JP5678275B2 - Washing machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a washing machine having a central axis of rotation in a horizontal direction or an inclination direction and elastically supporting a drum and a water tub for storing laundry in a washing machine main body so as to be swingable.

  Conventionally, this type of washing machine is provided with a vibration isolation structure that prevents vibration accompanying the rotation of the drum from being transmitted to the washing machine body (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the washing machine described in Patent Document 1. In the washing machine main body 83, the washing machine body 83 is supported so as to be damped by a damper 70 from below, and has an anti-vibration structure from above. The water tank 82 is supported in a suspended state in a suspended state by a suspension 71 having a suspension.

  A drum 78 formed in a cylindrical shape with a bottom is rotatably supported in the water tank 82, and the rotation of the motor 81 fixed to the back surface of the water tank 82 rotates the drum 78 for washing, rinsing, dehydration, and the like. It is transmitted to drive.

  Further, a fluid balancer 900 is attached to the peripheral edge of the front side central axis of the drum 78 in order to improve the balance during high-speed rotation during dehydration. A fluid is contained in the fluid balancer 900. When clothing is offset when performing high-speed rotation for dehydration, the drum 78 may vibrate greatly due to the eccentric load due to the offset, but if the rotation speed of the drum exceeds the resonance frequency of the vibration system, The fluid in the fluid balancer 900 gathers in the direction opposite to the eccentric load, thereby balancing the drum.

  In the above configuration, since the water tank 82 is configured to be swingable inside the washing machine body 83, the water tank 82 is attached to the water tank 82 itself or the water tank 82 when the water tank 82 swings abnormally greatly during transport of the washing machine. Since the member may collide with the inner wall surface of the washing machine main body 83 or other members attached to the inside of the washing machine main body 83 and may be damaged, the transfer fitting 84 is fixed between the washing machine main body 83 and the water tank 82. A structure is employed in which the water tank 82 is fixed and held so as not to swing, and the fixing bolt 85 is removed to release the water tank 2 when the washing machine is installed at the user's house. Yes.

  On the other hand, if you forget to remove the fixing bolt after transporting the washing machine and perform the washing and dehydrating operation, the anti-vibration effect by the suspension or damper attached to reduce the vibration when the drum rotates will not function. In the washing machine main body, abnormal noise, abnormal vibration, damage to members, and the like occur. In addition, since the abnormality mainly occurs during the dehydration operation, in a normal washing machine with automatic operation, the user is usually away from the device at the time of the dehydration process, and the abnormality notification cannot be performed promptly to the user. .

  Therefore, in order to prevent forgetting to remove the fixing bolt, it is detected whether or not the water tank is fixed and held by the fixing bolt by a method described later at the start of the washing operation. The system which prevents the above-mentioned abnormal vibration in advance by notifying the user at is adopted.

  The detection method of the fixed holding of the aquarium in the conventional example is to generate a predetermined acceleration torque in the motor to accelerate the rotation of the drum, detect a signal from an acceleration sensor attached to the aquarium, and detect the maximum acceleration of the aquarium or The maximum acceleration in the vertical direction is detected by the acceleration detection unit, and when it is smaller than a preset reference value, a fixed holding state is detected.

  In this system, when the water tank is not fixedly held, it is necessary that the water tank swings with the rotation of the drum even in an empty state where no load such as clothing is contained inside the drum. .

  This is realized by the fluid balancer 900. That is, the fluid in the fluid balancer 900 cannot balance the drum while the drum rotation is started and accelerated in the absence of a load such as clothing, and this causes transient vibration. It is.

JP 2010-57848 A

  However, the mounting of a fluid balancer has the problems of increased cost and increased product weight.

  When the fluid balancer is not installed, the drum can be rotated in the water tank even if the drum is simply rotated. Even if the water tank is not fixed and held, the water tank does not swing, and the water tank is fixed as a result. It is very difficult to detect whether it is held.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and in a drum-type washing machine, without installing a fluid balancer, detects the fixed holding state of the aquarium, and if there is forgetting to remove the fixing bolt, the display means It is intended to prevent problems caused by abnormal vibrations during washing and dehydration in advance by notifying the user through the above.

In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, a washing machine of the present invention includes a drum having a rotation center axis in a horizontal direction or an inclination direction and housing laundry, and the drum is rotatably included in a washing machine body. A water tank that is supported in a swingable manner, a fixing bolt that fixes the water tank and the washing machine body, a water tank rocking detection unit that detects shaking of the water tank, and a water supply valve for supplying water into the water tank. A water level sensor for detecting the water level in the water tank, a water level detection unit for detecting a water level output of the water level sensor, a motor for rotationally driving the drum, and a rotational speed detection unit for detecting the rotational speed of the motor. And a control unit that controls the rotation of the motor based on the detection output of the rotation speed detection unit and controls a series of processes such as washing, rinsing, and dehydration, and the control unit has a predetermined amount in the water tank. After water supply to the water level Rotating the drum, on the basis of the detection result of the water tub swing detecting unit, wherein the fixing bolt it is determined whether or not been removed, when it is determined that no said fixed bolt, the water in the water tank It drains water.

