JP5395580B2 - Drum washing machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a drum-type washing machine including a water tank disposed in an outer box and a drum that is rotatably disposed in the water tank and stores laundry.

  In the above drum-type washing machine, the laundry falls with a predetermined level of a small amount of water stored in the lower part of the aquarium (lower drum) by the tumbling operation that lifts and drops the laundry upward as the drum rotates. The cleaning action proceeds while being moistened each time. Such a washing machine around the horizontal axis can be washed with less water than a washing machine around the vertical axis, but is not easy to wash for laundry such as a blanket that is bulky in the drum. There is a risk of becoming.

  In view of this, a drum-type washing and drying machine provided with blanket washing means for raising the water level of the water tank higher than the standard water level for easy washing is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1). That is, in this drum type washing / drying machine, water is supplied from the water supply port into the water tank to the high water level through a water supply channel disposed above the water tank, and then the drum is rotated forward and backward around the horizontal axis. Thus, the washing liquid is applied to the blanket accommodated in the drum, or the lack of rinsing is resolved.

Japanese Patent No. 30687748

  For example, when washing a blanket, the blanket is put into the drum in a folded state by the user, but is bulky in the drum as described above (that is, the relative amount as laundry increases), It takes time to absorb water up to the inside of the blanket.

  In this respect, in the drum-type washing and drying machine of Patent Document 1, only the supply port side of the water supply path is wetted and heavy on the blanket when water is supplied in advance. For this reason, during the subsequent washing operation including washing and rinsing, the drum and the water tank are greatly shaken due to a so-called unbalanced state in which the weight balance of the blanket is lost in the drum, and abnormal vibration occurs. At the same time, there is a risk of the outer tank hitting the outer box and the like. In addition, even if water is supplied to a high water level in advance, the water level decreases as the blanket absorbs water during the washing operation, and the amount of decrease varies depending on the quality of the fabric, the size of the blanket, etc. There are problems such as lowering.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention appropriately supplies supplementary water and circulating water into a water tank, and can prevent the laundry in the drum from becoming unbalanced. The purpose is to provide.

In order to achieve the above object, a drum-type washing machine of the present invention includes a water tub disposed in an outer box, a drum rotatably disposed in the water tub and containing laundry, and the outer box. By a water supply operation of a water supply device provided inside, a water supply path for supplying water outside the outer box into the water tank, and both ends are connected to the water tank, and a pump action of a circulation pump disposed in the middle part A circulation path for circulating the water in the aquarium out of the aquarium and returning it to the aquarium, and a water level detection means for detecting the water level in the aquarium, on the supply side of the circulation path to the aquarium Of the end and the end of the water supply path on the supply side to the water tank, one end is connected to the front side of the water tank, and the other end is connected to the rear side of the water tank. The water passing through the route and the water passing through the water supply route from the front side and the rear side of the water tank A drum-type washing machine for supplying water into a water tub, wherein in a washing operation in which the drum is repeatedly rotated and stopped, the water supply device is driven at the initial stage of the washing operation so that the water level detection means is in a predetermined water level in the water tub. Water is detected until water level is detected, and when the water level is detected by re-detection of the water level by the water level detection means during the washing operation, the water supply device is driven to perform supplementary water injection into the water tank. The control means drives the circulation pump during a rotation cycle in which the rotation and stop of the drum are repeated as a cycle in the washing operation, and the stop during the stop of the drum in the rotation cycle of the drum. by performing the re-detection of the water level detection means to drive the circulating pump is stopped, the re-detection and water by the driving of the circulation pump A brute auxiliary injection and performing in accordance with the rotation cycle.

  According to the above means, during the washing operation, the laundry is wetted with circulating water while being tumbled as the drum rotates, and wetted with supplementary water supplied at intervals corresponding to the cycle of the drum. Can do. Therefore, local water absorption can be prevented in the laundry in the drum, particularly in the laundry that has high water absorption and is bulky in the water tank, such as a blanket. In addition, since supplementary water is supplied intermittently as the water level decreases, that is, with the absorption of the water in the laundry, in combination with the supply of the circulating water, the laundry is well balanced from the front side and the rear side. It can be efficiently moistened, and the laundry in the drum can be prevented from becoming unbalanced as much as possible. Furthermore, the supplementary water can prevent a decrease in cleaning performance due to a drop in the water level during the washing operation, and as a whole, supplementary water and circulating water can be appropriately supplied to the laundry in the water tank.

