Tomoki Hayashi, Kagawa, Japan; Hidetaka Oyama, Kagawa, Japan; Jun Okuda, Kagawa, Japan; and Satoshi Mitsuno, Kagawa, Japan.
Assigned to Unicharm Corporation, Ehime, Japan.

Filed: 9/22/14
Issued: 10/22/19

An absorbent article manufacturing apparatus, comprising: a first conveying route arranged in a straight line along a first direction in a plan view; a second conveying route configured to convey a nonwoven fabric in a second direction that intersects the first direction in the plan view, the nonwoven fabric being a strip shape and serving as a part of an absorbent article; a plurality of processing devices configured to process an intermediate product of the absorbent article that is conveyed along the first conveying route; and a heating unit configured to restore bulk of the nonwoven fabric through heating the nonwoven fabric by blowing hot air onto the nonwoven fabric while conveying the nonwoven fabric along a direction in which the nonwoven fabric is continuous, wherein in the plan view, the heating unit is arranged in a position that is displaced from the first conveying route in the second direction, the heating unit has a case member including a space divided into (i) an outgoing route space having an outgoing route entrance and an outgoing route exit and (ii) a return route space having a return route entrance and a return route exit, the outgoing route entrance and the return route exit for the nonwoven fabric are formed in a first end portion of the case member, the outgoing route exit and the return route entrance for the nonwoven fabric are formed in a second end portion of the case member, the first and second end portions opposing each other in a lengthwise direction of the case member, the case member further includes a first blast opening configured to blast the hot air into the outgoing route space toward the outgoing route exit, and a second blast opening configured to blast the hot air into the return route space toward the return route exit, the outgoing route exit and the return route exit define first and second discharge ports, respectively, the first and second discharge ports being configured to discharge, from the case member, the hot air that has flowed while being in contact with one surface of two surfaces of the nonwoven fabric, and the apparatus is configured to input the nonwoven fabric from the second conveying route to the first conveying route, after the nonwoven fabric has been heated by the heating unit and the bulk of the nonwoven fabric has been restored.