  The washing machine of the present invention can prevent problems caused by abnormal vibrations during washing and dehydration by accurately detecting and notifying of forgetting to remove the fixing bolt during transportation.

Sectional drawing which shows the structure of the drum type washing machine in Embodiment 1 of this invention Block diagram of the control circuit of the washing machine Flowchart showing an outline of fixing bolt detection operation for transport of the washing machine Flow chart showing fixing bolt detection operation for transportation of the washing machine Graph of time change of acceleration signal with fixing bolt for transportation of the washing machine Graph of time change of acceleration signal without fixing bolt for transporting the washing machine The figure which shows the movement of the drum at the time of fixing bolt detection operation for transportation of the washing machine Schematic diagram of time change of acceleration signal when there is no fixing bolt for transporting the washing machine Sectional drawing which shows schematic structure of the conventional drum type washing machine

A first invention includes a drum having a central axis of rotation in a horizontal direction or an inclined direction and accommodating laundry, a water tub that rotatably includes the drum and is supported in a washing machine main body so as to be swingable, A fixing bolt for fixing the aquarium and the washing machine body, a aquarium rocking detection unit for detecting the shaking of the aquarium, a water supply valve for supplying water into the aquarium, and a water level for detecting the water level in the aquarium A water level sensor, a water level detection unit that detects a water level output of the water level sensor, a motor that rotationally drives the drum, a rotation speed detection unit that detects the rotation speed of the motor, and a detection output of the rotation speed detection unit And a controller that controls a series of processes such as washing, rinsing, and dewatering, and the controller rotates the drum after supplying water to the predetermined water level. The water tank swing detection The detection results on the basis of the fixing bolt, it is determined whether or not removed, when it is determined that no said fixed bolt, by performing the draining of water in the water tank, during transportation of the fixing bolt Forgetting to remove can be detected with high accuracy, and problems due to abnormal vibration during washing and dehydration can be prevented.

  In a second aspect based on the first aspect, the water tank swing detection unit is configured by an acceleration sensor that can detect an acceleration component fixed to the water tank, and an acceleration detection unit that detects an acceleration output of the acceleration sensor. The unit can easily and accurately detect shaking of the water tank by determining that the fixing bolt is removed when the acceleration output is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and forgetting to remove the fixing bolt during transportation. It can be detected with high accuracy.

  A third invention includes a plurality of baffles arranged at an equal angle along the inner circumference of the drum in the first or second invention, and the control unit determines the rotation angle of the drum from the start to the stop of the rotation. By controlling so as to correspond to an approximately integral multiple of the angle between the baffles, the water tank can be shaken with good reproducibility, so that it is possible to accurately detect forgetting to remove the fixing bolt during transportation.

  According to a fourth invention, in any one of the first to third inventions, the control unit rotates the drum alternately a plurality of times in the left-right direction, and integrates or averages the detection results of the water tank swing detection unit at this time By determining whether or not the fixing bolt has been removed, it is possible to more stably determine whether or not the fixing bolt has been removed, so it is possible to accurately detect forgetting to remove the fixing bolt during transportation. can do.

  In the fifth invention, in any one of the first to fourth inventions, when it is determined that the fixing bolt is not removed, the user is clearly notified by notifying that the fixing bolt is not removed. Forgetting to remove the fixing bolt at the time of transportation and requesting the removal of the fixing bolt, as a result, it is possible to prevent problems caused by abnormal vibrations during washing and dehydration.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a washing machine according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram of a control circuit.

In FIG. 1, a water tank unit 176 houses a drum 178 in a water tank 182 in a rotatable manner. The rotation of the motor 181 fixed to the outer bottom of the water tank 182 causes the motor pulley 10 to rotate.
1 is transmitted to the drum 178 via the belt 102, the driving pulley 103, the rotating shaft 179, and the like so as to be driven to rotate such as washing and rinsing dehydration.

  The aquarium unit 176 is disposed with its axis inclined in the washing machine main body 183, and is supported in a suspended state by a suspension 171 having an anti-vibration structure from above the washing machine main body 183. The vibration damper 170 is connected to the bottom of the washing machine body 183. Usually, the water tank 182 is configured to be swingable inside the washing machine body 183.

  A door 187 is pivotally supported on the left inclined surface of the washing machine main body 183 so that the door 187 can be opened and closed. The user puts laundry clothes into the drum 178 from the door 187 portion.

