Classifications

• • 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
  • D06F34/00—Details of control systems for washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
  • D06F34/14—Arrangements for detecting or measuring specific parameters
  • D06F34/16—Imbalance
• • 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
  • D06F2103/24—Spin speed; Drum movements
• • 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 invention relates to a machine for washing and / or drying of laundry, in particular according to the front loader principle, and a method for determining and processing load-related characteristics or unbalance parameters of a laundry drum or a drum shaft of the machine in the preambles of claims 1 and 10 specified type.
• a problem in the operation of washing machines are the vibrations occurring in particular during the spin phase. This is caused by the unbalanced mass distribution of the laundry in the laundry drum resulting imbalance. This unbalance can already be present from the beginning of the washing process on, but it can also be formed only during a spin operation by different drainage properties of the laundry and change in the course of time. By appropriate suspension of the washing unit with the washing drum occurring unbalance forces are taken into account. When a large imbalance occurs at high speeds, it may still be excessive demand of the suspension of the washing unit, which can lead to a so-called running or hitting the machine. But even when operating the machine within tolerable vibration deflections cause the unbalanced forces not only to unwanted noise, but also to increased wear of the washing machine, especially the moving parts and bearings.
• the aim of an optimized washing process control must therefore be the most comprehensive possible determination of load-relevant parameters or unbalance parameters and their evaluation to effectively limit and / or completely avoid the imbalance caused by the mass distribution of the laundry.
• a method for limiting the imbalance of a washing unit of a washing machine and a device for carrying out the method is known as known.
• several sensors are distributed to determine a occurring during the washing process by a moving laundry drum imbalance on the circumference of a tub of the washing machine. These sensors detect the unbalance-induced deflections of the tub as well as the phase shifts between the unbalance deflections. Depending on the detected Deflection values are introduced measures to limit the imbalance.
• acceleration sensors, optical and / or electromechanical displacement sensors can be used as sensors.
• a disadvantage of this method and apparatus is the fact that only the unbalance generated by the imbalance charges of the laundry can be detected by the sensors arranged on the tub and, moreover, not all parameters relevant for an effective limitation of this imbalance, such as the total weight of the washing drum located in the laundry, are detectable. Furthermore, it is to be regarded as a disadvantage that on the one hand by the need for multiple sensors for carrying out the method increased production costs incurred, on the other hand their attachment to the outer circumference of the tub to constructive limitations of the also arranged in this area components leads.
• Object of the present invention is therefore to provide a machine and a method of the type mentioned, by means of which a larger number of relevant parameters for a more efficient limitation of imbalance effects is accessible and by a more compact, flexible and cost-saving design of the machine is possible ,
• the object is achieved by a machine for washing and / or drying laundry and a method for determining and processing load-related characteristics or unbalance parameters of a laundry drum or a drum shaft of the machine with the features of claims 1 and 10, respectively.
• the machine according to the invention is in particular a washing machine according to the front loader principle, meaning a washing machine with a laundry drum rotatably mounted about a horizontal axis or a slightly inclined axis relative to a horizontal axis, which can be filled with laundry from the front.
• a washing machine with a laundry drum rotatably mounted about a horizontal axis or a slightly inclined axis relative to a horizontal axis, which can be filled with laundry from the front.
• tumble dryers or all other machines for treating clothes where the possibility of imbalance caused by imbalance loading exists, in particular during spin phases. Therefore, the invention relates not only to working on the front loader washing machines, but means all trained with a drum shaft for driving a laundry drum machines for washing and / or drying laundry, so for example washing machines according to the Toplader affinity, which is a top to be filled laundry drum have, working machines or dry cleaning machines.
• the machine for determining and processing load-relevant parameters or an imbalance comprises at least one magnetic field sensor unit with which the magnetic field of a magnetized area moved with the drum shaft or the laundry drum is to be detected.
• This magnetic field sensor unit has, for example, a plurality of magnetic field sensors, so that, in addition to the determination of parameters correlating with forces and moments, it is also possible, for example, to determine without contact the axial position of the drum shaft.
• a sensor operating according to the Hall principle is suitable as sensor type.
• the relevant load characteristics can be determined directly in the vibration system and not only their effect, for example in the form of speed fluctuations of the washing drum.
