JP2002263397A - Spin-drying method of washing/drying machine and unbalancing prevention device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a spin-drying method suitable for a small-sized washing/ drying machine providing a rotating drum rotating around a horizontal axis, and capable of preventing unbalancing occurred during spin-drying when a small amount of laundry is dried. SOLUTION: When the rotating drum 1 switches over to a drying process, a shaft 5 of the rotating drum is inclined by a few degrees for starting rotation. It is appropriate that the rotating drum 1 is inclined when a small amount of laundry is fed or imbalance is detected at the time of starting of rotation. By inclining and rotating the shaft 5, the laundry is placed in a lower side of the rotating drum so that it is placed uniformly in a circumferential direction in a comparatively small width area on an inner periphery face. Thereby, unbalancing occurred by laundry unevenly distributed in a circumferential direction is inhibited.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention comprises a rotating drum which rotates around a horizontal axis in a washing tub, and after washing the stored laundry by rotating the drum at low speed or swinging, rotating the rotary drum at high speed. The present invention relates to a dehydration method for a washing and dehydrating machine that performs dehydration while attaching laundry to an inner peripheral surface of a rotating drum by centrifugal force. In particular, uneven distribution of laundry causes imbalance in the rotating drum during spinning. The present invention relates to a dehydration method for preventing the occurrence of water.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Washing is performed by putting laundry into a rotating drum rotating about a horizontal axis in a washing tub, immersing the lower part in washing water put in the washing tub, and rotating or swinging the rotating drum. After washing (including rinsing) is completed,
The washing water is drained from the washing tub, and then the rotating drum is rotated at a high speed so that the laundry is adhered to the inner peripheral surface of the rotating drum by centrifugal force. 2. Description of the Related Art Washing and dewatering machines for centrifugally dewatering water contained in objects are widely used in commercial washing and dewatering machines.

In the above operation, when the rotation of the rotary drum is increased at the start of the dehydration step after the end of the washing step, the laundry is stuck on the inner peripheral surface of the rotary drum by centrifugal force. At this time, since the laundry does not always adhere uniformly to the inner peripheral surface of the rotating drum, imbalance occurs due to uneven distribution of the laundry on the rotating drum. The frame that supports the rotating drum is usually supported via an elastic support member such as an air spring or a coil spring, so that a slight imbalance can be absorbed. However, if the amount of imbalance is large, the vibration of the frame is increased to hinder safe operation, and the vibration and noise on the floor surface are increased, thereby causing environmental problems.

[0004] Therefore, at the stage when the rotation speed does not become very high when shifting to the dehydration step, a sensor for detecting the vibration of the rotating drum is provided, or the current value flowing to the drive motor of the rotating drum is associated with the angle of the rotating drum. Means for detecting the imbalance of the rotating drum, and when the imbalance is detected, moving a balance weight such as a steel ball disposed on the circumference of the rotating drum to the side having a smaller mass, or detecting the imbalance of the rotating drum. Means have been put to practical use, such as injecting water into the smaller-sized side of the vacant room arranged around the circumference, balancing the rotating drum, and then starting dehydration rotation.

[0005] However, when the above means is adopted,
Since the washing and dewatering machine becomes expensive, a relatively small-sized washing and dewatering machine is not provided with the above-described balance correcting device. Return, in some cases, refill water into the washing tub, once the laundry is detached from the inner peripheral surface of the rotating drum, retry the transition to the dehydration process, and even after a predetermined number of retries, the laundry When it was not possible to apply the film uniformly to the inner peripheral surface of the rotating drum, dewatering was performed by stopping the machine.

[0006]

The washing and dewatering machine is designed and manufactured by assuming a certain amount of laundry to be washed at one time. Laundry is put into a rotating drum, for example, in a washing net, but when the amount of laundry that almost matches the design specifications is put in, the rotation of the rotating drum is increased and the laundry is put into the rotating drum. When the laundry is stuck on the peripheral surface, the laundry is almost completely filled in the peripheral surface of the rotating drum, so that large imbalance is relatively unlikely to occur (see FIG. 2). However, when washing a smaller amount of laundry than the design specification, when the rotation speed of the rotating drum is increased and the laundry is stuck on the peripheral surface of the rotating drum, an empty space without laundry will remain, When the empty space becomes large, imbalance due to uneven distribution of the laundry easily occurs (see FIG. 3). This is an extreme case, considering that only one piece of laundry put in the washing net is put into the rotating drum, this laundry can be located only at one location of the rotating drum. It can be easily understood by considering that an imbalance always occurs when an object is attached to the inner peripheral surface of the rotating drum.

