JP2013126475A - Drum type washing machine and drum type washing and drying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drum type washing machine performing a washing operation with high washing performance when hardness of washing water is high.SOLUTION: The drum type washing machine includes: a drum 1 for storing laundry and rotating the laundry; a receiving cylinder 2 for storing the drum 1; a drum driving section 3 for driving the drum 1, a hardness detection section 14 for determining hardness of washing water to be used for washing; and a control section 70 for inputting an output of the hardness detection section 14 and controlling a washing process. The washing process includes an agitation process of rotating the drum 1 at a low speed, at which laundry is not adhered in the drum 1, and a centrifugal force washing process of discharging the washing water from the laundry by centrifugal force. The control section 70 increases the number of rotation of the drum 1 in the centrifugal force washing process as the hardness of the washing water determined by the hardness detection section 14 becomes higher.

Description

  The present invention includes a drum-type washing machine that includes a drum (washing tub) that is rotatable by accommodating laundry in an elastically supported outer tub, and performs washing, rinsing, and dewatering of the laundry in the drum. The present invention relates to a drum type washing and drying machine.

  Conventionally, in a drum type washing machine, tap water is supplied from the outside of the washing machine by water supply means after the laundry is put into the drum, and the drum is received through a detergent container in which a detergent has been put in advance. Water is supplied to the cylinder or drum. After the water supply, the laundry was sufficiently wet with the washing water while the drum rotated at a low speed. After that, while the drum rotates for a certain period of time at a low speed that prevents the laundry from sticking to the drum wall surface, cleaning is performed by removing dirt by the impact of the wet laundry falling from the top of the drum as it rotates. Has been done. In such a drum-type washing machine, particularly when the amount of laundry is large, it is difficult to uniformly wet the clothes put in the drum in the process of wetting the laundry, and uneven washing occurs. There has been a problem that the cleaning performance is significantly reduced.

  Therefore, after the water supply, the drum is swung by rotating at a predetermined speed that is relatively low, and the rotational speed is higher than the angular speed at which the washing water in the laundry can be discharged out of the drum by centrifugal force. Thus, it has been considered that the laundry is stirred by rotating the drum at a rotational speed higher than a predetermined rotational speed to perform washing and washing (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In addition, if the washing water used for washing is hard water (high hardness) containing a large amount of mineral components such as calcium and magnesium, the detergent and soap components may combine with the mineral components before washing clothes. Therefore, it is known that sufficient detergency cannot be obtained, or conversely soft water (low hardness) increases detergency.

JP-A-8-299658

  However, in the above washing machine, regardless of the hardness of the washing water used for the washing that has been thrown in, a constant high-speed rotation operation is performed, so when the washing power used for washing is high, the washing power is low. Since the rotation speed is the same as when the hardness of water is low, there is a problem that the cleaning performance cannot be ensured as compared with the case where the altitude of the cleaning water is low.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the conventional problems described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a drum type washing machine that performs a washing operation with high washing performance even when the hardness of washing water is high.

In order to solve the above problems, a drum-type washing machine according to the present invention includes a drum that accommodates and rotates laundry, a receiving cylinder that accommodates the drum, a drum driving unit that drives the drum, and a washing used for washing. A hardness detection unit that determines the hardness of water and a control unit that inputs the output of the hardness detection unit and controls the washing process, and the washing process does not stick to the laundry in the drum. A stirring step of rotating the drum at low speed, and a centrifugal force washing step of discharging the washing water from the laundry by centrifugal force, wherein the controller has a hardness of the washing water determined by the hardness detector The higher the value, the higher the rotational speed of the drum in the centrifugal washing step.

  As a result, when the hardness is high, the rotational speed of the high-speed rotation can be increased, and the washing water can be efficiently applied to the dirt on the clothes to increase the washing power.

  The drum type washing machine of the present invention can realize a drum type washing machine capable of performing a washing operation in which washing performance according to the hardness of washing water used for washing is ensured.

Side surface sectional drawing which shows schematic structure of the drum type washing machine which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. Control block diagram of the drum type washing machine The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the control part at the time of a washing operation in the drum type washing machine.

