JPH0576690A - Fuly automatic washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely complete running of a washing machine even in the use condition needing a time only for drain to improve the rate of accompishing a washing program. CONSTITUTION:A fully-automatic washing machine is provided with a drain valve 20 for opening and closing a drain path leading to the bottom of a washing and water extracting tack 7, water level sensor 22 for detecting water level in the washing and water extracting tank 7 and a microcomputer having a function of counting a drain operation time to inform an abnormality when the water level is not lowered to the drain completing one in a fixed time passage after a drain valve 20 is opened, while keeping opening the drain valve 20.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fully automatic washing machine,
Specifically, it relates to the improvement of drainage control.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a fully automatic washing machine in which each process such as washing, rinsing, and dehydration is sequentially and automatically carried out, a water supply valve provided in a water supply passage is controlled to open and close to automatically supply water, while a water supply passage is installed in a drainage passage. The drainage valve is controlled to open and close to perform automatic drainage. However, when drainage is clogged with foreign matter or when the drain hose is forgotten to fall, proper drainage is not performed.

Therefore, in the past, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 36315 (D06F 33/02), when the water level does not drop to a predetermined level even after a predetermined time elapses during drainage, it is determined that the drainage is abnormal, the operation is stopped, and the light emitting diode and the buzzer are operated. Etc. are used to notify the abnormality.

Alternatively, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-232099 (D06F 33/02), when drainage is not completed within a predetermined time after drainage, the drainage valve is opened and closed several times, and still the predetermined water level is reached. The operation is stopped for the first time when the temperature does not decrease, and an abnormality is notified so that a slight clogging of foreign matter can be solved by opening and closing the drain valve.

[0005]

In any of the above-mentioned conventional techniques, the drain valve is closed and the operation is stopped halfway when the drainage is not completed even after the elapse of a certain time during drainage. However, for example, if the drain hose is extended, or if the extension hose is at a high position or is inclined upward, it only takes time to finish draining, Even if it is done, there is a problem that the operation stops during this drainage, especially with a so-called fully automatic washing machine with a reservation function that can set the operation completion time, washing should not be completed even at the reserved time It is inconvenient.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to surely terminate the operation even when it takes a long time to drain the water. It is to provide a fully-automatic washing machine that can improve the execution rate of a laundry program.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, in a fully automatic washing machine of the present invention, an automatic drain valve for opening and closing a drainage passage leading to the bottom of a washing / dehydrating tank, and a water level in the washing / dehydrating tank. And a means for measuring the drainage operation time, and an alarm is issued when the drainage completion water level does not drop to a predetermined level after the automatic drainage valve has been opened, and the automatic drainage valve continues to open, and the detection means Control means for stopping the abnormality notification and restarting the operation by detecting the drainage completion water level.

[0008]

In the above-described structure, when the drainage operation is started by opening the automatic drainage valve during drainage, the drainage operation time is measured by the timing means, and the washing and dehydration is performed by the detection means before the fixed time is counted. When it is detected that the water level in the tank has fallen to the water level at which drainage has been completed, the timing operation is terminated and the process moves to the next step.

When the detecting means does not detect the drop to the drainage completion water level after the elapse of a certain time of the drainage operation time, the abnormality is notified by the control means and the detecting means is in the open state of the automatic drainage valve. Wait for the detection signal from.

For this reason, if the drainage only takes a long time, the water level is lowered to the drainage completed water level,
This is detected by the detection means, and the control means receives this detection signal, stops the abnormality notification and restarts the operation, and therefore, it is possible to end the desired washing operation to the end.

[0011]

EXAMPLES Examples will be described with reference to FIGS. First, FIG. 2 shows a schematic structure of a fully automatic washing machine, in which 1 is a frame, 2 is a control box provided in the upper rear part of the frame 1 and having an operation control section 3 installed therein,
Reference numeral 4 denotes an outer tub elastically supported in the frame 1 by a plurality of suspension rods 5 and springs 6, and 7 denotes a washing / dehydrating tub which is rotatably provided in the outer tub 4 and has a large number of dewatering holes in its periphery. , The balancer 8 is integrally attached to the inner circumference of the upper end,
A rotary blade 9 is arranged at the center of the bottom.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a drive motor attached to the outer bottom portion of the outer tub 4, and the washing / dehydrating tub 7 and the rotary blade 9 have the small pulley 1 attached thereto.
1, the large pulley 12, the belt 13 and the power transmission mechanism 14 are connected, and the rotary blade 9 is reversed during washing, and both the washing and dewatering tub 7 and the rotary blade 9 are rotated at high speed in one direction during dehydration.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a water supply pipe which is drawn into the control box 2 and has a water injection port 16 at its tip facing the upper surface opening of the outer tub 4, and a water supply valve 17 which is an electromagnetic valve is provided in the control box 2. Has been done. Reference numeral 18 denotes a drainage port provided at the bottom of the outer tub 4, 19 denotes a drainage pipe that is connected to the drainage port 18 and constitutes a drainage channel, and a drainage valve 20 composed of a solenoid valve is interposed. Reference numeral 21 denotes an air trap provided at a corner of the bottom of the outer tub 4, which communicates with a water level sensor 22 in the control box 2 via a pressure hose 23, and the water level sensor 22 monitors the water level change in the washing / dehydrating tub 7. It is detected as a pressure change. 24 is an upper lid.