  A baffle 701 is fixed in the drum 178. When the drum 178 rotates during washing, the laundry garment is scooped up. The laundry garment scraped up by the baffle 701 then falls to the drum bottom by gravity. In the drum-type washing machine, dirt is removed from the clothes by the hitting force applied at that time, and the clothes are washed.

  A control unit 131 composed of a microcomputer or the like that controls a series of processes such as washing, rinsing and dehydration of the washing machine is provided on the upper outer wall of the input tank 135 and the display 136 and the water tank 182 disposed above the door 187. Signal transmission is performed with the fixed acceleration sensor 188, and rotation control of the motor 181 and the like is performed.

  The washing machine main body 183 has a water supply valve 27 above the water tank 182, and supplies water into the water tank 182 when it is in an open state under the control of the control unit 131, and stops water supply when it is in a closed state. A drain valve 28 is provided at the lower part of the water tank 182, and drains from the water tank 182 when the control unit 131 is in the open state, and drains when the closed state. The control unit 131 controls the drainage of water from the water tank 182 at the time of dehydration according to the control commands for the water supply valve 27 and the drain valve 28 when water is easily washed.

  The acceleration sensor 188 is composed of, for example, a semiconductor acceleration sensor, and is composed of a multi-axis (two-axis or three-axis) direction acceleration sensor such as front / rear / left / right / up / down instead of unidirectional acceleration. This is because the vibration of the actual aquarium unit 176 is not necessarily limited to one direction, so that a highly accurate movement of the aquarium 182 is detected using a multi-axis acceleration sensor.

  Further, the fixing bracket 175 fixed to the back surface portion of the water tank 182 and the back surface portion 186 of the washing machine main body 183 are mounted with fixing bolts 185 for preventing the water tank unit 176 from swinging when the washing machine is transported. Yes. The fixing bolt 185 is necessary only during transportation, and is removed when the washing machine is installed and installed.

  In the block configuration diagram of the control circuit of FIG. 2, the inverter circuit 24 uses the DC power rectified by the rectifier 21 and smoothed by the smoothing circuit including the choke coil 22 and the smoothing capacitor 23 as the driving power. Thus, the motor 181 is rotationally driven.

  The control unit 131 controls the rotation of the motor 181 based on the driving instruction input from the input setting unit 135 and the monitoring information of the driving state detected by each detecting unit (not shown), and the load driving unit 26 controls the operation of the water supply valve 27, the drain valve 28, the blower fan 12, and the heater 29, and the display means 136 transmits a display signal so that the user can know the operation state and the control state.

The motor 181 includes a stator having three-phase windings 7a, 7b, and 7c and a rotor (not shown) having two-pole permanent magnets, and is provided with three position detection elements 30a, 30b, and 30c. The rotation is controlled by a PWM control inverter circuit 24 configured as a motor and configured by switching elements 24a to 24f.

  The rotor position detection signals detected by the position detection elements 30a, 30b, and 30c are input to the control unit 131 configured by a microcomputer or the like. Based on this rotor position detection signal, the drive circuit 32 performs PWM control of the on / off states of the switching elements 24a to 24f, thereby controlling the energization of the three-phase windings 7a, 7b and 7c of the stator and controlling the motor 181. Rotate at the required speed.

  The control unit 131 includes a rotation speed detection unit 33 to which detection outputs of the three position detection elements 30a, 30b, and 30c are input. The rotation speed detection unit 33 is any of the three position detection elements 30a, 30b, and 30c. The period is detected in response to the change in the state of the signal, and the rotation speed of the motor 181 is calculated from the period.

  Since the detection output of the rotation speed detection unit 33 of the motor 181 corresponds to the rotation number of the drum 178, the rotation number of the drum 178 is obtained from the detection output of the rotation speed detection unit 33 in the following description.

  The acceleration sensor 188 fixed to the aquarium 182 detects at least the acceleration in the left and right direction of the aquarium, and the acceleration detection unit 39 configured in the control unit 131 detects a digital signal or an analog signal from the acceleration sensor 188 as a cloth amount. Presence / absence of a fixed bolt is detected from acceleration data obtained by sampling the acceleration at a process period of 160 Hz and data obtained by calculating the acceleration data by the detection calculation unit 40.

  The control unit 131 receives a signal from the water level sensor 41 that detects the water pressure, and the water level detection unit 42 in the control unit 131 calculates the water level in the water tank.

  FIG. 3 shows a basic control sequence performed by the control unit 131 in order to detect the presence or absence of the fixing bolt in the present embodiment.

  When detection of the presence / absence of a fixing bolt is started in step 300, first, in step 301, water supply from the water supply valve 27 into the water tank 182 is started.

