JP2011245089A - Clothing treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display the estimated power consumption for a course selected by a user so as to enhance the energy-saving consciousness and the convenience in power saving.SOLUTION: A clothing treatment apparatus comprises: a driving operation unit 2 for selecting an operation course; power estimating means 6 for estimating power consumption in the course selected by the driving operation unit 2; a display unit 5 for displaying the value estimated by the power estimating means 6; and a control unit 1 for controlling the operation of the course selected by the driving operation unit 2. The control unit 1 is intended to display the estimated power consumption in the course that a user selects in the driving operation unit 2 on the display unit 5 before the operation start.

Description

  The present invention relates to a clothing processing apparatus that performs processing such as washing and drying of clothing.

  Conventionally, this type of clothing processing device measures the power of the main part of the clothing processing device, and displays the value of the amount of power consumption actually consumed at the end of the operation in the selected course, which is used by the user It is considered to raise awareness of energy conservation by grasping the amount spent later.

  FIG. 4 shows the structure of a conventional washing / drying machine. The control device 51 of the washing / drying machine calculates, as the water supply amount, the sum of products of the time during which the water supply valve 52 is open and the water supply amount per unit time of the water supply valve 52. Further, the control device 51 sets the sum of the products of the average power consumption and the operation time of the motor 53 according to the weight measurement result of the laundry as the power consumption by the motor. Further, the control device 51 sets the sum of products of the average power consumption and the operation time according to the operating frequency of the compressor 54 as the power consumption by the compressor 54. The control device 51 uses the product of the calculated water supply amount and the basic water charge as the cost of the water charge for the washing and drying process, and calculates the sum of the calculated power consumption by the motor 53 and the power consumption by the compressor 54 as the electric basic The charge accumulated is used as the cost of electricity for the washing / drying process, and these costs and their total are displayed on the display unit 55 at the end of the washing / drying process (see, for example, Patent Document 1). .

JP 2009-28069 A

  However, in the conventional configuration, the power consumption can be grasped only when all the processes of the washing / drying machine are completed, and the user knows in advance how much the power consumption is and There was a problem that even if we wanted to suppress it before the start, we could not actively save energy.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and provides a clothing processing apparatus that displays a predicted power consumption amount of a course selected by a user before the start of operation, thereby improving energy saving awareness and power saving convenience. For the purpose.

  In order to solve the conventional problem, a clothing processing apparatus of the present invention includes a driving operation unit that selects an operation course, a power prediction unit that predicts power consumption of a course selected by the driving operation unit, and the power A display unit that displays a value predicted by the prediction unit; and a control unit that controls the operation of the course selected by the driving operation unit, wherein the control unit is configured to display the course selected by the user using the driving operation unit. The predicted power consumption is displayed on the display unit before the operation is started.

  As a result, the user of the clothing processing apparatus can check the amount of power consumption of the course selected before use, so that the energy conservation awareness can be raised, and the course and time reduction that can reduce power consumption can be freely selected. It is possible to provide an easy-to-use clothing processing apparatus for saving electricity costs.

  The clothing processing apparatus of the present invention can confirm the predicted power consumption of the course selected by the user before the start of operation, improving the energy saving awareness and convenience of power saving, such as changing to a course with a lower power consumption. can do.

The block block diagram of the clothing processing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. Power consumption characteristics chart of washing machine's washing motor at low speed Power consumption characteristic diagram at high speed of washing motor of the clothing processing device Configuration diagram of a conventional washing and drying machine

  The first invention includes a driving operation unit that selects an operation course, a display unit that displays a predicted value of power consumption of the course selected by the driving operation unit, and an operation of the course selected by the driving operation unit. A control unit that controls, and the control unit displays the predicted power consumption of the course selected by the user in the driving operation unit on the display unit before the operation starts, so that the user selects The predicted power consumption of the selected course can be confirmed before the operation is started, and the convenience can be improved, for example, the user can change to a course with a lower power consumption. In addition, the user can know the power consumption of the driving course in advance so that the power consumption suppression behavior can be promoted, and the user's selection course and the course time can be changed to make the power consumption less than the user desires. .

  According to a second aspect of the invention, in particular, the garment processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention includes a cloth amount detection unit that detects the amount of clothes, and the control unit is configured to detect the amount of cloth detected by the cloth amount detection unit by a power prediction unit. By calculating the power consumption amount and displaying it on the display unit, it is possible to accurately predict the power consumption amount based on the amount of clothing, and the predicted power consumption of the course selected by the user. It can be displayed on the display unit before the operation starts, and the user can know the amount of power consumption before the start of washing in advance, so the course and time can be changed freely to make it less than the power consumption desired Convenience that can be selected is enhanced, and it can be used for energy saving activities as well as raising the user's awareness of energy saving.

