JPH0779842A - Air-mat - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a self-inflation type cushion member for which a seat material having a relatively low heat-resistance can be used so as to relatively lower the cost, and if using a seat material having a relatively high heat- resistance, no peel-off occurs between the materials even though the bonding temperature becomes high. CONSTITUTION:In an air-mat 1, each of two front and rear air-tight sheet materials 4 is formed thereon with a thermosetting adhesive layer 3 all over the surface thereof on one side, and the air-tight sheet 4 is bonded to an open cell foam sheet 2 through the intermediary of the adhesive layer 3 so as to form an envelope in which the foam sheet 2 is covered thereover with the air-tight sheet, and which is provided in a predetermined part thereof with an air-intake valve 6. The air-tight sheets 4 are bonded together through the intermediary of the adhesive layer 3 in the peripheral edge part 9 of the air-mat 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a self-expanding air mat which reproduces a predetermined shape by taking in air by the impact resilience of a foam sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Urethane foam is generally known as a portable cushioning material which has been generally used as a leisure mat and the like. However, those using this urethane foam are bulky and inconvenient to carry when they are thick, and have poor cushioning properties when they are thin.
On the other hand, there is also a type of cushioning material that is used by inflating it by injecting air into a synthetic resin bag, but this is convenient for carrying by deflating and folding air, and it is also preferable in terms of impact resilience. However, it was insufficient in terms of cushion comfort.

In order to solve the above problems, an elastic foam sheet having open cells is used as an intermediate body, and air intake valves are attached to the corners of a cushion material whose upper and lower sides and its periphery are covered with an airtight material. When not in use, you can close the valve with the air discharged from the inside to make it flat or fold it into a shape that is easy to carry.When using, open the air intake valve above,
A so-called self-expanding air mattress has been proposed in which air is taken in from the valve and expanded into a predetermined shape to form a cushion while allowing the elastic foam sheet to naturally expand due to the repulsive elasticity ( Japanese Patent Sho 61
-33566).

However, in the above air mattress, a thermoplastic intermediate material (hot melt adhesive) is used as an adhesive in bonding a cushion intermediate body made of an elastic foamed sheet and airtight materials that cover the periphery of the cushion intermediate body to form front and back layers. Agent) is used to soften and bond at a predetermined melting point, and a relatively large amount of heat is added to this, so a material with poor heat resistance was used as the material that constitutes both of the above. In this case, the front and back layers may have significant deformation, wrinkles, melting marks, scorching marks, etc., and the intermediate body causes unevenness on the surface due to melting of the material surface due to heat, resulting in a loss of the appearance of the product. If there are fine patterns (texture pattern, etc.) on the front and back layers, these may disappear, and in order to prevent these inconveniences, both materials are relatively There heat resistance has been required. However, even if a material with high heat resistance is used, there is a problem that when the temperature above the softening point of the adhesive is applied, the adhesion between the airtight material and the cushion intermediate is weakened and sometimes peels off and expands. It was In addition, materials with high heat resistance are generally relatively expensive, which has been a cause of increasing the unit price of products.

[0005]

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and by eliminating the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks and making it possible to use a sheet material having relatively poor heat resistance, To provide a relatively inexpensive self-expanding type cushioning material, and to provide a self-expanding type cushioning material in which a foam sheet and an airtight sheet material are not separated even if a sheet material having high heat resistance is used. With the goal. That is, in the air mat of the present invention, the periphery of an open-celled foam sheet is made of an airtight sheet material, and is bonded with the adhesive through a thermosetting adhesive layer provided on part or all of the periphery of the foam sheet. In addition, an air intake valve is provided at a predetermined portion of the covered closed enclosure.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The drawings are views showing an example of the air mat of the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) is a perspective view of the air mat of the present invention, FIG. 1 (b) is a longitudinal sectional view, and FIG. 1 (c) is when the air mat is compressed. FIG. In the air mat 1 of the present invention, for example, as shown in the same figure, a thermosetting adhesive layer 3 is provided on the entire surface of one side of two airtight sheet materials 4 on the front and back sides, and a foam sheet having open cells through the adhesive layer 3. An air intake valve 6 is provided at a predetermined position of an enclosure 5 obtained by adhering an airtight sheet material 4 to 2 and covering the open-cell foam sheet 2 with the airtight sheet material 4. In the peripheral portion 9 of the air mat 1, the airtight sheets 4 on the front and back are adhered to each other via the adhesive layer 3 therebetween.

