JPH0394796A - Washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To steplessly decide the cloth quantity by providing a cloth quantity sensor detecting the quantity of the washing, and a fuzzy inference device for deciding the cloth quantity of a fuzzy inference from a detection value of this cloth quantity sensor. CONSTITUTION:When water is fed up to a measured water level by controlling a feed water device 7, the controller 6 drives a motor 4 and rotates a pulsator 3 for a prescribed time, and thereafter, turns off driving of the motor. Subsequently, by a cloth quantity sensor 9, the speed of revolution N of the pulsator after turn-off is detected. This trial is executed plural times by varying the rotational direction of the pulsator 3 and an average of the speed of revolution N is taken. Thereafter, a fuzzy inference is executed by a fuzzy inference device 10. First of all, a grade to each membership function is derived from N, and subsequently, the cloth quantity is decided by a weighted centroid operation. By a result of this decision, washing water level, washing time, washing water flow, a rinsing time and a dehydrating time are determined. In this case, since the cloth quantity is decided steplessly, a control method in each washing process is also determined steplessly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a washing machine that automatically determines the amount of cloth.

Conventional technology There have been washing machines that automatically determine the amount of cloth based on motor current, motor inertia rotation speed, etc., but due to large variations, it is not possible to make an appropriate determination, and rough determinations are made in about four stages.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, since the amount of cloth is originally stepless, it goes without saying that it is possible to perform more detailed washing by determining the amount of cloth and controlling the washing process based on the result. However, since the detected value of the cloth amount sensor is variable, the conventional method has a problem in that it is difficult to determine the appropriate amount of cloth in a stepless manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention aims to solve the conventional problems, and aims to provide a washing machine that can steplessly determine the amount of clothes using a fuzzy reasoner.

Means for Solving the Problem 't+'T ja In order to achieve the purpose, the present invention provides a washing machine consisting of washing, rinsing, and spin-drying processes. The washing machine is equipped with a fuzzy inference device that determines the amount of cloth by fuzzy inference from the detected value of the amount sensor.

Effect: According to the above means, the variation of the cloth amount sensor can be expressed as a degree relative to the amount of cloth using the membership function of the fuzzy reasoner. Therefore, by providing membership functions for a plurality of evaluation cloth amounts and performing fuzzy inference based on these, it is possible to accurately and steplessly determine the cloth amounts.

EXAMPLE An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In the figure, 1 is a washing tub for storing laundry and washing water, and 2 is an outer tub for storing washing water. Reference numeral 3 denotes a balseater for agitating the laundry and washing water, which is rotated by a motor 4 via a belt 5. A controller 6 controls the water supply device 7, drainage device 8, and motor 4. Reference numeral 9 denotes a cloth amount sensor, and 10 denotes a fuzzy inference device, which determines the amount of cloth from the detected value of the cloth amount sensor 9. 11 is a counter that counts the number of rotations of the pulsator 3. In this embodiment, a microcomputer is used for the controller 6 and the fuzzy inference device 10.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained, focusing on the operation of the cloth amount sensor 9. When a user puts laundry into the washing tub 1 and a washing process starts, the controller 6 controls the water supply device 7 to supply water up to the measured water level. In this state, the controller 6 drives the motor 4 for a certain period of time to rotate the pulsator 3, and then turns off the motor drive. After being turned off, the valsator 3 rotates for a while due to inertia and then stops. The rotational speed of the balsator 3 at this time (hereinafter referred to as rotational speed) changes depending on the amount of cloth put into the washing tank 1.

Therefore, this number of revolutions is counted by the counter 1 of the cloth amount sensor 9. FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the number of rotations and the amount of cloth. The figure shows the probability of the number of rotations based on multiple trials for each of the cloth amounts ABC, D, and the tendency of the number of rotations with respect to the amount of cloth can be seen although there is some variation. Therefore, we will consider determining the amount of cloth using fuzzy inference based on the number of rotations. The fuzzy inference device used in this example is as follows. First, the structure of the antecedent part is such that the range of rotational speed is fuzzy divided into four regions, and rules are provided for each region. The membership functions used are the general triangular type (Fl(N), F2(
N). F3 (N), F4 (N) N: rotation speed),
Very small ●small ●bi
G ●I labeled it very big. The platform set width of each membership function has a cloth amount of A-B-
Optimized to fit the cloth amount/rotation speed characteristic data for CD. The consequent part is a linear form with the rotation speed N as a variable. Therefore, the rules used are as follows.

IF N-very sm2ll Ding H
EN Y − alkyo N + blIF N = s
mall THEN Y - a2*N+b2IF
N = big THEN Y − a3
Book N+b3IF N” very big
THEN Y'- a4 pieces N+b4 where N: number of rotations of the balse cloth, al~a4 bl~b4: parameter ■=cloth amount Next, the operation of determining the amount of cloth in this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. First, the controller 6 controls the water supply device 7 to supply water up to the measured water level. In this state, the controller 6 drives the motor 4 for a certain period of time to rotate the pulsator 3, and then
Turn off the motor drive. Next, the amount of cloth is determined by the cloth amount sensor 9.
Detect the pulsator rotation speed N after F. This trial is repeated several times by changing the rotational direction of the pulsator 3, and the rotational speed N is averaged. In this way, we enter the fuzzy reasoning below. First, from N, grade (61 to G
Find 4). Next, the amount of cloth is determined by weighted center of gravity calculation. Based on this determination result, the washing water level, washing time, washing water flow, rinsing time, and spin-drying time are determined. At this time, since the amount of cloth is determined steplessly, the control method for each washing process is also determined steplessly.

FIG. 6 shows the inference results based on the above operation. As can be seen from the figure, the inference result is a nonlinear line that takes an intermediate value between the conventional four-step judgment and the ideal straight line. This is a result of taking into consideration the variation in the cloth amount sensor.

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, the characteristics between the cloth amount sensor and the cloth amount can be expressed more accurately by fuzzy inference, so that the cloth amount can be determined with high precision and steplessly. Also, thereby, more appropriate washing process control can be performed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a cloth amount sensor of the same embodiment, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing how the amount of cloth is determined in the same embodiment, and FIG. 6 FIG. 2 is a relationship diagram showing the relationship between the amount of cloth and the number of rotations, showing the inference result in the same example. l...washing tub, 2...outer tub, 3...pulse evening,
4...Motor, 6...Controller, 10...Fuzzy reasoner, 1I...Counter.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A washing machine that consists of washing, rinsing, and spin-drying processes, and is equipped with a cloth amount sensor that detects the amount of laundry, and a fuzzy inference device that determines the amount of cloth by fuzzy reasoning from the detected value of this cloth amount sensor. .