JP4894878B2 - Drum washing machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a drum type washing machine that includes vibration detection means and detects an unbalanced distribution state of clothing.

  Conventionally, this kind of drum type washing machine has been proposed to detect the unbalanced position of the laundry in the front-rear direction in the rotating drum from the output signals of two or more axes detected by the vibration detecting means fixed to the water tank ( For example, see Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a main part of a conventional drum type washing machine described in Patent Document 1. FIG. 8 shows the relationship between the unbalance of the drum type washing machine and the phase difference of vibration components. It is a graph which shows.

  In a water tank 103 elastically supported by a vibration damping damper 105 as a suspension structure in a housing 106, a rotating drum 101 in which a large number of holes 102 are formed is opened from a front cover body 108 to a bottom side on the back side. The rotation axis direction is inclined downward from the horizontal direction.

  The rotating drum 101 is configured to rotate by a motor 109 fixed to the back of the water tank 103 to constitute the water tank unit 110, and opens the lid body 108 that can be opened and closed at the front side of the housing 106. Thus, the laundry can be taken in and out through the front opening of the water tank 103 and the front opening of the rotating drum 101.

  Between the opening of the water tank 103 and the lid 108 provided at the inlet / outlet of the housing 106 containing the water tank unit 110, there is a pressure contact portion through an elastic seal member 111 such as rubber that seals between the two. Therefore, the water tank unit 110 has a configuration of a swingable vibrating body that is supported by the vibration proof damper 105 from the bottom of the casing 106 in a vibration proof manner.

  In such a drum-type washing machine, since the rotating drum is horizontal or inclined as described above, if laundry is stored in the rotating drum and rotated, the laundry and water tend to be biased downward. Vibration is likely to occur. In particular, when performing a dehydration process in which the rotating drum is rotated at a high speed to dehydrate the laundry, the laundry containing water is stored in the rotating drum after the washing or rinsing process is completed. Depending on the type, dough, or shape, there is a state where the rotating drum tends to gather at a biased position during the spin-drying process. When the laundry is biased, a large vibration is generated in the water tank that houses the rotating drum, and abnormal vibration and abnormal noise are generated in the washing machine.

  An operation unit 112 and a control unit 113 that controls each process such as washing, rinsing, and dehydration are disposed in front of the casing 106.

  In Patent Document 1 of the conventional example, in this type of drum-type washing machine, the rotational speed of the rotating drum is operated over a wide rotational speed range from low speed to high speed in the dehydration process, and at that time, the longitudinal direction along the rotational axis If the laundry is unbalanced, depending on the number of rotations, the rotating drum may be swung around, causing problems such as noise caused by colliding with the water tank. That is, when a large unbalance is distributed on the lid 108 side, the swinging tends to occur more easily than when there is an unbalance on the rear side. This is because a heavy and highly inertial component such as the motor 109 is disposed at the rear.

  As a technique corresponding to this, Patent Document 1 of the conventional example is based on output signals of vibration components in multiple directions output from the vibration detection means 104 capable of detecting vibration components in multiple directions of the water tank fixed to the upper outer wall of the water tank 103. Thus, the unbalance position of the laundry is detected so that the amplitude abnormality due to the front unbalance abnormality can be dealt with.

FIG. 8 is an example showing the relationship, and the phase angle difference (degree) and unbalance between the vibration in the X direction and the vibration in the Y direction of planes orthogonal to each other of the aquarium unit 110 detected by the vibration detection means 104. If the phase angle difference is large, it is determined that the unbalance occurrence position is ahead. Under the control of the control device 113, abnormal vibration occurs due to the clothing unwinding process and the reduction of the spin speed. We are taking measures to prevent damage to equipment and noise.
JP 2006-311884 A

  However, in the conventional configuration, when the vibration detection unit becomes abnormal due to a failure or the like, the unbalanced state due to the bias of the laundry cannot be determined, and abnormal vibration or abnormal noise may occur. . In addition, the dehydrating operation itself may be stopped. The most likely failure is due to signal lead wire damage or poor contact from the vibration detection means 104 attached to the water tank 103, which is a movable body, to the control means 113 disposed on the housing 106 side. It is.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a drum type washing machine capable of performing a dehydrating operation even when the vibration detecting means is in an abnormal state due to a failure or the like.

