Strip-Free Floor Cleaning System for Lower-Maintenance Coatings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional industrial flooring maintenance processes are costly, labor-intensive, disruptive to business operations, and expose workers to hazardous chemicals due to the need for frequent stripping and re-coating, which also compromises floor aesthetics and durability.
Innovation Solution
A strip-free floor cleaning system comprising a remover solution, abrasive pads, and a floor finish composition that allows for a single stripping step and reduced maintenance frequency, using a composition with low VOC content and optimized surfactants to maintain floor durability and aesthetics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional stripping and re-coating process is used, then floor finish can be removed and renewed, but labor costs and material costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the floor finish from the floor surface using a specialized remover solution that chemically breaks down the finish coating, allowing it to be easily wiped away without abrasive mechanical stripping. This extraction process eliminates the need for costly and labor-intensive conventional stripping methods while preserving the underlying floor substrate.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the chemical parameters of the floor finish by incorporating specific polymers and resins that alter the finish's properties. The floor finish composition includes polymers providing abrasion resistance and alkali soluble resins that enable easy removal with alkaline solutions, creating a finish that is both durable during service and easily removable for maintenance.
2Reliability
If frequent stripping and re-coating is performed, then floor appearance can be maintained, but business operations are disrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a floor finish with extended service life characteristics that maintains aesthetic appeal for longer periods between maintenance cycles. The preliminary application of this enhanced finish reduces the frequency of required stripping operations, thereby minimizing business disruption time while preserving floor appearance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables continuous floor protection by using a remover solution that allows for quick, non-disruptive maintenance. The chemical removal process can be performed rapidly without requiring extended business closures, maintaining the continuity of floor protection and aesthetic appeal with minimal interruption to business operations.
3Ease of operation
If conventional stripping chemicals are used, then floor finish can be removed, but workers are exposed to hazardous materials
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a disposable, biodegradable remover solution that effectively removes floor finish without the persistence and toxicity of conventional stripping chemicals. This short-acting chemical solution performs its removal function and then degrades, eliminating long-term hazardous exposure risks to workers while maintaining effective finish removal capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the chemical composition parameters of the remover solution to use alkali soluble resins and polymers that can be broken down by alkaline solutions. This chemical parameter change creates a remover that is effective at dissolving floor finishes but lacks the persistent toxicity and hazardous properties of traditional stripping chemicals, reducing worker exposure risks.
4Reliability
If multiple coats of floor finish are applied, then floor durability and gloss are improved, but application time and material usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a composite floor finish system combining polymers for durability and abrasion resistance with alkali soluble resins for ease of removal. This composite material structure achieves high durability and gloss in fewer application coats compared to conventional finishes, reducing application time while maintaining enhanced floor performance characteristics.
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
Significantly reduces material and labor costs, minimizes disruption, and lowers chemical exposure by eliminating the annual stripping step while maintaining high gloss and chemical durability of industrial flooring.
Implementation Method 1
The present disclosure eliminates the need for chemical stripping solutions by utilizing an abrasive pad to mechanically remove floor finish
Implementation Method 2
a floor finish composition that allows for a single stripping step and reduced maintenance frequency, using a composition with low VOC content and optimized surfactants to maintain floor durability and aesthetics
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure provides a remover solution for use in removing at least a portion of a coating from a surface. The remover solution typically comprises at least one organic functional amine selected from a branched or unbranched amino-alkoxy-alkanol moiety, and at least one surfactant.