EP1342826A1 - Système pour le contrôle du balourd dans des machines à linge - Google Patents

Système pour le contrôle du balourd dans des machines à linge Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1342826A1
EP1342826A1 EP02447033A EP02447033A EP1342826A1 EP 1342826 A1 EP1342826 A1 EP 1342826A1 EP 02447033 A EP02447033 A EP 02447033A EP 02447033 A EP02447033 A EP 02447033A EP 1342826 A1 EP1342826 A1 EP 1342826A1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
drum
unbalance
instantaneous
rotational speed
speed
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Application number
EP02447033A
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German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Sigvard Hoornaert
Davy Tytgat
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Primus NV
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Primus NV
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Publication date
Application filed by Primus NV filed Critical Primus NV
Priority to EP02447033A priority Critical patent/EP1342826A1/fr
Publication of EP1342826A1 publication Critical patent/EP1342826A1/fr
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    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F33/00—Control of operations performed in washing machines or washer-dryers 
    • D06F33/30—Control of washing machines characterised by the purpose or target of the control 
    • D06F33/48—Preventing or reducing imbalance or noise
    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
    • D06F2103/00—Parameters monitored or detected for the control of domestic laundry washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
    • D06F2103/26—Imbalance; Noise level

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to laundry arrangements and in particular to laundry apparatus having a rotatable drum and to associated control methods for managing out-of-balance loads thereof.
  • These laundry apparatus encompass washer extractors such as washing machines that include a water extraction cycle, often referred to as a spinning program. They also include pure extractors and dehumidifiers such as spin dryer machines and the like.
  • Removing liquid from a liquid absorbent article is typically accomplished by rotating a drum of an extractor or washer extractor at a relatively high speed, so that centrifugal acceleration forces the load against the interior surface of the drum.
  • the liquid absorbed in the load flows out through perforations in the surface of the drum and is removed out of the machine.
  • the load is not evenly distributed against the interior surface of the drum and the resulting unbalance may cause vibration while the drum is spinning. If the resulting forces of this vibration are too big, machine parts can be damaged and it is desirable to limit at least one of the unbalance or the allowable rotational speed of the drum.
  • Sensing out of balance load may be implemented using one or more accelerometers and using them to measure the vibration by measuring the mechanical forces induced in a load cell. In similar fashion to the limit switch arrangement, such arrangements may send a shutdown signal if a fixed vibration is exceeded.
  • This type of detector may be used on a freestanding machine with a suspension system or on a rigid mounted machine having no suspension system.
  • micro-switches On rigid mounted machines, it is known to use one or more micro-switches to detect deformation of certain machine parts. If the deformation exceeds a preset value, the micro-switch sends a machine shutdown signal.
  • US-5543698 Another approach is to monitor load unbalance through variations in the motor load.
  • a motor controller detects a load unbalance at a relatively low speed and, if the degree of load unbalance is greater than a predetermined acceptable maximum, produces an alarm signal that indicates an unbalanced load.
  • the proposed arrangement may either attempt to rebalance the load by redistribution or may stop the motor so that the unbalance can be manually redistributed.
  • the arrangement of US-5543698 implements a Go/No-Go policy based on a single measure of unbalance detected at a low speed.
  • EP-1067230 a system is disclosed for measuring load unbalance in a washing machine and using the value obtained for the load unbalance to calculate a maximum permissible angular velocity for the drum during the water extraction cycle, i.e. to set an upper limit for spin speed.
  • the drum is accelerated to a relatively low speed where the value for the unbalanced mass in the drum is determined.
  • this relatively low speed is the speed needed to produce a centrifugal acceleration of about 2G on the load and, with a drum diameter of say 750mm, this means a drum speed of about 69 RPM.
  • a maximum safe spinning speed is calculated in dependence on that mass. In this fashion, the arrangement of EP-1067230 sets a fixed limit to the spin speed based on a single measure of unbalance detected at a low speed.