The figure which shows one Example of this invention and shows the relationship between the rotation of the drum in a blanket course, supplementary water, and circulating water. Longitudinal side view of the entire drum type washing machine Broken perspective view of the entire drum type washing machine Block diagram showing electrical configuration The figure for explaining how to fold and accommodate the blanket in the drum

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, an outer box 1 forming an outer shell of a drum type washing machine is composed of a base plate 1b made of synthetic resin and a box body 1a coupled to the base plate 1b, and is rectangular as a whole. Form a box. On the front surface (left side in FIG. 2) of the box body 1a, a laundry doorway 2 is formed at a substantially central portion, and a door 3 for opening and closing the laundry doorway 2 is provided. An operation panel 4 is provided at the upper part of the front surface of the box body 1a, and a control device 5 as control means is provided on the back side of the operation panel 4. Although not shown, the operation panel 4 has operation keys for selecting and setting a plurality of driving courses such as “standard course”, “blanket course”, “speedy course”, etc. Various operation input units 4a (see FIG. 4) such as an operation key for individually setting the operation key, a pause key used also as a start key for starting operation, and various display means are provided.

  In the outer box 1, a bottomed cylindrical water tank 6 whose front side is open and whose rear side is closed is elastically supported by a suspension 7. The aquarium 6 has a horizontal axis with its central axis C oriented in the front-rear direction of the outer box and is in a state of inclining forward (in other words, descending rearward) inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal. Is arranged. A drum motor 8 (for example, an outer rotor type DC brushless motor) is provided outside the rear side of the water tank 6. In this drum motor 8, a stator 8a is attached to the outside on the back side of the water tank 6, and a rotating shaft 8c at the center of the rotor 8b is supported by a bearing bracket 9 via a bearing 10.

  Inside the water tank 6, a bottomed cylindrical drum 11 whose front side is open and whose back side is closed is disposed in a so-called cantilevered state. The drum 11 has a central portion on the back side coupled to the tip of the rotating shaft 8c of the drum motor 8, and is provided so as to be rotatable about the axis C of the water tank 6 (that is, concentric with the water tank 6). ing. Therefore, the drum motor 8 of this embodiment functions as a drive device that directly rotates the drum 11.

  A large number of holes 12 are formed in the peripheral wall of the drum 11 over the entire area. The number of holes 12 formed in the front half region of the drum 11 in the front-rear direction (shown as holes 12a in FIG. 2) is the number formed in the rear half region of the drum 11 (FIG. 2). It is set to be larger than the number of holes 12b. Although not shown in detail, a plurality of (for example, three) baffles 13 for picking up laundry are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the inner peripheral portion of the drum 11. The baffle 13 extending in the front-rear direction protrudes toward the rotation center axis side of the drum 11 and has a mountain shape in which both side surface portions 13a and 13b in the circumferential direction rise toward the central ridge portion 13c. In the present embodiment, both side surface portions 13a and 13b of the baffle 13 are defined as side surface portions 13a in the clockwise direction (in the direction of arrow D1 in FIG. 3, the direction of positive rotation described later) in the front view of the drum type washing machine. A side surface portion 13b on the counterclockwise direction (in FIG. 3, arrow D2 direction, reverse rotation direction described later) side.

  The baffle 13 has a central ridge 13c curved like a sine wave when viewed from the radial direction of the drum 11, and has a plurality of holes 13d arranged along the curve in the central ridge 13c. The side portions 13a and 13b of the baffle 13 are formed with a front recess 13e that is recessed in the direction of the arrow D1 and a rear recess 13f that is recessed in the direction of the arrow D2, and the central ridge portion 13c has the recesses 13e and 13f gently. It is formed so as to be connected by an S-shaped ridgeline. A front step 13g is provided above the front recess 13e in the side portion 13b, and a rear step 13h is provided above the rear recess 13f in the side portion 13a. These stepped portions 13g and 13h each have a stepped shape composed of a plurality of small ridges along the central ridge portion 13c, and the front concave portion 13e and the rear side in a laundry such as a blanket B (see FIG. 5) described later. The portion that fits in the recess 13f is easily caught, and the laundry is easily scraped up. Further, these recesses 13e and 13f suppress the movement (bias) of the laundry in the front-rear direction in the drum 11 in a tumbling operation described later.

