Laundry sheet comprising functional granules

Abstract

The present invention provides a laundry sheet wherein one or more component selected from a group consisting of a builder, an enzyme, a bleaching agent and a bleach activator is contained as a granule in a laundry film prepared using a laundry detergent component and a film-forming water-soluble polymer. The laundry sheet of the present invention completely dissolves in water and thus does not need to be removed after laundering. In addition, the laundry sheet of the present invention has superior cleaning performance, is convenient to use and has superior storage stability.

Claims

1. A laundry sheet comprising: an active component for laundering, wherein the active component comprises an enzyme, and a laundry film formed by mixing a laundry detergent component and a film-forming water soluble polymer, wherein the laundry detergent component is sodium lauryl sulfate, wherein the active component for laundering is a granule, and the granule is contained and distributed between polymer chains on at least one side of the laundry film, and wherein the film-forming water-soluble polymer is polyvinyl alcohol having an average degree of polymerization of 100-3000.

2. The laundry sheet according to claim 1, wherein the granules are added after the mixing the laundry detergent component and the film-forming water-soluble polymer.

3. The laundry sheet according to claim 1, the active component for laundering further comprise one or more selected from a builder, a bleaching agent or a bleach activator.

4. The laundry sheet according to claim 3, wherein the builder is one or more selected from a group consisting of sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium metasilicate, alkaline sodium silicate, neutral sodium silicate, sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium pyrophosphate, sodium borate, zeolite, sodium sesquicarbonate, monoethanolamine (MEA) and triethanolamine (TEA).

5. The laundry sheet according to claim 1, wherein the enzyme is one or more selected from a group consisting of a protein-degrading enzyme, a lipid-degrading enzyme, a carbohydrate-degrading enzyme, a cellulose-degrading enzyme, a mannan-degrading enzyme and a pectin-degrading enzyme.

6. The laundry sheet according to claim 3, wherein the bleaching agent is one or more selected from a group consisting of a perborate, a percarbonate, a perphosphate, a persulfate, a persilicate and diacyl and tetraacyl peroxide.

7. The laundry sheet according to claim 3, wherein the bleach activator is one or more selected from a group consisting of tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED), benzoylcaprolactam (BzCL), 4-nitrobenzoylcaprolactam, 3-chlorobenzoylcaprolactam, benzoyloxybenzenesulfonate (BOBS), nonanoyloxybenzenesulfonate (NOBS), phenyl benzoate (PhBz), decanoyloxybenzenesulfonate (C10-OBS), benzoylvalerolactam (BZVL), octanoyloxybenzenesulfonate (C8-OBS) and hydrolytic ester.

8. The laundry sheet according to claim 1, wherein the laundry film is stacked to form a multi-layered structure.

9. The laundry sheet according to claim 1, wherein the laundry detergent component further comprises a nonionic surfactant.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) The accompanying drawings illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure and together with the foregoing disclosure, serve to provide further understanding of the technical features of the present disclosure, and thus, the present disclosure is not construed as being limited to the drawing.

(2) FIG. 1 schematically shows an exemplary embodiment of a laundry sheet containing an active component for laundering in an undissolved state (granule form).

(3) FIG. 2 schematically shows an exemplary embodiment of a laundry sheet containing an active component for laundering in an undissolved state (granule form), wherein the granule protrudes from the surface of the laundry sheet.

(4) FIG. 3 schematically shows an exemplary embodiment of a laundry sheet in which two sheets of a film prepared according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention are stacked. Specifically, a laundry sheet 2 is shown wherein a film is further attached to a laundry sheet in which an active component for laundering in an undissolved state (granule form) is distributed on a first film 10. In the laundry sheet 2 shown in FIG. 3, the active component for laundering exists in an undissolved state between the films. One or more of the films constituting the sheet 2 may be a laundry film.

(5) FIG. 4 schematically shows an exemplary embodiment of a laundry sheet 3 in which three sheets of a film prepared according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention are stacked.

DESCRIPTION OF MAIN ELEMENTS

(6) 1: laundry sheet 2: laundry sheet in which two sheets of a film are stacked, as an exemplary embodiment 3: laundry sheet in which three sheets of a film are stacked, as an exemplary embodiment 10: film containing water-soluble polymer 20: active component for laundering

MODE FOR DISCLOSURE

(7) Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail to help understanding of the present disclosure. However, various modifications and changes could be made to the embodiments of the present disclosure, and it should be understood that the scope of the disclosure is not limited to the following embodiments. The embodiments of the present disclosure are provided to persons having an ordinary skill in the art for more complete description of the present disclosure.

PREPARATION EXAMPLES

Comparative Examples 1-3

(8) A 20 wt % PVA solution was prepared by adding 200 g of PVA (degree of saponification: 86.5%, average degree of polymerization: 500) to 800 g of distilled water and dissolving at 80° C. for 4 hours. After adding the active components described in Table 1 to the prepared PVA solution, they were dissolved by mixing with a mechanical stirrer. After loading the prepared PVA solution onto a release film, a film with a predetermined thickness was prepared using a film applicator (Elcometer). Then, a laundry sheet (thickness: 0.01 cm) was prepared by drying in a drying oven at 105° C. for 10 minutes.

