Patent Application
20120073062
Laundry treating appliances, such as clothes washers, refreshers, and non-aqueous systems, may have a rotatable drum defining a treating chamber for treating laundry according to a cycle of operation. For some laundry treating appliances, vibration and noise may be generated from an imbalance in the drum created by unevenly distributed laundry inside the treating chamber. The floor on which the laundry treating appliance is positioned may also contribute to the vibration and noise generated during a cycle of operation.
Some laundry treating appliances may include a damping system, such as a suspension system or an active balancing system, to reduce vibration and noise generated from the laundry treating appliance during a cycle of operation. The damping system is usually optimized while the laundry treating appliance rests on a pre-selected floor type.
A method for controlling the operation of a laundry treating appliance resting on a floor and having a rotatable drum defining a treating chamber comprises creating an imbalance in the drum, rotating the drum at least one predetermined speed, determining an out of balance parameter for an out of balance condition created by the rotation of the drum with the imbalance, determining a floor parameter of the floor based on the out of balance parameter, and setting at least one operating parameter based on the floor parameter.
In the drawings:
The laundry treating appliance 12 may include a cabinet 14, a door 16, and a controller 18. The cabinet 14 may be defined by a front wall 20, a rear wall 22, a pair of side walls 24, and a top wall 26. The door 16 may be hingedly connected to the front wall 20 of the cabinet 14 and may be configured to selectively move to provide access to a treating chamber 28. The cabinet 14 may include a rotatable drum 30 defining the treating chamber 28 and which may be located within a tub 32 for receiving laundry to be treated during a cycle of operation. The drum 30 may include a plurality of perforations 34 such that liquid may flow between the drum 30 and the tub 32 through the perforations 34. The drum 30 may further include a plurality of lifters 36 disposed on the inner surface of the drum 30 with predetermined gaps between the lifters 36 to lift the laundry load received in the treating chamber 28 while the drum 30 rotates.
While the illustrated washing machine 12 includes both the tub 32 and the drum 30, with the drum 30 defining the treating chamber 28, it is within the scope of the invention for the washing machine 12 to include only one receptacle, with the receptacle defining the treating chamber 28 for receiving the laundry load to be treated within the treating chamber 28.
The motor 150 may be directly coupled with a drive shaft 152 to rotate the drum 30. The motor 150 may be a brushless permanent magnet (BPM) motor having a stator 154 and a rotor 156. Alternately, the motor 150 may be coupled to the drum 30 through a belt and a drive shaft to rotate the drum 30, as is known in the art. Other motors, such as an induction motor or a permanent split capacitor (PSC) motor, may also be used. The motor 150 may rotate the drum 30 at various speeds in either rotational direction. A bellows 158 couples an open face of the tub 32 with the cabinet 14, and the door 16 seals against the bellows 158 when the door 16 closes the tub 32.
The laundry treating appliance 12 may further include a liquid supply and recirculation system. Liquid, such as water, may be supplied to the laundry treating appliance 12 from a water supply 160, such as a household water supply. A supply conduit 162 may fluidly couple the water supply 160 to the tub 32 and a treatment dispenser 164. The supply conduit 162 may be provided with an inlet valve 166 for controlling the flow of liquid from the water supply 160 through the supply conduit 162 to either the tub 32 or the treatment dispenser 164.
A liquid conduit 168 may fluidly couple the treatment dispenser 164 with the tub 32. The liquid conduit 168 may couple with the tub 32 at any suitable location on the tub 32 and is shown as being coupled to a top wall 26 of the tub 32 in
The liquid supply and recirculation system may further include one or more devices for heating the liquid such as a steam generator 182 or a sump heater 184. The steam generator 182 may be provided to supply steam to the treating chamber 28, either directly into the drum 30 or indirectly through the tub 32 as illustrated. The inlet valve 166 may also be used to control the supply of water to the steam generator 182. The steam generator 182 is illustrated as a flow through steam generator, but may be other types, including a tank type steam generator. Alternatively, the sump heater 184 may be used to generate steam in place of or in addition to the steam generator 182. The steam generator 182 may be controlled by the controller 18 and may be used to heat to the laundry as part of a cycle of operation, much in the same manner as the sump heater 184. The steam generator 182 may also be used to introduce steam to treat the laundry as compared to merely heating the laundry.
