P&G Patents Low Density Foam Wipes Container Having Good Effusivity

Learn how P&G uses thermal effusivity in the design of a new low density foam wipes container as correlative measurement to “touch”.

WWW Link:  Excerpt from USPA 20090321299

Typically, reusable/refillable wipes containers and disposable wipes tubes (i.e., tubs intended to be discarded after the pre-loaded supply of wipes are depleted) are made from the same or a similar material as the disposable wipes tubs. It is not uncommon for both disposable and reusable wipes containers to be made from a synthetic plastic material (e.g., injection molded polypropylene or low density polyethylene). The rigidity, hardness and/or other physical characteristics of a given container may vary depending on the material preference of the manufacturer, but at least some of the physical characteristics of the plastic containers tend to be perceived by consumers as being substantially the same. One such characteristic may be the commonly known property of effusivity, sometimes referred to as thermal inertia. Effusivity is generally considered by those of ordinary skill in the art to be how warm or cold an object feels to the touch. For example, a piece of cloth such as a cotton hand towel will typically feel warmer to the touch than a metal object such as a piece of steel even though both objects are the same temperature. It is believed that the cotton towel feels warmer due to its lower effusivity. Similarly, a plastic wipes container may feel colder than a cloth-like wipes container even though both containers have the same or substantially the same surface temperature. Due to the higher effusivity of plastic containers as compared to cloth-like containers, some consumers may find that commercially available wipes containers feel undesirably cold. It is believed that at least some consumers desire a container that feels relatively warm to the touch.