Plastic Bristle Application Tool for Adhesive Flexibility
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tools for applying adhesives and sealants, such as spatulas and bristle brushes, are difficult to handle and clean, especially when dealing with stiff application areas and reactive adhesives, and often lack flexibility and reusability.
Innovation Solution
A tool with a handle and application area featuring a shaft with multiple parallel bristles made of plastic material, where at least one bristle has a chamfered or rounded edge, allowing for flexible application and easy cleaning, and potentially made in one piece for cost-effective production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a spatula or stiff application area is used, then the adhesive application structure is simple, but the tool is difficult to handle and lacks flexibility
Solution Approach 1:
The application area is segmented into multiple individual bristles arranged in a row, each capable of independent movement. This segmentation allows the bristles to deflect and pivot around obstacles on the substrate, providing flexibility and ease of operation while maintaining a relatively simple overall tool structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The bristles are designed to be dynamic rather than rigid, allowing them to deflect and pivot in response to substrate irregularities. This dynamic behavior enables the tool to adapt to different application surfaces, improving ease of operation without requiring a complex adjustable mechanism.
2Ease of operation
If a bristle brush is used, then the application area provides flexibility, but the tool is difficult to clean and unsuitable for repeated use
Solution Approach 1:
Both the bristles and the shaft are made from the same plastic material, creating a homogeneous structure. This uniform material composition allows the entire application area to be cleaned in the same way, eliminating the cleaning difficulties associated with traditional bristle brushes that have different materials for bristles and shaft.
Solution Approach 2:
The bristles and shaft are merged into a single integral component rather than being separate parts. This merging simplifies the overall structure, making the tool easier to clean and maintain, while still providing the flexibility needed for repeated use with reactive adhesives.
3Productivity
If multiple bristles are provided on the shaft, then the adhesive application coverage is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The multiple bristles and the shaft are merged into a single integral component molded from plastic material. This merging eliminates the need for separate assembly steps for attaching bristles to the shaft, reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining the improved adhesive application coverage provided by the multiple bristles.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the material parameter from traditional separate materials (metal shaft, animal or synthetic bristles) to a unified plastic material. This parameter change enables the entire application area to be manufactured in one step using injection molding, significantly reducing production complexity while maintaining productivity.
4Ease of manufacture
If the shaft and bristles are made in one piece from plastic material, then the cleaning ease is improved, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the material parameter to plastic, which has favorable properties for both cleaning and injection molding. The material selection balances the need for cleaning ease with the requirements for manufacturing precision, allowing the integral construction to be achieved with standard molding tolerances.
Solution Approach 2:
The bristles are given specific local qualities through the molding process, including rectangular cross-sections with rounded edges in critical areas. This local quality optimization ensures proper adhesive flow and application while maintaining the overall simplicity of the one-piece construction, balancing cleaning ease with manufacturing precision requirements.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~5
Figure 6~8
AI summary
The invention relates to an application tool (1) for adhesives and/or sealants, having a holding region (10) with a handle (11) and having an application region (20) comprising a shaft (21) from which a plurality of bristles (22) project in the direction of an application side (26). A row of bristles (22) which are arranged adjacently to one another is provided on the shaft (21), and the shaft (21) and the bristles (22) are integrally formed and consist of a plastic material.