JP3229845B2 - Centrifugal dehydrator - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for dewatering laundry or removing a solvent for washing by storing laundry in a basket-shaped drum and rotating the drum at high speed about a horizontal axis. The present invention relates to a centrifugal dehydrator to be executed (herein, it is referred to as a “centrifugal dehydrator” including a centrifugal dehydrator for a solvent). Needless to say, the present invention can be used for a washing machine or a washing / drying machine that continuously performs washing, spin-drying, and drying.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A drum-type centrifugal dehydrator has a structure in which washed clothes are accommodated in a basket-shaped drum, and the drum is rotated at a high speed about a horizontal axis. One of the major problems with this type of centrifugal dehydrator is that when the drum is rotated at high speed while the clothes are not evenly distributed on the inner peripheral wall of the drum, abnormal vibration occurs due to imbalance in the mass distribution around the rotation axis. Or abnormal noise. In a commercially available drum type washer / dryer equipped with this type of centrifugal dehydrator, a weight is mounted around an outer tub in which the drum is installed in order to suppress such abnormal vibration. Therefore, this type of conventional washer / dryer was very heavy, had a limited installation location, and was difficult to move and transport.

Several centrifugal dehydrators for solving abnormal vibrations in a drum type centrifugal dehydrator have been conventionally proposed. For example, JP-A-6-254294
In the centrifugal dewatering device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H11-157, a method of uniformly distributing and arranging clothes inside the drum by low-speed rotation of the drum before performing a dehydration operation by high-speed rotation of the drum is disclosed. More specifically, a two-stage drum rotation control in which the drum is rotated at a low speed for an extremely short time, and then the drum is rotated at a rotation speed slightly higher than the rotation speed but sufficiently lower than the rotation speed during the spin-drying operation. Is combined to disperse the clothes inside the drum.

Further, in this prior art, a vibration monitoring sensor is installed on a pedestal portion of the apparatus as a means for detecting imbalance of clothes in a drum, and the rotational speed of the drum is reduced to a high rotational speed for performing a dehydrating operation. When the vibration monitoring sensor detects abnormal vibration when the sensor is raised, the rotation speed is reduced.

[0005]

However, even if the method of controlling the rotation of the drum as in the above-mentioned prior art is used, the clothes are not always uniformly dispersed by one low-speed rotation of the drum. If the drum is rotated at a high speed after trying to disperse the clothes by the low-speed rotation of the drum, and abnormal vibration occurs at that time, it is necessary to perform the low-speed rotation of the drum again to redistribute the clothes. In this manner, when the dispersion of clothes by low-speed rotation of the drum and the detection of imbalance by high-speed rotation of the drum are repeated a plurality of times, there is a problem that a long time is required for the dehydration process.

Furthermore, in the above-described method of achieving uniform dispersion, uniform dispersion is impossible when only one relatively heavy clothes (for example, jeans) is stored in the drum. However, there is a major problem that abnormal vibration cannot be suppressed.

[0007] For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 7-1000009 discloses a centrifugal dehydrator for adjusting the balance by adding a weight to a part of the inner peripheral wall of the drum. According to this conventional technique, when the weight reaches the highest position in the drum, the laundry is determined to be in a position facing the weight with respect to the drum rotation axis due to gravity, and that the two are balanced. A transition is made from low-speed rotation to high-speed dehydration rotation. However, even by such a method, there is no guarantee that the operation can be shifted to the high-speed spinning rotation with the weight and the laundry being surely balanced, and the abnormal vibration cannot be completely prevented during the spinning rotation. Of course, it would be possible to achieve a balance by imposing strict conditions such as storing the laundry of a predetermined weight according to the weight of the weight in the drum, but this is not the case in an actual centrifugal dehydrator. Not realistic.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to appropriately adjust the balance even if a large number of clothes or only one piece of clothing is accommodated in a drum. An object of the present invention is to provide a centrifugal dewatering device that can reliably avoid occurrence of abnormal vibration and abnormal noise during high-speed spinning.