  A drum-type washing machine according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a drum that accommodates and rotates laundry, a receiving cylinder that accommodates the drum, a drum drive that drives the drum, and the hardness of washing water used for washing. A hardness detection unit that determines the output of the hardness detection unit, and a control unit that controls the washing process, the washing process at a low speed that does not stick the laundry in the drum A stirring step of rotating the drum, and a centrifugal force washing step of discharging the washing water by centrifugal force from the laundry, the control unit, the higher the hardness of the washing water determined by the hardness detection unit, The number of rotations of the drum in the centrifugal cleaning step is increased.

  With such a configuration, when the hardness of the washing water used for washing is high, the rotational speed of the high-speed rotation can be increased, and the washing water can be efficiently applied to the dirt on the clothes to increase the washing power. On the other hand, when the hardness is low, the rotational speed of the high-speed rotation can be lowered to suppress the power consumption of the drum drive motor, and an operation with high energy saving performance is possible. Furthermore, when the level of the washing water is low (soft water), the detergent and soap components are easily dissolved and bubbles are easily formed. Therefore, when the washing water is soft water, the occurrence of abnormal foaming can be suppressed by setting the high-speed rotation of the drum low.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the drum-type washing machine according to the first aspect of the present invention further includes a water-containing means for causing the laundry to contain the washing water, and the water-containing means is configured to wash the laundry in the centrifugal force washing step. It is designed to contain water.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to increase the cleaning power by causing the cleaning water to act on the dirt attached to the laundry.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the drum-type washing machine according to the second aspect of the invention, the water-containing means contains water by immersing a part of the laundry in the washing water collected on the inner bottom portion of the receiving cylinder. is there.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to effectively absorb the washing water on which the dirt has not yet adhered to the laundry, and promote replacement of the washing water contained in the clothing fiber.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the drum-type washing machine according to the second aspect, the water-containing means sucks the washing water accumulated in the inner bottom portion of the receiving cylinder and discharges it again to the laundry in the drum. It is what is.

  With such a configuration, the cleaning water can be circulated only by controlling the circulation pump. Therefore, the cleaning water is circulated irrespective of the cleaning control that controls the normal cleaning power such as the water flow by the drum rotation, and the cleaning water that has not yet been contaminated. Can be effectively absorbed by the laundry, and the replacement of the washing water contained in the clothing fibers can be promoted.

  According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the drum type washing machine according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, determination of hardness by the hardness detection unit is performed using a conductivity sensor.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to deal with accurate hardness determination according to the amount of mineral components contained in the wash water used for washing and washing according to the water hardness.

  According to a sixth aspect of the invention, the drum type washing machine according to any one of the first to fourth aspects further includes an input setting unit, and the hardness detection unit has a hardness set by the user via the input setting unit. The hardness is determined accordingly.

  With such a configuration, a new device for determining the hardness is not required, and the determination time is not required, so that the configuration can be simplified and the determination of the hardness can be realized at a low cost.

  A seventh invention is a drum type washing and drying machine including the drum type washing machine according to any one of the first to sixth inventions and a drying means for drying the washed clothes.

  In this way, by applying any of the above drum type washing machines, it is possible to realize a drum type washing and drying machine having high cleaning power and energy saving according to the hardness of water used for washing.

  Hereinafter, a drum type washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, the following embodiment is an example which actualized this invention, Comprising: The thing of the character which limits the technical scope of this invention is not.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a drum type washing machine according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the drum type washing machine according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, a cylindrical drum 1 having a bottom surface with a front opening that accommodates laundry is supported in a casing 100 and is accommodated in a cylindrical receiving cylinder 2 that stores cleaning water. A drum drive motor 3 (drum drive unit) is attached to the back surface of the receiving cylinder 2 to rotate the drum 1 while tilting the rotating shaft forward. By arranging the drum 1 and the receiving cylinder 2 to be inclined, a deep water storage state can be achieved with a small amount of water. If the amount of water supply is not taken into consideration, it is not always necessary to use an inclined configuration, and it may be horizontal.