  In the third invention, in particular, in the clothing processing apparatus of the first or second invention, after the predicted power value of the power prediction means is displayed on the display unit, the power amount prediction is recalculated when the user changes the course. It has a recalculation command section that gives instructions, displays the predicted power consumption of the course set by the user on the display section before the operation starts, then recalculates the predicted power consumption when the user changes the setting, By redisplaying on the display unit, the changed predicted electric energy can be displayed again on the display unit, and convenience can be improved.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in particular, in the clothing processing apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, a water amount determining means for determining a water amount from the amount of cloth detected by the cloth amount detecting means, a washing motor or a drying motor, A power characteristic holding unit that holds a load-power consumption characteristic in each step of the heating unit, and the power predicting unit includes a cloth amount of the cloth amount detecting unit, a water amount of the water amount determining unit, and a power characteristic of the power characteristic holding unit. By calculating the power consumption in the selected course from the operation time of the process and displaying the predicted power consumption value on the display before starting the operation, the user's selection course is changed from the power characteristics and water volume of each part Later power consumption can be recalculated more easily and instantly, and convenience, accuracy and responsiveness can be improved.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in particular, the clothing processing apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects includes a conversion unit that converts the amount of power of the power prediction means into a monetary amount, and the predicted amount of the course selected by the user Is displayed on the display unit before the operation is started, so that the user can know the degree of power consumption more clearly by knowing the predicted amount before the operation starts. Furthermore, by displaying the amount, the user's saving behavior can be promoted, and saving and energy saving awareness can be improved.

  In particular, the sixth aspect of the present invention is directed to the clothing processing apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, a power measuring means for measuring the power consumption for each clothing processing operation, and the amount of power from the power measuring means. Correction means for correcting the predicted value of the power prediction means for recording the value and the amount of clothing of the cloth amount detection means and predicting the power consumption, and correcting the predicted power consumption of the course selected by the user by the correction means By displaying on the display unit before starting the operation, by learning the power consumption pattern of the user's daily clothing processing device operation, the power calculation value of the predicted power means can be corrected, Predicted power consumption with high accuracy can be displayed before the operation starts, and user convenience can be improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a clothing processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a clothing processing apparatus 100 has a washing function for washing, rinsing, dehydrating, etc. of laundry such as clothes, a clothes drying function for drying clothes, or both of them. The driving operation unit 2 selects a course to be used from the operation courses of the above functions and performs a driving operation, and the control unit 1 controls the operation of each unit by the operation.

  The clothing processing apparatus 100 operates at the time of washing, dehydrating and drying, and a washing motor 101 which rotates and drives a washing tub / dehydrating tub / drying tub (not shown) such as a drum for washing, dehydrating and drying clothes, etc. A drying motor 102 that operates during drying and drives a blower fan (not shown) that blows drying air into the washing tub / dehydration tub / drying tank, and heating that heats the drying air blown by the blower fan during drying Unit 103, power measuring means 9 for measuring the power required to control washing motor 101, drying motor 102, heating unit 103, and the like, cloth amount detecting means 3 for detecting the amount of clothes at the start of operation, and display unit 5 The conversion unit 8 converts the power value into a monetary amount.

  Furthermore, the clothing processing apparatus 100 includes a power predicting unit 6 that calculates a predicted power value of a course selected by the user in the driving operation unit 2, and a power characteristic holding unit 7 that stores data for calculating the predicted power value. And a water amount determination means 4 for determining the amount of water according to the amount of cloth detected by the cloth amount detection means 3, and a command for recalculating the predicted power when the user changes the course or the like in the operation unit 2. A recalculation command unit 10 is provided. Furthermore, it has the correction | amendment means 11 which correct | amends the power characteristic value of the power characteristic holding | maintenance part 7 from the electric power value measured by the electric power measurement means 9. FIG.

  The power characteristic holding unit 7 holds the characteristics of each unit that consumes power, and the washing motor unit power characteristic 71 that holds the characteristics of the washing motor 101 and the drying motor unit power that holds the characteristics of the drying motor 102. A characteristic 72, a heating part power characteristic 73 that holds the characteristic of the heating part 103, and a control part power characteristic 74 that holds the power characteristic of the control part 1 and the like are held.

  FIG. 2 shows the power characteristics of the washing motor 101 during the low-speed rotation operation in the washing mode and the drying mode of the washing motor unit power characteristic 71 in the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, a graph in which the horizontal axis is the torque (Nm) and the vertical axis is the power (W) when the washing motor 101 is rotated at a low speed, and the input power characteristic 201, the output power characteristic 202, and the loss characteristic 203 of the washing motor 101 are plotted. Show.

