CN114026280B

CN114026280B - Method and apparatus for dyeing garments

Info

Publication number: CN114026280B
Application number: CN202080045735.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 詹森·安德鲁·伯恩斯; 理查德·保罗·廷斯利
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2019-10-23
Filing date: 2020-05-19
Publication date: 2024-02-02
Anticipated expiration: 2040-05-19
Also published as: JP2022530879A; CN114026280A; KR20220082780A; CN117822235A

Abstract

Described herein are apparatuses and methods for garment dyeing. An exemplary apparatus includes: a dye injection system configured to dispense concentrated liquid dye; dyeing machine, comprising: a dyeing chamber configured for dyeing at least one garment in a dye bath; and a controller in communication with the dye injection system and the dyeing machine, wherein the controller is configured to: receiving at least one garment parameter corresponding to at least one garment; causing the dye injection system to dispense a volume of concentrated liquid dye comprising an amount of dye capable of being substantially absorbed by the at least one garment based at least in part on the at least one received garment parameter; and causing the dyeing machine to perform a dyeing cycle such that substantially all of the dye in the dispensed concentrated liquid dye is absorbed by at least one garment within the dyeing chamber.

Description

Method and apparatus for dyeing garments

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present patent application claims priority from provisional patent application Ser. No.62/837,165 filed on 22 th 4 th 2019 and provisional patent application Ser. No.62/925,078 filed on 23 th 10 th 2019, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Background

In industrial and commercial applications, known garment dyeing processes are expensive and time consuming. In particular, existing garment dyeing processes use large amounts of dyes, water, salts and other substances that must be used and treated in order to apply the desired color to the garment. Conventional dyeing processes typically require the use of a dye comprising a pre-mixed solution of a dye, water, salt and other elements added to enhance the compatibility of the dye with the garment, fabric or fiber. The pre-mixed solution may be fed to a dyeing machine containing water, where the garment absorbs only a portion of the dye present in the dye bath, leaving the resulting wastewater in the dyeing machine.

Various processes have evolved to include complex, expensive methods of filtering and/or treating dyed water, but contaminants remaining in the water prevent the remaining water from being reused in flexible, variable color dyeing processes. In fact, even contemporary dyeing processes are not able to avoid excessive, inefficient consumption of raw materials.

In an industry driven by consumer demand, flexibility and efficiency are needed to accommodate changing trends or seasonal preferences, which are lacking in existing garment dyeing processes. The high volume manufacturing process currently defining the industry is not only wasteful, but also cannot support rapid shifts in consumer color preferences. Current garment dyeing processes are defined by rigid systems that cannot accommodate, for example, variability or customization of garment color and/or pattern without sacrificing efficiency, quality, and/or resources. In addition, existing garment dyeing processes have long been defined as inefficient use of excessive water, dye and other wasteful byproducts, requiring tremendous effort to control pollution and environmental impact.

There is therefore a need in the art for an agile, flexible garment dyeing method that can respond to rapid changes in product demand in an economical and environmentally friendly manner.

Disclosure of Invention

Various embodiments described herein relate to an apparatus and method for dyeing garments. Various embodiments relate to an apparatus for dyeing garments, the apparatus comprising: a dye injection system configured to dispense concentrated liquid dye; a dyeing machine comprising a dyeing chamber configured for dyeing at least one garment in a dye bath, wherein the dye bath comprises a concentrated liquid dye received from a dye injection system and a volume of solvent; and a controller in communication with the dye injection system and the dyeing machine, wherein the controller is configured to: receiving at least one garment parameter corresponding to at least one garment; causing the dye injection system to dispense a volume of concentrated liquid dye comprising an amount of dye capable of being substantially absorbed by the at least one garment based at least in part on the at least one received garment parameter; and causing the dyeing machine to perform a dyeing cycle such that substantially all of the dye in the concentrated liquid dye having the dispensed volume is absorbed by at least one garment within the dyeing chamber.

In various embodiments, the dye bath within the dyeing chamber may be substantially free of sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, and alkaline components throughout the dyeing cycle. In various embodiments, the dyeing machine may be configured to perform a dyeing cycle with a dye bath at substantially ambient room temperature. In various embodiments, the at least one garment parameter may include a weight of the at least one garment. In some embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise a weight sensor. Further, in various embodiments, the controller may be further configured to receive the weight of the at least one garment from the weight sensor. In various embodiments, the dyeing machine may be configured to maintain a volume of solvent within a substantially closed loop system. In certain embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise at least one holding tank in fluid communication with the staining chamber, wherein the at least one holding tank may be configured to hold a volume of solvent between staining cycles.

In various embodiments, the volume of solvent may include water. In various embodiments, the concentrated liquid dye may comprise a colorant and water. In various embodiments, the dye injection system may include a plurality of concentrated liquid dye cartridges, each of the plurality of concentrated liquid dye cartridges configured to store a volume of concentrated liquid dye having a unique dye color. In certain embodiments, the plurality of concentrated liquid dye cartridges of the dye injection system may comprise seven to twelve concentrated liquid dye cartridges. In various embodiments, the controller is further configured to cause the dye injection system to dispense a volume of concentrated liquid dye comprising an amount of dye capable of being substantially absorbed by the at least one garment based at least in part on the user selected desired garment color. In various embodiments, the controller may be further configured to cause one or more of the plurality of concentrated liquid dye cartridges to dispense concentrated liquid dye into the dyeing chamber based at least in part on the user selected desired garment color to produce the user selected desired garment color during the dyeing cycle. In some embodiments, the device may further comprise a user interface configured to enable a user to select a desired garment color. In various embodiments, the concentrated liquid dye having a dispensed volume comprises a dye in an amount substantially less than or equal to the dye absorbing capacity of at least one garment.

Various embodiments relate to a method of dyeing apparel, the method comprising: there is provided an apparatus for dyeing garments, the apparatus comprising: a dye injection system configured to dispense concentrated liquid dye; and a dyeing machine comprising a dyeing chamber configured for dyeing at least one garment in a dye bath; receiving at least one garment and a volume of solvent in a dyeing chamber of a dyeing machine; receiving at least one garment parameter corresponding to at least one garment; dispensing, via a dye injection system, a volume of concentrated liquid dye comprising an amount of dye capable of being substantially absorbed by at least one garment, based at least in part on at least one received garment parameter, thereby producing a dye bath, wherein the dye bath comprises the concentrated liquid dye dispensed from the dye injection system and a volume of solvent; and performing a dyeing cycle such that substantially all of the dye in the concentrated liquid dye having the dispensed volume is absorbed by at least one garment within the dyeing chamber.

In various embodiments, the dye in the concentrated liquid dye having a dispensed volume is configured such that a resulting dye bath disposed within a dyeing chamber of the dyeing machine is at least substantially free of added dye enhancing agent when performing the dyeing cycle, and wherein performing the dyeing cycle includes maintaining the dye bath at substantially ambient temperature. In various embodiments, the at least one garment parameter includes a garment weight corresponding to a weight of the at least one garment.

Drawings

The patent or application document contains at least one drawing in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication and color drawings will be provided by the U.S. patent and trademark office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary dyeing apparatus.

Fig. 2 schematically illustrates an exemplary device according to various embodiments.

Fig. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method of dyeing a garment in accordance with some exemplary embodiments described herein.

Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method of garment cationization according to some exemplary embodiments described herein.

Fig. 5a-5b illustrate exemplary cationized garments according to some exemplary embodiments described herein.

Fig. 6a-6b illustrate an exemplary garment dyed according to some exemplary embodiments described herein.

Fig. 7a-7b illustrate an exemplary garment dyed according to some exemplary embodiments described herein.

Fig. 8 illustrates an example garment dyed according to some example embodiments described herein.

Fig. 9 illustrates an exemplary garment dyed according to some exemplary embodiments described herein.

Fig. 10 illustrates various experimental example garment portions dyed according to some example embodiments described herein.

Detailed Description

The following description should be read with reference to the drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the several views. The detailed description and drawings illustrate several embodiments intended to be illustrative of the present disclosure. It should be understood that any number of the disclosed features (e.g., first, second, etc.) and/or directional terms used in connection with the disclosed features (e.g., front, back, top, bottom, side, etc.) are relative terms that indicate an illustrative relationship between the relevant features.

It should be understood at the outset that although illustrative implementations of one or more aspects are illustrated below, the disclosed components, systems, and methods may be implemented using any number of techniques, whether currently known or in existence. The disclosure should not be limited in any way to the illustrative embodiments, figures, and techniques shown below, but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims along with their full scope of equivalents. Although dimensional values of various elements are disclosed, the drawings may not be to scale.

The word "example" or "exemplary" is intended to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration" as used herein. Any implementation described herein as "example" or "example embodiment" is not necessarily preferred or advantageous over other implementations.

SUMMARY

Described herein are methods and apparatus for efficiently dyeing garments that enable on-demand garment dyeing in a substantially closed loop system. As will be appreciated from the description herein, the various disclosed methods and apparatus minimize waste and environmental impact. In example embodiments, methods and apparatus for garment dyeing may be used to perform garment dyeing on a scalable level (e.g., single garment, small batch garment, or large batch garment). It should be appreciated that while the various embodiments described herein are directed to dyeing garments, the method and apparatus embodiments disclosed herein may be configured to dye materials other than garments (e.g., garment lines, yarns, woven sheets, any dyeable fabric, or any other dye-absorbing material).

In various embodiments, the methods and apparatus use a predetermined amount of concentrated liquid dye, as described in more detail herein, that is free of various salts (e.g., sodium chloride, sodium sulfate) and various other additives (e.g., soda ash, caustic, etc.) used in conventional dyeing processes. In such embodiments, the amount of concentrated liquid dye used is based on a garment parameter (e.g., the weight (or mass) of the fibers in the garment being dyed) corresponding to the dye absorbing capacity of the garment.

In such an exemplary embodiment, the concentrated liquid dye may consist essentially of the dye and water, and may be dispensed directly into the dyeing machine. Within the dyeing machine, the dispensed concentrated liquid dye is mixed with a dyeing solvent (e.g., water) at the dyeing point to form a dye bath. The cationized garment in the dyeing machine may then absorb all of the dye present in the dye bath (e.g., as a result of injecting a predetermined amount of concentrated liquid dye on a weight basis). Thus, the process allows the resulting water to be free of any impurities other than trace contaminants (e.g., contaminant concentrations below 5%) so that the resulting water is suitable for direct reuse in a subsequent dyeing process.

In various embodiments, the remaining water may be treated using a filtration system prior to reuse in the dyeing process, wherein supplemental material (e.g., cuttings from garment production) may be used to absorb any remaining volume of dye in the dye bath. This exemplary system configuration allows for dyeing of subsequent garments with different dye color combinations using the same solvent, thereby enabling the dyeing process to utilize a closed loop water system and preserving the flexibility of dyeing garments with different colors in subsequent uses. The exemplary closed loop water system as described herein may not only eliminate the substantial water consumption that defines many conventional dyeing processes, but may also eliminate the need for bulky water holding tanks, effectively minimizing the footprint of the dyeing equipment.

In one embodiment, as long as the garment is able to fully absorb the dye, the amount of water present within the system may become irrelevant to the dyeing process, as the relationship driving dye absorption is the ratio of the volume of dye to the weight of the garment. By effectively eliminating the liquid-to-cargo ratio as a variable to be adjusted, the complex chemistry required for conventional dyeing processes to ensure optimal dyeing conditions is greatly simplified. As described herein, such an exemplary configuration can simplify the dyeing process, wherein the amount of concentrated liquid dye injected into the dyeing machine is based solely on the weight of the garment being dyed given the selected synthetic garment color.

In various applications, the improved dyeing process disclosed herein may dye garments to a selected color on demand based on user input in a retail or manufacturing setting due to minimized physical and environmental impact and simplified stoichiometry.

Further described herein are systems and methods for efficiently dyeing patterned garments that are capable of pattern cationizing the garment as desired and producing a predetermined dye pattern when the garment is subsequently subjected to a dyeing process. As will be appreciated from the description herein, the disclosed methods are substantially automated, flexible, and minimize waste and environmental impact. In an exemplary embodiment, the method for dyeing patterned garments may be used on a scalable level (e.g., single garments, small batch garments, or large batch garments). It should be understood that the method for patterning garments as described herein may be used independently of or in conjunction with the disclosed method and apparatus for garment dyeing as described herein.

In various embodiments, a method of dyeing patterned garments may include selectively applying a cationic treatment to one or more areas on the garment to create a localized cationic pattern. The cationic treating agent can be applied to the garment using a variety of techniques, such as screen printing, spray coating, and/or digital printing. In this case, when the garment is subsequently subjected to a dyeing operation, substantially all of the volume of dye absorbed by the garment may be absorbed by those areas of the garment to which the cationic treatment has been applied, while the untreated garment areas retain the original garment color. Further, the chromaticity depth of the colored pattern may be selectively changed by changing one or more of: the volume of dye used in the dyeing operation, the dyeing cycle run time, and the concentration of the cationic treatment agent applied to the garment area ("cation concentration"). As described herein, the selective application of localized volumes of cationic pretreatment to create a color pattern on a garment eliminates the need for a subsequent reduction process, which is typically required to obtain the desired pattern. Thus, as described herein, the present invention reduces both the amount of waste water discharged during the dyeing process and the production time associated with manufacturing patterned garments.

Dyeing equipment

As shown in fig. 1, an exemplary dyeing apparatus 100 may include an apparatus housing 101, a dyeing machine 110, a dye injection system 120, a filtration system 130, one or more holding tanks 140, and a controller 200.