  The water supply is continued until the predetermined water level in step 302 is reached. When the water level detection unit 42 detects that the water level has reached the predetermined level or higher in step 302, a fixing bolt detection operation is performed in step 303. Details of the fixing bolt detection operation will be described later.

  When the execution of the fixing bolt detection operation is completed, the presence or absence of the fixing bolt is determined in step 304, and if it is determined that there is no fixing bolt, the process proceeds to step 305 to drain the water in the water tank from the drain valve 28, A series of detection ends when drainage ends. If it is determined in step 304 that there is a fixing bolt, the process proceeds to step 306, and an abnormality notification indicating that the user has forgotten to remove the fixing bolt is given.

The content of the abnormality notification is different from the normal washing operation so that the user can determine the abnormality. This can be realized by attaching a buzzer in the washing machine 183 such as the display unit 136 or the control unit 131, generating a warning sound, and displaying a specific display pattern indicating an abnormality on the display unit 136. The warning sound may be a simple buzzer sounding pattern, but may be notified to the user in an easy-to-understand manner by warning melody or voice output. The display pattern indicating the above in the display means 136 is a LE that is lit when the display means is composed of a plurality of LEDs.
D may be a pattern that is not possible during normal operation, and in the case of a display means for displaying characters and numbers, a warning sentence or an abnormal number may be displayed, or a display content blinking pattern can be realized. .

  The predetermined water level in step 302 is determined as follows. Three baffles are fixed at regular intervals of 120 degrees with respect to the inner periphery of the drum 178. When the rotational position of the drum 178 is determined so that one of the baffles is just at the top, the remaining two baffles are arranged on the lower left and right. The predetermined water level at the time of water supply is lower than the level when the two lower baffles are completely submerged and when the drum 178 rotates and the baffle is at the lowest position, On the other hand, the water level is set high enough for the action and reaction force to work. When the inner diameter of the drum 178 is 80 cm, the water level may be a predetermined water level of 90 mm from the lowest position of the drum to the water surface.

  The details of the fixing bolt detection operation in step 303 of FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG. After the fixed bolt detection operation is started in step 400, parameters for motor control are initialized in step 410. The parameter for motor control includes the rotation direction of the motor. In the second and subsequent motor rotation control, the rotation is in the direction opposite to the previous rotation direction.

  Next, in step 401, motor start control is performed. Since the rotation of the motor is not stable when the motor is started, the motor rotation speed in the rotation speed detection unit 33 based on the signals of the motor position detection elements 30a, 30b, and 30c cannot be stably obtained. Therefore, the control unit 131 performs so-called voltage control for increasing the voltage applied to the motor 181 with time by the drive circuit 32.

  When the motor is activated and starts rotating by the activation control in step 401, signals from the position detection elements 30a, 30b, and 30c change. When it is detected in step 402 that the rotation angle of the motor has become equal to or greater than a predetermined angle due to this change, the motor start control is terminated, and the process proceeds to the motor rotation speed control in step 403. The rotation angle of the predetermined motor that shifts to step 403 is large enough to determine that the rotation of the drum by the motor rotation has started, and needs to be small so that the shift to the rotational speed control can be made as soon as possible. And about 10 ° to 45 °.

  Next, at step 403, the rotational speed control of the motor is performed so that the value of the rotational speed detector 33 becomes the target rotational speed. If the rotational speed detected by the rotational speed detector 33 is lower than the target, the applied voltage from the drive circuit 32 to the motor 181 is increased, and conversely if it is higher, the applied voltage is decreased. Here, a simple rotation speed control method is employed in which the voltage applied to the motor 181 is controlled by the current rotation speed, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, if the applied voltage is controlled by performing so-called PI control from the current rotation speed and the target rotation speed, the accuracy of the rotation speed control is further improved. Further, a detection circuit for a current flowing through the motor may be added to perform so-called vector control to further improve the accuracy of the rotational speed control.

  Next, in step 404, the time from the start of starting the motor is determined. If the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process returns to step 403 to continue the rotation of the motor 181 at the predetermined target rotational speed. If the time for operating the motor 181 has elapsed in step 404, the process proceeds to step 405.

  In step 405, brake control for stopping the rotation of the motor 181 is performed. The drive circuit 32 is controlled so as to generate a torque in the direction opposite to that rotated until step 403.

  Before this brake control, the drum 178 that was rotating by the rotation of the motor 181 is rotating, and the water in the water tank 182 is rotated in the direction of rotation by the drum 178 and the baffle fixed inside the drum 178. It is being scraped up. In step 405, the drum 178 and the operation of the baffle inside the drum 178 are braked in a direction to stop in the water tank 182, but the movement of the water in the water tank 182 is continued. As a result, the baffle acts as a resistance against the movement of water, and a relation of action / reaction occurs. As a result, the drum 178 to which the baffle is fixed swings with respect to the rotation direction.