[0009]

A first centrifugal dewatering apparatus according to the present invention, which has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, accommodates laundry in a basket-shaped drum and moves the drum around a horizontal axis. A centrifugal dewatering device that dewaters the laundry by rotating the liquid; a) a hollow liquid holding portion formed on a part of the drum wall; and b) a centrifugal force that rotates together with the drum and supplies liquid supplied from outside. Liquid guide means for temporarily holding the liquid inside and feeding the liquid to the liquid holding section through a communication hole communicating with the liquid holding section; c) liquid injecting means for supplying liquid to the liquid guide means when the drum rotates; and d) a drum. E) eccentricity of the drum when the drum is rotated at a rotation speed such that the centrifugal force acting on the laundry exceeds the gravity by the rotation control means. Load magnitude An eccentric load detecting means for detecting the position of the eccentric load detected by the eccentric load detecting means before the liquid is introduced into the liquid holding section, in the drum, facing the liquid holding section. G) determining means for determining whether or not the eccentric load is near the position; andg) detecting the eccentric load when the determining means determines that the position of the eccentric load is near the position facing the liquid holding portion in the drum. Injection control means for controlling the liquid injection means so as to introduce liquid into the liquid holding unit until the magnitude of the eccentric load detected by the means becomes a predetermined value or less,
It is characterized by having.

[0010] In the second centrifugal dehydrator according to the present invention, in the first centrifugal dehydrator, the position of the eccentric load is determined by the determination means to be not near the position facing the liquid holding portion in the drum. At this time, the rotation control means performs the rearrangement of the laundry by controlling the motor so that the drum rotates at a rotation speed in a range where the centrifugal force acting on the laundry is smaller than the gravity.

A third centrifugal dehydrator according to the present invention is the centrifugal dehydrator according to the first or second aspect, wherein the eccentric load detected by the eccentric load detecting means before the liquid is introduced into the liquid holding unit. When the size is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value, the rotation control means rotates the drum at a high spin-dry speed without injecting the liquid into the liquid holding means.

In a fourth centrifugal dehydrator according to the present invention, in the first centrifugal dehydrator, the liquid guide means has a drainage hole at a position facing the communication hole, and the rotation control means has a dehydration means. After the operation is completed, the drum is stopped so that the liquid holding unit is positioned near the highest position of the drum.

[0013]

[0014]

[0015]

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the first centrifugal dehydrator according to the present invention, the drum itself does not have an eccentric load when the liquid is not introduced into the liquid holding unit, and the liquid is introduced into the liquid holding unit. And the drum itself has an eccentric load according to the amount of the liquid.

First, when the laundry is stored in the drum and the spin-drying operation is started, the liquid is not introduced into the liquid holding unit. When the rotation speed of the drum rises to a speed at which the centrifugal force acting on the laundry contained in the drum exceeds gravity, the laundry sticks to the inner peripheral wall of the drum and rotates together with the drum. The load detecting means detects an eccentric load caused only by the uneven distribution of the laundry. When the position of the detected eccentric load is near a position facing the liquid holding unit (a position separated by 180 °), it is possible to balance by increasing the weight of the liquid holding unit. The injection control means drives the liquid injection means while the drum is rotating, and supplies the liquid to the liquid guide means.

The liquid guide means is, for example, a disk-shaped hollow body having a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the drum centered on the main shaft, and a large water injection opening is formed on the inner peripheral side around the main shaft on the opposite side to the drum. Keep it. The liquid discharged from the liquid injection means at the time of rotation of the drum enters the hollow body through the water injection opening, sticks to the inner peripheral surface of the outer disk by centrifugal force, and flows from the communication hole provided in the vicinity to the liquid holding portion. Flow in. At this time, the eccentric load detecting means continues to detect the eccentric load, and the water injection control means continues to inject the liquid from the liquid injecting means until the detected eccentric load becomes equal to or less than the predetermined value. As a result, the balance between the uneven distribution of the laundry and the weight of the liquid in the liquid holding unit is improved, and abnormal vibration does not occur even if the high-speed dehydrating operation is performed thereafter.

If the position of the eccentric load due to the uneven distribution of the laundry is not near the position facing the liquid holding unit, the balance cannot be obtained even if the liquid is introduced into the liquid holding unit. Therefore, in such a case, the second centrifugal dehydrator temporarily reduces the rotation speed of the drum to a rotation speed at which the centrifugal force acting on the laundry becomes smaller than gravity, and moves the laundry in the drum. To Then, after the laundry is rearranged appropriately, the rotation speed is increased again to determine the state of the eccentric load.

