JPH04220289A - Controller for washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the cloth from being damaged due to excessive washing by executing the washing control in accordance with light transmittivity of a liquid in a tank, and deciding whether additional washing after pre-washing can be omitted or not in the case pre-washing is selected. CONSTITUTION:After pre-washing is finished, light transmittivity measured by a transmittivity detector 22 is detected, and an additional washing deciding means 25 decides an additional washing time after pre-washing by this light transmittivity, based on an additional washing time storage means 26.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention uses a transmittance detector that detects the light transmittance of the liquid in the tank to perform pre-washing, washing, rinsing, and
The present invention relates to a washing machine control device that controls dehydration.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in this type of washing machine control device,
Even if a pre-washing process is added or a series of washes given by the pre-washing process is performed, after saturation of the transmittance, depending on the transmittance at that time and the time from the start of washing to saturation,
Additional washing was performed for a certain period of time.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional washing machine control device as described above, for example, if dirt is removed from the laundry during agitation during the pre-washing process, washing may be overwashed, resulting in the washing being over-washed. Damage things. Additionally, once the transmittance is saturated during the pre-washing process, there is almost no change in the transmittance during washing, so it is impossible to detect changes in the transmittance during washing and perform control according to the changes. They were equal.

[0004]The present invention therefore solves the above-mentioned conventional problems.When a pre-washing process is added to a series of washing processes using a sensor, the sensor washing process after the pre-washing process is
The purpose is to control the washing time to be determined according to the transmittance.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to solve this problem, the washing machine control device of the present invention includes an input means that can arbitrarily select a pre-washing process in which stirring and soaking are repeated, and a control device for controlling the liquid in the tank. a transmittance detector for detecting the transmittance of light, a timing means, an additional washing determination means for determining whether additional washing is necessary based on the transmittance detected by the transmittance detector during washing after the pre-washing process, and additional washing. Washing, rinsing, and
Dehydration is controlled, and during washing, additional washing is performed for a certain period of time depending on the transmittance from the transmittance detector when it is determined that the transmittance is saturated and the time from the start of washing to saturation. and a control means for controlling according to the transmittance from the transmittance detector during washing after the prewashing step when the prewashing step is selected.

[0006]

[Operation] According to the above structure, the determination means determines whether or not additional washing is to be performed based on the transmittance detected by the transmittance detector after the completion of pre-washing, so if the dirt has been sufficiently removed after the completion of pre-washing. No additional washing is required and fabric damage can be prevented.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a fully automatic washing machine will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a fully automatic washing machine, in which 1 is an outer frame, 2 is a water tank, 3 is a washing and dehydrating tank, and 6 is a washing and dehydrating tank 3 for stirring, washing or rinsing. This is a power switching mechanism for switching the power of the selection/dehydration motor 5 so as to rotate the stirring blade 4 at times. 7 is an air pocket for generating pressure corresponding to the water level; 9 is an air hose for transmitting the pressure generated in the air pocket 7 to the water level detection means 8; 11 is a drain hose, and 12 is a water supply valve for supplying tap water into the water receiving tank 2. Reference numeral 13 denotes a transmittance detection section for detecting the light transmittance of the liquid in the water receiving tank 2, and as shown in FIG. 3, it is composed of an infrared light emitting element 13a and a light receiving element 13b.

Next, FIG. 1 shows the main structure of a fully automatic washing machine. In the figure, 14 is an input means that can arbitrarily set which process of washing, rinsing, and spin-drying to operate, water level, pre-washing process, etc., and 15 is used to use the contents set by the input means 14, the progress of washing, etc. Display means for informing the person, 8
16 and 17 are bidirectional thyristors for driving the washing and dewatering motor 5; 18 is for driving the water supply valve 12; Bidirectional thyristor, 19 is drain valve 10
20 is a commercial power supply, 21 is a power switch, 22 is a transmittance detector for detecting the light transmittance of the liquid in the water receiving tank 2, and 23 is the amount of laundry. 24 is a clocking means, 25 is an additional wash determining means, 26 is an additional washing time storage means, 27 is based on the output data of the transmittance detector 22 and the output signal of the cloth amount detecting means 23. A microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as a microcomputer) is a control means for controlling operations such as pre-washing, washing, rinsing, and dehydration. Note that here, the timekeeping means 24.
It is assumed that the additional washing determination means 25 and the additional washing time storage means 26 are included in the microcomputer 27.