FIG. 3 shows the power characteristic of the washing motor 101 during the high-speed rotation operation in the dewatering mode of the washing motor unit power characteristic 71 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, the horizontal axis represents torque (Nm) and the vertical axis represents power (W) when the washing motor 101 is rotating at high speed, and the washing motor 101 has an input power characteristic 204, an output power characteristic 205, and a loss characteristic 206. The graph is shown.

  About the clothing processing apparatus of this invention comprised as mentioned above, the operation | movement and an effect | action are demonstrated below. First, a user puts clothes into the clothing processing apparatus 100, turns on the power by operating the driving operation unit 2, selects an operation course to be used, and operates an operation start command. At that time, the amount of clothes input by the cloth amount detecting means 3 is detected, and the amount of water corresponding to the amount of clothes is determined by the water amount determining means 4.

  As a result, from the power characteristics of each part held in the power characteristic holding part 7, the power consumption is calculated by the power prediction means 6 from the amount of cloth, the amount of water, and the operation time in the selected course, and the calculation result is It displays on the display part 5 as a power consumption estimated value. Moreover, the control part 1 performs all control of these driving | operation operation | movement, driving | operation operation, electric power calculation, measurement, and a display.

  For example, when the predicted power of the washing motor 101 is calculated by the power prediction means 6, the user selects a standard course of washing (for example, when the washing mode is 15 minutes + dehydration mode 15 minutes) in the driving operation unit 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the required torque of the washing motor 101 at the time of washing is 10 Nm from the experimental value and is held in the power characteristic holding unit 7 when the amount of cloth is 4.5 kg. As shown, 75W.

Further, the required torque of the washing motor 101 during dehydration is also held in the power characteristic holding unit 7 as 2.5 Nm from the experimental value, and the power consumption at high speed rotation at that time is 650 W as shown in FIG. Therefore, the power consumption of the washing motor 101 at this time is
75 × 15/60 + 650 × 15/60 = 181.25 Wh.

  Here, the required torque for washing is 10 Nm, and the required torque for dehydration is 2.5 Nm, but depending on the inner diameter size of the washing tub into which clothes are placed, the inclination of the washing tub (in the case of a drum-type washing machine), the amount of water, etc. Since the required torque changes, the experimental value of the required torque obtained under the conditions based on the inner diameter and inclination of the washing tub to be mounted, the amount of clothing and the amount of water at that time is stored in the power characteristic holding unit 7 in advance for each model of the clothing processing apparatus 100. By holding, the predicted power can be calculated.

  The heating unit power characteristic 73 is zero Wh because it is used only during drying, and the control unit power characteristic 74 is a characteristic because it consumes a substantially constant value during operation. In the case of minute + 15 minutes, it is 15 Wh.

  As a result, in the standard course of washing, 181.25 + 15 = 196.25 Wh is calculated by the power prediction means 6 and the value is displayed on the display unit 5 as the predicted power consumption. When displaying, when the user selects monetary conversion in the driving operation unit 2, the conversion unit 8 calculates an approximate amount of money, for example, 25 yen per kWh, and the result is displayed on the display unit 5. indicate. In this case, it is displayed as about 4.9 yen.

  In addition, although the power consumption at the time of one washing or the reference amount of money is displayed as a power consumption prediction value here, it is also possible to display the integrated value for one month, the comparison with the previous month, the previous year, etc. Good.

Further, even when there is a drying mode, the drying motor unit power characteristic 72 has a characteristic that the load is a fan motor and shows a substantially constant value for each rotation speed. It can be easily calculated by the number of revolutions and time of the operation sequence determined by the mode. Furthermore, since the heating part power characteristic 73 is also a resistive load if it is a heater type, the power consumption characteristic can be easily grasped according to the operation time. Even in the case of the heat pump type, the power consumption characteristics can be easily obtained from experimental values according to the number of rotations and the operation time, and therefore can be calculated.

  Therefore, although the calculation example of the power consumption amount of the washing motor 101 is shown here, the power characteristics of the drying motor 102, the heating unit 103, and the control unit 1 can be calculated from the experimental values in the same manner. Calculation of the predicted power by the prediction means 6 can be performed easily and quickly.

  In addition, when the user operates the driving operation unit 2 to change the course or change the time when the power consumption amount or amount is displayed on the display unit 5 before the operation starts, the control unit 1 The power command means 6 is instructed to calculate the predicted power after the change to the operation command section 10, and the power prediction means 6 again calculates the power consumption according to the changed course or time, and the result is displayed on the display section 5. In the case of monetary conversion, the conversion unit 8 converts and displays.

