JPH04193298A - Control for dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow reduction of demand, improvement of drying efficiency and shortening of drying time by controlling revolving speeds of a drum or a fan and output of a heater according to detected results of an amount of clothes sensor and a temperature sensor. CONSTITUTION:An amount of clothes sensor 15 detects the amount of clothes, and a temperature sensor 16 detects a temperature of circulating hot air to dry clothes. A drying process controlling means 14 controls revolving speed of a drum 1, that of a fan 6 and output of a heater 13 according to the results detected by both sensors 15, 16. Therefore, exact control of the revolving speeds of the drum 1 or the fan 6 or output of the heater 13 according to the amount or quality of clothes, dehydrating rate allows the operation to be completed in an optimum drying time. Thus, wear can be prevented, demand reduced, drying efficiency improved and drying time shortened.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a clothes dryer that detects the amount of clothes and the temperature of circulating hot air and automatically controls the rotational speed of a drum or fan and the output of a heater. Regarding a control device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, in order to improve drying performance, clothes dryers are required to detect the amount of clothes in a drum and perform drying control that is optimal for the amount of clothes.

Conventionally, this type of clothes dryer control device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2-1
As shown in Japanese Patent No. 36173, when a weight sensing element determines that there is a small amount of clothing, the rotational speed of the drum is slowed down.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention These conventional clothes dryer control devices do not perform detailed control of the rotation speed of the drum in response to changes in the amount of cloth. However, depending on the amount of clothing, the drying efficiency may be poor. Furthermore, the quality of fabric and the dehydration rate of clothing were not taken into account.

The present invention solves the above problems, and aims to improve drying efficiency by controlling the rotational speed of the drum and fan and the output of the heater according to the amount of cloth, the quality of the cloth, and the dehydration rate.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a cloth amount sensor that detects the amount of clothes, a temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the circulating hot air that dries the clothes, and a control that controls the drying process. and the control means controls at least one of the rotation speed of the drum, the rotation speed of the fan, and the output of the heater in accordance with at least one of the cloth amount sensor and the temperature sensor. It is used as a means.

Function The present invention uses the above-described problem-solving means to detect the amount of cloth, cloth quality, and dehydration rate, and finely control the rotation speed of the drum and fan and the output of the heater accordingly. , it can be finished in the optimum drying time.

In particular, when the amount of cloth is small and delicate clothes such as lingerie, the rotation speed of the drum and fan can be extremely slowed down and the output of the heater can be lowered, reducing cloth damage and power consumption. Increased efficiency. In addition, in the case of thick clothes such as jeans, which have a large amount of cloth, the number of revolutions of the drum and fiber can be made very high, and the output of the heater can be increased, so that the drying time can be shortened.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

As shown in the figure, a drum 1 contains clothes and is rotated by a motor 2. The rotation of the motor 2 is transmitted to the drum 1 by a shaft 3°, a drum pulley 4 and a belt 6. The heat exchange type double-blade fan 6 is for dehumidification, and the motor 7
Rotate with . The rotation of the rotor is transmitted to the heat exchange double-blade fan 6 by a shaft 8, a motor pulley 9, and a belt 1o.

The thermistor 11 is located on the inlet side of the heat exchange type rain cloud fan 6 to detect the temperature of the reed circulating hot air, and the thermistor 12 is located on the exit side of the heat exchange type double-blade fan 6 to detect the temperature of the circulating hot air.

The heater 13 is located in the circulating hot air path and is used to dry clothes.

The control circuit 14 inputs the outputs of a cloth amount sensor 15 that detects the amount of clothes in the drum 1 and a temperature sensor 16 configured with thermistors 11 and 12, and controls the rotational speed of the motors 2 and 7 to control the drum. 1 and the heat exchange type double-blade fan 6, and the output of the heater 1a. By the dehydration rate inference device 19 and the fuzzy controller 20! It is 7m long. The capacitor 21 is connected to the motor 2 that drives the drum 1, and the capacitor 22 is connected to the motor 7 that drives the heat exchange double-blade fan 6. The switching circuit 23 connects the motor 2,
7, etc., and is controlled by a control circuit 14.

