Patent Grant
10480112
Priority is claimed to German Patent Application No. DE 10 2013 114 206.0, filed on Dec. 17, 2013, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a method for operating a domestic appliance, and to a domestic appliance. In particular, the method is suitable for a washing machine or a dryer as the domestic appliance. The domestic appliance has a housing, a rotationally movable drum, arranged in the housing, for receiving laundry, a motor for driving the drum, a control device for controlling the motor, and an evaluation unit. With such domestic appliances it is possible for living creatures such as for example children to climb into the drum and be seriously injured or killed, for example when a washing or spinning process is started.
DE 102004049650 B3 or DE 102004049647 B3 describe possible ways of encouraging children who are in the drum to move, and then being able to recognise their movement. In order to encourage the child to move, in these cases, however, water is used. This brings on one hand the problem of whether the water fed in is sufficient to encourage the child to move, and on the other hand the problem that the child might choke on the water and suffocate or drown therein. In addition, feeding in water is an impediment for programs in which laundry should not be thoroughly dampened, such as for example when spinning, pumping liquid out of the drum, or freshening-up with hot air or hot steam, since the water provides poorer starting conditions for these programs. If for example dry textiles are to be freshened up by means of hot air, it is disadvantageous if they are thoroughly wetted beforehand. Furthermore, the methods described in the above-mentioned documents cannot be used with dryers.
In an embodiment, the present invention relates to a method for operating a domestic appliance with a housing, a rotationally movable drum disposed in the housing for receiving laundry, a motor for driving the drum, a control device for controlling the motor, and an evaluation unit. The method, once a program of the domestic appliance has started, includes controlling the motor via the controller such that the drum is driven by the motor and the drum is moved by an angle of less than 90 degrees. Upon attaining the angle the motor is de-energised. The method includes detecting a rotational-speed signal of the drum from when the motor is de-energised over a predetermined first period, and evaluating the detected rotational-speed signals via the evaluation unit by forming a value. The method also includes interrupting the program when the value is greater than a predetermined first threshold value.
The present invention will be described in even greater detail below based on the exemplary figures. The invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments. All features described and/or illustrated herein can be used alone or combined in different combinations in embodiments of the invention. The features and advantages of various embodiments of the present invention will become apparent by reading the following detailed description with reference to the attached drawings which illustrate the following:
In an aspect, the invention provides for the protection for a living creature, such as a child, which is in a drum of a domestic appliance using simple means.
The advantages which can be achieved with the invention, in addition to greater safety, are that consumption of water can be avoided. The living creature, such as a child, which is in the drum of the domestic appliance does not need to move in order to be recognised. This is advantageous in particular since it is not certain anyway whether, as proposed in the prior art, water running into the drum will encourage the child to move. Therefore the method proposed herein offers greater safety. In addition, unwanted dampening of the laundry and the associated water consumption are avoided. Further, the method can be used not only for washing machines but also for dryers. The method is suitable for recognising whether there is a living creature inside the domestic appliance. In particular, the method is used to ensure that there is no child in the domestic appliance. Therefore, the method is described in the following in relation to the recognition of a child in the domestic appliance. The method is however suitable generally for recognising living creatures in a domestic appliance.
The method for operating a domestic appliance, once a program of the domestic appliance has started, comprises the steps of: controlling the motor by means of the controller, such that the drum is driven by the motor and is moved by an angle of <90°, and upon attaining the angle the motor is de-energised; detecting a rotational-speed signal of the drum from when the motor is de-energised over a predetermined first period and evaluating the detected rotational-speed signals by means of the evaluation unit by forming a value; and interrupting the program if the value is greater than a predetermined first threshold value.
