ReusableUP

ReusableUP

Project time: 2021 – 2023

Budget: 9,1 miljoner kronor

Funding: Mistra Innovation 23

Urinary incontinence is a common problem that affects everyone, ranging from young women who have recently given birth to men who have undergone prostate surgery. Amongst people over the age of 70, almost half of everyone, both women and men, suffer from involuntary urine leakage.

To alleviate the problem, which can be socially stigmatizing, different types of protection are used. These are usually disposable due to the fact that the reusable variants available today do not have the same function or convenience as the disposable alternatives.

From an environmental perspective, however, it is important to be able to shift the consumption of disposable products to more circular solutions, something that the health care system also demands.

One challenge is to get users, who are often ashamed of their problems, to want to use washable protection. Explanations for this are that it is both easier and more discreet to use something that can be thrown away after use, and that the washable alternatives available today are not able to absorb and retain liquid as well as disposable protection that contains effective superabsorbents.

In order to develop well-functioning reusable incontinence guards, the ReusableUP project will explore liquid dispersion in textile materials. One question which will be answered is how to best achieve optimal liquid handling in composites with several textile layers by combining different fibers, yarns and textile structures. Another is to investigate which parameters optimize permeability, dispersion and absorption of liquid in and between different layers.

It is simply a matter of obtaining a protection where liquid is quickly absorbed in the upper layers, and then distributed and absorbed in the underlying layers without penetrating to the surface again. It is also important to deal with the contradiction that exists between good function and washability. Not least because the properties that make a protection effective should not disappear when the material is washed.

The final goal of the project is to develop a prototype of a reusable protection adapted for mild to moderate urinary incontinence in order to be able to perform user tests.

This project is run in collaboration with the University of Borås, Facilette and Sanicare AB.

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