If the laundry is appropriately dispersed on the inner peripheral wall of the drum before the liquid is introduced into the liquid holding unit and the eccentric load is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the balance adjustment using the liquid holding unit is performed. Is unnecessary. Therefore, in such a case, the third centrifugal dehydrator performs the dehydration by increasing the rotation speed of the drum to the high-speed dehydration rotation speed without introducing the liquid into the liquid holding unit.

By the way, the liquid introduced into the liquid holding section during the dehydrating operation must be discharged before the start of the next dehydrating operation, and the drum itself must be in a state having no eccentric load. Therefore, as in the above-described fourth centrifugal dehydrator, when a drainage hole is provided at a position on the outer peripheral side of the liquid guide means facing the communication hole, the drum is moved so that the liquid holding portion is at the highest position of the drum. When stopped, the centrifugal force acting on the liquid disappears, and the liquid accumulated in the liquid holding portion flows backward through the communication hole into the liquid guide means, and further from the drain hole located at the lower part of the liquid guide means. It flows out.

[0022]

[0023]

[0024]

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the centrifugal dehydrator according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an entire drum type washing machine having a centrifugal dehydrator according to the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the washing machine mainly showing a configuration of a drum which is a feature of the drum type washing machine.

First, the structure of the drum type washing machine of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. An outer tub 32 is suspended by a spring 34 and a damper 36 inside the main body frame 30, and a drum 3 for storing clothes is inside the outer tub 32.
8 is supported by the main shaft 40 and installed. Drum 38
A number of water holes 42 are opened in the peripheral wall of the outer tank 32.
Supplied into the drum 38 flows into the drum 38 through the water hole 42, and conversely, water dehydrated from the clothes in the drum 38 is scattered to the outer tub 32 through the water hole 42. Drum 38
Are provided with four baffles 44 at positions each having a rotation angle of 90 ° for scraping clothes with rotation. One of the four baffles 44 also serves as a water balancer 46 that holds water therein. Drum 38
A substantially disk-shaped water guide chamber 48 having a large water injection opening 50 on the inner peripheral side of the circumference around the main shaft 40 is provided on the back surface of the main body 40. In the water guide chamber 48, a centrifugal water injection hole 52 communicating with the water balancer 46 is formed on the drum 38 side, and a drain hole 54 is provided at a position on the side of the outer tub 32 opposite to the centrifugal water injection hole 52 by approximately 180 ° across the main shaft 40. Are formed. A door 56 for opening and closing the front opening of the outer tub 32 is provided on the front surface of the main body frame 30.
8 is housed inside.

The main shaft 40 has a bearing 58 mounted on the outer tub 32.
The main pulley 6 is attached to the tip of the main shaft 40.
0 is attached. The motor 6 is located below the outer tank 32.
2, the rotational driving force of the motor 62 is transmitted to the main pulley 60 via the motor pulley 64 and the V-belt 66. The water supplied to the water supply port 68 from an external tap, etc.
Water is injected into the outer tank 32 through the water supply valve 70, and is discharged from the water injection nozzle 74 provided in the outer tank 32 through the water injection valve 72 for balance. On the other hand, the outer tank 32
The water accumulated inside is discharged to the outside through a drain port 78 opened and closed by a drain valve 76. It should be noted that a drain pump for forcibly discharging water may be used instead of the drain valve 76.

The ring-shaped portion of the main pulley 60 has one opening.
The light emitting unit 801 and the light receiving unit 802 are arranged on both sides of a position on the circumference where the opening exists. Light emitted from the light emitting unit 801 passes through the opening and reaches the light receiving unit 802 only once during a period in which the drum 38 makes one rotation.
Thereby, a rotation sensor described later outputs a detection signal (rotation marker) synchronized with the rotation of the drum 38.