  The shaking of the drum 178 is transmitted to the water tank 182 via the motor 181 by the brake control of the motor 181, and the water tank 182 is also shaken with respect to the rotation direction. Here, when the water tank 182 is fixed to the washing machine main body 183 at the back surface portion 186 by the fixing bolt 185, the shaking of the water tank 182 is small. On the contrary, when the fixing bolt 185 is not provided, the water tank 182 is configured to be swingable inside the washing machine main body 183, so that the shaking of the water tank 182 is larger than that when the fixing bolt is provided. Become.

  Since the shaking of the aquarium 182 with respect to the rotation direction is recognized as a change in the lateral acceleration with respect to the acceleration sensor 188, the lateral acceleration data of the aquarium 182 from the acceleration sensor 188 is collected in step 406. Collection of acceleration data is performed by updating the maximum and minimum values of signed acceleration with the acceleration values at the time of collection.

  Thereafter, if the time for executing the brake control to the motor has not elapsed in step 407, the process returns to step 405 and the brake control is continued. If the time for executing the brake control has elapsed, the brake control is terminated and the routine proceeds to step 411.

  In step 411, the acceleration data in the horizontal direction of the water tank 182 from the acceleration sensor 188 is collected as in step 406, and then the process proceeds to step 408.

  In step 408, a time during which the motor is not operated is determined. If a predetermined time has elapsed, the process proceeds to step 409, where the control of one motor operation is completed. If the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process returns to step 411 and the collection of acceleration data is repeated.

  FIGS. 5 and 6 show temporal changes in the acceleration in the left-right direction at the acceleration sensor 188 when the fixed bolt detection operation is performed as described above. FIG. 5 shows a case with a fixing bolt, and FIG. 6 shows a case without a fixing bolt. In either case, the unit of acceleration on the vertical axis is 1G of gravitational acceleration. The horizontal axis displays the time corresponding to the operation of the motor drive for four times.

  The difference in the time variation of the acceleration data depending on the presence or absence of the fixing bolt will be described with reference to FIGS. First, when the maximum value of the absolute value of acceleration is compared in a single motor operation control, it can be seen that the case without the fixing bolt in FIG. 6 is larger than the data in FIG. As described above, when the water tank 182 is fixed to the washing machine main body 183 by the fixing bolt, the shaking is small as compared with the case where the water tank 182 is swingable inside the washing machine main body 183 without the fixing bolt. Is due to. It should be noted that the absolute value of the acceleration shows the maximum value in one motor operation control immediately after the brake control.

  Next, the change in acceleration after the absolute value of the acceleration shows the maximum value, but when the case with the fixed bolt in FIG. 5 is seen, it shows a swing that gradually attenuates with time. It can be seen that when there is no fixing bolt, it attenuates more rapidly than that.

When the fixing bolt shown in FIG. 5 is provided, the water tub 182 is fixed to the washing machine main body 183, so that the suspension 171 and the damping vibration damping damper 170, which are vibration damping mechanisms, do not exhibit the effect, and the entire washing machine is very small. It is thought that the shaking continues. Therefore, the absolute value of the acceleration value in the reverse direction after the absolute value of the acceleration shows the maximum value is not much changed even when compared with the maximum value.

  On the contrary to FIG. 6, when there is no fixing bolt, the water tank 182 is swingable and the initial swing is large, but the swing is rapidly attenuated by the effect of damping the vibration by the suspension 171 and the damping anti-vibration damper 170. Conceivable. Therefore, after the absolute value of acceleration shows the maximum value, the absolute value of the acceleration value in the reverse direction is rapidly smaller than the maximum value. Further, the direction of acceleration at the timing at which the absolute value of acceleration is maximized is the opposite direction each time the motor control is repeated. This is because the rotation direction of the motor is reversed in step 410 every time the motor is controlled.

  Returning to the description of FIG. If the motor rotation control does not exceed the predetermined number in step 409, the process returns to step 410 and the motor rotation control is repeated. In the motor control initialization in step 410, motor control parameters are set so that the rotation is in the direction opposite to the previous rotation direction. If the predetermined number of times has been exceeded in step 409, the process proceeds to step 412 to execute data calculation for determining whether there is a fixed bolt.

  By step 409, the acceleration data collected at the time of motor control less than the predetermined number of times is not used. This is because, at the initial stage of the start of the fixed bolt detection operation, there are some variation factors, so that stable determination is difficult. As a variation factor, first, there is a water level in the water tank 182. When the motor control is started, the water in the water tank 182 is picked up, and the water level is gradually lowered from immediately after the start because water is deposited on the inner wall of the water tank 182.

