JP2001078947A - Dishwasher - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow self-washing of a dishwasher to be achieved economically and precisely. SOLUTION: During a normal washing operation, a hot water storage tank 11 is replenished with water each time rinsing water is used, and is held in a standby state with the water heated by a heater 17. When an operation ending switch is operated at the end of the day or the like, the rinsing water remaining in the hot water storage tank 11 is ejected from a rinsing nozzle 4 as self- washing water and then a washing pump 7 is driven to cause the self-washing water collecting in the washing tank 6 to be ejected from the washing nozzle 3. Finally, the self-washing water returning to the washing tank 6 is discharged. The wall surface of a washing chamber 2, a rinsing water channel 19 and a washing water channel 8 are thereby washed. Power is automatically turned off at the completion of self-washing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dishwasher having a self-cleaning function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The following is known as an example of a household dishwasher. This is because when the dishes to be washed are stored in the washing room, the washing water stored in the washing tank is sprayed toward the dishes by the washing nozzle to perform washing, and after the washing water is drained, the hot water storage tank is used. The rinse water (warm water) stored in the nozzle is sprayed from the rinse nozzle to perform the rinse. At this time, new hot water is supplied to the hot water storage tank, and the hot water storage tank is heated to a predetermined temperature by a heater or the like, and waits for the next cleaning.

[0003] In a conventional dishwasher, for example, when the power is turned off after the end of use on that day, the temperature control of the hot water storage tank is also stopped, so that the stored rinse water is not used until the next use. It cools down and not only wastes the energy required to raise the temperature up to that point, but also uses it that has been left in the rinse tank for a long time before using it again. Is also not hygienic. If hygiene is a priority, draining all rinsing water when the power is turned off is one method, but it still wastes hot water.

[0004]

On the other hand, in this type of dishwasher, the washing water circulates in the washing tank and is jetted out. In other words, the dirt removed from the dish is also jetted out. Therefore, there is a possibility that dirt may adhere to a wall surface of the cleaning chamber, a flow pipe of the cleaning water, and the like. In particular, since the rinse water does not flow in the circulation pipe of the washing water later, dirt is left as it is, and it hardens to fall off when it is solidified. There was a situation that was desirable. The present invention has been completed based on the circumstances described above, and the purpose is to
The purpose is to perform self-cleaning of the dishwasher economically and accurately.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, washing water in a washing tank is jetted from a washing nozzle to tableware or the like accommodated in a washing room. After washing, the rinse water stored in the hot water storage tank is spouted from the rinse nozzle and rinsed.
In addition, in the dishwasher configured to replenish the hot water storage tank with rinsing water, a rinse pump is supplied in response to an operation end operation to eject the rinse water remaining in the hot water storage tank from the rinse nozzle as self-cleaning water. The feature is that a drive control means for driving is provided. Claim 2
In the invention according to claim 1, the drive control means can control the drive of the cleaning pump to spout self-cleaning water accumulated in the cleaning tank from the cleaning nozzle following the stop of the rinse pump. It has features in the place. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the drive control means can control the drive of a drain pump to drain self-cleaning water in the cleaning tank following the stop of the cleaning pump. It has a characteristic where it is.

[0006]

<Operation and effect of the invention><Invention of claim 1> When the operation of terminating the operation is performed, the rinsing pump is driven, and the rinsing water remaining in the hot water storage tank becomes self-cleaning water and is ejected from the rinsing nozzle. Is done. Thereby, the washing chamber and the circulation circuit of the rinse water are washed. Using the rinse water remaining in the hot water storage tank, self-cleaning can be performed quickly without waste. <Invention of claim 2> When the drive of the rinse pump is stopped,
Next, the cleaning pump is driven, and the self-cleaning water accumulated in the cleaning tank is jetted from the cleaning nozzle. As a result, the cleaning chamber is cleaned again, and the circulation circuit of the cleaning water is also cleaned. <Invention of Claim 3> When the driving of the cleaning pump is stopped, the drainage pump is driven to drain the self-cleaning water stored in the cleaning tank. The water used for self-cleaning is also drained last, so that the cleaning tank is kept clean.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a household dishwasher will be described below with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of a washing machine, and a washing room 2 is formed in an upper part of the inside of the washing machine. In this washing room 2, dishes (not shown) are stored in a rack and put in and out. I have. A pair of upper and lower cleaning nozzles 3 and a rinsing nozzle 4 are rotatably supported in the cleaning chamber 2. A washing tank 6 for storing washing water is provided at a lower position on the front side of the washing chamber 2.
A is connected to the suction side of the cleaning pump 7 and
The discharge side of the cleaning pump 7 is connected to the upper and lower cleaning nozzles 3 by a cleaning water passage 8. Further, a drainage pump 9 is connected to a drainage port 6B of the cleaning tank 6, and a drainage pipe 10 is connected to a discharge side thereof.

