JP2008054939A - Washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a washing machine which can steplessly detect an inclined angle in the case of arranging the water tank such that the inclined angle can be freely adjusted, freely set a desired inclined angle according to operating condition or others, and be operated at an optimal water tank inclined angle. <P>SOLUTION: In the washing machine in which the water tank can be inclined, a magnet 23 as a position detecting section is arranged in the upper face of a female threaded rotator body 18, the movement quantity of a hanging rod 5 is calculated out from the rotational angle of the female threaded rotator 18 detected by detecting the position detecting section by a hall IC 26 or a position detecting sensor arranged on the upper side of the female threaded rotator 18, and the inclined angle of the water tank is detected from the movement quantity. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for detecting a tilt angle of a water tank of a washing machine.

  In general, a washing machine suspends a water tub from its four corners in an outer box by means of suspending, a washing / dehydration tub having a stirring blade at the bottom is provided in the water tub, and a gear below the washing / dehydration tub. The water tank is suspended from the four corners of the upper part of the outer box by suspension means having a suspension rod as a main body and a vibration-proof part at the lower part.

  And in the washing process and dehydration process, large vibrations are generated in the washing and dehydrating tub and the water tank due to the imbalance due to the misalignment in the washing and dehydrating tank of the clothes that are the laundry, This vibration is prevented from being transmitted to the outer box.

  By the way, in recent years, a washing dryer having a drying means has appeared. Also in this washing and drying machine, the shape of the washing and dewatering tub is a cylindrical shape that is long in the vertical direction, and the rotation center axis of the washing and dehydrating tub is oriented in the vertical direction, so that the washing and drying tank is washed and dried. There is a tendency that the rotational movement of the clothes in the vertical direction tends to be less at times, and as a result, it becomes difficult for the clothes to change up and down in the washing and dewatering tank, and the clothes are likely to wrinkle and dry unevenness. It was.

  In addition, most of the washing process was a simple horizontal water flow, and the washing effect was not sufficient.

  Furthermore, since the washing and dewatering tub is a long cylindrical shape, when the tub with such a shape is arranged vertically, it is difficult to take out the bottom of the garment in the tub. It was.

  Therefore, in order to eliminate such inconvenience, clothes in the washing / dehydrating tub can be easily changed in the vertical direction during the drying process, so that wrinkles and drying unevenness can be prevented from occurring in the washing process. A washing machine has been proposed that can be made more complex and can be expected to have a higher cleaning effect, and can easily carry out the work of taking out clothes from the washing and dewatering tank.

  This is because the water tank is suspended from the four corners in the outer box by means of suspension, a washing and dewatering tank having a stirring blade at the bottom is disposed in the water tank, and a gear and clutch are provided below the washing and dewatering tank. In the washing / drying machine in which the motor is arranged through a mechanism such as the above, the suspension means forms a male screw part on the upper part of the suspension rod having a vibration-proof part in the lower part, and the male screw part is rotated by the drive part. The hanging length can be adjusted by screwing into the female screw rotating body.

  As a result, the aquarium can be suspended from the outer box by means of suspension means with suspension bars that can automatically adjust the suspension length of all or part of the four corners. The water tank is tilted inside the outer box. Therefore, the center axis of rotation of the washing / dehydrating tub is not in the vertical direction but in the oblique direction, so that the clothes in the washing / dehydrating tub can be easily rotated in the vertical direction during the drying process, and the generation of wrinkles and drying unevenness is suppressed. be able to.

  In addition, since the rotation center axis of the washing / dehydrating tank is inclined in the washing process, the water flow becomes complicated and the washing effect is increased.

  Further, by tilting the water tank forward, the upper opening surface of the tank faces obliquely toward the user when taking out the clothes in the washing / dehydration tank, and the height in front of the washing / dehydration tank is lowered. Thereby, it becomes easy to see the inside of a tank and it becomes easy to take out clothing.