The open-cell foam sheet 2 is an open-cell synthetic resin foam sheet having flexibility and impact resilience, and examples of the synthetic resin include urethane, polyester, PVC, polyethylene, polybutadiene, and rubber. However, a flexible urethane foam having a tensile strength of 0.5 kg / cm ² or more, an elongation of 150% or more, and a tear strength of 0.20 kg or more and a repulsion elasticity of 30% or more is particularly preferable. Also, the thickness is 5 mm to 50 mm
A degree is preferable. The vertical and horizontal sizes can be appropriately selected according to the intended use of the air mat. If the tensile strength and the tear strength of the foam sheet are too weak, the foam sheet itself may be broken without peeling off at the adhesive portion when air is injected. Therefore, it is necessary to select the material of the foam sheet in consideration of this. The above-mentioned relatively suitable foam sheet has a tensile strength of about 0.60 kg / cm ² or more and a tear strength of 0.2 or more.
It is about 7 kg or more.

The adhesive constituting the adhesive layer 3 may be a thermosetting adhesive, such as epoxy type, acrylic type,
Conventionally known thermosetting adhesives such as rubber-based and urethane-based adhesives can be used, and they may be one-component type or two-component type, but urethane-type two-component type adhesives are particularly preferable. Further, the urethane two-liquid type adhesive is a substance having an isocyanate group (-NCO group) at the end as a curing agent, and a hydroxyl group (-) at the end of polyester, polyether, polyester-polyether, etc. An adhesive that is cured by adding a substance having an OH group) and causing a urethane reaction.

The airtight sheet material 4 has a thickness of 0.1 mm to
A flexible airtight plastic sheet having a thickness of 1.0 mm or a flexible airtight cloth sheet obtained by laminating a resin or a film on a cloth (cloth) can be used. As the above-mentioned plastic, polyethylene, polyacetate, polyvinyl alcohol, etc. can be used as a material having relatively poor heat resistance in addition to vinyl chloride. Of course, various plastic materials with excellent heat resistance, such as polyurethane,
Polyester, nylon, acrylic, etc. can also be used. Further, as the above-mentioned cloth, other than woven cloth such as plain weave and twill
Nonwoven fabric may be used, and knitting such as tricot (longitudinal knit) and jersey (horizontal knit) may also be used. The above-mentioned cloth provided with a resin on one side is preferable in terms of appearance and feel when the surface of the product is the cloth surface.

The envelope body 5 is in a closed state and in a flat state in which air is removed in the intermediate stage of the production of the air mat 1 of the present invention. The shape of the enclosure at this time is shown in FIG.
It is the same as the state shown in. When the air intake valve 6 is provided, when a part of the enclosure 5 is removed, air is taken in and self-expands to have a three-dimensional shape as shown in FIG.

As the air intake valve 6, a conventionally known metal fitting for a valve, a synthetic resin valve, or the like can be used. In the case of a square air mat, for example, the place where the valve is provided is usually preferably a corner portion, but is not limited to this and may be any place.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of the method for manufacturing the air mat of the present invention. The air mat 1 of the present invention is, for example, as shown in the same figure, bonded to one side of two airtight sheet materials 4 (41, 42) (both may be front and back) using a roll coater method or the like. The thermosetting adhesive 31 is applied by the agent applying device 7. Reference numeral 71 is an adhesive application device such as a gravure roll coater. The foam sheet 2 having an appropriate size narrower than the adhesive application width is continuously placed on the adhesive application surface of 41, and is continuously placed by a laminating roll or the like while facing the adhesive application surface of the other airtight sheet material 42. Then, pressure-bonding lamination is performed to continuously produce the enclosure 5 in the closed state of the foam sheet.

