JP4847551B2 - Washing and drying machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a washing and drying machine using a dehumidifying and drying method using a heat pump.

  An example of the structure of a drum-type washing / drying machine using a dehumidifying and drying system using a heat pump is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the main configuration of the drum-type washing / drying machine.

  In this washing machine, the water tank 2 is supported in a suspended state in the washing machine main body 1 by a suspension structure (not shown). A drum 3 formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape is supported in the water tank 2 with its axial direction inclined downward from the front side to the back side. On the front side of the aquarium 2 is formed a clothing doorway 4 leading to the opening end of the drum 3, and by opening the door 5 that closes the opening provided in the upward inclined surface on the front side of the washing machine body 1 so as to be openable and closable, Laundry can be taken in and out of the drum 3 through the clothing entrance 4.

  The drum 3 has a large number of through holes 6 formed in the peripheral surface thereof that communicate with the water tank 2, and is provided with stirring protrusions 3a for stirring clothes at a plurality of positions on the inner peripheral surface. The drum 3 is rotationally driven in the forward and reverse directions by a drum motor 7 attached to the back side of the water tank 2. In addition, a water injection pipe 8 and a drain pipe 9 are connected to the water tank 2 to perform water injection and drainage into the water tank 2 by controlling a water injection valve and a water discharge valve (not shown).

  When the door 5 is opened, laundry and detergent are put into the drum 3, and the operation is started by an operation on the operation panel 10 provided on the front surface of the laundry dry body 1, for example, a water injection pipe is provided in the water tank 2. A predetermined amount of water is injected from 8, the drum 3 is driven to rotate by the drum motor 7, and the washing process is started. By the rotation of the drum 3, the laundry accommodated in the drum 3 is lifted in the rotation direction by the stirring protrusion 3a provided on the inner peripheral wall of the drum 3, and the stirring operation of dropping from the lifted appropriate height position is repeated. As a result, the laundry has the effect of tapping and washing.

  After the required washing time, the dirty washing liquid is discharged from the drain pipe 9 and the washing liquid contained in the laundry is dehydrated by a dehydrating operation of rotating the drum 3 at a high speed. The rinsing process is performed by pouring water from 8. Also in this rinsing process, the laundry stored in the drum 3 is rinsed by repeating the stirring operation of being lifted and dropped by the stirring protrusion 3 a by the rotation of the drum 3.

  This drum-type washing and drying machine is provided with a function of drying laundry stored in the drum 3, and the air in the water tank 2 is exhausted and dehumidified by the circulation air passage 11 to be heated and dried. Is again blown into the water tank 2. In the middle of the circulation air passage 11, a heat pump unit comprising a dehumidifying means such as an evaporator 12 and a heating means such as a condenser 13 and a circulation fan 14 serving as an air blowing means are provided. The evaporator 12 and the condenser 13 are arranged at the lowest position of the circulation air passage 11 as a heat exchange part with the circulation air.

  By rotating the circulation fan 14, an air flow is generated in the circulation air flow path 11, and the air in the drum 3 containing the laundry is introduced into the circulation fan 14 from the water tank 2 through the through holes 6. It is exhausted to the pipe line 15 and dehydrated by dehydrating the evaporator 12 positioned upstream of the circulation fan 14 and heated by heat exchange with the condenser 13, so that it is always dry hot air. The

  The dried high-temperature air is sent from the circulation fan 14 to the air duct 16 to the water tank 2 and blown into the water tank 2. The high-temperature dry air blown into the water tank 2 enters the drum 3 through the through holes 6 and escapes to the water tank 2 while being exposed to laundry such as clothes, and is again introduced into the circulating air introduction pipe line 15. The drying process is carried out by repeating the circulation of air in the circulation air passage 11.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control device that controls the operation of the drum type washing and drying machine having the above configuration. However, the illustration of the control unit other than the part related to the driving of the drum motor 7 is simplified.

