JPH06142389A - Method of detecting quality of cloth and weight of clothing for washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a method capable of achieving a reduction in cost, setting not only the weight of washing but also washing contents suitable for the quality of cloth to be washed as well, preventing damaged cloth, uneven washing, excessive use of water and the like, and curtailing the number of weight sensors. CONSTITUTION:In a signal tank type fully automatic washing machine having an agitator in a washing/dehydration tank, a weight sensor 10 is provided to detect the weight of washing and a load value sensor 22 using a detector to detect the number of inertial revolutions of the agitator. The quality of cloth is judged with a controller 5 basing on an input value from the load value sensor 22 of the weight sensor 10. Washing contents such as water level, wash flow, washing time and dewatering time are set basing on the results of the judgment. The weight sensor 10 is set at one point of hanging rods supporting the washing/dehydration tank at plurality of points and the washing/dehydration tank is rotated to detect the weight of the tank at each specified angle of rotation. Thus, a plurality of weight values thus detected are averaged by the controller 5 to judge the weight of the washing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cloth quality detection method and a clothing weight detection method for a one-tank fully automatic washing machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a one-tank type fully-automatic washing machine is conventionally hung on four sides in an outer box 1 by means of a vibration-proof means using a hanging rod 17 having a vibration-proof spring 16 as shown in FIGS. Outer tank 1
5, the washing / dehydrating tub 11 is provided inside the outer tub 15, and the stirring blade 6 is provided in the washing / dehydrating tub 11. The motor 7 is arranged below the outer tub 15, and the rotation shaft of the motor 7 is connected to the mechanical section 23 connecting to the rotation driving shaft of the washing / dehydrating tub 11 and the stirring blades 6 via the V belt 8. A drain valve 9 is provided in the middle of the drain pipe that opens at the bottom of the outer tank 15.
And connect the drain pipe to the drain hose 4 outside the machine.

In the figure, 2 is a lid for covering the upper surface of the outer box 1, 3 is an operating portion for setting the content of washing, 12 is a water supply valve,
The control device 5 using a microcomputer or the like is arranged below the operation unit 3, for example.

Such a fully automatic washing machine has a washing and dehydrating tub 11
Although the contents of washing such as water level and washing time are automatically set according to the amount of laundry put in the interior, conventionally, the weight sensors 10a, 10b, 10c, and
10d respectively, and these sensors 10a-10d
The laundry content is determined based on the clothing weight detected in.
Each of the weight sensors 10a to 10d has a built-in spring, for example, and is constructed so that the oscillation frequency changes as the spring expands and contracts depending on the weight of the clothes.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the washing control by the control device 5. The key input part 18, the water level detection circuit 14, and the weight sensors 10a to 1 provided on the operation part 3 on the input side of the control device 5 are shown.
0d is connected, and the output side is connected to the display unit 19 provided on the operation unit 3 for displaying the content of washing, the drive circuit 20 of the motor 7, the water supply valve 12 and the drive circuit 21 of the drain valve 9.

[0006] Next, the method of setting the washing content will be described with reference to the flowchart of Fig. 12. At the start of washing, after the laundry is put into the washing / dehydrating tub 11, the data A ~ from the four weight sensors 10a ~ 10d. D is taken into the control device 5 [steps (a), (b), (c),
(D)], and an average value of these four data is obtained [step (e)]. In this case, as shown in FIG. 13, the lower the oscillation frequency from the weight sensors 10a to 10d, the heavier the clothes.

Here, four weight sensors 10a to 10d are provided and the weight of the laundry is obtained based on the data from all the weight sensors 10a to 10d. This is because if the clothes are thrown in one-sidedly, the weight may be partly added to a part of the washing / dehydrating tub 11, and a measurement error in such a case is prevented.

The weight average value thus obtained is used to judge the weight of the garment, and as shown in FIG. 14, it is determined which of the preset ranks the weight belongs to [step (f)], Set the laundry content of the rank and start the operation according to it.

[0009]

As described above, conventionally, only the weight of the laundry is an element for determining the laundry content,
Since cloth quality is not an element, for example, even if the weight is the same, cotton and synthetic fibers are more bulky and require higher water levels, but the same washing content as for cotton is set. It may damage the cloth. In addition, even if cotton is less likely to get dirty, if the weight is the same, the content of washing time will be set the same as in the case of synthetic fiber, uneven washing will occur, and the washing content suitable for the cloth quality will be set. Not done.

Further, since four weight sensors are provided, the cost becomes high.