  Next, the position of the baffle in the water tank 182 may change. In order to detect the occurrence of shaking due to the reaction of the baffle acting on the water flow when the brake is applied from the state where the drum is rotating, if the position of the baffle when applying the brake changes, the degree of shaking will vary. Become.

  As described above, the level of water supplied into the water tank 182 is set lower than when the baffle is submerged when the drum angle is fixed at the lower left and right equal positions of the two baffles. Therefore, the motor rotation control described in FIG. 4 is performed, and the water sandwiched between the baffles is scraped up during the motor operation in the motor off period after the motor brake operation is completed. The resulting left / right swing will continue. This movement of the water surface causes the baffle to receive a force due to the action and reaction, but since the motor is stopped, as a result, the drum moves to the lower left and right equal positions so that the baffle is pushed out against the water surface. It will be. The position of the baffle position is uncertain at the time of starting the fixing bolt detection operation in step 303 in FIG. 3, but when the motor operation is repeated, the baffle position is gradually left and right evenly with respect to the water surface due to the above effect. Move to the position.

It should be noted that the position movement due to the action and reaction of the water surface to the baffle during the motor-off period as described above cannot be expected to be a very large movement. Therefore, as a premise, it is necessary to make the rotation angle of the drum by one motor control an integral multiple of 120 degrees so that the position of the baffle does not move greatly before and after the rotation. Thereby, the position of the baffle is moved by repeating the motor control and the subsequent motor off section. In this embodiment, in order to set the rotation angle of the drum to an integral multiple of approximately 120 degrees, the rotation time of about 240 degrees can be obtained by appropriately setting the motor on time and the target rotation speed during motor rotation speed control. Control to do. Specifically, the on-time of the motor is 0.8 seconds, and the target rotational speed during motor rotational speed control is 100 rpm. In addition, the motor off section is set to 0.9 seconds in this embodiment in order to start the next motor control at a timing synchronized with the movement of water scooped up by the previous motor control.

  As described above, the acceleration data during the initial motor control is not used in order to reduce the variation factor. In this embodiment, it is assumed that 18 times of data are not used.

  In step 412, data calculation for determining whether or not there is a fixed bolt is executed. Two parameters are prepared for the judgment data. One is the parameter A that adds the absolute value of the signed maximum acceleration when the drum rotates to the right, and the absolute value of the signed minimum acceleration when the drum rotates to the left. The other is the parameter A when the drum rotates to the right. This is a parameter B for adding together the absolute value of the attached minimum acceleration and the absolute value of the signed maximum acceleration when rotating counterclockwise. As described above, the signed maximum acceleration and the minimum acceleration are signals in the left and right directions of the acceleration sensor 188 collected in Steps 406 and 411 and from the start of braking in one motor control to the motor off section.

  The parameter A is the sum of the maximum absolute values of acceleration appearing every time the rotation direction in FIG. 6 is changed, and the parameter B is the sum of the maximum absolute values of acceleration in the opposite direction. Since the calculation of adding the parameters A and B with the acceleration data collected for each motor control is performed, the parameter A is significantly larger than the parameter B when there is a fixed bolt. In the case without the fixing bolt, the value is smaller than that in the case with the fixing bolt.

After step 412, if the number of times that the motor rotation control is performed in step 413 is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the fixed bolt detection operation is terminated. If it is less than the predetermined value, the motor control is repeated from the initialization of the motor control from step 410, and the calculation of the fixed bolt detection parameters A and B is continued.
An operation in which the parameter A and the parameter B are added by the number of times of motor control corresponding to the predetermined number in step 413 and the predetermined number in step 409 is performed.

  When the fixing bolt detection operation described with reference to FIG. 4 is completed, the presence or absence of the fixing bolt is determined in step 304 of FIG. This can be determined by comparing the difference value between the parameter A and the parameter B with a predetermined threshold value. That is, if the difference between the parameter A and the parameter B is larger than the threshold value, it can be determined that there is a fixed bolt, and if not, it can be determined that there is no fixed bolt.

  A supplementary explanation of the rotation control of the drum 178 will be given with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a view of the drum 178 as seen from the front of the washing machine. Three baffles 701a, 701b, and 701c are fixed to the inner periphery of the drum 178 at intervals of 120 degrees. Further, the surface of the water 702 accumulated in the water tank 182 containing the drum 178 is in the drum 178. The left-right direction of the acceleration sensor 188 coincides with the left-right direction in this figure.

  Reference numerals 1 to 6 in FIG. 7 indicate temporal changes indicating the rotation control of the drum 178 once in each of the right rotation and the left rotation.