In various embodiments, dyeing machine 110 may include a commercial dyeing vessel configured to receive one or more cationized garments. The dyeing machine 110 may be further configured to receive a volume of solvent and a volume of concentrated liquid dye dispensed directly from a dye injection system 120 located proximate to the dyeing machine 110. The dyeing machine 110 may be located on top of a support surface (e.g., a floor). In various embodiments, the dyeing machine 110 may be configured to perform a dyeing cycle. The dyeing cycle includes mixing one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye dispensed directly into the dyeing machine and dyeing the garment within the dyeing machine 110. As described herein, the dyeing machine 110 may be configured to perform a dyeing cycle such that substantially all of the dye in a volume of concentrated liquid dye dispensed into the dyeing machine is absorbed by garments within the dyeing machine. In various embodiments, the dyeing machine may include a machine configured for a strand dyeing, yarn dyeing, jig dyeing, capstan dyeing, soft stream dyeing, or air stream dyeing process.

In various embodiments, dyeing machine 110 may include a dyeing chamber configured for dyeing at least one garment in a dye bath. The dyeing chamber may be configured to receive at least one garment and a dye bath (e.g., a volume of solvent, such as water, and a volume of concentrated liquid dye). For example, the dyeing chamber may include an internal chamber disposed within the housing 101 of the dyeing machine 110. In the illustrated embodiment, the interior chamber of the dyeing machine is an interior cylindrical chamber 111. In some embodiments, the interior cylindrical chamber 111 of the dyeing machine 110 may be configured to have a volumetric capacity of, for example, 10 to 10,000 liters and to rotate at, for example, 1 to 100RPM during a dyeing cycle. In various embodiments, the rotational speed of the interior chamber 111 of the dyeing machine may be constant or may vary throughout the dyeing cycle to facilitate relative movement between the garment and the dye bath to facilitate engagement of the garment with the volume of dye present in the dye bath.

In various embodiments, the dye bath may comprise a volume of solvent and a volume of concentrated liquid dye. Thus, throughout the dyeing cycle, the dye bath may consist essentially of a volume of solvent and a volume of concentrated liquid dye. In embodiments where the concentrated liquid dye itself comprises water and a dye, the dye bath may also comprise a volume of water and a quantity of dye (dispensed via the concentrated liquid dye).

In various embodiments, the dyeing machine 110 may be configured to maintain the dye bath at substantially ambient temperature during the dyeing cycle. For example, depending on the classification of the dye used (e.g., reactive dye, direct dye, or acid dye), the dyeing machine may be configured to maintain the dye bath temperature between 18 and 95 degrees celsius throughout the dyeing cycle. By operating the dyeing cycle at substantially ambient temperature, as described herein, the dyeing machine 110 can avoid having to heat the dye bath to a temperature substantially higher than ambient temperature (e.g., 20 degrees celsius), thereby greatly reducing the energy consumed during the dyeing process as compared to conventional dyeing processes. The dyeing machine 110 may be configured to perform the dyeing cycle during an operating time that is related to the weight of the garment in the dyeing machine, the color shade depth of the resultant garment color, and the consumption of dye into the fibers of the garment. In an exemplary embodiment, the staining cycle may include a length of time of 20 to 60 minutes (e.g., 30 to 45 minutes).

In various embodiments, dyeing machine 110 may be fluidly connected to filtration system 130. In such an exemplary embodiment, after the dyeing cycle is completed, dyeing machine 110 may be configured to dispense the dye bath (including a volume of solvent and any remaining volume of dye bath that is not absorbed by the garment) such that the dye bath may be directed to filtration system 130. Further, the dyeing machine 110 may be fluidly connected to one or more holding tanks 140. In various embodiments, the dyeing machine 110 may be configured to receive a volume of at least substantially clean solvent from one or more holding tanks 140 or directly from the filtration system 130 prior to execution of the dyeing cycle. In various embodiments, the volume of solvent received by the dyeing machine 110 may be substantially equal to or less than the volumetric capacity of the dyeing machine 110. Further, in various embodiments, the dyeing machine 110 may include one or more liquid flow meters located at the solvent inlet and/or the solvent outlet, each flow meter configured to measure the volume of water received and dispensed by the dyeing machine 110, respectively. The dyeing machine 110 may further include a level indicator configured to measure the volume of water present within the dyeing machine 110.

In various embodiments, the dyeing machine may be configured to wash and/or dry the garment after the dyeing cycle has been completed and the remaining dye bath has been dispensed from the dyeing machine 110. In various embodiments, the garment may be washed one or more times in order to wash a volume of hydrolyzed dye from the garment. In various embodiments, the number of laundry washes may depend on the chromaticity depth of the user-selected laundry output color.

In various embodiments, the dyeing machine 110 may further include a weight sensor (e.g., a scale) to determine the weight of the garment to be dyed. In various embodiments, the weight sensor may be incorporated within the dyeing machine 110 or included as a separate component. In various embodiments, the weight sensor may be configured to communicate the measured weight to the controller 200.

As just one example, dyeing machine 110 may include a Foranol (Flainox) NRG dyeing machine, an E-Color dyeing machine, and an Essiccati dyeing machine, or any other suitable dyeing machine having the configurations described herein.

In various embodiments, the dye injection system 120 may be located near the dyeing machine 110 such that one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye may be dispensed from the dye injection system 120 directly into the dyeing machine 110. Dye injection system 120 may include a dye housing 121 configured to hold one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye and each of the respective dispensing machines. As described herein, the concentrated liquid dye may comprise a quantity of a colorant and a volume of a solvent, and may be associated with a unique color based on the composition of the colorant. For example, the concentrated liquid dye used in the various embodiments may consist of only water and a colorant (e.g., chromophore). In various embodiments, the concentrated liquid dye may be free of various additives that are conventionally used to increase the percentage of dye absorption during dyeing, such as various added salt components (e.g., sodium chloride, sodium sulfate), alkali components (e.g., sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate), or other contaminants. In certain embodiments, the concentrated liquid may include, in addition to water and a colorant, one or more life enhancing agents (e.g., sodium tripolyphosphate and/or an antimicrobial agent) configured to extend the useful life of the concentrated liquid dye.

In various embodiments, one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye may be stored separately in one or more concentrated liquid dye cartridges 122. The dye housing 121 may be configured to secure and position each of the one or more concentrated liquid dye cartridges 122 such that they may be fluidly connected to a respective distribution header 123. In various embodiments, the dye injection system 120 may include one to twenty (e.g., seven to twelve) concentrated dye cartridges 122, each containing a concentrated liquid dye associated with a respective concentrated liquid dye color. In various embodiments, one or more respective dye-dispensing headers 123 may be configured to direct a flow of a volume of concentrated liquid dye dispensed from the concentrated liquid dye cartridge 122 into the dyeing machine 110. The exemplary apparatus shown in fig. 1 includes twelve concentrated liquid dye cartridges 122 and twelve corresponding dye distribution headers 123.

As described herein, the dye injection system 120 may be configured to facilitate dispensing one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye into a dyeing machine to produce garments having a preselected composite garment color. In various embodiments, each concentrated liquid dye can be associated with a respective concentrated liquid dye color. As non-limiting examples, various concentrated liquid dyes may include orange No. one, orange No. two, yellow No. one, yellow No. two, blue No. one, green pine No. three, red No. two, and the like. The one or more concentrated liquid dyes may be dispensed in various proportions such that the overall pooled concentrated liquid dye dispensed into the dyeing machine 110 may include a dye input color configured to produce a synthetic garment color preselected by the user. As non-limiting examples, various synthetic garment colors may include exemplary proprietary colors having manufacturer-specified characteristics (e.g., for convenience herein referred to as light orange, dark orange, pale yellow, dark blue, pale green loose, dark red, etc.). In various embodiments, each synthetic garment color may be associated with a depth of shade (e.g., light orange has a lighter shade depth than dark orange). In various embodiments, the percentage ratio of the respective concentrated liquid dye colors (i.e., the ratio of the respective concentrated liquid dyes dispensed) defines the dye input color and affects the chromaticity of the resultant garment color. Furthermore, as described herein, the chroma depth of the composite garment color may correspond at least in part to the total amount of stain (per unit weight or other garment parameter) required to produce a garment having the composite garment color. For example, in the exemplary case where the first composite garment color has a darker shade depth and the second composite garment color has a lighter shade depth, a greater amount of dye (e.g., per weight of dyed garment) may be required to produce a garment containing the first composite garment color.

Further, in various embodiments, the volume of each of the respective concentrated liquid dyes dispensed (i.e., the amount of concentrated liquid dye that is generally pooled) may be based at least in part on garment parameters corresponding to at least one garment in the dyeing machine 110. In various embodiments, the garment parameter may be a characteristic of the garment (or group of garments) that at least partially defines the garment's ability to absorb a volume of dye (e.g., the garment's dye absorbing ability). In other words, the garment parameter may be a characteristic or property of the garment (or group of garments) that is known to correspond to the dye absorption capacity of the garment (e.g., the total amount of dye that the garment or group of garments is capable of absorbing from the dye bath). As a non-limiting example, the garment parameters may be: the weight of the clothing; garment size (e.g., for a known garment type, in which case the garment size corresponds to a known absorbent capacity); clothing SKU; and any garment value corresponding to the known dye absorption capacity. For example, in various embodiments, the volume of each of the respective concentrated liquid dyes dispensed (i.e., the amount of total pooled concentrated liquid dye) may proportionally correspond to the weight of the garment in the dyeing machine 110 (e.g., such that the amount of total pooled concentrated liquid dye dispensed from the dye injection system is dependent on the weight of the garment in order to produce a garment having a composite garment color). For example, the amount of dye in the total aggregate volume of concentrated liquid dye dispensed for dyeing a garment may be less than the dye absorbing capacity of the garment.

Further, for example, in various embodiments, the volume of each of the respective concentrated liquid dyes dispensed (i.e., the amount of concentrated liquid dye that is generally pooled) may correspond to the cation concentration of the garment in the dyeing machine 110. In various embodiments, the maximum volume of concentrated liquid dye that can be known to be absorbed by the garment can produce a full depth of the resultant garment color. The maximum volume of concentrated liquid dye that can be absorbed also defines the maximum volume of concentrated liquid dye that can be dispensed into the garment dyeing system. As can be appreciated from the description herein, the maximum volume of concentrated liquid dye that can be absorbed depends on the concentration of the concentrated liquid dye (e.g., the amount of dye per unit volume of solvent comprising the concentrated liquid dye) and the weight of the garment to be dyed (e.g., a heavier garment is capable of absorbing more dye than a lighter garment of the same material).

In various embodiments, a smaller amount of dye may be injected into the machine in order to affect the depth of chromaticity of the dye input color (e.g., to produce a lighter chromaticity of the dye input color). As a non-limiting example, in various embodiments, a first composite garment color corresponding to a lighter shade depth may require a smaller amount of dye (per unit weight of garment) to be dispensed into the machine (e.g., via one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye) than a second composite garment color corresponding to a darker shade depth. Thus, in various embodiments, the composite garment color may be a function of the percentage ratio of the corresponding concentrated liquid dye color and the amount of concentrated liquid dye dispensed into the system (relative to the weight of the garment being dyed).

The controller 200 may be configured to calculate an appropriate ratio and an appropriate volume of each of the respective concentrated liquid dyes to be dispensed based on the received user input at the user interface. For example, based at least in part on at least one garment parameter, the controller may be configured to cause the dye injection system to dispense a volume of concentrated liquid dye comprising an amount of dye that may be substantially absorbed by at least one garment (i.e., the amount of dye is substantially less than or equal to the dye absorbing capacity of the at least one garment). The dye injection system 120 may be configured to receive communications from the controller 200 and thus dispense an appropriate amount of each concentrated liquid dye into the dyeing machine 110.

In various embodiments, one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye may be dispensed directly into dyeing machine 110 from respective dispensing headers 123. In various other embodiments, a volume of concentrated liquid dye may be dispensed from the respective dispensing header 123 into a mixing tank to facilitate thorough mixing prior to further dispensing into the dyeing machine 110. In further embodiments, one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye may be dispensed from respective dispensing headers 123 into a common delivery conduit configured to receive one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye and deliver each of the volumes of concentrated liquid dye to dyeing machine 110. In such embodiments, one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye may be present substantially simultaneously within the delivery conduit, so as to facilitate delivery of a mixture of volumes of concentrated liquid dye within the conduit. In certain embodiments, the delivery catheter may further include mixing hardware present within the delivery catheter configured to further facilitate mixing by creating a distorted fluid flow. The delivery conduit may also be fluidly connected to a concentrated liquid dye collection funnel or any other suitable collection mechanism configured to capture each of the one or more concentrated liquid dyes having a dispensed volume and direct them into the delivery conduit.

As just one example, the dye injection system 120 may include a ColorService SRL JIT automatic dye dosing machine, datacolor Autolab TF dispensing system, or any other suitable dye injection system having the configurations described herein.

In various embodiments, the filtration system 130 may be configured to receive the dye bath from the dyeing machine 110 after the dyeing cycle has been completed, and to remove all remaining volumes of dye remaining in the dye bath. In various embodiments, the filtration system 130 may include a reservoir and a supplemental material. The reservoir may be configured to hold a volume of dye bath dispensed from dyeing machine 110. In various embodiments, the reservoir may be made of a non-absorbent inert material (e.g., polypropylene). In various embodiments, the supplemental material of the filtration system 130 may be configured to be submerged in a volume of dye bath so as to interact with and absorb the entire volume of dye. In one exemplary device, the supplemental material may include excess fabric, fibers, yarns, cotton, and may be cationized to facilitate dye absorption. For example, the supplemental material may be sewn into a polypropylene container (i.e., "tea bag") in order to facilitate interaction of the supplemental material with the contents of the dye bath and to maintain control of the supplemental material during immersion of the supplemental material. Alternatively, in various embodiments, the filtration system 130 may comprise a vessel having one or more screens configured to remove all remaining volumes of dye from the dye bath. Furthermore, in an alternative environment, the filtration system 130 may not include a reservoir, but may include only supplemental material configured to be immersed in the dye bath after the dyeing cycle has been completed but before the dye bath has been dispensed from the dyeing machine 110. In various embodiments, the filtration system 130 may further include a sensor configured to quantify the presence of any residual impurities by measuring the transmission of light through a volume of the dye bath, thereby detecting when the dye bath has been sufficiently cleaned.

