JPH04122292A - Washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To keep equipment always in clean state by allowing the water supplied into an outer tank from a water feeding means to directly collide with the outer peripheral surface of a drum. CONSTITUTION:A washing machine is equipped with an automatic water supply solenoid valve 23 and connected with the upper part side of an outer tank 5 through a water feeding hose 26. In this case, the water supplied from a water feeding means directly collides with the outer peripheral surface of a drum 13. Accordingly, in the tank washing operation, the water supplied into the tank is splashed to the corners in the outer tank 5 by the high speed revolution of the drum 13, and the dirt toward the outer tank is discharged. Since, in particular, the water supplied into the outer tank 5 is directly supplied to the outer peripheral surface of the drum in high speed revolution, the degree of splashing of water is increased, and water reaches the corners in the outer tank.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (b) Industrial application fields The present invention relates to a washing machine.

(B) Conventional technology As a conventional example, there is a washing machine that rotatably supports a horizontal shaft-type synthetic resin drum in an outer tub, and washes and dehydrates laundry in the drum by rotating this drum. Jitsuko 61
-38546 (D.

6F25100).

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the conventional example, dirt such as soap scum may adhere to the inner surface of the outer tank and the outer surface of the drum.

The degree of dirt on the drum itself is relatively small because it often comes into contact with clean water during rinsing, etc., but when it comes to dirt on the inner surface of the outer tank, the advantage is that only a small amount of water is needed. Because it is a drum-type washing machine, it is difficult for water to reach the top, and if you leave it as is, dirt may solidify and become difficult to remove, or it may rot and emit a strange odor.

The present invention relates to improvements in washing machines and is intended to solve these problems.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The washing machine of the present invention includes a horizontal shaft type drum rotatably supported in an outer tub, a means for supplying water into the outer tub, and a means for rotationally driving the drum. and a control means for instructing to execute a tank cleaning operation that is established by simultaneously performing a water supply operation by the water supply means and a high-speed rotation operation of the drum by the drive means, wherein the water supplied from the water supply means is , which is constructed so as to be directly compared to the outer circumferential surface of the drum.

The present invention also provides a washing machine that sequentially executes a washing course constituted by suitably combining each step of washing, rinsing, dehydration, drying, etc. The cleaning operation is configured to be executed automatically.

Further, in the washing machine of the present invention, the tank cleaning operation is performed when the final step of the washing course is a dewatering step.

(e) In the tank cleaning operation, the drum rotates at high speed, causing water supplied into the tank to be scattered all over the outer tank, thereby washing away dirt from the inner surface of the outer tank.

In particular, since the water supplied to the outer tank is directly exposed to the outer circumferential surface of the drum rotating at high speed, the degree of water scattering increases and the water spreads to every corner of the outer tank.

Furthermore, when the washing course is completed, the tank is automatically cleaned as long as the power is turned on.

In addition, the tank is automatically cleaned when the final step in the washing cycle is the spin-drying process, so even if the laundry is left in the drum after spin-drying, the condition of the laundry may change. Rather, when the laundry that has been left unattended after spin-drying is about to wrinkle, the tank cleaning operation causes
It is returned to the state immediately after dehydration.

(f) Example Embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

1 is a frame made of sheet metal, 2 is a top plate disposed on the top of this frame 1, 3 is a clothes slot A formed in the center of this top board 2, and 4 is a top lid for opening and closing this slot A3. ,
5 is an outer tank made of synthetic resin that is elastically suspended and supported within this frame 1; 6 is a front plate that shields the front surface of the outer tank 5, and is used to introduce drying air into the outer tank 5; A drying air passage 7, an air trap 8, etc. are integrally formed.

