JP2003164197A - Control device for washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a control device for a washing machine with which the vector control of the motor can be performed at a lower cost without increasing the size of a circuit board. <P>SOLUTION: When the vector control is carried out to drive a motor 17 of the washing machine via an inverter circuit 12, a calculation process to perform the vector control and a control process concerning an input operation or the like for the washing machine 41 are carried out by a single microcomputer 54 which has a processing power of 50MIPS. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a washing machine provided with a motor for generating a rotational driving force for washing, rinsing and dehydrating operations, and to a control device for vector-controlling the driving torque of the motor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a fully automatic washing machine,
Stirrer blade (pulsator) for rinsing operation and dehydration operation
Alternatively, a method in which a brushless DC motor is used as a motor for rotating the rotary tank and the brushless DC motor is driven by an inverter circuit is widely adopted. When the torque is controlled according to the driving conditions of the motor, the voltage applied to the motor is increased or decreased. However, the rotational speed of the motor is proportional to the generated torque, but the generated torque controlled by the applied voltage is not proportional to the voltage.Therefore, a difference easily occurs between the target speed command and the detected speed of the motor, and control tends to become unstable. There is a problem that is.

Therefore, the inventors of the present invention have devised a vector control of the motor of the washing machine. That is, since the torque generated by the brushless DC motor is proportional to the q (quadrature) axis current obtained by the vector control, the torque control of the motor, and thus the rotation speed control, can be performed with high accuracy.

By the way, conventionally, a CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) is used for controlling a motor associated with an input operation of a washing machine and for controlling each process such as washing, rinsing, and dehydrating.
A microcomputer having an architecture CPU core is used. However, if it is assumed that the motor of the washing machine is vector-controlled, the calculation processing load becomes heavy, so that the processing is difficult with the conventionally used microcomputer. That is, in the CPU of the CISC architecture, the speed of executing arithmetic processing such as multiplication instructions becomes extremely slow.

Therefore, the inventors of the present invention realize a configuration in which the motor of a washing machine is vector-controlled, and therefore, DSP (Digital S) that can execute operations such as multiplication at high speed.
It was devised to use the ignal Proccesor). FIG. 16 shows an example of the electrical configuration.

A DC power supply circuit 3 as a motor power supply is connected to a 100V commercial AC power supply 1 via a power switch 2. A noise removing capacitor 4 is connected in parallel with the series circuit of the AC power supply 1 and the power supply switch 2. Furthermore, in parallel with this capacitor 4, a capacitor 5
And 6 are connected in series, and a space between the capacitors 5 and 6 is connected to an outer box (not shown), which is an electric equipment housing, for grounding. The outer box is provided with a ground wire 7 which is grounded by the user.

The DC power supply circuit 3 is composed of a voltage doubler rectifier circuit including a diode bridge rectifier circuit 8 and smoothing capacitors 9 and 10. That is, the rectifier circuit 8
Input terminal 8a is connected to the power supply terminal 1a of the AC power supply 1, and the input terminal 8b of the rectifier circuit 8 is connected to the power switch 2
Is connected to the power supply terminal 1b of the AC power supply 1 via.
The smoothing capacitors 9 and 10 are connected in series between the output terminals 8c and 8d of the rectifier circuit 8, and the common connection point of the smoothing capacitors 9 and 10 and the input terminal 8a of the rectifier circuit 8 are connected.

The DC power supply circuit 3 has 0V at the midpoint 3c, + 141V at the positive output terminal 3a, and -at the negative output terminal 3b.
The voltage is 141V, and a DC voltage of 282V is generated between the positive side output terminal 3a and the negative side output terminal 3b. The negative output terminal 3b of the DC power supply circuit 3 is connected to the ground (chassis) on the circuit. In addition, the ground earth is shown as GND1 (0V) in FIG. 1, and the ground on the circuit is GND.
It is shown by D2 (-141V).

The DC power supply circuit 3 is connected to a constant voltage circuit 11 which is a control power supply circuit which outputs a constant voltage of 17V and a constant voltage of 5V, and an inverter circuit 12 which is a motor drive circuit. There is. The constant voltage circuit 1
1 supplies 5V power to the main microcomputer 13 and the like, which will be described later,
A 17V power supply is applied to the IGBT drive circuit 14. The inverter circuit 12 is a three-phase bridge connection of IGBTs 15a to 15f formed of IGBTs,
Each of the IGBTs 15a to 15f is configured by connecting free wheel diodes 16a to 16f in parallel in the illustrated polarity.

The output terminal of each phase bridge is the motor 17
Is connected to each phase winding 17u, 17v, 17w of the stator. That is, the motor 17 is driven by the inverter circuit 12. That IG
The BTs 15a to 15f are connected to the IGB by the main microcomputer 13.
On / off control is performed via the T drive circuit 14. The main microcomputer 13 comprises a CPU core of the CISC architecture, ROM, RAM and the like.

The IGBT drive circuit 14 comprises charge pump type voltage converter circuits 18a, 18b and 18c and charge pump capacitors 19a, 19b and 19c. The charge pump type voltage converter circuits 18a, 18b, 18c supply the gate voltages to the gate terminals of the high side IGBTs 15a, 15c, 15e of the respective arms with the capacitors 19a, 19b, respectively.
It is designed to be generated by charging it to 19c.

Further, the power supply terminals 1a, 1 of the AC power supply 1
Between b, from the power supply terminal 1a side to the 1b side, the water supply valve 20,
The photo triacs 21 are sequentially connected. A series circuit of a drain valve 22 and a phototriac 23 is connected in parallel with the series circuit of the water supply valve 20 and the phototriac 21. Further, snubber circuits 24 and 25 for removing noise are connected in parallel to the phototriacs 21 and 23, respectively.