  In this control device, the AC power of the commercial power supply 21 is smoothed by a rectifying / smoothing circuit including a rectifier 22 and a smoothing capacitor 23, and the DC power is converted into an inverter circuit 24 for a drum motor, an inverter circuit 25 for a fan motor, and a compressor This is supplied to the inverter circuit 26.

  The drum motor inverter circuit 24 converts the DC power into three-phase AC power, which is supplied as driving power for the drum motor 7. Similarly, the three-phase AC power converted by the fan motor inverter circuit 25 is supplied to the fan motor 27 for the circulation fan 14, and the three-phase AC power converted by the compressor inverter circuit is supplied to the compressor 28 of the condenser 13. Supplied.

  The control unit 29 configured by the microcomputer controls each inverter circuit 24, 25, 26 based on the driving instruction input from the input setting unit 30 and the monitoring information of the driving state detected by each detecting means, Moreover, although illustration is abbreviate | omitted, operation | movement of a water supply valve, a drain valve, etc. is controlled.

  In the drawing, only the circuit for the drum motor inverter circuit 24 is specifically shown, but the other inverter circuits 25 and 26 have the same configuration. The drum motor 7 includes a stator having three-phase windings 7a, 7b, and 7c and a rotor (not shown) having two-pole permanent magnets, and three position detection elements 31a, 31b, and 31c are provided. DC brushless motor. The position detection elements 31a to 31c output a rotor position signal for every electrical angle of 60 degrees corresponding to the rotor magnetic pole position.

  The inverter circuit 24 that controls the rotation of the drum motor 7 is configured by connecting six switching elements 24a to 24f in a three-phase bridge, and a flywheel diode is connected in parallel to each switching element 24a to 24f. Rotor position detection signals detected by the position detection elements 31 a to 31 c are input to the control unit 29. Based on the rotor position detection signal, the drive circuit 32 performs PWM control of the on / off states of the switching elements 24a to 24f. Thereby, energization to the three-phase windings 7a, 7b, 7c of the stator is controlled, and the rotor is rotated at a required rotational speed.

  The control unit 29 also includes a rotation speed detection unit 33 to which detection outputs of the three position detection elements 31a to 31c are input. The rotation speed detection unit 33 detects the period each time the position detection signal of any of the three position detection elements 31a to 31c changes, and calculates the rotation speed Nd of the rotor from the period. Using the rotational speed Nd, processing such as cloth amount detection is performed.

  In the washing / drying machine having the above-described configuration, in the drying operation mode, the control unit 29 drives the drum motor 7 to rotate the drum 3 and tumbles the laundry while rotating the fan motor 27 and the compressor 28. It drives and controls the drying of the laundry in the drum 3 by sending warm air to the drum 3. By performing such a drying operation, a large current flows through the power supply line from the commercial power supply 21 to the inverter circuits 24, 25, and 26, and the magnitude of the power supply harmonic current is considerably increased. Therefore, it becomes a cause of generating a large noise.

  In order to reduce such noise, a configuration is adopted in which a reactor is connected in series with the power supply line to suppress the power supply harmonic current. FIG. 4 shows an example in which a coil 34 is connected as a reactor between the commercial power supply 21 and the rectifier 22. The power harmonic current flowing in the power line is attenuated by the coil 34, and noise is reduced.

Patent Document 1 discloses a motor drive circuit in which a reactor is connected in series with an AC power supply between a rectifier circuit for supplying a DC voltage to an inverter circuit for driving a motor and an AC power supply. However, this reactor is provided as an auxiliary element for providing means for short-circuiting the AC power supply. That is, the short-circuit means performs a short-circuit operation in a period set by the pulse width of the control signal, starting from a predetermined delay time from the time of zero crossing of the AC power supply. By improving the power factor by short-circuiting the power supply once or multiple times in the half cycle of the power supply voltage of the AC power supply, even if the power supply voltage fluctuates, the power supply device power factor is maintained at the maximum value, and the inverter circuit The DC voltage supplied is intended to be controlled to be constant.
JP 2004-72806 A

  In the washing and drying machine having the above-described configuration shown in FIG. 4, the coil 34 (reactor) connected in series with the commercial power supply 20 consumes wasted power corresponding to the flowing current due to its own electrical resistance.