In the above configuration, water injection and drainage to the water balancer 46 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.
FIG. 3 shows a moving state of water by a side end view of a portion centering on the water guide chamber 48. When the drum 38 is rotating at a predetermined rotation speed or more, the water injection nozzle 74
When the water is released from the water, the discharged water enters the water guide chamber 48 through the water injection opening 50 and moves to the outer peripheral side by centrifugal force.
Since the water injection opening 50 has a large area, even if the falling direction of the water discharged from the water injection nozzle 74 varies due to a variation in water pressure or the like, most of the water surely enters the water guide chamber 48. Then, the water is supplied to the water guide chamber 4 by centrifugal force.
8 and is held by sticking to the inner surface of the outer peripheral wall (see FIG. 3A).

A centrifugal water injection hole 52 is opened in the vicinity of the outer peripheral wall of the water guide chamber 48, and the water balancer 46 communicating with the centrifugal water injection hole 52 is a hollow body that spreads further outward with respect to the main shaft 40. Therefore, the water injected into the water guide chamber 48 flows into the water balancer 46 through the centrifugal water injection hole 52 by centrifugal force, and adheres to the outer peripheral wall side of the water balancer 46, that is, the inner peripheral wall surface of the drum 38. Therefore, the water balancer 46
When the drum 38 is rotating at a rotational speed such that the centrifugal force acting on the water that has entered the inside exceeds the gravity, the water in the water balancer 46 does not flow backward from the centrifugal injection hole 52 to the water guide chamber 48 side. , Is held across the inside of the water balancer 46 and the water guide chamber 48 (see FIG. 3B). In addition, water guide room 4
8, a drain hole 54 is opened facing the outer tub 32 side, and water escapes from the water guide chamber 48 to the outer tub 32 through the drain hole 54. The effect is negligible, as it is extremely small compared to the amount of water injected into the water.

When discharging the water accumulated in the water balancer 46 and the water guide chamber 48, the water balancer 46 is stopped at a position where the water balancer 46 is kept at the highest position of the drum 38. Then, the centrifugal force acting on the water in the water balancer 46 is lost, so that the water flows out to the water guide chamber 48 through the centrifugal water injection hole 52. Then, the water accumulated at the bottom of the water guide chamber 48 flows out to the outer tub 32 through the drain hole 54 located at the lowest position of the drum 38 (see FIG. 3C). Although the opening area of the drain hole 54 is small, all the water in the water balancer 46 and the water guide chamber 48 is discharged to the outer tub 32 when the water balancer 46 is kept at the above position for a while.

Next, the electrical configuration and operation of a portion related to centrifugal dehydration of the washing machine will be described with reference to FIG. A control unit 10 mainly composed of a microcomputer includes a central control unit 12, a rotation speed control unit 14, an eccentric load determination unit 1
6 and a water injection control unit 18. The eccentric load determination unit 16 includes a peak detection unit 162, a position determination unit 164, an amplitude calculation unit 166, an amplitude determination unit 168, and the like. The central control unit 12 includes a memory, in which an operation program for performing the dehydration operation is stored in advance. When the user performs a key operation on the operation unit 20 to select a dehydration mode (for example, a type of laundry fiber to be dehydrated) and instructs “dehydration start”, the central control unit 1
2 reads the corresponding operation program from the memory,
By executing this operation program, each processing operation in the dehydration operation described below is advanced.

The rotation speed control unit 14 outputs a rotation speed instruction signal including the rotation direction of the drum 38 to the inverter control unit 22. The inverter control unit 22 converts the rotation speed instruction signal into a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal, and applies a drive voltage corresponding to the PWM signal to the motor 62. Motor 62
Is detected by the motor current detection unit 26 and supplied to the eccentric load determination unit 16.

When an eccentric load exists on the drum 38,
The motor current has a fluctuation component corresponding to the eccentric load.
FIG. 5 is an example of a waveform of the motor current effective value when there is an eccentric load. The rotation marker is a signal indicating the cycle of one rotation of the drum 38 obtained by the rotation sensor 24. Since the fluctuation of the motor current is caused by the fluctuation of the load torque of the motor 62, the positive peak of the motor current occurs at the timing when the load torque becomes maximum within one rotation period of the drum 38. If the eccentric load is caused by the uneven distribution of the laundry, the load torque applies the load to the drum 3 against the gravity.
8 when trying to lift to the top. Therefore, normally, a positive peak of the motor current appears when the position of the eccentric load exists slightly before the highest position in the drum 38.

