JPH02265599A - Control method of automatic washing dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate wasteful drying time and conduct satisfactory drying by calculating drying required time on the basis of the load quantity of clothes, setting drying start time, and after completion of dehydrating step, once stopping washing operation and starting the drying step at the drying start time. CONSTITUTION:A water level detector 50 detects water level by detecting pipe internal pressure by means of a diaphragm, as the pipe internal pressure is changed according to the water level vertically moving in a connecting pipe 51. The water quantity absorbed by clothes is determined from the difference between a standard level of the washing water supplied before starting of washing step and the changed level in the state where a rotating drum 10 is rotated for a determined time to make the clothes sufficiently contain the washing water, and the quantity of the clothes can be determined from the absorbed water quantity. The drying required time required for drying is calculated from the determined load quantity, and drying start time is set on the basis of the drying required time and a termination time selectively set. Thus, the washing operation is once stopped when dehydrating step is terminated, and the drying step is started at the drying start time, whereby the drying step can be precisely terminated at the termination time selectively set.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Fields] The present invention relates to a method for controlling an automatic washer/dryer, and particularly a method for controlling an automatic washer/dryer including a drying process, in which a finish time is set, and the drying process ends at this finish time. This invention relates to the control of an automatic washer/dryer that is controlled to

[Prior Art] Automatic (fully automatic) washing and drying machines are well known as, for example, drum-type automatic washing machines that are provided with a laundry washing process, a dehydration process, and a drying process, and such drum-type automatic washing machines When the midnight course is selected, the start time of the washing or drying process is set by counting backwards from the end time of the drying process.

Conventionally, there is a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 197100/1983 that controls the operation of a dryer based on the end time of late-night power and the required drying time.

Figure 6 shows the operating parts of a conventional drum-type washing machine, where (1) is the power switch, (2) is the time display, and (
3) is a reservation timer button that allows you to reserve the start or end time of washing in minutes, and (4) is a timer button that allows you to set the washing process time in minutes.
Wash selection button to select one from 0 minutes, 20 minutes or 15 minutes, (5) a dehydration selection button to select either high speed dehydration or slow dehydration in the dehydration process, (6)
(7) is a drying selection button that allows you to select whether the finish level is standard or ironable in the drying process, and (7) is a drying selection button that allows you to choose between a standard finish or a state that can be ironed. This is a course selection button for selecting one.

According to such a washing machine, by setting the late-night course using the course selection button (7), all washing can be completed at the end of the late-night time period when electricity charges are low.

The late-night course is provided for the following reasons.

In other words, in recent years, electricity consumption has been concentrated during the daytime, and electric power plants are required to have a scale that can supply the maximum amount of electricity used during the daytime, and for this purpose, it is necessary to increase the number of electric power facilities. Another problem is that this requires a huge amount of investment. Therefore, on the power supply side, it is necessary to moderate the power consumption, suppress the height of the consumption peak as much as possible, and average it out throughout the day.

For this reason, it is being considered to divert the electricity used during the day to late night hours when power consumption is low, and one method is to set electricity rates lower during late night hours. ing. Therefore, in automatic washing machines, especially those with a drying process that requires a long time, if the washing machine is used late at night, the benefits for the user will be greater.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] By the way, with conventional dryers, the time required for drying varies depending on the amount of clothes, the moisture content in the clothes, the ambient temperature, or the ambient humidity. There is a problem in that when drying is started, unnecessary drying must be performed.

That is, in the control for setting the start time of washing or drying from the end time of the midnight time slot, the start time of washing or drying is determined in consideration of the predicted maximum time required for drying. Therefore, even if the amount of clothes to be dried is small, the moisture content of the clothes is low, or even if a short drying time is sufficient depending on the ambient temperature and humidity, long drying operations are required. .

This wastes power, and the unnecessary drying process increases contact between the drum and the cloth or between the cloths, resulting in damage to the cloth.

Furthermore, in order to avoid wasting drying time, conventional apparatuses automatically detect the end of the drying process and stop the drying operation. However, this method does not allow the drying process to end at the set end time, and since the clothes are left in the drum even after the drying process is finished, there is a problem in that the clothes may wrinkle.

Furthermore, in a device that automatically detects the end of the drying process, it has been proposed to rotate the drum for several seconds at intervals of 1 to 2 minutes in order to prevent the occurrence of wrinkles, but this method still reduces wasted cloth. Contact can cause fabric damage and can also cause noise, especially late at night.

