Swellable Polymer Bait for Physical Pest Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pesticidal bait compositions rely on chemical or biological toxicants, which pose environmental and health risks, and there is a need for safer, environmentally friendly alternatives that can effectively control pests without toxic effects.
Innovation Solution
A bait composition comprising a swellable agent with a median particle size of 100 µm or less and a substance that stimulates feeding, but is free of pesticidal agents exerting chemical or biological control effects, relying on physical effects such as volume increase to control pests.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional chemical or biological toxicants are used in pesticidal bait compositions, then pest control effectiveness is improved, but environmental safety and human health risks deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the harmful chemical or biological toxicants from the pesticidal bait composition, retaining only the swellable agent and feeding stimulant. This extraction eliminates the environmental and health risks while preserving the pest control function through the physical swelling mechanism that damages the pest's gastrointestinal tract.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the chemical or biological action mechanism with a physical mechanical mechanism. Instead of using toxicants that chemically or biologically affect the pest, the composition uses a swellable agent that physically swells in the pest's gastrointestinal tract, causing mechanical damage and rupture, thereby achieving pest control without chemical or biological harmful effects.
2Ease of manufacture
If swellable agents with larger particle sizes are used, then ease of manufacture is improved, but pest control effectiveness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention specifies a particular parameter range for the swellable agent particle size (median particle size Dv50 of 100 μm or less) to optimize both manufacturability and effectiveness. This parameter change ensures that the particles are small enough to be effectively ingested by pests and to cause damage in the gastrointestinal tract, while still being practical to manufacture.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the composition is made completely free of pesticidal agents, then safety to humans and environment is improved, but pest control mechanism becomes less understood
Solution Approach 1:
The invention employs a feeding stimulant that attracts pests to consume the bait composition voluntarily. The pest's own feeding behavior serves the function of delivering the swellable agent into its gastrointestinal tract, where the physical swelling mechanism automatically takes effect. This self-service approach eliminates the need for complex toxicant mechanisms while ensuring effective pest control through the pest's natural behaviors.
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 effective pest control through mechanical means, such as gastrointestinal tract damage and exoskeleton rupture, without harming humans or the environment, and is suitable for domestic use and resistant pest species.
Implementation Method 1
SAPs are cross-linked polymers that have the ability to absorb several to some hundred times their own weight of deionized water and thus are swellable agents in the sense of the present invention
Implementation Method 2
the volume increase of the swellable agent upon contact with water inside the body cavity of the target organism, e.g. in the gastro-intestinal tract, damages the structural integrity of at least a part of the organism's body
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
The present invention relates to bait compositions containing a swellable agent (preferably swellable hydrophilic polymer) having a median particle size Dv50 of 100 μm and a phagostimulant for controlling a pest by physical effects (eg. rupture of organs or dessicating action), to methods for controlling a pest by physical effects employing said bait compositions and to the use of a swellable agent for controlling a pest ingesting said bait composition.