On the other hand, the amplitude value of the fluctuation of the motor current reflects the magnitude of the eccentric load. FIG. 6 shows an example of the relationship between the magnitude of the eccentric load (the amount of eccentricity) and the amplitude value of the motor current fluctuation. By examining such a relationship in advance, the amount of eccentricity can be obtained based on the fluctuation amplitude. It should be noted that since the motor current fluctuation factor is not necessarily limited to the eccentric load, in order to accurately obtain the fluctuation amplitude due to the eccentric load, a filtering process for extracting only a frequency component near the rotation speed of the drum 38 from the motor current fluctuation component is performed. It is good to do.

The eccentric load determining section 16 detects and determines an eccentric load based on the output of the motor current detecting section 26 as follows. The peak detector 162 detects positive and negative peaks of the motor current fluctuation at each rotation marker interval, that is, at each rotation period of the drum 38. The position information of the detected positive peak is provided to the position determination unit 164, and the peak value information is provided to the amplitude calculation unit 166. Position determination unit 1
At 64, it is determined whether or not the position of the eccentric load based on the positive peak position information is within a predetermined range near the position 180 ° opposite to the water balancer 46. As this predetermined range, an appropriate allowable range is set in consideration of a position detection error, a variation in the arrangement of laundry, and the like.

The amplitude calculating section 166 calculates a fluctuation amplitude value of the motor current for each rotation period of the drum 38 based on the positive and negative peak values. Since this amplitude value corresponds to the amount of eccentricity, the amplitude determination unit 168 determines whether the amount of eccentricity is within a predetermined range by comparing the amplitude value with a predetermined value. The predetermined value, which is a criterion for the determination, is set in advance according to the amount of eccentricity allowed during the high-speed dehydrating operation.

The result of determination by the position determination unit 164 is input to the rotation speed control unit 14, and the result of determination by the amplitude determination unit 168 is input to the rotation speed control unit 14 and the water injection control unit 18. The rotation speed control unit 14 receives the determination result of the position and the magnitude of the eccentric load while controlling the motor 62 so that the drum 38 rotates at a predetermined rotation speed, and changes the rotation speed instruction signal accordingly. I do. On the other hand, the water injection control unit 18 controls the opening / closing operation of the balance water injection valve 72 according to the determination result of the magnitude of the eccentric load.

Next, the procedure of the processing control during the spin-drying operation in the washing machine having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the washing process is completed and the dewatering operation is started, the clothes inside the drum 38 are in a state of being stacked on the bottom as shown in FIG. At this time, no water enters the water balancer 46, and the drum 38 itself has no eccentric load.

When the user performs a key operation of “start dehydration” on the operation unit 20, the rotation speed control unit 14 starts the motor 62 in response to the key operation, agitates the clothes, and applies the clothes to the inner peripheral wall surface of the drum 38. A clothing dispersion operation is performed so that the clothing is appropriately dispersed (step S10). That is, the rotation speed control unit 1
4 outputs a rotation speed instruction signal such that the drum 38 rotates at a low rotation speed N1 in a range where the centrifugal force acting on the garment is smaller than the gravity, and the inverter control unit 22 outputs a driving voltage corresponding to the rotation speed instruction signal. 62. The low rotation speed N1 is appropriately determined in advance according to the drum diameter. For example, when the drum diameter is 450 mm, the centrifugal force acting on the clothes and the gravity begin to balance at a rotation speed of about 62 rpm, so that the low-speed rotation speed N1 is, for example, 55 to 100 rpm.
It is good to gradually increase in the range of about m. When such a clothes dispersing operation is performed, the clothes are agitated with the rotation of the drum 38, so that the entangled clothes can be loosened and arranged appropriately (see FIG. 8B).

After performing such a clothing dispersion operation, an eccentric load detection operation for determining the magnitude and position of the eccentric load caused by the uneven distribution of clothing is executed (step S1).
1). That is, the rotation speed control unit 14 outputs a rotation speed instruction signal such that the drum 38 rotates at a low rotation speed N2 that is slightly higher than the rotation speed at which the centrifugal force acting on the garment balances the gravity, and the inverter control unit 22 Applies a corresponding drive voltage to the motor 62. For example, if the drum diameter is 4
At 50 mm, the low speed N2 is 100 to 14
It is good to be about 0 rpm.