In various embodiments, after the resulting volume of dye has been removed from the dye bath, the filtration system 130 may be configured to dispense the volume of substantially clean solvent into one or more holding tanks 140 for storage. Alternatively, the filtration system 130 may be configured to dispense a volume of substantially clean solvent back into the dyeing machine 110 for a subsequent dyeing cycle.

As just one example, the filtration system 130 may include an Axium process dye house wastewater treatment (Axium Process Dyehouse Effluent Treatment) and water reuse system (Water Reuse System), or any other suitable filtration system having the configurations described herein.

In various embodiments, the one or more holding tanks 140 may include one or more containers configured to store excess solvent present within the closed loop system of the dyeing apparatus 100 as described herein. In various embodiments, each of the one or more holding tanks 140 may maintain a solvent volume that is substantially equal to or greater than a solvent volume that may be used to define the dye bath. In various embodiments, one or more holding tanks 140 may be configured to receive a volume of substantially clean solvent from the filtration system 130 or dyeing machine 110. In various embodiments, one or more holding tanks 140 may be configured to hold a volume of solvent between dyeing cycles. The one or more holding tanks 140 may be further configured to dispense a volume of solvent into the dyeing machine 110. One or more holding tanks 140 may not be present in the various embodiments of the garment dyeing apparatus 100 described herein.

As just one example, the one or more holding tanks 140 may include any suitable commercially available liquid holding tank having the configurations described herein.

As shown in fig. 2, the exemplary controller 200 may include processing circuitry 202, memory 204, input-output circuitry 206, communication circuitry 208, dyeing machine circuitry 210, dye injection system circuitry 220, power supply circuitry 214, and user interface circuitry 216. The exemplary controller 200 may be configured to perform the operations described above with respect to fig. 1 and the operations described below with respect to fig. 3. In various embodiments, the controller 200 may be disposed within the device housing 101 or may exist external to the device housing as a discrete component that is electrically connected to the various other components that make up the device described herein. Although some of these components 202-216 are described with respect to their functional capabilities, it should be understood that particular implementations must include the use of particular hardware to implement such functional capabilities. It should also be appreciated that some of these components 202-216 may include similar or general purpose hardware. For example, both sets of circuits may perform their associated functions using the same processor, network interface, storage medium, etc., such that each set of circuits does not require duplicated hardware.

Accordingly, the term "circuitry" as used herein with respect to components of dyeing apparatus 100 includes particular hardware configured to perform the functions associated with the respective circuitry described herein. Of course, while the term "circuitry" should be broadly interpreted to include hardware, in some embodiments circuitry may also include software for configuring hardware. For example, in some embodiments, "circuitry" may include processing circuitry, storage media, network interfaces, input-output devices, and other components. In some embodiments, other elements of the controller 200 may provide or supplement the functionality of specific circuitry. For example, the processing circuitry 202 may provide processing functionality, the memory 204 may provide storage functionality, and the communication circuitry 208 may provide network interface functionality, among other features.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 202 (and/or coprocessors or auxiliary processors or any other processing circuitry otherwise associated with the processor) may be in communication with the memory 204 via a bus for communicating information between components of the device. Memory 204 may be non-transitory and may include, for example, one or more volatile and/or non-volatile memories. For example, the memory 204 may be an electronic storage device (e.g., a computer-readable storage medium). In another example, memory 204 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable program code instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform various operations described herein. The memory 204 may be configured to store information, data, content, signal applications, instructions (e.g., computer-executable program code instructions), etc., for enabling the controller 200 to perform various functions in accordance with example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the memory 204 may be configured to store garment type data; clothing weight data; concentrating liquid dye-box filling status data; dye color combination data; concentrated liquid dye data (e.g., dye concentration); a dyeing cycle configuration technique; concentrated liquid dye dispensing calculation; stain configuration data; dye injection techniques; energy consumption data; water consumption data; monitoring data; any other suitable data or data structure; or any combination thereof. It should be appreciated that the memory 204 may be configured to store, in part or in whole, any electronic information, data structures, embodiments, examples, graphics, processes, operations, techniques, algorithms, instructions, systems, devices, methods, or computer program products described herein, or any combination thereof.

The processing circuitry 202 may be implemented in a number of different ways and may, for example, include one or more processing devices configured to execute independently. Additionally or alternatively, the processing circuitry 202 may include one or more processors configured in series via a bus to enable independent execution of instructions, pipelining, multithreading, or a combination thereof. The use of the term "processing circuitry" may be understood to include a single-core processor, a multi-core processor, multiple processors within a device, a remote or "cloud" processor, or a combination thereof.

In an example embodiment, the processing circuitry 202 may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 204 or otherwise accessible to the processing circuitry 202. Alternatively or additionally, the processing circuitry 202 may be configured to perform hard-coded functions. As such, whether configured by hardware or software methods, or by a combination of hardware and software, the processing circuitry 202 may represent an entity (e.g., physically embodied in circuitry) capable of performing operations according to embodiments of the present disclosure when configured accordingly. As another example, when the processing circuitry 202 is implemented as an executor of program code instructions, the instructions may specifically configure the processor to perform the operations described herein when the instructions are executed.

In some embodiments, the controller 200 may include input-output circuitry 206, which in turn may be in communication with the processing circuitry 202 to provide output to a user, and in some embodiments, receive input (e.g., user-provided commands). The input output circuitry 206 may include a user interface, such as a Graphical User Interface (GUI), and may include a display, which may include a web user interface, a GUI application, a mobile application, a client device, or any other suitable hardware or software. In some embodiments, the input-output circuitry 206 may also include a keyboard, a mouse, a joystick, a display device, a display screen, a touch area, soft keys, a microphone, a speaker (e.g., a buzzer), a light emitting device (e.g., a red Light Emitting Diode (LED), a green LED, a blue LED, a white LED, an Infrared (IR) LED, an Ultraviolet (UV) LED, or a combination thereof), or other input-output mechanism. The processing circuitry 202, the input output circuitry 206 (which may utilize the processing circuitry 202), or both, may be configured to control one or more functions of one or more user interface elements through computer-executable program code instructions (e.g., software, firmware) stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (e.g., memory 204). The input-output circuitry 206 is optional and in some embodiments, the controller 200 may not include input-output circuitry. For example, where the controller 200 does not interact directly with a user, the controller 200 may generate user interface data displayed by one or more other devices with which one or more users interact directly and send the generated user interface data to one or more of the devices. For example, using user interface circuitry 216, controller 200 may generate user interface data for display by one or more display devices and send the generated user interface data to those display devices.

The communication circuit 208 may be any device or circuit implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software that is configured to receive data from or transmit data to a network or any other device, circuit or module in communication with the controller 200. In this regard, the communication circuitry 208 may include, for example, a network interface for enabling communication with a wired or wireless communication network. For example, the communication circuitry 208 may include one or more network interface cards, antennas, buses, switches, routers, modems, and supporting hardware and/or software, or any other suitable device for enabling communications via a network. In some embodiments, the communication interface may include circuitry for interacting with the antenna to transmit signals via the antenna or to process reception of signals received via the antenna. The signals may be transmitted by the controller 200 using a variety of internet, ethernet, cellular, satellite, or wireless technologies (e.g., IEEE 802.11, code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), global system for mobile communications (GSM), universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), long Term Evolution (LTE), wireless communications systems (UMTS),v1.0 to v5.0, bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), infrared wireless (e.g., irDA), ultra Wideband (UWB), inductive wireless transmission, wi-Fi, near Field Communication (NFC), worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), radio Frequency (RF), RFID, or any other suitable technology.

Dyeing machine circuit 210 includes hardware components designed or configured to receive, process, generate, and transmit data related to the dyeing machine performing a dyeing cycle and interacting with other components of dyeing apparatus 100, such as dyeing cycle start and finish signals. In various embodiments, dyeing machine circuit 210 may be configured to receive a dyeing cycle start command based on a signal sent from, for example, input output circuit 206. Further, the dyeing machine circuit 210 may be configured to communicate with the memory 204 and process commands related to the dyeing cycle configuration (e.g., run time, dye bath temperature). In various embodiments, the dyeing machine circuit 210 may be configured to send a dyeing cycle complete signal to one or more circuit components of the controller 200.

Dye injection system circuitry 212 includes hardware components designed or configured to receive, process, generate, and transmit data (e.g., color component data and concentrated liquid dye dispensing data). In various embodiments, dye injection system circuit 212 may be configured to receive a user-selected composite garment color signal from input output circuit 206. In various embodiments, the dye injection system circuit 212 may be configured to communicate with the memory 204 and retrieve concentrated liquid dye ratio data associated with the user-selected synthetic garment color indicated in the received signal. The concentrated liquid dye ratio data may include a ratio (i.e., recipe) of each of the respective concentrated liquid dyes to be dispensed in order to produce a dye input color associated with the synthetic garment color. For example, in various embodiments, the concentrated liquid dye ratio data may include the stain concentration (i.e., the ratio of stain to water in the concentrated liquid dye) of each concentrated liquid dye, as well as the ratio of each of the corresponding stains to be dispensed, in order to produce a composite garment color. In various embodiments, memory 204 may store concentrated liquid dye ratio data for each synthetic garment color that may be selected. In various embodiments, the concentrated liquid dye ratio data may include one or more look-up tables associated with each available synthetic garment color (e.g., associated with an appropriate ratio of concentrated liquid dye colors and/or an appropriate total amount of dye to be dispensed in order to produce a garment of synthetic garment color). As a non-limiting example, an exemplary look-up table may include ratios of various concentrated liquid dye colors corresponding to, for example, various proprietary synthetic garment colors, as follows:

Further, the dye injection system circuit 212 may be configured to receive at least one garment parameter corresponding to at least one garment from one or more components of the controller 200. For example, the dye injection system circuit 212 may be configured to receive garment weight signals from the dyeing machine circuit 210 (e.g., from a weight sensor) and/or the input output circuit 206 (e.g., a user selected garment weight signal). Alternatively or additionally, the dye injection system circuit 212 may be configured to receive a user selected garment type signal and/or a garment count signal, wherein the dye injection system circuit 212 may be further configured to identify a garment weight corresponding to the user selected garment type and/or garment count. In such an exemplary embodiment, the dye injection system circuit 212 may be configured to communicate with the memory 204 and determine a garment weight corresponding to the garment type. In various embodiments, the dye injection system circuit 212 may be configured to determine an appropriate magnitude factor based on, for example, the weight of the garment, which magnitude factor is applied to a corresponding volume of concentrated liquid dye configured to be dispensed in the ratio described above. For example, in various embodiments, the dye injection system circuit 212 may retrieve data including one or more look-up tables associated with a relationship between garment weight and total volume of dye required to fully dye a corresponding garment. In various embodiments, the total volume of dye required to fully dye the corresponding garment may depend on the selected composite garment color. As a non-limiting example, in various embodiments, the total volume of dye required to fully dye a first garment to a proprietary synthetic garment color-deep blue-may be greater than the total volume of dye required to fully dye a second garment of the same garment weight to a proprietary synthetic garment color-light red. In such embodiments, the total volume of stain required to fully stain a garment of known garment weight will not exceed the stain absorbing capacity of the corresponding weight of fully cationized garment, regardless of the user selected color of the resultant garment.

As described herein, the dye injection system circuit 212 may be configured to calibrate a total volume of concentrated liquid dye dispensed by the dye injection system based at least in part on a cation concentration of at least one garment. The total volume of concentrated liquid dye dispensed by the dye injection system may be optimized to minimize the resulting volume of dye remaining in the dye bath as the dyeing cycle is performed. For example, in various embodiments, the total volume of concentrated liquid dye dispensed by the dye injection system may comprise an amount of dye that is substantially less than or equal to the dye absorbing capacity of the garment. As a non-limiting example, various exemplary look-up tables corresponding to various proprietary synthetic garment colors may include the total amount of colorant to be dispensed and/or the total aggregate concentrated liquid dye to be dispensed, calibrated according to, for example, various garment weights, as follows:

as another non-limiting example, various exemplary look-up tables corresponding to various proprietary synthetic garment colors (e.g., pale red) may include various volumes of corresponding concentrated liquid dye to be dispensed, calibrated according to, for example, various garment weights, as follows:

In various embodiments, the dye injection system circuit 212 may be configured to send the results of the above calculations and determinations to the dye injection system 120. In various embodiments, the dye injection system circuit 212 may be configured to send a dye injection complete signal to one or more circuit components of the controller 200. As a further non-limiting example, the dye injection system circuit 212 may be configured to receive garment pattern signals from one or more components of the controller 200, wherein the dye injection system circuit 212 may be further configured to identify garment cation concentrations corresponding to the received garment pattern signals.

As a non-limiting example, the controller 200 (e.g., dye injection system circuit 212) may receive data corresponding to 150 overcoming the weight of the garment and a user selection of a consistent proprietary light red synthetic garment color. As described herein, the dye injection system circuit 212 may retrieve data from a look-up table, noting that for 150 grams of fully cationized cotton, in order to produce a light red synthetic garment color, the dye injection system should dispense 3.0mL of yellow primary concentrated liquid dye, 1.5mL of orange primary concentrated liquid dye, and 6.0mL of red secondary concentrated liquid dye into an exemplary dyeing machine. In various embodiments, the dye injection system circuit 212 may be further configured to determine a dye injection rate at which three volumes of concentrated liquid dye may be dispensed based at least in part on the respective garment weights.