  • an exemplary homogenous dry load of 13 kg may have a mass of about 34 kg after wash and spin until 90 RPM and a mass of about 23 kg after spinning until 500 RPM is reached.
  • the complete load is of the same type with the same absorption coefficient, the unbalanced mass of 6 kg will also lose the same proportion of liquid.
  • the allowable final spin speed is computed with the measured unbalanced mass of 6 kg. This computed final spin speed may well be lower than the true allowable final spin speed, since the unbalanced mass will be only 4,06 kg by the time a spin speed of 500 RPM is reached.
  • the maximum drum speed finally reached may in some cases be lower than the actual maximum safe spinning speed because no account is taken of the fact that the unbalanced mass in the drum will reduce (if the load is substantially of the same type) as drum speed becomes higher and liquid flows out of the load. This has the disadvantage that the load will have more residual humidity, which causes more drying time and thus increases the cost to dry the load.
  • the liquid absorbent load in the drum includes two different materials that we will call Mat 1 and Mat 2, Mat 1 having a relatively big liquid absorption coefficient and Mat 2 having a relatively small liquid absorption coefficient.
  • Mat 1 having a relatively big liquid absorption coefficient
  • Mat 2 having a relatively small liquid absorption coefficient.
  • the drum is accelerated to a relative low speed (we will call it speed A) where the value for the unbalanced mass in the drum is determined.
  • Mat 1 is at one side of the drum while Mat 2 is at the other side, as can be seen in Figure 2. Since the liquid absorption coefficient of Mat 1 is bigger than the liquid absorption coefficient of Mat 2, the Mat 1 will contain relatively more liquid than Mat 2.
  • Mat 1 has absorbed 100% of its body weight in liquid and that Mat 2 has absorbed 25% of its body weight in liquid. This means that in the 2.5 kg load of Mat 1, there will be absorbed an additional 2.5 kg liquid and in the 4 kg load of Mat 2 there will be absorbed an additional 1 kg of liquid at this particular relatively low speed A.
  • speed A the masses in the drum are thus divided as in Figure 2 and it can be seen that there is therefore no resultant unbalance in the drum at this speed A.
  • unbalanced mass is measured at this relatively low speed A and, based on any such unbalanced mass, a Go/No-Go decision is made as to whether acceleration to the final spinning speed can start.
  • the unbalanced mass is measured at this relative low speed A and with this measured unbalanced mass the maximum safe spinning speed is calculated.
  • the controller will decide to accelerate to a certain target speed T of the machine. During this acceleration water flows out of both materials MAT 1 and 2 of the load. Suppose that, when the drum reaches the target speed T, 50% of the liquid that was still in the load at speed A will have flowed out of the load.
  • These improved laundry apparatus encompass washer extractors such as washing machines that include a water extraction cycle, often referred to as a spinning program. They also include pure extractors and dehumidifiers such as spin dryer machines and the like.
  • the present invention provides a laundry apparatus comprising:
  • Said relationship may be based on a predetermined design life of one or more components of said apparatus. Said relationship may be based on a predetermined mechanical limit of one or more components of said apparatus. Said maximum permissible unbalance may be derived from a load or durability characteristic of a bearing arrangement adapted to support said drum.
  • Said sensing means may be adapted to sense said instantaneous unbalance during at least one of acceleration of said drum and at substantially constant rotational speeds thereof.
  • Said unbalance signal may be compared with said relationship at least one of substantially continuously or at a plurality of predetermined rotational speeds of said drum.
  • Said apparatus may further comprise a drive motor adapted to rotate said drum under the control of said control means, wherein said sensing means is adapted to detect said instantaneous unbalance from a load characteristic of said drive motor.
  • Said motor may comprise an alternating current motor and said sensing means may be adapted to monitor at least one of a motor current, a phase angle between motor voltage and motor current, a motor power factor, a motor speed, a motor slip characteristic or a motor torque.
