Article for absorbing a physiological liquid, such as a dressing

Abstract

An article having properties allowing same to absorb a body fluid. The article includes at least three paths for the propagation of fluid from a fluid capture zone to at least one storage and/or evaporation area, each fluid propagation path being delimited by a fluid barrier preventing the passage of liquid from one path to another.

Claims

1. An article having bodily-fluid absorption properties, comprising at least three fluidic-propagation paths leading from a zone in which said fluid is collected to at least one retention and/or evaporation zone, each fluidic-propagation path being delimited by a fluidic barrier, the fluidic barrier opposing the passage of liquid from one fluidic-propagation path to another and extending between two adjacent fluidic-propagation paths, the fluidic-propagation paths being defined by a material containing absorbent fibers, and the retention and/or evaporation zone being defined by a material having a liquid absorption capacity greater than that of the fluidic-propagation paths.

2. The article as claimed in claim 1, the fluidic barrier comprising an empty space or a hydrophobic material.

3. The article as claimed in claim 1, said fluidic-propagation paths being defined by distinct elements of a transfer structure.

4. The article as claimed in claim 1, the fluidic-propagation paths being defined by elements arranged with an angular offset about a center of the article.

5. The article as claimed in claim 4, the fluidic-propagation paths being evenly angularly distributed.

6. The article as claimed in claim 1, the fluidic-propagation paths being defined by elements that are separated by a layer of a material impermeable to water.

7. The article claimed in claim 1, the fluidic-propagation paths being substantially parallel to one another.

8. The article as claimed in claim 7, comprising two sets of fluidic-propagation paths leading between a common fluid collection zone and two respective retention or evaporation zones, each retention or evaporation zone being specific to one of the two sets.

9. The article as claimed in claim 1, the retention or evaporation zone completely surrounding the collection zone.

10. The article as claimed in claim 9, the retention or evaporation zone being concentric with the collection zone.

11. The article as claimed in claim 1, the fluidic-propagation paths each opening at two opposite ends onto respective absorbent parts forming retention or evaporation zones.

12. The article as claimed in claim 1, the fluidic-propagation paths being defined by elements that are at least partially superposed.

13. The article as claimed in claim 1, constituting a dressing.

Description

(1) The invention may be better understood from reading the detailed description that follows, of some nonlimiting exemplary embodiments thereof and from studying the attached drawing in which:

(2) FIG. 1 schematically and partially depicts, in cross section, one example of an article produced according to the invention,

(3) FIG. 2 depicts in isolation, in a view from above, the transfer structure of the example of FIG. 1,

(4) FIG. 3 illustrates an alternative form of embodiment of the transfer structure,

(5) FIGS. 4 to 6 are views similar to FIG. 2 of alternative forms of articles produced in accordance with the invention,

(6) FIG. 7 is a schematic and partial perspective view of another alternative form of embodiment of the article according to the invention,

(7) FIG. 8 is a schematic partial perspective view of another exemplary embodiment of the transfer structure, and

(8) FIGS. 9 and 10 are schematic and partial views from above of alternative forms of articles produced in accordance with the invention.

(9) For the sake of clarity, the drawings are not always necessarily to scale. Likewise, certain elements may have been depicted with a slight spacing between them in the drawings whereas in real life they are in contact with one another.

(10) The article 10 depicted in FIG. 1 is intended to be applied to part of a human or animal body, to absorb a physiological liquid such as an exudate. It is preferably a dressing intended to be applied to a wound W.

(11) The article 10 may, as in the example illustrated, comprise a receiving absorbent part 11 intended to receive the exudate, defining an exudate collection zone 12, and at least one absorbent part forming a retention and/or evaporation zone, connected to the receiving absorbent part 11, by a transfer structure 14 according to the invention.

(12) In order to reduce the risk of exudate returning toward the receiving absorbent part 11, the article 10 may comprise an intermediate layer as defined hereinabove, not depicted in the drawing, situated between the transfer structure 14 and the receiving absorbent part 11.

