Patent Application
20220337448
The present subject matter relates generally to household appliances, and in particular to connected household appliances with distributed operating parameters, such as distributed cycle parameters.
Household appliances are utilized generally for a variety of tasks by a variety of users. For example, a household may include such appliances as laundry appliances, e.g., a washer and/or dryer, kitchen appliances, e.g., a refrigerator, a microwave, and/or a coffee maker, along with room air conditioners and other various appliances. Such household appliances are generally configured for and capable of performing different operations or cycles according to multiple variables, such as, in a washing machine appliance, a wash volume of water, a rinse volume of water, one or more spin speeds, etc., or, in a coffee maker, a wetting volume of water, a dwell or bloom time, a water temperature, etc.
As an example of one type of such household appliances, dishwasher appliances generally include a tub that defines a wash compartment or wash chamber. Rack assemblies can be mounted within the wash chamber of the tub for receipt of articles for washing. Spray assemblies within the wash chamber can apply or direct wash fluid towards articles disposed within the rack assemblies in order to clean such articles. Multiple spray assemblies can be provided including e.g., a lower spray arm assembly mounted to the tub at a bottom of the wash chamber, a mid-level spray arm assembly mounted to one of the rack assemblies, and/or an upper spray assembly mounted to the tub at a top of the wash chamber.
Dishwasher appliances further typically include a fluid circulation system which is in fluid communication with the spray assemblies for circulating fluid to the spray assemblies. The fluid circulation system generally receives fluid from the wash chamber, filters soil from the fluid, and pumps the filtered fluid to the spray assemblies. Additionally, unfiltered fluid can be pumped to a drain as required. Dishwasher appliances also typically include one or more dry components, such as a heater and/or fan.
Various operations of the dishwasher appliance, e.g., operations of the fluid circulation system, dry components, or other components of the dishwasher appliance, can be modified by changing one or more cycle parameters. Such parameters include water volume(s) supplied to and/or drained from the dishwasher appliance during operation, wash pump circulation time(s) and/or speeds, additive release timing, water temperature, drying air temperature, drying fan speed and/or operation time, among numerous others. In light of the large number of parameters, including combinations thereof, which could be varied or adjusted in each cycle of the dishwasher appliance and the limited opportunities to test the dishwasher appliance prior to shipping, dishwasher appliances are often sold to an end user with preprogrammed settings (e.g., cycle parameters) which may not be optimal for every use case and/or which may be amenable to further optimization.
Accordingly, household appliances and related methods which provide the ability to create and/or access large data sets from across numerous units in various locations and use conditions would be desired in the art.
Aspects and advantages of the technology will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be apparent from the description, or may be learned through practice of the technology.
In an exemplary embodiment, a method of operating a plurality of household appliances is provided. The plurality of household appliances are connected to a data server. The method includes applying a test value to one or more cycle parameters of one or more household appliances of the plurality of household appliances. The method further includes collecting sensor data from one or more internal sensors in each of the one or more household appliances of the plurality of household appliances to which the test value was applied while the one or more household appliances of the plurality of household appliances to which the test value was applied perform a cycle according to the test value of the one or more cycle parameters and collecting user feedback data from users of the one or more household appliances of the plurality of household appliances to which the test value was applied after the one or more household appliances of the plurality of household appliances to which the test value was applied perform the cycle according to the test value of the one or more cycle parameters. The method further includes developing an optimized value for each of the one or more cycle parameters based on the sensor data and the user feedback data and applying the optimized value for each of the one or more cycle parameters to the one or more household appliances of the plurality of household appliances to which the test value was applied.
In another exemplary embodiment, a method of operating a plurality of household appliances appliance is provided. The plurality of household appliances are connected to a data server. The method includes applying a test value to one or more cycle parameters of the plurality of household appliances. The method further includes performing a cycle according to the test value of the one or more cycle parameters with one or more household appliances of the plurality of household appliances and collecting performance data related to the one or more household appliances of the plurality of household appliances during or after the cycle according to the test value of the one or more cycle parameters. The method also includes developing an optimized value for each of the one or more cycle parameters based on the performance data and applying the optimized value for each of the one or more cycle parameters to the plurality of household appliances.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present technology will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the technology and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the technology.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present technology, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures.
Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the technology, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the technology, not limitation of the technology. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present technology covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
As used herein, the terms “first,” “second,” and “third” may be used interchangeably to distinguish one component from another and are not intended to signify location or importance of the individual components. As used herein, terms of approximation such as “generally,” “about,” or “approximately” include values within ten percent greater or less than the stated value. When used in the context of an angle or direction, such terms include within ten degrees greater or less than the stated angle or direction, e.g., “generally vertical” includes forming an angle of up to ten degrees in any direction, e.g., clockwise or counterclockwise, with the vertical direction V.
