JPH04295399A - Controller for motor of washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a method for controlling the motor of a washing machine whereby movement of cloth is good and unevenness in washing soil off the cloth and damaging the cloth reduced. CONSTITUTION:During the stirring period of a washing machine, the time-limit of the on-off operation and the speed of a motor (9) are frequently varied whereby a method for controlling the motor is achieved. Therefore, movement of cloth is bettered during the stirring period and unevenness in washing soil off the cloth and in damaging the cloth can be reduced.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the operation control of an electronically controlled washing machine, and more particularly to a motor control device for a washing machine equipped with a plurality of agitating water streams.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, there have been multiple courses such as muddy course, standard course, and wool washing course, depending on the degree of dirtiness of the laundry and the quality of the fabric, and the on/off time of the stirring motor differs for each course. Some of them were designed to vary the strength of the agitating water flow. Within a particular course, there were only three types of water flow changes: the first half, middle, and second half of the stirring period, and there were many products in which the duration of one type of water flow was relatively long, about 0.5 to 5 minutes. When the strength of the water flow is constant, the movement of laundry in the washing tub becomes monotonous, and in particular, the number of pieces of laundry being replaced with each other is reduced, and laundry that is exposed to strong agitation force near the agitation blades for a long period of time becomes monotonous. There are some objects and objects to be agitated that can only be stirred with a weak stirring force at a location far from the agitating blades, which causes stain removal and fabric damage to be uneven depending on the location even if they are washed together.

[0003] Furthermore, a method for controlling the rotational speed of a motor by periodically turning off a semiconductor switching element for a short time while the semiconductor switching element is in an on state is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 135457/1982. However, even in this case, only a simple control method is shown, such as changing the rotational speed only immediately after the start of operation.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention provides a method for controlling a washing machine motor that eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, improves the movement of laundry during the agitation period, and reduces uneven stain removal and fabric damage. It's about doing.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, a plurality of stirring patterns are provided in which the combinations of on time and off time of the semiconductor switching elements are changed, and further, the semiconductor switching elements have the same on time and The motor rotation speed can also be changed by turning off the semiconductor switching element for various micro-times at various cycles during the on state, and the combination of the motor rotation speed and on/off time can be changed. To frequently and irregularly change many types of stirring patterns with different combinations within a stirring period.

[0006]

[Effect] As mentioned above, by frequently changing the stirring pattern during the stirring period, the laundry may be rotated strongly, stopped suddenly, or small vibrational forces may be applied. By doing so, the laundry is frequently changed from top to bottom and inside and outside in the washing tub, making it possible to uniformly remove stains from the laundry and damage the fabric from each part.

[0007]

[Embodiment] The present invention will be explained below based on an embodiment of the drawings. Fig. 1 is an electric circuit diagram of an electronically controlled washing machine suitable for carrying out the method of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a diagram of the main body of the washing machine. FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the internal structure. In FIG. 2 showing the internal structure of the washing machine main body, 1 is an outer frame, 2 is a top cover that covers the upper surface of the outer frame 1, 3 is a lid that is attached to the top cover 2 and can be opened and closed, and 4 is a corner plate. The corner plate 4 is fixed to the upper four corners of the outer frame 1, and the water receiving tank 5 is
It is supported at four locations by hanging rods 6. The anti-vibration spring 7 is
It is attached to the hanging rod 6 and absorbs the vibration of the water receiving tank 5 during dewatering. The basket 8 rotates at high speed during dewatering, and centrifugally dehydrates the laundry. The power of the motor 9 is transmitted to the clutch reduction unit 12 via the belt 10 and pulley 11 to reduce the speed and drive the rotary blade 13 to rotate at a low speed. 14 is a water injection hose; 15 is a water injection port for supplying water from a faucet into the water receiving tank 5;
16 is an electronic timer, and the electronic timer 16 instructs and controls the operation of the motor 9, water supply valve 17, and the like. Further, the motor 9 rotates in both forward and reverse directions, and rotates the rotor blade 13 repeatedly in forward and reverse directions.

In FIG. 1 showing the electrical circuit of an electronically controlled washing machine, 18 is a drain valve driving motor, 19 is a drain valve status switch that instructs the drain valve to open or close, 20 is a motor phase advance capacitor, 21 is a clutch solenoid for operating the clutch speed reducer; 22 is a solenoid for supplying fabric softener to soften the finish of the laundry; 23 is a current fuse installed in the power line; 24 is a power switch;
5 is a pressure switch that detects the water level in the water receiving tank 5; 26 is a safety switch that detects opening/closing of the lid 3 and significant vibration of the basket 8 during dewatering operation; 27 is an instruction control unit;
The instruction control section 27 is constituted by an LSI element having a calculation function such as a microcomputer. Reference numeral 28 is a display circuit section composed of light emitting diodes, 29 is a buzzer circuit section that emits various notification sounds, and 30 is a power supply circuit section. The power supply circuit section 30 converts alternating current to direct current and generates high voltage (AC10
0V) to low voltage (DC5V) and set the electronic timer 16.
make a power supply. 31 is an oscillation circuit section that supplies a clock to the instruction control section 27; Reference numeral 32 denotes an input signal processing circuit, which transmits signals from the pressure switch 25 and the safety switch 26 to the instruction control section 27 via an input signal bus line 33. Reference numeral 34 denotes an input switch section, which transmits the input switch state to the instruction control section 27 via a signal bus line 35. 3
6 is an output signal bus line for receiving signals from the instruction control unit 27;
Display circuit section 28, buzzer circuit section 29, triac 37
The signal is transmitted to the drive section 38, which is composed of switching elements such as the following. In the above configuration, when the power switch 24 is turned on, the instruction control section 27 determines the signal from the pressure switch 25, and when the water is not full, the instruction control section 27 outputs an output to start water supply, and the output signal bus line 36 is output. After that, a switching process is performed in the drive circuit 38, and the water supply valve 17 is turned on. Thereby, water is supplied from the water inlet 15 via the water supply hose 14. And when the water is full,
The instruction control unit 27 determines the signal from the pressure switch 25, the supply of electricity to the water supply valve 17 is cut off, and the washing process begins. During washing, the rotary blades 13 operate in a short cycle of clockwise rotation on-pause-left rotation on-pause, and mechanical force is applied to the laundry. Next, a method will be described in which the instruction control unit 27 applies on/off signals to the triac 37 to control the motor 9 on/off.