On the back side of the washing room 2, a hot water storage tank 11 for storing rinsing water is provided. This hot water storage tank 1
1, when the lower float switch 12A detects that the water level has dropped to the lower limit water level, the tap water supply pipe 13
The tap water supply valve 14 is opened to supply tap water, and the water level rises to the upper limit water level.
When detected at B, the water supply valve 14 is closed, so that a predetermined amount of water can be stored, and the heater 17 is turned on and off based on the hot water temperature detected by the thermistor 16 to generate hot water at a predetermined temperature. It is being stored. Rinse pump 1 is installed in supply port 11A of hot water storage tank 11.
8 is connected to the suction side, and the discharge side of the rinsing pump 18 is connected to the upper and lower rinse nozzles 4 via the rinse water channel 19. A drain valve 20 is provided at a drain port 11B of the hot water storage tank 11. As for the timing of replenishment of tap water, it may be considered that the water level of the hot water storage tank 11 has reached the lower limit from the operation time of the rinsing pump 18, and replenishment may be performed based on that.

[0009] As shown in FIG.
Power supply operation switch 23, start switch 24, washing course switch 25, power supply lamp 27, process lamp 2
8. A cleaning course lamp 29 is provided. When the power supply operation switch 23 is turned on, a predetermined amount of tap water is supplied into the hot water storage tank 11 in advance, heated by the heater 17, and stored as hot water of a predetermined temperature. When the washing operation is performed, the tableware to be washed is put in the washing room 2 and the start switch 24 is turned on. First, the rinsing pump 18 is driven, and the hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 11 is flushed with the rinsing water channel 19. And is sprayed from the upper and lower rinsing nozzles 4 toward the tableware. As a result, the dishes are prewashed. The warm water provided for pre-washing flows into the washing tank 6, where the detergent is mixed and stored as washing water. When the float switch (not shown) detects that the washing tank 6 has reached the predetermined water level, the rinsing pump 18 stops, and the ejection of hot water also stops.

Next, the cleaning pump 7 is driven. Then, the washing water in the washing tank 6 is sent under pressure to the upper and lower washing nozzles 3 through the washing water passage 8 and is sprayed from the washing nozzle 3 toward the dishes in a circulating manner, whereby the dishes are washed. After the elapse of the preset cleaning time, the cleaning pump 7 stops and the cleaning process ends. Then, the drain pump 9 is driven for a predetermined time instead, and the used washing water in the washing tank 6 is drained by the drain pipe 10. Subsequently, the rinsing pump 18 is driven, the hot water in the hot water storage tank 11 is pressure-fed as rinsing water, injected from the rinsing nozzle 4 toward the tableware, and the rinsing step is performed for a predetermined time. When the rinsing process is completed, the tableware may be taken out of the machine after an appropriate draining time has elapsed, and the warm water provided for rinsing is sequentially stored in the washing tank 6 and drained to the outside by driving the drain pump 9. It has become so.

In this embodiment, a self-cleaning function is provided when the operation of the dishwasher is terminated at the end of a day or the like. This will be described below. For this reason, the operation panel 22 has an end switch 31 and an end lamp 32 attached thereto. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a control unit 35 equipped with a microcomputer and the like is provided. The control unit 35 stores timer means 36 having first to third timers, and the input side includes the end switch 31 and the power supply operation switch 2.
3 includes, on the output side, a rinsing pump 18, a washing pump 7,
The drain pump 9 and the main switch 38 of the signal system are connected, and a self-cleaning routine described later is executed. The main switch 38 is turned on when the power operation switch 23 is turned on, and turned off in response to a signal from the control unit 35.

