EP0253250B2 - Device for positioning the drum of a washing machine - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for moving a drum that can be driven by means of a reversible motor and a program-controlled laundry treatment machine that can be fed by a reversible motor in the loading position with a starter device that contains a license plate carrier rotating with the drum and an assigned license plate holder and that starts the drum in Depends on the standstill position reached after the end of the program in the direction of rotation which allows the shorter path to the loading position until the loading position is reached.

Such a device is known from GB-A 20 53 977. However, the known drum is brought into the loading position purely mechanically, which requires considerable mechanical effort for the control and the movement. For this purpose, the housing cover of the washing machine has to be raised, which allows access to the running drum. An automatic gearbox is actuated via a traction cable, which determines the direction of rotation and the position for the loading position via a number plate holder and a number plate receiver in cooperation with two gear wheels. When closing the housing cover, the rope, driven by a clock spring, be wound up again on a rope drum.

From DE-B 15 85 953 a device for achieving the drum standstill of a laundry drum in the operating position is known, in which the drum is rotatably connected to a cam disk as a number plate holder, which opens a rest switch as a number plate receiver as soon as the drum is in the loading position. As a result, the circuit for the drum drive motor is interrupted, which had previously been switched from washing operation to slow operation for rotating the drum into the loading position by a switch operated by the movement of the housing cover. The drum then remains in the loading position. In addition, a locking device depending on the lid position is provided for the loading position.

The known device has a disadvantage: the drum can only ever move into the charging position in one direction of rotation because only one winding of the reversible motor is switched on in the circuit provided for this purpose. In at least 50% of the cases, the drum rotates more than half a turn and takes a long time to do this. The operator must wait for the loading position to be reached for the duration of this time. Impatient operators, however, will already try to open the housing cover fully against the temporary lock while the drum is running, thereby putting a strain on the mechanical equipment (cover, cover storage, fixed and moving parts of the locking device), the strength of which must be dimensioned accordingly.

US-A 2 479 153 discloses a washing machine with a circular segment rigidly connected to the drum, which cooperates with a lever which reverses the polarity of the drive motor. After triggering the stop signal or the switching measure, the drum always runs forward in the stopping area provided for the charging position. Any necessary changes in the direction of rotation due to the loading position being overrun are indicated during the movement of the drum, with an additional rotation being carried out when the drum is very inert. This results in the same disadvantages as in DE-A-1 585 953.

On the basis of a device of the type mentioned at the outset, the object of the invention is to convey the drum of a washing and / or drying machine to the loading position by simple means after the treatment program has ended, using the shortest possible route.

This object is achieved in that the number plate holder contains an arrangement of three non-rotatably connected contact tracks of the drum of one or more ring collectors, of which one contact track is self-contained and the other two contact tracks are segment-shaped and 180 ° against each other and that closed contact path is connected depending on its rotational position via path grinder either with one or with the other segment-like contact path in a series circuit of reversing windings of the drum drive motor. The result of this is that the drum always reaches the loading position by the shortest route and thus in the shortest possible time, without unduly stressing the operator's patience. Due to the above starting measure, the drum can be reduced Speed or with washing speed. As a result of the measures according to the invention, it is not necessary to design the mechanical devices for unpatented handling by operators. This also results in a particularly low outlay for the means for solving the task. Outside the tub of a washing machine is, for example, the pulley for driving the laundry drum, which are rotatably connected to each other, so that the pulley is a suitable place for attaching a license plate.

In a particularly advantageous manner, the drum or its drive motor can be braked in the loading position. As a result, the loading position once reached can be reliably maintained even when the laundry is distributed unfavorably in the drum.

A particularly simple and effective embodiment of the invention for the braked compliance with the loading position results in a further development of the invention with a two- or three-strand single-phase induction motor in that the direction-determining strands of the motor can be excited in phase during braking.

The starting measure can be triggered in a simple manner by pressing a button, so that the operator can decide for himself whether the drum must move into the loading position or not.

In a further development of this embodiment, the button of the lid switch of a locking device for the housing cover be. Then it is sufficient to lift the lid to be able to move the drum into the loading position. However, it will be advisable to drive the drum at a reduced speed during this operating phase in order to reduce the risk for the operator of being damaged by contact with the rotating drum.

In another training variant, the start measure can only be triggered by a switch in the program control unit. This can be related to a button described above or it can be assigned to each treatment program at the end. In the case of a program without a spin section, the start measure should only be able to be triggered after the end of the rinse or, in the case of a program with a spin section, only when the spin cycle has ended.