The large mass, concentrated at one point, of any child which may be in the drum is utilised with this method. A continuing drum movement might result in the child turning head over heels in the drum and being injured. The motor is preferably controlled such that it turns for a fixed number of rotations which deflects the drum by an angle from the rest position. This angle must be less than 90′, relative to the operational installation position of the domestic appliance, so that the child is prevented from turning head over heels. The drive power of the motor in this case is selected so that the angle is attained reliably and rapidly. As soon as the angle is attained, the motor is de-energised so that it does not introduce any driving or braking torque. Now the drum with the child which may be therein begins to perform a rocking motion which with time is damped by friction losses, so that after a certain time the rest position is resumed. In this state without driving torques, the friction between the child and the drum is sufficient for the drum and the child to perform the same rocking motion. This rocking motion is recognised by the evaluation unit. For this, starting from the moment at which the motor is de-energised, the rotational-speed signal is evaluated and a value is formed which, in the predetermined first period after the motor has been de-energised, ascertains how marked the rocking motion is. The rocking motion with a child present in the drum is considerably stronger owing to the concentrated mass than when it is laden merely with laundry with no child. If the value ascertained is greater than a predetermined first threshold value, the program is therefore interrupted.
Preferably the above steps are repeated in the event of the program being interrupted once a predetermined second period has elapsed.
In the predetermined second period, the child can be given the opportunity to free itself from the domestic appliance. Alternatively, the domestic appliance can emit a signal in order to indicate that it has established that there is a child in the drum. If in the event of the program being interrupted the above steps are repeated once the predetermined second period has elapsed, this ensures that a child which is in the drum has been removed from the drum before the program is continued. If the program is interrupted a predetermined number of times, such as for example three times, it can preferably be aborted.
With the method, recognition of rocking is carried out. It is recognised from subsequent rocking of the drum whether there is a child in the drum. Below, the method is therefore also referred to by the expression “rocking recognition”.
The predetermined first period is preferably between 1 and 5 seconds. The predetermined second period is preferably between 5 and 300 seconds.
In a preferred embodiment, the value is formed by differentiation of the detected rotational-speed signals and absolute summation. The smaller the value, the less strongly marked the rocking motion of the drum. In particular, the value is ascertained using a variance of the following formula (1):
N being equal to 400, U representing the detected rotational speed.
The angle by which the drum is moved is less than 90°, preferably between 10 and 70°, and more preferably between 20 and 50°. The specified angle of the movement of the drum relates to the angle moved out of the rest position of the drum, relative to the operational installation position of the domestic appliance.
Preferably the drive power of the motor (4) lies in the range of 50 to 500 W. This ensures that the drum by the angle is attained rapidly and reliably even in the case of a large mass moment of inertia.
The predetermined first threshold value is selected such that it is possible to distinguish between damp laundry and a child.
In a preferred embodiment, once the program has been interrupted a door of the domestic appliance which closes a loading opening arranged in the housing for loading the drum is unlocked and/or opened. This gives the child the opportunity to open the unlocked door or to remove itself from the drum of the domestic appliance and from the domestic appliance through the opened door. Alternatively or additionally, a warning signal is emitted by the domestic appliance. If only a warning signal is emitted, without the door being unlocked or opened, it is indicated to a person in the vicinity of the domestic appliance that there is a child in the domestic appliance, and they will take appropriate measures. If the warning signal is emitted in addition to an unlocked and/or opened door, this can for example ensure that a person in the vicinity of the domestic appliance will close the door of the domestic appliance again, so that the domestic appliance can continue the program, which in this case means that once again the method steps which had been carried out before the program was interrupted are repeated, in order to ensure that there is now no longer a child in the drum.
In a preferred configuration, the method comprises the steps of: feeding a predetermined amount of water into the drum if the value lies between a predetermined second threshold value, which is less than the predetermined first threshold value, and the predetermined first threshold value; detecting a rotational-speed signal of the drum over a predetermined third period after the amount of water has been fed into the drum; evaluating the detected rotational-speed signals by means of the evaluation unit by forming a variable; interrupting the program over a predetermined fourth period if the variable is greater than a predetermined third threshold value; and repeating the above steps upon interruption of the program once the predetermined fourth period has elapsed.