9 is a drying heater disposed in the drying air passage 7; 10 is a blower fan disposed in the drying air passage 7; 11 is a clothes input port B112 provided on the upper surface of the outer tank 5; A bellows-shaped rubber gasket 13 that connects the input port A3 and the input port Bll in a watertight manner is a horizontal shaft-type drum rotatably supported within the outer tank 5, and has a large number of through holes 14 around the periphery.
·have. 15 are horizontal ribs A formed along the outer circumferential surface of the drum 13 to protrude outward in large numbers, and are for reinforcing the drum 13. This horizontal rib A1
5... are formed to have a triangular cross section, and in FIG. 2, the surface 15a in the direction of arrow A constitutes a gentle ridge slope, while,
The surface 15b in the direction opposite to the arrow A is opposite to the peripheral surface of the drum 13.
standing at right angles. Reference numerals 16, . . . are patterned ribs B formed on the inner circumferential surface of the drum 13. The drum 13 is
Molded from synthetic resin, the through holes 14..., horizontal ribs A
15..., the horizontal ribs B16... are integrally formed during molding.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a clothes input port C formed on the circumferential surface of the drum 13.
Reference numeral 118 is a lid body that opens and closes this input port C17.

Reference numeral 19 indicates large and small pulleys 20 and 21 for the drum 13.
, an induction motor connected via a belt 22 and driven by an inverter circuit, which drives the drum 13 during washing.
is reversed at a low speed, and the drum 13 is rotated in one direction at a high speed during dewatering. Since the configuration of the inverter circuit is well known, the explanation will be omitted, but the configuration of the motor 16
The rotation speed of the motor 16 is changed by variably controlling the frequency applied to the motor 16.

23 is a magnet attached to the back side of the large pulley 20; 24
A reed switch is attached to a portion of the outer tank 5 facing the magnet 21, and is closed when the magnet 23 approaches and opens when the magnet 23 moves away from the reed switch. That is, the drum 1
3 (large pulley 20) rotates once, the reed switch 23 opens and closes once.

Reference numeral 25 denotes an automatic water supply solenoid valve, which is connected to the upper side of the outer tank 5 via a water supply hose 26.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the control mechanism of the washing machine, and 27 is a microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as microcomputer) that plays a central role in control.

The outline of the microcomputer 27 is as shown in FIG.
28 (central processing un
it), RAM29 (random access
memory), ROM 30 (read onl
y memory), timer 31, system bus 3
2 and input/output capo) 33.34.

The CPU 28 is composed of a control section 35 and a calculation section 36. The control section 35 takes out and executes instructions, and the calculation section 36 executes operations according to control signals from the control section 35 during the instruction execution stage. It performs arithmetic processing such as binary addition, logical operation, increase/decrease, and comparison on data given from input device G and memory. The RAM 29 is for storing data regarding the washing machine, and the ROM 3
0 is for preloading the means for operating the washing machine, setting conditions for judgment, rules for processing various information, etc.

The microcomputer 27 includes an input key circuit 37, a water level sensor 38, a dehydration top cover safety switch 39, an abnormal bubbling detection circuit 40, the reed switch 24, and a drying heater 9.
, the inverter circuit 43 and the automatic water supply valve 2 based on input information from the water heater 41, load detection circuit 42, etc.
5. Output a control signal to the automatic drain valve 44, buzzer circuit 45, dry air blowing fan 10, display device 46, etc.

Since the water level sensor 38 has a conventionally well-known structure,
A detailed explanation thereof will be omitted, but in short, in response to pressure changes in the air trap 8 due to changes in the water level in the outer tank 5, a magnetic body is moved in and out of the coil to change the inductance of the coil, and , extract the inductance change of this coil as the oscillation frequency change of the oscillation circuit,
This is input to the microcomputer 27.

In such a configuration, the washing machine of this embodiment sequentially executes a washing course in which washing, rinsing, spin-drying, and drying steps are appropriately combined under the control of the microcomputer 27.

In the washing and rinsing steps, the drum 13
By reversing the laundry at a low speed (approximately 5 Or', p, m), the laundry inside the drum 13 is moved and washed by colliding with the inner wall of the drum.

Further, during the dewatering step, the drum 13 is rotated counterclockwise (in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2) at a high speed (approximately 80 Or, p, m) to dewater the laundry in the drum 13 by centrifugal force.

In this dewatering process, the drum 13 rotates to the left, and the ramming ribs A15...
Since the slope of 5a was set to be gentle,
These horizontal ribs A15 reduce stirring of the detergent water remaining in the outer tub 5 and the detergent water discharged from the laundry, and suppress the foaming phenomenon.

