JP2639862B2 - Fully automatic washing machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to dehydration control for a fully automatic washing machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a fully automatic washing machine, as shown in FIG. 9, a dewatering tub 2 is rotatably provided in a water tub 1, and a pulsator 3 is rotatably disposed at the bottom of the dewatering tub 2.

[0003] A rotary shaft 4 is mounted on the lower surface of the dewatering tank 2, the rotary shaft 4 has a double-shaft structure, a pulsator shaft 5 is disposed inside, and a pulley 6 is mounted on a lower end of the pulsator shaft 5. The pulley 6 is connected to a motor pulley 9 of a motor 8 via a belt 7.

The driving force of the motor 8 is applied to the pulsator 3
Or a switching mechanism 1 for transmitting to the pulsator 3 and the dewatering tank 2
0 is provided to switch between the washing step and the dehydrating step. The switching mechanism 10 includes a brake for stopping the rotation of the rotary shaft 4 and a clutch for interrupting the driving force from the pulsator shaft 5 to the rotary shaft 4.

A permanent magnet 1 is provided on the upper surface of the pulley 6.
1, a lead switch 12 is attached to the lower portion of the water tank 1 by an attachment angle 13 so as to face the permanent magnet 11, and the rotation of the pulley 6 is detected to control the drive of the motor 8 for the washing operation and the dehydrating operation. Is performed.

[0006] In such a fully automatic washing machine, a washing process is executed by putting the article to be washed into the dewatering tub 2 and rotating the pulsator 3. At the time of dehydration, the drain valve is opened and the water is drained, and when the completion of drainage is confirmed by a water level sensor (not shown), the clutch is in a disconnected state. 6, the pulsator shaft 5 and the rotating shaft 4 rotate integrally, and the dewatering tub 2 and the pulsator 3 rotate to centrifugally dehydrate the laundry.

When stopping the spinning, the motor 8 is turned off, and then the brake is applied to stop the spinning tub 2. Note that, during the spinning rotation, the read switch 11 generates one pulse per rotation.

[0008]

In a conventional fully automatic washing machine, if the dehydration operation is erroneously stopped by a manual operation while the dehydration step is being executed by the fully automatic operation, and the operation is immediately restarted, the operation is still unsatisfactory. When the dewatering tub 2 is rotating at a considerable speed, the clutch is interrupted, and the clutch may be rotated in a rubbed state to generate a loud noise.

In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fully automatic washing machine that eliminates noise by shifting to a dehydration preparation operation after the dehydration tub stops.

[0010]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention SUMMARY According to claim 1, rotatably dewatering tank 2 water tank 1 is furnished, the driving force of the motor 8 to the pulsator 3 or the pulsator 3 and dehydrating tub 2 In a fully automatic washing machine provided with a switching mechanism 10 for switching between the washing step and the dehydrating step by switching to transmit the rotation, a rotation detector 32 for detecting rotation of the dehydrating tub 2 and the switching during rotation of the dehydrating tub 2 A dehydration control device 33 for preventing the mechanism 10 from operating and generating noise from the switching mechanism 10;
Is a rotation speed measuring means 34 for detecting an output interval of an output signal of the rotation detector 32, and a rotation determination for judging whether or not the dewatering tub 2 is stopped based on a measurement result of the rotation speed measuring means 34. The means 35 and the switching mechanism 10 are operated when it is determined that the dehydration tub 2 is stopped, and the start of the switching mechanism 10 is waited when it is determined that the dehydration tub 2 is rotating. Dehydration preparation means 36 for performing
When the mechanism 10 is activated, the dewatering tank 2 stops thereafter.
Dehydration without judging whether or not it is in the dehydration process
And a dehydration continuation means 50 for executing the process .

According to a second aspect, as shown in FIG.
Is a brake B for stopping the rotating shaft 4 of the dewatering tub 2 during the washing process, and the pulsator shaft 5
A clutch C connected to the pulsator shaft 5 so as to rotate together therewith; a drain valve 24 for starting drainage when switching from the washing process to the dehydrating process; and the brake B and the clutch C.
And a switching motor 21 for operating the drain valve 24.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, during the rotation of the dewatering tub 2, the time T from the detection of the previous rotation pulse to the detection of the next rotation pulse by the rotation speed measuring means 34 is measured. . Here, when T ≦ T ₁ in comparison with the reference time T ₁ , the rotation determining means 35 determines that the dehydration tub 2
Is determined to be rotating at a high speed, and the dehydration preparation means 3
By 6, other work is processed without operating the switching mechanism 10.