  • Said sensing means may comprise a frequency inverter.
  • the present invention also provides a method of operating a laundry apparatus, said apparatus comprising a drum adapted to receive a load of laundry and to be rotated about an axis under the control of a control means, the method including:
  • the method may include stopping an acceleration of said drum, preferably substantially immediately, in the event that said instantaneous unbalance exceeds said maximum permissible unbalance for said instantaneous rotational speed.
  • the rotational speed achieved prior to stopping said acceleration may then be maintained.
  • the rotational speed achieved may be the maximum permissible for the current unbalance and may only be increased by further acceleration if rotation at that speed removes sufficient liquid from said load. Such liquid removal may need to be sufficient to reduce the instantaneous unbalance to a level below the mechanical limit for the rotational speed at which the excessive unbalance originally caused said acceleration to be stopped.
  • the method may include determining, at least in the event of stopping a said acceleration of said drum, whether or not the rotational speed of said drum is sufficiently high to achieve a predetermined residual humidity in said load.
  • the method may include decelerating said drum to or below a predetermined rotational speed and implementing a redistribution cycle so as to redistribute said load in said drum, at least in the event that the rotational speed of said drum prior to halting an acceleration thereof is insufficient to achieve a predetermined residual humidity of said load.
  • the method may include comparing a said instantaneous unbalance determined during a distribution cycle or around the start of a drum acceleration with a predetermined distribute unbalance level for which it is likely that, if unbalance is smaller than this predetermined level, a preferred minimum rotational speed of said drum is achievable. If the unbalance in this distribution cycle is higher than this predetermined level of unbalance, from experience it can be said that during acceleration the mechanical limit will be reached at a relative low drum speed for which the requested residual humidity of the load will not be achieved. This predetermined level of unbalance at distribution speed will be referred to for convenience as a "distribute unbalance level" and is substantially lower than the mechanical limit of the machine at this distribution speed.
  • the method may include varying said distribute unbalance level after one or more said redistribution cycles, a variation to said distribute unbalance level depending on a predetermined cycle requirement.
  • the method may include increasing said distribute unbalance level if keeping within a wash cycle time is said cycle requirement, thereby ensuring that acceleration starts even if a final drum rotational speed achievable will be lower than a preferred minimum speed.
  • the method may include decreasing said distribute unbalance level if achieving a predetermined final drum rotational speed is said cycle requirement.
  • a said decreased distribute unbalance level will on average result in a smaller unbalance at high speed and will thus on average result in a higher drum speed being achievable.
  • the method may include accelerating said drum after a predetermined number of redistribution cycles even if a said instantaneous unbalance at the start of said acceleration is equal to or greater than a said unbalance determined prior to the or each said redistribution cycle.
  • the method may include basing said mechanical limit on a predetermined design life of one or more components of said apparatus, such as for example a load or durability characteristic of a bearing arrangement adapted to support said drum during rotation.
  • the method may include maintaining a rotational speed of said drum for a predetermined time period, at least in the event that said rotational speed was reached by said drum prior to halting an acceleration thereof and is sufficient to achieve a predetermined residual humidity of said load.
  • the method may include accelerating said drum in the event that a said unbalance reduces below a said maximum permissible unbalance for said instantaneous rotational speed.
  • the method may include at least temporarily abandoning an acceleration of said drum if a said instantaneous unbalance sensed during a said distribution cycle or acceleration therefrom exceeds said predetermined level.
  • the method may include sensing said instantaneous unbalance only up to a predetermined rotational speed of said drum, at which predetermined rotational speed a said instantaneous unbalance is detectable within predetermined limits of accuracy, and from that speed upwards computing a preferred rotational speed of said drum based on one or more sensed measurements made below said predetermined rotational speed.
  • the method may include comparing substantially instantaneous unbalance with said relationship at least one of substantially continuously or at a plurality of predetermined rotational speeds of said drum.