The gate terminal of the phototriac 21 is connected to the ground via the NPN transistor 26, and the gate terminal of the phototriac 21 is connected to the ground via the NPN transistor 27. The transistors 26 and 27 are controlled by the main microcomputer 13. The main microcomputer 13 has a switch input circuit 28 including various switches.
And a water level detection signal from a water level sensor 29 for detecting the water level in the rotary tank. Further, the main microcomputer 13 includes a water supply valve 20,
The drain valve 22 and the display circuit 30 are controlled.
The display circuit 30 includes a display device such as a 7-segment LED.

Between the emitters of the IGBTs 15d to 15f on the lower arm side of the inverter circuit 12 and the ground, current sensors 31u and 31 for detecting currents of respective phases are provided.
v and 31w are arranged. Then, the current detection signals of these current sensors 31u to 31w are given to an input port of an A / D converter (not shown) incorporated in the DSP 33 via the amplification bias circuit 32.

The DSP 33 is a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver) that is executed with the main microcomputer 13.
Transmitter) Performs arithmetic processing relating to vector control based on arithmetic parameters given by communication and current detection signals of the current sensors 31u to 31w.
Then, the drive signal generated as the result of the arithmetic processing is output to the IGBT drive circuit 14 to control the drive of the motor 17.

By adopting such a configuration, the main microcomputer 13 has the switch input circuit 28 and the display circuit 30.
The operation panel control such as the above, the sensor signal reading from the water level sensor 29, and the drive control of the water supply valve 20 and the drain valve 22 are performed. In addition, the main microcomputer 13 uses the UART communication for DSP.
A control command (instruction of the number of revolutions of the motor 17, normal rotation, and reversal time) is transmitted to the motor 33, and the control result (rotation state) of the motor 17 is received from the DSP 33.

[0017]

However, when such a configuration is adopted, it is expected that the following problems will occur. First, since two LSIs, the main microcomputer 13 and the DSP 33, are used, the cost of parts is increased and the size of the circuit board is increased. In this case, not only one extra DSP chip is required, but also a capacitor for operating power supply, a reset circuit, an oscillator, etc. are required as peripheral circuits, which increases the substrate size including them.

Second, the main microcomputer 13 and the DSP 33
In order to perform serial communication (UART communication) with and, it is necessary to send and receive packets created by adding a start code, checksum, end code, etc. in addition to the actual data, and the control program has logic for that purpose. It needs to be built in and an extra creation process is required. Further, since the program capacity increases as much as the communication processing is performed, it may be assumed that the code size for other processing is pressed or the capacity of the program ROM must be increased.

Further, by executing the communication processing, the control cycle of the main microcomputer 13 is restricted, and it becomes difficult for the main microcomputer 13 to give a control command to the DSP 33 in real time. Therefore, the main microcomputer 13 must collectively send a command for executing a certain operation pattern to the DSP 33, and it may be impossible to execute a responsive and flexible process.

In addition, for serial communication, for example, GN
Three communication connection lines for D, transmission, and reception are required (only two are shown in FIG. 16), but even if any one of these is disconnected, the drive control of the motor 17 becomes impossible. Will end up. Further, even if the disconnection does not occur, there is always a possibility that external noise is applied to these communication lines, and if the garbled data due to the application of noise cannot be eliminated, malfunction may occur.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a washing machine capable of performing vector control of a motor at a lower cost and without increasing the size of a circuit board. It is to provide a control device.

[0022]

In order to achieve the above object, a washing machine controller according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a motor for generating a rotational driving force for performing washing, rinsing and dehydrating operations, and an inverter circuit. About the washing machine driven through
A vector for controlling the drive torque of the motor, and an arithmetic process for performing the vector control;
It is characterized in that the control processing relating to the input operation of the washing machine is performed by a single microcomputer.

Therefore, the basic control of the washing machine is performed by the microcomputer, and the calculation related to the vector control is performed by the DS.
Unlike the configuration performed with P, it is not necessary to increase the cost of parts or increase the area of the circuit board. Further, by adopting the above configuration, the microcomputer does not need to perform communication processing with the DSP, and the control program size can be reduced. Further, since there is no possibility that data will be garbled due to the application of noise and an uncontrollable state will occur due to disconnection of the communication line, the motor can be controlled more stably.

In this case, it is preferable that the microcomputer has a processing capability of 10 MIPS or more. That is, the vector control requires complicated arithmetic processing, and a certain amount of processing capacity is required to execute the arithmetic processing including a single microcomputer. Further, the washing machine is often placed in a room and used in an environment where there is almost no obstruction of noise generated by driving the motor. Therefore,
In order to prevent the generation of annoying noise as much as possible, the carrier frequency of the PWM signal output to the inverter circuit is set to about 15 kHz that belongs to the high frequency band of the audible frequency band (for example, about 3 kHz for an air conditioner or a refrigerator).

The control of the microcomputer is
Since it is executed in synchronization with the carrier frequency of the PWM signal,
When the carrier frequency is high, the processing capacity corresponding to it is required. Therefore, the microcomputer is 10 MIPS
With the above processing capability, vector control can be sufficiently executed even in a washing machine in which the carrier frequency is set high.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided current detection means for detecting a current flowing through the motor, and the microcomputer performs vector control of the motor based on the current detected by the current detection means. so,
It is advisable to control the generated torque of the motor to be optimum in each process of washing, rinsing and dehydration. According to this structure, by controlling the drive of the motor with high responsiveness, it is possible to suppress the generation of vibration and noise accompanying the rotation of the motor in any of the steps of washing, rinsing, and dehydration.

In this case, as described in claim 4, the current detecting means detects the current flowing in the motor by the sensorless method, and the microcomputer estimates the rotation speed of the motor by calculation based on the current. The number of rotations of the motor is controlled. According to this structure, the rotation speed of the motor can be estimated and controlled based on the current of the motor detected by the sensorless method, so that the cost of parts can be further reduced.

Further, as described in claim 5, the microcomputer is provided with a plurality of A / D converters for reading the current value of the motor detected by the current detection means, and each of the plurality of A / D converters is provided. It is preferable that the plurality of input channels included in the A / D converter are configured to be selectively switched, and that each phase current of the motor is applied in parallel to the input channel of each A / D converter.