An example of the transmittance detector 22 is shown in FIG. 22a is a constant current source consisting of a PWM circuit and a D/A converter, and receives a signal from the microcomputer 27 to send a constant current to the infrared light emitting element 13a;
d is a resistor, and 22c is a transistor that controls ON/OFF of the current flowing through the infrared light emitting element 13a according to a signal from the microcomputer 27.

An embodiment of the present invention in a fully automatic washing machine having the above structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing changes in the light transmittance of the washing liquid detected by a transmittance detector (hereinafter referred to as an optical sensor) during the pre-washing process and washing in this example, and FIG.
An example of the additional washing time when additional washing is necessary or not is shown depending on the transmittance during washing after the completion of the pre-washing process. FIG. 7 is a flowchart in this embodiment.

[0013] Hereinafter, explanation will be given mainly with reference to FIG. According to this embodiment, when a series of washing processes are performed without selecting a prewashing process, the output from the transmittance detector 22 and the output from the timer 24 are used as in the conventional example. , washing, rinsing, and dehydration are performed automatically.

[0014] When washing is performed in the pre-washing process, for example,
When a pre-washing process is performed in which a cycle of 2 minutes of stirring and 4 minutes of soaking is repeated for a total of 1 hour (20 minutes of stirring in total and 40 minutes of soaking in total) after water is supplied, the transmittance decreases during the pre-washing process as shown in Figure 5. I get saturated with it. Here, it is assumed that the transmittance is detected by the transmittance detector 22 every half wave in synchronization with the power supply cycle after starting a series of operations including the pre-washing process (step 100). The microcomputer 27 inputs the output from the transmittance detector 22 as needed, and uses the additional wash determining means to determine whether additional washing is necessary based on the transmittance at the initial stage of washing after the end of the pre-washing process (step 101). The transmittance that serves as the discrimination criterion at this time is referred to as the additional washing discrimination criterion transmittance). Here, if the transmittance is less than the additional washing determination standard, it is determined that the stain is large, and if the transmittance is equal to or higher than the additional washing determination standard, the stain is determined to be small. As shown in FIG. 6, if it is determined that the dirt is large, the additional washing time storage means 26
According to the contents, additional washing is performed for 3 minutes, and then the process moves to rinsing (step 102). If it is determined that the dirt is small, the washing is not performed and the process is controlled to proceed to rinsing (step 103).

[0015] Here, the additional washing time is set to 3 minutes when the dirt is large, and no additional washing is performed when the dirt is small, but other classification methods may also be considered.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, the transmittance is detected at the start of washing after the end of the pre-washing process, and based on the detected transmittance, it is determined whether additional washing is necessary or not, and the additional washing time is determined. By determining this, it is possible to prevent damage to the laundry due to washing and rinsing, and there is an effect that the washing time can be shortened.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1: Block diagram of a fully automatic washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] A cross-sectional view of a fully automatic washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a transmittance detection section according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 4]
Circuit diagram of a transmittance detector according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 5 is a graph showing changes in optical sensor voltage during the pre-washing process and washing, showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the additional washing time when additional washing is necessary and when it is not necessary according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

13 Transmittance detection section 22 Transmittance detector 23 Cloth amount detection means 24 Timekeeping means 25 Additional washing determination means 26 Additional washing time storage means 27 Microcomputer

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: An input means capable of arbitrarily selecting a pre-washing process in which stirring and soaking are repeated, a transmittance detector for detecting the light transmittance of the liquid in the tank, a timer, and a pre-washing process after the pre-washing process. additional washing determination means for determining whether additional washing is necessary based on the transmittance detected by the transmittance detector during washing; additional washing time storage means for storing the additional washing time; and additional washing time storage means for storing the additional washing time; Washing, rinsing, and dehydration are automatically controlled based on the transmittance and the time measured by the timer. control means for controlling additional washing for a certain period of time depending on the transmittance and the time from the start of washing to saturation, and when washing after the prewashing step when the prewashing step is selected, the transmittance detection is performed. A washing machine control device characterized by controlling according to transmittance from a washing machine.