In general, in a commercial washing machine, a large amount of laundry is processed. Therefore, in order to increase the work efficiency, it is usual to wash laundry with an amount of laundry conforming to design specifications. In such a case, for the above-mentioned reason, the occurrence of imbalance during the spinning was relatively small.
However, a laundry trader collects laundry from a large number of customers and performs laundry.
You have to do the work of sorting the laundry for each customer. Since this sorting operation has to be performed manually, if the labor cost is high, the sorting operation is costly.
Therefore, in order to reduce this cost, a method of washing only one customer's laundry has been adopted, and in that case, a much smaller amount of laundry than the design specification is washed. And imbalance occurs due to the reason described above.

According to the present invention, the retry operation is repeated when the spinning of the spin-drying machine is started due to the imbalance that occurs when the washing is carried out with a smaller amount of laundry than the design specification in the spinning drum of the spin-drying machine. Prevents the work efficiency from dropping and prevents the washing and dehydrating machine from stopping due to the inability to resolve the imbalance, and can be used in relatively small commercial washing machines. It is an object to obtain an inexpensive technical means for performing the above.

[0009]

In the rotary dewatering machine according to the present invention, when the washing process is completed and the rotating drum shifts to the dehydrating process, the rotating drum is slightly inclined to perform the rotation start-up. The above-mentioned problem has been solved. The angle at which the rotating drum is inclined does not need to be so large, but is 1 to 10 degrees, preferably about 2 to 5 degrees, and optimally 3 degrees.
Degree. Usually, the rotating drum is supported by a shaft fixed to one of its end faces, and the other end face is a loading port for laundry. The inclination direction of the rotating drum is a direction in which the charging port faces upward. As described above, when the amount of laundry close to the design specification is loaded into the rotating drum, there is little possibility that imbalance will occur. It is appropriate to perform it when an imbalance is detected at the start of rotation.

When the rotating drum is rotated with the shaft inclined, the laundry gathers on the lower inner peripheral surface of the rotating drum. When the amount of laundry is small, the laundry is gathered on the lower side of the inner peripheral surface and relatively uniformly distributed in the circumferential direction at that portion. In other words, the smaller the amount of laundry, the more uniform the laundry is collected in the circumferential direction during the relatively narrow width of the inner peripheral surface of the rotating drum, and the smaller the amount of laundry is less than the design specification. Even when the laundry is inserted, the occurrence of imbalance due to the uneven distribution of the laundry in the circumferential direction is suppressed (see FIG. 1). The inclination angle of the rotating drum is such that the laundry does not stack. With such an inclination angle, the laundry is dispersed in a width corresponding to the amount of the loaded laundry, and a proper balance state is always obtained.

That is, in the method for dewatering a washing and dewatering machine according to the present invention, in a washing and dewatering machine having a rotating drum for storing laundry and rotating around a horizontal axis, the shaft of the rotating drum is inclined after the washing process is completed. To shift to the dehydration step.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, when washing a small amount of laundry compared to the capacity of the rotating drum, the axis of the rotating drum is tilted and the process proceeds to a dewatering step.

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that after the washing step is completed,
When the imbalance of the rotating drum is detected in the dehydration step, the axis of the rotating drum is tilted to shift to the dehydration step. The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that, after the washing step, the rotating drum is rotated at a speed at which the stored laundry is fixed on the inner peripheral surface of the rotating drum by centrifugal force,
If an imbalance is detected at this time, the rotation of the rotating drum is returned to low speed, the rotating shaft of the rotating drum is tilted, and then the process proceeds to a dehydration step.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. There are various types of washing and dehydrating machines provided with the rotating drum 1 that rotates around a horizontal axis, and FIG. 4 shows one example. The washing tub 2 is provided with a door 3 for putting laundry into a front face of the apparatus in a closed space. The washing tub 2 is supported by a frame 4, and a support shaft 5 of the rotary drum 1 is pivotally supported at a portion of the frame located on the back of the washing tub. The rotary drum 1 inside is supported. The support shaft 5 is fixed to the center of the rear end surface of the rotary drum 1. The front side of the rotary drum 1 is provided with an opening 6 for taking in and out laundry. The support shaft 5 is rotationally driven via a V-belt 8 by an inverter motor 7 mounted on the frame 4. The rotation of the inverter motor 7 is controlled by an operation panel (not shown).
It can be set for each process of balance detection, low-speed dehydration, and high-speed dehydration.

The frame 4 is installed on the floor via an air spring 9. If the washing and dehydrating machine has such a structure,
By bleeding air from the air spring 9 supporting the rear side of the frame 4 or injecting air into the air spring 9 on the near side, the support shaft 5 of the rotary drum can be inclined.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a washing and dewatering machine in which the entire apparatus can be tilted in order to automatically discharge dehydrated laundry from a rotating drum. In this type of washing and dewatering machine, the frame 4 supporting the washing tub and the spindle of the rotary drum is pivotally supported on the front side by a pin 10 perpendicular to the plane of the drawing, and on the back side by a vertical air or hydraulic cylinder. 11 supported. When automatically discharging the dehydrated laundry, the laundry is discharged by extending the cylinder 11 and tilting the entire apparatus downward.

