Low-Water Hair Conditioner via Phase Transition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hair conditioners with high water content face challenges in energy efficiency, transportation costs, and handling difficulties due to their bulkiness and susceptibility to environmental conditions, while attempts to reduce water content through methods like freeze drying or solidification result in viscosity issues and impaired scent, making it difficult to create a concentrated, easily handled product.
Innovation Solution
A hair conditioning composition comprising 10-90% higher alcohols or fatty acids, 5-35% cationic surfactants, and polyhydric alcohols or polyethylene glycol with a melting point of 155°C or less, allowing for a low water content of 10% or less, which can be easily diluted with water to form a gel, reducing energy consumption and improving handling and environmental impact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If water content is reduced to create concentrated hair conditioner, then energy consumption and transportation costs decrease, but the composition becomes difficult to handle and mix during production due to increased viscosity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state parameter of the composition by controlling water content to create a solid or semi-solid concentrated form. This parameter change enables the product to be handled in a low-viscosity solid state during storage and transportation, then transformed into a usable liquid state during application through water addition or friction heating.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes phase transition between solid and liquid states. The concentrated composition exists as a solid or semi-solid at low temperature for easy handling and storage, then transitions to liquid state during use through friction heating or water addition, enabling both energy efficiency and ease of operation.
2Loss of energy
If water content is reduced to create concentrated hair conditioner, then transportation costs and environmental impact decrease, but manufacturing complexity increases due to need for specialized production processes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs self-service mechanisms where the composition utilizes friction heating from normal handling and application to achieve the necessary phase transition from solid to liquid state. This eliminates the need for complex external heating equipment or specialized production facilities, reducing manufacturing complexity while achieving concentrated formulation benefits.
3Volume of moving object
If water content is reduced below 10%, then the product becomes more compact and portable, but the composition becomes highly susceptible to environmental conditions and difficult to maintain quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a composite material system combining water-soluble cationic surfactants with higher alcohols and fatty acids in specific ratios. This composite formulation maintains stability in low-water conditions through molecular interactions that prevent degradation, enabling compact portable form while maintaining quality reliability through the synergistic composite structure.
4Quantity of substance
If conventional drying processes like freeze drying are used to reduce water content, then concentrated conditioner can be produced, but energy consumption increases and scent is impaired
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of removing water through energy-intensive drying processes from a liquid conditioner, the patent inverts the approach by formulating the conditioner directly in a concentrated solid or semi-solid state with minimal water content from the beginning. This avoids the need for drying processes entirely, reducing energy consumption while preserving scent and other volatile 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 composition achieves a concentrated, easily handled hair conditioner that can be diluted with water, reducing energy consumption and environmental impact while maintaining quality, and is suitable for outdoor use due to its compact and low hygroscopic nature.
Implementation Method 1
a cationic surfactant and furthermore straight chain alcohols having 16 or more carbon atoms... a cationic surfactant that is a basic component forms a lamellar α-gel structure in combination with a higher alcohol and water
Implementation Method 2
the composition is preferably a solid or powder form at ambient temperature... diluted with water at a dilution rate of 3 to 15 times by mass
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides an easily-handled hair conditioning composition with a very low water content. The hair conditioning composition of the present invention is a composition comprising: (a) 10 to 90% by mass of one or more components selected from higher alcohols, higher fatty acids, and derivatives thereof, (b) 5 to 35% by mass of a cationic surfactant, and (c) a polyhydric alcohol and/or polyethylene glycol having a melting point of 155°C or less, characterized in that the endothermic peak of a gel which is formed from (a) and (b) in the composition is 50°C or more as measured by a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and that the water content is 10% by mass or less.