The present disclosure generally pertains to a plurality of household appliances, where each household appliance of the plurality of household appliances is of the same general type, e.g., a plurality of washing machine appliances, a plurality of coffee makers, a plurality of microwave oven appliances, a plurality of refrigerator appliances, etc. Further, the household appliances of the plurality of household appliances may comprise the same model or series of appliances or otherwise a group of household appliances having the same or similar functionality and available options. For example, a plurality of washing machine appliances all having the same or similar inlet valve manifold, pump system, basket motor, and/or other common features across the entire group of appliances, whereby providing the same operating parameters, e.g., a valve open time, for all of the appliances in the plurality of household appliances would be expected to produce the same result (although variations may occur in practice due to variations such as different installation conditions, different maintenance levels, etc.). As another example, which will be described in more detail below, the plurality of household appliances may be a plurality of dishwasher appliances, where the dishwasher appliances all have common features, such as the same number and type of spray assemblies, e.g., rotary spray arms, spray heads, or other spray components such as bottle washers, utensil jets, etc.
It should be understood that “household appliances” and/or “appliances” are used herein to describe appliances typically used or intended for common domestic tasks, such as laundry appliances or kitchen appliances, or air conditioners, dishwashing appliances, water heaters, etc., and any other household appliance which performs similar functions in addition to network communication and data processing. Thus, devices such as a personal computer, router, and other similar devices the primary functions of which are network communication and/or data processing are not considered household appliances as used herein.
According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the plurality of household appliances described herein may take the form of any of the examples described, or may be any other household appliance. Thus, it will be understood that the present subject matter is not limited to any particular household appliance. In general, the household appliances of the plurality of household appliances include features for their primary functions or domestic tasks, e.g., washing dishes (in the case of a plurality of dishwasher appliances), making ice (in the case of a plurality of refrigerator appliances or ice maker appliances), or heating food items (in the case of various cooking appliances, including microwave ovens, cooktops, etc., and in particular oven appliances with multiple heating sources, e.g., combination oven appliances with, for example, microwave and convection heating, sometimes also known as speed cook appliances), and also include features for connecting and communicating wirelessly, such as over a wireless network. Such communication may provide connected features on the household appliances, e.g., where some or all household appliances of the plurality of household appliances communicate with, e.g., other appliances in the plurality of household appliances and/or a remote database such as a cloud server.
Thus, the plurality of household appliances includes a group of appliances all of which perform the same primary function(s) in the same way. As an example of a household appliance with more than one primary function, a refrigerator appliance may include features for chilled storage of food items and features for making ice, preparing and/or dispensing beverages, etc., all of which are considered “domestic tasks” as discussed herein and are therefore all considered primary functions of the refrigerator appliances, whereas the network communication features are considered non-primary or secondary functions. As noted, such household appliances are thus distinct from devices such as computers, smartphones, etc., where network communication and/or data processing are considered the primary function of such devices.
Referring now to the drawings,
As is understood, the tub 104 may generally have a rectangular cross-section defined by various wall panels or walls. For example, as shown in
As particularly shown in
Additionally, the dishwasher appliance 100 may also include a lower spray-arm assembly 144 that is configured to be rotatably mounted within a lower region 146 of the wash chamber 106 directly above the bottom wall 162 of the tub 104 so as to rotate in relatively close proximity to the rack assembly 132. As shown in
As is generally understood, the lower and mid-level spray-arm assemblies 144, 148 and the upper spray assembly 150 may generally form part of a fluid circulation system 152 for circulating fluid (e.g., water and dishwasher fluid which may also include water, detergent, and/or other additives, and may be referred to as wash liquor) within the tub 104. As shown in
Moreover, each spray-arm assembly 144, 148 may include an arrangement of discharge ports or orifices for directing washing liquid onto dishes or other articles located in rack assemblies 130 and 132, which may provide a rotational force by virtue of washing fluid flowing through the discharge ports. The resultant rotation of the spray-arm assembly 144 and/or 148 provides coverage of dishes and other dishwasher contents with a washing spray.
A drain pump 156 may also be provided in the machinery compartment 140 and in fluid communication with the sump 142. The drain pump 156 may be in fluid communication with an external drain (not shown) to discharge fluid, e.g., used wash liquid, from the sump 142.
The dishwasher appliance 100 may be further equipped with a controller 137 configured to regulate operation of the dishwasher 100. The controller 137 may generally include one or more memory devices and one or more microprocessors, such as one or more general or special purpose microprocessors operable to execute programming instructions or micro-control code associated with a cleaning cycle. The memory may represent random access memory such as DRAM, or read only memory such as ROM or FLASH. In one embodiment, the processor executes programming instructions stored in memory. The memory may be a separate component from the processor or may be included onboard within the processor.