When the drum 38 rotates at the low rotation speed N2, all the clothes rotate while being pressed against the inner peripheral wall of the drum 38 by centrifugal force (see FIG. 8C).
At this time, as described above, the eccentric load determining unit 16 determines the magnitude of the eccentric load based on the amplitude of the fluctuation component of the motor current detected by the motor current detecting unit 26, and determines the position of the eccentric load based on the peak position. Is detected. Then, first, the amplitude determination section 168 determines whether or not the magnitude of the eccentric load is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value (step S12). If the magnitude of the eccentric load is equal to or less than the predetermined value in step S12, it can be determined that the clothes in the drum 38 have been substantially uniformly dispersed by the clothes dispersing operation. Be executed.

If it is determined in step S12 that the magnitude of the eccentric load exceeds a predetermined value, then the position determining unit 1
At 64, the position of the eccentric load is
It is determined whether it is within a predetermined range near the position facing 0 ° (step S13). If it is determined in step S13 that the position of the eccentric load is not within the predetermined range, the rotation speed control unit 14 having received the determination result reduces the rotation speed of the drum 38 so as to execute the clothing dispersion operation again. Outputs a rotation speed instruction signal.

If it is determined in step S13 that the position of the eccentric load is within the predetermined range, the rotation speed control unit 14 executes a centrifugal water injection operation (step S14). That is,
The rotation speed control unit 14 controls the drum 38 at the medium rotation speed N3.
The inverter control unit 22 applies a drive voltage corresponding to the rotation speed instruction signal to the motor 62. The medium rotation speed N3 is determined to be higher than the low rotation speed N2 and lower than a resonance point determined by the weight of the drum 38 itself. Since this resonance point varies depending on the weight of the clothes stored in the drum 38, it is necessary to consider the variation in the weight of the clothes that have absorbed water. For example, when the drum diameter is 450 mm, the resonance point is about 200 rpm, so that the medium rotation speed N3 is preferably set to about 150 rpm.

The rotational speed of the drum 38 is the medium rotational speed N3.
Is reached, the water injection control unit 18 sets the water injection valve 7 for balance.
2 is released (step S15). As a result, as described above, the water is discharged from the water injection nozzle 74, and the water gradually enters the water balancer 46.
8 is held in the water balancer 46 while being attached to the inner peripheral wall surface. At this time, the magnitude of the eccentric load is detected by the eccentric load determining unit 16 at the same time. The clothes in the drum 38 rotate while being completely pressed against the inner peripheral wall surface by the centrifugal force, and the amount of water in the water balancer 46 gradually increases and the weight increases. The fluctuation amplitude value of the motor current obtained at the time becomes smaller gradually.

When the fluctuation amplitude value becomes equal to or smaller than the predetermined value in the amplitude judging section 168 (step S16), the water injection control section 18 closes the balance water injection valve 72 (step S17). As a result, the increase in the water inside the water balancer 46 is stopped, and the overall eccentric load becomes small due to the balance between the eccentric load due to the uneven distribution of the clothes and the water inside the water balancer 46. Actually, even if the balance water injection valve 72 is closed and the discharge of water from the water injection nozzle 74 is stopped, most of the water remaining in the water guide chamber 48 moves to the water balancer 46. It is advisable to determine the timing for stopping water injection in consideration of the state.

When the balance is achieved as described above, the rotation speed control unit 14 increases the rotation speed of the drum 38 and executes the high-speed dehydrating operation (step S18). That is, the rotation speed control unit 14 outputs a rotation speed instruction signal that causes the drum 38 to reach the high rotation speed N4, and the inverter control unit 22 applies a drive voltage corresponding to this to the motor 62. The high-speed rotation speed N4 can be generally set to about 1000 rpm. However, in order to protect clothes that are liable to be damaged by cloth, it is preferable to limit the rotation speed to a value corresponding to the dehydration mode specified by the user. This high rotation speed N
When the drum 38 is rotated at 4, the water permeating the clothes is scattered by centrifugal force, and the clothes are completely dehydrated.