That is, in order to carry out vector control, the microcomputer must read motor current values of at least two phases. Therefore, with such a configuration, the microcomputer can read the required phase currents substantially simultaneously from the phase currents input in parallel to the plurality of A / D converters. Therefore, the current value can be read at high speed to shorten the processing time. Further, even if the conversion speed of the A / D converter is not high, it is possible to read the current values of a plurality of phases with a margin.

In the above case, as described in claim 6, the rotation speed of the motor is set to P when the agitating blade in the washing and rinsing stroke of the microcomputer is rotated normally.
It is preferable to configure the I (proportional integral) control. That is, although the rotational speed of the motor is PI-controlled even in the conventional configuration, the PI control is forced to be stopped in a region where the rotational speed of the motor is high due to the limitation of the control response time. On the other hand, according to the configuration of claim 6,
By controlling the torque of the motor by vector control, the control response becomes extremely good, so that PI control can be performed even in a region where the rotation speed of the motor is high. Therefore, the rotation speed control of the motor can be performed with high accuracy over a wider rotation speed range.

Further, as described in claim 7, the microcomputer controls the torque of the motor so as to suppress the vibration that tends to occur due to the rotation of the dehydration tank in the initial stage of the dehydration process. Good to configure. That is, when the rotation of the spin-drying tub is started at the beginning of the spin-drying process and then the number of rotations gradually rises, first, the resonance occurs with the natural frequency of the mechanism that suspends and supports the spin-drying tub inside the casing of the washing machine. Then a large vibration is about to occur. Therefore, if the torque of the motor is vector-controlled at that stage, it is possible to effectively suppress the occurrence of a large vibration due to the resonance.

In addition, as described in claim 8, it is preferable that the microcomputer is configured to perform a voice signal process related to an input operation of the washing machine while the control of the motor is stopped. That is, the microcomputer used in the present invention is premised to have a higher processing capacity than a conventionally used computer, but it is possible to improve the processing capacity while the motor control is stopped. It is ready for other processing.

Therefore, if the voice signal processing that requires a high degree of arithmetic processing is performed during that period, the user inputs the laundry operation by voice through the microphone, and the microcomputer recognizes the voice. When processing is started and execution of processing requested by the user is started (for example, washing is started), or when a series of washing-related steps are completed, an audible notification such as “washing is completed” is given. It becomes possible to do. Therefore, convenience can be further improved.

[0034]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vertical type fully automatic washing machine will be described below with reference to FIGS.
Will be described with reference to. The same parts as those in FIG. 16 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted. Only different parts will be described below.

First, FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing the overall construction of the fully automatic washing machine 41. That is, in the outer box 42 having a rectangular shape as a whole, the water receiving tank 43 is elastically supported via four sets (only one set is shown) of the vibration isolation mechanisms 44. In this case, the vibration isolation mechanism 44 includes a suspension rod 44a whose upper end is locked upward in the outer box 42, and a vibration damping damper 44b attached to the other end of the suspension rod 44a. Has been done. The water receiving tub 43 is elastically supported through the vibration isolating mechanism 44 so that vibrations generated during the washing operation are not transmitted to the outer case 42 as much as possible.

In the water receiving tank 43, a rotary tub 45 serving as a washing tub and a dehydrating tub is provided, and an agitator (pulsator) 46 is provided at the inner bottom of the rotary tub 45. .
The rotary tank 45 includes a tank main body 45a and the tank main body 45a.
It is composed of an inner cylinder 45b provided inside and a balance ring 45c provided at the upper ends thereof.
Then, when the rotary tank 45 is rotated, the water inside is pumped up by the rotary centrifugal force and the dehydration hole 4 in the upper part of the tank body 45a.
The water is discharged from 5d into the water receiving tank 43.

A water passage 47 is provided at the bottom of the rotary tank 45.
Is formed, and this water passage 47 has a drainage passage 47a.
Through the drain port 48. A drainage channel 50 having the drainage valve 22 is connected to the drainage port 48. Therefore, with the drain valve 22 closed, the rotary tank 45
When water is supplied into the rotary tank 45, the water is stored in the rotary tank 45. When the drain valve 22 is opened, the water in the rotary tank 45 is drained.
a, the drainage port 48 and the drainage channel 50.

An auxiliary drain port 48a is provided at the bottom of the water receiving tank 43.
The auxiliary drainage port 48a is connected to the drainage channel 50 by bypassing the drainage valve 22 via a connection hose (not shown), and when the rotary tub 45 rotates, the auxiliary drainage port 48a receives water from the upper part thereof. The water discharged into 43 is discharged.

Further, a mechanism housing 51 is attached to the outer bottom portion of the water receiving tank 43, and a hollow tank shaft 52 is rotatably provided in the mechanism housing 51. Is connected to the rotary tank 45.
A stirring shaft 53 is rotatably provided inside the tank shaft 52, and the stirring body 4 is provided at the upper end of the stirring shaft 53.
6 are connected. The lower end of the stirring shaft 53 is
Rotor 17a of outer rotor type brushless motor 17
Are linked to. The brushless motor 17 is configured to directly drive the stirring member 46 in forward and reverse directions during washing.

Further, the brushless motor 17 directly drives the rotary tank 45 and the stirring body 46 to rotate in one direction in a state where the tank shaft 42 and the stirring shaft 53 are connected by a clutch (not shown) at the time of dehydration. ing. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the so-called direct drive system is adopted in which the rotation speed of the brushless motor 17 is the same as that of the stirring body 46 during washing and the same as that of the rotary tank 45 and the stirring body 46 during dehydration. There is.

In FIG. 1 showing the electrical configuration, in the configuration of this embodiment, the main microcomputer 13 and DSP shown in FIG.
33 and 33 are replaced by a single microcomputer 54. That is, the microcomputer 54 is provided with a switch signal from the switch input circuit 28 and a water level detection signal from the water level sensor 29. Then, the microcomputer 54 controls the water supply valve 20, the drain valve 22, and the display circuit 30.