The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art, and to automatically set not only the weight of the laundry but also the cloth content suitable for the quality of the cloth. It is another object of the present invention to provide a cloth quality detection method and a laundry weight detection method for a washing machine, which can prevent such problems and reduce the number of weight sensors to reduce the cost.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a weight sensor for detecting the weight of laundry in a one-tank type fully automatic washing machine in which a stirring blade is provided in a washing / dehydrating tank. , A load amount sensor by a detector that detects the inertial rotation speed of the stirring blade is provided, and the control device determines the cloth quality by the input values from the weight sensor and the load amount sensor, and the water level and the water flow based on the determination result. Set the content of washing such as washing time and dewatering time, and the weight sensor is provided at one of the hanging bars that support the washing / dehydrating tub at a plurality of places, and the washing / dehydrating tub is rotated to a predetermined rotation angle. The gist of the present invention is to detect the weight for each of the detected weights and average the weights of the laundry by the control device based on the plurality of detected weight values.

[0013]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the motor is rotated by a predetermined angle and stopped while the laundry is put in the washing / dehydrating tub at the start of washing, and the inertial rotation speed at this time is detected. In this case, when the cloth quality of the clothes is different, the resistance to the stirring blade is different, so the inertial rotation speed is also different, and therefore by detecting this inertial rotation speed, the cloth quality can be determined, and the determined cloth quality, The laundry content is set based on the data of the clothing weight detected by the weight sensor. As a result, the set laundry content is suitable for the cloth quality and weight of the clothes.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the laundry is placed in the washing / dehydrating tub at the start of washing, the washing / dehydrating tub is rotated and the weight sensor detects the weight of the garment at a predetermined angle. The weight of the clothing is determined by averaging the plurality of detected weight values. Therefore, when clothes are loaded in the washing / dehydrating tub in a biased manner, even if there is only one weight sensor, the weight of the washing / dehydrating tub is detected from a plurality of different angles, resulting in a plurality of sensors. The measurement error can be prevented and the number of sensors can be reduced as in the case where the sensor is provided.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a washing machine in which the method for detecting the cloth quality and the weight of clothes in the washing machine according to the present invention is implemented. First, the overall configuration of the washing machine in which the method according to the present invention is implemented will be described with reference to FIG. The basic structure of the washing machine shown in FIG. 8 is the same as that of the conventional washing machine already described with reference to FIG. 10, and the same components are designated by the same reference numerals.

In the present invention, as the weight sensor 10 for detecting the weight of clothes, only one having the same construction as the conventional one is used.
The motor 7 is provided with a pilot generator 13 which is provided on one of the suspension bars 17 of the plurality of vibration isolating means and which constitutes a load amount sensor 22 for detecting the resistance force applied to the stirring blade 6 of the laundry, that is, the load amount. It was

As shown in the control block diagram of FIG. 1, the key input unit 18, the water level detection circuit 14, the weight sensor 10, and the load amount sensor 22 provided on the operation unit 3 are connected to the input side of the control device 5. The display unit 19 provided on the operation unit 3 for displaying the content of washing and the like on the output side, the drive circuit 20 of the motor 7, the water supply valve 12 and the drive circuit 21 of the drain valve 9 are connected.

In order to set the content of the washing operation in this way, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2, at the start of washing, the laundry is put into the washing / dehydrating tub 11 and the washing / dehydrating tub 11 is kept in this state. The weight sensor 10 rotates to detect the weight of the laundry [step (h)].

The weight detecting operation will be described in more detail with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 3. When the washing / dehydrating tub 11 is rotated by 90 degrees, the weight A at this position is detected.
Is first detected [step (wa) (f)]. Next, the washing / dehydrating tub 11 is further rotated by 90 degrees, and the weight B at the position rotated by 180 degrees as a whole is detected [Step (Yo)).
(T)] Then, similarly, the weights C and D at the positions rotated by 270 ° and 360 ° as a whole by further rotating by 90 ° are detected respectively [steps (re) (so) (tsu)].
(Ne)〕.

The detected weights A, B, C,
The average value of D is calculated to determine the weight of the clothes put in the washing / dehydrating tub 11 [step (a)]. In this case, when the clothes are thrown into the washing / dehydrating tank 11 with a bias,
Although the weights A to D at the respective positions are different as shown in FIG. 4, it is the average value of the plurality of weight values that is finally determined as the free amount. The weight of laundry can be calculated accurately.

Based on the weight thus detected, it is determined which of the ranks shown in FIG. 14 belongs in the same manner as in the conventional case [step (la)]. The position where the weight is detected is not limited to every 90 degrees as in the above embodiment.

When the weight rank is determined in this way [step (i) in FIG. 2], the load sensor 22 detects the resistance of the laundry on the stirring blade 6 to detect the load [step (i)]. Nu)]. In this load amount detection, as shown in the waveform diagram of FIG. 5, the motor 7 is rotated rightward, the number of pulses output from the pilot generator 13 reaches 80, and it is determined that the motor 7 is rotated by a predetermined angle.
Stop energizing to.