After a predetermined dehydration operation time has elapsed, the rotation speed control unit 14 controls the motor 62 to stop, and after the rotation of the drum 38 becomes extremely low, the water balancer 46 Control is performed so that the drum 38 stops when it reaches the position (step S19).
When the drum 38 is stopped in such a state, the water accumulated in the water balancer 46 is removed from the centrifugal injection hole 5 as described above.
2 and is discharged to the outer tub 32 through the drain hole 54. Therefore, before the next dehydration operation is performed, the water balancer 4
All the water in 6 is discharged and returns to the state of the drum having no eccentric load.

Next, another embodiment in which the structure for injecting water into the water balancer 46 is improved will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. FIG.
In the embodiment of the drum type washing machine shown in FIG. 1, the centrifugal water injection hole 52 is provided in the horizontal direction with respect to the water balancer 46. Accordingly, when a large amount of water is held in the water balancer 46, the water is held across the water balancer 46 and the water guide chamber 48 with the centrifugal water injection hole 52 interposed therebetween, as shown in FIG. Since a large centrifugal force acts on the water held in this manner, the water enters the surface of the water guide chamber 48 that is closely attached to the drum 38 or the joining surface of the members that form the water guide chamber 48. Water leakage may occur. To prevent this, it is necessary to provide an appropriate water seal on the joint surface where there is a risk of water leakage. Further, although the area of the drain hole 54 is small, drainage through the drain hole 54 cannot be ignored if the dehydration time is long. If the area of the drain hole 54 is made smaller in order to prevent the water drainage, there is a problem in that the dust is easily clogged and the drainage is hindered, or the drainage becomes difficult due to the surface tension of the water.

FIG. 9 is a side sectional view showing an example of a drum-type washing machine having a water injection structure for the water balancer 46 in which such a point is improved. FIGS. 10A and 10B are cross-sectional views taken along line A1-A2 and line B1-B2, respectively. In this embodiment, the centrifugal water injection hole 52 is provided on the drum inner peripheral side of the water balancer 46. And the water balancer 46
The opening facing the rotating shaft side and the centrifugal water injection hole 52 are connected by an L-shaped water conduit 47. Therefore, the water injected into the water guide chamber 48 when the drum rotates is separated from the water balancer 46.
All of the water flows into the water balancer 46 and does not accumulate on the inner surface of the outer circumferential wall of the water guide chamber 48 until the inside of the water guide is full. For this reason, there is no risk of water leakage even if a water seal is not provided at the joint between the water guide chamber 48 and the water conduit 47. Also, no water leaks from the drain hole 54.

As shown in FIG. 10B, the water conduit 47 is connected to the water balancer 46 with a tapered side wall surface 46a. Therefore, even when the water balancer 46 does not stop at the highest position of the drum 38 accurately at the time of drainage, the water inside the water balancer 46 flows into the headrace 47 along the side wall surface 46a, and the water is surely drained from the inside of the water balancer 46. Is done.

Although the above embodiment has been described with respect to a drum type washing machine, it is apparent that the present invention can be applied to a dry cleaner using a petroleum-based solvent or the like.

[0054]

As described above, the first embodiment according to the present invention is described .
According to the centrifugal dewatering device of the above, even if the laundry is unevenly distributed, the high-speed dewatering operation is executed after the eccentric load is reduced by the liquid holding portion (water balancer) having a variable weight. Therefore, occurrence of abnormal vibration and abnormal noise during the high-speed dehydrating operation can be reliably avoided. In particular, for example, when it is impossible to disperse and distribute clothes substantially evenly on the inner peripheral wall surface of the drum, for example, when only one piece of relatively heavy clothes is stored in the drum, the liquid is retained. The eccentric load can be reduced by the action of the portion.

Further, since the liquid is introduced into the liquid holding section via the liquid guide means provided on the drum, the liquid is efficiently poured into the liquid holding section, and the weight of the liquid holding section is reduced within a short time. It can be increased to the desired weight. Therefore, it is possible to quickly shift to the high-speed dehydration operation.