(13) In the example illustrated, the article 10 comprises two absorbent parts 13a and 13b forming retention and/or evaporation zones, which are positioned respectively on either side of the receiving absorbent part 11.

(14) The article 10 may also comprise a support 15 made of a layer impermeable to water and which may as illustrated cover the top of the parts 13a and 13b forming retention and/or evaporation zones and the transfer structure 14.

(15) The receiving absorbent part 11, the transfer structure 14 and the support 15 are as defined in general earlier on.

(16) The transfer structure 14 has draining properties that allow liquid to be transferred by diffusion from the receiving absorbent part 11 to the absorbent parts 13a and 13b forming retention and/or evaporation zones.

(17) The transfer structure 14 may comprise several transfer elements 14a as illustrated in FIG. 2. These elements 14a in the example considered take the form of strips that are substantially parallel to one another and spaced apart by a gap 17.

(18) Thus, the liquid may diffuse in each strip element 14a without diffusing from one element 14a to an adjacent element 14a, because of the presence of the gap 17 between the two. The gap 17 is an empty space, forming a fluidic barrier between two adjacent elements 14a.

(19) The elements 14a make it possible to define a direction of drainage parallel to them and the liquid may thus be drained from the wound W toward the absorbent parts 13a and 13b between which the elements 14a extend.

(20) In FIG. 2 it may be seen that just three elements 14a situated above the wound P are moistened with exudate, the other elements 14a remaining dry.

(21) Avoiding lateral migration of the drained fluid thus avoids moistening the part of the transfer structure 14 which is not in contact with the bodily fluid.

(22) In the case of a dressing, this then prevents the perilesional skin from coming into contact with the exudate. In the case of a female sanitary item or a disposable nappy, this reduces the risk of dry parts of the body close to the source of bodily fluid becoming wet.

(23) The elements of the transfer structure 14 may contain absorbent fibers and offer, for transporting the exudate, a cross section that increases toward the part forming a retention and/or evaporation zone, as illustrated in FIG. 3.

(24) More particularly, the elements of the transfer structure 14 may, when viewed from above, have a trapezoidal overall shape of which the width l increases linearly with increasing proximity to the absorbent part forming a retention and/or evaporation zone. This increase in the width l makes it possible to increase the rate at which the liquid diffuses, and therefore the quantity of liquid collected by the absorbent part forming a retention and/or evaporation zone, thereby making it possible to improve the performance of the article in the collection of exudate.

(25) The fact that each element has an increasing width, measured perpendicular to its longitudinal axis, may also make it easier for elements to be imbricated and therefore provides the possibility of having transfer elements that are numerous and closely spaced, although disjointed, above the receiving absorbent part 11, as illustrated in FIG. 3. Moreover, it has been found that a transfer element with an increasing width allows optimized draining of a fluid.

(26) It may be seen from this figure that the transfer structure 14 may be created with two sets of elements 14a and 14b which are imbricated with one another at the collection zone, the elements of one and the same set each defining a fluidic-propagation path.

(27) A gap 17 between the elements 14a and 14b on the one hand and between the elements 14a or 14b on the other hand, makes it possible to avoid liquid migrating from an element 14 to an element 14b or between two 14a or 14b elements.

(28) In an alternative form, the elements 14a are joined together at one end, which is superposed with the absorbent part forming a retention and/or evaporation zone 13a. The same is true of the elements 14b.

(29) The transfer structure 14 may have a thickness that is substantially constant over its entire length. Alternatively, the thickness may vary.

(30) The transfer elements 14a are, for example, of mutually parallel longitudinal axes Y, as are the elements 14b, as illustrated, but may also have different orientations.

(31) The elements 14a, 14b, are, for example, cut in a single piece from a sheet of paper or nonwoven containing absorbent fibers as detailed above.

(32) The absorbent parts forming retention and/or evaporation zones 13a and 13b may be disjointed, as illustrated in FIG. 2. As an alternative, they meet, and for example completely surround the receiving absorbent part 11.

