JPH09117499A - Apparatus for evaporating volatile component - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily find the decrease of an aqueous solution from the out-side by containing a large number of particles of a water absorbing and shape changing material deforming the shape depending on the absorbed amount of water in a stretchable container a part of which is freely stretchable, and by previously absorbing water including a volatile component in the shape changing material. SOLUTION: This apparatus for evaporating a volatile component 10 has a stretchable container 11 comprising opening 12 made of a hard plastic resin, a freely stretchable member 11a and of a rubber fixed on the opening 12, a bottom plate 16 made of a hard plastic resin fixed on the bottom of the stretchable memory 11a, a large number of particles of a water absorbing and shape changing material 15 in the container 11. The particles of the shape changing material 15 deform are the respective shape depending on the absorbed amount of water. An aqueous solution containing a deodorizing agent or a an aroma is previously filled in the container 11 and the particles of the shape changing material 15 are swelled to be large in shape with water and when the water containing the volatile component is evaporated outside with the time of the use, the container 11 becomes smaller in the size.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a volatile component emission device that emits moisture containing volatile components such as deodorants and fragrances, and more particularly, to easily recognize reduction of moisture containing volatile components. The present invention relates to a device for volatile component emission.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, most of deodorant / fragrance products are deodorant /
The mainstream is a container containing an aqueous solution containing a volatile component such as an aromatic. Recently, an aqueous solution containing a volatile component has been developed as a jelly-like or gel-like substance, and the jelly-like or gel-like substance is placed in a container to prevent spilling and extend the effect. These include gum arabic, gelatin, agar, polyvinyl alcohol,
This is prepared by mixing carboxymethyl cellulose, polyethylene glycol, polyacrylic acid salt and the like with a deodorant / aromatic agent, and further mixing a curing agent if necessary to prepare an aqueous solution, which is then gelled in an aqueous solution state.

[0003]

However, these gel-like products have a problem that it is difficult to know when the amount of the aqueous solution is decreased, that is, when the performance is deteriorated. Furthermore, since conventional gels generally have low gel strength, it is difficult for the water-absorbent gel itself to maintain its shape.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a volatile component emitting device having a design property that allows the decrease in the aqueous solution to be easily and easily recognized from the outside. To aim.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided an expandable container having an opening and at least a part of which is expandable and contractible, and a large number of the expandable container is accommodated in the expandable container depending on the amount of absorbed water. A volatile component emitting device, comprising: a particulate water-absorbing shape-changing material having a variable shape, wherein the shape-changing material has previously absorbed water containing a volatile component.

According to the present invention, the water containing the volatile component absorbed by the shape-changing material in the expandable container diverges outward from the opening. The shape-changing material changes its shape when the water content decreases, and causes the expandable container to expand and contract.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION First Embodiment Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 are views showing a first embodiment of a volatile component emission apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a volatile component emission device 1
Reference numeral 0 denotes an expansion / contraction container including a hard plastic opening 12, an elastic expansion / contraction part 11a fixed to the opening 12, and a hard plastic bottom plate 16 fixed to the bottom of the expansion / contraction part 11a. This expandable container 1 is equipped with 11.
A large number of water-absorbent shape changing materials 15 are housed in 1. The shape-variable material 15 has a granular shape, and the shape is variable according to the amount of absorbed water. That is, the shape changing material 15 has a larger shape when the water content is large, and a smaller shape when the water content is small. A cap 13 having a vent hole 13a is attached to the opening 12 of the expandable container 11.

The expandable container 11 is preliminarily filled with an aqueous solution containing a volatile component such as deodorant and aromatic, so that the shape changing material 15 in the expandable container 11 contains water and has a large shape. .

The expandable container 11 described above is placed on a support 21, and the expandable container 11 is covered with a transparent cover plate 20 made of plastic and having a vent hole 20a.

Next, the material of each component will be described in detail. (Material 1 of the shape-changing material) The shape-changing material can be composed only of water-absorbing gel particles whose shape is small when water is not absorbed, but whose shape becomes large by absorbing water (FIG. 3). (See (a) and (b)). As the particles, those listed in the following table can be used.

[0012]

[Table 1] (Material 2 of Variable Shape Molded Body) A granular variable shape material may be produced by breaking a variable shape molded body of a desired size into particles. In this case, the shape-variable molded body is produced by heating and dissolving a water-soluble resin such as polyethylene glycol, and placing it in a molding die of a desired shape and solidifying it to prepare a resin molded article having a desired shape, and then producing γ It can be obtained by irradiating with ionizing radiation or actinic radiation to crosslink.