  The opening 14 of the drum 11 includes, for example, a liquid-filled rotary balancer 15 on the inner peripheral side thereof. The opening 16 of the water tub 6 is connected to the laundry entrance 2 by a bellows 17 made of an annular elastic material. Thereby, the laundry entrance 2 is connected to the inside of the drum 11 through the bellows 17, the opening 16 of the water tub 6, and the opening 14 of the drum 11.

Subsequently, a water supply path 20 for supplying water outside the outer box 1 into the water tank 6 and a circulation path 21 for circulating the water inside the water tank 6 out of the water tank 6 and returning it to the water tank 6 will be described. To do.
First, in the upper part of the outer box 1, as a water supply path 20, a water supply valve 22 is provided at the rear and a water supply case 23 is provided at the front. The water supply valve 22 as a water supply device is connected to an external water supply hose whose water inlet 22 a is connected to a water tap (not shown), and the water outlet is connected to a water supply case 23 via a connection pipe 24. A water supply case 23 into which a washing treatment agent such as a detergent is introduced extends in the front-rear direction along the upper corner of the box body 1a. A lower portion of the water supply case 23 is connected to a water supply port 6 a on the upper rear portion of the water tank 6 via an in-machine water supply hose 25. In this case, when the water supply valve 22 is opened, tap water is supplied to the water supply case 23 through the connection pipe 24, and the water is supplied to the in-machine water supply hose 25 together with the washing treatment agent introduced into the water supply case 23. And supplied into the water tank 6 and eventually into the drum 11. The water supply valve 22, the connection pipe 24, the water supply case 23, and the in-machine water supply hose 25 correspond to the water supply path 20.

  In this regard, the outer box 1 of the present embodiment has an upper space portion (the upper surface portion of the box main body 1a and the water tank 6 with respect to the water tank 6 arranged so as to be in an upwardly inclined state as described above. Is a compact configuration that is set to be relatively narrow at the front of the water tank 6. Therefore, using the relatively wide space on the upper side in the rear part of the water tank 6, the end on the supply side to the water tank 6 of the water supply path 20 (one end part of the in-machine water supply hose 25) is used as the water supply port in the upper rear part of the water tank 6. It connects to 6a, and feeds water in the said water tank 6 from the upper side of the rear part of the water tank 6. FIG.

  On the other hand, a drainage port 6b that also serves as a water intake is formed at the lowermost part on the back side (rear part) of the water tank 6, and one end of an in-machine drainage hose 26 is connected to the drainage port 6b. The other end of the in-machine drain hose 26 is connected to the in-machine drain hose connection port 28 of the filter case 27 disposed at the left front part of the base plate 1b.

  The filter case 27 is provided with a cap 27a at the front end, and a lint filter (not shown) integral with the cap 27a is accommodated therein. An in-machine drain hose connection port 28 is formed in the upper part of the filter case 27, and a drain valve 29 is connected to the lower part of the filter case 27. A drain pipe 30 is connected to the outlet of the drain valve 29, and the tip of the drain pipe 30 faces the outside from the base plate 1b of the outer box 1 and is connected to an unshown drain hose (not shown). It has become. A circulation pump 33 including a pump unit 31 and a pump motor 32 is provided at the rear end of the filter case 27. The circulation pump 33 exhibits a pumping action by rotating an impeller (not shown) provided in the pump unit 31 by a pump motor 32.

  One end of a water supply hose 34 is connected to the discharge port 31 a of the pump unit 31. The water supply hose 34 has an intermediate portion that extends upward from the circumferential side of the bellows 17, and a tip portion that is connected to a fountain nozzle 35 that is a water outlet formed at the upper portion of the opening 16 of the water tank 6. The fountain nozzle 35 is configured to discharge water supplied from the water supply hose 34 in a shower-like manner (see the broken line arrow in FIG. 2) from the upper front of the water tank 6 toward the rear of the drum 11.