• the washing drum in rotation it is not necessary to set the washing drum in rotation in order to be able to determine unbalance-related parameters via the deflections that occur only during its rotation. Since the determination of the occurring forces and moments according to the invention takes place contactlessly on the drum shaft, the parameters relevant for the treatment of an existing unbalance can be measured directly and without wear on the component with the most direct load.
• the magnetostrictive property of the preferred magnetizable materials is an inherent, wear-free property.
• a sensor unit with a small footprint preferably has to be arranged in the easily accessible area of the drum shaft, so that a more compact and less expensive construction of the machine can be realized.
• a particularly simple embodiment of the magnetized region which is moved along with the drum shaft can be created in that the drum shaft, which is present in any case, is at least partially made of a material having magnetic properties. In this case, all parameters relevant to the treatment of an imbalance of the laundry drum can be detected directly on the drum shaft, since both the forces and moments generated by the laundry in the area of the washing drum on the one hand and the forces and moments generated by the drive unit on the other hand act directly on the drum shaft.
• drum shafts which have no or only insufficient magnetic properties, for example, non-positively and / or positively connected to a moving component, for example in the form of an externally arranged sleeve.
• a moving component for example in the form of an externally arranged sleeve.
• the magnetized area moved along with the drum shaft can be created in an extremely simple manner by the co-moving component.
• the use of an additional magnetisable component makes it possible to manufacture the drum shaft from a material which can be chosen independently of its magnetic properties.
• the required magnetic field for realizing the invention can be lowered to a strictly necessary minimum cost.
• ferromagnetic materials with the highest possible magnetostriction constant - such as steel no. 1.4057 with the short name X17CrNi16-2 - are used to realize the magnetic region, the forces occurring in and on the drum shaft or the component connected to it can be achieved in a particularly advantageous manner and moments are transformed by the effect of the inverse magnetostriction into correspondingly large, easily detectable changes in the magnetic field formed by the material. This allows the use of less expensive magnetic field sensor units with lower sensitivity.
• a structurally particularly useful and compact arrangement results when the magnetic field sensor unit is designed within the bearing arrangement such that they form in the central region between two, the rotatable mounting of the drum shaft- the camps is arranged. This is also sensible in view of the maximum deflection of the drum shaft between the bearings, which arises, for example when the washing drum is stationary due to the gravity effect of the laundry on the one hand and the pulling action of the drive unit on the other hand, as well as rotating centrifugal force due to the centrifugal force of the circulating imbalance caused by the laundry ,
• the magnetic field sensor unit is connected to a control device of the washing machine, advantageously results in the possibility of evaluating the parameters determined by the sensor unit and specifically intervene in the course of the washing program ms, so that a situation-dependent minimization of the unbalance effect achieved or preventively preventively completely prevented can be.
• the dynamic parameter values occurring on the drum shaft are determined by the magnetic field sensor unit.
• These torque values include, first of all, various torques, such as the torque generated by the drive torque of the drive unit, the torque produced by non-uniform mass distribution in the laundry drum, and the torques resulting from friction in the bearing assembly and friction of the wash drum with the surrounding air or wash liquor, etc.
• one of these parameter values is a torsional moment, which is formed by the interaction of the drive torque at one end of the drum shaft with the torque produced by the inertia of the loaded laundry drum at the other end within the drum shaft.
• Another parameter value may be a bending moment of the drum shaft caused by the unbalanced centrifugal force, which rotates with the drum shaft when viewed from the outside.
• the arrangement of a further magnetic field sensor in the magnetic field sensor unit is particularly advantageous, which determines the instantaneous axial position of the drum shaft via the measurement of a permanently magnetized region connected to the drum shaft and thereby enables an exact determination of the angular velocity and / or the instantaneous angle of rotation of the washing drum.
• Another important parameter value for targeted unbalance treatment is the total weight of the laundry introduced into the washing drum. This can be inventively by direct determination of the statically adjacent to the drum shaft Determine bending force, since this is composed only of system design dependent, to be assumed constant values and the variable weight of the laundry. This parameter is proportional to the weight of the laundry and independent of the rotation angle position of the laundry drum. It is therefore particularly suitable for determining the weight of the laundry. It should be noted that the weight of the laundry during the washing process by different degrees of humidity changes over time.