Even after the energization of the motor 7 is stopped, the motor 7 is rotated by inertia and, for example, 2 after the last pulse is detected.
If no pulse is detected during 00 msec, it is determined that the motor 7, that is, the stirring blade 6 has completely stopped,
Next, the motor 7 is energized so as to rotate counterclockwise.

When the cloth quality is different, the resistance force applied to the stirring blade 6 is different, and as a result, the numerical value of the inertial rotation speed is different. Therefore, the detection of the load amount is performed by the detection of the inertial rotation speed. As shown in FIG. 5, the number of pulses is larger than that of cotton when the quality is the same even when the weight is the same, but in the case of synthetic fiber. Therefore, the cloth quality of the clothing is determined by the number of inertial pulses.

The weight rank is corrected according to the determined cloth quality as shown in FIG. 7 [step (l)]. For example, if it is determined that there is a large amount of synthetic fiber laundry, the correction increases the water level by one step to increase the amount of water, and because the quality of the fabric tends to remove dirt, the water flow is weakened and the washing time And dehydration time is minus 1 minute. On the contrary, if it is judged that there is a lot of cotton laundry, the cotton is a material that does not easily stain, so the water flow is strengthened and the washing and dehydration time is increased by 1 minute.

The washing content according to the weight rank set based on the weight data of the laundry as described above is further corrected to the one suitable for the cloth quality based on the cloth quality data. Therefore, the laundry content suitable for the laundry can be set, and the laundry process is started by this content [step (wo)].

[0027]

As described above, the method of detecting the cloth quality and the clothes weight of the washing machine according to the present invention can automatically set not only the weight of the laundry but also the laundry content suitable for the cloth quality. It is possible to prevent damage, uneven washing, and excessive use of water, and reduce the number of weight sensors to reduce costs.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a washing machine in which a method of detecting a cloth quality and a weight of a laundry according to the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the operation of the method for detecting the cloth quality and the weight of clothes in the washing machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a weight detection operation of the method for detecting the cloth quality and the weight of clothes in the washing machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a curve diagram of weight detected by the method of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an output waveform diagram of an inertial pulse.

FIG. 6 is a curve diagram showing the relationship between the load amount and the number of pulses.

FIG. 7 is a correction diagram of weight rank.

FIG. 8 is a vertical side view of the washing machine in which the method of the present invention is performed.

FIG. 9 is an external perspective view of the washing machine.

FIG. 10 is a vertical cross-sectional side view of a washing machine in which a conventional detection method is performed.

FIG. 11 is a conventional control block diagram.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a conventional weight rank determination operation.

FIG. 13 is a curve diagram showing the relationship between the weight sensor frequency and the clothing weight.

FIG. 14 is a weight rank diagram.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Outer box 2 ... Lid 3 ... Operating part 4 ... Drainage hose 5 ... Control device 6 ... Stirring blade 7 ... Motor 8 ... V belt 9 ... Drainage valve 10, 10a, 10b. 10c. 10d ... Weight sensor 11 ... Washing / dehydrating tank 12 ... Water supply valve 13 ... Pilot generator 14 ... Water level detection circuit 15 ... Outer tank 16 ... Anti-vibration spring 17 ... Suspension rod 18 ... Key input section 19 ... Display section 20 ... Motor drive circuit 21 ... Drive circuit 22 ... Load amount sensor 23 ... Mechanical part

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazuhiko Yamagami 1-1-1, Yamate, Funabashi-shi, Chiba Nihon Kenketsu Co., Ltd. Funabashi Works (72) Inventor Masami Yorida 1-1-1, Yamate, Funabashi-shi, Chiba No. 1 Nippon Steel Co., Ltd. Funabashi Works (72) Inventor Tatsuo Inada 1-11-1 Yamate Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture Japan No. 1 Funabashi Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toyozo Kato 1 Yamate Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture No. 1 No. 1 at Nippon Steel Co., Ltd. Funabashi Works

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a one-tank fully automatic washing machine in which a stirring blade is disposed in a washing / dehydrating tub, a load by a weight sensor for detecting the weight of laundry and a detector for detecting the inertial rotation speed of the stirring blade. A quantity sensor is provided, and the cloth quality is judged by the control device based on the input values from the weight sensor and the load quantity sensor, and the washing contents such as water level, water flow, washing time, and dehydration time are set based on the judgment result. And a method for detecting the weight of clothes and the weight of clothes in a washing machine. 2. The weight sensor is provided at one position of a hanging bar that supports a washing / dehydrating tub at a plurality of locations, the washing / dehydrating tub is rotated to detect the weight at a predetermined rotation angle, and these are detected. The method for detecting the cloth quality and the weight of clothes in a washing machine according to claim 1, wherein the weight of the laundry is determined by averaging the plurality of weight values by a control device.