Tissue Embossed Protrusions with Inward Bending Sidewalls
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tissue products face challenges in achieving a balance between reduced thickness, increased softness, and high absorbency, with existing methods often compromising on absorbency when reducing thickness.
Innovation Solution
The tissue product features embossed protrusions with a specific geometry, including a base, top surface, and sidewalls with an indent region, where at least 10% of the sidewall is inwardly folded, reducing initial height and volume, and a high density of protrusions enhances softness and absorbency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If the thickness of the tissue product is reduced, then the softness and absorbency are improved, but the structural integrity and strength deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The tissue product is divided into multiple plies (layers) that are bonded together. Each ply contributes to the overall structure, allowing the product to maintain strength despite reduced individual layer thickness. The segmentation into multiple layers enables the product to achieve both thinness and structural integrity through cumulative effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The embossed protrusions are nested within the tissue structure, creating an interlocking pattern between plies. The protrusions on one ply fit into recesses on adjacent plies, forming a nested arrangement that enhances structural integrity while maintaining reduced thickness. This nesting creates a compact, strong multi-layer structure.
2Shape
If the thickness of the tissue product is reduced, then the softness is improved, but the absorbency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The tissue product features localized embossed protrusions with indent regions that create capillary structures. These local structural modifications enhance absorbency by providing dedicated fluid absorption pathways within the reduced thickness. The local quality of embossed features concentrates absorbent capacity in specific zones without increasing overall thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The embossed protrusions create porous, capillary-like structures within the tissue plies. These porous features increase the surface area and capillary action within the reduced thickness, enabling high absorbency. The porous structure allows fluid to be drawn into and held within the embossed features, maintaining absorbency despite reduced overall thickness.
3Shape
If the density of embossed protrusions is increased, then the softness is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The embossing process uses controlled parameters including pressure, temperature, and protrusion density to achieve the desired softness. By optimizing these parameters, the manufacturing process can produce soft tissue products with high protrusion density without excessive complexity. The parameter changes allow for systematic control of the embossing outcome.
Solution Approach 2:
The embossed protrusions are formed during the embossing process before the final product assembly. This preliminary action of creating the embossed features in advance allows for standardized manufacturing and simplifies subsequent assembly steps. The pre-formed protrusions reduce the need for additional complex processing steps.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~4
AI summary
A tissue product includes at least one ply (10) with embossed protrusions (12) defining an interior volume (24), the embossed protrusions (12) including a base, a top surface (14) and a sidewall (16) extending from the top surface (14) to the base, wherein the sidewall (16) of at least 10% of the embossed protrusion (12) is provided with an indent region (18) shaped such that the sidewall (16) bends towards the interior volume (24) of the embossed protrusion (12).