JPH03155895A - Controller for laundry machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform the automatic operation of washing or rinsing and to complete the washing earlier by detecting the saturation of the change of turbidity earlier by accurately detecting the change of turbidity of washing liquid due to a stain dropped from wash without receiving the influence of bubble generated in the washing. CONSTITUTION:The output voltage of a transmission factor detector 22 is changed widely by receiving the influence of the bubble at every agitation in a water receiving tub when the washing is performed. Generally speaking, it is recognized that the washing is completed when no change of the output voltage of the transmission factor detector 22 occurs i.e., it is saturated. However, the saturation occurs at slow tempo when the high influence of the bubble is received, therefore, the tendency that washing time is extended persists even after the stain of the wash is eliminated. Then, a microcomputer 23 measures the output voltage Vo of the transmission factor detector 22 at every second to prevent the influence of the bubble received, and controls the washing or rinsing by setting the maximum value in every 30 seconds as the turbidity data of the washing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a washing machine control device that optically detects the degree of contamination of liquid in a tub and automatically performs washing or rinsing operations. be.

Conventional technology Conventionally, as a control device for this type of washing machine, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-5
As shown in CL595, a dirt level detector that optically detects changes in the turbidity of the washing liquid is provided, and washing or rinsing operations are automatically performed based on the output data of this dirt level detector. There is something.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with the above-mentioned washing machine control device, the influence of foam generated during washing is large, and it is difficult to accurately detect changes in the turbidity of the washing liquid due to dirt falling from the laundry. there were.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems.The present invention is designed to accurately detect changes in turbidity of the washing liquid due to dirt falling from the laundry without being affected by the bubbles generated during washing, and to operate washing or rinsing operations. The first purpose is to control the cleaning efficiency and to prevent harmful effects such as a decrease in cleaning efficiency.

The second purpose is to detect the addition of detergent and eliminate the disadvantage of shortening the washing time.

Means for Solving the Problem A first means of the present invention for solving this object includes a transmittance detector that detects the light transmittance of the liquid in the tank, and a transmittance detector that detects the transmittance of light that is a periodic data string. control means for controlling washing or rinsing operation using the output data of the rate detector as data on the degree of contamination of the liquid; An upper limit value and a lower limit value are set based on the amount of change, and the range of the current data is defined.

In the second means, when determining the current data, if the current data falls below a lower limit value defined from the previous data and the amount of change over a predetermined time up to the previous time multiple times, the control means lowers the lower limit value. The received data will be used as the current data.

According to the present invention, changes in the turbidity of the washing liquid due to dirt falling from the laundry can be accurately detected without being affected by bubbles generated during washing, and an appropriate washing time and time can be set according to the degree of dirt on the laundry. It becomes possible to control the rinsing time to an appropriate level depending on the amount of detergent used. Further, since the water flow is not weakened or stirring is not stopped for transmittance detection, there is no risk of causing problems such as a decrease in cleaning efficiency.

Additionally, if it detects that detergent has been added, the upper and lower limits are adjusted, so the washing time will not be unnecessarily shortened.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example in which the present invention is applied to a fully automatic washing machine will be described with reference to the drawings.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of a fully automatic washing machine. 1 is an outer frame, 2 is a water tray, 3 is a washing/drying tank, and 6 is a stirring blade 4 for washing or rinsing, and a washing/drying/drying tub for spin-drying. This is a power switching mechanism for switching the power of the washing/swelling motor 5 so as to rotate the dehydration tank 3. 7 is an air pocket for generating pressure corresponding to the water level, 9 is an air hose for transmitting the pressure generated in the air pocket 7 to the water level detection means 8, and 10 is a water receiver for collecting the liquid in the tank 2. 11 is a drainage hose; 12 is a water supply valve for supplying tap water into the tank 2; 13 is water receiver tank 2
A transmittance detection unit for detecting the transmittance of the liquid in the
The cage shown in FIG. 3 (composed of an infrared light emitting element 13a and a light receiving element 13b).

Next, FIG. 1 shows the main structure of a fully automatic washing machine. In the figure, 14 is an input means for setting which process of washing, rinsing, and spin-drying to operate, water level, etc., and 15 is an input means for informing the user of the contents set by the input means 14, the progress of washing, etc. 8 is a water receiver that detects the water level in the tank 2 and generates an electric signal; 16 and 17 are bidirectional Zyristors for driving the washing and dewatering motor 5; 18 is a water supply. A bidirectional thyristor for driving the valve 12, 19 a bidirectional thyristor for driving the drain valve 10, 20 a commercial power source, 21 a power switch,
22 is a transmittance detector for detecting the degree of contamination of the liquid in the tank 2; 23 is an output signal of the transmittance detector 22;
A microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as a microcomputer) serves as a control means that inputs the data to the D converter, performs A/D conversion, and controls the operations of washing, rinsing, and dehydration processes based on the data.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the transmittance detector 22. 22
a consists of a PWM circuit and a D/A converter, and the microcomputer 23
22b and 22d are resistors,
22c is the infrared light emitting element 1 according to the signal from the microcomputer 23.
This is a transistor that controls ON-OFF of the current flowing through 3a.

In the fully automatic washing machine having the above configuration, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 6 and the characteristic diagrams in FIGS. 7 and 8.

