System and method for tracking clothes and textile articles and an RFID reading clothes dryer

A system for tracking textile articles in a processing facility wherein each of the textile articles has a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and none of the textile articles is being worn by a wearer, the system comprising:

• a receiving station at which a plurality of the textile articles is received by the system;
• a sorting station at which the plurality of textile articles is sorted;
• a washing station at which each of the plurality of textile articles is washed;
• a drying station at which each of the plurality of textile articles is dried during a drying cycle, the drying station comprising at least one dryer having a doorway through which the plurality of textile articles is received into a drying chamber of the dryer and a door to selectively close and open the doorway;
• a first RFID reader on the at least one dryer to interrogate the RFID tag on each of the plurality of the textile articles while in the drying chamber and throughout the drying cycle;
• a folding station at which each of the plurality of textile articles is folded after exiting the drying station;
• a second RFID reader located proximate to the folding station to interrogate the RFID tag on each of the plurality of the textile articles;
• a packing station at which the plurality of textile articles is assembled into a plurality of bundles;
• a dispatch station at which the plurality of bundles is dispatched from the system;
• and
• a third RFID reader located intermediate the packing station and the dispatch station to interrogate the RFID tag on each of the plurality of textile articles.

A dryer for textile articles in which each textile article has a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and is not being worn by a wearer, the dryer drying the textile articles during a drying cycle and comprising:

• a housing;
• a doorway in the housing through which the plurality of textile articles is received into a drying chamber of the dryer;
• a door to selectively close and open the doorway;
• and
• an RFID reader on a non-moving portion of the dryer to interrogate the RFID tag on each of the textile articles while in the drying chamber and throughout the drying cycle.

A method of tracking a plurality of textile articles each having a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and none of the textile articles is being worn by a wearer, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving the plurality of textile articles at a receiving station;
• sorting the plurality of textile articles at a sorting station;
• washing the plurality of textile articles at a washing station;
• drying each of the textile articles during a drying cycle and in at least one dryer having a drying chamber and a doorway accessing the drying chamber, the doorway being selectively closed and opened by a door mounted on the dryer;
• interrogating each of the RFID tags of the plurality of textile articles while in the drying chamber and throughout the drying cycle;
• folding each of the plurality of textile articles at a folding station;
• and
• dispatching the plurality of textile articles from a dispatch station.