Additionally, the liquid supply and recirculation system may differ from the configuration shown in
The laundry treating appliance 12 may further include an active balancing system, which may be used to reduce vibration and the resulting noise during a cycle of operation by ensuring that the laundry load is evenly distributed and the drum 30 is balanced when operating at rotational speeds equal to or greater than 150 rpm. The active balancing system may include at least one balancing ring 188, 190 that may be operably coupled to the drum 30. As illustrated, the active balancing system may have front and rear balancing rings 188, 190 that may be operably coupled to the front and rear ends of the drum 30, respectively. Each balancing ring 188, 190 may further include at least one chamber 189, 191, respectively, into which balancing material may be introduced. As shown, each balancing ring 188, 190 includes multiple chambers, with only chambers 189, 191 of each balancing ring 188, 190 visible in
The balancing material may be any appropriate material in the form of solid, liquid or mixture thereof that may be supplied to the chambers 189, 191 of the balancing rings 188, 190 to counterbalance any potential imbalance during a cycle of operation of the laundry treating appliance 12. Liquid from the liquid supply and recirculation system may be used as the balancing material. As such, the active balancing system may be fluidly coupled with the liquid supply and recirculation system. The front and rear balancing rings 188, 190 may each receive liquid from a feeder 194, which may be fluidly coupled to the water supply 160, although the coupling is not illustrated herein. Alternatively, the front balancing ring 188 may be fluidly coupled to the rear balancing ring 190 through the lifters 36 to receive liquid indirectly via the rear balancing ring 190 that may be fluidly coupled to the feeder 194.
The active balancing system may further include at least one sensor 192 for detecting out of balance and/or balanced parameters of the laundry treating appliance 12 during a cycle of operation, as will be described in more detail below. The at least one sensor 192 may be coupled between the tub 32 and the cabinet 14, and may be a load cell or an accelerometer. As illustrated, multiple sensors 192 are provided.
The controller 18 may be operably coupled with one or more components of the laundry treating appliance 12 for communicating with and controlling the operation of the component to complete a cycle of operation. For example, the controller 18 may be coupled with the user interface 38 for receiving user selected inputs and communicating information with the user, the motor 150 for controlling the direction and speed of rotation of the drum 30, and the treatment dispenser 164 for dispensing a treating chemistry during a cycle of operation. The controller 18 may be coupled to the steam generator 182 and the sump heater 184 to heat the liquid as required by the controller 18. The controller 118 may also be coupled to the sensors 192 to receive input used to control the active balancing system. The controller 18 may also receive input from one or more additional sensors 200, non-limiting examples of which include: a treating chamber temperature sensor, a weight sensor, a turbidity sensor, a conductivity sensor, a position sensor, and a motor torque sensor.
The previously described laundry treating appliance 12 provides the structure necessary for the implementation of the method of the invention. One embodiment of the method of the invention will now be described in terms of the operation of the laundry treating appliance 12. The method of the invention functions to determine a floor parameter of the floor 37 and may set at least one operating parameter of the laundry treating appliance 10 based on the determined floor parameter.
The sensor 192 may communicate the out of balance and balanced parameters to the controller 18, which may store reference data relating to the out of balance and balanced parameters in the memory 196 or any other storage device operably coupled with the controller 18. Specifically, the reference data may include the look-up table of floor parameters and corresponding out of balance and balanced parameters. The floor parameter may include a material of the floor 37, a behavior of the floor 37, and/or a mechanical property of the floor 37. Examples of floor materials include, but are not limited to carpet, wood, polyurethane, linoleum, ceramic tile, or concrete. Examples of floor behaviors include, but are not limited to vertical deflection, vibration, hardness, or strength. Examples of mechanical properties include, but are not limited to elasticity, plasticity, ductility, toughness, strength, or Poisson's ratio.
