Facial Tissue Phase-Change Composition for Skin Cooling Without Irritation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing skin cooling products using phase change agents often cause skin irritation due to direct contact and migration of components, necessitating a means to effectively hold these agents on or within a substrate without irritating the skin.
Innovation Solution
A dry wiping product, such as a facial tissue, incorporating a temperature change composition with a phase change component and a non-interfering molecular scaffold, which undergoes a phase change between 20° C. and 32° C., providing cooling without transferring irritants to the skin.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If phase change components are incorporated into skincare cosmetic compositions for cooling sensation, then cooling effect is improved, but skin irritation occurs due to direct contact
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a tissue substrate as an intermediary between the phase change components and the skin. The composition is applied to the tissue rather than directly to the skin, allowing the phase change to occur on the tissue surface while preventing direct contact between potentially irritating components and the skin. This mediator approach maintains the cooling benefit while eliminating the harmful direct contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The tissue substrate acts as a thin film barrier that contains the phase change composition. This flexible film structure allows the composition to be applied and maintained in a controlled manner, providing a physical barrier that prevents skin irritation while enabling thermal transfer for cooling sensation.
2Temperature
If phase change agents are used in tissue products with hydrophobic lotion layers, then cooling sensation is provided, but component migration disrupts the phase change agent's ability to cool
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the phase change composition selectively to specific areas of the tissue product rather than throughout the entire structure. This localized application ensures that the phase change agents remain in their intended functional zones, preventing migration into hydrophobic lotion layers and maintaining compositional stability where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The tissue product is divided into distinct functional zones: one area contains the phase change composition for cooling, while separate areas contain hydrophobic lotion layers for moisturizing. This segmentation prevents interaction and migration between incompatible components, allowing each to perform its intended function without disruption.
3Temperature
If phase change components are directly applied to skin for cooling, then cooling effect is maximized, but skin irritation and discomfort occur
Solution Approach 1:
The tissue substrate serves as a mediator that enables indirect application of phase change components to the skin. The composition is applied to the tissue, which then contacts the skin during use. This intermediary approach maintains effective thermal coupling for cooling while preventing direct exposure of the skin to potentially irritating phase change components.
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 product effectively cools the skin without causing irritation, offering comfort and a soothing sensation while maintaining the phase change agent within the substrate, preventing skin contact and irritation.
Implementation Method 1
The phase change component undergoes a phase change at a temperature between about 20° C. and 32° C. within the dry tissue or similar dry wiping product for cooling the skin during use of the product
Implementation Method 2
The components have a relatively high heat of fusion which is defined in the '564 application as the heat absorbed by a unit of mass of a solid chemical element at its melting point in order to convert the solid into a liquid at the same temperature
Data Source
AI summary
Wiping products, such as facial tissues, contain a temperature change composition that can provide a cooling sensation when contacted with the skin of a user. The temperature change composition includes a phase change material and a non-interfering molecular scaffold. The phase change materials, in one embodiment, can have a relatively high heat of fusion. When undergoing a phase change, the temperature change composition absorbs heat and thereby provides a cooling feeling or cooling sensation to the skin of a user.