It may be appropriate if the invention is designed such that the key hides other program functions when actuated. This ensures that no switching error in the program control device triggers any other machine function when the button is pressed, for example water supply, drum rotation, spin cycle. In the case of a drum rotation position in which the loading opening is exactly opposite the loading position, an unsafe switching position could arise if the label carrier is equipped with contact tracks, from which the drum cannot start safely. In order to avoid this, the invention is advantageously further developed in that a further number plate is arranged in the area of the number plate holder opposite the loading position, the starting measure of which only leads to the motor starting in one direction of rotation. After leaving this further When the number plate carrier rotates out of this unsafe switching position, one of the segment-shaped contact tracks will then take over the further rotation of the drive motor in the respectively assigned direction of rotation. According to the design of the label holder with contact tracks, the further label can be a short, segment-like contact track and can be connected with the closed contact track during a drum position, in which the loading opening is opposite the loading position, into a series circuit with a specific one of the two reversing windings of the drum drive motor.

Fig. 1

eine Waschmaschine mit Kennzeichenträger als Teil einer Schalteinrichtung zum Bewegen der Waschmaschinen-Trommel in Beschickungsstellung in drei unterschiedlichen Trommelpositionen,

Fig. 2

eine Prinzipschaltung der Schalteinrichtung mit Ringkollektoren gemäß Fig. 1,

Fig. 3

eine Verbesserung der Schaltung nach Fig. 2 mit Anlaufeinrichtung.

Verschiedene Stellungen der Wäschetrommel einer Waschmaschine sind in den Figuren 1a, 1b und 1c und das zugeordnete Schaltbild in Figur 2 bzw. 3 gezeigt, wobei sich ihre Beschickungsöffnung in Fig. 1b in Beschickungsstellung befindet.Embodiments of the invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. These show in

Fig. 1

a washing machine with license plate holder as part of a switching device for moving the washing machine drum in the loading position in three different drum positions,

Fig. 2

2 shows a basic circuit of the switching device with ring collectors according to FIG. 1,

Fig. 3

an improvement of the circuit of FIG. 2 with starting device.

Different positions of the washing drum of a washing machine are shown in FIGS. 1a, 1b and 1c and the associated circuit diagram in FIGS. 2 and 3, their loading opening in FIG. 1b being in the loading position.

The schematically indicated housing 10 of the washing machine carries a drum 14. For identification of the position of the drum, a label holder 16 is connected to the drum 14, which is oriented concentrically to the drum axis 1 and on whose contact tracks fixed contact springs 18 act as label receivers 18.

In Fig. 1a clockwise rotation is triggered, in Fig. 1c counterclockwise rotation of the drum. Fig. 1b shows the braked position or the standstill, in which the drum 14 is in the loading position. In this loading position, the loading opening 12 is in the uppermost position.

In the circuit diagrams of FIGS. 2 and 3, a switch 44 is provided which is in the position shown during the program run. The motor can be operated in a conventional manner (via further program switches (not shown)). A program-controlled reversing switch (not shown) also serves for reversing.

The switch 45 can also be a program switch, which changes to the other position after a program has run. However, it can also be a switch which can be actuated from the outside of the machine or a button 44 which is actuated for the duration of the drum movement up to the loading position.

An embodiment for the switching device designed according to the invention is shown in FIG. Here, the starting measure described above is carried out by a ring collector with three contact tracks 46, 48, 50, which are on a common Shaft, for example the drum shaft. The conductive contact tracks are closed at 46, at 48 a segment covering more than the left half of the ring collector and at 50 a segment covering more than the right half of the ring collector, both of which overlap in the upper region. All contact tracks are galvanically connected to each other. If the connection between the line 40 and the line 42 is established via the respective grinder 45 (number plate sensor 18 in FIG. 1), the induction motor with its windings 33 to 35 is always braked when the grinder 45 on the contact tracks 48 and 50 lie and carry electricity. This is the loading position.

The power supply takes place via a button 44, by means of which the starting measure can be triggered. Similar measures, as explained above, can be taken to distinguish the program run from the special movement into the loading position.

In Fig. 1a, the loading opening 12 is to the left of the drum axis 1. The shortest way to the loading position is clockwise rotation. In this position, the label holder 16 brings two (46 and 50, FIG. 2) of its contact tracks into contact with their contact springs 45, through which the current flows via the button 44 and the windings 33 and 35 and with a phase shift via the capacitor 36 connected in parallel excited by the windings 34 and 35 and the drive motor in clockwise rotation until the drum 14 according to FIG. 1b is in the loading position, in which the three outer contact tracks 46, 48 and 50 communicate with their contact springs. Correspondingly, the drum 14 is moved from its position shown in FIG Moves counterclockwise in which the two outer contact tracks communicate with their contact springs. Fig. 2 shows the circuit in detail using the outer three contact tracks - shown here in the loading position.