  In order to achieve the above object, a drum type washing machine according to the present invention is a drum type washing machine in which a rotating drum formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape is installed in a water tank and is driven by a motor fixed to the back of the water tank. A control means for controlling rotation of the motor, and vibration detection means for detecting vibration components in a plurality of directions at the front of the water tank, wherein the control means detects that the vibration detection means has failed. In this case, the state of the laundry in the rotating drum is determined by the rotational speed detecting means or the current detecting means in the process of increasing the rotation in the dehydrating operation after the washing and rinsing steps.

  As a result, even when the vibration detection means becomes abnormal due to a failure or the like, the dehydration operation can be continued by determining the state of the laundry in the rotating drum by another detection means.

  According to the present invention, even if the vibration detecting means is in an abnormal state due to a failure or the like, the dehydrating operation can be continued by dealing with the unbalance abnormality.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a washing machine in which a rotating drum formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape is arranged such that the direction of the rotation axis is horizontal or inclined downward from the horizontal direction from the front side to the open side to the back side. In a drum-type washing machine installed in a water tank elastically supported in a housing and driven by a motor fixed to the back of the water tank, a control means for controlling the rotation of the motor, and a rotation for detecting the rotation of the motor A detecting means; a current detecting means for detecting a current flowing through the motor; and a vibration detecting means for detecting a vibration component in a plurality of directions at a front portion of the water tank, wherein the control means has failed in the vibration detecting means. When detecting this, the state of the laundry in the rotating drum is determined by using the rotation detecting means or the current detecting means in the process of increasing the rotation in the dehydrating operation after the washing and rinsing process. Ri, even if the failure vibration detection means is any chance, without adding a new detection device, it is possible to perform the unbalance state detection of clothing.

  The second aspect of the invention operates particularly when the control means of the first aspect of the invention detects that the vibration detecting means has failed, and when the vibration detecting means has not failed, the steady rotation speed during dehydration is operated. By operating at the second predetermined rotational speed lower than the first predetermined rotational speed, when the vibration detecting means is abnormal, by operating at the rotational speed according to the substitute detecting means, Even if the unbalanced state due to the bias of the laundry is determined by a detection means with lower accuracy than the determination of the unbalanced state due to the bias, the occurrence of abnormal vibration and abnormal noise can be suppressed.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in particular, when the control means of the first or second aspect of the invention is operated at a second predetermined number of revolutions, the first predetermined time that operates when the vibration detection means is not malfunctioning. By operating for a longer second predetermined time, the rotation speed to be maintained becomes lower than the target rotation speed, so that the reduced dewatering efficiency is equivalent to that when the vibration detecting means is normal. It is effective.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The following description is a specific example of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited by this embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a main part of the drum type washing machine according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control circuit of the drum type washing machine, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a graph for explaining an unbalance determination and an unbalance abnormality determination showing a change in the number of rotations of the rotating drum in the machine dewatering process. FIG. FIG. 5 is a waveform diagram of an output signal corresponding to vibration components in the front and up and down directions, FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the procedure for determining the rear imbalance, the front and rear imbalance abnormalities, and FIG. 6 is a control example including the determination of the imbalance in the dewatering process in the drum type washing machine and the response to the abnormal state. The flowchart which shows is shown.

  The drum type washing machine 1 houses a water tank unit 7 in a washing machine casing 6. The water tank unit 7 accommodates the rotating drum 2 in the water tank 3, and the rotating shaft 2a of the rotating drum 2 is supported by a bearing 68 provided on the back surface of the water tank 3, and the drum driving motor 5 is supported on the rotating shaft 2a by a bearing 68. Linked above.

  The rotating drum 2 is arranged together with the water tank 3 such that the direction of the rotating shaft 2a is inclined downward from the horizontal or horizontal direction from the front side to the back side to the bottom side. Since the water tank unit 7 is attached with heavy components such as the bearing 68 and the motor 5 on the back side thereof, the position of the center of gravity G becomes closer to the back side and becomes unstable. Therefore, the water tank unit 7 is supported by the vibration-proof damper 70 below the position of the center of gravity G and closer to the front side, and between the upper support fitting 75 fixed to the upper part of the tank 3 and the upper surface of the washing machine casing 6. The water tank unit 7 is urged toward the front side by the first coil spring 71 installed on the front side, and further between the back surface below the support height position by the vibration damping damper 70 and the back surface of the washing machine housing 6. By installing the second coil spring 72, it is corrected that the aquarium unit 7 supported by the anti-vibration damper 70 nearer to the front side than the position of the center of gravity G falls to the back side, and a support structure having a high damping effect. It is configured.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control means 20 rectifies AC power 31 by a rectifier 32, and uses DC power smoothed by a smoothing circuit including a choke coil 33 and a smoothing capacitor 34 as drive power, and a motor is driven by an inverter circuit 26. 5, the rotation of the drum driving motor 5 and the load driving means based on the driving instruction input from the input setting means 21 and the monitoring information of the driving state detected by each detecting means such as the water level detecting means 16. 37 controls the operation of necessary loads such as the water supply valve 14, drain valve 13, blower fan 17, heaters 18, 19, etc., and determines an unbalance abnormality of clothing in a dehydration process described later by a signal from the vibration detection means 40. Control the response based on.

