METHODS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR TREATING LAUNDRY ITEMS

• US 20140259443A1
• Filed: 01/22/2014
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: FULMER, GREGORY R., GHOSH, KAUSTAV, LEEP, NICHOLAS, PINKOWSKI, ROBERT J., SCHNEEMANN, JASON M.
• Application Number:
  US14/160,690
• Publication Number:
  US 20140259443A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 8/137
• 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 method of treating a load of fabric items in a fabric treating appliance according to cycle of operation, the fabric items having a surface with at least a first charge, the fabric treating appliance including a tub defining a fabric treating chamber for receiving the fabric items for treatment according to the cycle of operation includes introducing into the treating chamber a dye fixative, a surface charge modifying agent, and a treating liquid including at least one treating agent configured to remove soils.

Claims

1. A method of treating a load of fabric items in a fabric treating appliance according to cycle of operation, the fabric items having a surface with at least a first charge, the fabric treating appliance comprising a tub defining a fabric treating chamber for receiving the fabric items for treatment according to the cycle of operation, the method comprising:

introducing into the treating chamber a dye fixative carrying a second charge opposite the first charge;

introducing into the treating chamber a surface charge modifying agent carrying the first charge; and

introducing into the treating chamber a treating liquid including at least one treating agent configured to remove soils carrying the first charge;

wherein the dye fixative inhibits release of dye molecules from fabric items within the treating chamber and the surface charge modifying agent at least one of neutralizes the second charge carried by the dye fixative or electrostatically repels the removed soils to prevent redeposition of the removed soils onto the surface of fabric items within the treating chamber.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the introducing a dye fixative comprises introducing an aqueous solution comprising at least one dye fixative.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the introducing a surface charge modifying agent comprises introducing an aqueous solution comprising at least one neutralizing agent.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first charge comprises one of a positive charge and a negative charge and the second charge comprises the other of a negative charge and a positive charge, respectively.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the introducing the dye fixative comprises introducing a fixative having a molecular size sufficient to trap dye molecules at the surface of the fabric items.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the introducing the dye fixative comprises modifying the surface charge of the fabric items to the second charge.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the introducing of the surface charge modifying agent at least partially neutralizes the modified surface charge of the fabric items.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the introducing of the surface charge modifying agent comprises modifying the surface charge of the fabric items to the first charge.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising reducing the interfacial tension at the fabric surface to reduce a rate of fabric penetration of the dye fixative.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein reducing the interfacial tension at the fabric surface comprises pre-wetting the fabric items prior to the introducing of the dye fixative.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein a portion of the fabric items have a surface with the first charge and a portion of the fabric items have a surface with the second charge and the dye fixative prevents release of dye molecules from the portion of the fabric items having a surface with the first charge and the surface charge modifying agent prevents release of dye molecules from the portion of the fabric items having a surface with the second charge.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising removing free dye fixative from the fabric items.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the removing free dye fixative comprises at least one of spinning the fabric items to extract free dye fixative, applying a rinse liquid to the fabric items, draining liquid from the fabric treating chamber or combinations thereof.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying mechanical energy to the fabric items.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein applying mechanical energy to the fabric items comprises one of tumbling or agitating the fabric items.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the surface charge modifying agent comprises at least one of a carboxylate group or a sulfonate group.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the surface charge modifying agent comprises at least one of a polyelectrolyte or a mixture of polyelectrolytes comprising at least one of a carboxylate group or a sulfonate group.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the dye fixative comprises at least one of a polyelectrolyte or a mixture of polyelectrolytes comprising at least one of a dicyano group, an amine group, or an amide group.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the dye fixative and the surface charge modifying agent are applied to the fabric items at a predetermined ratio.

20. A method of operating a fabric treating appliance having a treating chamber for receiving fabric items having a surface with a first charge for treatment according to an automatic cycle of operation, the method comprising:

supplying to the treating chamber a dye fixative carrying a second charge opposite the first charge;

after the supplying of the dye fixative, supplying to the treating chamber a surface charge modifying agent carrying the first charge; and

after the supplying of the surface charge modifying agent, supplying to the treating chamber a treating liquid including at least one treating agent configured to remove soils carrying the first charge;

wherein the dye fixative prevents release of dye molecules from fabric items within the treating chamber and the surface charge modifying agent at least one of neutralizes the second charge carried by the dye fixative or electrostatically repels the removed soils to prevent redeposition of the removed soils onto the surface of the fabric items.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the supplying a dye fixative comprises supplying an aqueous solution comprising at least one dye fixative.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the supplying a surface charge modifying agent comprises supplying an aqueous solution comprising at least one neutralizing agent.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein the first charge comprises one of a positive charge and a negative charge and the second charge comprises the other of a negative charge and a positive charge, respectively.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein the supplying the dye fixative comprises supplying a fixative having a molecular size sufficient to trap dye molecules at the surface of the fabric items.

