JP2002172081A - Dish washer dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a dish washer dryer which can quickly detect lowering of the elevation grade of a float and inform of abnormality of the float even the structure is simple. SOLUTION: This dish washer dryer is to retain water in the bottom part of the washing and drying chamber 2, suck the water by a pump 11, and jet out the water into the washing and drying chamber through a nozzle 5 to wash dishes housed in the inside of the washing and drying chamber 2. The dish washer dryer is equipped with a water level detecting chamber 13 communicated with the washing and drying chamber 2, a float 14a vertically moved corresponding to a water level in the water level detecting chamber 13, an elevation grade detector 33 to detect an elevation degree of the float 14a, and an abnormality alarm part 28 to inform of abnormality of the float 14a when the elevation grade obtained by the elevation grade detector 33 is lower than a prescribed grade.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a dishwasher and dryer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Water is supplied from a water supply valve into a washing / drying chamber containing tableware, and water stored at the bottom of the washing / drying chamber is sent to a washing nozzle by a pump, and the tableware is sent from the washing nozzle to the tableware. 2. Description of the Related Art There is known an apparatus provided with a configuration for washing and rinsing tableware by spraying water. In this type of dishwasher / dryer, the water stored in the bottom of the washing / drying chamber is detected by a float provided in a water level detection chamber communicating with the washing / drying chamber.

[0003] In the water level detection chamber communicating with the washing and drying chamber,
A mounting plate is provided so as to close the upper surface, and the mounting plate includes a guide portion that holds the float in a vertically movable manner. The float is provided with a shaft for moving up and down according to the water level in the water level detection chamber, and the float moves up and down to detect the water level in the washing and drying chamber.

[0004]

However, the conventional water level detection as described above has the following problems.

If a dirt component adheres to the float, the rise of the float is hindered. As a result, the degree of rise of the float decreases, and the normal water level cannot be accurately detected. In addition, the rise in the water level caused by the hindrance of the rise of the float is not known until the worst condition, the abnormal water level, is reached. Therefore, finally, the float for detecting the abnormal water level operates to notify the detection of the water supply abnormality.

Further, even if the user is notified of the water supply abnormality detection, the user does not know what the cause is. When the water supply abnormality detection is notified, the water in the washing / drying chamber is caused by the operation of the abnormal water level float due to the float abnormality detecting the normal water level, or the failure of the water supply valve for supplying water to the washing / drying chamber. Possible causes include those not being supplied. However, in any case, since only the water supply abnormality detection is reported, it is not known that the cause is a water level abnormality caused by a decrease in the degree of rise of the float because the rise of the float is prevented.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem. It is an object of the present invention to quickly detect a water level abnormality due to a decrease in the degree of rise of a float with a simple structure. An object of the present invention is to provide a dishwasher / dryer that reports an abnormality.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, water is stored in a bottom portion of a cleaning and drying chamber, and the water is sucked by a pump and jetted from a nozzle into the cleaning and drying chamber. By doing so, in a dishwasher for washing dishes stored in the washing and drying chamber, a water level detection chamber communicating with the washing and drying chamber, and a float that moves up and down according to the water level in the water level detection chamber. A rise degree detector for detecting the rise degree of the float, and an abnormality notification unit that reports that the float is abnormal when the rise degree obtained by the rise degree detector is lower than a predetermined degree. It is characterized by having.

According to the above configuration, the rising degree of the float that moves up and down according to the water level in the water level detection chamber is detected by the rising degree detector. Therefore, even if dirt components adhere to the surface of the float and the rise of the float is prevented,
An abnormality in the water level can be detected quickly with almost no rise in the water level. Also, if the rise degree of the float obtained by the rise degree detector is lower than a predetermined degree,
The abnormality notification unit reports that the float is abnormal. Therefore, it can be understood that the cause of the abnormality notification is a float abnormality due to a decrease in the degree of rise of the float, so that the maintenance work of the equipment can be performed more smoothly by specifying the cause.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, water is stored in the bottom of the cleaning and drying chamber, and the water is sucked by a pump and ejected from a nozzle into the cleaning and drying chamber. In a dishwasher for washing dishes contained in a drying chamber, a water level detection chamber communicating with the washing and drying chamber, a float that moves up and down according to the water level in the water level detection chamber, and a degree of rise of the float A rise degree detector for detecting the float, and an abnormality notification unit for reporting that the float is abnormal when it is determined that the rise degree obtained by the rise degree detector is lower than a predetermined degree a predetermined number of times. It is characterized by having.