The temperature and the laminating speed of the pressure-bonding laminating are such that the foam sheet 2 and the airtight sheets 41 and 42 are used.
It can be appropriately selected depending on the combination of materials.
After the enclosure 5 in a hermetically sealed state is obtained through the above steps, a part of the corner portion of the enclosure 5 is removed, and the air intake valve 6 is attached to the air mat of the present invention. In the manufacture of the air mat of the present invention, the air intake valve 6 is preferably attached after the adhesive is completely cured. When removing a part of the enclosure 5 in a hermetically sealed state, if the adhesive is not cured, the foam sheet 2 may take in air and self-expand, and there is a risk of weakening the adhesive strength.
For this reason, the air intake valve 6 is usually mounted 1-2 days after lamination.

Adhesive coating device 7 shown at 71 and 72 in FIG.
In addition to the above, for example, a doctor knife coater,
A spray coater or the like can be used.

In the air mat of the present invention, since the thermosetting adhesive is used as the adhesive as described above, the heating heat amount is small as in the case of using the conventional hot-melt adhesive, and therefore the heating temperature. Can be reduced, or the heating time can be reduced, or both can be reduced in some cases. Therefore, as a manufacturing process, an adhesive curing process of passing through a heating roll can be adopted, and there is an advantage that continuous production is possible instead of the conventional batch system. Therefore, the production amount per unit time can be increased, and thus the manufacturing cost can be reduced as compared with the conventional method. Further, since a thermosetting adhesive is used, there is an advantage that it is superior in heat resistance adhesiveness to an air mat using a conventional thermoplastic adhesive (hot melt adhesive).

Another example of the air mat of the present invention is also shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, a thermosetting adhesive layer 3 is provided on a predetermined site on one side of the airtight sheet material 4 (41, 42), and the foam sheet 2 is formed by the adhesive layer 3 via the adhesive layer 3. An air intake valve 6 is provided at a predetermined portion of an enclosure 5 formed by adhering the portion of the airtight sheet material 4 on which the adhesive layer 3 is provided and covering the periphery of the foam sheet 2 with the airtight sheet material 4. In the peripheral portion 9, the airtight sheets 41 and 42 on the front and back sides are bonded to each other with the adhesive layer 3 interposed therebetween. Figure 3 (a)
Shows the perspective view.

In the air mat 1, between the airtight sheet material 4 and the foam sheet 2 in the non-adhesive portion a, this area can be slightly expanded as compared with the foam sheet 2 due to the entry of air.

FIG. 3 (b) shows that the air mat 1 is forcibly fed with air from the air intake valve 6 so that the air mat 1 is somewhat larger than the self-expanded state (more than the shape of the foam sheet when expanded). It is a figure which shows the state expanded. In this state, since only the air is filled in the non-adhesive portion a, the air mat 1 can be made to have a cushioning property of air to some extent by this portion. The cushioning property is added, and the elasticity characteristic is further improved, so that the cushioning material is comfortable to use. In addition, it is preferable because it can be a product having a good appearance in terms of appearance. Incidentally, FIG. 3C is a vertical sectional view when the air mat 1 is compressed.

In FIG. 3, the thermosetting adhesive layer 3 is provided on a predetermined portion of one side of the airtight sheet material 41 so that the entire one side and the upper surface of the airtight sheet material 42 are continuous rhombus. This is an example in which the foam sheet 2 and the airtight sheet material 4 are adhered by the agent layer 3 and the foam sheet 2 is surrounded by the airtight sheet material 4, but the adhesion site between the foam sheet and the airtight sheet material is Although it is necessary for both the bottom surface and the top surface, the bottom surface and the top surface may be the whole surface or a part thereof, and when it is a part, the shape of the part is not limited to the example of FIG. 3 and may be any shape. Good. A thermosetting adhesive is applied to the peripheral portions of the airtight sheet materials 41 and 42.

