JP7093069B2 - washing machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a washing machine capable of eliminating the imbalance of the dehydration tub in the dehydration process and suppressing vibration and noise due to eccentricity of the dehydration tub during dehydration, particularly at high speed rotation.

In a general washing machine installed in a general household or a coin laundry, the laundry is unevenly distributed in the dehydration tub during dehydration, and vibration and noise are generated. This vibration and noise may lead to trouble depending on the installation location of the washing machine and the surrounding environment. Further, if the bias of the laundry at that time is large, the eccentricity of the dehydration tub during rotation becomes large, and a large torque is required for rotation, so that the dehydration operation cannot be started.

Therefore, in Patent Document 1, an unbalanced amount and an unbalanced position of clothes in the dehydration tank are detected at the time of dehydration, and if there is an imbalance, the rotation of the dehydration tank is braked to reduce the centrifugal force. A technique is disclosed in which a mass of clothing that causes an imbalance is dropped and dispersed by gravity.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-290089

However, in the configuration disclosed in Patent Document 1, unbalance detection and dispersion work can be performed only at low speed rotation of the dehydration tank in the dehydration step, and after the start of high speed rotation of the dehydration tank, unbalance occurs again due to the influence of the type of clothes and the like. There is a risk of

Also, this technique can only be used in washing machines where the axis of rotation of the dehydration tub is horizontal.

An object of the present invention is to effectively solve such a problem, and even if the laundry is unevenly distributed in the dehydration tub during the dehydration process, particularly during high-speed rotation, the imbalance of the dehydration tub can be simplified. The purpose is to eliminate it by the structure.

In view of the above problems, the present invention has taken the following measures.

That is, the washing machine of the present invention has a hollow balancer arranged on the inner peripheral surface of the dehydration tub with three or more different angular phases around the axis, and a hollow balancer arranged on the upper part of the dehydration tub and flowing into each of the balancers. A ring-shaped common water guide with communication ports opened at possible positions, a common water injection device that injects adjusted water into the water guide, and the water injection when an imbalance occurs in the dehydration tank. It includes a water injection control unit that operates the device, a drive shaft that is arranged at the bottom of the dehydration tank and drives the dehydration tank to rotate, and the communication port is arranged at the outer peripheral portion of the water guide portion. do.

Further, the washing machine of the present invention includes a rotation speed control unit that controls the rotation of the dehydration tub and an unbalanced amount detection unit that detects an unbalanced amount in the dehydration tub, and the water injection control unit is the rotation speed. When the rotation speed of the dehydration tank controlled by the control unit becomes equal to or higher than the preset rotation speed and the unbalance amount detected by the unbalance amount detection unit becomes equal to or higher than the preset dehydration threshold value, the water injection device is used. It is characterized in that water is injected into the water guide portion by operating.

Further, the washing machine of the present invention does not operate the water injection device until the rotation speed controlled by the rotation speed control unit becomes equal to or higher than a preset rotation speed after the water injection control unit starts dehydration rotation. It is characterized by that.

Further, the washing machine of the present invention is characterized in that the set rotation speed is set at a position exceeding the resonance rotation speed.

Further, the washing machine of the present invention is characterized in that when water is injected by the water injection control unit, the rotation speed control unit stops accelerating the dehydration tank.

According to the present invention, by guiding water to the water guiding portion for the dehydration tank rotating while eccentric, the adjusting water collects at the position opposite to the eccentric side according to the principle of the liquid balancer. It flows into the balancer at the opposite position of the eccentric load through a certain communication port. As a result, the unbalanced state is eliminated. Further, according to such a configuration, it is possible to cope with high-speed rotation and to have a function of injecting water into a plurality of balancers, and at the same time, it is possible to share a water conveyance section and a water injection device, so that the structure can be simplified. Can be done.

Further, according to the present invention, water injection is executed when the dehydration rotation speed becomes equal to or higher than the set rotation speed and the unbalance amount becomes equal to or higher than the dehydration threshold. Therefore, even if an imbalance occurs in a rotation region where the principle of the liquid balancer works effectively, it is possible to quickly deal with it without performing complicated control.

Further, according to the present invention, even if dehydration is started, water is not injected until the set rotation speed or higher, so that it is possible to prevent the function of the liquid balancer from conversely causing vibration in the low rotation speed range. ..