As another non-limiting example, the controller 200 (e.g., dye injection system circuit 212) may receive data corresponding to two large-size cotton t-shirts and a user selection of a consistent proprietary pale red synthetic garment color. As described herein, the dye injection system circuit 212 may retrieve data from a look-up table noting that a large size cotton t-shirt comprises a garment weight of 75 grams, and may further determine that the garment weight of one or more garments to be dyed is 150 grams. As further described herein, the dye injection system circuit 212 may retrieve data from a look-up table, noting that for 150 grams of fully cationized cotton, the ratio of yellow primary dye to orange primary and red secondary dyes should be 2:1:4 in order to produce a light red synthetic garment color. The dye injection system circuit 212 can retrieve data from a look-up table, noting that for 150 grams of fully cationized cotton, 10.50mL of concentrated liquid dye can be dispensed to produce a light red synthetic garment color. Based at least in part on the known percentage ratios of the various concentrated liquid dyes and the overall aggregate volume of concentrated liquid dye to be dispensed, dye injection system circuitry 212 can determine that 3.0mL of yellow one-size concentrated liquid dye, 1.5mL of orange one-size concentrated liquid dye, and 6.0mL of red two-size concentrated liquid dye should be dispensed into a dyeing machine in order to produce two large-size cotton t-shirts having a light red synthetic garment color.

As an alternative non-limiting example, the controller 200 (e.g., dye injection system circuit 212) may receive data corresponding to a 150 overcoming the weight of the garment and a user selection of a consistent custom-made red synthetic garment color. In various embodiments, dye injection system circuit 212 may determine that, based at least in part on the data retrieved from the look-up table (corresponding to the proprietary light red synthetic garment color determined to be at least substantially similar to the selected custom red), in order to produce the custom red synthetic garment color selected by the user, the yellow number one concentrated liquid dye, the orange number one concentrated liquid dye, and the red number two concentrated liquid dye should be dispensed in a ratio of 1:1:2. Dye injection system circuitry 212 may further determine that for 150 grams of fully cationized cotton, 12mL of concentrated liquid dye may be dispensed to produce a custom red synthetic garment color selected by the user based at least in part on the data retrieved from the look-up table (corresponding to the determined chromaticity depth of the proprietary light red synthetic garment color and custom red). Based at least in part on the determined percentage ratios of the various concentrated liquid dyes and the overall aggregate volume of concentrated liquid dye to be dispensed, dye injection system circuitry 212 may determine that 3.0mL of yellow primary concentrated liquid dye, 3.0mL of orange primary concentrated liquid dye, and 6.0mL of red secondary concentrated liquid dye should be dispensed into the dyeing machine in order to produce a garment having an orange output color at full color depth.

In various embodiments, the power supply circuit 214 may be configured to receive power and supply power to the controller 200. As non-limiting examples, the power supply circuit 214 may include one or more batteries, one or more capacitors, one or more constant power sources (e.g., wall sockets), and the like. In some embodiments, the power supply circuit 214 may include an external power source external to the device housing 101 and configured to deliver alternating current or direct current to the controller 200. Further, in some embodiments, the power supply circuit 214 may include an internal power source, such as one or more batteries, located within the device housing 110.

The user interface circuitry 216 includes hardware components designed or configured to receive, process, generate, and transmit data (e.g., user interface data). In various embodiments, the user interface circuit 216 may be configured to generate user interface data indicating available composite garment colors, user-selected colors, available garment types, user-selected garment weights, a dye cycle start signal, a remaining dye cycle time, a dye cycle complete signal, and combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the user interface data may include visual illustrations of user-selected garment types previewing user-selected colors. In some examples, the user interface data may include ordered groupings of available synthetic garment colors, garment weights, and/or garment types (e.g., selectable drop-down lists, selectable icons (e.g., clickable icons configured to be clicked by a mouse; virtual icons configured to be displayed on a touch screen and pressed by a user's finger), text-based prompts, voice-based prompts). For example, the user interface circuitry 216 may include hardware components designed or configured to generate user interface data based on any embodiment or combination of embodiments described with reference to fig. 1-3.

In some embodiments, the user interface circuit 216 may be in communication with a display device (e.g., the input output circuit 206, the user device, or a display device communicatively coupled thereto) and thus configured to send user interface data to the display device. For example, the user interface circuitry 216 may be configured to generate user interface data and send the generated user interface data to the input output circuitry 206, and the input output circuitry 206 may be configured to receive the user interface data and display the received user interface data on one or more display screens. In various embodiments, for example, the user interface circuitry may be configured to receive user input (e.g., user selection) at a display device (e.g., display screen) disposed proximate to and/or at the dyeing machine 110.

In some embodiments, each of dyeing machine circuit 210, dye injection circuit 212, and user interface circuit 216 may include a separate processor, a specially configured Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), an Application Specific Interface Circuit (ASIC), or a cloud utility to perform the above functions. In some embodiments, the hardware components described above with reference to dyeing machine circuit 210, dye injection circuit 212, and user interface circuit 216 may communicate with a user device, each other, or any other suitable circuit or device, for example, using communication circuit 208 or any suitable wired or wireless communication path.

In some embodiments, one or more of the dyeing machine circuit 210, dye injection circuit 212, and user interface circuit 216 may be locally hosted by the controller 200. In some embodiments, one or more of the dyeing machine circuit 210, dye injection circuit 212, and user interface circuit 216 may be hosted remotely (e.g., by one or more cloud servers) and thus do not need to be physically placed on the controller 200. Accordingly, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by remote circuitry. For example, the controller 200 may access one or more remote circuits via any kind of network connection that facilitates the transmission of data and electronic information between the controller 200 and the remote circuits. Further, the controller 200 may be in remote communication with one or more of the dyeing machine circuit 210, the dye injection circuit 212, and the user interface circuit 216.

As described above, and as will be appreciated based on the present disclosure, embodiments of the present disclosure may be configured as a system, apparatus, method, mobile device, backend network device, computer program product, other suitable device, and combinations thereof. Thus, embodiments may include various devices, including all hardware or any combination of software and hardware. Furthermore, embodiments may take the form of a computer program product on at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions (e.g., computer software) embodied in the storage medium. Any suitable computer readable storage medium may be utilized including non-transitory hard disks, CD-ROMs, flash memories, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices. It will be appreciated that any of the computer program instructions and/or other types of code described herein may be loaded onto a computer, processor, or other programmable apparatus circuitry to produce a machine, such that the computer, processor, or other programmable circuitry that executes the code on the machine produces means for implementing various functions, including those described herein.

In some embodiments, the user device may be implemented by one or more computing devices or systems, which may also include processing circuitry, memory, input-output circuitry, and communication circuitry. For example, the user device may be a portable computer on which an application (e.g., a GUI application) is running or otherwise being executed by the processing circuitry. In yet another example, the user device may be a smartphone on which an application (e.g., a web browsing application) is running or otherwise being executed by the processing circuitry. As it relates to the operations described in this disclosure, the functions of these devices may utilize components similar to the similarly named components described above with reference to fig. 2. Additional description of the mechanical structure of these components is omitted for brevity. These co-operating device elements provide the necessary functionality for the respective computing systems to facilitate data communication with the example dyeing apparatus described herein.

In various applications, the exemplary methods disclosed herein may be implemented in, for example, a retail or manufacturing setting.

Dyeing method

Fig. 3 illustrates a flow chart of an example method 300 in accordance with various embodiments discussed herein.

At block 301, an exemplary method of dyeing a garment may include cationizing a garment (e.g., a garment composed of cotton). As is generally understood, a cationized cotton garment may include chemically modified cellulose macromolecules in order to introduce a positive charge within the garment. In particular, cationization may include the introduction of amino compounds into the garment, the reaction of which may render the cellulose fibers present in the garment cationic. Cationization creates an electrostatic interaction between the positive charge on the cotton fibers and the negative charge on the anionic dye, effectively increasing the affinity of the cotton for the anionic dye. In various embodiments, the process can increase the amount of dye consumed by the cotton garment during the dyeing process. In addition, cationization as described herein can greatly reduce the need for large amounts of additives (e.g., various salts or other alkaline components) during dyeing, which are traditionally used to increase the percentage of dye uptake. Cationization of the garment may be performed using a cationic treatment.

According to various embodiments, the entire garment may be cationized by applying a volume of the cationic treatment to the entire garment. In addition, defining a particular garment region less than the entire garment may be cationized by selectively applying a volume of a cationic treatment to the particular garment region. As described herein, any given volume of cationic treatment agent contains an electrical charge. The concentrated charge of a particular volume of cationic treating agent may be proportional to the amount of cationic treating agent within the particular volume (i.e., the volume size). As described herein, the cationized garment region will continue to absorb dye from the dye bath until all of the dye is depleted from the dye bath, or as long as the garment region retains a charge, before the dye absorption threshold (i.e., saturation point) is reached. Thus, in various embodiments, the higher the cation concentration of a particular portion of the garment, the more stain that particular portion of the garment retains (thereby increasing the chroma depth of that particular portion of the garment). Thus, the concentration of the cationic treatment applied to the garment can be selectively varied to affect the color depth of the garment.

According to various embodiments, the cationic treating agent may be selectively applied to the garment using various application devices and methods, such as screen printing, manual spraying (e.g., manual spraying), automatic spraying (e.g., inkjet printing), and the like. In various embodiments, the cationic treating agent may include 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl trimethylammonium chloride (CHPTAC). The cationic treatment may include, by way of example only, a Dow ecoast pure sustainable textile treatment.

At block 302, an exemplary method of dyeing a garment may include mixing a volume of a dye with a volume of a solvent to form a concentrated liquid dye. In various embodiments, the concentrated liquid dye may comprise a mixture of a volume of dye and a volume of water. A volume of water may be thoroughly mixed with the dye so that the dye remains suspended to facilitate dispensing of the dye into the dyeing machine as a concentrated liquid dye. In various embodiments, the concentrated liquid dye may comprise a ratio of water to stain of 2:1 to 50:1 (e.g., 3:1 to 8:1). In various embodiments, additives (e.g., gels) may be added to the liquid concentrated dye to further promote suspension. In various embodiments, a preservative (e.g., sodium tripolyphosphate) and/or an antimicrobial agent may be added to the liquid concentrated dye to extend the useful life of the concentrated liquid dye. It should be appreciated that any additives (e.g., preservatives) incorporated into the concentrated liquid dye will not affect the percentage of dye absorption during dyeing.

In various embodiments, the mixing of a volume of dye and a volume of solvent may be repeated with one or more volumes of dye to produce a concentrated liquid dye, each dye associated with a different color. The resulting concentrated liquid dyes may each correspond to a different color that is associated with the color of their corresponding volume of dye. As described herein, a dyeing process in which one or more exemplary concentrated liquid dyes are at least substantially free of various additives (e.g., various added salt components (e.g., sodium chloride, sodium sulfate), alkali components (e.g., sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate), dedusting agents, or other contaminants) is understood to minimize the number of variables that may affect the color of the resultant garment. Thus, such exemplary liquid-concentrated dyes, consisting of a stain and water, enable a more predictable dyeing process, enabling the desired resultant garment color to be reliably and repeatedly produced. For example, each concentrated liquid dye may comprise a known concentration of dye (i.e., the ratio of dye to water in the concentrated liquid dye). Using known dye concentrations and user-selected synthetic garment color inputs, the volume of one or more exemplary concentrated liquid dyes may be adjusted to achieve an absorption percentage of at least substantially 100% of the dye volume contained therein based solely on the ratio of the dye volume to the garment weight to be dyed. With the elimination of input variables (e.g., amount of water, amount of dye additives, and chemistry associated therewith, respectively), predictability increases, reducing the need for color testing (e.g., laboratory dipping) and color approval, thereby enabling dyeing processes in which less basic concentrated liquid dye is required to produce a large number of useful synthetic garment colors.

In various embodiments, one or more concentrated liquid dyes may define an array of 1 to 20 (e.g., 7 to 15) base colors (e.g., concentrated liquid dye colors), which may be selectively combined in various proportions to enable a large number of useful synthetic garment colors. In one exemplary embodiment, as described herein, a commercial dye injection system may be configured to produce up to 300 tens of thousands of dye input colors using 7 to 15 base colors, the resulting dye input colors being colors defined by a chromaticity gamut within a given color space. For example, 7 to 15 base colors used in combination may be configured to facilitate the production of a composite garment color, which is one of up to 300 tens of thousands of colors defined by a chromaticity gamut within a given color space.

In various embodiments, one or more concentrated liquid dyes may be stored separately in a cartridge. The concentrated liquid dye cartridge may be disposed within a dye housing. In various embodiments, each of the one or more concentrated liquid dye cartridges may be configured to be fluidly connected to a respective distribution header such that various proportions of concentrated liquid dye may be injected into a dyeing machine, a mixing tank, or a delivery conduit through the distribution header.

At block 303, an exemplary method of dyeing garments may include determining, by a processor, a ratio of one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye to be injected into a dyeing machine using a dye injection system to produce garments having a selected composite color. In various embodiments, the garment parameters (e.g., garment weight; garment size, garment SKU) and the resulting garment color may be selected by a user, for example, via a user interface. Thus, to produce a composite garment color selected by a user, the processor may determine the degree to which each concentrated liquid dye will be dispensed into the dyeing machine to engage the garment. In various embodiments, such an exemplary processor determination may include two parts: the percentage ratio of the respective concentrated liquid dye colors dispensed into the dyeing machine and the volume of the total pooled concentrated liquid dye to be dispensed.

In various embodiments, each concentrated liquid dye can be associated with a respective concentrated liquid dye color. One or more concentrated liquid dyes may be dispensed in various ratios such that the total pooled concentrated liquid dye dispensed into the dyeing machine may include dye input colors configured to produce a synthetic garment color preselected by a user. In various embodiments, the percentage ratios of the corresponding concentrated liquid dye colors define the dye input colors and affect the chromaticity of the resultant garment color.

