Hidenobu Kakimoto, Himeji, Japan; and Kazuo Fujii, Himeji, Japan.
Assigned to Sumitomo Seika Chemicals Co., Ltd., Hyogo, Japan.

Filed: 8/10/16
Issued: 7/5/22

An apparatus for manufacturing an absorbent body, comprising: a conveying unit that conveys an aggregate of absorbent fibers and a water-absorbent resin; a pressing member configured to press and reduce a thickness of the aggregate of absorbent fibers and the water-absorbent resin, wherein there is a gap between the pressing member and an opposing surface of the conveying unit, wherein the gap is adjustable to have a width that is smaller than a thickness of the aggregate of absorbent fibers and the water-absorbent resin so that the pressing member presses the aggregate of absorbent fibers and the water-absorbent resin; a mixing unit that accepts the pressed aggregate of the absorbent fibers and the water-absorbent resin that were conveyed by the conveying unit, wherein the mixing unit is configured to mix the absorbent fibers and the water-absorbent resin; a chamber portion that has an internal space through which the absorbent fibers and the water-absorbent resin that were mixed in the mixing unit fall; a stacking portion that is disposed below the chamber portion and has a recessed portion in which the absorbent fibers and the water-absorbent resin that fall through the chamber portion are stacked; and a suction unit that causes a negative pressure in the chamber portion, wherein the mixing unit includes: a cylindrical body that is supported rotatably and has an outer circumferential surface on which recesses and protrusions are formed; and a driving portion that rotates the cylindrical body; wherein the mixing unit comprises a gap formation portion comprising: a first region through which the aggregate of the absorbent fibers and the water-absorbent resin having the first thickness that were conveyed by the conveying unit pass, wherein the first region of the gap formation portion is bounded by a surface of a cover member that covers and faces the upper portion of the cylindrical body and the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical body, wherein the first region of the gap formation portion has a width that is smaller than the width of the gap between the pressing member and the opposing surface of the conveying unit such that, during rotation of the cylindrical body, the pressed material body including the absorbent fibers and the water-absorbent resin is mixed by being crushed and rubbed together by a shear force between the first region of the gap formation portion and the cylindrical body to produce a mixed aggregate of the absorbent fibers and the water-absorbent resin, and a second region comprising an arch-shaped plate mesh that is located below the cylindrical body, provided with a plurality of through holes, and that connects the second region of the gap formation portion and the internal space of the chamber portion via the plurality of through holes, wherein a gap between the arch-shaped plate mesh and the cylindrical body has a width that is smaller than the width of the first region of the gap formation portion, such that the mixed material body is rubbed between the arch-shaped plate mesh and the cylindrical body due to shearing between the recesses and protrusions of the cylindrical body and the arch-shaped plate mesh, and wherein, upon reaching the second region, the absorbent fibers and the water-absorbent resin that are mixed together are pressed by the protrusions of the cylindrical body against the arc-shaped plate mesh so that pieces of the mixed absorbent fibers and water-absorbent resin are pressed through the plurality of through holes of the arch-shaped plate mesh and fall downward into the internal space of the chamber portion.