• the load-relevant parameters or unbalance parameters on the drum shaft or the laundry drum are first determined via the magnetic field sensor unit and corresponding control and / or control parameters for the current washing process are derived as a function of these parameters.
• Advantageous embodiments of the device according to the invention are to be regarded as advantageous embodiments of the method according to the invention.
• the bending, torsional and / or torsional moments occurring on the drum shaft and the instantaneous angle of rotation or the instantaneous angular speed of the drum shaft are determined in the dynamic process state. This makes it possible to accurately determine the position of the imbalance-causing mass distribution within the laundry drum.
• the bending force currently acting on the drum shaft, via which the weight of the laundry to be introduced into the washing drum is preferably determined.
• the determined force, torque and / or angular speed values can be evaluated in a preferred manner by the control device of the machine. This evaluation allows the immediate derivation of control and regulation parameters and thus targeted intervention in the washing process to limit and / or preventive avoidance of imbalance.
• the instantaneous speed and / or the angular velocity of the laundry drum is varied, whereby on the one hand a Begren- tion of the unbalance, acting on the washing unit forces is achieved, and on the other hand it is also possible to eliminate the imbalance largely or completely with targeted distribution of unevenly distributed in the washing drum laundry.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view through a machine designed as a front loader washing machine for washing and / or drying laundry with a laundry drum driven by a drum shaft and with a magnetic field sensor unit arranged in the region of a bearing arrangement of the drum shaft for determining load-relevant parameters or an imbalance of the laundry drum or drum the drum shaft,
• Fig. 2 is a further schematic sectional view of the trained as Frontladerwaschmaschine machine for washing and / or drying laundry according to Figure 1, wherein the deflection of the drum shaft is schematically indicated, which by the common gravitational weight of the laundry drum and the laundry on the one hand and the generated by the belt tension of the drive belt generated belt tension on the other hand,
• Fig. 3 is a schematic front view of the laundry drum of the machine for washing and / or drying laundry according to FIGS. 1 and 2, wherein the schematic effect of gravity on a located on the outer circumference of the laundry drum, caused by the unequal distribution of the laundry mass indicated schematically is; and in
• Fig. 4 is a schematic front view of the laundry drum and a schematic sectional view through the machine for washing and / or drying laundry according to FIGS. 1 to 3, wherein the effect of acting on the outer periphery of the laundry drum, caused by an imbalance mass centrifugal force during a dynamic Washing process is indicated schematically. From a in the present embodiment designed as a front loader washing machine for washing and / or drying laundry is shown in Fig.
• FIG. 1 in a schematic sectional view arranged within a washing machine housing, not shown lye container 10 in which a laundry drum 12 is mounted on one side via a bearing assembly 13 ,
• the laundry drum 12 is connected via a drum shaft 14 with a pulley 16, which transmits the torque of a drive unit to the drum shaft 14 of the laundry drum 12 via a drive belt, not shown.
• the drum shaft 14 is held by two bearings 20 of the bearing assembly 13, which are in turn received within a bearing housing 18 at a distance from each other.
• the bearings 20 are formed as ball bearings.
• the bearing housing 18 is in turn firmly connected to the rear wall of the tub 10.
• a magnetic field sensor unit 22 is accommodated within the bearing housing 18, which comprises one or a plurality of magnetic field sensors.
• the magnetic field sensor unit 22 detects the magnetic field of a magnetized area 24 moved with the drum shaft 14, which in turn is arranged in the area of the magnetic field sensor unit 22.
• the drum shaft 14 itself is at least partially made of a material with corresponding magnetic or magnetostrictive properties.
• a drum shaft 14 may be used, for example, even has no or only insufficient magnetic properties and includes a co-moving component, for example in the form of an externally arranged sleeve, which force, for example - And / or positively connected to the drum shaft 14.
• the magnetized region 24 of the drum shaft 14 is preferably made of a ferromagnetic material with a high magnetostriction constant - for example steel No. 1.4057 - designed so that a low-cost magnetic field sensor unit 22 can be used with a relatively low sensitivity.
