JPH04352991A - Washing and drying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a washing and drying machine wherein work time for relativity of a drum in-out opening to a wash in-out opening of an outer tank is shortened. CONSTITUTION:A machine comprises a translucent rotary plate 15 mounted on a rotary shaft 9 of a drum 3, light emitting part 16 and a light receiving part 17 provided so as to be opposed to each other in front and rear surfaces of the rotary plate 15. A washing and drying machine is formed by providing a rotary encoder 18 for detecting a rotational position of the drum 3 and a positioning control part for performing positioning of the drum 3 by rotating a drive motor 12 of the drum 3 in one direction, where a rotary amount in a forward or reverse direction is required only small, so that a washing in-out opening 8 of the drum 3 is placed in an upper surface, based on a rotational position signal from the rotary encoder 18.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Field of Application] This invention is a washing machine comprising a horizontally rotating type drum having an opening for loading and unloading laundry on a part of its outer circumferential surface in an outer tub having an opening for loading and unloading laundry on the upper surface. Regarding dryers.

0002

[Prior Art] An outer tank is supported within a frame, and
A synthetic resin drum, which is a horizontal axis type washing tub, is rotatably supported inside the outer tank.The drum is rotated back and forth at low speed to wash and rinse clothes, and then the drum is rotated at high speed. A drum-type washer/dryer is known in which the drum is rotated and hot air heated by a heater is blown into the drum for drying.

In such a washer/dryer, when loading and unloading laundry, it is necessary to align the loading/unloading opening of the drum with the loading/unloading opening of the outer tub. The position detected by a reed switch fixedly installed on the outer tank side is the position where each loading/unloading opening faces each other, and each loading/unloading opening is controlled by controlling the drum drive motor based on the position detection by the reed switch. are relative to each other.

0004

However, when the loading and unloading openings are made to face each other using such a method, if the drum loading and unloading opening is a little too far from the position facing the loading and unloading opening of the outer tank when the drum was previously stopped, Unless the drum is rotated one more time, the loading/unloading openings will not be facing each other.
Therefore, there is a problem in that it takes approximately 10 seconds, for example, for the alignment.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a washer/dryer in which the operation time for moving the laundry loading/unloading opening of the drum relative to the laundry loading/unloading opening of the outer tub is shortened. With the goal.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an outer tub with an opening for loading and unloading the laundry on the upper surface, and a horizontal shaft having an opening for loading and unloading the laundry on a part of the outer peripheral surface. A washing/drying machine equipped with a rotary drum includes a transparent rotating plate attached to the rotating shaft of the drum, and a light emitting part and a light receiving part provided opposite to each other on the front and rear surfaces of the rotating plate, A rotary encoder is provided for detecting the rotational position, and based on the rotational position signal from the rotary encoder, the drive motor of the drum is rotated in the forward or reverse direction so that the laundry loading/unloading opening of the drum is at the top. and a positioning control section that positions the drum by rotating it in one direction that requires a small amount of rotation.

[0007]

[Operation] According to the above structure, the drum drive motor only needs to rotate in a small forward or reverse direction so that the laundry loading/unloading opening of the drum is on the top surface based on the rotational position signal from the rotary encoder. The drums are rotated in one direction, so that the respective loading and unloading openings can be brought into contact with each other in a short period of time by rotation of the drum by less than half a revolution.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a simplified vertical sectional view of a washer/dryer according to the present invention.

Reference numeral 1 designates a frame made of sheet metal, which constitutes an outer shape, in which an outer tank 2 is fixedly provided, and a horizontally rotating drum 3 is provided inside the frame.

A laundry loading/unloading opening 6 with a lid is provided on the upper surface of the frame 1, the upper surface of the outer tub 2, and the peripheral surface of the drum 3.
, 7, and 8 are provided, respectively.

The drum 3 has rotary shafts 9 that protrude from the centers of its front and rear surfaces in the front-rear direction, and each of the rotary shafts 9 is rotatably supported by a bearing (not shown). Rotating force is applied to a pulley 10 coaxially attached to a rotating shaft 9 through a belt 13 from a drive motor 12 provided at the bottom.