The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. When the operation is to be terminated, hot water heated to a predetermined temperature is stored in the hot water storage tank 11. When the end switch 31 is turned on, a self-cleaning routine is executed. First, in step S1, it is determined whether or not there is residual water in the washing tank 6. If there is residual water (step S1 is "YES"), the residual water is drained by the drain pump 9 in steps S2 to S4. If there is no water ("NO" in step S1), subsequently, in steps S5 to S9, the rinsing pump 18 is driven for a predetermined time set in the first timer. As a result, the hot water in the hot water storage tank 11 is pressure-fed to the rinsing nozzle 4 through the rinsing water passage 19 as self-cleaning water, and is sprinkled into the cleaning chamber 2. As a result, the rinse water channel 19 and the wall surface of the cleaning chamber 2 are cleaned with the clean self-cleaning water. The self-cleaning water used for use is stored in the cleaning tank 6. On the other hand, hot water storage tank 11
No fresh water is replenished.

When the rinsing pump 18 stops, in steps S10 to S14, the cleaning pump 7 is driven for a predetermined time set in the second timer. As a result, the self-cleaning water stored in the cleaning tank 6 is fed to the cleaning nozzle 3 through the cleaning water channel 8 and sprinkled into the cleaning chamber 2. Here, no detergent is mixed. This allows
The cleaning channel 8 and the wall surface of the cleaning chamber 2 are cleaned with self-cleaning water. The self-cleaning water provided for use is returned to the cleaning tank 6. When the cleaning pump 7 stops, step S15
In step S19, the drain pump 9 is driven for a predetermined time set in the third timer, and the self-cleaning water is drained. When the drain pump 9 stops, step S20
, The main switch 38 is turned off, that is, the power is automatically turned off, and the operation ends. At the same time, the power lamp 27 and the like are turned off.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the use of the dishwasher is finished, the washing chamber 2 and the rinsing water channels 19 and the cleaning water channels 8 are washed with the hot water stored in the hot water storage tank 11. Therefore, self-cleaning can be carried out at an early stage by using the warm water heated in the hot water storage tank 11 without waste, which is excellent in terms of hygiene. Further, since the water left in the hot water storage tank 11 for a long time is not used as rinsing water, it becomes more sanitary. When the immersion type heater 17 is used for the hot water storage tank 11, it is possible to prevent the heater 17 from being submerged when the dishwasher is not used, so that the service life of the heater 17 can be extended. For example, if the end lamp 32 is made to blink during the self-cleaning, it is convenient for notifying the user that the self-cleaning is being performed instead of the normal operation.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above with reference to the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. (1) In the self-cleaning process, the off control of the rinsing pump and the drain pump may be performed by a detection signal of a water level sensor provided in the hot water storage tank and the cleaning tank. (2) In the above embodiment, the end switch is provided as a trigger when the self-cleaning process is performed. However, the self-cleaning may be performed in conjunction with turning off the power operation switch. .

(3) The washing cycle exemplified in the above embodiment is an example, and the present invention can be similarly applied to a dishwasher employing another washing cycle. (4) The present invention is not limited to a household dishwasher, a commercial dishwasher, a dishwasher for mainly cleaning containers, and the like.
In short, it can be widely applied to all types of dishwashers in which hot water is always stored in a hot water storage tank during operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing the internal structure of a dishwasher according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of an operation panel.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control unit for self-cleaning.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the first half of a self-cleaning routine.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the subsequent half part.

[Explanation of symbols]

2. Cleaning room 3. Cleaning nozzle 4. Rinse nozzle 6.
Cleaning tank 7 ... Washing pump 8 ... Washing channel 9 ... Drain pump 11 ... Hot water storage tank 13 ... Supply pipe 17 ... Heater 18 ... Rinsing pump 19 ... Rinsing water channel 31 ... End switch 35 ... Drive unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A washing nozzle for washing tableware and the like accommodated in a washing room by washing water in a washing tank from a washing nozzle, and then ejecting rinse water stored in a hot water storage tank from the rinse nozzle. In the dishwasher in which rinsing is performed and rinsing water is supplied to the hot water storage tank, the rinsing water remaining in the hot water storage tank is spouted from the rinsing nozzle as self-cleaning water in response to an operation termination operation. A dishwasher comprising a drive control means for driving a rinsing pump. 2. The cleaning control device according to claim 1, wherein the drive control means is capable of controlling the drive of the cleaning pump so as to spout self-cleaning water accumulated in the cleaning tank from the cleaning nozzle following the stop of the rinse pump. The dishwasher according to claim 1. 3. The drive control means is capable of driving and controlling a drain pump for draining self-cleaning water in the cleaning tank after the stop of the cleaning pump. Dishwasher.