Further, in various embodiments, the volume of each of the respective concentrated liquid dyes dispensed (i.e., the amount of concentrated liquid dye that is generally pooled) may be based at least in part on garment parameters corresponding to at least one garment in the dyeing machine. In various embodiments, the garment parameter may be a characteristic of the garment and/or, for example, a collective group of garments, which at least partially defines the garment's ability to absorb a volume of dye (e.g., the garment's dye absorbing ability). As non-limiting examples, the garment parameter may be garment weight and/or garment cation concentration. For example, in various embodiments, the volume of each of the respective concentrated liquid dyes dispensed (i.e., the amount of concentrated liquid dye that is generally pooled) corresponds to the weight of the garment in the dyeing machine. In various embodiments, the maximum volume of concentrated liquid dye that can be absorbed by the garment may be known to produce a full depth of the resultant garment color; the maximum volume defines the maximum volume of concentrated liquid dye that can be dispensed into the garment system. In this exemplary case, the amount of dye of the total dispensed volume of concentrated liquid dye containing an amount of dye is substantially less than or equal to the dye absorption capacity of the garment. In various embodiments, a smaller amount of dye may be injected into the machine in order to affect the chromaticity depth of the dye input color (i.e., to produce, for example, a lighter chromaticity of the dye input color). Thus, in various embodiments, the composite garment color may be a function of the percentage ratio of the corresponding concentrated liquid dye color and the amount of total pooled concentrated liquid dye dispensed into the system. Thus, in various embodiments, the processor may determine the proportion of each concentrated liquid dye to the total aggregate concentrated liquid dye dispensed based on the user selected composite garment color. Similarly, in various embodiments, the overall aggregate volume of concentrated liquid dye dispensed into the system may vary based at least in part on the user selected color of the resultant garment.

Furthermore, in various embodiments, given a selected synthetic garment color, the volume of the total pooled concentrated liquid dye injected into the dyeing machine, as well as the volume of the individual concentrated liquid dyes injected into the dyeing machine, may be determined solely by the weight of the garment to be dyed. Thus, in various embodiments, the processor may determine the volume of total pooled concentrated liquid dye dispensed based on the user-selected garment weight. In such an exemplary method, the processor may determine the volume of each concentrated liquid dye to be dispensed present in the dye injection system based on the user selected garment weight and the desired resultant garment color. For example, the processor may be configured to determine, based at least in part on the user-selected garment weight and the desired composite garment color, a ratio of the various colorants corresponding to the desired composite garment color and a total amount of colorants required to produce the composite garment color at full-color depth. Based at least in part on the known concentration of the colorant for each concentrated liquid dye, the processor may determine a volume of each concentrated liquid dye to be dispensed such that a calculated amount of the colorant respectively contained in the concentrated liquid dyes as described above is dispensed into the dyeing machine.

At block 304, an exemplary method of dyeing a garment may include injecting a volume of one or more concentrated liquid dyes determined by a processor from a dye injection system into a dyeing machine. In various embodiments, the dyeing machine may be at least partially filled with an at least substantially clean solvent. Each volume of concentrated liquid dye may be dispensed from a respective dye cartridge through a corresponding dispensing manifold and directly into the dyeing machine. In various embodiments, the garment may be present in the dyeing machine prior to the injection of the one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye.

In various embodiments, the dyeing machine may be, for example, a dyeing vessel, and may be configured to be fluidly connected to one or more holding tanks such that a volume of solvent stored in the one or more holding tanks may be dispensed into the dyeing machine. The concentrated liquid dye and solvent dispensed into the dyeing machine may define a dye bath. In an exemplary embodiment, the solvent may be, for example, water. Because of pre-cationization of the garment (which results in maximized dye consumption and eliminates the need to add salt to the dye), the amount of solvent dispensed into the dyeing machine is not a critical variable to be considered in the exemplary methods disclosed herein. Although the amount of solvent dispensed into the dyeing machine may vary based on the volumetric capacity of the dyeing machine, the ratio of concentrated liquid dye to solvent present in the dye bath has no effect on the efficacy of the methods disclosed herein.

As described above, in various embodiments, one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye may be dispensed directly into the dyeing machine, may be dispensed into a mixing tank, or may be dispensed into a common delivery conduit.

At block 305, an exemplary method of dyeing a garment may include operating a dyeing machine until at least substantially all of a volume of dye present in one or more concentrated liquid dyes dispensed into the dyeing machine has been absorbed by the garment. The dyeing machine may be configured to facilitate interactions between the garment and the dye bath. Further, the dyeing machine may be configured to begin operation after one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye have been dispensed from the dye injection system into the dyeing machine. In various embodiments, operating the dyeing machine may include performing a dyeing cycle.

In various embodiments, the run time of the dyeing cycle may be proportional to at least the weight of the garment in the dyeing machine, the shade depth of the resultant garment color, and the consumption of dye in the fabric of the garment. In an exemplary embodiment, the staining cycle may include a length of time of 20 to 60 minutes (e.g., 30 to 45 minutes). Further, in various embodiments, the dyeing machine may be configured to maintain the dye bath at substantially ambient temperature. For example, the dyeing machine may be configured to maintain a dye bath temperature of 10 to 75 degrees celsius (e.g., 18 to 40 degrees celsius) throughout the dyeing cycle. Such an exemplary method as described herein may eliminate the need to heat the dye bath to a temperature significantly higher than ambient temperature (e.g., 60 degrees celsius), thereby greatly reducing the energy consumed during dyeing as compared to conventional dyeing methods.

In various embodiments, the entire volume of dye present in the dye bath at the beginning of the dyeing cycle may be absorbed by the garment during the dyeing cycle. In various embodiments, the resulting dye bath may consist of only water; there may be no residual amounts of dye, salt or other forms of waste water in the dye bath. Alternatively, in various embodiments, at the end of the dyeing cycle, substantially small amounts of the dye and/or one or more components contained in the concentrated liquid dye may remain in the dye bath. For example, in various embodiments, the resulting dye bath may be free of additives traditionally used to increase the percentage of dye absorbed during dyeing as a result of dispensing a calibrated volume of concentrated liquid dye, as described herein. In various embodiments, after the dyeing cycle is completed, the garment may be subsequently washed and/or dried. The garment may then be washed and/or dried using a dyeing machine or any other suitable machine configured to wash and/or dry garments as described herein.

At block 306, an exemplary method of dyeing a garment may include filtering the dye bath to remove all remaining volumes of dye. In various embodiments, after the dyeing cycle is terminated, the dye bath may be filtered so that any volume of dye remaining in the dye bath may be removed, effectively leaving substantially clean water that may be suitable for reuse in the dyeing process. In various embodiments, filtering the dye bath may include exposing the dye bath to a filtration system. For example, filtering the dye bath may include loading a dyeing machine or other vessel (e.g., a filtration system reservoir) into which the dye bath has been transferred with a supplemental material that has been treated to absorb all of the remaining volume of dye. In various embodiments, the supplemental material may be cationized and may include excess fabric, fibers, yarns, cotton, or other garment portions. In various embodiments, the refill material may be sewn, for example, into a polypropylene container (i.e., a "tea bag") that may be placed into the dye bath so that all of the remaining volume of dye present in the dye bath may be absorbed by the refill fabric. Alternatively, in various embodiments, the filtration system may comprise a vessel having one or more screens configured to remove all remaining volumes of stain from the dye bath.

At block 307, an exemplary method of dyeing garments may include recycling a volume of at least substantially clean solvent for reuse in a subsequent dyeing cycle. In various embodiments, the volume of at least substantially clean solvent may comprise a volume of clean water. In various exemplary embodiments, a volume of water may be transferred directly from the dyeing machine or the filtration system to one or more holding tanks for storage. For example, the holding tank may include a plurality of reservoirs in fluid communication with the dyeing machine and/or the filtration system. The holding tank may be configured to receive a volume of at least substantially clean solvent from the dyeing machine and/or the filtration system and may be configured to return the volume of solvent to the dyeing machine before a new dyeing cycle begins. Alternatively, in various embodiments, a volume of water may be transferred directly from the filtration system back into the dyeing machine for reuse in a subsequent dyeing cycle. As described herein, an exemplary method includes a substantially closed loop system with respect to a solvent.

It should be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings; rather, those skilled in the art will recognize that many variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the disclosed invention. For example, it should be appreciated that while the above-described exemplary embodiments are directed to dyeing garments, the method and apparatus embodiments disclosed herein may be configured to dye a weight (or mass) of material other than garments (e.g., an assembly line, yarn, woven sheet, any dyeable fabric, or any other dye-absorbing material).

Dyeing agent and concentrated liquid dye composition

In various embodiments, the methods and apparatus for dyeing garments disclosed herein may utilize a volume of dye to dye the garment. As described herein, the colorant may be, for example, a powder, and may comprise a composition of soluble materials that are collectively associated with a particular color. In various embodiments, a volume of the colorant may be mixed with water to produce a concentrated liquid dye, which may be associated with the same color of the volume of colorant contained therein. To facilitate the injection of the dye into the dyeing machine, a volume of water may be thoroughly mixed with the dye. When injected into a dyeing machine, the concentrated liquid dye may interact with a volume of solvent present in the dyeing machine, thereby creating a dye bath. As described herein, the garment may be sufficiently submerged in the dye bath such that the garment may absorb at least substantially all volumes of the dye that are injected into the dye bath in the form of concentrated liquid dye.

In various embodiments, the stain described herein may be a reactive dye. Furthermore, in various embodiments, the stain may be any direct dye or acid dye suitable for use in the apparatus and methods described herein.

In various embodiments, the above-described exemplary methods and apparatus may include the use of a stain consisting of only chromophores. For example, an exemplary volume of stain may not contain added stain enhancers, such as cutting agents (e.g., potato starch), added salt ingredients, water-emulsifiable dedusting oil, and/or the like.

Thus, the concentrated liquid dye used in the various embodiments may consist of only water and chromophore. Critically, the exemplary methods and apparatus disclosed herein may be configured to utilize concentrated liquid dyes that do not contain many additives traditionally used to increase the percentage of dye absorption during dyeing, such as various added salt components (e.g., sodium chloride, sodium sulfate), alkali components (e.g., sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate), or other contaminants. In various embodiments, an exemplary volume of concentrated liquid may include one or more preservatives (e.g., sodium tripolyphosphate and/or an antimicrobial agent) configured to extend the useful life of the concentrated liquid dye.

Furthermore, it should be appreciated that in various embodiments, the concentration of the colorant in the concentrated liquid dye (i.e., the ratio of colorant to water in the concentrated liquid dye) may have little effect on the efficacy of the dyeing process. In various embodiments, the only variable critical to the dyeing of garments may be the volume of dye dispensed into the dyeing machine; the additional solvent added to the dye to facilitate injection, once injected, can simply be incorporated into the larger volume of solvent already present in the dye bath. Although a volume of dye in the dye bath may interact with garments in the dyeing machine, a volume of solvent present in the concentrated liquid dye may become a passive component of the dye bath.

Method for dyeing patterned garment

Fig. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an example method 400 in accordance with various embodiments discussed herein.

At block 401, an exemplary method of dyeing a patterned garment may include receiving a garment pattern instruction corresponding to a garment pattern. In various embodiments, the garment pattern may include one or more pattern elements, wherein each pattern element includes a pattern element shape, a pattern element color, and a pattern element chromaticity depth. The garment pattern instructions may include detailed descriptions of various attributes and/or one or more commands (e.g., computer instructions) corresponding to the garment pattern. In various embodiments, the garment pattern instructions may be provided in a retail or manufacturing setting via user input from a user.

Each of the one or more pattern elements may be defined by a plurality of pattern element features (e.g., pattern element shape, pattern element color, and pattern element chromaticity depth). As described herein, the pattern element shape may be defined by the configuration of the outer boundary of the pattern element and the location of the pattern element on the garment. The pattern element color may be defined as the output color of the garment at a particular pattern element. Further, the pattern element chromaticity depth may be defined as the relative brightness of the pattern element colors. For example, a full depth or 100% of the pattern element chroma depth may define the pattern element color selected by the user, while pattern elements with reduced chroma depth will appear weaker (i.e., brighter, assuming the garment is a white base color). In various embodiments, the chroma depth of a particular garment region may be affected by three chroma depth input variables: the volume of dye (i.e., concentrated liquid dye) used in the dyeing cycle, the dyeing cycle run time, and the concentration of cationic treatment applied to the garment area ("cation concentration"). Thus, as described herein, one or more of the aforementioned chroma depth input variables may be selectively varied, alone or in combination, to obtain a desired pattern element chroma depth.

At block 402, an exemplary method of dyeing a patterned garment may include applying a volume of a cationic treatment to one or more localized garment regions of the garment corresponding to each of one or more pattern element shapes. In various embodiments, a volume of cationic treatment agent may be applied to the garment as part of the cationization process. As is generally understood, cationization may include a pretreatment process in which cellulosic macromolecules of cotton garments may be chemically modified to introduce a positive charge in at least a portion of the garment. Cationization creates an electrostatic interaction between the positive charge on the cotton fibers and the negative charge on the anionic dye, effectively increasing the affinity of the cotton for the anionic dye. The garment may be cationized by applying a cationic treatment to the garment.

As described herein, defining a particular garment region of less than the entire garment may be cationized by selectively applying a volume of a cationic treatment to the particular garment region. A volume of cationic treatment may be applied to one or more garment regions corresponding to the respective pattern element shape of each of the one or more pattern elements. For example, a volume of cationic treatment may be applied to one or more garment regions comprising shapes, letters, numbers, or any combination thereof. Further, in various embodiments, a volume of cationic treatment may be applied to the garment region at a gradually increasing or decreasing concentration of cations such that when the garment is dyed, at least a portion of the garment pattern exhibits a gradual effect, as described herein, rather than a discrete change in color or chromaticity depth. As described herein, the fade effect will be the result of a gradual change in the chroma depth of the pattern element corresponding to the graded cation concentration at the garment region. The cationic treatment may be applied in any state (e.g., spray, liquid, and/or gel) that allows the cationic treatment to penetrate the garment fibers.