Further, according to the present invention, since the set rotation speed is set in the rotation range exceeding the resonance rotation speed, control becomes unstable in the unstable rotation speed range, and especially in the high speed rotation range. The rotation of can be stabilized.

Further, according to the present invention, since the dehydration tank is stopped at the time of water injection, the dehydration tank can be quickly directed to eliminate the imbalance.

The perspective view which shows the appearance of the washing machine which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. Schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the washing machine. The perspective view of FIG. Partially enlarged view of FIG. An explanatory diagram of the operation of the washing machine. The functional block diagram which shows the schematic structure of the control system of the washing machine. A flowchart showing the flow of control in the dehydration process of the washing machine.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a vertical washing machine (hereinafter referred to as “washing machine”) 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the washing machine 1 of the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of FIG. FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the washing machine 1. FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the control system of the washing machine 1. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control flow in the dehydration process of the washing machine 1.

The washing machine 1 of the present embodiment includes a washing machine main body 1a, an outer tub 3 and a dehydration tub 2 constituting the washing tub 1b, a ring-shaped water guiding unit 5, a water injection device 6, a driving unit 40, and a control unit 30. The dehydration tank 2 is provided with (see FIG. 6), and the dehydration tank 2 has baffles 7 for storing water at a plurality of locations on the inner peripheral surface 2a1, that is, at three locations in the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, these baffles 7 are communicated with the gutter 5a of the common water guide section 5, and water is injected from the injection device 6 to the water guide section 5 at the timing when the imbalance amount becomes large, whereby the principle of the liquid balancer is achieved. The adjusting water W is made to flow into the baffle 7 located on the side opposite to the eccentric side. Hereinafter, the configuration and functions of each part will be specifically described.

The washing machine main body 1a shown in FIG. 1 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. An opening 11 for taking in and out laundry from the dehydration tub 2 is formed on the upper surface 10a of the washing machine main body 1a, and an opening / closing lid 11a capable of opening and closing the opening 11 is attached.

The outer tub 3 is a bottomed tubular member that constitutes the outer shape of the washing tub 1b arranged inside the washing machine main body 1a, and can store washing water inside.

The dehydration tub 2 is a bottomed cylindrical member that is arranged coaxially with the outer tub 3 in the outer tub 3 to form a washing tub 1b together with the outer tub 3 and is rotatably supported. The dehydration tub 2 can accommodate laundry inside, and has a large number of water passage holes 2b (see FIG. 3) on the wall surface 2a thereof.

A pulsator (stirring blade) 4 is rotatably arranged in the center of the bottom 2c of the dehydration tank 2. As shown in FIG. 3, the pulsator 4 includes a substantially disk-shaped pulsator main body 4b, a plurality of upper blade portions 4c formed on the upper surface of the pulsator main body 4b, and a plurality of lower blades formed on the lower surface of the pulsator main body 4b. It has a part 4a. Such a pulsator 4 agitates the washing water stored in the outer tub 3 to generate a water flow.

