JPH02274293A - Operation control method for washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the time required for load judgment by integrating values of several times of inertial pulse number excluding the first one, and judging load from the resulting sum. CONSTITUTION:In a unit 15 controlling by a microcomputer, where integration of inertial pulse number is conducted, values of several times excluding the first one are integrated to judge load from the resulting sum. The load can be precisely judged on the basis of a generated voltage by a speed generator on the anti-load side of a driving part such as a motor. Further, as this load judgment is conducted by integrating inertial pulse number and also values of several times on the basis of the generated voltage from the speed generator by the inertia of driving part formed after off of current application to a motor 8 and judging the load from the resulting sum, the judgment can be conducted more precisely within such a short time as 5 seconds or less. The integration of inertial pulse number is not conducted for the unstable first one after off of current application to the motor, whereby much more precision can be expected.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a method for controlling the operation of a washing machine, which includes a load determining means and controls the operation of water supply, etc. in accordance with the cloth i detected by the load determining means. Regarding.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, for fully automatic washing machines, etc., JP-A-61-58690 was used.
As seen in the above publication, a washing machine that performs operational control according to the amount of laundry is known.

As shown in FIG. 7, this consists of a drive device (33) that includes a motor, a speed reduction mechanism, and a control device for rotating the stirring blade (32) that stirs the water and cloth in the washing tub (31), and the water and cloth. The washing machine (31 Water level detection device (
35), a water supply device (36), a detection result output of the cloth amount detection device (34), and a water level detection device (35).
) and a water level determination device (37) that determines the required water level for the amount of cloth and outputs a signal to the water supply device (36).

In this way, the water level determination device (37) outputs an output to the water supply device (36) until the water level reaches a predetermined level for detecting the amount of cloth, and when the water reaches the predetermined water level due to water supply, the amount of cloth detection device (
34) outputs an output to the drive device (33) and starts stirring.

Then, the magnitude of the load on the drive device (33) is detected as a human power signal by the cloth amount detection device (34), and the amount of cloth is determined.

Based on this determination result, the water level determination device (37) determines the optimum water level according to the amount of cloth, and washing is performed at an appropriate water level without damaging the laundry.

In the washing machine disclosed in JP-A No. 61-58690, the cloth amount detection device (34) includes a stirring blade (32).
) is determined by detecting the magnitude of the current flowing through the motor using a current transformer, inputting the electrical signal from the current transformer as digital data to a microcomputer using an A/D converter, and This is to determine the placement.

In addition to directly observing the magnitude of the current flowing through the motor, it is also possible to observe the terminal voltage of the capacitor that causes the motor to rotate forward or reverse.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional washing machine equipped with the above-mentioned cloth amount detection device (34), that is, load judgment means, it is necessary to follow the change in current for a certain period of time to make a load judgment, and the judgment time is about 15 minutes.
It takes a long time, more than a second, and the accuracy deteriorates when subjected to voltage fluctuations, which not only deteriorates washing and rinsing performance but also risks damaging the laundry.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned disadvantages of the conventional example, to shorten the time required for load determination, to perform it with high accuracy, and as a result, to improve washing performance and rinsing performance, and to reduce fabric damage. Our goal is to provide the following.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is provided with a load determination device, and in a washing machine that controls operations such as water supply according to the amount of cloth detected by the load determination device, the counter load of a driving part such as a motor is used as a load determination means. A speed generator consisting of a coil and a magnet is installed on the side, and the voltage generated by the speed generator due to inertia that occurs after the power is turned off to the motor is converted into a rectangular wave inertia pulse and introduced into a control device using a microcomputer, etc. In this control device, the number of inertia pulses is integrated, and the gist is to integrate the values of several times except for the first one, and determine the load based on the sum.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, load judgment is made based on the voltage generated by the speed generator on the opposite load side of the drive unit such as a motor, and the voltage due to load fluctuation is determined by checking the magnitude of the current flowing through the motor. Unaffected by changes,
Can make accurate judgments.

Furthermore, the number of inertia pulses is accumulated based on the voltage generated from the speed generator due to the inertia of the drive unit, which occurs after power is turned off to the motor, not while the drive unit is running, and the value of several times is calculated. Since it performs load judgment by integrating and determining the load based on the sum, more accurate judgment can be made.
Moreover, the judgment can be made in a short time, within 5 seconds.