Figure 3 (a), (b), and (C) are fuzzy inference machine 1
This is an example of the membership functions of cloth amount, cloth quality, and dehydration rate, which are the antecedents of No. 7.
C) is an example of the membership function of the drum rotation speed, the heat exchange type double-blade fan rotation speed, and the heater output, which are the consequent parts of the fuzzy control. The inference rule is, for example, ``If the amount of fabric is small, the dehydration rate is high, and the fabric is made of a lot of chemical fiber, the rotation speed of the drum, the rotation speed of the heat exchange type double-blade fan, and the heater output should be made very small. If the amount of fabric is low, the moisture removal rate is low, and the fabric is made of cotton, then the rotation speed of the drum, the rotation speed of the heat exchange double-blade fan, and the heater output should be reduced. If the amount of cloth and cotton are about the same, then the rotation speed of the drum, the rotation speed of the heat exchange type double-blade fan, and the heater output should be set to the same values. [If the amount of cloth is large, the dehydration rate is low, and the fabric is made of cotton, the rotation speed of the drum and the rotation speed of the heat exchange fan should be increased. Configure other equipment such as one that greatly increases the heater output. Fuzzy inference calculations are performed using the above inference rules to fuzzy control the rotational speed of the drum 1, the rotational speed of the heat exchange type double-blade fan 6, and the output of the heater 13.

Figures 6 (a), (b), and (C) show the drum rotation speed and heat exchange type for ranks 0 to 4 of clothing classified according to cloth weight, cloth quality, and dehydration rate calculated from the cloth weight and temperature. This is an example (normal temperature) in which the fuzzy inference results of the number of rotations of both blade fans and the heater output are stored in the control circuit 14 as a fuzzy control table according to the room temperature. A method in which a fuzzy control table corresponding to the room temperature is stored in the memory of the control circuit 14 and fuzzy control is performed using a table lookup function operates at high speed, requires a small amount of memory content, and is easiest to implement.

Of course, more detailed control is possible by performing membership functions and sifuzzy inference operations.

Next, as shown in FIG.
61 and a protection diode 152 are connected in series, and a photocoupler 153 is connected in parallel with the protection diode 162 for electrical isolation.

A series circuit of a resistor 154a and a base/emitter resistor 154b is connected to the emitter terminal of the phototransistor on the output side of the photocoupler 163, and these resistors 154a, 1
The base of transistor 156 is connected to the connection point of 54b. A resistor 156a is connected to the collector of the transistor 166.
1 s6b are connected in series, and these resistors 158a, 15
Connect the base of transistor 167 to the connection point of 6b. The collector terminal of the transistor 157, the resistor 156a, and the collector terminal of the photocoupler 153 are the DC power supply terminal V.

. Connected to the side. In addition, a resistor 168 is connected to the emitter terminal of the transistor 167, and a resistor 168 is connected to the emitter terminal of the transistor 167.
The emitter terminal is connected to the DC power supply terminal G side together with the resistor 1rs4b. The terminal voltage v0 of the resistor 168 is input to the control circuit 14.

Here, the operation of the cloth amount sensor 15 will be explained with reference to FIG.

The terminal voltage of the capacitor 21 immediately after the motor 2 is turned off has a correlation with the motor rotation speed, and after the switching circuit 23 energizes the motor 2, the motor 2 continues to rotate due to inertia even during the rest period when the motor 2 is turned off. Continuing, an induced voltage is generated in the main coil and the auxiliary coil, and the induced voltage decreases as the rotation decreases.

Therefore, the terminal voltage Vc of the capacitor 21 becomes as shown in FIG. 7(a). Furthermore, when the amount of load is large, the motor rotation speed rapidly decreases and the capacitor voltage also decreases, so that the amount of load such as cloth can be detected. Therefore, when the amount of cloth is large, T becomes short, and when the amount of cloth is small, T1
Therefore, the cloth amount sensor output voltage ■ during the time T1 until the terminal voltage VC becomes 0 is determined in advance. The relationship between the number of pulses and the amount of cloth is determined, and the control circuit 14 determines the amount of cloth by counting the number of pulses as shown in FIG. 7(b).

