A Compact Colorimetric Sensor Using Optical Transmission for Real-Time Control of Textile Dye Exhaustion

Abstract

This paper describes work done during three years of research with the goal of designing a compact low-cost colorimetric sensor incorporated in a complete system for a direct monitoring and controlling of dye exhaustion profile during textile dyeing. The temperature is often the principal variable taken into account to control the exhaustion of the dye bath. However, the goal is not to control temperature per se, but to control the final colour and strike (rate of dye uptake). Therefore, if one could control or predict the exhaustion profile during dyeing, one could control the amount and rate of dye uptake onto the fabric. The difficulty is in the measurement of the dye concentration deposited onto the fabric. For this reason, the design of a low cost compact colorimetric sensor, enabled us to approach the field of the textile dye bath control with minimum investment (i.e. without expensive spectrophotometer).A system of real-time data acquisition is developed. Results and test on single dye and mixture of dyes are encouraging.
Copyright © 2016 Praise Worthy Prize - All rights reserved.