It is also possible to use a resin comprising a resin as a base material and a water-soluble polymer compound added to the resin (JP-A-7-145245). Of these, the resin serving as the base material is not particularly limited as long as it can maintain the desired performance after irradiation with ionizing radiation and actinic radiation, but it can follow the shape change of the water-soluble material. Elastomer materials are preferred because they are required. For example, soft polyolefin, styrene butadiene rubber, polyurethane, polyester ether and the like can be mentioned.

On the other hand, the water-soluble polymer compound is obtained, for example, by using the following two components (A) and (B).

(A) A polyoxy compound having a weight average molecular weight of 100 or more obtained by addition-polymerizing an alkylene oxide containing 50% by weight or more of ethylene oxide with an organic compound having two active hydrogen groups. Alkylene polyol.

(B) At least one compound selected from the group consisting of dicarboxylic acids, dicarboxylic anhydrides, lower alkyl esters of dicarboxylic acids and diisocyanate compounds.

Examples of the organic compound having two active hydrogen groups include ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,6-hexanediol, neopentyl glycol and bisphenol A. , Polytetramethylene glycol, cyclohexane-1,4-
Alicyclic diols such as dimethanol, butylamine, octylamine, laurylamine, cyclohexylamine,
Examples include amines such as aniline. These are used alone or in combination.

Further, 50% by weight of ethylene oxide to be addition-polymerized with the above-mentioned organic compound having two active hydrogen groups.
Examples of the alkylene oxide containing at least (hereinafter abbreviated as “%”) include ethylene oxide alone, and alkylene oxide mixtures such as propylene oxide, butylene oxide and styrene oxide containing at least 50% ethylene oxide. When the content of the ethylene oxide is less than 50% of the total alkylene oxide, it becomes insoluble in water and is not suitable.

Examples of the above (B) include dicarboxylic acids, dicarboxylic acid anhydrides, lower alkyl esters of dicarboxylic acids, and diisocyanate compounds. These may be used alone or in combination of two or more. Examples of the dicarboxylic acid include phthalic acid, isophthalic acid, terephthalic acid,
Examples thereof include malonic acid, succinic acid, sebacic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid, adipic acid and itaconic acid. And
Examples of the dicarboxylic anhydride include anhydrides of the various dicarboxylic acids. Further, as the lower alkyl ester of the dicarboxylic acid, methyl ester, dimethyl ester, ethyl ester of the various dicarboxylic acids,
Examples include diethyl ester, propyl ester, dipropyl ester and the like. Further, specific examples of the diisocyanate compound include tolylene diisocyanate, diphenylmethane diisocyanate, hexamethylene diisocyanate, isophorone diisocyanate, xylene diisocyanate, and 4,4-methylene-bis (cyclohexyl isocyanate).

The method for producing the shape-variable molded article will be described in more detail. First, a water-soluble polymer compound is used and added to a resin. The addition method is not particularly limited as long as uniform mixing is possible, but generally, it is preferable to melt-mix using an extruder and cool to pelletize.
As this cooling method, a cooling method using water is usually mentioned, but since a water-soluble polymer compound is used, air cooling is preferable. Then, a resin molded product is produced using a molding die of a molding machine for molding the pellet into a desired shape.
Then, by irradiating the resin molded product with one of ionizing radiation and actinic rays, the added water-soluble polymer compound is crosslinked to be converted into a highly water-absorbent resin to obtain a variable shape molded product.

In the above manufacturing method, the amount of the water-soluble polymer compound added to the resin as the base material is 5 with respect to the resin.
It is preferable to set it to be at least%. That is, if the amount of the water-soluble polymer compound added is less than 5%, it is difficult to impart desired water absorption to the obtained resin molded product.

Examples of the ionizing radiation with which the resin molded product is irradiated include electron beams, γ rays, X rays and the like, and the irradiation amount is 10 to 500 KGy. The actinic rays include ultraviolet rays and visible rays. The purpose of irradiation with ionizing radiation and actinic rays is to crosslink the water-soluble polymer compound uniformly mixed with the resin to make it insoluble in water and to become a highly water-absorbent resin. (Material 3 of Variable Shape Molded Body) As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the water-absorbent gel particles 25 and the water-absorbent gel particles 25.
A granular shape-variable material 15 can be produced by producing a composition composed of the thermoplastic elastomers 26 that bond together and breaking the composition into particles. As the water-absorbent gel particles 25, those listed in the above table can be used.