  In this way, by displaying the calculation result on the display unit 5 before the start of operation, when the user uses the clothing processing apparatus 100, how much power consumption or amount of money will be in advance with the current clothing amount. Can be grasped, energy saving awareness can be raised, and the convenience of being able to perform energy saving actions such as considering changing the operation course of the clothing processing apparatus 100 is improved.

  Further, by measuring the input power of the washing motor 101, the drying motor 102, and the heating unit 103 with the power measuring means 9, the daily clothing amount used by the user and the actual measured power consumption value are held by the correcting means 11, The correction means 11 corrects the predicted power value of the power prediction means 6 at the clothing amount at the time of detection of the next cloth amount detection means 3 from the measured value.

  As described above, even when there are variations in individual differences of the clothing processing apparatus 100 used by the user by measuring the power value when the user uses the clothing processing apparatus 100 every day, By correcting from the actually measured power value, the power prediction means 6 can calculate a predicted power value with high accuracy.

  Note that, here, the predicted power consumption of the course selected by the user is displayed on the display unit before the operation starts. However, before the operation starts, when the user inputs clothing, the start command of the clothing processing apparatus 100 is given. It may be before the detergent amount is displayed after the detection of the amount of cloth, or immediately after the display, indicating that it is immediately before entering the washing process, and is displayed before the start of water supply, at the timing when the course can be changed. is there. In addition, when the course is changed after water supply, the same operation and effect can be obtained even if the predicted power value is calculated and displayed on the assumption of the cloth amount in the cloth amount detection before water supply.

  Here, the estimated value of power consumption is estimated from the power characteristics and the amount of clothing of each part, and the value of the predicted power amount is displayed before use, but it is too easy to wash from the amount of clothing. Since the amount of water to be used is also determined in advance, it is also possible to display the predicted water usage and display the water charge, display the water usage and power consumption at the same time, It is also possible to display the predicted utility cost as the utility cost combined with the charge.

  As described above, the clothing processing apparatus according to the present invention can confirm the predicted power consumption of the course selected by the user before the start of the operation, and the energy saving awareness such as a change to a course with a lower power consumption. Since the convenience of power saving can be improved, it is useful as a clothing processing apparatus such as a washing machine, a clothes dryer, and a washing dryer.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control part 2 Driving | operation operation part 3 Cloth amount detection means 4 Water quantity determination means 5 Display part 6 Electric power prediction means 7 Electric power characteristic holding part 8 Conversion part 9 Electric power measurement means 10 Recalculation instruction part 11 Correction means

Claims (6)

A driving operation unit that selects an operation course, a power prediction unit that predicts power consumption of the course selected by the driving operation unit, a display unit that displays a value predicted by the power prediction unit, and the driving operation unit. A control unit that controls the operation of the selected course, and the control unit displays the predicted power consumption of the course selected by the user in the driving operation unit on the display unit before the operation starts. Clothing processing equipment. The cloth amount detecting means for detecting the amount of clothes is provided, and the control unit calculates the power consumption amount from the cloth amount detected by the cloth amount detecting means by the power predicting means and displays it on the display unit. The clothing processing apparatus according to 1. After the predicted power value of the power prediction means is displayed on the display unit, it is equipped with a recalculation command unit that commands recalculation of power amount prediction when the user changes the course, and the predicted power consumption of the course set by the user 3. The clothing processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein after the operation is displayed on the display unit, when the user changes the setting, the predicted power amount is recalculated and displayed again on the display unit. A power amount determining means for determining the amount of water from the amount of cloth detected by the cloth amount detecting means; and a power characteristic holding section for holding load-power consumption characteristics in each step of the washing motor or the drying motor and the heating section. The power consumption in the selected course is calculated from the cloth amount of the cloth amount detection means, the water amount of the water amount determination means, the power characteristics of the power characteristic holding unit, and the operation time of each process, and the predicted power consumption value is calculated The clothing processing apparatus of any one of Claims 1-3 displayed on a display part. 5. The conversion unit according to claim 1, further comprising: a conversion unit that converts a power amount value of the power prediction means to display a predicted amount of the course selected by the user on the display unit before the operation is started. Clothing processing equipment. A power measurement unit that measures power consumption for each operation of clothing processing; a power value from the power measurement unit and a clothing amount of the cloth amount detection unit; and a predicted value of a power prediction unit that predicts power consumption 6. The correction means according to claim 1, wherein the correction means corrects the predicted power consumption of the course selected by the user and displays it on the display unit before the operation is started. The clothing processing apparatus as described.

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