JPH06246093A - Washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance the safety by providing a confirming means for checking whether a safety switch is turned off or not when an upper cover is opened so that if it is not turned on at any time until one washing cycle is completed, a malfunction of the safety switch is indicated so as to inform a failure of the safety switch. CONSTITUTION:A safety switch 16 is turned on and off by an actuating lever associated with the opening and closing of an upper cover 17 of a spin basket 3 so as to control such that the basket 3 is stopped when the upper cover 17 is opened. Further, the safety switch 16 is positioned at the outer periphery of the basket 3 so that it is turned on and off by a detecting lever 15 for detecting abnormal vibration of the basket 3. Further, if such a case that a washing cycle is completed without the safety switch 16 being turned on at any time, is repeated by a predetermined number of times, it is regarded that the safety switch 16 fails in turn-off, so that abnormality is indicated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention uses a microcomputer (hereinafter abbreviated as a microcomputer) to perform a series of washing operations (water supply-
Regarding the washing machine in which washing-rinsing-dehydration) is controlled,
In particular, the present invention relates to a washing machine that enables control capable of reliably coping with an abnormal time that is dangerous for a washing machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, in a fully automatic washing machine controlled by a microcomputer, it is checked whether or not there is an abnormality in a series of strokes, and if there is an abnormality, the abnormality is informed and a smooth response to normal operation is made. There is.

Here, the abnormality notification includes a water supply abnormality in which water does not enter the washing tub which also serves as a dehydration tub, a drainage abnormality in which water cannot be drained, and a dehydration abnormality in which dehydration is not performed satisfactorily.

By the way, the dewatering tank is rotating at a high speed during dewatering, so from the viewpoint of safety, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication 57-107.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 76-76, there is provided a safety switch that turns off the drive motor of the dehydration tank when the upper lid of the dehydration tank is opened.

[0005]

As long as this safety switch works normally, it is possible to prevent danger. However, there has been no proposal to give an abnormality notification of malfunction of the safety switch itself.

The safety switch does not work, that is, it does not turn off even if the upper lid is opened. There is not much trouble, but if it happens, it will remain dehydrated even if the upper lid is opened, which is very dangerous.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a washing machine that can prevent an abnormal situation from occurring by providing a means for notifying the abnormality of a safety switch that detects the opening and closing of the upper lid and notifying the abnormality.

[0008]

The present invention has a safety switch which operates by opening and closing the upper lid of the dehydration tank, and when the upper lid is opened,
In a washing machine in which the safety switch is turned off and dehydration is stopped, a confirmation means for checking whether the safety switch is activated and the safety switch is never turned off by the end of one washing. Is confirmed by the confirmation means, the washing machine is characterized by further comprising control means for judging a failure of the safety switch and notifying an abnormality.

[0009]

Function: Always open the top cover at least once to add laundry or detergent until one wash is completed. If the safety switch is normal, it will be turned off by opening the top cover. Therefore, the operation of the safety switch is monitored by the control means before the start of washing by the confirmation means, and if the washing is completed without the OFF operation even once, the safety switch does not operate even if the upper lid is opened. It can be determined that there is a failure, and in that case, an alarm device such as a buzzer is sounded to report the abnormality, and it is possible to prevent a dangerous state in which the dehydration tub keeps rotating.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart for discriminating a failure of the safety switch of the present invention and notifying the abnormality thereof, and FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the contents of a subroutine performed in the flow chart. FIG. 3 shows a one-tub dewatering washing machine (fully automatic washing machine) in which the control of the present invention is performed.

First, to explain the structure of the washing machine, 1 is a machine frame, 2 is an outer tub in which a washing / dehydrating tub 3 (hereinafter abbreviated as a dehydrating tub) is installed, and four hanging rods 4 It is elastically suspended and supported by the machine frame 1 via a vibration absorbing coil spring 5 inserted in the lower portion. 6 is a rotary vane rotatably provided in the dehydration tank 3, 7 is a motor, and 8 is a bearing case to support a rotary shaft 9.