(33) The receiving absorbent part 11 and the transfer structure 14 may be assembled using an adhesive which is, for example, applied discontinuously. The same is true of the way in which the transfer structure 14 and the or each absorbent part forming a retention and/or evaporation zone are assembled.

(34) The layout of the elements 14a, 14b may also be employed within an article that has no receiving absorbent part or no absorbent part forming a retention and/or evaporation zone. In that case, the liquid collection zone or the absorbent zone is defined directly by the transfer structure 14.

(35) The transfer structure 14 may be used to evaporate the liquid with which it becomes laden, and the device may be created without an absorbent part forming a retention and/or evaporation zone in fluidic communication with the transfer structure.

(36) FIG. 4 depicts an alternative form of embodiment in which the transfer structure 14 comprises radial transfer elements 14c extending from a central receiving absorbent part as far as a peripheral absorbent part 13 forming a retention and/or evaporation zone, which is annularly continuous, around the collection zone 11.

(37) The elements 14c are, for example, arranged with even angular distribution about the receiving absorbent part 11 defining the collection zone.

(38) The part 13 forming a retention and/or evaporation zone may be of angularly continuous annular shape, as illustrated in FIG. 4, or may be angularly discontinuous, as illustrated in FIG. 5, each element 14c of the transfer structure 14 then being able to communicate with a single respective reservoir-forming element 13c.

(39) In this embodiment, each element 14c is isolated from the others by an empty space 17, the latter forming a fluidic barrier between two adjacent elements 14c.

(40) In the alternative form illustrated in FIG. 6, the elements 14c of the transfer structure 14 are produced as a single piece with a central part 14d which becomes superposed on any absorbent part there might be defining the collection zone and with a peripheral part 14e which is connected to any absorbent part there may be forming a retention and/or evaporation zone and/or which defines an evaporation zone.

(41) In the examples of FIGS. 4 to 6, the fluidic-propagation paths are defined by the radial transfer elements 14c, these for example being produced by cutting out from a sheet of a draining hydrophilic material. The liquid diffused in one of the elements 14c is unable to reach the adjacent elements, at least in the part situated between the collection zone and the retention and/or evaporation zone, because of the empty space 17.

(42) In the examples of FIGS. 1 to 6 that have just been described, comprising a transfer structure 14 comprising several elements connecting the collection zone to one or more parts forming retention and/or evaporation zones, these elements are disjointed and not superposed.

(43) As illustrated in FIG. 7, the elements of the transfer structure 14 may be defined by a single layer of a draining material, comprising hydrophobic parts 18 that make it possible to limit, or better still prevent, the circulation of liquid between hydrophilic parts 14f extending between the hydrophobic parts 18.

(44) The hydrophilic parts 14f may, as illustrated, extend in the form of parallel strips, partially superposed at one end with a receiving absorbent part 11 defining the collection zone and at the other end with an absorbent part forming a retention and/or evaporation zone 13.

(45) FIG. 8 illustrates the possibility of the transfer structure 14 comprising two elements 14g that are at least partially superposed. Each element 14g is covered on the top with a barrier layer 19 that is impermeable to water, so that liquid diffusing in the element 14g cannot reach the transfer element 14g that covers it.

(46) A superposition of the elements 14g may make it possible to increase the throughput of the liquid diffused in the transfer structure, for the same skin area occupied.

(47) As illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10, the article may be produced in a single piece from a sheet of one and the same draining material.

(48) The article comprises a central collection zone 14d and a peripheral retention and/or evaporation zone 14e, these being connected to one another by transfer zones 14c. The various zones are created by localized treatment 20 of the sheet of initial material, for example a hydrophobic treatment applied to a hydrophilic initial material in order to define zones, hatched in the figure, in which the fluid cannot propagate as illustrated in FIG. 9. In another example, the zones are defined following a hydrophilic treatment applied to a hydrophobic initial material in order to define the zones, hatched in the figure, in which the fluid may diffuse, as illustrated in FIG. 10.

(49) The invention is not restricted to the examples illustrated.

(50) In particular, the transfer structure may be embodied in still other forms.

(51) The expression comprising a is to be understood as being synonymous with comprising at least a.