The second threshold value represents a further safety precaution. If the predetermined first threshold value has not been exceeded, but the predetermined second threshold value has, then the domestic appliance will be unable to determine with certainty whether a child or alternatively a large, and possibly also damp, amount of laundry is in the drum of the domestic appliance. In this case, for further protection, an attempt is made to encourage any child which may be in the domestic appliance to move by feeding a predetermined amount of water into the drum. It is possible, in particular with small loads, to design the water infeed such that no dampening of the laundry occurs. In the case of relatively large or alternatively possibly damp amounts of laundry, for safety reasons if necessary it will be accepted that the laundry will be dampened. If once the water has been fed in an impermissible movement of the drum is recognised by the variable ascertained being greater than the predetermined third threshold value, the door is unlocked or opened, and/or a warning signal is emitted by the domestic appliance. Methods for monitoring impermissible movement of the drum once water has been fed into the drum are described in DE 102004049647 B3 and DE 102004049650 B3, the disclosures of which are hereby fully incorporated herein.
In a preferred embodiment, the program, if interrupted a predetermined number of times, is continued if the program provides for water to be fed into the drum, and is aborted if the program does not provide for any inflow of water into the drum. In this method variant, the domestic appliance is a washing machine. In certain cases, such as when loading a washing machine with damp laundry, in which the wetness adds weight in addition to the laundry, it may be difficult to distinguish whether there is a child or damp laundry in the washing machine. If the program of the washing machine does not provide for water to be fed into the drum, it is improbable that damp laundry has been loaded into the washing machine. Therefore the program is aborted in this case. If the program provides for water to be fed into the drum, the program is continued. Owing to the water being fed into the drum, a child can be encouraged to move, and the movement of the child can be detected, as described for example in DE 102004049647 B3 or DE 102004049650 B3.
In a preferred embodiment, the method variant in which the program provides for water to be fed into the drum comprises the steps of: activating a pump in order to pump liquid out of the drum; detecting a rotational-speed signal of the drum over a predetermined fifth period; evaluating the detected rotational-speed signals by means of the evaluation unit by forming a pump-out value; interrupting the program over a predetermined sixth period if the pump-out value is greater than a predetermined fourth threshold value; repeating the above steps upon interruption of the program once the predetermined sixth period has elapsed a predetermined number of times; and aborting the program if the predetermined number of times is reached. The pump-out value can be ascertained using formula (1) above. In this configuration of the method, an attempt is made by the activation of the pump to encourage a child which is in the drum to move, and to detect the movement of the child. Here a movement recognition upon pumping is carried out.
Preferably the method, if the program provides for water to be fed into the drum, comprises the steps of: activating an inflow of water into the drum; detecting a rotational-speed signal of the drum over a predetermined seventh period after the amount of water has been fed into the drum; evaluating the detected rotational-speed signals by means of the evaluation unit by forming a water-infeed value; interrupting the program over a predetermined eighth period if the water-infeed value is greater than a predetermined fifth threshold value; repeating the above steps upon interruption of the program once the predetermined eighth period has elapsed a predetermined number of times; aborting the program if the predetermined number of times is reached. The water-infeed value can be ascertained using formula (1) above. In this configuration of the method, an attempt is made by feeding water into the drum to encourage a child which is in the drum to move, and to detect the movement of the child. Here a movement recognition upon feeding in water is carried out. The movement recognition upon feeding in water is preferably carried out after the movement recognition upon pumping.
In a preferred embodiment, the method, following the inflow of water into the drum, furthermore comprises the steps of: deactivating the inflow of water into the drum; detecting a rotational-speed signal of the drum over a predetermined ninth period; evaluating o the detected rotational-speed signals by means of the evaluation unit by forming a final recognition value; interrupting the program over a predetermined tenth period if the final recognition value is greater than a predetermined sixth threshold value; repeating the above steps upon interruption of the program once the predetermined tenth period has elapsed a predetermined number of times; aborting the program if the predetermined number of times is reached. The final recognition value can be ascertained using formula (1) above. In this configuration of the method, an attempt is made to detect with high sensitivity a movement of a child which is in the drum. Here a movement recognition once water has been fed in is carried out.
