Embedded temperature sensors for monitoring temperature of articles and status of drying or cleaning cycles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12098496-B2
Application number	US-202117339417-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 4, 2021
Priority date	Jun 19, 2020
Publication date	Sep 24, 2024
Grant date	Sep 24, 2024

Abstract

An embedded temperature sensor may be attached to or otherwise associated with a textile in order to measure one or more temperatures of the textile. Temperature information received from one or more embedded temperature sensor(s) throughout the course of a dryer cycle may be analyzed to determine dryness of one or more textiles in a dryer, determine whether one or more textiles in the dryer are overdry, generate an indication of the dryness of the one or more textiles in the dryer, and/or to control one or more dryer cycles of the dryer, such as by automatically turning-off the dryer when one or more of the textiles in the dryer are determined to be dry. The embedded temperature sensor may further be used to validate a cleaning process in a cleaning machine.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
at least one embedded temperature sensor that senses a temperature of a textile in a drying compartment of a clothes dryer and wirelessly transmits temperature information including a sensed temperature of the textile during a dryer cycle of the clothes dryer;
a computing device comprising at least one processor; and
a storage device comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor to:
receive the temperature information transmitted by the embedded temperature sensor;
determine, based on the temperature information, a dryness of the textile at one or more times during the dryer cycle; and
generate an indication of the dryness of the textile during the dryer cycle.

2. The system of claim 1 , the storage device further comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor to:
identify a local minimum in temperature versus time data of the temperature of the textile sensed by the embedded temperature sensor at one or more times during the dryer cycle; and
determine that the textile is dry at a time associated with the identified local minimum.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the local minimum is identified based on a first derivative test.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the temperature versus time data of the temperature of the textile sensed by the embedded temperature sensor exhibits a characteristic shape including
a local maximum occurring subsequent to a start of the dryer cycle and the local minimum occurring subsequent to a first local maximum.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the temperature versus time data of the temperature of the textile sensed by the embedded temperature sensor exhibits a characteristic shape including a temperature increase occurring subsequent to a start of the dryer cycle, a local maximum occurring subsequent to the temperature increase, a temperature decrease occurring subsequent to the local maximum, the local minimum occurring subsequent to a first local maximum, and a second temperature increase occurring subsequent to the local minimum.

6. The system of claim 1 , the storage device further comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor to: determine, based on the temperature information, whether the textile is overdry; and generate, upon determining that the textile is overdry, an indication that the textile is overdry.

7. The system of claim 1 , the storage device further comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor to:
determine, based on the temperature information, that the textile is overdry a predetermined period of time after the textile is determined to be dry.

8. The system of claim 1 , the storage device further comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor to:
automatically control the dryer cycle of the clothes dryer based on the temperature information.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein automatically controlling the dryer cycle of the clothes dryer includes generating a control signal that causes the clothes dryer to stop the dryer cycle of the clothes dryer or initiate a cool-down phase of the dryer cycle.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is a dryer controller that automatically controls the dryer cycle of the clothes dryer based on the temperature information received from the embedded temperature sensor.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is a user computing device including a user interface having a display, and wherein the storage device further comprises instructions executable by the at least one processor to:
generate, for display on the user interface, a graph of the sensed temperature information versus time received during the dryer cycle of the clothes dryer.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is a user computing device including a user interface having a display, and wherein the storage device further comprises instructions executable by the at least one processor to: generate, for display on the user interface, at least one of a dryer identifier associated with the clothes dryer, an embedded temperature identifier associated with the embedded temperature sensor, a textile type, a time/date stamp, a cycle number, and a battery level associated with the embedded temperature sensor.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the embedded temperature sensor is attached to a surface of the textile and the sensed temperature is a surface temperature of the textile.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the embedded temperature sensor is adhered to a surface of the textile.

15. The system of claim 1 further including one of a flap, tab, pocket, or envelope that is attached to the textile and that is sized to receive the embedded temperature sensor in a position to sense the temperature of the textile.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the textile forms a pocket sized to receive the embedded temperature sensor in a position to sense the temperature of the textile.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the embedded temperature sensor further includes at least one of a conductivity sensor or a turbidity sensor.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the embedded temperature sensor is battery powered.

19. The system of claim 1 , wherein the embedded temperature sensor is non-battery powered.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the embedded temperature sensor is powered by one of a super capacitor, a thermal energy harvester, or a mechanical energy harvester.

21. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is a cloud-based computing device located remotely from the clothes dryer.

22. The system of claim 1 , the storage device further comprising instructions executable by the at least one processor to: determine that the textile is dry at a time subsequent to a start of the dryer cycle when a slope of temperature versus time data satisfies a predetermined threshold slope.

23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the determination that the textile is dry is determined when a time elapsed since the start of the dryer cycle is greater than a predetermined minimum time and a first derivative of the temperature versus time data is greater than a predetermined minimum value.

24. The system of claim 23 , wherein the predetermined minimum time is between 10 and 30 minutes, and wherein the predetermined minimum value is between 100 and 200.

Assignees

• Ecolab Usa Inc

Inventors

• Mcgrane Peter J
• Wood Kyle D
• Ghosh Kaustav
• White Bruce W

Classifications

• D06F58/38

  of drying, e.g. to achieve the target humidity · CPC title

• D06F2103/12

  Temperature · CPC title

• D06F2103/38

  Time, e.g. duration · CPC title

• D06F2105/58

  Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user · CPC title

• D06F34/05

  for wireless communication between components, e.g. for remote monitoring or control · CPC title