Using an adjustment algorithm 102 implemented by any other appropriate control software that may be stored in the memory 196, central processing unit (CPU) 198, or any other storage device operably coupled with controller 18, the out of balance and balanced parameters may be compared with the reference data to select one or more floor parameters that may most closely match the out of balance and balanced parameters obtained when the drum is out of balanced and balanced, respectively. After selecting the most closely matching floor parameter(s), the adjustment algorithm 102 may select, modify, or revise one or more operating parameter(s) 100 of the laundry treating appliance 12. The operating parameter(s) 100 may include a speed profile, a rotational speed of the drum 30, an operating time of the drum 30, and/or a maximum rotational speed of the drum 30 during a cycle of operation. The speed profile may include both the rotational speed and the operating time of the drum 30 during each phase of the cycle of operation. The operating parameters 100 may be communicated to the user via the user interface 38 to provide the user with any information about the cycle of operation. For example, a natural frequency of the combined system of washer and floor may vary by the floor type. Therefore, the speed or the range of speed(s) at which adjustment takes place may change depending on the floor type.
The method 500 may begin at 502 with the creation of an imbalance in the drum 30. To create the imbalance, balancing material, such as liquid, can be added to the drum 30. Specifically, liquid may be initially added to the active balancing system to create the imbalance. The controller 18 may control the supply of liquid to the active balancing system such that a predetermined amount of liquid may be initially added to one or more preselected chamber(s) 189, 191 of the balancing rings 188, 190. In this way, the imbalance in the drum 30 may be predetermined, and can be reliably recreated during multiple cycles of the method 500.
At 504, the drum 30 may be rotated at least one predetermined speed. In the laundry treating appliance 12 of
The predetermined speed at 504 may be a speed or a range of speeds that is sufficient to excite the natural frequency of the laundry treating appliance 12. Operating the laundry treating appliance 12 at or near a natural frequency may result in a large resonant vibration response by the laundry treating appliance 12. It is noted that exciting the natural frequency of the laundry treating appliance 12 does not require operating the laundry treating appliance 12 exactly at the natural frequency; rather, the laundry treating appliance 12 may be operating close enough to the natural frequency that the effect of increasing the vibration response starts to be seen.
It is contemplated that the order for 502 and 504 may be reversed in implementing the method 500. For example, the drum 30 may rotate at a predetermined speed after any imbalance in the drum 30 is created, while the drum 30 may rotate at a predetermined speed before any imbalance in the drum 30 is created.
At 506, one or more out of balance parameters may be determined for the out of balance condition created in step 504. The sensors 192 of the laundry treating appliance 12 (
At 508, a floor parameter of the floor 37 is determined from the out of balance parameter(s) determined at 506. To determine the floor parameter, examples of which are given above, the out of balance parameter(s) determined at 506 may be communicated to the adjustment algorithm 102 stored in the controller 18. The adjustment algorithm 102 may compare the out of balance parameter(s) with any appropriate reference data, including the look-up table of floor parameters and corresponding out of balance and balanced parameters stored in the memory 196 or CPU 198 of the controller 18 to determine the floor parameter.
At 510, at least one operating parameter 100 of the laundry treating appliance 12 may be set based on the floor parameter determined at 508. Any appropriate adjustment algorithm 102 may change or modify the operating parameters 100 of the laundry treating appliance 12 such that the operating parameters 100 of the laundry treating appliance 12 correspond to the floor parameter determined at 508. As described in
As illustrated, only one cycle through each step of the method 500 may be required to set the operating parameter(s) 100. Alternatively, one or more steps of the method 500 may be repeated. For example, steps 504 and 506 may be iterated multiple times to determine one or more floor parameter(s) 100 of the floor 37. In another alternative embodiment, at 504, the drum 30 may be rotated at multiple different predetermined speeds. In this case, at least one out of balance parameter can be determined at each speed at 506. From the multiple out of balance parameters, one or more floor parameters can be determined at 508. Using multiple out of balance parameters may result in a more accurate determination of the floor parameter at 508 since different floors 37 may have some overlapping characteristics.
The method 600 may start at 602 by rotating the drum 30 at speed equal to or less than 20 rpm to empty liquid from the active balancing system. Depending on the configuration of the balancing rings 188, 190 and the feeder 194, liquid drained from the chambers 189, 191 may be collected in the sump 170 for future use or may be drained out of the laundry treating appliance 12 via the drain conduit 176. This ensures that the drum 30 is balanced. This also ensures that any liquid subsequently added to the active balancing system to create an imbalance in the drum 30 will be the only liquid in the active balancing system; in this way, the out of balance condition created subsequently can be controlled.