Preferably, in one configuration of the method in which the program provides for water to be fed into the drum of a washing machine, first of all the recognition of a rocking motion described above is carried out. Then the movement recognition upon pumping, the movement recognition upon feeding in water, and/or the movement recognition after feeding in water can be carried out in succession.
The invention furthermore relates to a domestic appliance with a housing, a rotationally movable drum arranged in the housing, a motor for driving the drum, a control device for controlling the motor, and an evaluation unit, wherein the control device is configured to operate the domestic appliance in accordance with the method described above. The domestic appliance is capable, using the rocking motion of the drum initiated by the method, of recognising whether there is a child in the drum, and in this case of interrupting the program so that the child can free itself from the drum or can be removed therefrom. Advantageously the domestic appliance is furthermore capable of carrying out a movement recognition, as described above. The domestic appliance is preferably a washing machine, a dryer or a combination thereof. The domestic appliance is in particular configured to detect a child in its drum, but can also be designed to recognise a different living creature, such as for example a dog, a cat or a rabbit.
An example of the invention is illustrated purely diagrammatically in the drawings, and will be described in greater detail below.
In order to carry out the method, the motor 4 is triggered such that it preferably rotates a number of rotations which deflects the drum 3 by an angle which is less than 90°, preferably between 20 and 50°. As soon as the angle is attained, the motor 4 is de-energised, so that it no longer introduces any driving or braking torque into the system. The drum 3 with the child 9 which is therein begins to perform a rocking motion which with time is damped by friction losses in the system, so that after a certain time the rest position is resumed. In this state without driving torques, the friction between the child 9 and the drum 3 is sufficient for the drum 3 and the child 9 to perform the same rocking motion. This rocking motion is recognised by the evaluation unit, which is preferably integrated in the motor 4. By evaluating rotational-speed signals which are detected by the rotational-speed sensor from the de-energising onwards over a predetermined first period, it is ascertained how marked the rocking motion is. For this, from the moment of de-energising the motor 4 onwards the rotational-speed signal is evaluated by means of differentiation and absolute summation, and a value is formed which ascertains in a predetermined first period how marked the rocking motion is. The rocking motion, when there is a child 9 in the drum 3, is considerably stronger owing to the concentrated mass than when laundry is in the drum 3. Masses located well to the outside result in strong rocking-out of the drum 3, and indicate that the child 9 is in the drum 3. If the value lies above a predetermined first threshold value, the rocking motion is so marked that a child 9 in the drum 3 is detected and the program is interrupted. Preferably the door is unlocked or opened and/or a warning signal is emitted by the washing machine. Once a predetermined second period has elapsed, the above steps are preferably repeated in order to establish whether the child 9 is still in the drum 3. If it is established that the child 9 is still in the drum 3, the above steps are repeated once again. If it is then still established that the child 9 is in the drum 3, the program is aborted after a predetermined number of repetitions of the method. The washing machine emits a warning signal and/or the door remains unlocked or opened. If the value lies below the predetermined first threshold value, the rocking motion is marked so little that the probability of the child 9 being in the drum 3 is low, and the intended program sequence is continued without the door being opened or unlocked.