By the way, in the above embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the drum drive motor 2 and the heat exchange type double-blade fan drive motor 7 are used separately to detect the amount of cloth.
Although the amount of cloth can be determined accurately based on the decay time of the capacitor terminal voltage, when the drum 1 and the heat exchange double-blade fan 6 are driven by one motor 2 as shown in FIG.
During the pause period after the motor 2 is energized, the heat exchange type double-blade fan 6
Since it is rotating due to inertial force, the rotation is transmitted to the motor 2, and the decay time of the capacitor voltage vc is fixed regardless of the amount of clothing, making it impossible to accurately determine the amount of load. Therefore, a motor pulley 24 of a one-way roller clutch mechanism as shown in FIG. 9 is used. This is because a plurality of ratchet structures 26 are continuously formed on the inner peripheral surface, and one cylindrical roller 26 is rotatably arranged in each of the ratchet structures 26, and has the same form as a roller bearing. The rollers 26 are configured such that each roller 26 comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion 27 of the shaft 8. Further, the inside of the motor pulley 24 is coated with grease to prevent noise caused by rotation and to prevent rust. Normally, when the motor is rotating, the troller 26 on which the cylindrical portion 27 of the shaft 8 rotates is caught on the shallow surface of the ratchet mechanism 26 and pressed against the sleeve 28, restraining it, as shown in FIG. 9(b). As a result, the motor pulley 24 rotates, and the heat exchange double-blade fan 6 can be rotated. In addition, as shown in FIG. 9(a), during the rest period after the motor 2 is energized,
Due to the inertia rotation of the heat exchange double-blade fan 6,
The motor pulley 24 rotates (t'), but each roller 2
6 moves from the shallow surface of the ratchet mechanism 25 to the deep part, is released from restraint, and rotates freely, so the cylindrical part 27 and shaft 8 do not rotate. With the above configuration, during the rest period after the motor 2 is energized, the motor 2 is not affected by the inertial rotation due to the inertial force of the heat exchange double-blade fan 6, so that the voltage at the capacitor terminal voltage decreases within the decay time T1. The amount of cloth can be accurately determined by changing the number of pulses of the output voltage V○ of the amount sensor.

Next, the thermistor 11.1 that constitutes the temperature sensor 16
A method for estimating the dehydration rate, fabric quality, etc. of clothing based on the output of step 2 will be explained.

Figure 10 shows the change in the temperature difference of the thermistors 11 and 12 after the start of drying operation, and when the amount of cloth is small and the dehydration rate is high, the temperature difference is rapidly warmed over a certain period of time T as shown in curve (a): When the amount of cloth is large and the dehydration rate is low, the rate of increase in the temperature difference during a certain period of time T is low, as shown in curve (b), and it quickly reaches a steady state. Therefore, the difference in temperature (a/or b/) of the thermistor 11.12 after 1 hour of drying operation is compared with the relationship between the difference in temperature after 1 hour measured in advance and the dehydration rate of the amount of cloth, and fuzzy inference is made. Therefore, the dehydration rate can be estimated.

Next, FIG. 11 shows the changes in the thermistor 11 after the drying operation starts. Since the dehydration rate is known from the temperature difference of the sensor 16 and the amount of cloth measured by the cloth amount sensor 15, the thermistor 11 after S time when the amount of cloth, dehydration rate, and room temperature are constant.
The temperature (C' or d/) differs depending on the fabric quality. For example, if there is a lot of chemical fiber, the temperature rises quickly as shown in the curve (,), and therefore the drying time becomes shorter. If there is a lot of thick material such as cotton, the drying time will be longer as the drying time will be slower. Therefore, by detecting the temperature of the thermistor 11 after S time has elapsed, the difference in temperature of the thermistor 11 (C'i It can be estimated by fuzzy inference whether the cloth quality is made up of chemical fibers or cotton.

In the above configuration, the operation will be explained with reference to a flowchart showing the control contents of the control circuit 14 from the detection of the amount of cloth in the drying process to the end of drying shown in FIG. 12.

The control circuit 14 turns on the motor 2 for 2 seconds using the switching circuit 23 to rotate the drum 1 (step 1).

Next, turn OFF 2 for 1 second (step 2),
During the FF period, the control circuit 14 currentens the number of pulses of the output voltage V 1 of the cloth amount sensor 16 (step 3). Edge after repeating steps 1 to 3 10 times (step 4)
, 10 times - is compared with a predetermined relationship between the number of pulses and the amount of cloth to determine the amount of cloth (step 6). Then, the rotation speed of the drum 1 and the rotation speed of the heat exchange double-blade fan 6 are determined according to the amount of cloth.