The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling an automatic washer/dryer that eliminates wasted drying time, eliminates damage and wrinkles on clothes, and performs good drying. purpose.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A method for controlling an automatic washer/dryer according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a washing step, a dehydration step, and a drying step, and the drying step is started at a selectively set end time. In a method of controlling an automatic washer/dryer that is controlled until the washing process is finished, the amount of washing water supplied at the start of the washing process or the amount of water that has been absorbed by the clothes and changed is detected, and the load amount of the clothes is calculated from this amount of water. ,
The drying time required for drying is calculated based on this load amount, the drying start time is set based on this drying time and the selected end time, and when the dehydration process is completed, the washing operation is temporarily stopped. The method is characterized in that the drying process is started when the drying start time has arrived.

In addition, the second claim is that a load amount determination dehydration operation is performed to detect the load amount of clothes at the start of the dehydration process, and based on the load amount obtained in this load amount determination dehydration operation, necessary for drying is performed. Calculate the required drying time, set a drying start time based on this required drying time and the selected end time,
When the dehydration process is completed, the washing operation is temporarily stopped, and when the drying start time arrives, the drying process is started.

[Operation] In the first aspect, first, the amount of washing water supplied at the start of the washing process or the amount of water that has been absorbed by the clothes and changed is detected, and the amount of load on the clothes is calculated from this amount of water.

This load amount indicates the heat capacity required to dry the clothes in the drum to 100%, and includes the amount of clothes, moisture content of the clothes, ambient temperature, and ambient humidity. Although it is determined based on the above factors, it can mainly be determined by the amount of clothing.

Then, the drying time necessary for drying is calculated from the load amount obtained in this way, and the drying time is calculated based on the drying time required and the end time selected and set, that is, the end time set on the reservation timer or late at night in the late night course. The drying start time is set based on the end time of the time period.

Therefore, when the dehydration process is completed, the washing operation is temporarily stopped, and when the drying start time is reached, the drying process is started. As a result, the drying process can be accurately completed at the selected and set end time.

Further, the load amount can be determined during the dewatering process, and the invention of the second claim performs a load amount determination dehydration operation in which the load amount of the clothes is determined at the start of the dewatering process. For example, the load on the clothes can be determined by detecting the start-up state at the start of spin-drying, the amount of rotation caused by inertia when the rotation of the drum is stopped at the end of the stripping operation, and the like.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

Figure 1 shows the configuration of an example in which the present invention is applied to a drum-type washing machine that performs everything from the washing process to the drying process in one drum, where (8) is a cabinet, and (9) is a cabinet (8). The outer tub (10) of the washing tub supported on a rack is a washing tub that rotates within the outer tub (9) and washes or rubs the laundry, and in the drying process, it is used as a drying tub. The rotating drum, (11) is the door for loading and unloading the laundry,
(12) is a motor connected to the support rotating shaft of the rotating drum (10) via a boob or belt, (13) is an air path for circulating hot air, and (14) is a motor connected to the rotating drum (10) side. The heater (15) provided at the outlet of the air passage is a fan for circulating hot air.

The characteristic feature of the present invention is that the loading port of the clothes to be dried is determined and the accurate required drying time is set. The load amount is detected based on the amount of washing water absorbed.

In FIG. 1, (16) is the operation unit as shown in FIG. 6, (17) is a controller that controls water flow rate detection and load amount determination dehydration operation, and (18) is a controller that controls water flow rate and load amount determination dehydration operation. Load amount determination means (19) determines the load amount from information obtained during operation, and (19) is a drying time required for calculating the drying time required for the drying process from the load amount determined by the load amount determination means (18). It is a calculation means.

Also, (50) is a water level detector consisting of a diaphragm, etc., (51) is a connecting pipe that leads the washing water in the outer tank (9) to the water level detector (5o) side, and (52) is a rotating drum (10).
A supply pipe (53) for supplying washing water into the interior is a supply port.

The water level detector (50) changes the pressure inside the pipe according to the water level moving up and down inside the connecting pipe (51).
The water level is detected by detecting the pressure inside the pipe with a diaphragm.