  The water in the water tank 6 is discharged out of the water tank 6 from the drain port 6 b and out of the water tank 6 by the water drain hose 26, the filter case 27, the pump portion 31 of the circulation pump 33, the water supply hose 34 and the fountain nozzle 35. A circulation path 21 for performing circulation to return to is configured. Specifically, when water is supplied into the aquarium 6 with the drain valve 29 closed, the water enters the drain port 6b, the in-machine drain hose 26, the filter case 27, and the pump unit 31 and is stored. The water supplied beyond that is stored in the water tank 6. In this state, when the pump motor 32 of the circulation pump 33 disposed in the middle part of the circulation path 21 is driven, the pump action causes water in the water tank 6 to pass through the in-machine drain hose 26 and the filter case 27 to the pump unit 31. Inhaled. The water sucked into the pump unit 31 passes through the water supply hose 34 from the discharge port 31a and is discharged into the drum 11 from the fountain nozzle 35 (that is, the end of the circulation path 21 on the supply side to the water tank 6). Water in the water tank 6 is circulated as circulating water through the circulation path 21.

  Although detailed explanation is omitted, the supply capacity of the circulating water to the water tank 6 by the circulation pump 33 is set higher than the supply capacity of the supplementary water to the water tank 6 by the water supply valve 22. Further, the in-machine drain hose 26, the filter case 27, the drain valve 29, and the drain pipe 30 allow the water in the water tank 6 to be discharged from the drain port 6b to the outside of the machine (ex-machine drain hose) by opening the drain valve 29 (draining operation). (To the side) Configure a discharge route for discharge.

  An air trap 37 is provided above the front portion of the filter case 27. The air trap 37 and a water level sensor 38 disposed at the top of the outer box 1 are connected by an air tube 39. The water level sensor 38 is a water level detecting means that receives the air pressure in the air trap 37 that changes according to the rise or fall of the water level in the water tank 6 by the air tube 39 and generates a detection signal corresponding to the water level in the water tank 6. It is configured.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a schematic electrical configuration related to the gist of the present invention. The control device 5 is mainly composed of a microcomputer, has a CPU, a ROM, a RAM (all not shown) and the like, and controls the overall operation of the drum type washing machine. The control device 5 receives signals from the operation input unit 4a, the water level sensor 38, and the rotation sensor 40 that detects the rotation speed of the drum motor 8, and inputs those signals and stores them in the ROM in advance. Based on the control program, the drum motor 8, the pump motor 32, the water supply valve 22, and the drain valve 29 are controlled. In this case, the rotation speed of the drum motor 8 is controlled by a pulse width modulation (PWM) method using an inverter. The rotation sensor 40 is composed of, for example, a Hall element, and the control device 5 rotates the drum motor 8 with a predetermined input, and reads the detection result of the rotation sensor 40 at this time to measure the amount of laundry. Do. That is, when the drum 11 is rotated along with the rotation of the drum motor 8, the rotation load increases as the amount of laundry accommodated in the drum 11 increases. Therefore, the amount of laundry is measured by reading the detection result. Therefore, at this time, the rotation sensor 40 functions as a laundry amount detection means.

  The “standard course” in the case of general laundry, the “blanket course” in the case of washing the blanket B etc., and the “speedy” in the case of washing in a short time, which are exemplified as included in the operation input unit 4a. An operation key such as “Course” constitutes a course selecting means for selecting one driving course from a plurality of driving courses.

  In the “standard course” or “speedy course”, the control device 5 executes control for detecting the amount of laundry at the beginning of the washing operation (each initial stage of the washing process and the rinsing process described later). Thus, based on the output signal of the rotation sensor 40, for example, the amount of laundry can be detected in three stages of “heavy”, “medium”, and “light” loads. Further, based on the detection result, the control device 5 determines a predetermined water level from the “high”, “medium”, and “low” water levels as the required washing water level in the washing operation, and the water level sensor 38 detects the predetermined water level. Until then, the water supply valve 22 is driven and controlled to supply water according to the amount of laundry. On the other hand, the “blanket course” has circumstances such as the material and form of the blanket being significantly different from those of general clothing, as will be described later. For example, without using the laundry amount detecting means. Water is supplied up to a predetermined water level (for example, the same water level as the “high” water level in the “standard course”). Note that the “speedy course” is selected, for example, when the dirt is lighter than the “standard course” and the user wants to wash quickly, and is set so that the washing operation can be executed in a short time.