  The first water supply port 4a and the second water supply port 4b are connected to the water supply, and the receiving cylinder 2 and the drum 1 are sequentially filled with water through the first water supply valve 5a and the second water supply valve 5b, respectively. To go. Between the 1st water supply valve 5a and the receiving cylinder 2, the detergent case 18 (detergent throwing-in part) for throwing in a detergent previously is provided. Water is supplied into the drum 1 through the water supply pipe 19 while the supplied water and the detergent are mixed. Further, the water supplied from the second water supply valve is directly supplied to the receiving cylinder 2 without passing through the detergent case 18.

Although not shown, the lowest part of the receiving tube 2 is provided with a heater 28 (heating unit) for heating the cleaning water stored in the receiving tube 2. Increasing the viscosity can activate the detergent and increase the cleaning power. Further, a water intake 6 is connected to the lowest part of the receiving cylinder 2, and washing water after washing and rinsing water after rinsing are drained out of the machine through a drain valve 7 through a drain valve 7. Can do. The water intake 6 is provided with a water level sensor 9 (water level detection unit) for detecting the level of water supplied to the receiving cylinder 2 and the drum 1.

  A circulating water channel 11 communicates between the water intake 6 and the drain valve 7. The circulation channel 11 is connected to a discharge port 10 that discharges the cleaning water taken in from the water intake port 6 to the drum 1, so that the cleaning water and the rinsing water of the receiving cylinder 2 can be circulated. If the water is taken into the circulation channel 11 using the circulation pump 12, the washing water can be circulated only by the control of the circulation pump 12. It can be circulated irrespective of the cleaning control that controls the normal cleaning power.

  If the circulating water at the time of circulation contains a lot of foreign matter such as laundry fibers or hair, the circulation pump 12 may be clogged. Therefore, the drainage filter 13 installed at the end of the water intake 6 causes the laundry fibers and Foreign objects such as hair are removed.

  The hardness detector 14 is installed in the circulating water channel 11 and determines the hardness of the taken-in cleaning water. The hardness detector 14 in the present embodiment is composed of a conductivity sensor that can detect the electrical conductivity in water passing through the circulating water channel 11. Since the water content of minerals varies depending on the country and region, and the conductivity of water varies depending on the mineral content, the hardness of the water is determined according to the output of the conductivity sensor. The Moreover, since the result of the hardness detection part 14 changes also with the kind of detergent, it is necessary to measure the hardness of water before a detergent is thrown in. Therefore, the hardness of water before the detergent is mixed is measured by supplying water directly from the second water supply valve 5b to the receiving tube 2 without passing through the detergent case 18.

  Since the hardness detection unit 14 is installed in the circulation water channel 11, the hardness detection unit 14 reads the amount of change in the conductivity of the wash water in which the dirt component contained in the laundry has melted, and detects the degree of dirt on the laundry. It is also possible to have a function as a sensor. That is, if the output of the conductivity sensor increases during washing, it can be detected that there is a lot of dirt attached to the laundry.

  The casing 100 is provided with a door body 15 facing the opening end side of the drum 1, and the user opens and closes the laundry body (clothing) with respect to the drum 1 by opening the door body 15. be able to.

  A plurality of protrusions 16 are provided on the inner peripheral wall of the drum 1. By rotating the drum 1 at a low speed, it is possible to perform an agitation operation (tumbling operation) in which clothes are hooked by the protrusions 16 and lifted upward and then dropped at an appropriate height. A plurality of through holes 17 are provided on the inner peripheral wall of the drum 1 so that water can freely pass between the drum 1 and the receiving cylinder 2.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the drum type washing machine has a control unit 70. The control unit 70 displays setting information input from the user via the input setting unit 30 on the display unit 31. Based on the setting information and the operation state monitoring of each part, a series of operation operations including washing, rinsing and dehydration are controlled.

The control unit 70 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores programs, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that stores programs and data when various processes are executed, an input / output interface, and these Can be configured by a bus connecting the two. Further, the control unit 70 has a timer 71. As the timer 71, an internal timer incorporated as an internal function in the operation of the control unit 70 can be used. As the timer 71, a timer device independent from the control unit 70 can be used.