In FIG. 3, 39 is an AC power supply applied to the electronic timer 16 and the motor 9, and 40 is an AC power supply 3.
9, a power transformer that steps down AC 100 V to approximately AC 10 V; 41, a rectifier circuit that converts AC to DC; 42, a power stabilization circuit that supplies DC 5 V to the instruction control section; and 43, a Hz synchronized with approximately 0 V of AC power source 39. This is a Hz signal circuit that generates the signal (shown in FIG. 4E).

As shown in FIG. 5, the triac 37 has two
There are two main electrodes T144 and T245, and a gate electrode G4 that controls on/off between the main electrodes T1 and T2.
There are 6. In FIG. 5, in order to keep the triac 37 in the OFF state, the output port 47 of the instruction control unit 27 must be
Set it to Hi level (DC5V) and turn on the triac 3.
7 is turned on, the output port 47 is set to Low.
level (0V). At this time, a gate current flows from the DC5V line of the power supply to T1 44, G46 of the triac 37, current limiting resistor 48 output port 47, and while the gate current is flowing, T144, T2 of the triac 37.
It remains on for 45 minutes. However, as shown in FIG. 4(A), even if the output port 47 is at Low level for a short period of time, once T144 and T245 of the triac 37 are turned on, as shown in FIG. 4(B), The triac 37 remains on for a period of approximately 1/2 of the alternating current cycle until the alternating voltage applied to the triac 37 becomes 0V next time, even if the gate current stops flowing. Therefore, as shown in FIG. , as shown in (d) of FIG. 4, a voltage equivalent to an AC voltage is applied. In addition, as shown in (a) and (b) of FIG. 6, when the output port 47 is brought to a low level in a pulsed manner, some of the pulses are made to be in a state of missing teeth.
While the triac 37 is in the on state, it can be turned off for a short period of time, and from this, when the load 49 connected to the triac 37 is a motor, the rotational speed of the motor can be controlled. In (a) of Fig. 6, the on state is 2 cycles,
There are two periods in the off state, which is called firing pattern A, and in FIG. 6B, there are three periods in the on state and one period in the off state, which is called firing pattern B. Similarly, other firing patterns C, D, E, etc. can be freely set. Furthermore, as shown in FIG.
It is possible to set various on/off patterns such as a, b, c, etc., which are combinations of the on time and off time of 7. Furthermore, various water flow patterns can be set as shown in Table 2 depending on the duration and combination of the on and off patterns. In the case of water flow pattern ■ in Figure 8, on/off pattern a is 8 seconds, b is 6 seconds, a is 8 seconds, c is 4 seconds.
second, a for 8 seconds, b for 12 seconds...32nd, c for 4 seconds. Repeat this water flow pattern ■ several times,
Many combinations of water flow patterns are possible, such as water flow pattern (2) followed by water flow pattern (2).

[0011]

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, when the instruction control unit 27 has a large memory capacity as described above, it is possible to memorize a wide variety of stirring patterns, and to adjust the strength of various stirring patterns. It is possible to perform complex combinations of water flows, which allows for good cloth movement and less uneven stain removal and cloth damage.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an electrical circuit diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the washing machine main body.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a power supply circuit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the conduction state of a triac.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a triac drive circuit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a triac firing pattern.

FIG. 7 is a table summarizing motor on/off patterns.

FIG. 8 is a diagram summarizing water flow patterns as a table.

[Explanation of symbols]

9...Motor, 37...Triac, 43...Hz signal circuit.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A washing tub has a stirring blade rotatably provided at the inner bottom, a motor for rotationally driving the stirring blade, and a control circuit for controlling the operation of the motor, wherein the stirring blade has a low speed. A washing machine that rotates a motor in forward and reverse directions so as to perform frequent reversals of rotation, and is characterized by a control circuit that controls the motor's rotational speed and the time of forward and reverse rotations to change with the elapse of the motor's operating time. Motor control device for washing machines. 2. According to claim 1, a semiconductor switching element is connected to the forward and reverse side terminals of the motor, and when the motor rotates in the forward direction, the semiconductor switching element of the forward side terminal conducts current, and when the motor rotates in the reverse direction, the semiconductor switching element supplies electricity to the reverse side terminal. 1. A motor control device for a washing machine, characterized in that the motor control device controls energization by semiconductor switching elements. 3. Claim 2, wherein the control circuit controls the semiconductor switching element to be turned off in a minute period having an integer multiple of 1/2 period of the power supply frequency during the energization time of forward rotation and reverse rotation. Features of washing machine motor control device.