Systems and methods for producing a bundle of filaments and/or a yarn

A system for producing at least one bundle of filaments, the system comprising:

• N extruders, wherein N is an integer greater than 1, each extruder comprising a thermoplastic polymer having a color, hue, and/or dyability characteristic, the colors, hues, and/or dyability characteristics of the thermoplastic polymers in the N extruders being different from each other;
• and
• at least one spin station for receiving molten thermoplastic polymer streams from the N extruders and producing the at least one bundle of filaments, the spin station comprising:
• at least one dynamic manifold, wherein the dynamic manifold comprises N inlets and at least N+1 outlets, wherein each inlet is in fluid communication with a respective one of the N extruders, and at least one inlet of the N inlets is in communication with at least two outlets of the at least N+1 outlets via channels that extend between the inlet of the at least one inlet and the outlets of the at least two outlets and comprises at least one valve that controls flow of the polymer stream between the at least one inlet and the at least two outlets;
• at least one spinneret through which a plurality of melt-spun filaments are spun from at least two of the molten thermoplastic polymer streams received by the spin station, wherein a first molten thermoplastic polymer stream of the at least two molten thermoplastic polymer streams is received from one of the at least two outlets of the dynamic manifold;
• and
• a group of N spin pumps upstream of the dynamic manifold, wherein each spin pump is in fluid communication and is paired with one of the N extruders;
• and
• a processor in electrical communication with the N spin pumps, the processor being configured to execute computer readable instructions that cause the processor to adjust a volumetric flow rate of the thermoplastic polymers pumped by each spin pump to achieve a ratio of the thermoplastic polymers to be included in a yarn comprising the filaments spun from the at least one spinneret.