  In the drum type washing machine, AC power 20 is rectified by a rectifier 24 and then smoothed by a smoothing circuit including a choke coil 25 and a smoothing capacitor 26. Then, the drum drive motor 3 is rotationally driven by the inverter circuit 22 using the smoothed DC power as drive power. The control unit 70 controls the rotation of the drum drive motor 3 based on the driving instruction input from the input setting unit 30 and the monitoring information of the driving state detected by each detecting unit. Further, the control unit 70 controls operations of necessary loads such as the water supply valve 5, the drain valve 7, and the circulation pump 12 through the load driving unit 23.

  The drum drive motor 3 includes, for example, a stator having three-phase windings 3a, 3b, and 3c and a rotor having a two-pole permanent magnet, and is configured as a DC brushless motor provided with three position detection elements 27a to 27c. can do. The drum drive motor 3 can be rotationally controlled by an inverter circuit 22 configured to be capable of PWM control by the switching elements 22a to 22f. Here, the rotor position detection signals detected by the position detection elements 27 a to 27 c are input to the control unit 70. Then, the control unit 70 outputs a control signal to the inverter drive circuit 21 based on the rotor position detection signal, and performs PWM control of the on / off states of the switching elements 22a to 22f via the inverter drive circuit 21. In this way, the control unit 70 controls energization of the stator three-phase windings 3a, 3b, and 3c, and rotates the rotor of the drum drive motor 3 at a desired rotational speed. The control unit 70 detects the cycle whenever the signal state of any of the three position detection elements 27a to 27c changes, and calculates the rotation speed of the rotor from the cycle by the rotation number detection unit 72 as an internal function. To do.

  Further, the cloth amount detection unit 73 detects a current signal flowing through the drum drive motor 3 to determine the weight of the drum 1, that is, the weight of the laundry.

  Hereinafter, the operation and effect of the drum type washing machine configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit during the washing operation in the drum type washing machine according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  When the laundry is put into the washing machine and the laundry is started, the control unit 70 detects the amount of the laundry (S1). The amount of laundry is detected by detecting the magnitude of the current signal of the drum drive motor 3 when the drum drive motor 3 is controlled to rotate the drum 1 together with the laundry.

  The amount of water supply is determined based on the amount of laundry. For example, when it is determined that the amount of laundry is “low”, WL1 at the “low” water level becomes the set water level. When it is determined that the amount of laundry is “medium”, the “medium” water level WL2 becomes the set water level. When it is determined that the amount of laundry is “large”, the WL3 at the “high” water level becomes the set water level (S2).

  Next, the control unit 70 opens the second water supply valve 5b (S3), and supplies water to the receiving cylinder 2 and the drum 1 until the hardness determination water level is reached (S4).

  Next, when the hardness determination water level is reached (YES in S4), the second water supply valve 5b is closed (S5). Thereafter, the controller 70 determines the hardness of the cleaning water based on the output detected by the hardness detector 14 (S6).

Thereafter, the first water supply valve 5a is opened (S7), and cleaning water containing detergent is supplied to the receiving cylinder 2 and the drum 1 (S7). When the washing set water level is reached (YES in S8), the first water supply valve 5a is closed (S9).

  Next, a stirring process for rotating the drum 1 at a low speed is started (S10). At this time, the rotation speed of the drum 1 is such that the laundry is lifted in the drum 1 and dropped from the top of the drum 1 due to gravity, and the kinetic energy at the time of dropping is effectively applied to the drum 1 wall surface by centrifugal force. The rotation speed is not enough. Although depending on the quantity and quality of the laundry, 50 rpm or less is preferable. The rotation direction may be the same direction or periodically switched.

  At this time, the control unit 70 controls the circulation pump 12 to circulate cleaning water in which the detergent is sufficiently dissolved from the discharge port 10 into the drum 1 through the circulation water channel 11. This facilitates penetration of the wash water into the laundry. For this reason, the rotation speed of the circulation pump 12 is set to a rotation speed at which the circulating water is firmly discharged into the drum 1 and the washing water can easily penetrate into the laundry.