When T> T ₁ , it is considered that the dewatering tub 2 has stopped, and if the dehydration preparation means 36 is in the dehydration mode,
While the water is drained by the drainage mechanism 30, the dewatering tank 2 is rotated to perform dehydration. Once the dehydration operation starts, it will rotate
As long as you are in dehydration mode regardless of the pulse interval,
Work continues. Switch immediately after dehydration mode ends
The mechanism 10 is operated, the switching motor 21 is turned off, and
The process is executed.

Therefore, since the switching mechanism 10 does not operate when the dewatering tub 2 is rotating, even if the dehydration operation is interrupted, the switching mechanism 1 must be stopped after the dehydration tub 2 is stopped.
The clutch lever 15 of 0 does not cling to the clutch gear 14, and the switching mechanism 10 does not generate noise.

In the second aspect, when switching to the dewatering step, the switching motor 21 is energized and slowly rotated in the direction of the arrow to open the drain valve 24 and move the clutch lever 15 away from the clutch gear 14. Then, after the brake band 17 is loosened, the motor 8 is energized to rotate the pulsator shaft 5 and the rotating shaft 4 integrally to perform a spin-drying operation.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a fully automatic washing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a control circuit diagram, FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a rotation detector, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a flow chart of dehydration control, and FIG. 6 is a detailed view of a switching mechanism.

In the fully automatic washing machine of the present embodiment, a dewatering tub 2 is rotatably mounted in a water tub 1 and a washing process is performed by switching the driving force of a motor 8 to the pulsator 3 or the pulsator 3 and the dehydrating tub 2. A rotation mechanism 32 for detecting rotation of the dewatering tub 2, and the switching mechanism 10 being operated while the dewatering tub 2 is rotating to generate noise from the switching mechanism 10. And a dehydration control device 33 for preventing this.

The dehydration control device 33 includes the rotation detector 3
Rotation speed measuring means 3 for detecting the output interval of the output signal 2
And rotation determining means 3 for determining whether or not the dehydration tub 2 is stopped based on the measurement result of the rotation speed measuring means 34.
5, when it is determined that the spin-drying tub 2 is stopped, the switching mechanism 10 is operated, and when it is determined that the spin-drying tub 2 is rotating, the start of the switching mechanism 10 is waited. Dehydration preparation means 36 is provided.

Since the configuration of the fully automatic washing machine is the same as that of the conventional one shown in FIG. 9, detailed description will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 6, the switching mechanism 10 includes a clutch gear 14 externally fitted to the rotating shaft 4 and the clutch gear 1.
A clutch lever 15 meshed with the brake lever 4, a brake band 17 wound around a brake wheel 16 mounted on the rotating shaft 4, a brake lever 18 for tightening and loosening the brake band 17, the clutch lever 15 and the brake lever The drive means 20 swings the shaft 18 around a shaft 19 and a speed reduction mechanism (not shown) for transmitting the driving force of the motor 8 to the pulsator 3 by reducing the rotation of the pulsator shaft 5. The clutch lever 15 is attached to a brake lever 18.

The driving means 20 includes a switching motor 21, a connection fitting 22 that abuts against the brake lever 18 and swings the brake lever 18, and the connection fitting 22 and the switching motor 2.
6 during rotation, the clutch lever 15 and the clutch gear 14 are separated from each other by rotating the switching motor 21 in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. The motor 8 is loosened, and the driving force of the motor 8 is transmitted from the pulsator shaft 5 to the rotating shaft 4. At the time of washing, the clutch lever 15 is engaged with the clutch gear 14, and the brake is applied, so that only the pulsator shaft 5 rotates.

A drain valve 24 is attached to one end of the connection fitting 22, and the drain valve 24 is opened by the rotation of the switching motor 21.

The switching motor 21 and the drain valve 24
Has a built-in return spring. When the switching motor 21 is turned off, the switching motor 21 returns to the original position by the urging force of the spring, and the drain valve 24 is closed.