  The motor 5 includes a stator having three-phase windings 5a, 5b, and 5c and a rotor having a two-pole permanent magnet, and is configured as a DC brushless motor provided with three position detection elements 24a, 24b, and 24c. The rotation is controlled by a PWM control inverter circuit 26 constituted by the switching elements 26a to 26f. The rotor position detection signals detected by the position detection elements 24a, 24b, and 24c are input to the control means 20, and the on / off states of the switching elements 26a to 26f are PWM-controlled by the drive circuit 25 based on the rotor position detection signals. Thus, energization of the three-phase windings 5a, 5b, and 5c of the stator is controlled to rotate the rotor at a required rotational speed. The control means 20 detects the cycle each time the signal state of any of the three position detection means 24a, 24b, 24c changes, and the rotational speed detection means 24 uses the rotational speed of the rotor as an internal function based on the period. Calculated by Therefore, when the signal from the rotational speed detecting means 24 is not output at a predetermined interval, the clothes are not evenly adhered to the rotating drum 2 and the cloth balance is poor.

  The current detection means 27 includes a resistor 28 connected to one input terminal of the inverter 26 and a current detection circuit 29 connected to the resistor 28, and detects the input current of the inverter 26, that is, the current of the motor 5. , Converted into a voltage signal, and the voltage signal is input to the control means 20. In addition, the control means 20 performs A / D conversion on the input voltage signal, performs arithmetic processing as digital data, and controls the motor 5.

  When the motor 5 is a direct current brushless motor, the torque is substantially proportional to the input current. Therefore, the torque of the motor 5 is detected by detecting the input current value of the inverter 26 by the current detection circuit 29 connected to the resistor 28. be able to. Therefore, when the clothing imbalance is large, the load on the motor 5 increases and the input current value increases.

  By the way, as described above, the rotating drum 2 of the water tank unit 7 elastically supported as described above has the direction of the rotating shaft 2a being horizontal or inclined, and when the laundry is stored and rotated, In the dehydration process in which the laundry tends to be deviated because the water tends to be biased downward, and the laundry drum is dehydrated by rotating the rotary drum 2 at a high speed of 1000 to 1550 rpm as shown in the vertical axis of FIG. In particular, the laundry containing water after the end of the washing or rinsing process tends to gather at a biased position of the rotary drum 2 depending on the type, fabric or shape. If the laundry is biased, a large vibration may occur in the water tank 3 that accommodates the rotating drum, which may cause abnormal vibration and abnormal noise in the washing machine. It must be controlled so that no abnormal vibration or abnormal noise occurs.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the vibration detection means 40 that detects vibration components in a plurality of directions is provided at the front portion of the water tank 3, and the control means 20 outputs, for example, the moment when the rotation speed is constant or at a certain moment. Output signal FFR of vibration components in a plurality of directions related to the front-rear direction (FFR), front-left-right direction (FLR), front-up-down direction (FUD) as shown in FIG. FLR and FUD are detected.

Based on this, in the process of increasing the rotation as shown in FIG. 3A in the dehydrating operation after the washing and rinsing process, the pp value of each output signal shown in FIG. A predetermined time t from a peak time point P at which the amplitude of the output signal FLR related to the vibration component in the front left / right direction detected at the time is equal to or greater than a predetermined first reference value B1 that is less than the first threshold value A1 that causes the pre-unbalance abnormality. The increase width ΔB of the amplitude of the output signal FFR related to the vibration component in the front / rear direction that is delayed from the output signal FLR is greater than or equal to a predetermined second reference value B2 as shown in FIG. If this is the case, it is determined that there is a rear imbalance, and if it is less than the predetermined second reference value B2 as shown in FIG. 1 or more times of judgment and unbalance before and after To as to provide in response to normal.