  The circled reference numeral 1 in FIG. 7 is a diagram when rotation control for rotating the drum 178 to the right is started. A baffle 701a is on the top of the drum 178, and there are baffles 701b and 701c in the inner peripheral clockwise direction of the drum 178.

A circled symbol 2 in FIG. 7 is a diagram after the drum 178 has rotated right by 120 degrees from the circled symbol 1 in FIG. 7. This is a state in which the rotation control to the right rotation is continued. Since the drum 178 is rotated 120 degrees to the right, there is a baffle 701c on the top of the drum 178, and baffles 701a and 701b are located on the inner peripheral clockwise side of the drum 178. Water 702 is picked up by the rotation of the drum 178 and the baffle 701b.

  A circled symbol 3 in FIG. 7 is a diagram when the drum 178 further rotates right by 120 degrees from the circled symbol 2 in FIG. 7 and stops rotating through brake control. Compared with the circled symbol 1 in FIG. 7 at the start of the rotation control to the right rotation, the drum rotation is stopped by rotating right by 240 degrees.

  Compared with the circled symbol 2 in FIG. 7, the water 702 is further swept up, and the movement of the water and the action and reaction with the baffle 701 a cause a swing in the tangential direction in the drum rotation direction. This shaking is detected as the left-right direction of the acceleration sensor 188 attached to the upper part of the water tank 182. The tangential direction of the right rotation direction at the upper part of the water tank 182 is the right direction. Therefore, when the acceleration direction is positive on the right side in the figure, the direction of acceleration that is shaken by the brake immediately after the right rotation and that has the largest absolute value is the positive direction.

  After the circled symbol 3 in FIG. 7, the water 702 is mainly pulled back by gravity, and after continuing to swing left and right, the water 702 tries to shift to the original horizontal water surface state. In the process, the baffle 701 a It functions to adjust 701c to a uniform position with respect to the water surface. Thereby, even if the rotation angle of the drum is not exactly 240 degrees by one rotation control, the rotation position of the drum is corrected at the start of the next rotation control. Furthermore, in the circled reference numeral 1 in FIG. 7, the description has been made on the assumption that the baffle 701a starts operating from the state where it is just on the top of the drum, but by repeating the rotation control, the position of the baffle is corrected, The premise will be established.

  After that, as a result of the rotation control of the drum 178 to the left rotation which is the reverse direction in the circled symbols 4 and 5 in FIG. 7, the rotation control to the left rotation of the circled symbol 6 in FIG. The positions of the baffles 701a to 701c return to the same state as the position of the circled symbol 1 in FIG. Thereafter, when the rotation control is continued, the operation from the circled symbol 1 in FIG. 7 is repeated.

  As described above, the drum rotation control described with reference to FIG. 7 can detect the acceleration with the acceleration sensor 188 that suppresses variations for each rotation control regardless of the initial state of the drum baffle position.

A supplementary explanation will be given on the calculation of data for determining the presence or absence of fixing bolts using FIG.
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor 188 assuming that there is no fixing bolt, and describes cases corresponding to the p-th and p + 1-th motor control in FIG. Note that the p-th control is a clockwise rotation control.

  In FIG. 8, the value of the acceleration in the left-right direction reaches the maximum acceleration Ap with a sign immediately after braking in the control p-th period, and then becomes the minimum acceleration Bp with a sign. Also, immediately after braking in the control p + 1 time period, the minimum acceleration Ap + 1 is reached with a sign, and then the maximum acceleration Bp + 1 with a sign is reached. These acceleration values are collected in step 406 and step 411 in the explanation of the fixed bolt detection operation of FIG. 4 by detecting the signal of the acceleration sensor 188 by the acceleration detection unit.

  The parameters A and B calculated in the determination data calculation in step 412 of FIG. 4 are expressed as in the following equations 1 and 2, respectively, at the end of the fixed bolt detection operation.

  As described with reference to FIG. 7, the most swaying direction during braking obtained during the motor control period in the right rotation is the positive direction of acceleration. Therefore, when the water tank is not fixed with the fixing bolt, the absolute value of Ap is larger than the absolute value of Bp. On the contrary, the most swaying direction during braking obtained during the motor control period in the left rotation is the negative direction of acceleration, and the absolute value of Ap + 1 is larger than the absolute value of Bp + 1.

  As described above, since the absolute value of Ap and Bp is always large when the motor is controlled any number of times, the relationship between the parameter A and the parameter B obtained by adding them is larger than the parameter B. Value.

  Although the explanation of FIG. 8 is a case where there is no fixing bolt, as is clear from the data of FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, when there is a fixing bolt, the parameter A and the parameter obtained by Equation 1 and Equation 2 are used. The difference from B is small compared to the case without fixing bolts.