First of all, to give a detailed explanation of the present invention, the water receiver during washing is affected by bubbles in the tank 2 every time it is stirred. The output voltage V of the device 22.

changes greatly. - Output voltage V of the transmittance detector 22 for boat fishing. Washing is finished when there is no change in the amount of water (in other words, the laundry is saturated), but if the influence of bubbles is large, it will not be saturated easily, so the washing time tends to be longer even if the laundry is not dirty. 23 measures the output voltage V of the transmittance detector 22 every second in order to avoid being affected by bubbles, and controls washing or rinsing using the maximum value for 30 seconds as dirt degree data during that time. It is something.

Now, assume that the flow in Figure 6 is executed every 30 seconds,
It is assumed that m is incremented by 1 every 30 seconds. The microcomputer 23 first performs initial settings in steps 100 and 101, and sets V, , =O, N = 1.
shall be. Next, in step 102, the transistor 22c is turned on to flow a current to the infrared light emitting element 13a, and step 1
After a delay of Ta (for example, 0.05 seconds) in step 03, the output voltage vo of the transmittance detector 22 inputted in step 104 is A/D converted, and this value is set as V(N).
5, the transistor 22c is turned off and the infrared light emitting element 13 is turned off.
Stop energizing a. In step 106 and step 107, V(N) is the maximum value V up to now. X or more,
The upper limit value V, which is determined by the maximum value Vm-1 for the previous 30 seconds and the amount of change ΔVm-+ for the 2 minutes up to the previous time,
-,, If it is within the range of the lower limit value (Vm-+-ΔVm-+), go to step 108 and set the value of V(N) to V. Let it be X. Here, ΔV m −1 is V□−5Vm−1,
The above reason will be explained using FIG. 7. As shown in FIG. 5, the bubbles generated during normal washing are caused by the output voltage V of the transmittance detector 22.

By measuring every second and taking the maximum value for 30 seconds, accurate dirt degree data can be obtained during that time.
When laundry that is hardly soiled is washed with a large amount of detergent, a large amount of fine foam is generated and reaches its maximum value for 30 seconds, making it impossible to remove the influence of the foam. For example, data V,' at time t in FIG.
There should be almost no change from time j + i-5, but at time t, it drops to V,' due to the influence of bubbles. Since the true data without the influence of bubbles is predicted to be V, ■ In order to ignore the value of 3゛, specify the upper and lower limits from the previous value to the current value, and If there is no value, the method uses the same value as the previous value.

Next, if N=30, that is, 30 seconds have passed in step 109, the process goes to step 112, and if 30 seconds have not passed, then after a delay of Tb (for example, 0.95 seconds) in step 110, N is set to 1 in step 111. Increment the value and return to step 102. In step 112, it is determined whether there is a value of vmax, and if there is a value, step 114
Then, the value of Vmax is set to VIIl, and the process goes to step 116, where m is incremented by 1, and the process ends. In step 112, if there is no value of V08, step 11
In step 3, it is determined whether or not it has continued twice, and if it has continued twice, go to step 114 and set the values of Vl and lax to Vl,
1, the process goes to step 116, where m is incremented by 1, and the process ends. If it is not repeated twice, step 11
Step 5 is set to the previous value V□-I, and step 116 is reached where m is incremented by 1 and the process ends. The reason for this is to cope with the case where the detergent is re-added at time t1-2, as shown in FIG.
When the user re-adds detergent during washing, the degree of turbidity of the liquid in the tank 2 increases, and the output voltage V0 of the transmittance detector 22 increases.
goes down. At this time, the user expects the washing time to be extended, so steps 113 and 114 are provided so that this data is not ignored.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the washing or rinsing operation can be performed by accurately detecting changes in the turbidity of the washing liquid due to dirt falling from the laundry without being affected by the bubbles generated during washing. This can be done automatically, and even if the laundry is hardly dirty (even if a lot of detergent is added and a large amount of foam is generated, it can quickly detect that the turbidity change has reached saturation). This has the effect of finishing the washing quickly.

Additionally, if detergent is added during washing, it can be detected and the washing time can be controlled to be extended.

Furthermore, since a large current can be instantaneously passed through an infrared light emitting element,
Even if the inner wall of the detection part becomes dirty, if a large amount of current is applied depending on the degree of dirt, the water receiver can accurately detect the degree of dirt in the liquid in the tank, just as it would when it is not dirty.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a fully automatic washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same fully automatic washing machine, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the same transmittance detection section, and Fig. 4 is the same. A circuit diagram of the transmittance detection section, FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing the output of the transmittance detection section, FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the control, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are stains determined by the control means. FIG. 3 is a characteristic diagram showing changes. 2... Water receiver is tank, 13... Transmittance detection section, 22... Transmittance detector, 23...
Microcomputer control means.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A transmittance detector detects the light transmittance of the liquid in the tank, and the output data of the transmittance detector, which is a periodic data string, is used as the dirt degree data of the liquid to control the washing or rinsing operation. and a control means, when determining the current data, the control means sets an upper limit value and a lower limit value from the previous data and the amount of change in a predetermined time up to the previous time, and defines the range of the current data. washing machine control device. (2) When determining the current data, if the current data falls below a lower limit value specified from the previous data and the amount of change over a predetermined period of time up to the previous time multiple times, the control means controls the data that falls below the lower limit value. The washing machine control device according to claim 1, wherein the current data is the current data.