According to the above configuration, the rising degree of the float that moves up and down according to the water level in the water level detection chamber is detected by the rising degree detector. Therefore, even if dirt components adhere to the surface of the float and the rise of the float is prevented,
An abnormality in the water level can be detected quickly with almost no rise in the water level. Further, when it is determined that the degree of rise of the float obtained by the rise degree detector is lower than the predetermined degree for a predetermined number of times, the abnormality notification unit notifies that the float is abnormal. Therefore, the abnormality notification unit reports that the float is abnormal until the rise degree of the float obtained by the rise degree detector is determined to be lower than the predetermined degree for a predetermined number of times. Erroneous recognition that the operation is caused by the lifting operation, that is, the catch of the float or the like can be prevented. Further, since it is known that the cause of the abnormality notification is a float abnormality due to a decrease in the degree of rise of the float, the maintenance work of the equipment can be smoothly performed by specifying the cause.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a first aspect is provided.
In the second aspect, the rising degree detector is a Hall element provided on a wall of the water level detection chamber, and detects a rising degree of a magnet fixed to a shaft of the float.

[0013] According to the above structure, since the rise degree detector for detecting the rise degree of the float is a Hall IC and is provided on the inner wall of the water level detection chamber provided with the float, it is fixed to the shaft of the float. It is possible to accurately detect the degree of rise of the magnet that has been performed.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a dishwasher according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic side sectional view of a dishwasher according to the present embodiment. This dishwasher has a thin structure with a small depth so that it can be installed, for example, in a narrow space beside a kitchen sink.

Inside the machine casing 1, a washing / drying chamber 2 which also uses a drying chamber is provided, and an upper door 3 whose upper end and lower end are supported at the front opening of the washing / drying chamber 2, respectively.
The lower door 4 is attached so as to open while rotating in the directions of arrows A and B in FIG. A rotatable nozzle 5 having a plurality of discharge ports 6 formed on the upper surface is provided at the bottom of the washing and drying chamber 2. In this dishwasher / dryer, since the width of the washing / drying chamber 2 is larger than the depth, 1
Water does not spread to both sides of the washing / drying chamber 2 using only the book nozzle. Therefore, another nozzle (not shown) is provided in a position not to interfere with the nozzle 5 during rotation. A water tank 7 is provided in communication with the bottom of the washing and drying chamber 2, and a circulation port 8 and a drain port 9 are provided beside the water tank 7. Further, the water tank 7 is provided with a filter 10 for collecting residual vegetables that have flowed down from tableware in a detachable manner.

A water supply port (not shown) is provided on the side of the washing / drying chamber 2. When a water supply valve (shown in FIG. 3) is opened, water supplied from an external tap is supplied. It is poured into the washing and drying chamber 2 through the mouth. Further, a water level detection chamber 13 is provided in communication with the washing and drying chamber 2, and the water level detection chamber 13 has a normal water level float 14a (shown in FIGS. 3 and 4) for detecting a normal water level and an abnormal state. A plurality of floats of an abnormal water level float 14b (shown in FIG. 3) for detecting a proper water level are provided. The water injected into the washing / drying chamber 2 also flows into the water level detecting chamber 13, where the float moves up and down to a normal water level for easy rinsing and an abnormal water level when an excessive amount of water is stored. Can be detected.