Also, by not integrating the number of inertia pulses during the first unstable time after turning off the power to the motor,
You can expect even more accuracy.

[Example] Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

First, an example of a washing machine used in the method of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
As shown in the figure, the washing machine is an agitation type fully automatic washing machine.
1) is an agitator as a rotary blade, which has a hollow cylindrical body having a large number of through holes (2), and vertically elongated stirring blades (3) radially provided on its circumferential surface; (4) is this agitator; This is a dehydration tank which also serves as a washing tank, with an agitator (1) placed in the center and a through hole (5) in the side wall, and a balancer (6) using a hollow transport body is formed at the upper opening.

A water receiving tank (7) with a waterproof plate (16) provided at the upper end opening is arranged outside the dewatering tank (4), and a drain hose (7) provided with a drain valve (18) at the drain port at the bottom of the water receiving tank (7). 21) via the valve case (17).

In the figure, (8) is a motor, which is connected to a rotation transmission section (12) through a low-speed transmission mechanism of a pulley (9), a bell (10), and a pulley (11). This rotation transmission part (12) has a double drive shaft (12a) (12b) that is switched by a spring clutch mechanism (13), and the outer drive shaft (12a) is connected to the dehydration tank (4), and the inner drive shaft (12a) is connected to the dehydration tank (4). Drive shaft (12
b) are respectively coupled to an agitator (1).

On the opposite load side of the motor (8), there is a speed generator (14) (pulse generator; PG) consisting of a coil (14a) and a magnet (not shown) as a means for detecting the rotation of the dehydration tank (4). Attach.

On the other hand, an iron core (20
A bellows (20c) having a bellows (20c) and a coil (20d) facing the bellows (20d) were provided, and a water level detection means (20) was provided in which an oscillator (20e) was connected to the coil (20d).

Although not shown, these mechanisms are housed in an outer box via vibration isolating means, and a control device (15), a water supply valve (22), and an operation switch section ( 26
), a piezoelectric buzzer (29), etc. are arranged.

In the figure, (15) is a control device using a microcomputer, and as shown in FIG.
9) and the motor (8) via the amplifier (23),
A drain valve (18) and a water supply valve (22) are connected.

On the other hand, the input side terminal of the control device (15) is connected to the operation switch section (26), the lid unbalance and other sensors (
27), water level detection means (
20) is connected, and a waveform converter (30
) is connected to the speed generator (14).

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the spring clutch mechanism (13) is switched by a drain valve (18), although it is not electrically coupled.

Next, a first method of the present invention using a washing machine as described above will be described.
An embodiment will be explained with reference to flowcharts shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

When the water supply valve (22) is opened and water is introduced into the water receiving tank (7) and the dehydration tank (4), the water level detection means connected from the valve case (17) via the pressure hose (19) (2
0), the change in pressure due to the water level is measured using a bellows (20c).
The coil (
20d) is detected as a change in the "L value" of
28) and is captured by a control device (15) having a microcomputer to perform calculations.

As shown in Figure 1, when the water level reaches a specified low water level [step (a)], the control device (15) conducts motor control to energize the motor (8) and perform a forward and reverse operation. The stroke starts [step (B)], and the forward and reverse movement of this motor (8) is performed by the pulley (9) and the V-belt (1).
0), is transmitted to the agitator (1) via the pulley (11) and the rotation transmission section (12), and the laundry is stirred by the stirring blade (3) to perform washing.

When the motor (8) rotates, the speed generator (14) also rotates, and the speed generator generated voltage, which is a sinusoidal waveform, is output from the coil (14a) through the resistor (30a), diode (30b), and capacitor (30c). ), transistor (
30d), it is converted into a waveform shaped voltage which is a 5V rectangular wave via a waveform converter (30) with a resistor (30e), and is introduced into a control device (15).

Figure 5 shows the relationship between the movement of the motor (8) and the pulses generated by the speed generator (14).As is well known, the energizing circuit of the motor (8) allows forward rotation (clockwise rotation) and reverse rotation (clockwise rotation). There is an energization pause time during the counterclockwise rotation), and the energization time is 80 pulses in the speed generator (14).

Figure 2 shows the motor control process, and as described above (when the speed generator (PC) (14) reaches 80 pulses, the control device (engineering 5) turns off the power to the motor (8).
Step (wa) (power) (yo)].

