Process of washing fabrics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10377980-B2
Application number	US-201715619946-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 12, 2017
Priority date	Jun 13, 2016
Publication date	Aug 13, 2019
Grant date	Aug 13, 2019

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for washing fabrics in the drum of an automatic washing machine.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process for washing fabrics comprising the steps of:
a. obtaining a water-soluble unit dose article comprising at least a first water-soluble film, a second water-soluble film and a detergent composition, wherein the first water-soluble film and the second water-soluble film are chemically different to one another, and wherein the first water-soluble film has a first water capacity, and wherein the second water-soluble film has a second water capacity, wherein the first water capacity is less than the second water capacity and wherein the difference between the water capacity of the first water soluble film and the second water-soluble film is between about 0.01% and about 1%;
b. adding the water-soluble unit dose article to an automatic washing machine with fabrics to be washed, wherein the fabrics comprise at least one stain or soil to be removed;
c. washing the fabrics in an automatic washing machine wash process wherein said process comprises a main wash step.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the first water-soluble film has a water capacity from about 1% to about 10%.

3. The process according to claim 1 wherein the second water-soluble film has a water capacity from about 1.5% to about 12%.

4. The process according to claim 1 wherein the difference in water capacity is from about 0.03% to about 0.5%.

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein said main wash step comprises the addition of between about 10 L and about 60 L water to the drum of the automatic washing machine.

6. The process according to claim 1 wherein the main wash step takes between about 5 minutes and about 90 minutes to complete.

7. The process according to claim 1 wherein the temperature of the water in the main wash step is between about 10° C. and about 45° C.

8. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the automatic washing machine wash process comprises at least one rinse step.

9. The process according to claim 1 wherein the automatic washing machine wash process comprises a final rinse step, wherein the drum of the automatic washing machine rotates at a speed of between about 500 rpm and about 1700 rpm during the final rinse step.

10. The process according to claim 1 wherein the first water soluble film comprises a first water soluble resin and the second water soluble film comprises a second water soluble resin.

11. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the first water soluble resin comprises a blend of a polyvinyl alcohol homopolymer and a polyvinyl alcohol copolymer comprising an anionic monomer unit, wherein the blend comprises from 0% to 70% by weight of the polyvinyl alcohol copolymer comprising an anionic monomer unit and from 30% to about 100% of the polyvinyl alcohol homopolymer, based on the total weight of the first water soluble resin in the first film.

12. The process according to claim 11 , wherein the first water soluble resin comprises from about 10 wt % to about 70 wt % by weight of the first water soluble resin of the polyvinyl alcohol copolymer comprising an anionic monomer unit and from about 30% to about 90% by weight of the first water soluble resin of the polyvinyl alcohol homopolymer.

13. The process according to claim 11 , wherein the first water soluble resin comprises from about 15 wt % to less than 65 wt % by weight of the first water soluble resin of the polyvinyl alcohol copolymer comprising an anionic monomer unit and greater than 35% to about 85% by weight of the first water soluble resin of the polyvinyl alcohol homopolymer.

14. The process according to claim 11 , wherein the second water soluble resin comprises a blend of a polyvinyl alcohol homopolymer and a polyvinyl alcohol copolymer comprising an anionic monomer unit, wherein the blend comprises from 0% to 70% of the polyvinyl alcohol copolymer comprising an anionic monomer unit and from 30% to 100% of the polyvinyl alcohol homopolymer, based on the total weight of the second water soluble resin in the second film.

15. The process according to claim 11 , wherein the second water soluble resin comprises from about 10 wt % to about 70 wt % by weight of the second water soluble resin of the polyvinyl alcohol copolymer comprising an anionic monomer unit and from about 30% to about 90% by weight of the second water soluble resin of the polyvinyl alcohol homopolymer.

16. The process according to claim 11 , wherein the second water soluble resin comprises from about 15 wt % to about 65 wt % by weight of the second water soluble resin of the polyvinyl alcohol copolymer comprising an anionic monomer unit and from about 35% to about 85% by weight of the second water soluble resin of the polyvinyl alcohol homopolymer.

17. The process according to claim 11 , wherein the anionic monomer unit is selected from the group consisting of anionic monomers derived from of vinyl acetic acid, alkyl acrylates, maleic acid, monoalkyl maleate, dialkyl maleate, monomethyl maleate, dimethyl maleate, maleic anhydride, fumaric acid, monoalkyl fumarate, dialkyl fumarate, monomethyl fumarate, dimethyl fumarate, fumaric anhydride, itaconic acid, monomethyl itaconate, dimethyl itaconate, itaconic anhydride, citraconic acid, monoalkyl citraconate, dialkyl citraconate, citraconic anhydride, mesaconic acid, monoalkyl mesaconate, dialkyl mesaconate, mesaconic anhydride, glutaconic acid, monoalkyl glutaconate, dialkyl glutaconate, glutaconic anhydride, vinyl sulfonic acid, alkyl sulfonic acid, ethylene sulfonic acid, 2-acrylamido-1-methyl propane sulfonic acid, 2-acrylamide-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid, 2-methylacrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid, 2-sulfoethyl acrylate, alkali metal salts thereof, esters thereof, and combinations thereof.

18. The process according to claim 1 wherein the first water-soluble film, is thermoformed during manufacture of the unit dose article, and wherein the second water-soluble film is not thermoformed during manufacture of the unit dose article.

19. The process according to claim 1 wherein the first water-soluble film, and the second water-soluble film independently have a thickness before incorporation into the unit dose article of between about 40 microns and about 100 micronsand wherein the difference in thickness before incorporation into the unit dose article between the first water-soluble film and the second water-soluble film is less than about 50%.

20. The process according to claim 1 wherein the first water-soluble film has a first tensile strain at break of between about 300% and about 1600%, and the second water-soluble film has a second tensile strain at break of between about 300% and about 1200%.

21. The process according to claim 20 wherein the difference between the first tensile strain at break and the second tensile strain at break is from about 10% to about 1000%.

Assignees

• Procter & Gamble

Inventors

• Souter Philip Frank
• Keuleers Robby Renilde Francois
• Labeque Regine
• Courchay Florence Catherine
• Renmans Marc Rene Bert

Classifications

• C11D17/042

  Water soluble or water disintegrable containers or substrates containing cleaning compositions or additives for cleaning compositions · CPC title

• A47L15/4436

  in the form of a detergent solution made by gradually dissolving a powder detergent cake or a solid detergent block · CPC title

• B65D65/46

  Applications of disintegrable, dissolvable or edible materials · CPC title

• D06F39/024

  mounted on the agitator or the rotating drum; Free body dispensers · CPC title

• D06F37/302

  Automatic drum positioning · CPC title