A cleaning and drainage pump 11 is disposed below the bottom of the cleaning and drying chamber 2. Cleaning and drainage pump 11
Has a cleaning impeller and a drain impeller coaxially inside thereof, a suction port 111 of a cleaning pump chamber provided with the cleaning impeller is connected to the circulation port 8, and a water discharge port 112 extends in the horizontal direction. It is in communication with a water passage in the nozzle 5 (and a water passage in another nozzle not shown) via a water passage 12 which is provided. The suction port of the drain pump chamber provided with the drain impeller is connected to the drain port 9, and the water discharge port communicates with the outside of the machine via a drain hose (not shown). When the pump motor of the washing / draining pump 11 is driven to rotate in the normal direction, the water sucked from the water storage tank 7 through the circulation port 8 is pumped to the nozzle 5 by the action of the washing impeller. On the other hand, at the time of drainage, the pump motor is driven to rotate in the reverse direction, and the water sucked from the water storage tank 7 through the drainage port 9 is discharged to the outside of the machine through the drainage hose by the action of the drainage impeller.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, the water stored in the cleaning / drying chamber 2 is heated at the bottom of the cleaning / drying chamber 2 (a position lower than the stored water level), and at the time of drying, the cleaning / drying is performed. A looped sheathed heater (shown in FIG. 3) for heating the air in the chamber 2 is provided. Further, a blower blower rotated by a blower motor is disposed at the bottom of the washing and drying chamber 2 beside the washing and drainage pump 11, and is formed on the bottom surface of the machine frame 1 when the blowing blower is rotated. The outside air sucked from the suction port is introduced into the cleaning / drying chamber 2.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an operation panel 20 provided below the lower door 4 of the dishwasher.
The operation panel 20 is provided with a power switch 21, a start key 22, a course selection key 23, and a hot water supply switching key 24, a course display section 25 indicating a selected course, and the remaining time during operation. A remaining time display section 26, a hot water supply sign display section 27 for indicating hot water supply or water supply selection, and a float abnormality display section 28 for indicating that the float is abnormal. In FIG. 2, the remaining time display section 26 is a segment display, but may be another display section such as a dot matrix.
Further, the start key 22 also serves as a pause key,
When the start key 22 is pressed during the driving operation, the operation is temporarily stopped at this time, and when the start key 22 is pressed again from this state, the operation is resumed from the point where the operation was interrupted earlier. ing.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the electrical system of the main part of the dishwasher of this embodiment. The control unit 30 includes a ROM 31, a RAM
The ROM 31 is configured to read in advance means for operating the device, condition setting for determination, rules for processing various information, data, and the like. And RAM3
Reference numeral 2 is for storing data relating to the device. A signal for operation is input from the operation panel 20 to the control unit 30, and the degree of rise of the normal water level float 14 a for detecting the water level in the washing and drying chamber 2 by the Hall IC (rise degree detector) 33 is also input. It is supposed to be. The EEPROM 34 calculates and stores the number of times of data obtained by the Hall IC (elevation degree detector) 33. Further, the control unit 30 controls the operations of the heater 36, the water supply valve 37, and the cleaning / draining motor 11 via the load driving unit 35.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view (normal water level float side) of the water level detection chamber 13 of this embodiment. The water level detection chamber 13 communicating with the washing / drying chamber 2 of the dishwasher has a two-tank structure so that the float can smoothly rise. The reason for this is to suppress rattling and inclination of the float. As a specific structure, mounting plates 40 and 41 are provided so as to close each upper surface of the water level detection chamber 13 divided into two tanks. The mounting plates 40, 41 are provided with guide portions 42, 43 for holding the normal water level float 14a movably up and down. By holding the guide portion up and down, the normal water level float 14a can be smoothly raised without being caught. An upper shaft 44 of the normal water level float 14 a is inserted into the upper guide portion 42, and a lower shaft 45 is inserted into the lower guide portion 43. Magnets 46a and 46b are fixed to the lower shaft 45 at regular intervals. On the inner wall of the water level detection chamber 13, a Hall IC (elevation degree detector) 33 is provided. The normal water level float 14a rises, and the upper and lower magnets 46a fixed to the lower shaft 45 of the normal water level float 14a. , 46b
The time required to pass through a Hall IC (elevation degree detector) 33 is measured to detect the degree of elevation of the normal water level float 14a.

Hereinafter, a method of determining the degree of rise of the normal water level float 14a in the dishwasher of the present invention will be described in detail. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation before the washing process is started, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a subroutine for determining an abnormal operation of the water level float.

The user stores the tableware in a tableware basket (not shown), opens the upper door 3 and the lower door 4 and installs the tableware in the washing and drying chamber 2. The power switch 21 is pressed (step S1), and a desired driving course is selected by operating the course selection key 23 (step S2). Thereafter, the start key 22 is pressed (step S3), and when an operation start is instructed, the washing process is executed. Specifically, the water supply valve is opened according to an instruction from the control unit 30 (step S4), and water supplied from an external tap is supplied from a water supply port provided on the side of the washing and drying chamber 2. A predetermined amount of water is poured into the bottom of the washing and drying chamber 2. Next, the water stored in the bottom of the washing / drying chamber 2 flows into the water level detection chamber 13 and performs an abnormal operation determination of the float that rises according to the water level in the water level detection chamber 13 (step S5).