The rotation detector 32 is provided with the permanent magnet 11
The reed switch 12 is connected to an input terminal a of a dehydration control device 33 composed of a microcomputer as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the dehydration control device 33 has driving terminals 37 and 38 for rotating the motor 8 at output terminals b and c.
, A dehydration switching drive block 39 for driving the switching motor 21 at an output terminal d, and a water supply valve 4 at an output terminal e.
A water supply drive block 41 that opens and closes 0 is connected. These drive blocks 37, 38, 39, 41
It is composed of a triac and a transistor.
One of the rotation drive blocks 37 is a motor 8
Rotate in the dehydrating direction, while the other 38 rotates the motor 8 in the reverse direction. In the drawing, 42 is a resistor, and 43 is a phase advance capacitor.

As shown in FIG. 4, the voltage waveform of the input terminal of the dehydration control device 33 input from the rotation detector 32 generates one pulse for each rotation of the pulley 6, and The rotation speed measuring means 34 measures the interval (time) T between the pulses.

The rotation judging means 35 compares the reference time T ₁ with the time T between the measured pulses, and if T> T ₁ , the dewatering tub 2 is stopped or is rotated slowly. It determines that there, T ≦ T ₁ if the dewatering tank 2 is determined to be rotating at a high speed.

The dehydration preparation means 36 is provided with the rotation determination means 3
Based on the determination result of 5, when the spin-drying tub 2 is rotating rapidly, the switching mechanism 10 is not operated to prevent the clutch lever 15 from catching on the clutch gear 14.

In the above configuration, during rotation of the dewatering tub 2,
The time T from the detection of the previous rotation pulse to the detection of the next rotation pulse is measured by the rotation speed measuring means 34. Here, assuming that the reference time T ₁ is 2.0 seconds, T ≦
At 2.0 seconds, that is, within 2.0 seconds after the detection of the rotation pulse, the rotation determining means 35 determines that the spin-drying tub 2 is rotating at a high speed. The other work is processed while the motor 21 is kept off. During this time, if a rotation pulse is detected,
The timer is cleared with T = 0. When the rotation pulse is not detected, T is timed up.

When T> 2.0 seconds, if 2.0 seconds or more have passed since the detection of the rotation pulse, it is considered that the dehydration tub 2 has stopped, and if the dehydration preparation unit 36 is in the dehydration mode, After energizing the switching motor 21 of the switching mechanism 10 and slowly rotating it in the direction of the arrow, the drain valve 24 is opened, the clutch lever 15 is moved away from the clutch gear 14, and the brake band 17 is loosened. Motor 8
, The pulsator shaft 5 and the rotating shaft 4 are integrally rotated to perform a spin-drying operation.

Accordingly, the switching mechanism 10 does not operate when the dewatering tub 2 is rotating. Therefore, even if the dewatering operation is interrupted, the clutch lever 15 is moved to the clutch gear 14 until the dewatering tub 2 is stopped. I can't get caught. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the switching mechanism 10 from operating while the dewatering tub 2 is rotating, thereby preventing the clutch and the brake from rubbing and generating noise.

Further, since the switching motor is driven after detecting the stop of the dehydrating tub, the dehydrating operation can be started immediately if the dehydrating tub is stopped, unlike the control of waiting for a predetermined time by a timer. In addition, even when the amount of the laundry to be washed is large and the dehydration tub does not stop easily, the switching mechanism does not operate unless the dehydration tub is stopped. It does not generate noise compared to the one.

By using the switching motor 21, the noise at the time of switching can be reduced as compared with the case of driving by a solenoid.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 7 is a control block diagram of a fully automatic washing machine showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a flow chart of the same dewatering control.

In this embodiment, when it is determined by the dehydration control device 33 of the fully automatic washing machine that the dehydration tub 2 is stopped,
Once the switching mechanism 10 is operated by the dehydration preparation means 36, a dehydration continuation means 50 is provided for executing the dehydration step thereafter without determining whether or not the dehydration tub 2 is stopped. The other configuration is the same as the first embodiment.

The dehydration continuation means 50 has a function of determining whether or not the dehydration mode has been started when the dehydration tub 2 is considered to have stopped. When the dehydration mode is started, the flag is set to M = 1. When the mode is not the dehydration mode, M = 0.

In the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 8, the time T from the detection of the previous rotation pulse to the detection of the next rotation pulse is measured. At this time, since the dehydration mode has not been set yet, M = 0. for that reason,
The switching motor 21 remains off regardless of the rotation of the spin-drying tub 2.