To manufacture the air mat as described above,
In the process of applying the adhesive described in FIG. 2, for example, in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8, an engraving 8 of a desired shape for the gravure roll coater 71 to be used, in this case, a diamond-shaped stitch pattern.
And the adhesive 31 is accumulated in the groove, and the accumulated adhesive 31 is applied to the foam sheet or the airtight sheet material in the shape of the groove so that only the desired portion is formed. Can be used.

The air mat of the present invention can be suitably used as a cushioning material such as a leisure mat, a seating team, a seat cushion for watching sports or camping, and the like because it is particularly convenient to carry.

The conventional self-expanding air mattress is
The airtight sheet of the surface layer and the foam sheet of the open cells of the inner layer are bonded by a hot-melt adhesive, and the hot-melt adhesive may be bonded at a low temperature for a long time or a short time. Since it requires a relatively large amount of heat such as high temperature for a long time, it is not possible to use a material with low heat resistance, such as PVC, and even with a relatively heat resistant material, a fine grain pattern is formed on the surface. If provided, the pattern will be crushed by heat and the pattern will not be exhibited, and eventually the usable sheet material is limited to an extremely narrow range. Since a relatively expensive material having high heat resistance must be used in this way, the conventional self-expanding cushion material has a high product cost.

Incidentally, when a hot-melt adhesive is used, the working temperature × time (condition under which the adhesive melts) is usually 1
It is 00 ° C to 150 ° C x 30 seconds or more. Under these conditions, PVC cannot withstand it at all.

In the present invention, a thermosetting adhesive is used to bond the foam sheet and the airtight sheet material. Although the thermosetting adhesive depends on the type of the adhesive, the working temperature condition required for the adhesion is generally within the range of 60 ° C to 150 ° C x 3 seconds and has a certain range depending on the type. Some require a higher temperature than the adhesive, but the time required for reaction curing is extremely short, so
The foam sheet and the airtight sheet material are not affected by heat. Since such working temperature conditions can be adopted, an inexpensive sheet material such as vinyl chloride, which is relatively inferior in heat resistance, can be used for the air mat of the present invention. By the way, PVC does not melt or deform under working conditions of 100 ° C x 3 seconds.

[0025]

Since the air mat of the present invention is constructed as described above, it is possible to use a material having poor heat resistance such as vinyl chloride as the foam sheet and the airtight sheet material, particularly as the airtight sheet material. Therefore, there is an advantage that the range of selection of materials to be used can be widened so that low-priced materials can be selected if desired, and materials with other characteristics emphasized can be selected as desired. Further, when a material having excellent heat resistance is used as the airtight sheet material, the adhesion between the airtight material and the foam sheet is not weakened even if the working temperature at the time of bonding becomes too high, and therefore the two may peel off. There is no.

Further, since the adhesive is a thermosetting type and the time required for bonding the foam sheet and the airtight sheet is short, there is an advantage that productivity can be improved.

Further, since the adhesive is a thermosetting type, even when the air mat is left in a high temperature place, the adhesive at the adhered part does not melt and peel off, and a good quality is obtained even in a high temperature place. It has the advantage that it can be maintained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an air mat of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a method for manufacturing the air mat of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view showing another example of the air mat of the present invention.

4 is an example of an adhesive application device used when manufacturing the air mat of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Air Mat 2 Foam Sheet 3 Thermosetting Adhesive 4 Airtight Sheet 5 Enclosure 6 Air Intake Valve

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An airtight sheet material is attached to the periphery of an open-celled foam sheet with the adhesive through a thermosetting adhesive layer provided on part or all of the periphery of the foam sheet, An air mat, characterized in that an air intake valve is provided at a predetermined portion of the covered closed enclosure.