The rotation speed control unit 32 shown in FIG. 6 drives the drive unit 40 shown in FIG. 2 through the motor control circuit 33, and rotates the drive shaft 17 extending toward the bottom 2c of the dehydration tank 2 to rotate the dehydration tank 2. A driving force is applied to the pulsator 4 and the dehydration tank 2 and the pulsator 4 are rotated. In the washing machine 1, only the pulsator 4 is mainly rotated in the washing step, and in the dehydration step, the dehydration tub 2 and the pulsator 4 are integrally rotated at high speed.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, three baffles (water injection pipes) 7 corresponding to balancers are provided on the inner peripheral surface 2a1 of the dehydration tank 2 at equal intervals (equal angles) in the circumferential direction. Each baffle 7 extends in the vertical direction from the bottom portion 2c of the dehydration tank 2 to the upper end portion, and is formed so as to project from the inner peripheral surface 2a1 of the dehydration tank 2 toward the axis S1. Further, each baffle 7 is hollow and has an arcuate cross-sectional shape. Due to such a shape, the baffle as a balancer also has an action of stirring the laundry in the dehydration step. As described above, the shape of the baffle 7 has a shape in which the protrusion of the dehydration tank 2 to the axis S1 is small and spreads along the circumferential direction of the dehydration tank 2, thereby suppressing the narrowing of the accommodation space of the dehydration tank 2. is doing.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, an opening 71 is formed at the lower end of such a baffle 7 so as to open in the vicinity of the bottom 2c of the dehydration tank 2, more specifically below the pulsator main body 4b. Further, a horizontally long circulation water port 70 is formed at the upper end of the baffle 7. Therefore, in the washing step in which the drain valve 50a is closed and the washing water is stored in the outer tub 3, the washing water stirred by the lower blade portion 4a of the pulsator 4 is as shown by the arrow in FIG. It penetrates through the opening 71, rises inside the baffle 7, is discharged from the circulating water port 70, and the clothes are washed in the shower. Further, by repeating this operation, the washing water circulates in the dehydration tub 2. That is, the baffle 7 has a function of circulating washing water. It should be noted that the water pipe portion having the opening 71 and the circulating water port 70 and capable of shower washing is also applied to a conventional washing machine, but usually only one is provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, inside the baffle 7, there is a partition 7a extending from between the position where the communication portion 5a1 described later is communicated and the circulation water port 70 to a position close to the inner peripheral surface 2a1 of the dehydration tank 2. It will be provided. The section 7a extends from the upper end edge of the circulation water port 70, and the free end 7a1 side is curved downward. A gap 7b is formed between the free end 7a1 of the section 7a and the inner peripheral surface 2a1 of the dehydration tank 2, and the adjusting water W to be described later supplied from the gutter 5a of the water guiding portion 5 is this. It flows downward through the gap 7b.

In the water guide portion 5, a ring-shaped water guide gutter 5a opened upward is configured around the axis S1 of the dehydration tank 2, and is fixed to the upper end portion of the inner peripheral surface 2a1 of the dehydration tank 2. The water guide gutter 5a is common to the three baffles 7, and a communication portion 5a1 for flowing the adjusting water W to the baffles 7 at the opposite position when the dehydration tank 2 is tilted is partially formed. Such a water guide portion 5 has almost the same size and shape as a known liquid balancer attached to a conventional washing machine, and in the present embodiment, the water guide portion 5 is attached in place of the liquid balancer at the attachment position of a general liquid balancer. Be done. The liquid balancer functions to passively eliminate the imbalance of the dehydration tank 2 during dehydration, but as will be described later, the water guide unit 5 of the present embodiment cooperates with the baffle 7 to eliminate the imbalance of the dehydration tank 2. Compared to, the operating principle is different and the effect is small.

Such a water guide portion 5 and the upper end portion of the baffle 7 are communicated with each other by a communication portion 5a1. The communication portion 5a1 is composed of a slit-shaped opening provided from the bottom of the water guide 5a of the water guide 5 to the elevation portion so as to communicate with the inside of the baffle 7 above the circulation water port 70. An annular water guide port 5a2 is provided on the upper part of the water guide gutter 5a. The adjusting water W can enter the water guide tub 5a through the water guide port 5a2 and enter the baffle 7 through the communication portion 5a1.

The water injection device 6 injects the adjusting water W into the water guide gutter 5a. The water injection device 6 has a water injection nozzle 6a that opens above the water guide gutter 5a and has a tip 6a1 arranged toward the water guide port 5a2, and a water supply valve 6b (see FIG. 2) connected to the water injection nozzle 6a. While the baffles 7 are provided at three places, the water injection nozzle 6a is provided as a common one together with the water guide gutter 5a. In this embodiment, tap water is used as the adjusting water W.

In such a configuration of the water injection device 1c, the water guide portion 5 can flow into any baffle 7 if water is injected without imbalance. However, when water is stored in the water guide portion 5 in the water guide gutter 5a of the water guide portion 5 when an imbalance occurs during rotation, the action of the liquid balancer works. That is, when the axis S1 is tilted in the direction of the arrow A1 due to the unbalance amount M as shown in FIG. 5, the adjusting water W gathers toward the side opposite to the tilted side as shown by the arrow A2, and the tilted side and the tilted side. It flows into the baffle 7 shown in FIG. 3 and the like through the communication portion 5a1 located on the opposite side. When the dehydration tank 2 has a certain rotation speed or more, the adjusting water W that has flowed into the baffle 7 sticks to the inner peripheral surface 2a1 of the dehydration tank 2 and stays there. As a result, the weight of the baffle 7 increases, and the balance of the dehydration tank 2 changes. As described above, the baffle 7 has a pocket baffle structure capable of storing the adjusted water W by centrifugal force. Then, when the rotation speed of the dehydration tank 2 decreases near the end of the dehydration step, the centrifugal force in the baffle 7 gradually attenuates, and the adjusting water W flows out from the opening 71 due to gravity and goes out through the drain pipe 50. It is drained to the outside of the tank 3. At this time, a part of the adjusting water W flows below the pulsator main body 4b through the opening 71, but is finally drained without wetting the clothes above the pulsator main body 4b.