  In the control device 5, the ROM stores the number of times of re-detection of a water level sensor 38 to be described later, the timing thereof, the operation timing of the pump motor 32 (circulation pump 33), and the like according to the operation course. During operation, supplementary water and circulating water corresponding to the operation course are supplied to the water tank 6. Here, the supplementary water is a water supply that replenishes the water tank 6 by driving the water supply valve 22 when the water level in the water tank 6 (drum 11) falls below a predetermined water level during the washing operation. This is done when a drop in water level is detected by re-detection. This fluctuation in water level occurs according to the amount of laundry and water absorption as the washing operation progresses, but blankets can be used for other general laundry (for example, shirts such as short-sleeved round neck shirts, towels, pajamas, socks, etc.) The water absorption is high and the fluctuation of the water level is large compared to the laundry). For this reason, in the “Blanket Course”, the number of times of re-detection (supplemented water injection) is set more than in other courses (“Standard Course” and “Speedy Course”).

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5 in particular regarding the washing operation when the blanket B is washed.
First, in order to accommodate the blanket B in the drum 11 from the laundry entrance 2, the user folds the blanket B in the longitudinal direction, for example, as shown in FIG. Fold it (see (b) in the figure). Then, after the trifolded blanket B is folded in quadruple by a folding folding, the blanket B is introduced from the laundry entrance 2 so that both end sides thereof are in the interior of the drum 11.

  When the user operates the operation input unit 4a to select “blanket course” and operates the start key / pause key, the control device 5 opens the water supply valve 22 with the drain valve 29 closed. At the same time, water is supplied to the predetermined water level based on the detection signal of the water level sensor 38. By this water supply operation, the water passing through the water supply path 20 is supplied into the water tank 6 from the water supply port 6 a on the upper rear side of the water tank 6 together with the washing treatment agent in the water supply case 23. Since the drum 11 is arranged so as to be in the above-described upwardly inclined state, the water from the water supply port 6a is applied to the back side (rear side) of the blanket B in the drum 11 from above, and the drum 11 In the lower part of (water tank 6), it accumulates so that it becomes shallow as it goes to the front side of drum 11. Further, since the blanket B is housed in the drum 11 in a state of being folded several times as described above, it takes time until water sufficiently penetrates to the center of the blanket B and gets wet. The 6a side (rear side) becomes more wet and heavy, and the weight balance of the blanket B in the drum 11 is impaired.

  Therefore, in order to eliminate such imbalance, the control device 5 executes control as shown in FIG. Here, FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing the relationship between the drum motor 8 and the operation timings of the water supply valve 22 and the pump motor 32 in the washing and rinsing steps of the blanket course. In FIGS. 1A and 1B, the water supply operation performed at the beginning of each process in the washing process and the rinsing process, and the draining operation and the dehydrating operation performed after each process are omitted.

That is, in the washing process, after supplying water to a predetermined level by the water supply operation (so-called washing water supply), as shown in FIG. 1A, the drum motor 8 is driven to rotate the drum 11 repeatedly in the forward and reverse directions. The motor 32 is driven. Here, the drum 11 has one cycle (period T) of forward rotation, stop, reverse rotation, and stop. The respective stop periods (pause periods t _O1 and t _O2 ) after the forward rotation and reverse rotation of the drum 11 are set longer than the normal rotation period t _CW and the reverse rotation period t _CCW as shown in FIG. The blanket B is adapted to the washing liquid and prevents the blanket B from being damaged.