Further, instead of the current sensors 31u to 31w, a shunt resistor (current detecting means) 55 is provided between the emitters of the IGBTs 15d to 15f on the lower arm side and the ground.
u to 55w are inserted, and IGBTs 15d to 15f
The emitter of is connected to the input terminal of the amplification bias circuit 32. The resistance value of the shunt resistor 55 is 0.1Ω.
It is a degree.

The microcomputer 54 is internally provided with two A / D converters 56A and 56B, and these A / D converters 56A and 56B each have three or more input ports (AD11 to AD13, AD21 to AD23). have. And
The output terminal of the amplification bias circuit 32 is connected in parallel to the input port of each of the A / D converters 56A and 56B. The microcomputer 54 includes A / D converters 56A and 56B.
Drive signals Ua and Ub based on the obtained current value,
Va and Vb, Wa and Wb are generated and output to the charge pump type voltage converter circuits 18a, 18b and 18c, respectively.

The microcomputer 54 is a RISC (Reduced Instr.
(uction set computer) architecture and has a CPU core. RISC architecture CPU
Has the following features.・ A simple instruction set in which all decoding is realized by wired logic and can be executed at the same time ・ Pipeline control of instruction execution processing ・ Many internal registers ・ Large capacity cache and the above architecture makes the program efficient The executable program has been optimized by the compiler for execution. According to the RISC having such a configuration, the total processing performance is improved as compared with the CISC. In particular, the execution speed of the product operation and the like has been significantly increased. For example, the microcomputer 54 of this embodiment has five
It has a processing capacity of 0 MIPS (dry stone).

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the drive control system of the motor 17. In addition, in FIG. 1, (α, β)
Indicates a Cartesian coordinate diameter obtained by orthogonally transforming a three-phase (UVW) coordinate system with an electrical angle of 120 degrees corresponding to each phase of the three-phase brushless motor 17, and (d, q) indicates a brushless motor 17
2 shows the coordinate system of the secondary magnetic flux rotating with the rotation of the rotor 17a.

The speed command output unit 57 outputs the target speed command ωre
The f is output to the subtractor 58 as the subtracted value. Further, the subtractor 58 is provided with the detection speed ω of the brushless motor 17 detected by the estimator 59 as a subtraction value. Then, the subtraction result of the subtractor 58 is given to a speed PI (Proportional-Integral) control unit 60.

The speed PI control unit 60 determines the target speed command ωre
PI (proportional integration) based on the difference between f and the detected speed ω
Control is performed to generate the q-axis current command value Iqref and the d (direct) -axis current command value Idref and output them to the subtracters 61 and 62 as subtracted values, respectively. The d-axis current command value Idref during the washing or rinsing operation is set to "0", and the field-weakening control is performed during the dehydration operation, so the d-axis current command value Idref is set.
Is set to a predetermined value. The subtracters 61 and 62 have αβ /
The q-axis current value Iq and the d-axis current value Id output from the dq conversion unit 63 are given as subtraction values, respectively, and the subtraction results are given to the current PI control units 64q and 64d, respectively. The control period in the speed PI control unit 60 is set to 1 msec.

The current PI control units 64q and 64d perform PI control based on the difference amount between the q-axis current command value Iqref and the d-axis current command value Idref, and the q-axis voltage command value Vq and the d-axis voltage command value Vd. Is generated and output to the dq / αβ conversion unit 65. The dq / αβ converter 65 is provided with the rotational phase angle (rotor position angle) θ of the secondary magnetic flux in the brushless motor 17 detected by the estimator 59,
The voltage command values Vd and Vq are converted into voltage command values Vα and Vβ based on the rotation phase angle θ.

The voltage command values Vα and Vβ output from the dq / αβ converter 65 are given to the αβ / UVW converter 66. The αβ / UVW conversion unit 66 determines the voltage command values Vα, V
β is converted into three-phase voltage command values Vu, Vv, Vw and output. The voltage command values Vu, Vv, Vw are fixed contacts 67ua, 6 of one of the changeover switches 67u, 67v, 67w.
7 va, 67 wa, and the other fixed contact 6
At 7 ub, 67 vb, 67 wb, voltage command values Vus, Vv for activation output by the initial pattern output unit 68.
s and Vws are given. Then, the changeover switch 6
7u, 67v, 67w movable contacts 67uc, 67vc,
67wc is connected to the input terminal of the PWM forming unit 69.

The PWM forming unit 69 controls the voltage command values Vus, V
PWM signal Vup (+,-), Vvp (+,-), Vwp of each phase obtained by modulating a carrier wave (triangular wave) of 16 kHz based on vs, Vws
(+,-) Is output to the inverter circuit 12. The PWM signals Vup to Vwp are, for example, signals having pulse widths corresponding to voltage amplitudes based on a sine wave so that sinusoidal currents are supplied to the phase windings 17u, 17v, 17w (see FIG. 2) of the motor 17. Is output as.

The emitters of the lower arm IGBTs 15c to 15e in the inverter circuit 12 are connected to an A / D converter 56 (A / D converters 56A and 56B) via an amplification / bias circuit 70. The amplification / bias circuit 70 is configured to include an operational amplifier and the like, and amplifies the terminal voltage of the shunt resistor 55 and keeps the output range of the amplified signal within the positive side (for example, 0 to +5).
V) It is designed to give a bias.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the A / D converter 56
Outputs A / D converted current data Iu, Iv of the output signal of the amplification / bias circuit 70 to the UVW / αβ converter 71. The UVW / αβ converter 71 uses the current data Iu,
The current data Iw of the W phase is estimated from Iv, and the current data Iu, Iv, Iw of the three phases are converted into biaxial current data Iα, Iβ of the rectangular coordinate system according to the equation (1).

[Equation 1] Then, the biaxial current data Iα and Iβ are output to the αβ / dq converter 63.