If the loading opening 12 is to the right of the drum axis 1 as shown in FIG. 1c, the drum 14 can reach the loading position by running the shortest way. The current flows from the line 40 via the contact track 48 through the windings 34 and 35 and via the capacitor 36 phase-shifted through the winding lugs 33 and 35 to the line 42. Therefore, the drive motor remains excited in the counterclockwise rotation until the drum is in the loading position.

In the loading position (Fig. 1b), the induction motor (33 to 36) becomes symmetrical, i.e. excited in phase; the machine is therefore braked in the loading position.

In order to avoid unsafe start-up behavior from a drum position in which the loading opening is exactly opposite the loading position, according to FIG. 3 an additional contact path 52 can be assigned to the contact paths 46, 48, 50 of the type shown in FIG jointly considered contact tracks 48 and 50 closes. This contact track 52 is connected with its grinder 45 via a capacitive series resistor 68 to the winding 33 of the induction motor when the loading opening of the drum is exactly opposite to the loading position. When the button 44 is actuated, the circuit for the motor is then closed via the series resistor 68, which only ever moves the drum in from this opposition position one direction to the left or to the right. The additional contact track 52 overlaps little with the contact tracks 48 and 50 for left and right-hand rotation, so that the continuation is ensured after starting from the opposition position.

The label holder can be designed in a variety of ways. For example, the ring collector can consist of one or more printed circuit boards, the contact tracks of which are designed in the manner of a printed circuit with one or more circular tracks and differently arranged grinders.

When the button is pressed, the drum is rotated in one direction depending on its position. If the loading position is over-tightened, the corresponding other contact path gets under its grinder and initiates a counter-rotation into the loading position. The devices for braking the drum in the loading position may be unnecessary or may act in other ways than by in-phase excitation of the two direction windings of an induction motor.

The switch or the button 44 can be part of a monitoring device for the closed position of the housing cover of the washing machine, in contrast to the above. Furthermore, this switch can also be inserted into the electrical circuit of the machine in such a way that other machine functions are electrically and / or mechanically excluded when it is in the position provided for turning into the loading position.

Claims (11)

1. Equipment for the movement, which can be initiated by a starting measure, into a loading position of a drum, which is drivable by means of a motor reversible in rotational direction, of a program-controlled laundry treatment machine loadable at the casing side, comprising a starting device which contains a mark carrier turning with the drum and an associated mark pick-up and which by its starting measure drives the drum (14), in dependence on the stopped position thereof attained after program end, in the respective rotational direction offering the shorter path into the loading position until the loading position is reached, characterised thereby that the mark carrier (16) comprises an arrangement (18) of three contact tracks (46, 48, 50), which are connected to the drum (14) to be secure against rotation relative thereto, of one or more ring collectors, of which the one contact track (46) is closed in itself and the two other contact tracks (48and 50) are formed to be segment-shaped and arranged to be offset relative to one another by 180° and that the closed contact track (46) is connected in dependence on its rotational position and by way of a track wiper (45) either with the one or with the other segment-shaped contact track (48 or 50) into a series circuit of reversing windings (33 or 34) of the drum drive motor.
2. Equipment according to claim 1, characterised thereby that the drum (14) or its drive motor is constructed to be brakable into the loading position.
3. Equipment according to claim 1 or 2 with a two or three rod single phase induction motor, characterised thereby that the rods (33, 34), which determine rotational direction, of the motor are excitable in same phase during the braking.
4. Equipment according to one of claims 1 to 3 with a pulley connected with the drum, characterised thereby that the mark carrier is mounted between the drum and the pulley.
5. Equipment according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterised thereby that the starting measure can be triggered by actuation of a button (44).
6. Equipment according to claim 5, characterised thereby that the button (44) is the cover switch of a locking equipment for the housing cover.
7. Equipment according to claim 1, 2, 5 or 6, characterised thereby that the starting measure can be triggered only by way of a switch in the program control apparatus.
8. Equipment according to claim 7, characterised thereby that in the case of a program without a spinning section the starting measure can be triggered only after the end of rinsing or in the case of a program with a spinning section can be triggered only when the spinning rundown has ended.
9. Equipment according to one of claims 5 to 8, characterised thereby that the button (44) is masked out on actuation of other program functions.
10. Equipment according to one of the preceding claims, characterised thereby, that a further mark (52), the starting measure of which leads to starting of the motor always only in one rotational direction, is arranged in the region of the mark carrier (46, 48, 50) opposite the loading position.
11. Equipment according to claim 17, characterised thereby that the further mark is a short segment-shaped contact track (ring collector 52) and is connected together with the closed contact track (ring collector 46) into a series circuit with a specific reversing winding (33) of the drum drive motor during a drum setting in which the loading opening (12) stands in the loading position.

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