The driving of the pump motor 32 is intermittent driving performed every cycle in the period T ₁ from the start of the forward rotation of the drum 11 to the end of the reverse rotation. Thereby, the water in the water tank 6 is sucked into the pump part 31 of the circulation path 21 from the drain port 6b as described above, and then returned to the water tank 6 from the fountain nozzle 35 which is the end of the circulation path 21. Water is circulated at least during rotation of the drum 11. Thus, the washing from the upper front fountain nozzle 35 in the aquarium 6 is performed while washing the blanket B in the drum 11 by a tumbling operation (a stirring operation that lifts and drops the laundry upward as the drum 11 rotates). Since the circulating water is supplied in the form of a shower, it comes into contact with water from the front side of the blanket B and gets wet.

In this washing process, the water level in the water tank 6 decreases as the water penetration of the blanket B is promoted, so that the water supply valve 22 is set at a predetermined time interval corresponding to the rotation period T of the drum 11. Drive intermittently. Specifically, the control device 5 determines the water level in a state where it is as calm as possible by stopping the driving of the motors 8 and 32 during the suspension period t _O2 in which the driving of the drum motor 8 and the driving of the pump motor 32 are stopped. Is detected again based on the input from the water level sensor 38. Thereby, when a water level fall is detected, the water supply valve 22 is opened, and supplementary water is supplied to additionally supply water corresponding to the difference between the detected water level and the predetermined water level into the water tank 6. When the water level rises by this supplementary water and the water level sensor 38 detects a predetermined water level, the water supply valve 22 is closed (driving stopped). As a result, the supplementary water supply period T ₂ ends, the pump motor 32 and the drum motor 8 are driven again, and the stirring operation for repeating the above cycle is started.

In the washing process, in order to optimize the water absorption balance in the front-rear direction of the blanket B in the drum 11, several cycles of the drum 11 (including the water supply capability of the circulation pump 33 and the water supply valve 22 described above) For example, the supplementary water supply period T ₂ is provided every two cycles). In the “blanket course” of the present embodiment, the water replenishment period T ₂ every two cycles, in other words, the water level sensor 38 is redetected every other cycle, for example, five times in the washing process. Is set. In this respect, the control device 5 is configured to determine whether or not the supplementary water is necessary based on the input from the water level sensor 38, and the drop in the water level is not recognized because the supplementary water is performed a plurality of times, or is when the water level has again detected is determined to be a predetermined level and a narrow margin, not performed auxiliary water injection to the auxiliary injection period T _2. Therefore, in this case, since the stirring operation can be resumed immediately, the rest period t _O2 after the reverse rotation of the drum 11 is shortened by the supplementary water supply period T ₂ and includes at least a rest period for re-detection. It becomes. In the rest period t _O2 of the even-numbered cycle (second cycle, fourth cycle,...) Of the drum 11, re-detection and supplementary water injection are not performed.

  In this way, in the washing process, by re-detecting the water level at intervals corresponding to the cycle of the drum 11, supplementary water is intermittently supplied from the water supply port 6 a at the upper rear portion of the water tank 6. And this supplementary water and circulating water are separately supplied with respect to the blanket B from the rear part side and front part side of the water tank 6 at said timing, respectively, and the blanket B is wetted with good balance to the center part. It will be. For this reason, the blanket B is prevented from being in an unbalanced state in the drum 11 during the agitation operation, and so-called outer box 1 hitting due to large shaking (abnormal vibration) of the water tank 6 and the drum 11 is prevented.

  The control device 5 opens the drain valve 29 after the washing step, and discharges the water in the water tank 6 from the drain port 6b to the outside through the discharge path. Then, the control device 5 performs centrifugal dehydration on the blanket B by intermediate dehydration by rotating the drum 11 at high speed in one direction (forward rotation direction) by the drum motor 8, and then performs a rinsing process.

In the rinsing process, the control device 5 supplies water to a predetermined water level again by a water supply operation (so-called rinsing water supply), and then, as shown in FIG. 1B, drives the drum 11 by driving the drum motor 8 as in the washing process. The pump motor 32 is driven while repeatedly rotating in the forward and reverse directions. In addition, the control device 5 performs, for example, five times in the rinsing process, for example, for each cycle of the drum 11, the re-detection and supplementary water that are performed while the drum motor 8 and the pump motor 32 are stopped. It is configured. That is, by providing a supplementary water period T ₂ in the rinsing process for each suspension period t _O2 of each cycle, a blanket B that has been moistened to the center in the washing process, while dealing with a more precise and early response to a drop in water level. Even if supplementary water is repeated every cycle, the unevenness of water absorption in the blanket B is small and the weight balance in the front-rear direction is not impaired.