  • the method may include sensing a said instantaneous unbalance by determining at least one of an unbalance mass in said drum and from a force exerted on a predetermined component of said apparatus.
  • the method may include sensing a said instantaneous unbalance from a characteristic of a drive motor rotating said drum, such as from a motor current, a phase angle between motor voltage and motor current, a motor power factor, a motor speed, a motor slip characteristic or a motor torque of said drive motor.
  • the present invention provides a laundry apparatus in the form of a washing machine 10 operated using a programmable control means in the form of a cycle controller 12.
  • the machine 10 comprises a drum 14 which is rotatable inside a tub 16 about a substantially horizontal axis C/L, the drum 14 being supported for rotation on a horizontal axle 18 supported near the drum 14 by a front bearing 20 and at a driven end distal from the drum 14 by a rear bearing 22.
  • Drive is provided to the axle 18 through a transmission 24 by an AC motor 26 under the control of the cycle controller 12.
  • a sensing means is provided which detects the level of unbalance in the drum 14 and provides an unbalance signal indicative thereof to the cycle controller 12.
  • the sensing means may take a variety of forms, some embodiments of which will now be discussed.
  • the sensing means comprises for example a frequency inverter 28 or similar associated with or implemented in a motor control portion of the cycle controller 12.
  • the frequency inverter 28 monitors variations in motor load which, if present, are indications of the level of unbalanced mass in the drum 14.
  • An advantage of this approach is that often commercially available cycle controllers 12 already include at least the hardware necessary to implement such a sensing means so that extra costs are minimized. All that is needed is a calculation to determine the size of the motor load variation, which can generally be achieved merely by activating a software function in the cycle controller 12.
  • the load value or motor characteristic which the sensing means monitors may include the motor current, the phase angle between motor voltage and motor current, the power factor, the motor speed, the motor slip in case of an asynchronous motor or the motor torque.
  • the variation in motor load is caused by the fact the unbalanced mass will be influenced by gravity acceleration.
  • the gravity acceleration will help to pull the unbalanced mass down which will reduce the motor load.
  • ⁇ t and ⁇ y are big so too will be the variation in motor load.
  • the time between the highest and the lowest points of the unbalanced mass will be high, thus leading to a high ⁇ t which in turn may cause ⁇ v to be high.
  • the variation in motor load will be high.
  • the time between the unbalanced mass being at the topside of the drum 14 and at the downside of the drum 14 will be low. This means that ⁇ t is low and thus so too is ⁇ v.
  • the variation in motor load will be low.
  • the cycle controller 12 of the present invention computes a preferred angular velocity of the drum 14 on the basis of a measurement of the unbalanced mass for the highest possible drum speed where the unbalance can still be accurately measured in order to have only a small influence of the amount of water that is still in the washing load.
  • the arrangement that is disclosed in US-5677606 may prove suitable as the basis of a sensing means associated with a cycle controller 12 of the present invention.
  • the Mitsubishi invention is directed to a method and a device in which the instantaneous load of a motor is sensed and a current average value of that motor load over time is established. This current average value is compared with a mapped value for average motor load and the number of times the current average value exceeds the mapped average value is counted. If the current average value exceeds the mapped average value more than a predetermined number of times in a predetermined period, then motion of the load is stopped.
  • An alternative to motor load monitoring is to use measuring techniques which detect forces in the material they are attached to and do not measure unbalanced masses in the drum 14. In this manner, forces induced by unbalanced loads can be measured and the position of the unbalanced mass in the drum 14 is automatically taken into account.
  • These sensing means may be attached to or between machine parts in which the mechanical force is proportional to the force in one or both bearings 20, 22.
  • Sensing means may be used that substantially continuously provide to the cycle controller 12 a signal that is an indication for the value of the measured force exhibited by the unbalance.
  • the sensing means may be implemented using one or more accelerometers and using them to measure the vibration by measuring the mechanical forces induced in a load cell. Other examples would be to use piezo-electric elements or strain gauges adapted to sense distortion of bearing housings 20a, 22a.