Further, examples of the thermoplastic elastomer 26 include styrene / butadiene rubber, polyurethane, polyester ether and the like.

As shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b), when the water-absorbent gel particles 25 do not absorb water, the shape thereof is small (see FIG. 3 (a)), but the shape of the water-absorbent gel particles 25 is reduced by absorbing water. Becomes larger (see FIG. 3B). In FIG. 3B, as the shape of the water-absorbent gel particles 25 increases, the thermoplastic elastomer 26 expands accordingly, and the shape of the shape-changing material 15 increases accordingly.

Water-absorbent gel particles 25 in the shape-changing material 15:
The weight ratio with the thermoplastic elastomer 26 is 0.1: 0.
It is 9 to 0.8: 0.2. (Material 4 of Shape-Shaped Molded Body) By breaking a nonwoven fabric containing water-absorbent gel fibers into particles, a granular shape-shaped material can be produced. The water-absorbent gel fiber is made of polyacrylate or the like, for example, the water-absorbent fiber 10 to 8
A non-woven fabric containing 0% and pulp or polyester (trade name: Bell Oasis Kanebo Co., Ltd.) can be used. A nonwoven fabric containing water-absorbent gel fibers may be rolled as it is and used as a shape-changing material. (Material for deodorant and fragrance) As the deodorant and fragrance contained in the aqueous solution, for example, deodorant and fragrance such as rose, jasmine, lavender, lilac, orange and lemon can be used. In this case, a synthetic deodorant / fragrance or a natural deodorant / fragrance can be used. Such deodorants and fragrances are used alone or as a mixture of plural kinds, and are dissolved or finely dispersed in water.

The aqueous solution may contain a water / alcohol mixed solution or a surfactant in order to appropriately disperse the deodorant / fragrance agent. In this case, the water / alcohol mixed solution or the surfactant is added in an amount of 1 to 50 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of water.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described. First, the large number of shape-changing members 15 in the expandable container 11 have become large by absorbing the aqueous solution.

The deodorant / aromatic agent in the shape-changing material 15 scatters together with the water from the ventilation hole 13a of the cap 13 and is gradually discharged outward from the ventilation hole 20a of the transparent cover 20. In this way, the deodorizing and aroma function is exerted to the environment outside the cover 20.

Next, the shape changing material 15 in the expandable container 11 is
When the water content disappears, the shape of the elastic container 11 becomes smaller, and the rubber expandable portion 11a of the expandable container 11 shrinks accordingly. Therefore, the shape of the expandable container 11 becomes small as a whole.

According to this embodiment, the shape of the expandable container 11 is reduced as a whole, so that the shape-changing member 15 can be formed.
It can be confirmed from the outside that the deodorant and aroma functions have disappeared due to the loss of water inside. Shape variable material 15
When the water content inside is lost, the cap 13 is removed from the opening 12 and the aqueous solution containing volatile components such as deodorant and aromatic is replenished through the opening 12. Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The second embodiment shown in FIG.
2 is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the first
The same parts as those in the embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the expandable container 11 has a relatively hard plastic opening 12 and a relatively hard plastic container body 17 connected to the opening 12.
And a rubber expansion / contraction part 18 which is connected to the container body 17 and is expandable / contractible. Of these, the rubber stretchable portion 18 has the shape of an animal ear, and the container body 17 forms the rest of the animal.

According to the present embodiment, when the shape-changing material 15 housed in the container body 11 runs out of water, the expansion / contraction portion 1
Since 8 (ear shape) gradually becomes smaller, it is possible to easily confirm that the water is gone by the shape change of the animal's ear.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, the shape-changing material changes its shape when the water content disappears, and the expandable container expands and contracts. Therefore, by confirming the expansion and contraction of the expandable container from the outside, it is possible to easily and easily confirm that the shape-changing material has run out of water.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of a volatile component emission device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of a volatile component emission device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a variable shape material.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Volatile Component Dispersion Device 11 Telescopic Container 11a Telescopic Part 12 Opening 13 Cap 15 Shape Change Material 17 Container Body 18 Telescopic Part 20 Transparent Cover

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An expandable container having an opening, at least a part of which is expandable and contractible, and a large number of granular particles which are accommodated in the expandable container and whose shape is variable according to the amount of absorbed water. A volatile component diverting device, comprising: a water-absorbent shape changing material, wherein the shape changing material has previously absorbed water containing a volatile component. 2. The volatile component escaping device according to claim 1, wherein the expandable container is covered with a cover having at least a part having a ventilation hole and being transparent.