  The control device 5 executes the dehydration process when the rinsing process is completed. In the dewatering process, centrifugal dewatering is performed on the blanket B by rotating the drum 11 at high speed in the forward rotation direction by the drum motor 8 as in the intermediate dewatering. When the dehydration process is completed, the “blanket course” is completed.

  Unlike the “blanket course”, in the “standard course” and the “speedy course”, the number of re-detections is set to be performed once, for example, in the washing process and the rinsing process. That is, as described above, since the general laundry has a low water absorption and a small fluctuation in water level as compared with the blanket B, the number of times of supplementary water based on the re-detection of the water level by the water level sensor 38 in the course other than the “blanket course” Can be reduced.

  As described above, in the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment, in the washing operation, the circulation pump 33 is driven while the drum 11 is rotated, and the water level sensor 38 is restarted at intervals corresponding to the rotation and stop cycles of the drum 11. Based on the detection, supplementary water was intermittently supplied, and the circulating water passing through the circulation path 21 and the supplementary water passing through the water supply path 20 were supplied separately from the front side and the rear side of the water tank 6. According to this, during the washing operation, the laundry is wetted by the circulating water while being tumbled as the drum 11 rotates, and is wetted by the supplementary water supplied at intervals corresponding to the cycle of the drum 11. Can do. Therefore, local water absorption can be prevented in the laundry in the drum 11, particularly in the laundry having a high water absorption like the blanket B and bulky in the water tub 6. In addition, since supplementary water is supplied intermittently as the water level decreases, that is, with the absorption of the water in the laundry, in combination with the supply of the circulating water, the laundry is well balanced from the front side and the rear side. It can be efficiently moistened, and the laundry in the drum 11 can be prevented from becoming unbalanced as much as possible. Furthermore, the supplementary water can prevent a decrease in cleaning performance due to a drop in the water level during the washing operation, and as a whole, supplementary water and circulating water can be appropriately supplied to the laundry in the water tank 6. .

  The control device 5 includes the course selection means for selecting one driving course from a plurality of driving courses, and the control device 5 has the number of times set in advance according to the driving course in the driving course selected by the course selecting means. The re-detection is performed. Accordingly, for example, the laundry such as the blanket B tends to have a large fluctuation in the water level in the washing operation. Therefore, the number of times corresponding to the predicted fluctuation in the lowering of the water level, that is, the number of times more than the so-called standard number of times is re-detected. By providing the “blanket course” to be performed, appropriate supplementary water can be applied to the blanket B. As a result, it is possible to carry out re-detection without waste, and it is possible to effectively prevent a reduction in cleaning performance due to a drop in water level.

  The control device 5 supplies water up to a predetermined water level at the initial stage of the washing process and at the initial stage of the rinsing process, and the re-detection is performed every several cycles of the drum 11 in the washing process, and every cycle of the drum 11 in the rinsing process. To do. According to this, in the washing process, re-detection is performed every several cycles, so that it is possible to perform supplementary water intended to balance water absorption in the front-rear direction in the laundry, while in the rinsing process, re-detection is performed every cycle. By performing the above, it is possible to deal with the water level drop more finely and quickly, and as a whole, it is possible to more appropriately perform supplementary water in the washing operation. The “several cycles” in the washing process and the “1 cycle” in the rinsing process as the re-detection timing are the length of each period of rotation and stop of the drum 11, the supply capacity of supplementary water by the water supply valve 22, You may change suitably according to the supply capacity etc. of the circulating water by the circulation pump 33. FIG. “Several cycles” includes a plurality of cycles such as cycles after 2 cycles.