  On the other hand, when the power consumption of the load is small, the power supply harmonic current is equal to or less than a predetermined value even if there is no reactor, so the reactor consumes meaningless power.

  Moreover, since the reactor described in Patent Document 1 is not intended to reduce noise, it suggests a problem regarding power consumption due to current flowing in the reactor in relation to the operation for reducing noise. is not.

  In view of the above-described problems, the present invention aims to reduce wasteful current consumption when the current flowing through the power supply line is small due to the reactor for suppressing the power supply harmonic current that causes noise. And

  In order to solve the above problems, a washing and drying machine according to the present invention includes a drum that accommodates laundry and performs a rotational motion, a water tank that rotatably includes the drum and is elastically supported in the washing machine body. A drum motor that rotationally drives the drum, a fan motor that rotationally drives a fan that blows air into the drum, a heat pump unit that cools and dehumidifies the air blown by the fan, and a refrigerant of the heat pump unit A compressor that transports the drum motor, the fan motor, and an inverter circuit that supplies power to the compressor, a power supply line that supplies power to the inverter circuit, and a reactor connected in series to the power supply line, A relay connected in parallel to the reactor, and drive control of the inverter and the relay; And a control unit that performs.

  In the drying operation mode, the controller drives the drum motor to rotate the drum and tumble the laundry while driving the fan motor and the compressor to send warm air to the drum. A function of controlling the operation of drying the laundry in the drum, and during the operation of the drying operation, when the current supplied from the power line exceeds a predetermined value, the control unit When the current supplied from the power line is equal to or lower than the predetermined value, the relay is controlled to be closed and the current is bypassed to flow through the reactor. It is characterized by.

  According to the above configuration, when the power consumption of the load is large, the power supply harmonic current flowing through the power supply line is suppressed by the reactor, and when the power supply harmonic current flowing through the power supply line is small, the wasteful current consumption due to the reactor is reduced. It is possible to reduce both the practically sufficient noise suppression effect and the energy saving effect.

  The washing and drying machine of the present invention can take the following aspects based on the above-described configuration.

  That is, a current sensor that detects a current flowing through the power supply line may be provided, and the control unit may control the relay to be closed when the current detected by the current sensor is less than a predetermined value.

  The drum motor, the fan motor, and a rotation sensor that detects the number of rotations of the compressor are provided, and the control unit is a total of estimated values of currents flowing through the motors based on the number of rotations detected by the rotation sensor. When is less than a predetermined value, the relay can be controlled to be closed.

  In the operation sequence, the control unit may be configured to control the relay to be closed in a mode in which the current flowing through the power supply line is set to a condition that is a predetermined value or less.

  Moreover, the said control part can be set as the structure which controls the said relay closed while suppressing the rotation speed of the said compressor to the minimum required in an energy saving operation mode.

  The reactor may include an intermediate tap, and the relay may be connected between one end of the reactor and the intermediate tap.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a motor driving device of a drum type washer / dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The overall structure of the drum-type washing and drying machine in the present embodiment is the same as that shown in FIG. The basic configuration of the motor drive device shown in FIG. 1 is the same as that of the conventional example shown in FIG. Therefore, the same reference numerals are assigned to similar elements, and the overlapping description is simplified.

  Also in the motor drive device shown in FIG. 1, the AC power of the commercial power source 21 is smoothed by the rectifier 22 and the smoothing capacitor 23, and the DC power source is the drum motor inverter circuit 24, the fan motor inverter circuit 25, and the compressor inverter circuit. 26. The control unit 29 has a function of controlling the drying operation, and drives the fan motor 27 and the compressor 28 while driving the drum motor 7 and rotating the drum 3 to tumble the laundry. The operation of drying the laundry in the drum 3 is performed.