  The above is the configuration for detecting the clothing imbalance by the normal vibration detecting means 40.

  Here, when the control means 20 detects an abnormality of the vibration detection means 40, for example, the control structure in which the signal from the vibration detection means 40 is not input even when the process proceeds to the dehydration process, the vibration detection means 40 is normal. This will be specifically described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  When the dehydration process starts in step 100, a draining operation for draining the washing water in the water tank 3 is performed in step 101. Thereafter, after initialization of data (N = 1) in step 102, in order to loosen the clothes in step 103, the rotating drum 2 is rotated forward at a third predetermined rotational speed (for example, about 40 r / min). Reverse operation (unraveling process) is performed.

  Next, in step 104, the laundry is gradually raised to a fourth predetermined rotational speed (about 70 r / min) that allows the laundry to stick to the inner surface of the rotary drum 2.

  At this time, if it is determined that the signal from the vibration detection means 40 is normal (Y), the rotational speed is further increased, and in step 105, the aquarium unit 7 in the section “1”: 120 to 140 rpm (near the primary resonance rotational speed). Before and after, the presence / absence of abnormality is determined by the output signal from the vibration detection means 40 of the conventional configuration. If there is an abnormality in clothing unbalance before or after (N), the process proceeds to step 114. It is determined whether N = 4 (whether the data has been initialized four times).

  If N = 4 is not satisfied (N), the rotating drum 2 is temporarily stopped at the next step 115, then 1 is added to N at the current time at step 116, and the process returns to step 103.

  When the operations of Steps 103 to 105 and 114 to 116 are repeated a predetermined number of times, that is, when N = 4 in Step 114 (Y), it is considered that the unevenness of the laundry is not eliminated by repeating the loosening process in Step 103. Since it becomes thin, it progresses to step 117, performs the bias correction operation of laundry, such as supplying water, and progresses to the next process.

  In step 105, if the front or rear imbalance abnormality does not occur and it is normal (Y), the process proceeds to the next step 106 as it is. The transition of the drum rotation speed is shown in FIG.

  In step 106, the front, rear unbalance, front and rear unbalance abnormalities in the section “2”: 141 to 330 r / min (near the secondary resonance rotation speed) are output from the vibration detection means 40. If it is determined that there is a front or rear imbalance abnormality, the process returns to step 114.

  If the front or rear imbalance abnormality does not occur and is normal, the process proceeds to the next step 107 as it is.

In step 107, the rotating drum 2 is rotated at a first predetermined rotation speed (maximum rotation speed: for example, about 1550 r / min) for a first predetermined time (for example, about 10 minutes), and then in step 109. The rotation of the drum 2 is stopped and the process proceeds to the next process of the dehydration process.

  If the control means 20 detects an abnormality of the vibration detection means 40 at step 104 (N), the process proceeds to step 110. The transition of the drum rotation speed is shown in FIG.

  In step 110, the rotational speed of the rotary drum 2 is further increased, and control is performed to maintain for a predetermined time at a fifth predetermined rotational speed (for example, about 90 r / min) lower than the primary resonance rotational speed.

  At this time, if it is detected that the signals from the rotational speed detection means 24 (position detection means 24a, 24b, 24c) described in FIG. That is, it is determined that the laundry is poorly adhered to the inner peripheral wall and the cloth balance is poor.

  That is, by setting the fluctuation range of the rotational speed of the drum drive motor 5 as the cloth balance determination value, the balance state of the laundry in the rotary drum 2 can be determined. Thus, the difference (rotation unevenness) between the control target rotation speed and the actual rotation speed is integrated, and the balance state of the laundry is determined.

  Here, if it is determined that the rotation unevenness is large and the balance state is poor (N), the process proceeds to step 114, and the unraveling process of step 103 is performed again depending on whether N = 4 (whether the data has been initialized four times), Alternatively, the cloth bias correcting operation in step 117 is performed.

  On the other hand, if there is no rotation unevenness in the rotating drum 2 at step 110 (Y), the current flowing through the inverter circuit 26 is detected by the current detecting means 27 described with reference to FIG.

  Also in this case, the abnormal vibration of the water tank unit 7 is detected as in step 110.

  That is, when the current flowing through the inverter circuit 26 is detected by the current detection means 27 and the current value is equal to or greater than the second predetermined value, it is determined that the cloth balance state is bad (N), and the process proceeds to step 114. = 4 (whether the data has been initialized four times), the loosening process in step 103 or the cloth bias correction operation in step 117 is performed again.