The αβ / dq conversion unit 63 obtains the rotor position angle θ of the motor 17 from the estimator 59 during vector control, so that the biaxial current data I according to the equation (2) is obtained.
α and Iβ are d-axis current values Id on the rotating coordinate system (d, q),
Convert to q-axis current value Iq.

[0054]

[Equation 2] The d-axis current value Id and the q-axis current value Iq are output to the estimator 59 and the subtractors 61 and 62 as described above.

The estimator 59 determines the d-axis current value Id,
The position angle θ and the rotation speed ω of the rotor 17a are estimated based on the q-axis current value Iq and output to each unit. Here, the motor 17 is DC-excited by the initial pattern output unit 68 at the time of start-up to initialize the rotational position of the rotor 17a, and then the start-up pattern is applied and forced commutation is performed. At the time of forced commutation due to the application of this starting pattern, the position angle θ is clear without needing to be estimated. And α
The β / dq conversion unit 63 uses the position angle θ obtained from the initial pattern output unit 68 immediately before the vector control is started.
With init as the initial value, the current values Id and Iq are calculated and output.

After the vector control is started, the estimator 59 is activated to estimate the rotor 17a position angle θ and the rotation speed ω. In this case, the estimator 59 is αβ
Assuming that the rotor position angle θn output to the / dq converter 63 is the rotor position angle θn−1 estimated by vector calculation based on the current values Id and Iq, the estimator 59 estimates the rotor position angle one cycle before. The rotor position angle θn is estimated based on the correlation with θn-2.

In the above configuration, the configuration excluding the inverter circuit 12 and the amplification / bias circuit 70 is a block of the function realized by the software of the microcomputer 54. The current control cycle in the vector control is the reciprocal of the PWM carrier frequency 6
It is set to 2.5 μs.

Further, in the present embodiment, when the motor 17 is started, as will be described later, PI is started before the start of vector control.
Control is performed temporarily. Therefore, a PI control unit and a UVW conversion unit (not shown) are provided in parallel, and in actuality, the voltage commands Vu, Vv, Vw output from the UVW conversion unit are also switched by the changeover switch 67 portion and the PWM formation unit 69. It can be output to.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 13. FIG. 4 mainly shows the microcomputer 54.
3 is a flowchart showing a schematic control content according to FIG.
The microcomputer 54 performs the above-mentioned start-up process, for example, when starting the washing operation (step S1). That is, the movable contacts 67uc to 67wc of the changeover switches 67u to 67w.
Is connected to the fixed contacts 67ub to 67wb to perform direct current excitation by the initial pattern output unit 68 to initialize the rotational position of the rotor 17a, and then the voltage command values Vus to Vws are given to the inverter circuit 12 to force the motor 17 to operate. Commutate (step S2). Then, the motor 17 starts rotating, and the rotation speed gradually increases.

Then, when the microcomputer 54 determines that the number of rotations of the motor 17 has reached 20 rpm by the detection signal provided by the initial pattern output unit 68 (step S3, "YES"), the changeover switch 67u is selected.
~ 67w movable contact 67uc ~ 67wc fixed contact 67
Switching to connect to ua to 67 wa, output of the target speed command ωref is started, and voltage control (PI control) is performed (step S4). That is, it is difficult to perform vector control with high accuracy in a region where the rotation speed is relatively low.

Subsequently, the microcomputer 54 refers to the rotation speed ω given from the estimator 59 and determines that the number of rotations of the motor 17 has reached 60 rpm (step S
5, "YES"), and vector control is started (step S6). After that, the operation is continued until an instruction to stop the operation is given (step S7).

The process flow of the vector control after step S6 will be described below. PWM forming unit 69
Generates a PWM carrier wave of 16 kHz by the counter output of an internal up / down counter (not shown), and when the counter value reaches "0", that is, the valley of the triangular wave, the conversion timing signal is A / D. The data is output to the conversion unit 56 (see FIG. 5).

As shown in FIG. 5, the PWM forming section 69 is
Voltage command values Vu to V output by the αβ / UVW conversion unit 66
By comparing the levels of w and the PWM carrier wave, the IGBT 15 on the upper arm side during the period when the latter level exceeds the former level.
PWM signals Vup (+) to Vwp so that a to 15c are turned on.
Output (+). Then, the IGBT 15d on the lower arm side
.About.15f are turned on with a dead time in between while the upper arm IGBTs 15a to 15c are off.

FIG. 6 is a waveform diagram showing the relationship between the inversion IMINV of the phase current of the motor 17, the current ISR flowing through the shunt resistor 55, and the phase voltage. That is, the period in which the current ISR flows is a case where the IGBT 15 on the lower arm side is turned on and the phase voltage shows 0V. Therefore, the valley of the triangular wave indicates the intermediate phase during the period when the IGBTs 15d to 15f on the lower arm side are on. That is, the A / D converter 56
However, if the A / D conversion is performed at the time when the counter value inside the PWM forming unit 69 is “0”, the phase current flowing to the lower arm side of the inverter circuit 12 can be reliably sampled.

The current value of the two phases A / D converted by the A / D converter 56 is U together with the estimated current value of the remaining one phase.
The biaxial current data Iα, Iβ, → Id, Iq is converted through the VW / αβ converter 71 and the αβ / dq converter 63, and is output to the estimator 59 and the subtracters 61 and 62. The position angle θ and the rotation speed ω are estimated by. The current Iq is a current flowing in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the secondary magnetic flux of the motor 17,
It is a current component that contributes to the generation of torque. On the other hand, the current I
d is a current that flows in a direction parallel to the direction of the secondary magnetic flux, and is a current component that does not contribute to the generation of torque.