Further, in the drying process, the drum 13 is reversed at a low speed, and the blower fan 10 and the heater 9 are driven to introduce drying air into the drum 13, thereby exchanging heat with the laundry. .

Now, in a washing machine like this embodiment, the outer tub 5
Detergent and dirt tend to stick to the inner surface (especially the upper part) of the product, and if you leave it as is, the detergent will stick to the inner surface and become even more difficult to remove, and the dirt may rot and emit a strange odor.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a tank cleaning program for cleaning the inner surface of the outer WI 5 and the outer peripheral surface of the drum 13 is executed. Below, the operation of this tank cleaning program will be explained as follows.
This will be explained based on the diagram.

When a washing course is completed, the microcomputer 27 determines whether the final step of the washing course was a dehydration step (S-1'), and if the final step is a dehydration step and the tank cleaning operation is canceled by operating the input key. If not, two hours after the end of the washing cycle, the water supply valve 25 is driven to supply water (S-2), and the drum 13 is rotated clockwise at high speed (same as the spin speed). (S-3).

During this time, the water is of course being drained (S-4).

That is, by supplying water in the outer tank 5 and rotating the drum 13 at high speed, the supplied water is scattered by the rotation of the drum, and the water collides with the inner surface of the outer tank 5.

This water collision removes detergent and dirt adhering to the inner surface of the outer tank 5 and the outer peripheral surface of the drum 13.

Note that the execution conditions for the tank cleaning program are limited to when the last of the washing course is a dehydration step. This is because water may remain in the outer tank 5, and if the tank is cleaned in this state, there is a risk that this recycled water will be drained. In addition, cases where the final step is a drying step are also excluded to prevent items from getting wet after drying. However, if the system is configured to notify the outside using a buzzer or the like before cleaning the tank, it is not necessary to determine the final process.

Moreover, the time of 2 hours is a value that can be changed as appropriate based on experiments.

At this time, the water supplied from the water supply valve 25 is poured from the upper part of the outer tank 5 onto the outer peripheral surface of the rotating drum 13, as shown in FIG. 2, so that the water collides with the drum 13. In some cases, it scatters widely.

Further, during this tank cleaning, the drum 13 rotates in the right direction, but since the degree of inclination of the surface 15b in the right rotation direction of the horizontal rib A15 is steep, the horizontal rib A
15... allows the fresh water in the outer tank 5 to be well captured and dispersed far away.

When three minutes have elapsed after the tank cleaning operations (S-2) to (S-4), the power supply circuit is automatically cut off.

(G) Effects of the Invention With the configuration of the washing machine of the present invention, the inner surface of the drum and outer tank can be washed to remove dirt, so the washing machine is clean. Moreover, since the cleaning water can be distributed to every corner of the outer tank, the cleaning effect of the tank is extremely good.

Furthermore, since the tank cleaning is automatically executed, the equipment can always be kept in a clean state.

Further, since the tank cleaning is performed when the final step of the washing cycle is the dehydration step, the finished state of the laundry is not impaired, and in fact, it is possible to eliminate wrinkles that occur due to natural drying.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of the washing machine of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a front sectional view of the washing machine, Figure 3 is a side sectional view, Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the drum, Figure 5 is a configuration diagram of the microcomputer, and Figure 6 is a block circuit diagram of the control mechanism. be. 5. Outer tank, 13. Drum, 19. Motor (driving means), 25. Automatic water supply valve (water supply means), 26. Microcomputer (control means).

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A horizontal shaft type drum rotatably supported in an outer tank, a means for supplying water into the outer tank, a means for rotationally driving the drum, a water supply operation by the water supply means, and a water supply operation by the drive means. and a control means for instructing to execute a tank cleaning operation achieved by simultaneously performing a high-speed rotation operation of the drum, and configured so that the water supplied from the water supply means directly hits the outer peripheral surface of the drum. A washing machine with special features. (2) A washing course configured by appropriately combining washing, rinsing, spin-drying, drying, etc. processes is sequentially executed, and the control means controls the washing course when a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the end of the washing course. The washing machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the washing machine is configured to automatically execute the tank cleaning operation. (3) The washing machine according to claim 2, wherein the tank cleaning operation is performed when the final step of the washing course is a dehydration step.