Next, FIG. 3 mainly shows a microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as a microcomputer) 25 (for example, a one-chip microcomputer of model LC66506B manufactured by Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.) 25 in which the control mechanism of the fully automatic washing machine is arranged in the operation control section 3. It is shown.

The microcomputer 25 includes a CPU 26, a RAM
27, ROM 28, timer 29, system bus 30, I
It is composed of an / O buffer 31 and an input / output port 32. The control unit 33 of the CPU 26 fetches and executes the instruction, and the arithmetic unit 34 of the CPU 26 performs a predetermined arithmetic operation on the data given from the input device or the memory in response to the control signal from the control unit 33 at the instruction execution stage. Further, the RAM 27 is for storing data relating to the washing machine, and the ROM 28 is prestored with means for operating the washing machine, condition setting for judgment, rules for processing various information, and the like. There is.

The input section of the input / output port 32 includes an input key circuit 35 composed of various keys on the operation panel of the control box 2, an upper lid safety switch 36 interlocking with opening and closing of the upper lid 24, and the water level sensor 22. A signal is input, and the input / output port 32 is based on this information.
From the output section of the operation panel, a display drive circuit 37 including an LED group on the operation panel, a clock display section, and the like, a buzzer circuit 39 for process end notification or abnormality notification, and a load drive circuit 39 including a bidirectional thyristor and the like. And so on.

The load drive circuit 39 controls the operations of the horizontal rotation circuit of the drive motor 10, the water supply solenoid valve drive circuit, and the drainage solenoid valve drive circuit in accordance with the control signal from the microcomputer 25. Reference numeral 40 is a power supply circuit, and 41 is a reset circuit that generates a reset signal.

In the fully-automatic washing machine having such a configuration, when the start key is operated after setting the washing content on the operation panel, the information on the washing content is stored in the microcomputer 2.
5, and at the same time, the microcomputer 25 performs the washing control according to this information.

That is, in the case of a standard washing course, first, the water supply valve 17 is opened to perform the water supply operation, and when the set water level is detected by the water level sensor 22, the water supply is stopped and the rotor 10 by the motor 10 is rotated. And the washing operation is performed. When this washing process is completed, the process moves to the drainage process, the drainage valve 20 is opened, and the water level sensor 22
When the completion of drainage is detected by, the drain valve 20 is closed and the water supply valve 17 is opened to supply water for rinsing.
After rinsing once or twice, after draining, wash and dewatering tank 7
And the rotary blade 9 are integrally rotated at high speed to perform dehydration, and after completion of this operation, the buzzer circuit 38 notifies the completion of washing.

By the way, the microcomputer 25 for controlling the washing operation described above executes the control shown by the flowchart in FIG. 1 during the draining operation after the washing step and after the rinsing step.

That is, when the drainage process is started after the washing or rinsing is finished, the drainage valve 20 is controlled to be opened to start the drainage operation, and at the same time, the predetermined time T is counted. This time T is set to a time that gives a sufficient margin to the time required to normally complete drainage, for example, 10 minutes, and the water level falls to the drainage completion water level (reset water level) before this time T elapses. When it is determined that the drainage is completed, the process proceeds to the next dehydration process.

In addition, the time T
If the drainage does not end even after, the buzzer sounds for a specified time, the LED blinks to notify the abnormality, and the drainage operation is continued with the drainage valve 20 open.

By doing so, when the reason why the drainage is not completed within the time T is not the clogging of the foreign matter but the drainage tube 19 is extended or its inclination requires a long time for the drainage, the drainage should be terminated by continuing the drainage. When the end of drainage is determined by the signal from the water level sensor 22 that detects this, the abnormal display is stopped and the normal operation display is displayed, and the process proceeds to the next dehydration process.

[0024]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. Even if the drainage is not completed within a certain time after the drainage starts,
Since only the abnormality notification is made to continue the drainage operation, even if it takes time to drain the water, it is possible to surely perform the drainage and stop the operation without stopping the operation in the middle, It is possible to improve the performance rate of the laundry program.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart for explaining a draining operation showing an embodiment of a fully automatic washing machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cut side view showing the overall configuration of the fully automatic washing machine of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control mechanism of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 Washing / dehydrating tank 19 Drain pipe 20 Drain valve 22 Water level sensor 25 Microcomputer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic drainage valve for opening and closing a drainage channel leading to the bottom of a washing / dehydrating tub, a means for detecting the water level in the washing / dehydrating tub, a means for measuring the drainage operation time, and a fixed value after opening the automatic draining valve. When the time has elapsed, when the drainage completion water level does not drop, the abnormality notification is provided and the control means for continuing the opening operation of the automatic drainage valve is provided, and the abnormality notification is stopped by the detection means detecting the drainage completion water level. Fully automatic washing machine characterized by restarting operation by operating.