The speed PI control unit 60 then determines the q-axis and d-axis current command values Iqr based on the difference between the target speed command ω ref given by the speed command value output unit 57 and the detected speed ω.
ef and Idref are output and the current PI control units 64q and 64d are output.
Are the command values Iqref, Idref and the detected current values Iq, I
The voltage command values Vq and Vd are output based on the difference from d. The voltage command values Vq and Vd are calculated by the dq / αβ converter 65,
Voltage command values Vu, V via the αβ / UVW converter 63
Converted to v, Vw and output to the PWM forming unit 69, P
The WM forming unit 69 sends the PWM signal Vup to the inverter circuit 12.
Output ~ Vwp. Then, each phase winding 17 of the motor 17
Power is supplied to u to 17w.

Here, FIG. 7 shows that when the motor 17 is energized with a two-phase modulated wave, the phase voltages Vmu and Vm appearing in each phase winding are shown.
5 shows v, Vmw, and the detection timing of each phase current in the A / D converter 56. In this figure, the higher the phase voltage, the corresponding upper arm side IGBTs 15a-1
5c is on for a long time, the IGBT on the lower arm side
The time when 15d to 15f is on is short. Then, the detection of the current by the shunt resistor 55 is performed by the IG on the lower arm side.
Since it is possible only during the period when the BTs 15d to 15f are on, the A / D conversion is performed at the timing when the valley of the triangular wave of the PWM carrier wave is reached, as described above and shown in FIG.

In addition, the IGBTs 15d to 15 on the lower arm side
The fact that the current cannot be detected only when f is on indicates that there is a period in which the current cannot be detected for each phase. However, if two of the three-phase currents can be detected, the remaining one phase can be estimated. Therefore, if the A / D conversion unit 56 sequentially switches the detectable two-phase currents. The current for three phases can be constantly detected.

However, since the PWM carrier wave is a signal common to all three phases, the two-phase A / D conversion timing becomes the same. Since the carrier wave frequency is 16 kHz, the current control cycle is 62.5 μsec at the shortest. However, if the time required for A / D conversion is a short time of, for example, about 1 μsec, one A / D converter can be used for two phases. There is no problem even if the A / D conversion is performed serially. However, generally, the A / D converter mounted in the microcomputer is not so high speed.

Therefore, in this embodiment, current signals for three phases are applied to the two A / D converters 56A and 56B, and the input of any one phase current signal is switched in each of the converters 56A and 56B. By performing A / D conversion by the A / D conversion, the A / D converted values for two phases are obtained at the same time. With such a configuration, the A / D of the A / D conversion unit 56
Even if the conversion speed is low (for example, 6 μsec), it is possible to sufficiently cope with it.

Here, in FIG. 8, the rotary tank 45 is set to 250 rp.
It shows a state in which the rotation speed fluctuates when rotated at m. (a) shows the case of the configuration of this embodiment, (b)
Shows the case of the conventional configuration (that is, control by voltage). Note that 250 rpm is the damper 44 of the vibration isolation mechanism 44.
This is the number of rotations corresponding to the natural vibration of b. The diametrical direction of the circle is the size of the rotation speed (± 3 around 250 rpm).
rpm), and the circumferential direction represents the rotational position of the rotary tank 45. The load equivalent to (laundry + water) is 1
A weight of 6 kg is placed in the rotary tank 45. In addition, the upper end and the lower end of the rotary tank 45 are 400 g,
A 300 g fluid balancer is placed.

In the case of the conventional configuration shown in FIG. 8 (b), the rotation fluctuation has a periodicity linked to the rotation angle, and the rotation fluctuation is generated so as to be largely biased at a specific rotation position (maximum). The fluctuation difference is about 6 rpm). On the other hand, FIG.
In the case of the configuration of the present embodiment shown in (a), the rotation speed is about 250 rpm over the entire rotation position (the maximum fluctuation difference is about 1 rpm). That is, it is apparent that the rotation fluctuation is effectively suppressed by the configuration of this embodiment.

By the way, the flow chart shown in FIG.
Although the case where the microcomputer 54 starts the washing operation has been described, the initial drive procedure of the motor 17 when performing the dehydration operation is performed in the same manner as the one shown in the flowchart shown in FIG. In this case, when the rotation speed of the rotary tank 45 exceeds 60 rpm, the voltage control is switched to the vector control, but in the low speed rotation range in the dehydration operation of about 60 rpm, the vibration isolation mechanism 44 that elastically supports the rotary tank 45 (water receiving tank 43). Is the number of rotations corresponding to the natural frequency 1 Hz of the suspension rod 44a.

Therefore, the number of rotations of the rotary tank 45 and the suspension rod 4
When the natural frequency of 4a matches, the vibration amplitude of the rotary tub 45 (water receiving tank 43) reaches a peak, but when the laundry in the rotary tub 45 is in an unbalanced state,
The vibration amplitude becomes even larger. Therefore, if the rotational speed of the rotary tank 45 is controlled by performing the vector control and the PI control in the low speed rotational range in the dehydration operation, the fluctuation of the rotational speed can be minimized. The vibration of 45 can be effectively suppressed. Therefore, noise and vibration, especially the water receiving tank 43,
It is possible to prevent as much as possible the transmission of noise or vibration caused by hitting the inner wall of 2 to the floor and vibration generated by the swing of the water receiving tank 43.

Further, FIGS. 9 and 10 show the shaking amount (displacement amount) of the rotary tank 45 at the start of the dehydration operation in the structure of this embodiment and the conventional structure. In the case of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 9, compared with the case of the conventional configuration shown in FIG. 10, the peak of the fluctuation amount having a small level occurs at an early time and converges rapidly. That is, since the fluctuation of the rotation speed is reduced, it is possible to suppress the vibration generated during operation. Further, FIG. 11 shows a comparison of noise levels generated by the conventional configuration and the configuration of this embodiment. With the configuration of this embodiment, the noise level is reduced by about 2 dB at the maximum.

In addition, FIG. 12 shows the target speed command ωref and the rotation speed ω of the motor 17 during the washing operation in the structure of this embodiment, and FIG. 13 shows the duty command Duty by the PI control of the conventional structure. The rotation speed ω of the motor 7 is shown. As is clear from these figures, in the case of the present embodiment, the follow-up of the rotation speed ω with respect to the target speed command ωref is good and the rotation fluctuation is stable with little fluctuation.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the washing machine 4
When the vector control is performed to drive the first motor 17 through the inverter circuit 12, the arithmetic processing for performing the vector control and the control processing related to the input operation of the washing machine 41 and the like have a processing capacity of 50 MIPS. It is configured to be performed by a single microcomputer 54.

