Dispensing Head Antimicrobial Orifice for Contamination Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Cosmetic and pharmaceutical products face challenges with contamination from bacteria, yeast, and mold due to mechanical and thermal stress, air exposure, and preservative limitations, leading to unsatisfactory dispensing systems that fail to ensure product integrity and appearance.
Innovation Solution
A dispensing system with a dispensing head featuring antimicrobial agents, such as metallic copper or Trichlosan, integrated into the dispensing orifice and channel to prevent contamination, ensuring effective antimicrobial action and product preservation even with limited preservative content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If antimicrobial agents are added to the product, then contamination prevention is improved, but product composition complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary antimicrobial agent (silver ions or Trichlosan) embedded in the dispensing head walls that acts as a mediator between the product and potential contaminants. This agent is released in controlled amounts to prevent contamination without requiring addition to the product formulation itself, thus maintaining product composition stability while achieving reliable contamination prevention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical/physical protection methods (such as narrow twisted channels or self-closing orifices) with a chemical/biological protection mechanism using antimicrobial agents. This substitution provides more effective and reliable contamination prevention while allowing for simpler, less restrictive dispensing channel geometry.
2Quantity of substance
If the longitudinal dimension of the dispensed layer is increased to preserve sufficient dose, then product dose is maintained, but appearance quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by embedding antimicrobial agents specifically in the lateral walls of the dispensing orifice where they can effectively contact the product layer. This localized treatment allows the longitudinal dimension of the layer to be optimized for appearance while the antimicrobial protection is concentrated where it is most needed, preventing contamination without requiring an excessively thick layer.
3Reliability
If narrow and twisted dispensing channels are used, then contamination risk is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the dispensing head universal by integrating antimicrobial agents into the walls of the dispensing orifice that can protect against contamination regardless of the specific channel geometry. This allows the system to maintain simple, straightforward channel designs while achieving reliable contamination resistance through the multi-functional walls that combine structural and protective roles.
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 system effectively prevents bacterial, yeast, and mold contamination while maintaining product integrity and appearance, making it suitable for products with low or no preservatives, and enhancing the preservative activity when used with intrinsic preservative ingredients.
Implementation Method 1
these antimicrobial agents act by contact and/or by diffusion in the product
Data Source
AI summary
A dispensing head for a system for dispensing a pressurized product, the head including a body having a mounting shaft for the head on a tube for supplying the pressurized product and a channel for dispensing the product between the shaft and an orifice for dispensing the product, the dispensing orifice being formed between two longitudinal walls, upper and lower, respectively, which are connected on either side, respectively, by a lateral wall of which the transverse dimension is smaller than the longitudinal dimension of the longitudinal walls, and each of the lateral walls has a projection that extends between the longitudinal walls, at least the walls of the dispensing orifice including an antimicrobial agent for the product to be dispensed.