In the washing and dewatering machine having such a structure, the rotary drum can be inclined by slightly retracting the cylinder 11.

The washing and dewatering machine shown in FIG. 6 has a structure in which a frame 4 supporting a washing tub and a rotating drum is suspended by a coil spring 12 and elastically supported. In the case of the washing and dehydrating machine having such a structure, the air cylinder 13 is provided near the coil spring that suspends the rear side of the frame, and the air cylinder is extended to forcibly extend the spring 12. ,
The rotating drum can be tilted.

As described above, it is necessary to incline the rotating drum at the time of shifting to the dehydrating step when the rotating drum is operated with a smaller amount of laundry than the designed specification. It is not necessary to tilt the rotating drum when the amount of laundry close to the design specification is loaded. Rather, by the inclination of the rotating drum, the laundry gathers on the lower side of the drum, the layer of the laundry stuck to the outer periphery of the rotating drum becomes thicker, and the centrifugal force acting on the laundry located inside decreases, Since the water contained in the laundry is dehydrated through the thick layer, the dehydration efficiency is reduced. Therefore, the operation panel of the washing dehydrator is provided with an operation button to be pressed when the amount of laundry is small, and when a small amount of laundry is put in, the operation button is pressed to start the operation. The rotating drum can be tilted only when the amount of material is small when moving to the dehydration step.
Also, after the washing process is completed and the washing water in the washing tub is drained, the rotating drum is swung several times to rotate, and at that time, the inertia at the time of switching the rotating direction acting on the rotating drum drive motor is determined by the motor current value. It is possible to measure the amount of the laundry by reading it, and to tilt the rotating drum when the amount is small.

The rotation speed of the rotating drum of the washing and dehydrating machine is often expressed by the gravitational acceleration acting on the circumference of the drum. If the gravitational acceleration exceeds 1 G, the laundry will stick to the inner peripheral surface of the rotating drum. Generally, the rotation speed of the rotating drum when performing a washing operation such as washing and rinsing is 0.6 to 0.8 G, the rotation speed at the time of low-speed spinning is about 150 G, and the speed at the time of high-speed spinning. 30 rpm
0 G or more. The detection of the balance of the rotating drum at the time of the dehydration step described above is performed by rotating the rotating drum at a speed of about 1.7 G (called a balance rotation) and detecting imbalance in that state. I have.

The rotation of the rotating drum for preventing imbalance may be performed only when the imbalance is detected during the rotation of the balance. That is, after the washing process is completed, the balance rotation is performed without tilting the rotating drum to detect an imbalance, and when the detected imbalance exceeds a threshold value, the rotation is returned to a low speed rotation of 1 G or less to rotate. In this method, the drum is tilted, the balance is rotated again, the balance is confirmed, and the operation is shifted to the spin-drying rotation. If the method of the present invention is carried out in such a form, it becomes possible to timely tilt the rotary drum without performing a special detection operation such as detection of the amount of laundry or an input operation by an operator.

According to the present invention, in a relatively small-sized industrial washing and dewatering machine, uneven distribution of laundry can be achieved simply by adding a simple device for forcibly tilting the elastically supported frame at a slight angle. Therefore, there is an effect that imbalance at the time of spin-drying can be effectively prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing distribution of laundry when a rotating drum is inclined.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a distribution of laundry when a quantity of laundry close to a design specification is input;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a distribution of laundry in a drum circumferential direction when a small amount of laundry is thrown and the drum is not inclined.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a first example of a tilting means of a rotary drum.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the second example.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a third example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 rotating drum 5 spindle

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A washing and dewatering machine having a rotating drum for storing laundry and rotating around a horizontal axis, wherein after the washing process is completed, the shaft of the rotating drum is inclined to shift to a dehydrating process. , The dehydration method of the washer dehydrator. 2. A washing and dewatering machine having a rotating drum for storing laundry and rotating about a horizontal axis, when washing a small amount of laundry compared to the capacity of the rotating drum, after washing is completed. A method for dehydrating a washing and dehydrating machine, characterized in that the axis of the rotating drum is inclined to shift to a dehydrating step. 3. A washing and dewatering machine having a rotating drum for storing laundry and rotating about a horizontal axis, when an unbalance of the rotating drum is detected when the washing process is completed and the process proceeds to the spinning process. A method for dehydrating a washing and dehydrating machine, characterized in that the axis of the rotating drum is inclined to shift to a dehydrating step. 4. A washing and dewatering machine having a rotating drum for storing laundry and rotating about a horizontal axis, after the washing process is completed, the stored laundry is fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the rotating drum by centrifugal force. The rotation of the rotating drum is performed at a constant speed, and if an imbalance is detected at this time, the rotation of the rotating drum is returned to low speed, the rotating shaft of the rotating drum is inclined, and then the process proceeds to a dehydration step. The dehydration method of the washer dehydrator.