Therefore, the basic control of the washing machine is performed by the microcomputer, and the calculation related to the vector control is performed by the DS.
Unlike the configuration performed with P, it is not necessary to increase the cost of parts or increase the area of the circuit board. Further, since the microcomputer 45 does not need to perform communication processing with the DSP 33, the control program size can be reduced. Further, since there is no possibility that the data is garbled due to the application of noise and the uncontrollable state occurs due to the disconnection of the communication line, the motor 17 can be controlled more stably. The carrier frequency of the PWM signal is 16
Even with the washing machine 41 set to kHz, vector control can be sufficiently executed.

In addition, the shunt resistor 55 allows the motor 1
The current flowing in the windings 17u to 17w of the motor 7 is detected, and the microcomputer 54 vector-controls the motor 17 based on the detected current so that the torque generated by the motor 17 is washed and rinsed.
Since it is controlled to be optimal in each process of dehydration,
By controlling the drive of the motor 17 with high responsiveness,
It is possible to suppress the generation of vibration and noise accompanying the rotation of the motor 17 in any of the steps of washing, rinsing, and dehydration. Since the microcomputer 54 estimates and controls the rotation speed of the motor 17 based on the current of the motor 17 detected by the sensorless method, the cost of parts can be further reduced.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the phase currents of the motor 17 are applied in parallel to the input channels of the two A / D converters 56A and 56B provided in the microcomputer 54, so that the microcomputer 54 It is possible to read the required phase currents almost simultaneously from the phase currents. Therefore, the current value can be read at high speed to shorten the processing time. In addition, the A / D converters 56A, 56
Even if the conversion speed of B is not high, it is possible to read the current values of a plurality of phases with a margin.

Further, according to this embodiment, the microcomputer 54
In the washing and rinsing process, the rotational speed of the motor 17 is PI controlled during the forward / reverse operation of the stirring body 46. That is, by controlling the torque of the motor 17 by vector control, the control response becomes extremely good, and the PI control can be performed even in the region where the rotation speed of the motor 17 is high. Therefore, the rotation speed control of the motor 17 can be performed with high accuracy over a wider rotation speed range.

In addition, the microcomputer 54 vector-controls the torque of the motor 17 so as to suppress the vibration that tends to occur with the rotation of the rotary tank 45 in the initial stage of the dehydration process. Therefore, in the initial stage of the dehydration process, the rotary tank 45
When the number of rotations of the machine reaches around 60 rpm, the vibration isolation mechanism 4
4 effectively suppresses resonance from occurring at the natural frequency of 1 Hz of the suspension rod 44a, and noise and vibration, particularly,
It is possible to prevent as much as possible the transmission of noise or vibration caused by the water receiving tank 43 colliding with the inner wall of the outer box 42 and the vibration generated by the rocking of the water receiving tank 43 to the floor. Become.

FIGS. 14 and 15 show a second embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. Only the different parts will be described below. . FIG. 14 is a diagram partially showing the configuration of the microcomputer 54A and its periphery. In the second embodiment, a washing machine 41 is provided with a microphone 72 for voice signal input and a speaker 73 for voice signal output.

The voice signal input to the microphone 72 is amplified by the voice amplifier 74, and the microcomputer 54A
Is given to the input channel of the A / D converter 56.
In this case, any of the A / D converters 56A and 56B may be used, and an input channel that is not used for current detection is assigned. The audio signal output port of the microcomputer 54A is connected to the speaker 73 via the D / A converter 75 and the audio amplifier 76. The microcomputer 54A includes an audio data section 77 in which various waveforms of audio data are stored in an internal ROM.

That is, in the second embodiment, the voice signal input by the user through the microphone 72 is converted into the microcomputer 54A.
Is recognized and a process based on the recognized voice is executed.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. If the microcomputer 54A itself controls the drive of the motor 17 (step V1,
"YES"), and drive control of the motor 17 is continued (step V2). When the drive control of the motor 17 is not performed, for example, at the stage immediately after the power is turned on and before the washing operation is started (step V1, “NO”), it is determined whether or not a voice signal is input to the microphone 72. It is determined (step V2). When it is determined that the voice signal is input by detecting the signal input of a certain level or more (“YES”), the microcomputer 54 executes the voice recognition process (step V3), and if the voice signal is not input ( "N
O ") Return to step V1.

In general, speech recognition is a fairly complicated process and cannot be executed unless the computer has a considerable processing capability. For example, it is not possible with the main microcomputer 13 used in the conventional configuration. On the other hand, 20
The microcomputer 54A having a processing capacity equal to or higher than MIPS has a sufficient capacity for performing voice recognition processing, and can execute the vector control during a period in which it is not executed.

The voice recognition process in step V3 is A
This is performed by comparing the audio data pattern converted into the digital value in the / D conversion unit 56 with the data pattern stored in the audio data unit 77. Then, the microcomputer 54A outputs voice data according to the result of voice recognition (step V5).

For example, if the user puts the laundry in the rotary tub 45 and then utters "washing" and inputs it to the microphone 72, the microcomputer 54A produces
The voice "washing" is recognized, and a voice signal such as "start washing" is output from the speaker 73.

For the output of the audio signal, the waveform data corresponding to the audio signal is read out from the audio data section 77, is synthesized, and the data is given to the output port. The audio data given to the output port is D / A converted by the D / A converter 75.
It is converted, amplified by the audio amplifier 76, and then output via the speaker 73.