  • the mechanical force felt by these and equivalent sensing means during acceleration is again substantially continuously compared with the maximum allowable mechanical force mapped in the cycle controller 12. If that maximum allowable mechanical force is exceeded, acceleration is stopped instantly and the achieved rotational speed of the drum 14 substantially maintained. If the machine 10 is operating at a steady state and the sensing means of any embodiment indicates that the mechanical limit curve has been exceeded, the rotational speed of the drum 14 is altered to bring the force below that limit curve, e.g. by deceleration.
  • Using the force measuring techniques discussed above may mean that it is difficult to execute accurate measurements at low drum speeds when unbalanced forces are small. Therefore it may become difficult to estimate with high certainty at low speed if the speed that can be achieved during an extraction cycle will be sufficiently high in order to achieve the expected and desired low residual humidity. Therefore time will be lost by initially accelerating the drum and then having to decelerate it to re-divide the load if the achieved spin speed is too low.
  • the motor load monitoring approach discussed above may therefore prove preferable, although it may be used in addition to, as well as instead of, the force sensing in particular at low drum speeds.
  • Sensing means may be used in the form of a switch, such as a piezo-electric switch adapted to change state if a predetermined force is reached. Such a sensing means must then be adjusted to switch on or before the designed limit of vibration which stays within the lifecycle limits of the machine. If the allowable mechanical force is reached and the sensing means switches, acceleration may be stopped substantially instantly in similar fashion to other embodiments. In that way, the maximum spinning speed reached will always be within the mechanical limit that the machine can handle for its proposed lifetime.
  • the sensing technique or combination of sensing techniques may depend on quality and cost requirements or on other detail design considerations.
  • the specific techniques used herein are not essential or limiting. What does matter is that the technique used enables the cycle controller 12 to make a realistic comparison between a substantially instantaneous unbalance and a mapped relationship between maximum permissible unbalance and substantially instantaneous rotational speed of the drum 14. Such a relationship is preferably developed through durability testing to represent a mechanical limit curve for one or more components of the machine 10 in question across its life, as will now be discussed.
  • the present invention thus provides a laundry arrangement adapted to ensure that the spinning speed of the machine 10 concerned does not exceed a level at which abnormal wear or damage will affect machine durability or reliability. In order to achieve this, it may be useful to consider how limits to such criteria may be set.
  • a new model of washing machine 10 when a new model of washing machine 10 is designed it will be constructed to a predetermined minimum durability. Durability will be analyzed and tested to ensure that, amongst other things, the machine 10 has the ability to withstand for a predetermined time a predetermined amount of unbalanced mass at a predetermined speed.
  • the durability requirements depend upon many influences, including for example market aspirations for expected speed and lifetime, arrangements for counteracting unbalanced mass in the drum 14 and not least whether it is to be rigid mounted or a free standing machine type.
  • a machine with a capacity of 10kg is designed for a lifetime of 20000 cycles, with a spinning speed of 450 RPM having an unbalanced mass of 4 kg at the front of the drum, i.e. at the side of the door for a front-loading washing machine.
  • the determining factor to reach the expected lifetime of the machine 10 may be that it should not exceed the maximum allowable force that the bearings 20, 22 can cope with.
  • the mechanical construction of the machine 10 has to be strong enough to handle the forces that the drum axle 18 brings on the bearings 20, 22.
  • these curves will be considered to represent the mechanical limit curve of the machine 10, seen from two complementary approaches, which in common with other embodiments may be based on for example the design life of one or more components of the machine such as a load or durability characteristic of a bearing arrangement adapted to support rotation of the drum. If at some point during a drum acceleration or while operating at a steady state speed the unbalanced mass goes above the mechanical limit curve, the acceleration is stopped instantly or the rotational speed reduced as the case may be. This will occur in each embodiment of the present invention if a substantially instantaneous unbalance exceeds the predefined value for maximum permissible unbalance defined or calculated with respect to the substantially instantaneous speed for which that particular instantaneous unbalance was sensed.