25. The method of claim 20 wherein the supplying the dye fixative comprises modifying the surface charge of the fabric items to the second charge.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the supplying of the surface charge modifying agent at least partially neutralizes the modified surface charge of the fabric items.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the supplying of the surface charge modifying agent comprises modifying the surface charge of the fabric items to the first charge.

28. The method of claim 20 further comprising reducing the interfacial tension at the fabric surface to reduce a rate of fabric penetration of the dye fixative.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein reducing the interfacial tension at the fabric surface comprises pre-wetting the fabric items prior to the introducing of the dye fixative.

30. The method of claim 20 wherein a portion of the fabric items have a surface with the first charge and a portion of the fabric items have a surface with the second charge and the dye fixative prevents release of dye molecules from the portion of the fabric items having a surface with the first charge and the surface charge modifying agent prevents release of dye molecules from the portion of the fabric items having a surface with the second charge.

31. The method of claim 20 further comprising removing free dye fixative from the fabric items.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the removing free dye fixative comprises at least one of spinning the fabric items to extract free dye fixative, applying a rinse liquid to the fabric items, draining liquid from the fabric treating chamber or combinations thereof.

33. The method of claim 20 further comprising uniformly distributing at least one of the dye fixative or the surface charge modifying agent.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the act of uniformly distributing comprises applying mechanical energy to the fabric items.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein applying mechanical energy to the fabric items comprises one of tumbling or agitating the fabric items.

36. The method of claim 20 wherein the surface charge modifying agent comprises at least one of a carboxylate group or a sulfonate group.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the surface charge modifying agent comprises at least one of a polyelectrolyte or a mixture of polyelectrolytes comprising at least one of a carboxylate group or a sulfonate group.

38. The method of claim 20 wherein the dye fixative comprises at least one of a polyelectrolyte or a mixture of polyelectrolytes comprising at least one of a dicyano group, an amine group, or an amide group.

39. The method of claim 20 wherein the dye fixative and the surface charge modifying agent are applied to the fabric items at a predetermined ratio.

40. A method of treating a load of fabric items in a fabric treating appliance according to cycle of operation, the fabric treating appliance comprising a tub defining a fabric treating chamber for receiving the fabric items for treatment according to the cycle of operation, the method comprising:

introducing into the treating chamber a dye fixative to form a dye fixative layer having a first surface charge on a surface of the fabric items;

introducing into the treating chamber a treating liquid including at least one treating agent configured to remove soils from the fabric items carrying a second surface charge opposite the first surface charge; and

modifying the surface charge of the dye fixative layer to prevent redeposition of the removed soils onto the surface of the fabric items in the treating chamber.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the introducing a dye fixative comprises introducing an aqueous solution comprising at least one dye fixative.

42. The method of claim 40 wherein modifying the surface charge of the dye fixative layer comprises introducing a surface charge modifying agent into the treating chamber to form a second layer on the fabric items adjacent to the dye fixative layer.

43. The method of claim 42 wherein the surface charge modifying agent is electrostatically attracted to the dye fixative layer.

44. The method of claim 42 wherein the surface charge modifying agent is applied at a predetermined ratio of dye fixative:

surface charge modifying agent.

45. The method of claim 42 wherein the second layer has a surface charge that electrostatically repels the removed soils to prevent redeposition of the removed soils onto the surface of the fabric items.

46. The method of claim 42 wherein the second layer at least one of partially neutralizes or partially masks the first surface charge of the dye fixative layer to prevent redeposition of the removed soils onto the surface of the fabric items.

47. The method of claim 42 wherein the surface charge modifying agent comprises at least one of a carboxylate group or a sulfonate group.

48. The method of claim 47 wherein the surface charge modifying agent comprises at least one of a polyelectrolyte or a mixture of polyelectrolytes comprising at least one of a carboxylate group or a sulfonate group.

49. The method of claim 40 wherein the introducing the dye fixative comprises introducing a fixative having a molecular size sufficient to trap dye molecules at the surface of the fabric items.

50. The method of claim 40 further comprising reducing the interfacial tension at the fabric surface to reduce a rate of fabric penetration of the dye fixative.

51. The method of claim 50 wherein reducing the interfacial tension comprises pre-wetting the fabric items prior to the introducing of the dye fixative.

52. The method of claim 40 further comprising removing free dye fixative from the fabric items.

53. The method of claim 52 wherein the removing free dye fixative comprises at least one of spinning the fabric items to extract free dye fixative, applying a rinse liquid to the fabric items, draining liquid from the fabric treating chamber or combinations thereof.

54. The method of claim 40 further comprising uniformly distributing at least one of the dye fixative or the treating liquid.

55. The method of claim 54 wherein the act of uniformly distributing comprises applying mechanical energy to the fabric items.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein applying mechanical energy to the fabric items comprises one of tumbling or agitating the fabric items.

57. The method of claim 40 wherein the dye fixative comprises at least one of a polyelectrolyte or a mixture of polyelectrolytes comprising at least one of a dicyano group, an amine group, or an amide group.