the skin or hair, and storage configurations fail to provide desired discretion, ease of use, and comfort.
Innovation Solution
The absorbent article features a unique folding configuration with convex and concave end-fold regions and supplemental-fold regions, along with a garment-attachment mechanism, to secure the article to the undergarment while minimizing skin irritation and enhancing discretion and comfort.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the absorbent article is made more flexible and thinner, then comfort and wearability are improved, but the article undergoes greater deformation and takes undesired shapes during wear
Solution Approach 1:
The absorbent article is divided into multiple functional zones including rigid wing portions with fasteners at the ends and a more flexible intermediate section in the middle. This segmentation allows different parts to have different flexibility characteristics, with the rigid wings maintaining shape stability while the flexible intermediate section provides comfort during wear.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the absorbent article are given different physical properties - the wing portions are made more rigid to maintain shape and secure attachment, while the intermediate section is made more flexible to conform to the body and provide comfort. This local differentiation of material properties resolves the contradiction between overall flexibility and local shape stability.
2Volume of moving object
If conventional folding or rolling is used to reduce article size for storage, then portability is improved, but the storage configuration increases occurrences of undesired deformations
Solution Approach 1:
The absorbent article is pre-folded into a specific configuration with wing portions folded along fold lines to create a compact, structured form. This preliminary folding action maintains the relative positions of rigid and flexible sections, preventing undesired deformations during storage and transport while achieving compact size for portability.
3Ease of operation
If garment-attachment adhesive is used to secure the article, then ease of securement is improved, but skin irritation and discomfort occur when adhesive contacts the wearer
Solution Approach 1:
The adhesive is extracted from the intermediate section and placed only on the rigid wing portions at the ends of the article. This extraction ensures that the adhesive remains on areas that will not contact the wearer's skin during normal wear, eliminating skin irritation while maintaining ease of securement to the undergarment.
Solution Approach 2:
The rigid wing portions serve as intermediaries between the adhesive and the wearer's body. The adhesive is applied to the wings which then attach to the undergarment, preventing direct contact between the adhesive and the wearer's skin, thus eliminating irritation while maintaining secure attachment.
Data Source
AI summary
A personal care article (20) has a longitudinal-direction (22), a relatively shorter, lateral cross-direction (24), a first end-section (72), a second end-section (72a), and an intermediate-section (76) which is contiguous with and interposed between the first end-section (72) and the second end-section (72a). The article includes a liquid permeable topsheet layer (26), and a backsheet layer (28) which is operatively connected to the topsheet layer (26). At least a portion of the first end-section (72) has been folded along or otherwise includes a first end-fold-region (58) which is substantially convex along a topsheet-side of the article (20). Additionally, the first end-fold-region (58) is substantially concave along a backsheet-side of the article. At least a portion of the second end-section (72a) has been folded along or otherwise includes a second end-fold-region (62) which is substantially convex along the topsheet-side of the article (20).