Flexible Adhesive Wafer for Ostomy Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ostomy and body waste collecting devices face challenges with adhesive wafers that are either too stiff due to high hydrocolloid content or too flexible and prone to wrinkling, requiring stiffening layers for application, which complicates handling and adherence to the skin.
Innovation Solution
A permeable flexible adhesive wafer without a stiffening layer, composed of a hydrocolloid pressure-sensitive adhesive with a second adhesive layer containing polar plasticising oils and polar polyethylene copolymers, which permeates moisture and maintains flexibility and softness, allowing for self-support and easy application.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hydrocolloids are mixed into adhesive matrix to absorb moisture, then skin is kept relatively dry, but adhesive becomes stiff and inflexible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental mechanism from moisture absorption to moisture permeation. By formulating a permeable adhesive matrix with specific polymers and plasticizers, the adhesive allows moisture to pass through rather than absorbing it, thereby maintaining flexibility while still keeping skin dry through vapor transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a composite adhesive formulation combining multiple polymers (polyisobutylene, polyethylene copolymer, carboxymethyl cellulose) with plasticizers and other additives. This composite structure achieves both permeability for moisture vapor transmission and sufficient flexibility, eliminating the need for hydrocolloid absorption particles.
2Ease of operation
If adhesive wafer is made thin and flexible, then comfort and movement followability improve, but wafer tends to wrinkle and adhere to itself making handling difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the adhesive's physical parameters by incorporating plasticizers (glycols, esters) and adjusting polymer composition to achieve optimal flexibility and thickness (50-200 μm). This allows the thin wafer to remain handleable without wrinkling or self-adhesion during application.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a disposable release liner that is removed during application. This simple, single-use component enables easy handling of the thin flexible wafer during the brief application process, then is discarded, avoiding the need for complex reusable handling mechanisms.
3Ease of manufacture
If stiffening layer is added to thin adhesive wafer, then handling ease improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the stiffening layer component entirely. By reformulating the adhesive matrix to provide inherent flexibility and handleability through proper polymer selection and plasticizer content, the separate stiffening layer is made unnecessary, simplifying the overall device structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The adhesive layer itself performs multiple functions: it provides the bonding function, maintains flexibility, ensures handleability, and enables moisture vapor transmission. By making the adhesive layer multi-functional, the need for separate stiffening and flexible layers is eliminated, reducing device complexity.
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 enables a flexible and soft adhesive wafer that can be handled without a stiffening layer, ensuring proper adhesion to the skin while being easy to apply and remove, without leaving residues, thus improving user convenience and skin comfort.
Implementation Method 1
skin adhesive can be permeable, having a high moisture vapour transmission rate, MVTR, whereby the adhesive is keeping the skin dry by permeating the moisture through the adhesive layer instead of absorbing the moisture
Implementation Method 2
skin adhesive keep the skin dry by absorbing moisture
Data Source
AI summary
A body waste collecting device comprising a collecting pouch and an adhesive wafer for attachment to the body, said adhesive wafer comprises a backing layer, a first adhesive, a second adhesive and a release liner, wherein said second adhesive comprises a polar plasticising oil or a combination of polar plasticising oils in the content of above 10% (w/w) of the final second adhesive, and at least one polar polyethylene copolymer, wherein the content of the polyethylene copolymer is 10-50% (w/w) of the final second adhesive, the polyethylene copolymer has a melt flow index below 2 g/10min (190°C/21.1 N), and wherein the thickness of the second adhesive is 300-700 μm