Examples 1-3

(9) A 20 wt % PVA solution was prepared by adding 200 g of PVA (degree of saponification: 86.5%, average degree of polymerization: 500) to 800 g of distilled water and dissolving at 80° C. for 4 hours. After loading the prepared solution onto a release film, a film with a predetermined thickness was prepared using a film applicator (Elcometer). Then, after spreading active components in the form of a granule onto the sheet, a laundry sheet (thickness: 0.01 cm) containing the active components was prepared by drying in a drying oven at 105° C. for 10 minutes.

(10) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Examples Comparative Examples (Unit: wt %) 1 2 3 1 2 3 Polymer PVA.sup.(1) 40 40 40 40 40 40 matrix Active Surfactant.sup.(2) 48 48 48 48 48 48 components Builder.sup.(3) — — — 10 — — (dissolved Enzyme.sup.(4) — — — — 10 — in sheet) Bleach component.sup.(5) — — — — — 10 Granular Builder.sup.(3) 10 — — — — — active Enzyme.sup.(4) — 10 — — — — components Bleach component.sup.(5) — — 10 — — — Additives Perfume and others 2 2 2 2 2 2 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 (Note) PVA.sup.(1): polyvinyl alcohol, degree of saponification: 86.5%, average degree of polymerization: 500 Surfactant.sup.(2): SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) Builder.sup.(3): sodium carbonate Enzyme.sup.(4): protein-degrading enzyme (Savinase, Novozymes) Bleach component.sup.(5): sodium percarbonate

<Test Example>Evaluation of Sheet-Forming Property and Performance

(11) The sheet-forming property and performance of the laundry sheets prepared in Examples 1-3 and Comparative Examples 1-3 were evaluated by the methods described below. For the performance evaluation, cleaning performance for contaminated fabric according to the Japan Laundry Science Association, cleaning performance for protein-contaminated fabric and bleaching performance for tea-contaminated fabric were evaluated.

(12) (Evaluation of Sheet-Forming Property)

(13) The sheet-forming property of the PVA film sheets prepared in Examples 1-3 and Comparative Examples 1-3 was evaluated through visual inspection. The result is given in Table 2.

(14) ⊚: Sheet formulation is flexible and excellent without oozing.

(15) O: Sheet formulation is flexible but a liquid component slightly oozes out.

(16) Δ: Sheet flexibility is insufficient and slight oozing occurs.

(17) X: Sheet formulation fails, and much liquid component oozes out.

(18) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Examples Comparative Examples 1 2 3 1 2 3 Sheet-forming ⊚ ⊚ ⊚ X ◯ Δ property

(19) As seen from Table 2, Examples 1-3 showed superior sheet-forming property, whereas Comparative Examples 1-3 showed decreased sheet-forming property as the contents of the active components dissolved in the sheets were increased. In particular, sheet formation failed when the builder component was mixed in the form of a liquid as in Comparative Example 1.

(20) (Evaluation of Cleaning Performance)

(21) Cleaning performance was evaluated using a washing machine of the same condition and tap water. Cold tap water was used for the cleaning. A wet artificially contaminated fabric prepared according to the Japan Laundry Science Association and the protein-contaminated fabric EMPA 116 were used to evaluate cleaning performance. Also, a tea-contaminated fabric BC3 was used to evaluate bleaching performance. The evaluation was conducted by attaching the contaminated fabric to a cotton T-shirt. Also, a comparative evaluation was conducted by a statistical method using 16 pieces of contaminated fabrics having a size of 5 cm×5 cm. In this instance, the WB value representing a whiteness index of the contaminated fabric was measured using a color difference meter before and after the cleaning. The laundry sheet prepared in each example was cut to a size of 20 cm×15 cm, and 2 pieces of a detergent were used. At the beginning of cleaning, the laundry sheet and the detergent were put into a washing machine together with the contaminated fabrics, cleaning was done under the conditions of a standard program (cleaning for 20 minutes, rinsing twice) of the washing machine and a middle water level, and after dehydration, the contaminated fabrics were dried in a constant temperature and humidity room (25° C., 20% RH) for a week and then ironed. Then the WB value was measured using the same color difference meter. The cleaning performance was calculated from the obtained result using the Kubelka-Munk equation expressed by Equation 1. The result is given in Table 3.

(22) $\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{Cleaning}\mathrm{performance}\left(\%\right)=\frac{.Math.\left(1-R_s^2\right)\text{/}2R_s-\left(1-R_c^2\right)\text{/}2R_c.Math.}{\left[\left(1-R_s^2\right)\text{/}2R_s-\left(1-R_o^2\right)\text{/}2R_o\right]}\times 100& \left[\mathrm{Equation}1\right]\end{array}$

(23) In Equation 1, R.sub.s denotes the surface reflectivity of the contaminated fabric, R.sub.c denotes the surface reflectivity of the contaminated fabric after the cleaning process, and R.sub.o denotes the surface reflectivity of the white cotton fabric.

(24) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Examples Comparative Examples Cleaning performance (%) 1 2 3 4 5 6 Contaminated fabric prepared 73 67 70 59 58 58 (Japan Laundry Science Association) Protein-contaminated fabric 68 75 63 42 42 22 (EMPA116) Tea-contaminated fabric 75 71 83 43 35 35 (BC3)

(25) As seen from Table 3, Examples 1-3 wherein the active components were added in the form of a granule showed superior cleaning performance.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

(26) The present invention provides a laundry sheet which is completely dissolved in water and, thus, is not necessary to be removed after cleaning. The laundry sheet of the present invention exhibits superior cleaning performance and is convenient to use. In addition, the laundry sheet has superior storage stability.