Here, in the washing machine 1, in order to control the timing of injecting water into the water guiding unit 5, the control unit 30 shown in FIG. It is provided.

The unbalanced amount detection unit 34 calculates the unbalanced amount from the magnitude of the vibration value of the horizontal and vertical acceleration input from the acceleration sensor 12. This unbalanced amount is input to the water injection control unit 35 via the central control unit 31. In this embodiment, it is not necessary to detect the unbalanced position.

When the rotation speed of the dehydration tank 2 controlled by the rotation speed control unit 32 exceeds the resonance rotation speed, the water injection control unit 35 becomes a preset rotation speed N1 or more, and the unbalance amount detection unit 34 When the amount of unbalance to be detected becomes equal to or higher than the preset dehydration threshold α, the water injection device 6 is operated to inject water into the water guiding unit 5.

When the clothes are unevenly dispersed in the dehydration tank 2, the amount of imbalance causes the outer tank 3 to vibrate in a circular orbit. At this time, when water is injected into the water guiding portion 5 of the dehydration tank 2, water is collected at a position symmetrical to the clothing imbalance by the above-mentioned principle of the liquid balancer, and the imbalance is eliminated without performing complicated control.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure executed by the control unit 30 including the rotation speed control unit 32 and the water injection control unit 35. Hereinafter, an outline of control will be described with reference to this flowchart.

<Step S1>
First, the control unit 30 starts accelerating the dehydration tank 2 toward the maximum dehydration rotation with the start of the dehydration main routine, and moves to step S2.

<Step S2>
In step S2, the control unit 30 determines whether or not the vibration value of the acceleration sensor 12 is equal to or less than the allowable low-speed rotation threshold β at the time of low-speed rotation determined in advance. The low-speed rotation threshold value β corresponds to the occurrence of a vibration level at which it is difficult to increase the rotation speed as it is. If YES, the process proceeds to step S3, and if NO, the process proceeds to step S4.

<Step S3>
In step S3, the control unit 30 determines whether or not the dehydration rotation speed exceeds a predetermined rotation speed N1, for example, 300 rpm. If NO, the process returns to the front of step S1, and if YES, the process proceeds to step S5. The predetermined rotation speed of 300 rpm is a rotation speed set at a position exceeding the resonance rotation speed, and the control of the present invention is not performed until this rotation speed is exceeded. This is because the action of the liquid balancer has an adverse effect on the contrary.

<Step S4>
In step S4, the control unit 30 stops the rotation of the dehydration tank 2 in response to the fact that the vibration value of the acceleration sensor 12 exceeds the low-speed rotation threshold value β allowed during low-speed rotation in step S2 described above.

<Step S5>
In step S5, the control unit 30 determines whether or not the vibration value of the acceleration sensor 12 is equal to or less than the dehydration threshold value α. The dehydration threshold α is set to the maximum vibration value at which imbalance is allowed. If YES, the process proceeds to step S6, and if NO, the process proceeds to step S7.

<Step S6>
In step S6, the control unit 30 starts accelerating the dehydration tank 2 toward the maximum rotation speed, and proceeds to step S9. At this time, if the process of opening the water injection valve 6b is being performed in step S8 described later, this is closed.

<Step S7>
In step S7, the control unit 30 stops accelerating the dehydration tank 2 and proceeds to step S8 in response to the determination in step S5 that the vibration value of the acceleration sensor 12 exceeds the dehydration threshold value α.

<Step S8>
In step S8, the control unit 30 opens the water injection valve 6b through the water injection control unit 35 to inject water into the communication gutter 5a. As a result, the injected adjustment water W moves in the communication gutter 5a according to the principle of the liquid balancer, gathers on the side opposite to the direction in which the dehydration tank 3 is eccentric, and corresponds through the communication port 5a that opens in the vicinity thereof. It is injected into the baffle 7. Since the injected water sticks to the inner surface of the baffle 7 and stays there, the imbalance is eliminated.