The amount of water absorbed by the clothes is determined by using the water level of the washing water supplied before the start of the washing process as a reference water level, and by rotating the rotating drum (10) for a predetermined period of time, the water level is changed when the clothes are sufficiently soaked with washing water. The water level can be determined by the difference between the changed water level and the reference water level, and the amount of clothing can be determined from this absorbed water amount.

FIG. 2 shows the relationship between the number of clothes and the amount of water absorbed, and in the embodiment, the number of clothes can be determined in three stages: large, medium, and small. That is, if the changing water level is the same as the reference water level or has increased, it is determined that the amount of clothing is in the X region in the figure and the amount of clothing is small. In addition, if the changing water level is lower than the standard water level and the amount of water is less than A, it is determined that the amount of clothing is in the Y area of the diagram and is medium, and the amount of clothing is determined to be lower than the changing water level or the standard water level. In this case, if the amount of water is greater than A, it is determined that the amount of clothing is in the X region in the figure and the amount of clothing is large.

These calculations are performed by biasing the memory in which the information of the graph shown in FIG. The amount of load can be determined.

To be precise, this load amount is the heat capacity until the clothing is 100% dry, but since this load amount is a value that is approximately proportional to the amount of clothing, it can be specified by the amount of clothing. Note that when drying is in the iron mode, a dry state of 100% or less is used as a reference, so a lower load amount is set.

The drying time calculation means (19) calculates the drying time T using the following formula based on the mW of the clothes as the load amount.
Calculate.

T-f(W)+α...(1) In the above equation (1), α is a time taken into account the variation in the error range, and is set to a time of about 10 minutes.

Then, the controller (17) determines the start time of the drying process based on the required drying time calculated based on the equation (1).

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the start time t4 is set by going back the required drying time T from the set end time t5 of the drying process, and the washing start time t. is set based on the maximum time required for the entire washing process, so the drying start time t4 is set after the operation stop time from the dehydration process end time t3.

Next, the invention according to the second claim, which calculates the load amount of clothing in the dehydration process, will be described.

The characteristic feature of this invention is that a load amount judgment dehydration operation is performed at the start of the dehydration process, and this load amount judgment dehydration operation is controlled by a controller (17). The drum is operated by detecting the amount of rotation caused by inertia when the drum stops rotating.

That is, as shown in FIG.
to), a loosening operation (1, to t2) is performed to uniformly distribute the clothes that are present as clumps in the rotating drum (10) at the end of the washing process, and this loosening operation is performed by the 1E reverse operation. This is done alternately. When the motor (12) is de-energized at the end of the loosening operation, the rotating drum (10) continues to rotate for a while due to inertia, or the amount of rotation changes depending on the amount of clothing. Therefore, the amount of rotation at this time can be detected by detecting the change in the number of rotations per unit time (speed change), the rotation angle per predetermined time (number of rotations), or the back electromotive current generated in the motor (12). You can know the second thing.

It is also possible to detect the amount of clothes from the start-up state at the start of dehydration, and can be determined by setting the current of the motor (12) at the time of start-up to M1.

The embodiment has the above configuration, and its operation will be explained below based on FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 shows the operation when calculating the load amount from the amount of water absorbed by clothing. First, in step 101, the operation section (1
In step 6), it is determined whether a reserved course or a late-night course has been selected. If "No", step 101 is further repeated, and if "YES", the process moves to step 102A.

In this step 102A, it is determined whether or not the washing process has started. If "No", step 102A is further repeated, and if "YES", the process moves to step 102B and the amount of absorbed water is detected. Detection of this amount of absorbed water is
As mentioned above, this is done by finding the difference between the reference water level when the washing water does not soak into the clothes and the changed water level after a predetermined rotation of the drum.

Then, in step 103, the load amount is determined by detecting the amount of clothing from the amount of absorbed water, and the process proceeds to step 104, where the required drying time T is calculated using the equation (1).

In step 105, the drying time T is calculated backward from the end time set by the reservation timer or by selecting the late-night course, and the drying process start time (T
4) Calculate and set. In this case, the start time of the washing process is set taking into account the maximum time required for all the washing, dehydration, and drying processes, and as shown in Figure 3, the start time of the washing process is The start time t4 is the time after the time t3 when the dehydration process ends. Therefore, the washing operation is stopped between times t3 and t4.

Next, in step 106, it is determined whether or not the dehydration process has been completed, and if "No", further step 1 is performed.
Repeat step 06, and if YES, step 107
to move to.