  • this mechanical limit curve is used only for determining the maximum safe spinning speed then, in some cases when the unbalanced mass is high, the final spinning speed may be low. This may leave the load with a higher than desirable residual humidity at the end of a spin cycle. The energy needed to completely dry this load in a drying cycle would therefore increase, as would the cost associated with drying this load. It is therefore desirable to have an adequately fast spinning speed that can be guaranteed as achievable in almost all cases.
  • the drum speed of 400 RPM corresponds with a mapped maximum permissible unbalanced mass in the drum 14 of 5 kg.
  • the cycle controller 12 is programmed as follows: if the acceleration is stopped before the spin speed of 400 RPM is reached, the controller 12 will give command to decelerate the drum 14 again until it reaches a low speed (see Figure 8 "Try 1) where a redistribution cycle is implemented, i.e. a sequence of drum movements to try to divide the load more equally on the interior surface of the drum 14.
  • acceleration of the drum 14 starts again with probably a more equally divided load in the drum 14 so that there will be less unbalanced mass in the drum 14.
  • the controller 12 will give the same commands again as explained above. This may be repeated for a predetermined number of times, for instance a maximum 10 times. If after trying this 10 times the machine 10 still does not succeed in reaching the 400 RPM spin speed, the machine 10 will decelerate and finish its cycle. However, it is anticipated that in practice in almost all cases the speed of 400 RPM will be reached in the 10 possible tries. So there will always an attempt to reach a final spinning speed above "zone 1" in Figure 8, because this zone would leave a too big a residual humidity in the load.
  • the drum may be accelerated up to whatever limit it can reach, for example after a predetermined number of redistribution events, such that the load can be spun-dry at least to the extent possible within the mechanical limit, i.e. at the speed achievable before acceleration is stopped. This may be performed even if the instantaneous unbalance detected at the start of this acceleration is equal to or possibly even greater than the instantaneous unbalance determined prior to any one or more of those redistribution cycles.
  • the machine 10 will also have a maximum spin speed that can be supplied by the motor 26.
  • the motor power is such that the maximum possible drum speed is 550 RPM. This means that "zone 2" in Figure 8 can never be reached because of the limited motor power.
  • the final spin speed will be between 400 and 550 RPM in almost all cases.
  • the cycle time should be as short as possible to save time and money.
  • another function can be added into the controller 12.
  • acceleration to spin speed is started, very soon (thus at relatively low speed) it can be seen with high certainty from the value for the unbalanced mass whether or not the machine 10 is likely to reach the desired spinning frequency of 400 RPM.
  • the controller 12 will decide to reduce speed again and do a sequence of movements in order to divide the load more equally on the interior surface of the drum 14 and then start the spinning sequence again. In this way the time needed for increasing the speed until the "mechanical limit" curve is reached and the time for decreasing the speed again are potentially reduced, along with the average cycle time.
  • a free standing machine has another "mechanical limit" curve.
  • a rigid mounted machine can handle very big unbalances at low speeds, since the centrifugal force that the unbalance causes at low speeds is not big yet.
  • suspension system that allows the tub assembly to move. At low speeds and when unbalanced mass in the drum is very high, this movement of the tub can become too big so that the tub assembly can touch other machine parts and can damage them.
  • a free standing machine with a drum capacity of 10kg is designed for a lifetime of 20000 cycles, with a spinning speed of 1000 RPM with an unbalanced mass of 2,5 kg at the front of the drum.
  • the area below the resultant limit curve of Figure 14 represents a working area that the machine can handle for its proposed lifetime. So, from a mechanical point of view, it is sufficient to stay below that resultant curve to reach the expected lifetime of the machine. This resultant curve will be referred to for convenience and consistency as the "the mechanical limit" curve of the machine .