  If the current flowing through the inverter circuit 26 by the current detection means 27 is a current value less than the second predetermined value, it is determined that the cloth balance state is good (Y), and the process proceeds to step 112.

  In step 112, the rotating drum 2 has a second predetermined rotation speed (for example, about 900 r / min) lower than the first predetermined rotation speed and a second predetermined time (for example, 15 minutes) longer than the first predetermined time. Then, in step 109, the rotation of the rotary drum 2 is stopped, and the process proceeds to the next step.

  Since the vibration amplitude of the water tank unit 7 is indirectly detected by the rotation speed detection means 24 and the current detection means 27, the amplitude of the water tank unit 7 is not directly detected like the vibration detection means 40, The accuracy may be reduced.

  Therefore, the second predetermined rotational speed lower than the first predetermined rotational speed is longer than the first predetermined time so as not to cause abnormal vibration or noise in the detection by the rotational speed detecting means 24 or the current detecting means 27. The rotary drum 2 is rotated for a predetermined time of 2, and then the rotation of the rotary drum 2 is stopped in step 109 and the process proceeds to the next step.

  This is because the second predetermined rotation speed is lower than the first predetermined rotation speed and the second predetermined time is set longer than the first predetermined time to ensure a predetermined dewatering performance.

  As described above, in this embodiment, when a failure occurs in the vibration detection means, the control means estimates the unbalance state of the clothing using the rotation detection means or the current detection means, and detects that there is an unbalance abnormality. In such a case, the dehydrating operation can be continued by responding to an unbalance abnormality such as control of the cloth bias correcting operation.

  It is practically used for dewatering in a drum-type washing machine with a rotating drum installed horizontally or inclined, and the determination of an unbalance abnormality due to the bias of the laundry is increasing the rotation speed of the rotating drum even when the vibration detection means is abnormal It can be done easily and quickly, and can respond to abnormalities accurately.

Sectional drawing which shows the principal part structure of the drum type washing machine which concerns on embodiment of this invention. Block diagram of control circuit of the drum type washing machine Graph for explaining the unbalance determination and unbalance abnormality determination indicating the rotation speed change of the rotating drum in the dewatering process of the drum type washing machine Waveform diagram of the output signal corresponding to the vibration components in the front left and right, front front and rear, front and top and bottom directions detected by the vibration detection means of the water tank of the drum type washing machine Explanatory drawing which shows the procedure which performs the determination of front, rear unbalance, front, and rear unbalance abnormality from the relationship between the vibration component of the front left-right direction and the vibration component of the front-back direction in the dehydration process of the drum type washing machine. Flowchart showing an example of control including determination of imbalance in the dewatering process in the drum type washing machine and handling in the event of an abnormality Sectional drawing which shows the principal part structure of the conventional drum type washing machine A graph showing the relationship between the unbalanced state of the drum type washing machine and the phase difference of vibration components

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Drum type washing machine 2 Rotating drum 2a Rotating shaft 3 Water tank 5 Motor 6 Washing machine housing 7 Water tank unit 9 Door 20 Control means 24 Rotational speed detection means 27 Current detection means 30 Cloth amount detection means 40 Vibration detection means 70 Vibration damping damper

Claims (3)

A rotating drum formed in a cylindrical shape with a bottom is elastically supported in the washing machine casing so that the rotation axis direction is horizontal or inclined downward from the horizontal direction from the front side opening to the back side as the bottom. In a drum type washing machine installed in a water tank and driven by a motor fixed to the back of the water tank, a control means for controlling the rotation of the motor, a rotation detection means for detecting the rotation of the motor, and the motor Current detecting means for detecting the current flowing through the water tank and vibration detecting means for detecting vibration components in a plurality of directions at the front of the water tank, and the control means detects that the vibration detecting means has failed. A drum type washing machine that determines the state of the laundry in the rotating drum by using the rotation detecting means or the current detecting means in the process of increasing the rotation in the dehydrating operation after the washing and rinsing steps. When the control means detects that the vibration detection means has failed, the second predetermined speed that is lower than the first predetermined rotation speed that operates when the vibration detection means does not fail is set as the steady rotation speed during dehydration. The drum type washing machine according to claim 1, wherein the drum type washing machine operates at a rotational speed. The control means operates at a second predetermined time longer than a first predetermined time that operates when the vibration detection means is not out of order when operating at the second predetermined rotation speed. A drum-type washing machine as described in 1.