In various embodiments, the cationic treating agent may be selectively applied to the garment using various application devices and methods, such as screen printing, manual spraying (e.g., manual spraying), automatic spraying (e.g., ink jet printing), and the like. In various embodiments, the cationic treating agent may comprise 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl trimethylammonium chloride (CHPTAC). The cationic treatment may include, by way of example only, a Dow ecoast pure sustainable textile treatment.

As described herein, any given volume of cationic treatment agent contains an electrical charge. The concentrated charge of a particular volume of cationic treating agent may be proportional to the amount of cationic treating agent within the particular volume (i.e., the volume size). Thus, a particular volume of cationic treatment agent will be dispersed over a smaller garment area, the volume of cationic treatment agent will be more concentrated, and the higher the charge of the garment will cover that garment area. As described herein, the cationized garment region will continue to absorb dye from the dye bath until all of the dye is depleted from the dye bath, or as long as the garment region retains a charge, before the dye absorption threshold (i.e., saturation point) is reached. Thus, in various embodiments, the higher the cation concentration of a particular cationized garment region, the more stain that the particular garment region retains, thereby increasing the chroma depth of that particular cationized garment region. Thus, the concentration of the cationic treating agent applied to the pattern element can be selectively varied to affect the chromaticity depth of the pattern element.

At block 403, an exemplary method of dyeing a patterned garment may include curing a volume of a cationic treatment at each of one or more pattern elements. It is known to cure garments upon cationization to solidify a certain amount of cationic treatment agent on the garment at a specific location to avoid migration or run-off. In various embodiments, curing at least a portion of the garment may include one or more known curing processes, such as, for example, a dry-to-pad curing, a flash-to-pad curing, a drip-to-dry curing, and/or the like.

At block 404, an exemplary method of dyeing a patterned garment may include dyeing the garment until at least substantially all of a volume of cationic treating agent applied to the garment has been neutralized by a volume of consumed dye, wherein the dyeing machine is configured to facilitate interaction between the garment and the dye bath. In various embodiments, the dyeing machine may be configured to perform at least a portion of the dyeing operation, as described herein. In this case, the dyeing machine promotes the interaction between the garment and the dye bath. The stain used in the dyeing operation may correspond to a garment pattern output color and/or a pattern element color of one or more pattern elements selected by the user. In various embodiments, operating the dyeing machine may include performing a dyeing cycle.

In various embodiments, the concentrated liquid dye used during the dyeing operation may be free of any salts or other alkaline substances, as described herein, such that the concentrated neutral charge itself may comprise an electrical charge. Furthermore, due at least in part to the cationization process described herein, the dyeing cycle may be performed at substantially ambient temperature, which may be known to negatively impact the absorption of the dye by untreated garments. In this way, at least substantially all of the volume of dye absorbed by the garment may be absorbed by the one or more pattern elements of the garment to which the cationic treating agent is applied. The cationized garment regions defined by the shape of one or more pattern elements may continue to absorb the colorant until their respective charges are neutralized. Thus, neutral garment regions that are not charged (e.g., untreated (i.e., non-cationized) garment regions or garment regions that absorb a volume of dye such that they are neutralized) may absorb relatively little (i.e., little or no) dye as compared to one or more cationized pattern elements of the garment. The untreated garment region may at least substantially retain the original color of the undyed garment throughout the dyeing operation. Upon neutralization of each of the one or more pattern areas, the one or more pattern elements of the garment pattern may each exhibit a pattern element color corresponding to a color of a volume of the dye used in the dyeing operation, and a pattern element chromaticity depth that is at least substantially proportional to a corresponding cation concentration of the pattern element, as described herein. As described herein, differences in color and chromaticity depth between the untreated garment region and one or more pattern elements, and differences in chromaticity depth between one or more pattern elements, create a garment aesthetic that may define the overall garment pattern.

In various embodiments, the run time of the dyeing cycle may be proportional to the weight of the garment in the dyeing machine, the desired shade depth of the resultant garment color, the volume of cationic treatment applied to the garment, and/or the consumption of dye in the fabric of the garment. In an exemplary embodiment, the staining cycle may include a length of time of 20 to 60 minutes (e.g., 30 to 45 minutes). Further, in various embodiments, the dyeing machine may be configured to maintain the dye bath at substantially ambient temperature. For example, the dyeing machine may be configured to maintain a dye bath temperature of 10 to 75 degrees celsius (e.g., 18 to 40 degrees celsius) throughout the dyeing cycle. Such an exemplary method as described herein may eliminate the need to heat the dye bath to a temperature significantly higher than ambient temperature (e.g., 60 degrees celsius), thereby greatly reducing the energy consumed during dyeing as compared to conventional dyeing methods.

In various embodiments, the run time of the dyeing cycle may be optionally shortened in order to affect the pattern element chromaticity depth of one or more pattern elements. As a non-limiting example, an exemplary dyeing cycle may include a length of time of about 35 minutes, and may dye the garment with a volume of dye sufficient to provide one or more pattern elements having a full pattern element chromaticity depth. The 35 minute dye cycle run time may define a length of time sufficient to allow the entire volume of dye present in the dye bath at the beginning of the dye cycle to be absorbed by one or more pattern elements of the garment. In this case, the one or more pattern elements may include a full pattern element chromaticity depth. Further, in various embodiments, the run time of the dyeing cycle may be selectively shortened such that one or more pattern elements include a smaller (i.e., shallower) pattern element chromaticity depth. Using the same non-limiting example described above, if the dyeing cycle stops after 25 minutes of run time, the one or more pattern elements will include a pattern element chromaticity depth that is shallower than the chromaticity depth of the one or more pattern elements exposed to 35 minutes of run time. Further, if the dyeing cycle is stopped after 15 minutes of run time, the one or more pattern elements will include a pattern element chromaticity depth that is shallower than the chromaticity depth of the one or more pattern elements exposed to 25 minutes of run time. Thus, as described herein, the run time of the dyeing cycle may be a chroma depth input variable that may be calibrated to achieve a desired pattern element chroma depth.

As another example, fig. 10 shows six different garment portions, each of which undergoes an experimental dyeing process, representing six different garments and/or six different pattern elements in the respective garments. Each garment portion is subjected to substantially the same dyeing process, wherein each garment portion contains the same cation concentration and the same volume of dye is injected into the dyeing machine in each respective dyeing cycle. However, the run time of the dyeing cycle was different for each of the six experimental dyeing cycles. The following table provides the respective dyeing cycle run times associated with each of the six garment portions:

garment portion 1001	For 10 minutes
		Garment portion 1002	For 5 minutes
Garment portion 1003	3 minutes
		Garment portion 1004	For 1 minute
Garment portion 1005	30 seconds
		Garment portion 1006	15 seconds

As shown in fig. 10, the garment portion 1001 that is exposed to a volume of dye for the longest period of time has the deepest chroma depth compared to the other five garment elements. In contrast, garment portion 1006, which is exposed to a volume of dye for a minimum amount of time, has the smallest (i.e., shallowest) chroma depth compared to the other five garment elements. Furthermore, each garment portion having intermediate chroma depths 1002, 1003, 1004, 1005 exhibits a different chroma depth relative to the run time of its respective dyeing cycle.

Returning to the description of the exemplary embodiment shown in fig. 4, in various embodiments, the entire volume of dye present in the dye bath at the beginning of the dyeing cycle may be absorbed by the garment during the dyeing cycle. Thus, the volume of the colorant used in the dyeing operation may be optionally reduced, thereby affecting the pattern element chromaticity depth of one or more pattern elements. As a non-limiting example, an exemplary dyeing operation may include dyeing a garment with three liters of concentrated liquid dye. In this case, the entire volume of dye present in the dye bath at the beginning of the dyeing cycle may be absorbed by one or more pattern elements of the garment. In addition, a volume of dye present in three liters of concentrated liquid dye may provide a full pattern element chromaticity depth for one or more pattern elements. Further, in various embodiments, the volume of the stain used in the staining operation may be optionally reduced such that one or more pattern elements include a smaller (i.e., shallower) pattern element chromaticity depth. Using the same non-limiting example described above, if two liters of concentrated liquid dye are used to dye a garment, the one or more pattern elements will include a pattern element chromaticity depth that is shallower than the chromaticity depth of the one or more pattern elements exposed to a volume of dye present in three liters of concentrated liquid dye. Furthermore, if only one liter of concentrated liquid dye is used to dye a garment, the one or more pattern elements will include a pattern element chromaticity depth that is shallower than the chromaticity depth of the one or more pattern elements exposed to a volume of dye present in two liters of concentrated liquid dye. Thus, as described herein, the volume of stain used in the staining operation may be a chromaticity depth input variable that may be calibrated to obtain the desired pattern element chromaticity depth.

As described herein, in an exemplary embodiment, wherein the entire volume of dye present in the dye bath at the beginning of the dyeing cycle may be absorbed by the garment during the dyeing cycle, the resulting dye bath may consist of water only; there may be no remaining volume of dye, salt, or other forms of wastewater in the dye bath. Alternatively, in various embodiments, at the end of the dyeing cycle, substantially small amounts of the dye and/or one or more components contained in the concentrated liquid dye may remain in the dye bath. For example, in various embodiments, the resulting dye bath may be free of additives traditionally used to increase the percentage of dye absorbed during dyeing as a result of dispensing a calibrated volume of concentrated liquid dye, as described herein. In various embodiments, after the dyeing cycle is completed, the garment may be subsequently washed and/or dried. The garment may then be washed and/or dried using a dyeing machine or any other suitable machine configured to wash and/or dry garments as described herein.

It should be appreciated that in various embodiments, the method for dyeing patterned garments may include, in part or in whole, the method for dyeing garments as described herein, and may utilize the apparatus for dyeing garments as described herein. Further, it should be appreciated that any dyeing technique, process, and/or apparatus may be utilized that may be utilized in connection with one or more exemplary embodiments of the methods for dyeing patterned garments described herein.

At block 405, the exemplary method of dyeing patterned garments may further include mixing one or more volumes of a dye with one or more volumes of a solvent to form one or more concentrated liquid dyes. In various embodiments, the concentrated liquid dye may comprise a mixture of a volume of dye and a volume of water. A volume of water may be thoroughly mixed with the dye so that the dye remains suspended to facilitate dispensing of the dye into the dyeing machine as a concentrated liquid dye. In various embodiments, the concentrated liquid dye may comprise a ratio of water to stain of 2:1 to 50:1 (e.g., 3:1 to 8:1). In various embodiments, additives (e.g., gels) may be added to the liquid concentrated dye to further promote suspension; any additives introduced into the concentrated liquid dye will not affect the percentage of dye absorption during dyeing.

In various embodiments, the mixing of a volume of dye and a volume of solvent may be repeated with one or more volumes of dye to produce a concentrated liquid dye, each dye associated with a different color. The resulting concentrated liquid dyes may each correspond to a different color that is associated with the color of their corresponding volume of dye. In various embodiments, one or more concentrated liquid dyes may define an array of 1 to 20 colors (e.g., 7 to 12 colors), which may be selectively combined in various ratios to enable a number of useful composite pattern colors to be obtained, as described herein.

At block 406, the example method of dyeing patterned garments may further include determining, by a processor, a volume of one or more concentrated liquid dyes to be injected into a dyeing machine using a dye injection system to produce garments having a selected output color. In various embodiments, as described above, garment weight and pattern color may be selected by a user via a user interface. Thus, to produce a composite pattern element color selected by a user, the processor may determine the degree to which each concentrated liquid dye will be dispensed into the dyeing machine to engage the garment. In various embodiments, such an exemplary processor determination may include two parts: the percentage ratio of the respective concentrated liquid dye colors dispensed into the dyeing machine and the volume of the total pooled concentrated liquid dye to be dispensed.

In various embodiments, each concentrated liquid dye can be associated with a respective concentrated liquid dye color. One or more concentrated liquid dyes may be dispensed in various ratios such that the total pooled concentrated liquid dye dispensed into the dyeing machine may include dye input colors configured to produce a synthetic garment color preselected by a user. In various embodiments, the percentage ratios of the corresponding concentrated liquid dye colors define the dye input colors and affect the resultant garment color.

Further, in various embodiments, the volume of each of the respective concentrated liquid dyes dispensed (i.e., the amount of concentrated liquid dye that is generally pooled) may correspond to the weight of the garment in the dyeing machine. In various embodiments, the maximum volume of stain that can be absorbed by the garment may be known to produce a full depth of the resultant garment color; the maximum volume defines the maximum volume of concentrated liquid dye that can be dispensed into the garment system. In various embodiments, a smaller amount of dye may be injected into the machine in order to affect the chromaticity depth of the dye input color (i.e., to produce, for example, a lighter chromaticity of the dye input color). Thus, in various embodiments, the composite garment color may be a function of the percentage ratio of the corresponding concentrated liquid dye color and the amount of concentrated liquid dye dispensed into the system. Thus, in various embodiments, the processor may determine the proportion of each concentrated liquid dye to the total aggregate concentrated liquid dye dispensed based on the user selected composite garment color.

Furthermore, in various embodiments, the volume of each of the respective concentrated liquid dyes dispensed (i.e., the amount of concentrated liquid dye that is generally pooled) may be further calibrated to account for the fact that the dye may only be absorbed by a garment region corresponding to one or more pattern element shapes of one or more pattern elements, which may define less than the entire garment. In this case, the amount of concentrated liquid dye that is generally pooled may be proportionally reduced to correspond to the weight of the corresponding one or more garment regions of the one or more pattern elements.