  After a certain time (for example, 2 minutes) has elapsed (YES in S11), a centrifugal force process for rotating the drum 1 at a high speed at the rotation speed of the parameter R is started. If the determination result of the hardness detected in S6 is a hardness of 120 mg / L or more (YES in S12), the parameter R that is the number of high-speed rotations in the centrifugal force washing step is set to 300 rpm (S13). If the hardness is not 120 mg / L or more (NO in S12), it is confirmed whether the hardness is 60 to 120 mg / L (S14). If it is 60 to 120 mg / L (YES in S14), the parameter R is set to 200 rpm. (S15). If the hardness is less than 60 mg / L (NO in S14), the parameter R is set to 150 rpm (S16). That is, it is assumed that the value of the parameter R is larger as the hardness determined by the hardness detector 14 is higher.

  The drum is rotated at a high speed at the rotational speed of the parameter R determined as described above (S17). The laundry is stuck in the direction of the wall surface of the drum 1 due to the centrifugal force generated by rotating the drum 1 at high speed, and the moisture contained in the laundry is squeezed out, and then the through-hole 17 of the drum 1. And moves to the receiving cylinder 2 side. The speed at which the drum 1 is rotated at a high speed is preferably 150 rpm or more, more preferably 300 rpm or more, at which the moisture contained in the laundry can be forcibly separated by centrifugal force.

However, in the present embodiment, the rotational speed is varied according to the hardness of water previously determined by the hardness detector 14. In other words, when the hardness is low, it is not necessary to rotate at a high speed up to 300 rpm, and the energy saving operation with low motor power consumption is performed with the minimum required 150 rpm for removing the moisture contained in the laundry. On the other hand, when the hardness is high, high-speed rotation up to 300 rpm effectively promotes replacement of the washing water contained in the laundry.
Further, the unit operation for performing high-speed rotation may be a continuous one-time operation, which may be repeatedly performed intermittently such as ON / OFF in a short time.

  In this centrifugal force washing process in which the drum is rotated at a high speed, washing water in the vicinity of the clothing fibers containing a detergent made of a surfactant adhering to the soiling material of the clothing fibers during the previous stirring step is subjected to centrifugal force. Thus, it becomes possible to efficiently remove the dirt substance from the fiber together with the washing water. Furthermore, if the washing water is discharged toward the laundry in the drum 1 by the circulation pump 12 at the time of high-speed rotation, the washing water that has not yet adhered dirt is effectively absorbed by the laundry. The replacement of the washing water contained in the fibers can be promoted.

  The time for rotating the drum 1 at a high speed may be a relatively short time as long as the washing water contained in the laundry can be squeezed out, for example, 30 seconds (YES in S18).

Subsequently, the drum low-speed stirring step is performed again (S19). In this step, the circulation pump 12 is started in the same manner as in the step S12 and discharged from the discharge port 10 into the drum 1 via the circulation water channel 11. At this time, the drum 1 rotates at a rotation speed such that the laundry does not stick and rolls in the drum 1, and the timing at which the circulation pump 12 is operated and the washing water is discharged from the discharge port 10 is intermittent even if it is continuous. It doesn't matter.

  After the process of rotating the drum 1 at a high speed, the process of stirring the drum at a low speed is further performed to further remove the dirt substances remaining on the fibers by the chemical force of the detergent and the mechanical force accompanying the rotation of the drum 1. It becomes possible to take. If there is a high concentration of soil substances in the wash water between the fibers, there is a concern of reattachment to the fibers, but the dirt that is surrounded by the detergent surfactant is difficult to reattach and is not attached to the dirt. Since only the surfactant sticks to the laundry, it can work against the remaining dirt.

  The time of the drum low-speed stirring process may be fixed at a specific time regardless of the amount of cloth because it is sufficient to allow the remaining detergent to sufficiently penetrate the laundry. For example, in this embodiment, if the washing process ends after 5 minutes (YES in S20), the calculation and the constant table can be reduced, so the load on the control unit 70 can be reduced.