At 604, the balanced drum 30 may be rotated at a first predetermined speed and a first balanced parameter may be determined. Rotating the balanced drum 30 creates a balanced condition in the laundry treating appliance 12. Since both the balance in the drum 30 and the rotational speed of the drum 30 may be predetermined, the balanced condition may be considered to be a predetermined condition as well. The first balanced parameter may be measured and determined using the sensor 192. The sensor 192 may communicate the first balanced parameter to the controller 18. The drum 30 may be rotated for a predetermined time at 604, or may be rotated for a time sufficient to determine the first balance parameter for the balanced condition.
At 606, the balanced drum 30 may be rotated at a second predetermined speed and a second balanced parameter may be determined. The second predetermined speed may be different from the first predetermined speed. This creates a different balanced condition in the drum 30. In one example, the second predetermined speed may be greater than the first predetermined speed. Similar to 604, the second balanced parameter may be measured and determined using the sensor 192, and the sensor 192 may communicate the second balanced parameter to the controller 18. The drum 30 may be rotated for a predetermined time at 606, or may be rotated for a time sufficient to determine the second balance parameter for the balanced condition.
As illustrated in
At 608, an imbalance can be created in the drum by supplying a predetermined amount of liquid to the active balancing system. Specifically, the liquid may be introduced into preselected chambers 189, 191 in the balancing rings 188, 190. This may be done while the drum 30 is rotating at the second predetermined speed to create an out of balance condition. At 610, with the unbalanced drum 30 rotating at the second predetermined speed, a second out of balance parameter may be determined in a similar manner as the balanced parameters were determined. The drum 30 may be rotated for a predetermined time at 610, or may be rotated for a time sufficient to determine the second out of balance parameter for the out of balance condition.
At 612, the unbalanced drum 30 may be rotated at the first predetermined speed and a first out of balance parameter may be determined in a similar manner as the balanced parameters were determined. The drum 30 may be rotated for a predetermined time at 612, or may be rotated for a time sufficient to determine the first out of balance parameter for the out of balance condition. While the first and second predetermined speeds at 612 and 610 are illustrated as being identical to the first and second predetermined speed at 604 and 606, in another embodiment, the range of the first and second predetermined speeds at 612 and 610 may overlap with the range of the first and second predetermined speeds at 604 and 606.
At 614, the first and second balanced parameters and the first and second out of balance parameters determined in the previous steps may be compared with the reference data or look-up table described above, using the adjustment algorithm 102 shown in
Optionally, at 616, the drum 30 may rotate at a low speed to empty liquid from the active balancing system. This provides a balanced drum 30 for the start of a subsequent cycle of operation. When all liquid is emptied from the active balancing system, the drum 30 may stop rotating.
It is noted that while the balanced and out of balance parameters may be used to determine the characteristics of the floor 37 in method 600, in another embodiment, only the out of balance parameters may be used to determine the characteristics of the floor 37. It is also noted that one or more steps of the method 600 may be repeated. For example, the steps may be iterated multiple times to determine one or more floor parameter(s) of the floor 37. In the case of multiple iterations, the balanced and out of balance parameters measured multiple times may be mathematically processed using the adjustment algorithm or other control software to represent the floor parameters.
The invention described herein provides a method for setting an operating parameter of a laundry treating appliance based on a parameter of the floor on which the laundry treating appliance rests. The method of the invention can advantageously be used when the laundry treating appliance is moved to rest on a different floor, such as when moving the laundry treating appliance from a manufacturing site to a home, between homes, or between rooms having different floors. By setting certain operating parameters based on the floor on which the laundry treating appliance rests during operation, vibration and/or noise generated during a cycle of operation can be minimized. The methods of the invention may employ the existing active balancing system of the laundry treating appliance, which does not require the addition of any complex or expensive components to the laundry treating appliance.
While the invention has been specifically described in connection with certain specific embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that this is by way of illustration and not of limitation. Reasonable variation and modification are possible within the scope of the forgoing disclosure and drawings without departing from the spirit of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.