Furthermore, in various embodiments, the volume of each of the dispensed respective concentrated liquid dyes (i.e., the amount of concentrated liquid dye that is generally pooled) may be further calibrated based on the ability of one or more pattern elements to absorb the dye. For example, the amount of concentrated liquid dye that is generally pooled (which should be understood to include a volume of dye, as described herein) may be calibrated to be dispensed in proportion to the dye absorbing capacity of the garment, which is defined at least in part by the volume of cationic treatment applied to the garment. In this case, the amount of concentrated liquid dye that is generally pooled can be reduced to accommodate a cation concentration of one or more of the one or more pattern elements that is less than full capacity (i.e., the chemically generated absorption threshold is below the cation concentration that the clothing region is physically capable of absorbing).

In various embodiments, given a selected synthetic garment color, the volume of the total pooled concentrated liquid dye injected into the dyeing machine (and thus the volume of each concentrated liquid dye injected into the dyeing machine) may be determined solely by the weight of the garment to be dyed. Thus, in various embodiments, the processor may determine the volume of total pooled concentrated liquid dye dispensed based on the user-selected garment weight. In such an exemplary method, the processor may determine the volume of each concentrated liquid dye to be dispensed present in the dye injection system based on the user-selected garment weight and the resulting garment color.

At block 407, the exemplary method of dyeing patterned garments may further include injecting a volume of one or more concentrated liquid dyes determined by a processor into a dyeing machine, wherein the dyeing machine is loaded with garments and at least partially filled with an at least substantially clean solvent. Each volume of concentrated liquid dye may be dispensed from a respective dye cartridge through a corresponding dispensing manifold and directly into the dyeing machine. In various embodiments, the garment may be present in the dyeing machine prior to the injection of the one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye.

In various embodiments, the dyeing machine may be, for example, a dyeing vessel, and may be configured to be fluidly connected to one or more holding tanks such that a volume of solvent stored in the one or more holding tanks may be dispensed into the dyeing machine. The concentrated liquid dye and solvent dispensed into the dyeing machine may define a dye bath. In an exemplary embodiment, the solvent may be, for example, water. In various embodiments, the amount of solvent dispensed into the dyeing machine is not a critical variable to be considered in the exemplary methods disclosed herein due to pre-cationization of the garment (which results in maximized dye consumption and eliminates the need to add salt to the dye). Although the amount of solvent dispensed into the dyeing machine may vary based on the volumetric capacity of the dyeing machine, the concentrated liquid dye and/or the ratio of dye to solvent present in the dye bath has no effect on the efficacy of the methods disclosed herein.

At block 408, the exemplary method of dyeing patterned garments may further include calibrating the volume of one or more concentrated liquid dyes injected into the dyeing machine to determine a minimum volume of concentrated liquid dye required to neutralize substantially all volumes of cationic treatment applied to a particular garment design (e.g., a garment having one or more pattern elements, each pattern element including a pattern element chromaticity depth corresponding to a cation concentration). In various embodiments, calibrating the volume of concentrated liquid dye injected into a dyeing machine for such garments may include completing a first dyeing operation, dispensing a resulting dye bath containing a resulting volume of dye, and repeating the dyeing operation with a different volume of concentrated liquid dye (e.g., with a smaller volume of injected concentrated liquid dye if the resulting dye bath in the first operation contains excess dye, or with a larger volume of injected concentrated liquid dye if the resulting dye bath in the first operation does not contain excess dye). The calibration process may include empirically modifying the volume of concentrated liquid dye, iteratively repeating until a volume of concentrated liquid dye is injected into the dyeing machine, wherein at least substantially all of the injected volume of dye neutralizes at least substantially all of the volume of cationic treatment applied to the garment.

As will be appreciated from the description herein, this calibration process facilitates the efficient dyeing of garments having complex pattern elements. As a result of the calibration, the resulting dye bath consists of a substantially clean volume of solvent suitable for repeated use. In various embodiments of patterned garments where repeated creation of a specific weight and specific garment pattern is desired, calibrating the volume of concentrated liquid dye injected into the dyeing machine may increase the efficiency of the dyeing process.

The exemplary method of dyeing a patterned garment may further include, at block 409, applying a second cationic treating agent layer to the patterned garment while dyeing the garment until at least substantially all of the volume of cationic treating agent applied to the garment has been neutralized by the volume of dye consumed. In various embodiments, the garment pattern may include one or more pattern element groups, such as primary pattern elements and secondary pattern elements. Each respective set of pattern elements following one or more host pattern elements may correspond to one or more subsequent operations that reflect those operations described above with respect to blocks 402, 403, and 404, as described herein.

In various embodiments, the second cationic treating agent layer may include one or more volumes of cationic treating agent applied to one or more localized areas of the garment corresponding to each pattern element shape of the one or more secondary pattern elements. In various embodiments, each of the one or more secondary pattern elements may differ in pattern element shape, pattern element color, and/or pattern element chromaticity depth from one or more pattern elements previously exposed to the dyeing operation (i.e., "primary pattern elements"), as described above. As described above with respect to the one or more primary pattern elements in block 402, a volume of cationic treatment may be applied to one or more garment regions corresponding to the respective pattern element shape of each of the one or more pattern elements. In various embodiments, the pattern element shapes of the one or more secondary pattern elements may correspond to previously untreated garment regions (i.e., those garment regions that remain the original garment color during the dyeing operation described above), or may wholly or partially overlap one or more of the one or more primary pattern elements. Applying the second cationic treating agent layer at the garment region where the secondary pattern element overlaps the primary pattern element may effectively recharge the garment region, thereby affecting the dye absorbing capacity of the garment at that region.

At block 410, the example method of dyeing patterned garments may further include injecting a volume of one or more concentrated liquid dyes determined by the processor into a dyeing machine, wherein the dyeing machine is loaded with the patterned garment and is at least partially filled with an at least substantially clean solvent. As described above with respect to one or more primary pattern elements in block 407, each volume of concentrated liquid dye may be dispensed from a respective dye cartridge through a respective dispensing manifold and directly into the dyeing machine. In various embodiments, the patterned garment may be present in a dyeing machine prior to the injection of one or more volumes of concentrated liquid dye.

In various embodiments, the processor may determine the degree to which each concentrated liquid dye is dispensed into the dyeing machine in order to produce a pattern element color for one or more secondary pattern elements selected by the user. In various embodiments, the pattern element color of the one or more secondary elements may be different from the pattern color of the one or more primary pattern elements. In this case, where the secondary pattern elements overlap the primary pattern elements, the composite garment pattern color at that location on the patterned garment may include a combination of the pattern colors of the primary pattern elements and the secondary pattern elements. In various embodiments, such an exemplary processor determination may include two parts, as described herein: the percentage ratio of the respective concentrated liquid dye colors dispensed into the dyeing machine and the volume of the total pooled concentrated liquid dye to be dispensed.

At block 411, the exemplary method of dyeing a patterned garment may further include dyeing the patterned garment until at least substantially all of the second cationic treating agent layer has been neutralized by the spent volume of dye. As described above with respect to the one or more primary pattern elements in block 404, at least substantially all of the volume of dye absorbed by the patterned garment may be absorbed by the one or more secondary pattern elements of the garment to which the second cationic treatment layer is applied. The cationized garment regions defined by the pattern element shapes of the one or more secondary pattern elements may continue to absorb the colorant until their respective charges are neutralized. Thus, neutral garment regions that are not charged (e.g., untreated (i.e., non-cationized) garment regions or garment regions that absorb a volume of dye such that they are neutralized) may absorb relatively little (i.e., little or no) dye as compared to one or more cationized secondary pattern elements of the garment. Throughout the second dyeing operation, the untreated garment regions, as well as those garment regions corresponding to the now neutralized one or more primary pattern elements, may at least substantially retain the color they exhibited prior to the second dyeing cycle (i.e., the original, undyed garment color and the pattern element color of the one or more primary pattern elements). After neutralization of each garment region is cationized by the second cationic treatment layer, one or more secondary pattern elements of the garment pattern may each exhibit at least a portion of a pattern element color corresponding to a color of a volume of the dye used in the second dyeing operation, and a pattern element chromaticity depth at least substantially proportional to a corresponding cation concentration of the secondary pattern element, as described herein. As described herein, differences in color and chromaticity depth between untreated garment regions, one or more primary pattern elements, and one or more secondary pattern elements, as well as differences between each set of corresponding pattern elements, create an overall garment aesthetic that may define a garment pattern of a patterned garment.

In various embodiments, after the second dyeing cycle is completed, the patterned garment may be subsequently washed and/or dried. The garment may then be washed and/or dried using a dyeing machine or any other suitable machine configured to wash and/or dry garments as described herein.

Exemplary operations

Fig. 5A-9 illustrate various exemplary patterned garments produced according to various exemplary methods discussed herein. It should be appreciated that the various exemplary patterned garments shown in fig. 5A-9 are disclosed herein as exemplary products of one or more methods for dyeing the patterned garments disclosed herein; they are in no way intended as limiting examples, nor represent the full breadth of patterned garment constructions that the present invention can produce.

In various embodiments, a garment pattern instruction corresponding to a garment pattern may be received. The garment pattern may include one or more pattern elements, each of which may include a desired pattern element shape, a desired pattern element color, and a desired pattern element chromaticity depth. The garment pattern may include one or more sets of pattern elements, each set of pattern elements including one or more pattern elements. In various embodiments, the garment pattern may include an enterprise designed pattern, a custom-made pattern designed by a user (e.g., an enterprise customer), or a combination of both.

First exemplary operation

In various embodiments, a volume of cationic treatment may be applied at one or more localized areas of the garment corresponding to each of one or more pattern element shapes of one or more pattern elements.

As shown in fig. 5A, a garment pattern instruction corresponding to a first garment pattern 510 may be received. As shown, the first service pattern 510 includes a first pattern element 511, a second pattern element 512, and a third pattern element 513. The first, second, and third pattern elements may include a first pattern element shape, a second pattern element shape, and a third pattern element shape, respectively. In various embodiments, a volume of cationic treating agent may be applied at first cationic garment region 511, second cationic garment region 512, and third cationic garment region 513, which may correspond to the first, second, and third pattern element shapes, respectively. In various embodiments, the volume of cationic treatment applied to each cationized garment region 511, 512, 513 may be sufficiently large to enable the level of stain absorption to produce a full pattern element chromaticity depth. Further, in various embodiments, the cation concentration of each of the cationized garment regions 511, 512, 513 may be selectively varied, as described herein, to affect the respective pattern element chromaticity depths of the first, second, and third pattern elements. As non-limiting examples, the first garment pattern 510 may include shapes, letters, numbers, images, graphics, and the like, as well as any combination thereof.

As shown in fig. 5B, a garment pattern instruction corresponding to the second garment pattern 520 may be received. As shown, the second garment pattern 520 includes pattern elements 521, which include pattern element shapes. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5B, the pattern element shape is a graphic that includes a "RL" symbol. In various embodiments, a volume of cationic treatment agent may be applied at cationic garment region 521, which may correspond to the pattern element shape of pattern element 521. As a non-limiting example, the second garment pattern 520 may include an logo or any other image that may be associated with an enterprise (e.g., company, organization, etc.).

Second exemplary operation

A garment including one or more pre-treated cationized garment regions may be dyed such that the one or more pre-treated cationized garment regions interact with a volume of dye to produce one or more pattern elements of a garment pattern.

As shown in fig. 6A, the first garment pattern 610 corresponds to the first garment pattern shown in fig. 5A. As shown, the first service pattern 610 includes a first pattern element 611, a second pattern element 612, and a third pattern element 613. The first, second and third pattern elements 611, 612, 613 may include a first pattern element shape, a second pattern element shape and a third pattern element shape, respectively, which may correspond to the first cationized garment region 511, the second cationized garment region 512 and the third cationized garment region 513, as shown in fig. 5A. As described herein, during the dyeing operation, the first, second, and third pattern elements 611, 612, 613 may each absorb a volume of the dye. In various embodiments, at least substantially all of the volume of dye absorbed by the garment during the dyeing operation is commonly absorbed by the first, second and third pattern elements 611, 612, 613 due at least in part to the cationization of the garment region corresponding to the shape of the first, second and third pattern elements, while the untreated garment region retains the original garment color. Based on user input, a volume of dye used during a dyeing operation may be configured to produce a pattern element comprising a particular pattern element color. Each of the pattern elements 611, 612, 613 comprises a specific pattern element color corresponding to a volume of dye used during the dyeing operation.

As described herein, the extent to which a pattern element absorbs a volume of colorant, and thus the pattern element chromaticity depth of the pattern element, may be affected by three chromaticity depth input variables: the volume of dye used in the dyeing cycle, the dyeing cycle run time, and the concentration of cationic treatment applied to the garment area ("cation concentration"). In various embodiments, a cation concentration of 100% is understood to be the minimum cation concentration required to achieve a full pattern element color depth. In various embodiments, a dye volume of 100% is understood to be the maximum amount of dye that a particular garment area is physically capable of absorbing under a given set of dye cycle operating conditions assuming a cation concentration of 100%, as described herein. Furthermore, in various embodiments, a 100% dye cycle run time is understood to be the minimum amount of time required to obtain a full pattern element color depth given a 100% cation concentration and a 100% volume of dye under a given set of dye cycle operating conditions. For example, as shown in fig. 6A, the first pattern element 611, the second pattern element 612, and the third pattern element 613 may each include a chromaticity depth of about 100%. In one exemplary embodiment, the dye cycle run time and the dye volume may each be 100%, and the pattern elements 611, 612, and 613 may each comprise a cation concentration of 100%, as described herein.