  As described above, the lower the hardness of the water determined by the hardness detector 14, the lower the rotation speed of the drum in the centrifugal force process, so that the cleaning water having a high detergent concentration is replaced with the cleaning water contained in the laundry. Therefore, cleaning can be performed with the minimum power consumption of the drum drive motor, and energy-saving operation can be realized. On the other hand, the higher the hardness determined by the hardness detector 14 is, the higher the rotation speed of the drum in the centrifugal force process, thereby effectively increasing the cleaning power by promoting the replacement of the cleaning liquid contained in the laundry. it can.

  In the above embodiment, the hardness detection unit 14 is installed in the circulating water channel 11 to determine the hardness of the washing water that has passed through the receiving cylinder 2. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It is not something. That is, it is good also as a structure which installs between the water supply valve 5 and the detergent case 18, and determines the hardness of the water immediately after water supply. That is, the hardness of the water before being supplied to the receiving cylinder 2 can be determined. Thereby, the hardness of the water which is not mixed with the detergent can be determined without providing a plurality of water supply channels.

  Moreover, the hardness detection part 14 is good also as a structure which determines the hardness of water according to the hardness which the user set via the input setting part. That is, the user determines the hardness level by determining the hardness level of water such as tap water known at the place of use (residence), and the hardness input via the input setting unit is determined by the hardness detection unit 14. It is good also as a structure.

  In the above embodiment, the cleaning step in which the drum high-speed rotation step (S14) is performed only once is exemplified, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the amount of laundry is large, the drum high-speed rotation step (S16) and the drum low-speed stirring step (S18) are alternately repeated a plurality of times, thereby increasing the frequency of the drum high-speed rotation step and making dirt more powerful. It can also be set as the washing process which can be discharged to.

  In each of the above embodiments, a drum type washing machine having only a washing function has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a drum type having both a washing function and a clothes drying function. It can also be applied to washing and drying machines.

  The washing machine and the washing / drying machine according to the present invention are not limited to a home-use drum-type washing machine or a washing / drying machine, but also a home-use vertical washing machine, a vertical washing / drying machine, or a commercial drum-type washing machine or It can be used widely and suitably for drum-type washing and drying machines.

1 drum 2 receiving tube (water tank)
3 Drum drive (drum drive motor)
4a 1st water supply port 4b 2nd water supply port 5a 1st water supply valve 5b 2nd water supply valve 6 Water intake 7 Drain valve 8 Drain pipe 9 Water level detection part (water level sensor)
10 Discharge port 11 Circulating water channel 12 Water containing means (circulation pump)
13 Drain filter 14 Hardness detector 15 Door 16 Protrusion 17 Through hole 18 Detergent case (detergent input part)
19 Water Supply Piping 30 Input Setting Unit 31 Display Unit 70 Control Unit 100 Case

Claims (7)

A drum that houses and rotates laundry;
A receiving cylinder for housing the drum;
A drum driving unit for driving the drum;
A hardness detector for detecting the hardness of the washing water used for washing;
A controller that inputs the output of the hardness detector and controls the washing process;
The washing step includes a stirring step of rotating the drum at a low speed such that the laundry does not stick in the drum, and a centrifugal force washing step of discharging the washing water from the laundry by centrifugal force,
The said control part is a drum-type washing machine which makes the rotation speed of the said drum in the said centrifugal force washing process high, so that the hardness of the said washing water determined by the said hardness detection part is high. Further comprising water-containing means for containing the washing water in the laundry,
The drum-type washing machine according to claim 1, wherein the water-containing means causes the laundry to contain the washing water in the centrifugal washing step. The drum-type washing machine according to claim 2, wherein the water-containing means contains water by immersing a part of the laundry in the washing water collected in the inner bottom portion of the receiving cylinder. The drum-type washing machine according to claim 2, wherein the water-containing means is a circulating shower that sucks the washing water accumulated in the inner bottom portion of the receiving cylinder and discharges the washing water again into the laundry in the drum. The drum type washing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein determination of hardness by the hardness detection unit is performed using a conductivity sensor. An input setting unit,
The drum type washing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the hardness detection unit determines the hardness according to the hardness set by the user via the input setting unit. A drum type washing machine including the drum type washing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 6 and a drying means for drying the washed clothes.