Laundry Detergent Three-Polymer Blend for Fabric Resilience

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current laundry detergents fail to provide comprehensive fabric care benefits such as smoothness, shape maintenance, resilience, and color preservation beyond cleaning and freshening, with cationic cellulosic polymers offering limited fabric resilience benefits.

Innovation Solution

A three-polymer blend comprising a cationic cellulosic polymer, a dye transfer inhibitor, and an anti-redeposition agent, combined with anionic and non-ionic surfactants, builders, and other additives, which are formulated to provide fabric care benefits without impacting fabric resilience.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Shape

If cationic cellulosic polymers are added to laundry detergents, then fabric care benefits such as smoothness and shape maintenance are improved, but fabric resilience is not improved and may be negatively affected

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefabric shape maintenanceVSAvoidfabric resilience
Core Design Contradiction:
ShapeVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent combines three different polymers (cationic cellulosic polymer, polyacrylate polymer, and polyvinylpyrrolidone polymer) into a composite blend that provides both fabric care benefits and fabric resilience improvement. This composite approach allows the mixture to achieve properties that individual polymers cannot provide alone, specifically improving fabric resilience while maintaining shape maintenance benefits.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #40Composite materials

Solution Approach 2:

The patent specifies precise concentration ranges for each polymer component in the blend (cationic cellulosic polymer: 0.01-5%, polyacrylate polymer: 0.01-5%, polyvinylpyrrolidone polymer: 0.01-5%). By controlling these parameter changes, the formulation achieves optimal fabric resilience and care benefits without the negative effects of individual polymers used at inappropriate concentrations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

2Shape

If multiple fabric care additives are included in laundry detergent, then fabric benefits such as smoothness and color preservation are improved, but the complexity of the detergent composition increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefabric smoothnessVSAvoiddetergent composition complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ShapeVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges three separate polymer additives into a single integrated blend formulation that can be added to laundry detergent as one composite ingredient. This combining approach provides multiple fabric benefits (smoothness, shape maintenance, color preservation, and resilience) while simplifying the manufacturing and formulation process compared to adding multiple separate polymer products.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The three-polymer blend serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides fabric softening, shape maintenance, color preservation, and fabric resilience improvement. This multi-functionality reduces the need for multiple separate additives and simplifies the overall detergent formulation while achieving comprehensive fabric care.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS11499120B2Three polymer blend to achieve fabric care in laundry
Publication Date: 2022.11.15 HENKEL KGAA

AI summary

The present disclosure provides liquid and unit dose laundry detergent compositions. Provided herein is a laundry detergent composition including: (a) at least one anionic surfactant, (b) at least one non-ionic surfactant, (c) at least one cationic cellulosic polymer, (d) at least one dye transfer inhibitor polymer, (e) at least one anti-redeposition polymer, and (f) water. The present disclosure also provides a unit dose laundry detergent product including: a water-soluble polymeric film; a detergent composition encapsulated by the water-soluble polymeric film, the detergent composition including: (a) at least one anionic surfactant, (b) at least one non-ionic surfactant, (c) at least one cationic cellulosic polymer, (d) at least one dye transfer inhibitor polymer, (e) at least one anti-redeposition polymer, and (g) water. Methods of making and using the disclosed laundry detergent compositions are also provided.