Here, the rotary shaft 9 has a double shaft structure, the outer shaft of which supports the dehydration tank 3, and the inner shaft of which supports and supports the rotary blades 6. The rotating shaft 9 is a large pulley 10.
a Small pulley 10b and a belt suspended between the pulleys 10a, 10b are connected to the drive shaft 7a of the motor 7, and the driving force of the motor 7 is transmitted to the dewatering tank 3 rotor 6.
The rotor 6 is rotated during washing, and the dehydration tub 3 is rotated during dehydration. A clutch, a brake and the like are housed in the bearing case 8. Reference numeral 12 is an operation box provided in the upper rear part of the machine casing 1 in which a safety switch 16 is arranged. The safety switch 16 is turned on (closes the upper lid) -OFF (opens the upper lid) via an operating lever 13 that responds to the opening and closing of the upper lid 17 of the dehydrating tank 3, and when the upper lid 17 is opened, the dehydrating tank 3 is stopped. Is controlled. Further, the safety switch 16 is located on the outer periphery of the dehydration tub 3 and is turned on and off via a detection lever 15 that detects abnormal vibration of the dehydration tub 3 (due to deviation of the cloth or the like). Therefore, the operating lever 1
3, the detection lever 15 and the safety switch 16 constitute the safety device 14. Reference numeral 18 is a drain valve, and 19 is a drain hose. Further, 20 is an air trap portion related to another invention described later, and a thermistor 21 is housed inside thereof. Further, although not shown, alarm means such as a buzzer for notifying a failure of the safety switch 16 is provided at an appropriate portion of the washing machine body. Further, this buzzer also notifies that fact in the second invention described later that detects a fire accident in the washing machine.

Before explaining each of the above flow charts, focusing on a series of operations from the start to the end of washing, the upper lid 1 must be filled with laundry or detergent without fail.
The action to open 7 is entered. Since the safety switch 16 is turned off when the upper lid 17 is opened, the present invention utilizes that fact.

That is, the safety switch 1 is used before washing.
If 6 is turned off, if the washing is finished without turning off once for a predetermined number of times (three times in the embodiment), the safety switch 16 is considered not to be turned off and the abnormality is notified. To do.

First, when the flow of FIG. 1 is started, the subroutine is repeatedly executed until the operation is started (process 30, judgment 31).

In the subroutine, as shown in FIG.
7 is opened, that is, the safety switch 16 is OF
Whether or not F is monitored (decision 40), and if it is OFF (safety switch 16 is normal), 1 is put in a certain storage unit in the microcomputer, RAM (A). Safety switch 16
If is still ON, the process of leaving the RAM (A) as it is is executed. Even after the operation is started, this subroutine keeps the lid 17 continuously running until the operation is completed.
It is checked whether the safety switch 16 has been turned off due to the opening of (step 32, judgment 33). Driving started, 1
After the washing is completed, it is checked whether the RAM (A) is 1 (decision 34). If it is 1, that is, if it is confirmed that the upper cover 17 is opened and the safety switch 16 is normal, the contents of the RAM (A) are erased (process 37) and the normal standby state is returned to. . If RAM (A) is 1
If not, it is checked whether the content of another RAM (B) is 2 (decision 35). If other than 2 (N in decision 35), 1 is added to the RAM (B) (process 38) and the process returns to the standby state. That is, after one wash, R is judged 34.
If AM (A) is not 1 (the upper lid 17 is opened / closed, but the safety switch 16 is not activated and a failure is predicted), the fact is stored in RAM (B) as 1. Therefore, if RAM (A) is not 1 at the time of entering the second washing and then ending, RAM (B) is stored as convenient 2 times. Thus, if RAM (B) is 2 (Y in decision 35), that is, 3
When the OFF operation failure of the safety switch 16 is detected for the second time, the abnormality is notified (process 36).