In various embodiments, one or more of the aforementioned chroma depth input variables may be selectively varied, alone or in combination, to achieve a desired pattern element chroma depth, as described herein. For example, using the exemplary pattern elements shown in fig. 6A, the first pattern element 611, the second pattern element 612, and the third pattern element 613 may each include a chromaticity depth of about 50%. In an exemplary embodiment, each pattern element 611, 612, and 613 may include a cation concentration of 50%. That is, the volume of cationic treating agent applied to each cationized garment region corresponding to the first, second and third pattern element shapes is 50% of the theoretical volume of cationic treating agent, which will allow the garment region to absorb the maximum volume of dye. The 50% reduced selectivity cation concentration chemically produces an absorption threshold for each of pattern elements 611, 612, and 613 that is 50% less than the garment is physically capable of absorbing. Thus, while the dye cycle run time and the volume of dye used in the dyeing operation are typically sufficient to produce a full shade depth, the pattern element shade depth of each pattern element 611, 612, 613 may only rise to 50% of the full shade depth. In various embodiments, the respective cation concentrations of the first, second, and third pattern elements may be different from one another. In this case, the pattern element chromaticity depth of at least one pattern element may be different from the chromaticity depth of at least one other pattern element of the garment pattern.

As shown in fig. 6B, the second garment pattern 620 corresponds to the exemplary garment pattern shown in fig. 5B. As shown, the second garment pattern 620 includes pattern elements 621 that include pattern element shapes corresponding to the cationized garment regions 521, as shown in fig. 5B. As described herein, at least substantially all of the volume of dye absorbed by the garment during the dyeing operation is absorbed by the pattern element 621 due, at least in part, to the cationization of the garment region corresponding to the pattern element shape, while the untreated garment region retains the original garment color. Based on user input, a volume of dye used during a dyeing operation may be configured to produce a pattern element comprising a particular pattern element color. Pattern element 621 may include a particular pattern element color corresponding to a volume of dye used during a dyeing operation. As shown in fig. 6B, pattern element 621 may comprise a pattern element chroma depth of approximately 100%. In one exemplary embodiment, as described herein, the dye cycle run time and the volume of dye may each be 100%, and the pattern element 621 may include a 100% cation concentration.

In various embodiments, one or more of the aforementioned chroma depth input variables may be selectively varied, alone or in combination, to achieve a desired pattern element chroma depth, as described herein. For example, using the exemplary pattern element shown in FIG. 6B, the period run time may optionally be reduced to 50%, while the dye volume and cation concentration of pattern element 621 may each be 100%. In this exemplary case, the dye cycle run time may be half the amount of time required to obtain the full pattern element color depth given a set of dye cycle operating conditions. As described herein, the pattern element chromaticity depth of the pattern element 621 will be less than 100% (e.g., 50%), resulting in the pattern element 621 appearing weaker than in a similar case with a dyeing cycle run time of 100%.

As another non-limiting example, again using the exemplary pattern element shown in FIG. 6B, the chromaticity depth of pattern element 621 can be reduced by selectively reducing the colorant volume by 50%, as described herein, while both the dye cycle run time and the cation concentration of pattern element 621 remain at 100%. In this exemplary case, the volume of dye used in the dyeing operation may be half the volume required to obtain the full pattern element color depth given a set of dyeing cycle operating conditions. As a result, the pattern element chromaticity depth of the pattern element 621 will be less than 100% (e.g., 50%), resulting in the pattern element 621 appearing weaker than in a similar case where the volume of the colorant is 100%.

Third exemplary operation

As shown in fig. 7A, the garment pattern 700 corresponds to the first garment pattern shown in fig. 5A. In various embodiments, the garment pattern 700 may include a first set of pattern elements 710. As shown, the first set of pattern elements 710 includes a first pattern element 711, a second pattern element 712, and a third pattern element 713. The first, second and third pattern elements 711, 712, 713 may include a first pattern element shape, a second pattern element shape and a third pattern element shape, respectively, which may correspond to the first cationized garment region 511, the second cationized garment region 512 and the third cationized garment region 513, as shown in fig. 5A. As described herein, during the first dyeing operation, the first, second, and third pattern elements 711, 712, 713 may each absorb a volume of dye. In various embodiments, at least substantially all of the volume of dye absorbed by the garment during the dyeing operation is commonly absorbed by the first, second, and third pattern elements 711, 712, 713 due at least in part to the cationization of the garment region corresponding to the shape of the first, second, and third pattern elements, while the untreated garment region retains the original garment color.

In various embodiments, the garment may be dyed until at least substantially all of the applied cationic treatment agent has been neutralized by the consumed volume of dye, as described herein. In this case, the garment may undergo a second dyeing operation, which may include applying a second cationic treating agent layer to the patterned garment, injecting a volume of one or more concentrated liquid dyes (each concentrated liquid dye including a volume of dye) and dyeing the patterned garment until at least substantially all of the second cationic treating agent layer has been neutralized by the consumed volume of dye. In various embodiments, the volume of dye used in the second dyeing operation may correspond to a secondary pattern element color, which may include a pattern element color of the second set of pattern elements. As shown in fig. 7B, the garment pattern 700 may further include a second set of pattern elements 720. As shown, the second set of pattern elements 720 includes pattern elements 721 that include pattern element shapes corresponding to the cationized garment region 521 as shown in fig. 5B. At least substantially all of the volume of the dye absorbed by the garment during the second dyeing operation is absorbed by the pattern element 721 due, at least in part, to the cationization of the region of the garment corresponding to the pattern element shape of the pattern element 721, as described herein. The pattern element 721 may include a specific pattern element color corresponding to a volume of the dye used during the second dyeing operation. As shown in fig. 7B, the first set of pattern elements 710 and the second set of pattern elements 720 may include different pattern element colors such that the garment pattern 700 may be a multi-colored pattern. In various embodiments, the pattern element size, pattern element color, and/or pattern element chromaticity depth of each pattern element of the garment pattern 700 may be selected and/or selectively modified by a user as described herein.

As another example, fig. 8 shows an experimental garment including a garment pattern 800. As shown, the garment pattern 800 includes a first set of pattern elements 810 and a second set of pattern elements 820. The first and second sets of pattern elements each include a plurality of pattern elements, each pattern element including a respective pattern element shape, pattern element color, and pattern element chromaticity depth.

The garment pattern 800 is created by first selectively applying various volumes of cationic treatment to various garment areas (garment areas corresponding to the first set of pattern elements 810) via a manual spray application method. The exemplary garment is then cured and subsequently exposed to a first dyeing operation in which a volume of dye corresponding to the output color of the red garment is injected into the dyeing machine via a volume of concentrated liquid dye. The first dyeing operation is performed until at least substantially all of the applied cationic treatment agent is neutralized by the consumed volume of dye, as described herein, to produce a garment pattern comprising a first set of pattern elements 810. As shown in fig. 8, each pattern element of the first set of pattern elements 810 includes a red pattern element color, and the respective chromaticity depth of each pattern element varies based on the cation concentration of the clothing region corresponding to the pattern element shape of each pattern element.

A second set of pattern elements 820 is then added to the garment pattern 800 via a second dyeing operation. Again, various volumes of cationic treatment agent are selectively applied (over the first set of pattern elements) to various garment areas (corresponding to the second set of pattern elements 820) via a manual spray application method. The exemplary garment is then cured and subsequently exposed to a second dyeing operation, wherein a volume of dye corresponding to the output color of the yellow garment is injected into a dyeing machine at least partially filled with a substantially clean solvent. As described herein, the second dyeing operation is performed until at least substantially all of the cationic treatment agent applied over the first set of pattern elements is neutralized by the volume of dye consumed. As shown, repetition of dyeing operations using different colorants corresponding to different garment output colors enables garment pattern 800 to be configured as a multi-colored garment pattern including a first set of pattern elements 810 and a second set of pattern elements 820.

Fourth exemplary operation

As shown in fig. 9, the first service pattern 910 corresponds to the first service pattern shown in fig. 5A. As shown, the first service pattern 910 includes a first pattern element 911, a second pattern element 912, and a third pattern element 913. The first, second and third pattern elements 911, 912, 913 may include a first pattern element shape, a second pattern element shape and a third pattern element shape, respectively, which may correspond to the first cationized garment region 511, the second cationized garment region 512 and the third cationized garment region 513, as shown in fig. 5A. As discussed herein, the cationic treatment may be selectively applied to the garment using a variety of application devices and methods. For example, as shown in fig. 10, the first pattern element 911 and the second pattern element 912 may each correspond to a cationized garment region to which a volume of cationic treating agent is applied using a manual spray process (e.g., manual spray). Further, as shown, the third pattern element 913 may correspond to a cationized clothing region to which a volume of cationic treatment agent is applied using an automated spray process (e.g., using an inkjet printer). In this case, a volume of cationic treatment agent may be applied to the garment area in the form of a relatively small array of localized concentrations that collectively correspond to the pattern elements when the subsequent dyeing process is performed. In various embodiments, each volume of cationic treatment applied to one or more cationized garment regions may be applied using the same or different application apparatus and/or methods, as described herein.

As described herein, during a dyeing operation, the first, second, and third pattern elements 911, 912, 913 may each absorb a volume of the dye. In various embodiments, at least substantially all of the volume of dye absorbed by the garment during the dyeing operation is commonly absorbed by the first, second and third pattern elements 911, 912, 913 due at least in part to the cationization of the garment region corresponding to the shape of the first, second and third pattern elements, while the untreated garment region retains the original garment color. Based on user input, a volume of dye used during a dyeing operation may be configured to produce a pattern element comprising a particular pattern element color. Each of the pattern elements 911, 912, 913 includes a specific pattern element color corresponding to a volume of the dye used during the dyeing operation.

As shown in fig. 9, the first, second, and third pattern elements 911, 912, 913 may each include a gradual chroma depth, wherein the corresponding chroma depth percentage gradually decreases over at least a portion of each pattern element. In one exemplary embodiment, as described herein, the dye cycle run time and the volume of dye may each be 100%, and the pattern elements 911, 912, and 913 may each include a graded cation concentration. As shown, the first and third pattern elements 911, 913 each include linearly graded chroma depths, while the second pattern element 912 includes radially graded chroma depths. As discussed herein, the pattern element chromaticity depth may correspond to a gradual cation concentration that gradually transitions from a greater chromaticity depth to a lesser chromaticity depth in a first direction through a portion of the pattern element, the gradual cation concentration gradually decreasing in the first direction through a garment region corresponding to the pattern element. Such a gradual pattern element chroma depth may be desirable to avoid different chroma depth variations. It should be appreciated that the pattern elements may include a graduated chromatic depth of any shape, intensity, and/or directional configuration.

Conclusion(s)

Many modifications and other embodiments will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

Claims

1. An apparatus for dyeing garments, the apparatus comprising:

a dye injection system configured to dispense concentrated liquid dye;

a dyeing machine comprising a dyeing chamber configured for dyeing at least one garment in a dye bath, wherein the dye bath comprises a concentrated liquid dye received from the dye injection system and a volume of solvent; and

a controller in communication with the dye injection system and the dyeing machine, wherein the controller is configured to:

receiving at least one garment parameter corresponding to the at least one garment;

causing the dye injection system to dispense a volume of concentrated liquid dye comprising an amount of dye capable of being absorbed by the at least one garment based at least in part on the received at least one garment parameter; and

Causing the dyeing machine to perform a dyeing cycle such that substantially all of the dye in the concentrated liquid dye having a dispensed volume is absorbed by at least one garment within the dyeing chamber;

wherein the dyeing machine is configured to maintain the volume of solvent in a closed loop system for reuse in a subsequent dyeing cycle.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising the dye bath, wherein the dye bath within the dyeing chamber is free of sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, and alkaline components throughout the dyeing cycle.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one garment parameter comprises a weight of the at least one garment.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a weight sensor; and is also provided with

Wherein the controller is further configured to receive the weight of the at least one garment from the weight sensor.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one containment tank in fluid communication with the staining chamber, wherein the at least one containment tank is configured to contain the volume of solvent between staining cycles.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the dye bath comprises the volume of solvent comprising water.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the dye bath comprises the concentrated liquid dye comprising a dye and water.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dye injection system comprises a plurality of concentrated liquid dye cartridges, each of the plurality of concentrated liquid dye cartridges configured to store a volume of concentrated liquid dye having a unique dye color.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the plurality of concentrated liquid dye cartridges of the dye injection system comprises seven to twelve concentrated liquid dye cartridges.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to cause the dye injection system to dispense the volume of concentrated liquid dye comprising an amount of dye that is absorbable by the at least one garment based at least in part on a user selected desired garment color.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to cause one or more of a plurality of concentrated liquid dye cartridges to dispense concentrated liquid dye into the staining chamber to produce a user selected desired garment color during the staining cycle based at least in part on the user selected desired garment color.

12. The device of claim 11, further comprising a user interface configured to enable a user to select a desired garment color.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the concentrated liquid dye having a dispensed volume comprises an amount of dye less than or equal to the dye absorbing capacity of the at least one garment.

14. A method of dyeing a garment, the method comprising:

an apparatus for dyeing garments is provided, the apparatus comprising:

a dye injection system configured to dispense concentrated liquid dye; and

a dyeing machine comprising a dyeing chamber configured for dyeing at least one garment in a dye bath;

receiving at least one garment and a volume of solvent in a dyeing chamber of the dyeing machine;

dispensing a volume of concentrated liquid dye via the dye injection system based at least in part on the received at least one garment parameter to produce a dye bath, the volume of concentrated liquid dye comprising an amount of dye that is capable of being absorbed by the at least one garment, wherein the dye bath comprises the volume of solvent and concentrated liquid dye dispensed from the dye injection system; and

Performing a dyeing cycle such that substantially all of the dye in the concentrated liquid dye having a dispensed volume is absorbed by at least one garment within the dyeing chamber;

wherein the dye in the dispensed volume of concentrated liquid dye is configured such that, when the dyeing cycle is performed, a resulting dye bath disposed within a dyeing chamber of the dyeing machine is at least free of added dye enhancing agent, and performing the dyeing cycle includes maintaining the dye bath at ambient temperature.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one garment parameter comprises a garment weight corresponding to a weight of the at least one garment.