Fabric article treating system

Abstract

A fabric article treating system, including the apparatus and the process, to provide improved fabric cleaning, fabric appearance and / or fabric care benefits. More particularly, the present system provides an effective delivery of detergent actives and rinse actives by depositing the actives directly upon a fabric article being treated. The detergent composition and fabric care composition suitable for use in such apparatus and process are also provided. The system is water-saving and energy efficient, compared to conventional immersive aqueous laundry system.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fabric article treating system, including the apparatus and the process, to provide improved fabric cleaning, fabric appearance and / or fabric care benefits. More particularly, the present invention relates to an effective and direct delivery system whereby detergent actives and rinse actives are directly deposited upon a fabric article being treated. The present invention also relates to novel detergent composition and fabric care composition for use in such apparatus and process. The system is water-saving and energy efficient, compared to conventional immersive aqueous laundry system, while providing enhanced fabric cleaning and fabric care. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventional aqueous-based laundering apparatuses and processes typically employ the immersive mode of laundering, that is, the amount of wash medium in the chamber is far above the absorptive capacity of the fabric load such that the fabric articles are ba...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention fulfills the need described above by providing a fabric article treating system that effectively deposits fabric article actives on fabric articles in need of treatment.

In one aspect of the present invention, a fabric article treating process capable of effectively delivering specific rinse actives and / or fabric care actives to the fabric articles being treated is provided. The process comprises the steps of: a. placing fabric articles comprising soils inside a treatment chamber of the laundering apparatus; b. dispensing into the treatment chamber a wash liquor such that the fabric articles are substantially uniformly contacted by the wash liquor; c. allowing the wash liquor to remain in contact with the fabric articles for a period of time while the fabric article is in motion, continuously or intermittently; d. dispensing into the laundering apparatus a first rinse liquor comprising water such that the first rinse liquor directly or indirectly contacts the fabric articles, wherein quantity of the first rinse liquor is sufficient to produce enough free water to adequately suspend the detergent active and soils, and the first rinse liquor is thereby converted into a first rinse liquor mixture comprising water, detergent active and soils; e. removing at least part of the first rinse liquor mixture from the treatment chamber; and f. optionally, steps (d) and (e) are repeated such that one or more subsequent rinse liquors are applied to the fabric articles, converted to subsequent rinse liquor mixtures, which are at least partially removed from the treatment chamber; g. optionally, dispensing into the treatment chamber a finishing liquor such that the fabric articles are substantially uniformly contacted by the finishing liquor.

Problems solved by technology

However, complete immersion may not be an effective or economical way to deliver detergent actives or rinse actives.

When diluted in large quantity of aqueous wash medium, only a small percentage of the actives come into contact with the fabric articles while most of the actives are lost in the wash and rinse fluids.

Moreover, certain actives have a higher affinity for water than the affinity for the fabric surface such that these actives fail to partition out of the aqueous wash medium and onto fabric surface effectively even when the actives happen to contact fabric surface.

Delivering certain actives that have high water solubility to the fabric surface places the laundry detergent formulator in the unfortunate position of having to work the paradigm of the required chemistry.

So far, there are few if any satisfactory ways to achieve this objective.

For example, strategies to enhance the surface activity of the active usually attenuate the polar / hydrophilic properties that are desired for performance, and “delivery enhancement actives” (e.g. high molecular weight polymers) often result in less effective cleaning or are expensive.

However, it remains a challenge to distribute the low volume of actives evenly or substantially evenly over the entire fabric surfaces in the fabric load in the chamber.

For example, surfactants delivered only to certain areas and not to others would result in uneven cleaning, or even to unacceptable failure in cleaning performance.

Another example is perfume: perfume is an expensive and very potent active; therefore, a small volume of perfume is typically used in a fabric article treating process and substantially even distribution is necessary.

In other words, it is not desirable to deliver perfume in such a manner that one treated fabric article is drenched in perfume while another treated fabric article receives only a drop of perfume in one area.

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