  In the washing machine for tilting the water tank as described above, for example, the water tank is tilted in the range of 0 to 20 degrees, but the tilt angle is set to only 0 degrees or 20 degrees, for example.

  On the other hand, in the drying process, the washing process, or the work of taking out clothes, the optimum inclination angle differs, and the optimum inclination angle also varies depending on conditions such as the height of the user.

  However, in the washing machine, since the inclination angle is set uniformly, the washing machine cannot meet the user's request. In order to eliminate such inconvenience, it is desirable that the inclination angle of the water tank can be variably set in a stepless manner. However, for example, the method of simply detecting with a switch limits the number of switches, and is difficult to realize. There has also been a problem that the cost increases as the number of switches increases.

  The present invention eliminates the inconvenience of the conventional example, and when the water tank is arranged so that the tilt angle can be adjusted, the tilt angle can be detected in a stepless manner, and the desired tilt angle can be freely set according to operating conditions. An object of the present invention is to provide a washing machine that can be operated at an optimal water tank inclination angle.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a washing / dehydration tub in which a water tub is suspended from the four corners of the outer box by means of suspending and a stirring blade is disposed at the bottom in the water tub. In a washing machine in which a motor is disposed below a dewatering tub via a mechanism such as a gear and a clutch, the suspension means forms a male screw portion on the upper portion of a suspension rod having a vibration-proof portion at the lower portion, and this male The threaded portion is screwed into a female screw rotating body that is rotated by a drive unit so that the suspension length can be adjusted, and a position detection unit is provided on the upper surface of the female screw rotating body and disposed above the female screw rotating body. The movement amount of the suspension rod is calculated from the rotation angle of the female screw rotating body detected by detecting the position detection unit with a position detection sensor, and the inclination angle of the water tank is detected from the movement amount.

  Since the position detection unit is provided on the upper surface of the female screw rotating body constituting the suspension means, and the position detection sensor is disposed above the female screw rotating body, the position detection unit is detected by the position detection sensor. The rotation angle of the female screw rotating body is detected, and the amount of movement of the suspension bar is calculated from this rotation angle. Therefore, the inclination angle of the aquarium is detected from the amount of movement. Since the detected inclination angle corresponds to the rotation angle of the female screw rotating body, it is stepless, and an arbitrary inclination angle can be detected and set.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a side surface showing an embodiment of the washing machine of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a plane side of the same, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal front view of a hanging means which is a main part of the same. As already described, the washing machine suspends the water tub 3 from the four corners of the washing machine 1 by the suspending means 14 in the outer box 1, and although not shown, the washing and dewatering tub provided with a stirring blade at the bottom is the water tub 3. A motor 33 is disposed below the washing and dewatering tub via a mechanism such as a gear and a clutch.

  In the present invention, as the suspending means 14, as shown in FIG. 1, a male screw 16 part is formed on the upper part of the suspension bar 5 incorporating a vibration isolating part 15 at the lower part, and this male screw 16 part is used as the drive unit 17. The hanging length can be automatically adjusted by screwing into the female screw rotating body 18 that rotates at the same time.

  The driving unit 17 is a DC motor, and the female screw rotating body 18 is a fitting gear that meshes with the motor. The driving unit 17 and the female screw rotating unit 18 form a driving unit (actuator) 19. This is incorporated as an integral part on the upper part of the suspension bar 5.

  In the figure, reference numerals 20 and 21 denote dust-proof cases as a sealed case for protecting the drive portion of the suspension bar 5 from dust and moisture at the upper and lower positions of the drive unit (actuator) 19, and 22 a spherical surface formed on the lower surface of the drive unit (actuator) 19. The seat.

  The male screw 16 may be formed directly on the suspension rod 5 made of metal by providing an enlarged diameter portion. However, the male screw 16 is a synthetic resin outer peripheral screw tube, which is attached to the body of the suspension rod 5. You may make it form by fitting.

