Porous Dissolvable Solid for Personal Care
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current personal care products, particularly those in liquid form, face challenges such as excessive packaging waste, high shipping costs, and difficulty in controlling dosage due to their liquid nature, while dissolvable films are too thin and lack sufficient active ingredient delivery for whole-body applications.
Innovation Solution
A dissolvable solid personal care product with a flexible, porous structure is developed using physical aeration followed by drying, achieving a predominantly open-celled structure with controlled bubble breakage and coalescence, allowing for efficient surfactant delivery and ease of use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If dissolvable films are made thin to achieve rapid dissolution rates, then dissolution speed is improved, but the basis weight becomes too low to enable feasible consumer application of sufficient dosage of active ingredients for entire body or whole head hair application
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies porous materials by creating a foam structure with controlled cell size and distribution. The porous solid structure contains interconnected pores that allow rapid water penetration and dissolution while maintaining sufficient basis weight (10-100 gsm) to deliver adequate dosage of active ingredients for whole body or whole head hair application. The porosity enables both fast dissolution and sufficient active ingredient capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite materials by combining water-soluble polymers with surfactants and optional active ingredients in a foam matrix. This composite structure integrates multiple functions: the polymer provides structural integrity and water solubility, the surfactant delivers cleansing action, and the foam structure enables rapid dissolution while maintaining sufficient basis weight for adequate dosage delivery.
2Shape
If freeze-drying is used to produce porous solids, then porous structure is achieved, but the process is relatively high energy and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by using foam drying instead of freeze-drying. The foam is dried at elevated temperatures (e.g., 50-100°C) rather than requiring the low temperatures and high vacuum conditions of freeze-drying. This parameter change in drying temperature and pressure significantly reduces energy consumption and processing cost while still producing the desired porous structure with interconnected cells.
3Shape
If anhydrous extrusion process is used to produce porous solids, then cellular structure is achieved, but the process limits components to anhydrous materials such as solid-sourced surfactants which are unacceptably harsh to skin, hair and fabric surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical anhydrous extrusion process with a chemical foam formation process. Instead of using high-pressure mechanical extrusion that requires anhydrous conditions and produces harsh solid-sourced surfactants, the invention uses chemical foaming agents that react to generate gas bubbles in an aqueous system. This substitution allows the use of mild, water-based surfactants that are safe for skin, hair, and fabric surfaces while still producing the desired cellular structure.
4Shape
If anhydrous extrusion process is used to produce porous solids, then cellular structure is achieved, but skin formation occurs due to partial collapse of structure after abrupt high pressure drop which serves as a barrier for water ingress and adversely affects dissolution rates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical extrusion process with chemical foam formation followed by gentle drying. This substitution eliminates the abrupt high-pressure drop that causes skin formation in extrusion processes. The chemical foaming process occurs at atmospheric pressure, and the subsequent gentle drying preserves the open cellular structure without causing collapse or skin formation, ensuring rapid water ingress and dissolution.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies beforehand cushioning by using a polymer foam matrix that provides structural support during the drying process. The polymer network acts as a cushioning framework that prevents premature collapse of the cellular structure before the surfactant system is fully formed, thereby preventing skin formation and maintaining open pores for rapid dissolution.
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 provides a convenient, economical, and flexible dissolvable solid that reconstitutes easily for whole-head hair and body skin applications, offering similar performance to liquid products with improved packaging efficiency and active agent delivery.
Implementation Method 1
aerating said pre-mix by introducing a gas into the pre-mix to form a wet aerated pre-mix
Implementation Method 2
drying the shaped wet pre-mix to a desired final moisture content to form a porous dissolvable solid structure
Data Source
AI summary
Personal care compositions, especially those personal care compositions in the form of an article that is a porous, dissolvable solid structure.