Methods and compositions for treating laundry items

• US 10,072,373 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2014
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Fulmer, Gregory R., Ghosh, Kaustav, Murch, William L., Quddus, Mir A., Pinkowski, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Saavedra, Emilio J
• Application Number:
  US14/160,669
• Publication Number:
  US 20140277751A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,693 Days
• Field of Search: 700275
• CPC Class Codes: C11D 1/62 Quaternary ammonium compounds
• CPC Class Codes: C11D 1/72 Ethers of polyoxyalkylene glycols
• CPC Class Codes: C11D 1/835 Mixtures of non-ionic with cationic compounds
• CPC Class Codes: C11D 2111/12 Soft surfaces, e.g. textile
• CPC Class Codes: C11D 3/0021 Dye-stain or dye-transfer inhibiting compositions
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2101/04 Quantity, e.g. weight
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/04 Quantity, e.g. weight or variation of weight
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/42 Detergent or additive supply
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/37 of metering of detergents or additives
• CPC Class Codes: D06M 13/395 Isocyanates
• CPC Class Codes: D06M 13/402 Amides imides, sulfamic acids
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric

Abstract

A clothes dryer for drying fabric items in accordance with a treating cycle of operation, includes a treating chamber receiving fabric items for treatment and a controller having a memory in which is stored a set of executable instructions comprising at least one user-selectable cycle of operation, the controller may receive an indication of a dye transfer event and implement a cycle of operation based thereon.

Claims

1. A method of operating a clothes dryer having at least two automatic cycles of operation for drying laundry, the clothes dryer comprising a rotatable drum defining a treating chamber for receiving a load of fabric items, a blower for supplying air to the treating chamber, and a heater for heating the air supplied to the treating chamber according to an automatic cycle of operation, the method comprising:

receiving, at a controller for the clothes dryer, a signal from a washing machine indicative of a dye transfer event where dye has moved between fabric items or within the same fabric item;

and

controlling, by the controller, implementation of a first automatic cycle of operation that is a dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation of the clothes dryer based on the received signal indicating the dye transfer event;

wherein the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation includes at least one action that is different than a second automatic cycle of operation that is implemented by the controller in the absence of a signal indicating a dye transfer event;

and

wherein the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation comprises controlling at least one of the heater or blower to limit temperatures during the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation to be below a thermoset temperature and at least one of;

(a) terminating the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation upon a specific dryness being reached, based on the signal indicative of a dye transfer event or (b) modifying a drum rotation profile to reduce agitation applied to the fabric items.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the signal from the washing machine is at least one of a wireless communication signal or a hard-wired communication signal.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the controlling implementation of a dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation based on the signal indicating the dye transfer event comprises implementing one or more specific drying actions or cycles.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the implementing of the one or more specific drying actions or cycles occurs regardless of what cycle of operation is selected.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein only the one or more specific drying actions or cycles may be selected by a user.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving a signal indicating a dye transfer event comprises further receiving information related to one of a type of dye transferred or a type of laundry.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the controller determines the drying temperature based on the type of dye transferred or the type of laundry.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating, on a user interface of the clothes dryer, information related to the dye transfer event where the information comprises at least one of:

at least one action taken by the clothes dryer in response to the signal indicating the dye transfer event, at least one consequence of the at least one action taken by the clothes dryer, or indicating on the user interface that the dye transfer event has been determined.

9. A clothes dryer for drying fabric items in accordance with an automatic cycle of operation, the clothes dryer comprising a rotatable drum defining a treating chamber for receiving a load of fabric items, a blower for supplying air to the treating chamber, and a heater for heating the air supplied to the treating chamber according to an automatic cycle of operation, the clothes dryer comprising:

a treating chamber for receiving fabric items for treatment;

a controller having a memory in which is stored a set of executable instructions comprising at least two automatic cycles of operation;

and

a data communicator for receiving information from a washing machine for providing to the controller a signal indicating a dye transfer event, wherein a dye transfer event comprises movement of dye between fabric items or within the same fabric item; and

wherein the controller is configured to control implementation of a first automatic cycle of operation that is a dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation based on the signal indicating to the controller a dye transfer event, the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation including at least one drying action configured to mitigate color transfer to the fabric items by a dye transfer event by implementation of the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation;

wherein the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation comprises controlling at least one of the heater or the blower to limit temperatures during the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation to be below a thermoset temperature and at least one of;

(a) terminating the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation upon a specific dryness being reached, based on the signal indicating a dye transfer event or (b) modifying a drum rotation profile to reduce agitation applied to the fabric items;

and

wherein the controller is configured to control implementation of a second automatic cycle of operation, different than the first automatic cycle of operation, in the absence of a signal indicating a dye transfer event.

10. The clothes dryer of claim 9 wherein the data communicator wirelessly communicates with a washing machine or is in hard-wired communication with a washing machine.

11. The clothes dryer of claim 9 wherein the controller is further configured to provide an indication of the signal indicating the dye transfer event on a user interface of the clothes dryer.

12. The clothes dryer of claim 9 wherein implementation of a dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation comprises implementing one or more specific drying actions or cycles or implementing one or more specific drying actions or cycles regardless of what cycle of operation is selected.

13. A method of operating a clothes dryer having at least one automatic cycle of operation for drying a load of fabric items, the clothes dryer comprising a rotatable drum defining a treating chamber for receiving the load of fabric items, a blower for supplying air to the treating chamber, and a heater for heating the air supplied to the treating chamber according to an automatic cycle of operation, the method comprising:

receiving by a controller of the clothes dryer, an input from a washing machine of a dye transfer event in a load of fabric items to be dried, wherein the dye transfer event comprises movement of dye between fabric items of the load or within the same fabric item;

modifying, by the controller, at least one action of a selected one of the at least one automatic cycles of operation based on the input of a dye transfer event to provide a dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation; and

controlling, by the controller, implementation of the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation based on the input of a dye transfer event;

wherein the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation comprises controlling at least one of the heater or the blower to limit temperatures during the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation to be below a thermoset temperature and at least one of;

(a) terminating the dye transfer specific automatic cycle of operation upon a specific dryness being reached, based on the input of a dye transfer event, or (b) modifying a drum rotation profile to reduce agitation applied to the fabric items.