  Then, the spherical seat 22 is fitted into a spherical recess (not shown) of a flange-like suspension plate 24 that protrudes to the inside of the outer box 1, and the vibration isolation portion 15 protrudes from the side of the water tank 3 to the side. The flange 25 is locked. Thereby, the suspending means 14 is suspended between the outer case 1 and the water tank 3.

  The suspending means 14 incorporating the drive unit (actuator) 19 of the present invention is arranged at the four corners in the outer box 1, but the example of FIG. 1 is suspended at all four corners according to the configuration of the present invention as shown in FIG. This is a case where the lowering means 14 is arranged.

  In addition to such a configuration, the present invention detects the tilt angle of the water tank 3 on the upper surface of the female screw rotating body 18 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 as a first embodiment of the method for detecting the tilt angle of the water tank 3. A position detector using a magnet 23 or the like is provided as an element for this purpose.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a total of six magnets 23 serving as position detection units are arranged radially at an equal interval of 60 degrees, for example.

  A Hall IC 26 serving as a position detection sensor for detecting the position of the magnet 23 is disposed above the female screw rotating body 18.

  Next, the operation will be described. In the suspending means 14 incorporating the drive unit (actuator) 19, the drive unit 17 can move the suspension bar 5 up and down via the external thread 16 by rotationally driving the internal thread rotating body 18. The length of can be adjusted.

  In this case, when the female screw rotating body 18 rotates, the Hall IC 26 disposed above the rotating IC detects the magnet 23 that rotates with the rotation of the female screw rotating body 18, and rotates the female screw according to the detected number. The number of rotations (rotation angle) of the body 18 is detected, and based on this, the movement distance of each of the four suspension rods 5 is calculated, and the inclination angle of the water tank 3 is detected from this movement amount.

  Since the inclination angle may change due to aging of the female screw rotating body 18 or the like, it is desirable to return the inclination state of the water tank 3 to the initial position before measuring the moving distance of the suspension bar 5. The initial position is detected by a mechanical device such as a switch, for example. Thereby, the moving distance is controlled by the relative distance from the initial position, and reliability can be ensured.

It is explanatory drawing by the side of the washing machine which shows 1st Embodiment of the washing machine of this invention. It is explanatory drawing by the side of the plane of the washing machine which shows 1st Embodiment of the washing machine of this invention. It is a vertical side view of the hanging means which is the principal part of the washing machine which shows 1st Embodiment of the washing machine of this invention. It is a cross-sectional top view of the suspension means which is the principal part of the washing machine which shows 1st Embodiment of the washing machine of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Outer box 3 Water tank 5 Suspension rod 14 Suspension means 15 Anti-vibration part 16 Male screw 17 Drive part 18 Female screw rotary body 19 Drive unit (actuator)
20, 21 Dust-proof case 22 Spherical seat 23 Magnet 24 Suspension plate 25 Flange 26 Hall IC
27 Sliding resistor 28 Position sensor 29 Washing machine bottom frame 30 Weight sensor 31 Pressure guiding tube 32 Water level sensor 33 Motor

Claims (1)

  A water tub is suspended from the four corners of the outer box by means of suspending, a washing and dewatering tub having a stirring blade at the bottom is disposed in the water tub, and a mechanism such as a gear and a clutch is provided below the washing and dewatering tub. In the washing machine in which the motor is arranged via, the hanging means forms a male screw part on the upper part of the hanging rod having a vibration-proof part in the lower part, and the female screw rotation that rotates this male screw part in the drive part It is possible to adjust the hanging length by screwing into the body, and a position detecting unit is provided on the upper surface of the female screw rotating body, and the position detecting unit is detected by a position detection sensor disposed above the female screw rotating body. A washing machine characterized in that the amount of movement of the suspension bar is calculated from the rotation angle of the female screw rotating body detected by this, and the inclination angle of the aquarium is detected from this amount of movement.

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