A device for producing a three dimensional shaped consolidated product. The device includes a rotary drum, defined as a rotary conveyor with a peripheral surface extending in circumferential direction with at least one product shaping area in the form of a cavity on said peripheral surface, the peripheral surface is pervious to air at least in the product shaping area, at least one material feed device to feed a base material into the at least one cavity, a vacuum device designed to generate a negative pressure at least in the at least one cavity, whereby the generated suction is directed towards the interior of the rotary conveyor, and whereby downstream of the material feed device at least one consolidating device is located such that at least a part of the filled cavity is subjected to a consolidating treatment whereby the base material at least partly will adhere to neighboring material.

A unit for making absorbent pads of absorbent articles including a drum for forming the absorbent pads and a hood for feeding a first and a second absorbent material to at least part of the peripheral surface of the drum; the hood has a chamber for mixing the first and the second absorbent materials and an opening for dispensing the first and the second absorbent materials facing at least part of the peripheral surface of the drum; the unit includes at least a first and a second duct for feeding the second absorbent material into the hood and means for distributing the second absorbent material both of the first feed duct and of the second feed duct; the first and the second ducts are connected to the same distribution means.

The current invention concerns a forming pocket (10), suitable for forming moulded absorbent material deposit structures to be used as absorbent core for absorbent articles, the forming pocket (10), extending in a longitudinal, transversal and vertical direction (L,T,V), comprises: a grid structure (12) comprising a first set of grid members (18) and a second set of grid members (20), each set of grid members (18,20) comprising a plurality of plates (19,21), each plate (19,21) comprising a plurality of slits (22,26), a supporting frame (30) encasing said grid structure (12), said supporting frame (30) comprising a first set of frame elements (32) forming two opposite longitudinal walls (32) of the supporting frame (30) and a second set of frame elements (34) forming two opposite transversal walls of the supporting frame; a mesh substrate (40) arranged on said upper surface of the grid structure (12), and an insert (48) arranged on the upper surface of the mesh substrate (40), wherein the insert (48) is coupled to the grid structure (12) via movable fixation means (50).

An absorbent core for an absorbent article is provided an absorbent material, the absorbent core comprising one or more first zones comprising a first amount of absorbent material and one or more second zones comprising a second amount of absorbent material, wherein each second zone is at least partly delimited from the other second zones by the one or more first zones characterized in that the first amount of bulk absorbent material is different than the second amount of absorbent material, each amount of absorbent material being determined as weight per unit area.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for making air-laid fibrous articles, as well as absorbent hygiene products comprising such air-laid fibrous articles as absorbent core. It comprises a plurality of discrete pockets (1) defining the shape of the articles disposed in a circumferential relationship about the periphery of a rotatable deposition drum (50) comprising a disk-shaped backing plate (2), characterized in that the discrete pockets (1) are removably attached to interfacing segments (6) which are themselves removably attached to the backing plate (2). The present invention aims to provide an easier and quicker way of interchanging the pockets and to provide an improved handling of different pocket sizes.

The invention relates to a method and a device for making absorbent cores used in disposable hygiene pads, the method or device comprising three steps: (A) suctioning of wood pulp fibers mixed with super absorbent polymers into a net structure on a base tissue to form an absorbent core; (B) compressing and embossing absorbent material; and (C) shaping of the absorbent core. The method of the current invention can be used for making different kinds of absorbent pad products. While increasing the tear strength of the product, the method realizes and simplifies the process of making both the absorbent material and the hygiene pad utilizing the absorbent material on the same manufacturing line, and reduces the cost of making the absorbent pads. The absorbent core made by applying the method of the current invention has a new structure formed by super absorbent polymers and wood pulp fibers, wherein the structure enables the super absorbent polymers to be evenly distributed in between the wood pulp fibers. Through the compressing and embossing process, the super absorbent polymers are prevented from sliding or piling together in the absorbent core, which increases the liquid-absorbing capacity of the hygiene pad products.

Methods and apparatuses for producing a substrate are described. A method and apparatus for introducing a component into a fluid supply is also presented. A method can include providing a first fluid supply. The fluid supply can be configured as a foam in some embodiments. The method can also include providing a component feed system and a supply of the component. The method can include introducing the component to a fluid supply in an eductor in some aspects. A resultant slurry including a fluid supply and the component can be transferred through a headbox. The resultant slurry can be dewatered to provide a substrate including the component.

An absorbent article has a longitudinal direction, a transverse direction and a thickness direction, and includes a fluid permeable topsheet, a fluid impermeable backsheet and an absorbent core enclosed between the topsheet and the backsheet having, in the longitudinal direction, a front section, a rear section and a crotch section between the front section and the rear section. The absorbent core has two longitudinally extending side regions being spaced apart in the transversal direction by at least one longitudinally extending channel region. The channel region is of less basis weight than the side regions.

An absorbent article has a longitudinal direction, a transverse direction and a thickness direction, and includes a fluid permeable topsheet, a fluid impermeable backsheet and an absorbent core enclosed between the topsheet and the backsheet having, in the longitudinal direction, a front section, a rear section and a crotch section between the front section and the rear section. The absorbent core has two longitudinally extending side regions and a longitudinally extending central region between said side regions. The central region and the side regions are spaced apart in the transversal direction by longitudinally extending channel regions. Furthermore, the width of the central region in the transversal direction is less than the width of each of the side regions in the transversal direction, at least in the front section and the rear section, and the channel regions are of less basis weight than the side regions and the central region.

Disclosed herein are The invention relates to curled fiber mats. The invention further includes methods of making curled fiber mats, comprising forming a fibrous media from a fibrous material, treating the fibrous media with a crosslinking agent to form a treated fibrous media, and drying and/or curing the treated fibrous media to produce a curled fiber mat that has a permanent curl.