The output of the heater 13 is phasically controlled by the control circuit 14 (step 6). Next, after T minutes after the start of operation (step 7), the control circuit 14 performs fuzzy inference on the amount of cloth and the dewatering rate based on the cloth amount data from the cloth amount sensor 15 and the temperature difference data of the thermistors 11 and 12 from the temperature sensor 16 (
Step 8).

Next, 8 minutes after the start of operation (step 9), the fabric quality is fuzzy inferred based on the amount of fabric, the dehydration rate, and the temperature data of the thermistor 11, which is the temperature sensor 16 (step 10). Then, the rotation speed of the drum 1, the rotation speed of the heat exchange double-blade fan 6, and the output of the heater 13 are fuzzy controlled based on the amount of cloth, the dewatering rate, and the quality of the cloth (step 11). Here, the rotation speeds of the drum 1 and the heat exchange type fan 6 are set to appropriate rotation speeds by controlling the phase of the switching circuit 23 by the control circuit 14. Further, the heater 13 is controlled by the control circuit 14 through the switching circuit 23, and the phase control and 0N10FF
controlled and set to the appropriate output. Then, drying is detected based on the temperature difference between the thermistors 11 and 12, and the drying is completed (step 12).

In this example, the drum rotation speed, fan rotation speed, and heater output were all controlled according to the amount of cloth, dehydration rate, and cloth quality, but the control target may be one of the three or two. A combination is also acceptable.

For example, even if only the rotation speed of the drum is varied, drying efficiency can be improved.

In addition, in this example, an example was shown in which the decay time was measured based on the capacitor voltage of the motor 2, but the decay time of the rotation speed of the motor 2 or the decay time of the motor coil voltage, which has a correlation with the motor rotation speed, was shown. may be detected, in short, it is sufficient to use a parameter that has a correlation with the rotation speed of the motor.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above embodiments, according to the present invention, the control means for controlling the drying process adjusts the drum rotation speed, the fan rotation speed, and the rotation speed according to at least one of the cloth amount sensor and the temperature sensor. Since at least one of the outputs of the heater is controlled, the quantity and quality of clothes and the dehydration rate of the clothes can be detected, and the rotation speed of the drum, the rotation speed of the fan, the output of the heater, etc. can be controlled. Appropriate drying can be performed automatically according to quantity, quality, and dewatering rate, reducing power consumption, improving drying efficiency, and adjusting cotton supply during drying time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control device for a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway block diagram of a clothes dryer equipped with the same control device, and FIG. 3(a). (b) and (C) are diagrams showing the membership functions of the antecedent part of the fuzzy control of the same control device, respectively, and Fig. 4 (a)
. (b) and (C) are diagrams showing the membership functions of the consequent part of the fuzzy control of the same control device, respectively, and Fig. 6 (a)
. ΦL (C) is a diagram showing the fuzzy control table of the drum rotation speed, fan rotation speed, and heater output of the same control device, FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of the cloth amount sensor of the same control device, FIG. 7 (a), [Yes]) are a capacitor terminal voltage waveform diagram and a high-power waveform diagram of the cloth amount sensor circuit, respectively, FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a clothes dryer equipped with the control device of the present invention, and FIG. 9 Figures (a) and (b) are cross-sectional views of the operating state of the motor pulley of the one-way roller clutch mechanism used in the clothes dryer, and Figure 10 is the difference in temperature measured by the temperature sensor after the clothes dryer starts drying operation. The characteristic diagram, FIG. 11, shows the drying chard of the same clothes dryer. 1...Drum, 6...Heat exchange type double-blade fan (fan), 13...Heater, 14...
... Control circuit (control means), 15 ... Cloth amount sensor, 16 ... Temperature sensor. 1 --- Drumuro-2- Thermal full-stage double-blade fan (fan) Figure 2 Figure 3 (B) Dehydration chamber Figure 4 (
'b Heater comes out Figure 5 Figure IIG Figure 7 to death l
Figure 8 Figure 9 (phantom (b) 10fl
U P+ between --- $11 Figure Time Open □ Front! 211117 祿)(b)

Claims (1)

[Claims] The control means includes a cloth amount sensor that detects the amount of clothes, a temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the circulating hot air that dries the clothes, and a control means that controls the drying process. A control device for a clothes dryer that controls at least one of a drum rotation speed, a fan rotation speed, and a heater output according to at least one of them.