• the magnetic field sensor unit 22 Due to the magnetostrictive properties of the magnetized region 24 moved along with the drum shaft 14, the mechanical deformation of the drum melwelle 14 transformed into a change in the magnetic field formed by the magnetized area 24. This change in the magnetic field is detected contactlessly by the magnetic field sensor unit 22.
• FIG. 2 shows, in a further sectional view through the front loader washing machine according to FIG. 1, the deflection of the drum shaft 14 shown by the bending line 33.
• the deflection is on the one hand due to the bending moment M ⁇ of the jointly acting weight forces F ⁇ of the laundry drum 12 and F w of the Laundry over the lever arm I 1 according to the equation
• Fig. 3 shows a schematic front view of the washing drum 12 of the machine for washing and / or drying of laundry according to FIGS. 1 and 2. The following explains how torques can be determined, which from the pulley 16 via the drum shaft 14 on the Wash drum to be transferred:
• the driving torque which is introduced via the pulley 16 in the drum shaft, while the following torques are opposite: moments of inertia in accelerating or delaying the rotational movement of the laundry drum 12, frictional moments due to friction in the bearings 20 and between the laundry drum 12 and the surrounding air or Washing liquid, and with the drum rotation changing torques due to the acceleration of the laundry drum 12 located on the outer circumference of the laundry.
• Fig. 3 for this purpose is the unbalanced, acting on the outer circumference 34 of the rotating drum with a certain speed drum 12 weight F UG -.
• the application speed is to be understood as the speed at which a force acting on the laundry centrifugal force is equal to or greater than acting on the laundry gravity, so that the laundry is immobilized on the inner wall of the laundry drum.
• the unbalance-causing mass m u with the weight force F UG must be raised during a complete revolution of the laundry drum 12 in the upward movement against gravity.
• the position and size of the imbalance in the washing drum 12 can be determined exactly by the evaluation of the determined load-relevant parameters.
• By deriving appropriate control and / or regulation parameters a targeted intervention in the washing process to reduce or even completely eliminate the imbalance effect is possible.
• FIG. 4 in a schematic front view of the laundry drum 12 and a schematic sectional view through the machine according to FIGS. 1 to 3, a further loading case of the washing machine and the parameter values or load-relevant parameters obtainable thereby are shown.
• a bending moment M UF can be determined on the basis of a centrifugal force of the imbalance mass m u acting on the outer circumference 34 of the washing drum 12. If a mass imbalance forms an imbalance during a spin process with the drum shaft speed or angular velocity ⁇ above the application speed of the laundry, this generates a centrifugal force F UF acting on the outer circumference 34 (radius r t ) of the wash drum 12 - this centrifugal force F UF forms from the equation:
• This centrifugal force F UF generates a bending moment M UF via the lever arm 1 u , which in turn causes a bending stress in the drum shaft 14. Since the direction of this voltage relative to the magnetized drum shaft 14 is constant, but when viewed from the outside rotates at the drum shaft speed or angular velocity ⁇ , the magnetic field sensor unit 22 detects a circulating at the drum shaft speed or angular velocity ⁇ signal, which depends on the size of the mass distribution and axial position on the outer circumference 34 of the washing drum 12 depends.
• the bending moment M UF is the cause of the actual drum shaft load.
• control and / or control parameters of the machine can be derived as a function of the determined values in a subsequent method step.
• the derivation of the control and / or regulation parameters of the machine takes place by means of a control device of the machine which is present anyway and which is present in any case.
• control device which is connected to the drive of the machine, it is possible, for example, to change the rotational speed or the angular speed of the laundry drum as a function of the control and / or regulation parameters and thus to reduce or completely eliminate an imbalance due to an uneven distribution of the laundry ,

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Control Of Washing Machine And Dryer (AREA)
• Detergent Compositions (AREA)
• Testing Of Balance (AREA)

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Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (2)

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• 2006
  • 2006-04-13 PL PL06725742T patent/PL2010705T3/pl unknown
  • 2006-04-13 CN CN2006800542155A patent/CN101415876B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2006-04-13 US US12/226,171 patent/US8250690B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2006-04-13 AT AT06725742T patent/ATE548494T1/de active
  • 2006-04-13 EP EP06725742A patent/EP2010705B1/fr not_active Not-in-force
  • 2006-04-13 WO PCT/EP2006/061570 patent/WO2007118512A1/fr active Application Filing

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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