In an alternative embodiment, which is suitable in particular for a washing machine with a large load or for dryers, a predetermined second threshold value is provided for greater safety. The larger the load of laundry in a washing machine, the more difficult it is to distinguish the child 9 from the laundry in the drum 3. The damper the laundry, the heavier it is, and therefore in the case of dryers it is likewise more difficult to distinguish the child 9 in the drum 3 from damp loaded laundry. The predetermined second threshold value is less than the predetermined first threshold value. If the value from the evaluation unit is greater than the predetermined first threshold value, the child 9 is in the drum 3 and should be removed from the washing machine or the dryer before the program is continued. If the value from the evaluation unit is greater than the predetermined second threshold value but less than the predetermined first threshold value, the rocking motion is more strongly marked than it should be, but not so strongly marked that the child 9 actually must be in the washing machine or the dryer. It is therefore not clear whether this rocking motion is caused by a child 9 in the drum 3 or by the weight of the laundry. If the value from the evaluation unit lies between the predetermined second threshold value and the predetermined first threshold value, water is fed into the drum in order to encourage any child which may be in the drum 3 to move. If after feeding in water an impermissible movement of the drum 3 is detected, the door is unlocked or opened and/or a warning signal is emitted by the washing machine or the dryer.
The washing machine shown in
N being equal to 400, U representing the detected rotational speed.
In step 23 it is ascertained whether the variance is greater than a predetermined first threshold value. If the variance is less than the predetermined first threshold value, i.e. no child is recognised in the drum, the method is continued with step 30, which is shown and described in
In steps 22, 32, 42 and 52, in each case the variance is ascertained from the rotational-speed signals. The sensitivity of the variance can be set individually in each of these steps. It has been shown that a high sensitivity of the variance in steps 22, 32 and 52 is advantageous, whereas the sensitivity of the variance in step 42 is preferably lower compared with that in steps 22, 32 and 52. In exactly the same way, the respective periods in steps 25, 35, 45 and 55, in which the program is interrupted, can be set individually in each case. The respective periods in the methods shown in
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive. It will be understood that changes and modifications may be made by those of ordinary skill within the scope of the following claims. In particular, the present invention covers further embodiments with any combination of features from different embodiments described above and below.
The terms used in the claims should be construed to have the broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the foregoing description. For example, the use of the article “a” or “the” in introducing an element should not be interpreted as being exclusive of a plurality of elements. Likewise, the recitation of “or” should be interpreted as being inclusive, such that the recitation of “A or B” is not exclusive of “A and B,” unless it is clear from the context or the foregoing description that only one of A and B is intended. Further, the recitation of “at least one of A, B and C” should be interpreted as one or more of a group of elements consisting of A, B and C, and should not be interpreted as requiring at least one of each of the listed elements A, B and C, regardless of whether A, B and C are related as categories or otherwise. Moreover, the recitation of “A, B and/or C” or “at least one of A, B or C” should be interpreted as including any singular entity from the listed elements, e.g., A, any subset from the listed elements, e.g., A and B, or the entire list of elements A, B and C.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2013 114 206 | Dec 2013 | DE | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8258733 | Yoon et al. | Sep 2012 | B2 |
| 20010011395 | Skripper et al. | Aug 2001 | A1 |
| 20050016227 | Lee | Jan 2005 | A1 |
| 20060075578 | Hellhake | Apr 2006 | A1 |
| 20070039106 | Stansel | Feb 2007 | A1 |
| 20080127428 | Hellhake | Jun 2008 | A1 |
| 20100270962 | Yoon | Oct 2010 | A1 |
| 20110012584 | Ivanov | Jan 2011 | A1 |
| 20110030460 | Ashrafzadeh | Feb 2011 | A1 |
| 20110113902 | Lilie et al. | May 2011 | A1 |
| 20110265271 | Kim | Nov 2011 | A1 |
| 20110314616 | Peterson | Dec 2011 | A1 |
| 20120024016 | Dunn | Feb 2012 | A1 |
| 20120124756 | Jung | May 2012 | A1 |
| 20120210518 | Bae | Aug 2012 | A1 |
| 20130133379 | Dogan | May 2013 | A1 |
| 20140115792 | Lee | May 2014 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 4225769 | Feb 1994 | DE |
| 19832292 | Jan 2000 | DE |
| 102004049647 | Jan 2006 | DE |
| 102004049650 | Mar 2006 | DE |
| 102010016876 | Feb 2011 | DE |
| 2269395 | Feb 1994 | GB |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20150167226 A1 | Jun 2015 | US |
