Chewable Oral Delivery Nonwoven Fabric Substrate
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing chewable oral delivery products, such as pouches, require specific properties like air permeability and heat sealability, limiting the variety of fiber types that can be used and often disintegrate during chewing, whereas a homogenous nonwoven fabric substrate impregnated with a substance provides structural integrity and pleasant mouthfeel without these constraints.
Innovation Solution
A dry-laid needled nonwoven fabric substrate with a matrix of interleaved fibers, where the substance is homogenously distributed and bonded using food-grade binders, offering resistance to chewing and controlled release through needle punching and appropriate fiber composition, including staple and thermoplastic fibers, to ensure strength and soft mouthfeel.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a pouch structure is used for oral delivery, then the product can be contained and protected, but the pouch disintegrates during chewing and requires specific properties like air permeability and heat sealability
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the pouch structure with the active substance delivery system by impregnating the substance directly into the nonwoven fabric matrix. This eliminates the need for separate pouching processes and reduces structural complexity while maintaining integrity during chewing through the homogenous integration of components.
Solution Approach 2:
The nonwoven fabric substrate serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as the structural pouch, the delivery matrix for the substance, and the chewable component. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate pouching processes and reduces the number of specialized properties required.
2Quantity of substance
If water-permeable nonwoven fabric is used, then substance release is enabled, but the fabric may disintegrate during chewing
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses composite nonwoven fabric structures combining different fiber types (natural fibers like cellulose with synthetic fibers like polypropylene or polyester) to achieve both water permeability for substance release and mechanical strength to withstand chewing forces.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention optimizes parameters such as fabric density, fiber diameter, and bonding methods to balance water permeability and mechanical strength. By controlling the nonwoven fabric's physical parameters, both substance release capability and chewing resistance are achieved simultaneously.
3Ease of manufacture
If thermoplastic fibers are used, then the fabric can be heat sealed and formed, but the variety of fiber types is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality by using thermoplastic fibers only where heat sealability is needed for manufacturing, while incorporating natural fibers in regions where mouthfeel and biocompatibility are prioritized. This localized application allows both manufacturing ease and fiber diversity to coexist.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates composite nonwoven fabrics combining thermoplastic and natural fibers, allowing heat sealability from the thermoplastic component while maintaining the versatility and mouthfeel benefits of natural fiber options.
4Speed
If high porosity is used, then rapid flavor release is enabled, but structural integrity during chewing is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality by creating regions with different porosity levels within the nonwoven fabric. High porosity areas facilitate rapid flavor release, while lower porosity areas provide structural integrity and resistance to chewing deformation.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses composite fiber structures and bonding techniques to create a nonwoven fabric with optimized porosity distribution, allowing rapid substance release while maintaining sufficient mechanical strength to withstand chewing forces.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a chewable product that maintains structural integrity during chewing, ensures controlled release of the substance, and offers a wider variety of fiber types for desirable mouthfeel and strength, eliminating the need for pouching processes and associated properties.
Implementation Method 1
The web may be formed by an air laying process, whereby the fibres are randomly orientated in the web. Alternatively, forming the web may include carding the fibres, which aligns their orientation. The air laid or carded web can be bonded using mechanical (e.g. hydroentanglement or needle punching)...
Implementation Method 2
The air laid or carded web can be bonded using mechanical (e.g. hydroentanglement or needle punching), thermal (e.g. where the web includes thermoplastic fibres)...
Implementation Method 3
The air laid or carded web can be bonded using mechanical (e.g. hydroentanglement or needle punching), thermal (e.g. where the web includes thermoplastic fibres) or chemical techniques (e.g. using an adhesive binder)...
Implementation Method 4
US 2014/0261480 A1 discloses a pouch formed from a fabric comprising melt-blown polymer fibres having a hydrophilic surface coating.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
AI summary
A chewable product for oral delivery of a substance. The chewable product is an essentially homogenous portion of nonwoven fabric impregnated with the substance. For example, the chewable product may comprise a nonwoven fabric substrate having a matrix of interleaved fibres. The substance is held within the matrix and releasable therefrom by a chewing action. The nonwoven fabric substrate thus provides a frame for carrying the substance that is both resistant to chewing action (i.e. does not disintegrate when chewed, bitten or sucked) and capable of releasing the substance. The nonwoven fabric substrate may be formed by passing an initial web through a needle loom. The substance may be connected to fibres in the matrix by a binder.