Unit Dose Product Compartment Design for Solvent Migration Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Unit dose products with water-soluble films experience solvent migration, leading to unsightly discoloration of colored powders due to water migration from liquid to powder compartments, causing staining on textiles.
Innovation Solution
A unit dose product design featuring a water-soluble film with separate compartments, where the liquid compartment contains an encapsulated fragrance and a non-aqueous solvent, and the powder compartment includes a salt, fragrance oil, pigment, and flow aid, with specific pigment addition orders to minimize staining and maintain color stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If water is included in the liquid composition to stabilize encapsulated fragrance, then fragrance stability is improved, but solvent migration to powder chamber increases causing colorant dispersion
Solution Approach 1:
A water-soluble film acts as an intermediary barrier between the liquid composition chamber and powder composition chamber. This film allows controlled interaction while preventing direct contact, thereby reducing solvent migration to the powder chamber while maintaining fragrance stability in the liquid chamber.
Solution Approach 2:
The unit dose product is divided into separate compartments - a liquid composition chamber containing encapsulated fragrance and a powder composition chamber containing colorant. This segmentation prevents direct mixing of liquid and powder, reducing solvent migration effects on colorant dispersion while maintaining both components' stability.
2Shape
If colorant is added to powder composition to improve aesthetics, then visual appeal is improved, but migration of water disperses colorant creating unsightly rings
Solution Approach 1:
The product is segmented into separate liquid and powder compartments divided by a water-soluble film. This prevents water from the liquid chamber from migrating to and dispersing the colorant in the powder chamber, maintaining color stability and preventing unsightly ring formation while preserving aesthetic appearance.
Solution Approach 2:
The water-soluble film serves as an intermediary barrier that prevents water migration from the liquid chamber to the powder chamber. This protects the colorant in the powder chamber from dispersion while allowing the product to maintain its aesthetic appearance through proper color distribution.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If salt is used as base for powder formulation due to low water activity, then solvent migration is reduced, but colorant dispersion is still caused by water migration
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the product into separate liquid and powder compartments, the invention prevents water from reaching the powder chamber containing salt and colorant. This maintains the low water activity environment provided by salt while preventing colorant dispersion that would otherwise occur due to water migration.
Solution Approach 2:
The water-soluble film acts as an intermediary that blocks water migration from the liquid chamber to the powder chamber. This preserves the solvent-migration-reducing effect of salt while simultaneously protecting the colorant from dispersion, achieving both goals simultaneously.
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 effectively minimizes solvent-induced discoloration and staining on textiles, maintaining aesthetic acceptability and color intensity while preventing pigment deposition on fabrics.
Implementation Method 1
Water can move between materials and will migrate from high water active materials to low water active materials. Other solvents, including polyethylene glycol (PEG), can also move between materials and tend to disperse from concentrated regions to less concentrated regions.
Implementation Method 2
the encapsulated fragrance comprises a polymer shell encapsulating at least one fragrance oil
Implementation Method 3
the migration of water from the liquid chamber to the powder chamber can disperse the colorant across the powder
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides a unit dose product comprising a water-soluble film material comprising a first compartment that is adjacent to a second compartment. The first compartment encloses a liquid composition comprising an encapsulated fragrance and a non-aqueous solvent. The liquid composition can further comprise at least one additive selected from a rheology modifier, a pH-adjusting agent, water, and a bitterant. The second compartment encloses a powder composition comprising a salt, a fragrance oil, a pigment, such as a metal-containing pigment, and a flow aid. Also provided is a method of preparing the powder composition enclosed in the second compartment in the unit dose product comprising adding the pigment to the salt to provide a pigment-salt combination; followed by adding the flow aid to the pigment-salt combination.