  • the principle of handling unbalanced loads in the drum 14 is based on measuring unbalanced masses without knowing the position of the unbalance in the drum.
  • measuring unbalanced masses in the drum 14 without knowing the position of the unbalance in the drum may not always be sufficient to reach the maximum drum speed that the machine can handle for its proposed lifetime.
  • a centrifugal force Fc of 2353,8 N at the front of the drum 14 causes the same force on the front bearing 20 as the centrifugal force Fc of 4707,6 N at the back of the drum.
  • drum speed reached before acceleration is stopped is such that a predetermined residual humidity of the load can be achieved in an acceptable predetermined period
  • drum speed remains constant at the speed reached before acceleration was halted. If it is determined that this speed will not achieve a predetermined and preferred level of liquid extraction or residual humidity in the load, the drum may be decelerated to a predetermined rotational speed so as to perform one or more redistribution events and then re-accelerated in order to try again to reach a preferred minimum spinning speed, this operation being repeatable.
  • Comparison of the substantially instantaneous unbalance sensed by the sensing means may be performed substantially continuously or at a plurality of predetermined rotational speed of the drum.
  • Cycle requirements can be prioritized such that a level of unbalance referred to as a "distribute unbalance level" is varied by either being pushed up or down so as to allow a washing cycle or spinning cycle to stand a better chance of being completed.
  • This distribute unbalance level is a limit set for instantaneous unbalance detected during a distribution cycle or around the start of an acceleration therefrom. The level is such that, if an instantaneous unbalance detected during a distribution cycle exceeds this level, it is unlikely that a preferred minimum spinning speed will be reached. This is because, from experience and/or development testing, during acceleration the mechanical limit will be reached at too low a drum speed to achieve the desired humidity in the load.
  • the "distribute unbalance" is at a level that may be significantly lower than the mechanical limit of the machine concerned at the speeds this comparison is made.
  • Increasing the distribute unbalance level allows, for example, temporary modification of cycle control to implement acceleration of the drum after a predetermined number of redistribution events regardless of whether the drum speed achievable is likely to meet the preferred minimum, so that liquid extraction can take place at least to the minimum level possible under the circumstances without damaging the machine.
  • Temporarily decreasing the distribute unbalance level allows on average smaller unbalances to be achieved and thus on average a higher final spin speed before the mechanical limit of the machine is reached.
  • difficulty may be experienced in sensing unbalance up to a preferred target minimum rotational speed. Under such circumstances, it may be found advantageous to actively sense instantaneous unbalance only up to a rotational speed which falls within a predetermined level of accuracy and, from that speed upwards, to compute a preferred rotational speed based on measurements made below the speed limit of accurate measurement.

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  • Textile Engineering (AREA)
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EP02447033A 2002-03-04 2002-03-04 Système pour le contrôle du balourd dans des machines à linge Withdrawn EP1342826A1 (fr)

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Cited By (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1857583A1 (fr) * 2006-05-19 2007-11-21 Whirlpool Corporation Détection de charge dynamique pour lave-linge
DE102006023453A1 (de) * 2006-05-18 2007-11-22 BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH Verfahren zur Ermittlung bzw. Verringerung einer Unwucht bei einer Maschine zum Waschen und/oder Trocknen von Wäsche
US7748067B2 (en) 2004-06-24 2010-07-06 Electrolux Home Products Corporation N.V. Household laundry washing machine with improved spinning phase
EP2330244A1 (fr) * 2008-08-22 2011-06-08 Panasonic Corporation Machine à laver
ITTO20111137A1 (it) * 2011-12-12 2013-06-13 Indesit Co Spa Metodo e dispositivo di controllo della fase di centrifuga in un apparecchio lavabiancheria o lavasciuga, ed apparecchio lavabiancheria che implementa tale metodo.