  From the above, it can be seen that the difference between the parameter A and the parameter B is calculated and compared with a predetermined threshold, and if it is large, it can be determined that there is no fixed bolt, and if it is small, it can be determined that there is a fixed bolt.

  In the present embodiment, the determination data is not calculated until a predetermined number of times from the start of the operation in order to avoid a variation factor. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the same effect can be obtained even if a predetermined time is determined and the determination data is not calculated until that time.

  Further, although the calculation of the determination data is performed a predetermined number of times, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be determined by storing the number of times of motor control to which the determination data is added and dividing the determination parameters A and B by the average value for one motor control.

  Further, although the motor control is not performed at the end of the predetermined number of times for the calculation of the determination data, the motor control may be further repeated when it is determined that there is no fixing bolt. As a result, the time during which it is possible to check whether there is any water leakage in the water tank 182 is extended.

  In this embodiment, in order to suppress variation due to the position of the baffle at the start of operation, the motor control is repeated and the baffle position is set to a desired position by the action and reaction between the water surface and the baffle. It is not limited. For example, the position detection element attached to the motor detects the rotational position of the motor, detects the rotational position of the corresponding drum, estimates the position of the corresponding baffle, and first determines the position of the baffle at the start of operation. You may rotate a motor so that it may become a position. Alternatively, a rotation sensor may be attached to the drum, the position of the baffle may be specified by directly detecting the drum position, and the baffle may be aligned at the same time when the operation is started.

  In the present embodiment, the result of calculating the maximum acceleration and the minimum acceleration by the acceleration sensor corresponding to the drum rotation direction is used for the determination of the presence or absence of the fixing bolt. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the maximum value of the absolute value of acceleration by the acceleration sensor is simply detected, and when this is smaller than a predetermined value, it is determined that the water tank is not shaken, and it may be determined that there is a fixed bolt. Alternatively, a displacement amount sensor may be attached to the aquarium to determine the shaking of the aquarium more directly. Alternatively, attach a sound collector to the washing machine, measure the drum rotation control and brake volume, and if the volume is lower than the specified value, determine that the aquarium is not shaking and determine that there is a fixing bolt. Also good.

  Although the present embodiment has been described as a washing machine, the present invention is naturally applicable to a washing / drying machine having a drying function.

  As described above, the washing machine according to the present invention realizes the function of detecting the presence or absence of fixing bolts used for transportation and detecting forgetting to remove them even in the absence of a fluid balancer in a drum type washing machine. it can.

27 Water Supply Valve 39 Acceleration Detection Unit 40 Detection Calculation Unit 41 Water Level Sensor 42 Water Level Detection Unit 131 Control Unit 133 Rotation Speed Detection Unit 136 Display Means 178 Drum 181 Motor 182 Water Tank 183 Washing Machine Body 185 Fixed Bolt 188 Acceleration Sensor 701 Baffle

Claims (5)

A drum having a central axis of rotation in a horizontal direction or an inclined direction and containing laundry; a water tank which rotatably includes the drum and is supported in a swingable manner in the main body of the washing machine; A fixing bolt for fixing the water tank, a water tank swing detecting unit for detecting the shaking of the water tank, a water supply valve for supplying water into the water tank, a water level sensor for detecting the water level in the water tank, and the water level A water level detection unit that detects a water level output of the sensor, a motor that rotationally drives the drum, a rotation speed detection unit that detects the number of rotations of the motor, and rotation of the motor based on the detection output of the rotation speed detection unit. And a control unit that controls a series of processes such as washing, rinsing, and dehydration. The control unit supplies water to the predetermined water level in the water tank and then rotates the drum to detect the water tank swing Detection results Preparative to the fixing bolt, it is determined whether or not removed, when it is determined that no said fixed bolt, washer that performs drainage of water in the water tank. The water tank swing detection unit is configured by an acceleration sensor that can detect an acceleration component fixed to the water tank and an acceleration detection unit that detects an acceleration output of the acceleration sensor, and the control unit is configured such that the acceleration output is greater than or equal to a predetermined value. The washing machine according to claim 1, wherein it is determined that the fixing bolt is removed. A plurality of baffles arranged at equal angles along the inner circumference of the drum are provided, and the control unit controls the rotation angle of the drum from the start to the stop of rotation so as to correspond to substantially an integral multiple of the angle between the baffles. The washing machine according to claim 1 or 2. The control unit rotates the drum a plurality of times alternately in the left-right direction, integrates or averages the detection results of the water tank swing detection unit at this time, and determines whether or not the fixing bolt is removed. 4. The washing machine according to any one of 3 above. The washing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein when it is determined that the fixing bolt is not removed, the fact that the fixing bolt is not removed is notified.