Then, the microcomputer 54A executes the processing based on the result of the voice recognition processing (step V6).
That is, in the above example, the microcomputer 54A starts the washing operation (for example, opens the water supply valve 20 to start water supply). Then, the process returns to step V1.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the microcomputer 54A performs the audio signal processing related to the input operation of the washing machine 41 while the drive control of the motor 17 is stopped. It is possible to perform voice recognition processing or the like during a period when there is a margin of ability to start execution of processing requested by the user, and convenience can be further improved.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and the following modifications or expansions are possible. The processing capacity of the microcomputer is 10 MIPS
The above is enough. Further, the RISC architecture is not always required as long as it has a capability of the calculation speed. If the speed control cycle is set to 1/20 or less of the cycle corresponding to the natural frequency of the vibration system, the effect of suppressing vibration and noise can be sufficiently obtained.
If a sufficiently high speed A / D converter can be used, only one A / D converter may be used for serial A / D conversion. The current flowing through the motor 17 is detected by the shunt resistor 5
Instead of 5, the current sensor 31 may be used. Second
In the embodiment, the output of the audio signal may be performed as necessary, and the configuration of the speaker 73 and the like or step V5 of the flowchart may be deleted. In addition, in the second embodiment,
Not only the response to the input voice signal, but by outputting an appropriate voice signal as needed, for example,
At the time when all the series of washing-related steps are completed, the user may be informed such as “Washing is completed”.

[0094]

According to the washing machine control device of the present invention, a single microcomputer performs the arithmetic processing for vector-controlling the driving torque of the motor and the control processing relating to the input operation of the washing machine. Configured to. Therefore,
The basic control of the washing machine is done by a microcomputer,
Unlike the configuration in which the calculation related to the vector control is performed by the DSP, it is not necessary to increase the component cost or increase the area of the circuit board. Further, by adopting the above configuration, the microcomputer does not need to perform communication processing with the DSP, and the control program size can be reduced. Furthermore, the generation of garbled data due to the application of noise,
Since there is no possibility that an uncontrollable state will occur due to disconnection of the communication line, the motor can be controlled more stably.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an electrical configuration of a fully automatic washing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing functions inside a microcomputer mainly relating to drive control of a motor.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing the overall configuration of a fully automatic washing machine.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a schematic control content mainly by a control microcomputer.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing waveforms of PWM carrier waves and gate signals on the upper arm side and the lower arm side.

FIG. 6 is a waveform diagram showing the relationship between the reverse IMINV of the motor phase current, the current ISR flowing through the shunt resistor, and the phase voltage.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a timing for detecting a motor phase voltage and each phase current.

FIG. 8 shows a state in which the rotation speed fluctuates when the rotary tank is rotated at 250 rpm, (a) shows the case of the configuration of the present embodiment, and (b) shows the case of the conventional configuration.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the shaking amount (displacement amount) of the rotary tank at the start of the dehydration operation (this embodiment).

FIG. 10 is a view corresponding to FIG. 8 (conventional configuration).

FIG. 11 is a diagram comparing noise levels generated by the conventional configuration and the configuration of this embodiment, respectively.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a target speed command ωref and a motor rotation speed ω during a washing operation.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a duty command Duty and a motor rotation speed ω output from a PI control unit in a conventional configuration.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a microcomputer and a part of its peripheral configuration according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the control contents of the microcomputer relating to audio signal processing.

FIG. 16 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

12 is an inverter circuit, 17 is a brushless motor, 41
Is a fully automatic washing machine, 45 is a rotary tub (dehydration tub), 46 is a stirring blade, 54 and 54A are microcomputers, 55 is a shunt resistance (current detection means), and 56A and 56B are A / D converters.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H02P 6/16 H02P 5/408 C 6/02 341N F term (reference) 3B155 AA10 BB05 BB18 BB19 CB06 HB10 KB08 KB11 LA01 LA11 LB16 LB18 LB26 LC15 LC21 LC28 MA02 MA06 MA07 MA08 MA09 5H560 AA10 BB04 DA12 DB12 EC04 EC10 GG04 RR10 SS07 UA06 XA02 XA04 XA12 XA13 5H576 AA12 BB03 JJ01 JJ14 JJ01 JJ01 JJ01 JJ01 JJ02 GG04 BB01 BB02 BB01 BB02 BB04 BB04 BB01 LL22 LL41

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A control device for vector-controlling a drive torque of a motor for a washing machine which drives a motor for generating a rotational drive force for washing, rinsing and dehydrating operations via an inverter circuit. The control device for the washing machine is configured such that the arithmetic processing for performing the vector control and the control processing regarding the input operation of the washing machine are performed by a single microcomputer. 2. The microcomputer is 10 MIPS
2. The washing machine control device according to claim 1, which has a processing capacity of (Million Instructions Per Second) or more. 3. A current detecting means for detecting a current flowing through the motor, wherein the microcomputer vector-controls the motor on the basis of the current detected by the current detecting means, whereby the torque generated by the motor is washed. The control device for a washing machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control is performed so as to be optimum in each process of rinsing and dehydration. 4. The current detecting means detects the current flowing through the motor by a sensorless method, and the microcomputer controls the rotation speed of the motor by estimating the rotation speed of the motor by calculation based on the current. The washing machine control device according to claim 3. 5. A / A for a microcomputer to read the current value of the motor detected by the current detecting means.
A plurality of D converters are provided, and the plurality of A / D converters are configured to be capable of selectively switching a plurality of input channels included in each A / D converter.
5. The phase currents of the motors are applied in parallel to the input channels of the D / D converter.
The control device for the washing machine described. 6. The washing machine according to claim 1, wherein the microcomputer controls the rotation speed of the motor by PI when the stirring blade is rotated normally and reversely in the washing and rinsing strokes. Control device. 7. The microcomputer controls the torque of the motor so as to suppress the vibration that tends to occur due to the rotation of the dehydration tank in the initial stage of the dehydration process. The control device for the washing machine according to any one of claims. 8. The microcomputer according to claim 1, wherein the microcomputer performs a voice signal process related to an input operation of the washing machine while the motor control is stopped.
A control device for a washing machine according to any one of 1.