<Step S9>
In step S9, the control unit 30 determines whether or not the dehydration rotation speed has reached the maximum rotation speed N _max in response to the start of acceleration in step S6 described above. If YES, the process proceeds to step S10, and if NO, the process returns to the front of step S5.

<Step S10>
In step S10, the control unit 30 determines whether or not the dehydration time has elapsed. If YES, the dehydration step is completed, and if NO, the process returns to the front of step S5. For example, there is an embodiment in which the timer is operated when the maximum rotation speed is reached and the timer is terminated when the dehydration time elapses.

As described above, in the washing machine of the present embodiment, hollow balancers 7 are provided at three equiangular points of the dehydration tank 2, and water is guided to each balancer 7 through a communication port 5a1 from a common water guiding portion 5a forming a ring shape. When an imbalance occurs in the dehydration tank 2, water is injected from the water injection device 6. As a result, the adjusting water W collects on the side opposite to the eccentric side according to the principle of the liquid balancer with respect to the dehydration tank 2 rotating while being eccentric, and the eccentric load is opposed through the communication port 5a1 at that position. It flows into the balancer 7 at the position. By this principle, the unbalanced state is surely eliminated even at the time of high-speed rotation with a simple configuration.

In particular, the rotation speed of the dehydration tank 2 controlled by the rotation speed control unit 32 is equal to or higher than the preset rotation speed N1, and the unbalance amount detected by the unbalance amount detection unit 34 is equal to or higher than the preset dehydration threshold α. When it becomes, water injection is executed. Therefore, even if an imbalance occurs in a rotation region where the principle of the liquid balancer works effectively, it is possible to quickly deal with it without performing complicated control.

Further, even if the dehydration rotation is started, water is not injected until the dehydration tank 2 reaches the set rotation speed N1 or more, so that water exists in the water guide portion 5 when the function of the liquid balancer does not work. It is possible to avoid adverse effects.

Further, since the set rotation speed N1 is set at a position exceeding the resonance rotation speed, which is an unstable rotation region, the effect of the present invention can be effectively demonstrated.

Further, since the acceleration of the dehydration tank 2 is stopped when the water injection by the water injection control unit 35 is performed, the dehydration tank 2 can be quickly directed to eliminate the imbalance.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the configuration of the present embodiment is not limited to that described above, and various modifications are possible.

2 ... Dehydration tank 2a ... Inner peripheral surface 5 ... Water guide part 5a ... Communication port 6 ... Water injection device 7 ... Balancer 32 ... Rotation speed control unit 34 ... Unbalanced amount detection unit 35 ... Water injection control unit N1 ... Set rotation speed S1 ... Axis line W ... Adjusted water α ... Dehydration threshold

Claims (5)

A hollow balancer arranged on the inner peripheral surface of the dehydration tank with three or more different angular phases around the axis,
A ring-shaped common water guide that is placed in the upper part of the dehydration tank and has a communication port opened at a position where it can flow into each balancer.
A common water injection device that injects regulated water into the water guide, and
A water injection control unit that operates the water injection device when an imbalance occurs in the dehydration tank, and
It is arranged at the bottom of the dehydration tank and is provided with a drive shaft for rotationally driving the dehydration tank .
A washing machine characterized in that the communication port is arranged on the outer peripheral portion of the water guide portion . A rotation speed control unit that controls the rotation of the dehydration tank,
It is equipped with an unbalanced amount detecting unit that detects the unbalanced amount in the dehydration tank.
In the water injection control unit, the rotation speed of the dehydration tank controlled by the rotation speed control unit is equal to or higher than the preset rotation speed, and the unbalance amount detected by the unbalance amount detection unit is equal to or higher than the preset dehydration threshold value. The washing machine according to claim 1, wherein the water injection device is operated to inject water into the water guide unit. The second aspect of claim 2, wherein the water injection control unit does not operate the water injection device until the rotation speed controlled by the rotation speed control unit becomes equal to or higher than a preset rotation speed after the start of dehydration. Washing machine. The washing machine according to claim 3, wherein the set rotation speed is set at a position exceeding the resonance rotation speed. The washing machine according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein when water is injected by the water injection control unit, the rotation speed control unit stops accelerating the dehydration tank.

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