In this step 107, it is determined whether or not the set drying start time has come, and if YES', the process moves to step 108 and the drying process is performed.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate unnecessary drying steps (the drying operation from time t3 to t4 in FIG. 3), and also to accurately complete all washing steps at the set end time. Also, water level detection means (50, 51)
Since this is often provided to ensure an appropriate amount of water during washing, the present invention can be easily implemented by using the water level detection means described above.

FIG. 5 shows the operation when determining the load amount in the dewatering process, and the steps except step 102C and step tube 102D are the same as those in FIG. 4.

In this case, when the reserved course or the late-night course is selected in step 101, the process moves to step 102C, where it is determined whether the washing process has been completed.
If “No”, return to step 102C again and select “YE”.
In the case of S'', the process moves to step 102D.

In this step 102D, a load amount judgment dehydration operation is performed, and as mentioned above, in the dehydration step, the loosening operation (time t1 to t2) shown in FIG. 3 is performed, and at the end of this loosening operation, the The amount of rotation of the rotary drum (10), which rotates due to inertia, is determined by stopping the energization of the rotary drum (10).

Then, the opening of the clothing is detected from this amount of rotation, and the amount of load in the drying process is determined based on the amount of clothing.

According to this invention, it is possible to accurately determine the amount of clothing loaded by simply adding a relatively simple circuit configuration, and this has the advantage that washing including a long drying process can be efficiently controlled. There is.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, this invention calculates the load amount of clothes in the drying process and calculates the drying time necessary for drying from this load amount.
Alternatively, the drying process can be accurately completed at the end of the midnight time slot, making it possible to eliminate wasted drying time.

Further, according to the present invention, there is an advantage that it is possible to perform stubble in a good dry state without causing damage or wrinkles on clothes.

In addition to the above-mentioned effects, according to the first claim, the load amount can be easily determined by using the water level detection means provided to adjust the amount of washing water to an appropriate amount, and according to the second claim, It becomes possible to obtain the load amount with a relatively simple circuit configuration.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a diagram showing the configuration when the present invention is applied to a drum-type washing machine, Figure 2 is a graph diagram showing the relationship between the amount of clothing and the amount of water absorbed by the clothing, and Figure 3 is the flow of the entire washing process. A diagram showing
Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment that detects the load amount in the washing process, Figure 5 is a flowchart diagram showing the operation of the embodiment that detects the load amount in the dehydration process, and Figure 6 is the operation of the conventional device. FIG. In the figure, (3) is the reservation timer button, (7) is the course selection button, (8) is the cabinet, (9) is the outer tank, (10) is the rotating drum, (12) is the motor, (14)
is the heater, (15) is the fan, (16) is the operation unit, (1
7) is a controller, (18) is a load amount determination means, (1
9) is a drying time calculation means, (50) is a water level detector,
(51) is a connecting vibrator, and (52) is a water supply pipe. In addition, in the figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or equivalent parts. Fig. 2 Fig. 3 I-sign pine 9-station drill 9: Kut ff 10 [rikoun to'ram 50: y' to 4 standing 1+*atS 51:; is Shinozai 7゜ Fig. 1 Fig. 4

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a method for controlling an automatic washer/dryer that has a washing process, a dehydration process, and a drying process, and is controlled so that the drying process ends at a selected and set end time, the washing that is supplied at the start of the washing process Detect the amount of water that has changed due to absorption of water by the clothes, calculate the load on the clothes from this water amount, calculate the drying time required for drying based on this load, and select and set the drying time. A method for controlling an automatic washer/dryer in which a drying start time is set based on a drying start time based on a drying start time, a washing operation is temporarily stopped when a dehydration process is completed, and a drying process is started when the drying start time is reached. (2) In a method for controlling an automatic washer/dryer that has a washing process, a dehydration process, and a drying process, and is controlled so that the drying process ends at a selected and set end time, the load on the clothes at the start of the dehydration process is Perform a load amount judgment dehydration operation to detect the amount of water, calculate the drying time necessary for drying based on the load amount obtained in this load amount judgment dehydration operation, and calculate the drying time required for drying and the selected end time. A method for controlling an automatic washer/dryer, in which a drying start time is set based on the time, a washing operation is temporarily stopped when a dehydration process is completed, and a drying process is started when the drying start time is reached.