[0039] When the T> T ₁ by detecting the interval of the rotational pulse again, considered a dehydrating tub 2 is stopped, switching the motor 21 is turned on if the dehydration mode. At the same time, M = 1, and the dehydration operation is started.

Once the spin-drying operation is started, the spin-drying operation is continued as long as the spin-drying mode is set regardless of the rotation pulse interval. When the dehydration mode ends, the switching motor 21 is immediately turned off, M = 0, and the next step is executed.

Here, in the first embodiment, if the dehydration mode is completed after detecting the interval of the rotation pulse,
Although the switching motor 21 is turned off, this embodiment does not require a time for detecting the interval of the rotation pulse, so that the processing time on software is shortened and the control can be simplified.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that many modifications and changes can be made to the above-described embodiment within the scope of the present invention.

For example, by detecting the rotation speed of the dewatering tank 2,
Control may be performed to determine whether the switching mechanism 10 can be operated based on the speed.

[0044]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the output interval of the output signal of the rotation detector is detected, and it is determined whether or not the dehydration tub is stopped. If it is determined that the dehydration tub is stopped, the switching mechanism is operated, and if it is determined that the dehydration tub is rotating, it is controlled to wait for the switching mechanism to start. The switching mechanism does not operate when
Even if the dehydrating operation is intermittently performed, the clutch lever of the switching mechanism does not catch on the clutch gear, no noise is generated, and the switching mechanism is not damaged. Also, stop the dehydration tank
Since the switching motor is driven after detecting
The dehydration tank is stopped unlike the control that waits for a certain time
Then, the dehydration operation can be started immediately. Moreover, during the dehydration
When the amount of laundry is large and the dehydration tub does not stop easily
However, the switching mechanism must operate only after the dehydration tank has stopped.
The switching mechanism is automatically activated after a while.
It does not generate noise as compared with.

Further, after the start of the dehydrating operation, the dehydrating tank is stopped.
Execute the dehydration process without determining whether it is stopped
As soon as the spin-drying process is completed,
Can shift to the process. Therefore, the rotation of the dehydration tank is detected.
Less washing time and less washing time
And control can be simplified.

According to the second aspect, since the brake, the clutch and the drain valve are operated by the switching motor, the noise at the time of switching can be reduced as compared with the case where the solenoid is driven.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a fully automatic washing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a control circuit diagram in the same manner.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a rotation detector.

FIG. 4 is a waveform diagram of an output pulse from a rotation detector.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of dehydration control.

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of a switching mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a control block diagram of a fully automatic washing machine showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart for dehydration control.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of a fully automatic washing machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Water tank 2 Dehydration tank 3 Pulsator 4 Rotation axis 5 Pulsator axis 8 Motor 10 Switching mechanism 21 Switching motor 24 Drain valve 32 Rotation detector 33 Dehydration control device 34 Rotation speed measurement means 35 Rotation determination means 36 Dehydration preparation means B Brake C clutch

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A fully automatic washing machine in which a dewatering tub is rotatably provided in a water tub, and a switching mechanism for switching between a washing step and a dehydrating step by switching a driving force of a motor to a pulsator or a pulsator and a dehydrating tank. On the machine,
A rotation detector that detects the rotation of the dehydration tub, and a dehydration control device that prevents the switching mechanism from operating and generating noise from the switching mechanism while the dehydration tub is rotating, are provided. A rotation speed measuring means for detecting an output interval of an output signal of the rotation detector; a rotation determining means for determining whether or not the dehydration tub is stopped based on a measurement result of the rotation speed measurement means; If it is determined that the dehydration is stopped, the switching mechanism is operated, and if it is determined that the dehydration tub is rotating, the dehydration preparation means for waiting for the start of the switching mechanism, and the switching mechanism includes: Later when activated
Does not judge whether the dewatering tank is stopped or not
A fully automatic washing machine characterized by having a dehydration continuation means for judging whether or not to execute the dehydration step . 2. A switching mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a brake for stopping a rotating shaft of the dewatering tub during the washing process, a clutch for connecting the rotating shaft to the pulsator shaft so as to rotate together with the pulsator shaft during the dewatering process, and A fully automatic washing machine comprising: a drain valve for starting drainage when switching from a process to a dehydration process; and a switching motor for operating the brake, clutch and drain valve.