According to the second centrifugal dewatering device according to the present invention, the laundry is moved so that the unevenly distributed position of the laundry is at an appropriate position to balance with the liquid holding unit. Thus, regardless of the amount of clothes to be accommodated, the dehydration operation without abnormal vibration can be performed reliably and quickly. Furthermore, according to the third centrifugal dehydrator, when it is not necessary to increase the weight of the liquid holding unit, the operation is quickly shifted to the high-speed dehydration operation, so that efficient dehydration can be performed.

According to the fourth centrifugal spin-drying device of the present invention, the liquid holding section is completely empty immediately before the start of the spin-drying operation, so that accurate balance adjustment using the liquid holding section can always be performed. .

[0058]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a drum type washing machine having a centrifugal dehydrator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the back surface of the drum of the drum type washing machine according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a procedure for introducing and discharging water to and from a water balancer in the centrifugal dehydrator of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an electric system of the centrifugal dehydrator according to the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a waveform chart showing an example of a change in motor current.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a relationship between the magnitude of an eccentric load and a fluctuation amplitude of a motor current.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control operation at the time of a dehydration operation in the centrifugal dehydrator of the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an arrangement of clothes in a drum.

FIG. 9 is a side sectional view of a drum type washing machine including a centrifugal dehydrator according to another embodiment of the present invention.

10 (a) is a sectional view taken along line A1-A2 of FIG. 9 and FIG.
B2 line sectional view.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Control part 14 ... Rotation speed control part 16 ... Eccentric load determination part 162 ... Peak detection part 164 ... Position determination part 166 ... Amplitude calculation part 168 ... Amplification determination part 18 ... Water injection control part 22 ... Inverter control part 24 ... Rotation sensor 26 ... Motor current detection unit 38 ... Drum 46 ... Water balancer 47 ... Water channel 48 ... Water guide chamber 52 ... Centrifugal water injection hole 54 ... Drainage hole 72 ... Balance water injection valve 74 ... Water injection nozzle

Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Takaaki Yonezawa 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-9-10480 (JP, A) (58) Investigated Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) D06F 49/02 D06F 33/02

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A centrifugal dewatering device for storing laundry in a basket-shaped drum and rotating the drum about a horizontal axis to dehydrate the laundry, a) forming a part of the drum wall surface. (B) liquid guide means which rotates with the drum and temporarily holds liquid supplied from outside by centrifugal force therein and feeds the liquid into the liquid holding part through a communication hole connected to the liquid holding part; C) liquid injection means for supplying liquid to the liquid guide means when the drum rotates, d) rotation control means for controlling the rotation of a motor for driving the rotation of the drum, and e) acting on the laundry by the rotation control means. Eccentric load detecting means for detecting the magnitude and position of the eccentric load of the drum when the drum is rotated at a rotational speed such that the centrifugal force exceeds the gravity; f) introducing the liquid into the liquid holding unit And g) determining whether or not the position of the eccentric load detected by the eccentric load detecting means is near a position facing the liquid holding unit in the drum before the operation is performed. When it is determined that the position of the eccentric load is near the position facing the liquid holding unit in the drum,
Injection control means for controlling the liquid injection means so as to introduce the liquid into the liquid holding unit until the magnitude of the eccentric load detected by the eccentric load detection means becomes a predetermined value or less. Centrifugal dehydrator. 2. When the determining means determines that the position of the eccentric load is not in the vicinity of a position facing the liquid holding portion in the drum, the rotation control means determines that the centrifugal force acting on the laundry is smaller than gravity. The centrifugal dewatering apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the laundry is rearranged by controlling a motor so that the drum rotates at a rotation speed in a small range. 3. When the magnitude of the eccentric load detected by the eccentric load detecting means before the liquid is introduced into the liquid holding part is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the rotation control means controls the rotation of the liquid holding part. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the drum is rotated at a high spin-dry speed without injecting the liquid.
Or the centrifugal dehydrator according to 2. 4. The liquid guide means has a drain hole at a position facing the communication hole, and the rotation control means controls the drum so that the liquid holding portion is positioned near the highest position of the drum after the spin-drying operation is completed. The centrifugal dehydrator according to claim 1, wherein the centrifugal dehydration is stopped.