In the present invention, a rotary plate 15 having a slit formed in the rotary shaft 9 protruding rearward from the drum 3 is coaxially attached to the rotary plate 15, and a light emitting portion 16 is disposed opposite to the upper part of the front and rear surfaces of the rotary plate 15. and a light receiving section 17 are provided.

The rotary plate 15 is provided with a slit for outputting an absolute value code signal as a rotational position signal at every predetermined rotation angle in the radial direction, and the light emitting section 16 and the light receiving section are connected to each other. 17, the same number of light emitting elements and light receiving elements as the maximum number of slits in the radial direction are arranged in parallel in the vertical direction so as to face the corresponding slit positions,
In this way, the rotary plate 15, the light emitting section 16, and the light receiving section 1
7 constitutes a rotary encoder 18 for detecting the rotational position of the drum 3.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the washer/dryer, and 20 is a control section. A thermistor 23 for detecting temperature, a detection switch 24 such as a lid open/close detection switch for the outer tank 2, and the rotary encoder 18 are connected to the load drive circuit 2.
6, a water supply valve 2 for supplying and draining water into the outer tank 2
8, a drain valve 29, the drying heater 22, a blower 30 for blowing dry air, and a drive motor 12 are connected to each other.

The control unit 20 causes each of the loads to sequentially perform a predetermined operation according to a predetermined program,
This controls the washing operation consisting of washing, rinsing, spin-drying, and drying steps, and also functions as a positioning control section of the present invention.

Next, the operation for determining the rotational position of the drum 3 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the rotary encoder 2
0, a rotary plate 15 with a maximum of six slits formed in the radial direction and a resolution of 6 bits is used, and as shown in FIG. [
00H ] code signal is obtained, and from there, at positions sequentially displaced by 90 degrees in the clockwise rotation direction, [0FH ]
Settings are made so that code signals of [1FH] and [2FH] can be obtained respectively.

First, read the code signal from the rotary encoder 18, and if the code signal is above [1FH], read the code signal while rotating the drive motor 12 to the left (the drum 3 also rotates at the same time). When the code signal becomes [00H], the drive motor 12 is stopped and the operation is completed (steps 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).

In the above, the code signal is [1FH]
The above is a case where a part of the left half of the drum 3 is located on the top surface in FIG.
On the other hand, if the first code signal obtained is smaller than [1FH], a part of the right half of the drum 3 will be located on the top surface, and in that case, by clockwise rotation, The drum 3 is rotated less than half a turn so that its loading/unloading opening 8 is placed on the upper surface (steps 2, 6, 7, 8).

In this way, no matter what rotational position the drum 3 is in, the loading/unloading opening 8 is brought to the top by rotating within half a rotation, and the operating time for positioning is reduced to approximately half of the conventional one. It is.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the drum drive motor is rotated in the forward or reverse direction based on the rotational position signal from the rotary encoder so that the laundry loading/unloading opening of the drum is at the top. The drums are rotated in one direction with a small amount of rotation, so that the respective loading and unloading openings can be moved relative to each other in a short period of time by rotating the drum by less than half a rotation.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified vertical cross-sectional view of a washer/dryer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the washer/dryer of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining positioning operation.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the rotational position of the drum.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Outer tank 3 Drums 8 Insertion/extraction opening 9 Rotation axis 12 Drive motor 18 Rotary encoder 20 Control unit (positioning control unit)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A washer/dryer comprising a horizontally rotating drum having an opening for loading and unloading laundry on a part of its outer circumferential surface in an outer tub having an opening for loading and unloading laundry on a top surface, wherein the drum It consists of a transparent rotary plate attached to the rotating shaft of the drum, and a light emitting part and a light receiving part provided opposite to each other on the front and rear surfaces thereof, and a rotary encoder for detecting the rotational position of the drum, and a rotary encoder for detecting the rotational position of the drum. Based on the rotational position signal, the drum is positioned by rotating the drum drive motor in one direction that requires less rotation in the forward or reverse direction so that the laundry loading/unloading opening of the drum is on the top surface. A washer/dryer comprising a positioning control section.