The control device 5 performs re-detection of the water level by the water level sensor 38 with the drum 11 stopped and the circulation pump 33 stopped. According to this, since both the drum 11 and the circulation pump 33 are stopped, the water level in a state where it is as calm as possible can be accurately detected by the water level sensor 38, and the rest period t _O2 of the drum 11 can be determined. Can be useful.
Since the pumping action of the circulation pump 33 is used to supply a shower from the fountain nozzle 35 at the upper front of the water tank 6 toward the rear half of the drum 11, it circulates from the front with respect to the blanket B in the drum 11. Water can be absorbed so that there is no unevenness.

  In general, a washing machine having a cantilever-supported structure tends to cause imbalance, and there is a risk that a so-called outer box hit may occur particularly when a blanket is washed (washing operation). That is, since the blanket is relatively thick and is stored in the drum in a folded state, the washing water does not penetrate into the center of the blanket B in the drum, and the weight balance of the blanket is lost. There is a risk of driving. In this respect, in this embodiment, the drum 11 is cantilevered. However, in the washing operation, the blanket B can be efficiently wetted with good balance from the front side and the rear side as described above. The occurrence of balance can be prevented as much as possible.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings, and can be applied to, for example, a drum type washing machine having a drying function. In addition, the “cycle” of the present invention is not limited to a cycle in which the drum 11 is normally rotated, paused, reversely rotated, and paused as one cycle. The rotation cycle is included. Therefore, the rotation direction of the drum in the rotation / stop cycle may be changed as appropriate, and the re-detection of the water level sensor 38 may be executed at a predetermined time interval corresponding to the cycle.

  The water supply device is not limited to the water supply valve 22, and may be a water supply pump that is provided in the outer box 1 and supplies water outside the outer box 1 into the water tank by a pump action. The water supply path 20 and the circulation path 21 constitute a path for supplying water passing through one of the paths from the front side of the water tank and supplying water passing through the other path from the rear side of the water tank. That's fine.

  In the drawings, 1 is an outer box, 5 is a control means, 6 is a water tank, 11 is a drum, 20 is a water supply path, 21 is a circulation path, 22 is a water supply device, 33 is a circulation pump, and 38 is a water level detection means.

Claims (3)

A water tank disposed in the outer box;
A drum rotatably disposed in the aquarium and containing laundry;
By a water supply operation of a water supply device provided in the outer box, a water supply path for supplying water outside the outer box into the water tank,
A circulation path in which both ends are connected to the water tank, and circulation is performed to return the water in the water tank out of the water tank and return it to the water tank by a pumping action of a circulation pump disposed in the middle part.
Water level detecting means for detecting the water level in the water tank,
Of the end of the circulation path on the supply side to the water tank and the end of the water supply path on the supply side of the water tank, one end is on the front side of the water tank and the other end is the water tank. A drum type washing machine that is connected to the rear side of each tank and supplies the water passing through the circulation path and the water passing through the water supply path from the front side and the rear side of the water tank into the water tank,
In the washing operation in which the drum is repeatedly rotated and stopped, the water supply device is driven at the initial stage of the washing operation to supply water in the water tank until the water level detecting means detects a predetermined water level, Comprising a control means for controlling the water supply device to drive and supply water into the water tank when a water level drop is detected by re-detection of the water level of the water level detection means;
In the washing operation, the control means drives the circulation pump during a rotation cycle that repeats rotation and stop of the drum as a cycle, and drives the circulation pump while the drum is stopped in the rotation cycle of the drum. A drum-type washing machine characterized in that the water level detection means performs the re-detection and stops the water supply by driving the circulation pump and the supplementary water based on the re-detection according to the rotation cycle . A course selecting means for selecting one driving course from a plurality of driving courses;
The said control means is comprised so that the said re-detection of the frequency | count preset beforehand according to the said driving course may be performed in the driving course selected by the said course selection means. Drum type washing machine. The washing operation includes a washing process and a rinsing process,
The control means includes
Water supply to the predetermined water level is performed at the initial stage of the washing process and the initial stage of the rinsing process,
The forward rotation, pause, reverse rotation, and pause of the drum are defined as one cycle, and the re-detection is performed every several cycles of the drum in the washing stroke, and every cycle of the drum in the rinse stroke. The drum type washing machine according to claim 1 or 2.

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