The controller 137 may be positioned in a variety of locations throughout dishwasher appliance 100. In the illustrated embodiment, the controller 137 is located within a control panel area 121 of the door 108, as shown in
It should be appreciated that the present subject matter is not limited to any particular style, model, or configuration of dishwasher appliance. The exemplary embodiment depicted in
Turning now to
Further, the plurality 210 of household appliances 100 may, in other embodiments, be a plurality of any other type of household appliance, as described above. As mentioned above, each household appliance 100 of the plurality 210 of household appliances 100 includes include features for connecting and communicating wirelessly, such as over a wireless network. Accordingly, regardless of the particular type of household appliance, each appliance of the plurality of household appliances may include a controller, such as the example controller 137 described above in the context of the dishwasher appliance example, and a wireless communication module connected to the controller or incorporated therein. As mentioned, the controller 137 may include one or more memory devices. The memory devices may also store data that can be retrieved, manipulated, created, or stored by the one or more processors or portions of controller 137. The data can include, for instance, data to facilitate performance of methods described herein. The data can be stored locally (e.g., on controller 137) in one or more databases and/or may be split up so that the data is stored in multiple locations. In addition, or alternatively, the one or more database(s) can be connected to controller 137 through any suitable network(s), such as through a high bandwidth local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN). In this regard, for example, controller 137 may further include a communication module or interface that may be used to communicate with one or more other component(s) of appliance 100, controller 137, an external appliance controller, or any other suitable device, e.g., via any suitable communication lines or network(s) and using any suitable communication protocol. The communication interface can include any suitable components for interfacing with one or more network(s), including for example, transmitters, receivers, ports, controllers, antennas, or other suitable components.
As noted in
Embodiments of the present subject matter also include methods of operating a plurality of household appliances, such as the plurality 210 of household appliances 100 illustrated in
As illustrated at 420 in
Example performance data, e.g., user feedback data, which may be collected after the cycle include consumer wash satisfaction, consumer dry satisfaction, consumer noise satisfaction, and/or consumer cycle time satisfaction, among other possible example user feedback data. The user feedback data may be collected via a remote user interface device (e.g., computer, smartphone, etc., as discussed above).
Although sensors are not specifically illustrated, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the household appliance may include one or more sensors such as, for example in embodiments where the household appliance is a dishwasher appliance, water level sensors, pressure sensors, temperature sensors, turbidity sensors, and/or flowmeters, among other sensors (such example sensors may also apply to other household appliances, such as temperature sensors may also be provided in a refrigerator appliance, oven appliance, laundry appliance, etc., and turbidity sensors, and/or flowmeters may be provided, e.g., in a washing machine appliance). The structure and function of such sensors are understood by those of ordinary skill in the art and, as such, the sensors are not illustrated or discussed in further detail herein for the sake of brevity and clarity. Example performance data, e.g., sensor data, which may be collected during the cycle include, for dishwasher appliances, wash fluid temperature, wash fluid turbidity, internal sump pressure, wash fluid conductivity, circulation discharge pressure, spray arm RPM, latch status, and/or fault codes, among other possible example sensor data.
As illustrated at 340 in
As illustrated at 350 in
In some embodiments, applying the test value of the one or more cycle parameters may include overriding an initial value of the or each cycle parameter(s). For example, the household appliances 100 may be sold with initial or default values for the cycle parameters preprogrammed into the memory of each unit. Such initial values may be developed prior to or around the time of manufacture of the household appliances 100 and may be programmed into each household appliance 100 at the factory or otherwise prior to an initial retail sale of the household appliance 100.
As mentioned above with respect to
As discussed above, the household appliances 100 which receive and implement the test values may be less than all of the household appliances 100, such as only opted-in units. In additional embodiments, one or more additional, specific, criteria may also or instead be applied to select which household appliances 100 are tested. For example, only a certain model of household appliances may be tested for a certain cycle parameter and/or only household appliances having a certain feature set may be tested for the particular cycle parameter. In such embodiments, the tested household appliances 100 may include only opted-in units that are the selected model and/or have the selected feature set. For example, in embodiments where the household appliances are dishwasher appliances, different dishwasher appliances 100 that are connected to the data server 200 may have different spray features. Some dishwasher appliances include a three-level spray system, e.g., including lower spray arm assembly 144, mid-level spray arm assembly 148, and upper sprayer 150, whereas other dishwasher appliances 100 may include a two-level spray system, e.g., only the lower spray arm assembly 144 and mid-level spray arm assembly 148. In some embodiments, the dishwasher appliances 100 to which the test values are applied may be only those dishwasher appliances 100 that are connected to the data server 200 and have a selected feature set, such as only connected dishwasher appliances 100 with a three-level spray system or only connected dishwasher appliances 100 with a two-level spray system. For example, the dishwasher appliances 100 to which the test values are applied may be only those dishwasher appliances 100 for which an affirmative response to the prompt to opt-in has been received and which possess the selected feature set, e.g., the two-level or three-level spray system. In additional example embodiments, the one or more household appliances of the plurality of household appliances to which the test value is applied may be selected based on one or more of geographical location information associated with each household appliance of the plurality of household appliances, consumer metadata, or historic usage data such as, e.g., in dishwasher appliances, unit cycle count, historic wash fluid temperature data, historic wash fluid turbidity data, historic internal sump pressure, historic wash fluid conductivity, historic circulation discharge pressure, historic spray arm RPM, historic consumer satisfaction (wash/dry/noise/time), historic fault codes, and/or historic latch status, in various combinations as well as or instead of the unit type or feature set.
This written description uses examples to disclose the technology, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the technology, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the technology is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.