That is, as shown in FIG.
The water flowing into the inside is stored and pushes up the normal water level float 14a as the water level rises. The lower shaft 45 of the normal water level float 14a has a normal water level float 14a.
The magnets 46a and 46b for detecting the degree of rise of the magnets are fixed one by one at regular intervals in the vertical direction. This magnet 46a,
When 46b passes through the side of the Hall IC (elevation degree detector) 33 previously provided on the inner wall of the water level detection chamber 13, two pulses are generated. The time (T) of the two generated pulses is measured (step S10). This means that the degree of rise of the normal water level float 14a is converted into data.

Then, the measured time (T) is compared with a fixed value (Z) (step S11). This constant value (Z) is a rise time previously determined by an experiment or the like in consideration of various environmental conditions at a stage where no dirt component or the like adheres to the surface of the normal water level float 14a. Therefore, when the value of T is larger than Z, the degree of increase due to the attachment of dirt components such as oils and fats to the normal water level float 14a may be reduced. That is, the measured rise degree is lower than the predetermined degree of the normal water level float 14a obtained in advance by an experiment or the like.

Next, if the measured degree of rise is lower than the predetermined degree, the data count (A) is calculated and stored by the EEPROM 34 (step S12).
The reason for not immediately reporting the abnormality of the normal water level float 14a based on the data compared in step S11 is that the normal water level float 14a suddenly operates, for example, the normal water level float 14a is not caught and does not rise, or the water level detection chamber 13 does not rise. Normal water level float 1 with some foreign matter attached inside
This is to prevent erroneous determination that 4a does not rise or the like.

The stored number of times (A) is compared with a predetermined number of times (Y) which is a fixed value (step S13). If the stored number of times (A) is larger than the predetermined number of times (Y), it is determined that the normal water level float 14a has not correctly determined the normal water level at this time, and the operation panel 20 Then, the float abnormality display unit 28 provided therein is notified (step S14), and the operation of the device is stopped. In addition, the notification of the float abnormality display unit 28 indicates that the EEPROM 3
4 clears the calculation of the number of times of data (A).

Returning to FIG. 5, the description will be continued. If the degree of rise of the normal water level float 14a is not lower than the predetermined degree (step S11 "N"), and if it is not determined that the normal level float 14a is lower than the predetermined degree a predetermined number of times. (Step S13
"N"), the abnormality notification is not performed, and it is determined whether or not the water level has reached the specified level (step S6). If the specified water level has been reached, the water supply valve is turned off (step S7).
Then, the process proceeds to the main cleaning step.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, it is possible to quickly detect an abnormality in the water level caused by hindering the rise of the float with a simple structure. Furthermore, since the float abnormality notification unit that reports the decrease in the degree of rise of the float is provided, it is possible to clearly distinguish the user from other abnormality notifications.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the configuration of a dishwasher according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an operation panel of the dishwasher according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an electrical configuration diagram of the dishwasher of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a water level detection chamber according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation before the washing process according to the embodiment is started.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a subroutine for determining an abnormal operation of a water level float.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Machine frame 2 Washing and drying room 13 Water level detection chamber 14a Normal water level float 28 Float abnormality display part 30 Control part 33 Hall IC (rise degree detector) 34 EEPROM 40 Mounting plate 41 Mounting plate 42 Upper guide part 43 Lower guide part 44 Upper shaft 45 Lower shaft 46a Magnet 46b Magnet

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A tableware stored in a washing / drying chamber by storing water in a bottom of the washing / drying chamber, sucking the water by a pump, and ejecting the water from a nozzle into the washing / drying chamber. A water level detection chamber communicating with the washing and drying chamber, a float that moves up and down according to the water level in the water level detection chamber, and a rise degree detector for detecting the rise degree of the float. A dishwasher / dryer, comprising: an abnormality notification unit that, when the degree of rise obtained by the rise degree detector is lower than a predetermined degree, reports that the float is abnormal. 2. The tableware stored in the washing and drying chamber by storing water at the bottom of the washing and drying chamber, sucking the water by a pump and jetting the water from the nozzle into the washing and drying chamber. A water level detection chamber communicating with the washing and drying chamber, a float that moves up and down according to the water level in the water level detection chamber, and a rise degree detector for detecting the rise degree of the float. And an abnormality notification unit for notifying that the float is abnormal when it is determined that the rise degree obtained by the rise degree detector is lower than a predetermined degree a predetermined number of times. Dishwasher and dryer. 3. The float degree detector according to claim 1, wherein the rise degree detector is a Hall element provided on a wall of a water level detection chamber, and detects a rise degree of a magnet fixed to a shaft of the float. Dishwasher and dryer.