CN103314149A (zh) * 2011-01-07 2013-09-18 夏普株式会社 洗衣机
EP2607542A3 (fr) * 2011-12-22 2015-06-10 Whirlpool Corporation Procédé permettant de maximiser la vitesse de rotation de tambour par la surveillance continue d'inertie lors de l'extraction
EP2607543A3 (fr) * 2011-12-22 2015-06-10 Whirlpool Corporation Procédé et appareil permettant de déterminer une force d'inertie d'un chargement de linge dans un appareil de traitement de linge
US10753030B2 (en) * 2018-07-11 2020-08-25 Haier Us Appliance Solutions, Inc. Washing machine appliances and methods of using counterweight amplitude to limit basket speed
CN115516154A (zh) * 2020-03-30 2022-12-23 美诺两合公司 操作洗衣机的方法和洗衣机

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EP0236857A2 (fr) * 1986-03-03 1987-09-16 Licentia Patent-Verwaltungs-GmbH Procédé pour corriger la valeur du balourd admissible pour une machine à laver commandée par programme
US5543698A (en) * 1994-09-27 1996-08-06 Allen-Bradley Company, Inc. Method and apparatus used with AC motor for detecting unbalance

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US7748067B2 (en) 2004-06-24 2010-07-06 Electrolux Home Products Corporation N.V. Household laundry washing machine with improved spinning phase
DE102006023453A1 (de) * 2006-05-18 2007-11-22 BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH Verfahren zur Ermittlung bzw. Verringerung einer Unwucht bei einer Maschine zum Waschen und/oder Trocknen von Wäsche
DE102006023453B4 (de) * 2006-05-18 2021-02-04 BSH Hausgeräte GmbH Verfahren zur Ermittlung bzw. Verringerung einer Unwucht bei einer Maschine zum Waschen und/oder Trocknen von Wäsche
EP1857583A1 (fr) * 2006-05-19 2007-11-21 Whirlpool Corporation Détection de charge dynamique pour lave-linge
US7581272B2 (en) 2006-05-19 2009-09-01 Whirlpool Corporation Dynamic load detection for a clothes washer
EP2330244A4 (fr) * 2008-08-22 2014-08-27 Panasonic Corp Machine à laver
EP2330244A1 (fr) * 2008-08-22 2011-06-08 Panasonic Corporation Machine à laver
CN103314149A (zh) * 2011-01-07 2013-09-18 夏普株式会社 洗衣机
CN103314149B (zh) * 2011-01-07 2015-11-25 夏普株式会社 洗衣机
EP2604735A1 (fr) * 2011-12-12 2013-06-19 Indesit Company S.p.A. Procédé et dispositif permettant de contrôler l'étape d'essorage d'un appareil de lavage/séchage ou de lavage et appareil de lavage/séchage ou de lavage mettant en oeuvre ledit procédé
ITTO20111137A1 (it) * 2011-12-12 2013-06-13 Indesit Co Spa Metodo e dispositivo di controllo della fase di centrifuga in un apparecchio lavabiancheria o lavasciuga, ed apparecchio lavabiancheria che implementa tale metodo.
EP2607542A3 (fr) * 2011-12-22 2015-06-10 Whirlpool Corporation Procédé permettant de maximiser la vitesse de rotation de tambour par la surveillance continue d'inertie lors de l'extraction
EP2607543A3 (fr) * 2011-12-22 2015-06-10 Whirlpool Corporation Procédé et appareil permettant de déterminer une force d'inertie d'un chargement de linge dans un appareil de traitement de linge
US9091012B2 (en) 2011-12-22 2015-07-28 Whirlpool Corporation Method and apparatus for determining an inertia of a laundry load in a laundry treating appliance
US10753030B2 (en) * 2018-07-11 2020-08-25 Haier Us Appliance Solutions, Inc. Washing machine appliances and methods of using counterweight amplitude to limit basket speed
CN115516154A (zh) * 2020-03-30 2022-12-23 美诺两合公司 操作洗衣机的方法和洗衣机

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