  In addition, a coil 34 is provided as a reactor between the commercial power supply 20 and the rectifier 22 in order to suppress a power harmonic current caused by a large current flowing in the power supply line from the commercial power supply 21 to the inverter circuits 24 to 26 during the drying operation. It is connected.

  The present embodiment is different from the conventional example in that a relay 35 is connected in parallel to the coil 34 and the operation is controlled by the control unit 29. In addition, a current sensor 36 is provided between the commercial power supply 20 and the rectifier 21 in order to detect the current flowing through the power supply line, and the detection signal is input to the control unit 29. The control unit 29 controls the opening and closing of the relay 35 based on the detected current value.

  That is, when the detected current exceeds a predetermined value, the relay 35 is controlled to be opened so that the current of the power supply line flows through the coil 34. Thereby, even if a large current flows through the power supply line, the power supply harmonic current is suppressed and the generation of noise is reduced.

  On the other hand, when the detected current is less than the predetermined value, the relay 35 is controlled to be closed so that the current of the power supply line does not flow through the coil 34. As a result, the effect of suppressing the power supply harmonic current flowing in the power supply line by the coil 34 cannot be obtained. However, when the current flowing through the power supply line is small, the power supply harmonic current is also small, and the magnitude of the noise due to this is sufficiently small in practical use, so there is no problem. Thereby, wasteful power consumption caused by the current flowing through the coil 34 can be avoided and energy saving can be achieved.

The relay 35 is controlled based on the current value detected by the current sensor 36.
It is an example of the method of performing control according to the magnitude | size of the electric current supplied to the inverter circuits 24-26 from a power supply line. That is, any other method can be used as long as a value corresponding to the magnitude of the current supplied from the power supply line can be detected and the relay 35 can be controlled based on the detected value.

  For example, a rotation speed detection unit 33 that detects the rotation speed of each motor based on detection signals of position detection elements 31a to 31c provided in each of the drum motor 7, the fan motor 27, and the compressor 28 is provided. The opening and closing of the relay 35 can be controlled in accordance with the sum of the estimated values of the currents flowing through the motors based on the rotational speeds of the motors 7, 27, and 28. That is, since the total current flowing through each motor corresponds to the magnitude of the current supplied from the power supply line, if the relationship between the rotational speed of the motors 7, 27 and 28 and the motor current is examined, the rotation of each motor It is possible to control the relay 35 according to the detected value of the number.

  In each operation sequence, it is possible to predict how much current flows in the power supply line. Therefore, the opening and closing of the relay 35 can be set in the control unit 29 in advance according to the operation mode. This eliminates the need to detect and control the current flowing in the power supply line, thus simplifying the control.

  For example, as described above, since the drum motor 7, the fan motor 27, and the compressor 28 are all driven and a large current flows during the drying operation, the relay 35 is controlled to be opened to suppress the power harmonic current. Make it work. On the other hand, since it is known in advance about the mode in which the current flowing through the power supply line is set to a predetermined value or less, the relay 35 is set to be closed.

  Examples of the mode in which the current flowing through the power supply line is a predetermined value or less include an energy saving operation mode. In the energy saving operation mode, the rotation speed of the compressor 28 is suppressed to the minimum necessary, and the relay 35 is controlled to be closed. Or in the mode which performs delicate washing, the electric current which flows into a power supply line becomes small.

  Although FIG. 1 shows an example in which the relay 35 is connected to both ends of the coil 34, it can be replaced with that shown in FIG. The basic configuration of the motor drive device shown in FIG. 2 is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. Therefore, the same reference numerals are assigned to similar elements, and the overlapping description is simplified. In this example, the coil 37 includes an intermediate tap 38 and the relay 35 is connected between one end of the coil 37 and the intermediate tap 38.