Even after turning off the power to the motor (8), the dehydration tank (4)
), the motor (8) continues to rotate due to inertia, and as a result, the speed generator (14) also outputs pulses due to this inertia.

The control device (15) starts counting pulses due to this inertia on the condition that the power to the motor (8) is turned off, but the inertial force eventually disappears and no inertial pulses are output.

If there is no inertial pulse for 200 m sec or more [Step (S)], the motor (8) and stirring blade (3) are also assumed to have stopped, and the pulse count is stopped [Step (T)].
Rotate the motor (8) in the opposite direction from last time [steps (ne) (u) (d)].

As shown in FIG. 1, the control device (15) integrates the inertial pulses except for the first time [step (c)].
This is repeated several times (5 times), and the values of the inertia pulses when the motor (8) is energized and turned off five times are integrated, and the load is determined based on the sum.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the relationship between the total number of inertial pulses and the amount of load, and the number of inertial pulses decreases as the amount of load increases. The relationship between the number of sums of inertial pulses and the amount of load based on such empirical rules is input to the control device (15), and the IIJ control device (15) is configured to control when the sum of inertial pulses is 150 or more. If there is very little laundry, 10
If it is 0 or more, it is determined that it is low, if it is 50 or more, it is determined that it is medium, and if it is 50 or less, it is determined that it is high [steps (to) to (wo)].

Although not shown, the content of the washing operation is determined according to this load amount.

For example, for a small load, the water level is low, washing takes 7 minutes, rinses once, and spins for 3 minutes; for a medium load, the water level is medium, washing takes 11 minutes, rinses twice, and spins for 4 minutes. , For large loads, use a high water level, wash for 15 minutes, rinse twice,
It's like 5 minutes of dehydration.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the washing machine operation control method of the present invention includes a washing machine that is provided with a load determination device and controls the operation of water supply, etc. in accordance with the amount of cloth detected by the load determination device. Compared to the conventional method, the time required for load determination can be shortened and the determination can be made with high accuracy. As a result, cleanability,
Rinsing performance can be improved and fabric damage can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of the washing machine operation control method of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a flowchart of the same motor control process, and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional side view of an agitation type fully automatic washing machine carrying out the method of the present invention. Figure 4 is a block circuit diagram of the same control system as above, Figure 5 is a waveform diagram of pulses generated by the speed generator during rotation of the motor, Figure 6 is a graph showing the relationship between the number of inertia pulses and load amount, and Figure 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional example. (1)... Agitator (2)... Through hole (3)
... Stirring blade (4) ... Dehydration tank (5) ... Through hole (6) ... Balancer (7) ... Water receiving tank (8) ... Motor (9) ... Pulley ( 10)...V-belt (11)...Pulley (12)...Rotation transmission part (12a) (
12b) --- Drive shaft (13) --- Spring clutch mechanism (14) --- Speed generator (14a) --- Coil (work 5) --- Control device (16) --- Waterproof plate ( 18) Drain valve (20) Water level detection means (17) Valve case (19) Impulse hose (20a) Case (20b) Iron core (20c) ...Bellows (20d)...Coil (20e)...
Oscillator (21)... Drain hose (22)... Water supply valve (23)... Amplifier (24)... Display (25)... Power supply (26)... Operation switch section (27 )... Lid, unbalance, and some other sensors (
28)...Frequency divider (29)...Buzzer (3
0)... Waveform converter (30a) (30e)... Resistor (30b)... Diode (30c)... Capacitor (30d)... Transistor (31)... Washing machine (32) ... Stirring blade (
33)...Drive device (34)...Water amount detection device (35)...Water level detection device (36)...Water supply device (37)...Water level determination device Agent Patent attorney Masuo Ookimi Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure 2 Figure 4 ■ Figure 6 Figure 9 Amount of boxes [Town] Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a washing machine that is provided with a load determination means and controls operations such as water supply according to the amount of cloth detected by the load determination means, the load determination means is a speed control device that is constructed of a coil and a magnet on the opposite load side of a drive unit such as a motor. A generator is attached, and the voltage generated by the speed generator due to inertia generated after the power is turned off to the motor is converted into rectangular wave inertia pulses and introduced into a control device such as a microcomputer, and the control device calculates the number of inertia pulses. A method for controlling the operation of a washing machine, characterized in that the values are integrated several times except for the first time, and the load is determined based on the sum of the values.