  According to this configuration, when the current supplied from the power line during the drying operation is less than or equal to a predetermined value, the relay 35 is controlled to be closed, thereby bypassing a part of the coil 37 and the remaining one. Current flows through the section. Thereby, the current consumption by the coil 37 can be reduced while leaving a part of the effect of suppressing the power supply harmonic current.

  According to the washer / dryer of the present invention, noise caused by power harmonic current flowing in the power line is reduced, and wasteful current consumption caused by the reactor when power harmonic current flowing in the power line is small is reduced. Thus, it is possible to achieve both a practically sufficient noise suppression effect and energy saving effect, and is useful for a drum-type washing and drying machine using a dehumidification drying method using a heat pump.

The block diagram which shows the motor drive device of the drum type washing-drying machine in Embodiment 1 of this invention The figure which shows the other example of the principal part in the motor drive device Sectional drawing which shows the structure of the drum type washing-drying machine using the dehumidification drying system by the heat pump of a prior art example Block diagram showing the motor drive device of the washing and drying machine

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Washing machine main body 2 Water tank 3 Drum 3a Stirring protrusion 4 Clothes entrance / exit 5 Door 6 Through-hole 7 Drum motor 7a, 7b, 7c Three-phase winding 8 Water injection pipe 9 Drain pipe 10 Operation panel 11 Circulation ventilation path 12 Evaporator 13 Condenser 14 Circulating fan 15 Circulating air introduction line 16 Blowing line 21 Commercial power supply 22 Rectifier 23 Smoothing capacitor 24 Drum motor inverter circuits 24a to 24f Switching element 25 Fan motor inverter circuit 26 Compressor inverter circuit 27 Fan motor 28 Compressor 29 Control part 30 Input setting part 31a, 31b, 31c Rotor position detection element 32 Drive circuit 33 Rotation speed detection part 34, 37 Coil 35 Relay 36 Current sensor 38 Middle tap

Claims (6)

A drum that houses the laundry and performs a rotational movement;
A water tub containing the drum rotatably and elastically supported in the washing machine body;
A drum motor for rotating the drum;
A fan motor that rotationally drives a fan that blows air into the drum;
A heat pump unit that heats the air blown by the fan after cooling and dehumidifying;
A compressor for transporting the refrigerant of the heat pump unit;
An inverter circuit for supplying power to the drum motor, the fan motor, and the compressor;
A power supply line for supplying power to the inverter circuit;
A reactor connected in series to the power line;
A relay connected in parallel to the reactor;
A control unit that performs drive control of the inverter and the relay,
In the drying operation mode, the control unit drives the fan motor and the compressor to send warm air to the drum while driving the drum motor to rotate the drum and tumble the laundry. Having a function of controlling the operation of drying the laundry in the drum;
When the current supplied from the power supply line exceeds a predetermined value during the operation of the drying operation, the control unit opens the relay to flow the current through the reactor and supplies the current from the power supply line. When the applied current is less than or equal to the predetermined value, the washer / dryer is configured to flow the current bypassing the reactor by controlling the relay to be closed.   The washing / drying machine according to claim 1, further comprising a current sensor that detects a current flowing through the power supply line, wherein the control unit controls the relay to be closed when a current detected by the current sensor is less than a predetermined value. .   A rotation sensor that detects the rotation speeds of the drum motor, the fan motor, and the compressor is provided, and the control unit has a predetermined total of estimated values of currents flowing through the motors based on the rotation speeds detected by the rotation sensor. The washing / drying machine according to claim 1, wherein when the value is less than the value, the relay is controlled to be closed.   2. The washing and drying machine according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the relay to be closed in a mode in which a current flowing through the power supply line is set to be a predetermined value or less in an operation sequence.   The washing / drying machine according to claim 4, wherein, in the energy saving operation mode, the control unit controls the relay to be closed while suppressing the number of rotations of the compressor to a necessary minimum.   The washing / drying machine according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the reactor includes an intermediate tap, and the relay is connected between one end of the reactor and the intermediate tap.

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