Here, in this flow, the safety switch 16
What I missed the first time and the second time that the power does not turn off is that I run dry without inserting laundry, or after washing, run continuously without taking out laundry, or test continuous This is basically in consideration of usage cases such as driving tests, but basically, in one wash, the safety switch 1
If 6 does not turn off, it is determined as a failure.

By performing the failure diagnosis in this way, it is possible to prevent the risk of continuing dehydration even if the safety switch 16 fails and the upper lid 17 is opened.

By the way, in addition to the dangerous state in which the safety switch 16 does not operate and the dehydration tub 3 keeps rotating despite the opening of the upper lid 17, the product (washing machine) has a fire accident. Is assumed. This is true of general electric appliances, but especially in a washing machine, there are many electric components that rise in temperature, such as a motor 7 that rotates the washing / dehydrating tub 3, a water supply valve, and a solenoid that operates a drain valve. It has been incorporated. Therefore, in order to deal with a fire that may occur due to the lock of the motor 7, the lock of the solenoid, the chartering, etc., it is detected that the fuse is blown when an excessive current flows or the thermostat attached to the motor overheats. Take measures such as turning off the power.

However, in some cases, there is a risk that the fuse will not blow or the thermostat will not blow before a fire occurs. If such a situation occurs, it is important to extinguish the fire as soon as possible. However, the current situation is that we are not able to report it and we have not taken proper measures.

The second invention is made in view of the above problems, and provides a fire detecting means for preventing occurrence of a fire by using an alarm device such as a buzzer to prevent a serious accident. is there.

In the washing machine shown in FIG. 4, the microcomputer controls the flow strength, water level, washing time, etc. according to the load (laundry) to perform rational operation control. Since the temperature of water influences the degree of dirt removal, fine control such as controlling the time of water flow, washing, rinsing, and dehydration is recently performed according to the water temperature.

Therefore, the air trap portion 20 is formed in the lower portion of the outer tank 2 and the thermistor 21 is installed inside the air trap portion 20. The thermistor 21 usually measures the water temperature, water flow, washing,
Temperature information that determines the time such as rinsing is input to the microcomputer. The thermistor 21 is used to detect a fire.

Next, the flow chart of FIG. 3 showing a program for detecting and notifying the fire will be described. When the fire alarm program is started (process 50), the thermistor 21 first checks whether the ambient temperature is 100 ° C. or higher (decision 51), and if it is 100 ° C. or higher (Y in judgment 51), an alarm is notified ( Process 52). If the temperature is 100 ° C or lower (N in judgment 51), the temperature difference at 1 second intervals is measured, and it is judged whether the temperature rise value is 1 ° C or higher (judgment 5
3) If it is 1 ° C or higher (Y in judgment 53), see whether the increase is due to the addition of hot water or not by the change in water level (decision 54). If there is no change in the water level (N in judgment 54), then it is judged whether water is contained in the tank (judgment 55). If there is no water level change and water is present (Y in judgment 55), a fire alarm is issued by an alarm device such as a buzzer (process 56). That is, in this case, it can be determined that the temperature of 100 ° C. or higher does not occur due to a phenomenon such as pouring hot water but a fire. If there is no water (Judgment 5)
5 N) See if there is a temperature change of 10 ° C or more in 1 second (decision 57), and if the temperature rises to 10 ° C or more, it is judged to be a fire in this case as well, and a buzzer is issued to notify the abnormality. (Processing 58).

As described above, the temperature rise in the washing machine and the temperature are read by the thermistor 21 to determine whether or not there is a fire, and the buzzer is continuously sounded to promptly and accurately report a dangerous situation. You will be able to extinguish the fire.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, the safety switch that turns off the switch when the top lid is opened to stop the dehydration is monitored from before the washing starts until the end, and the safety switch never turns off. When the washing is completed once, the abnormality is notified by the control means, so that the failure of the safety switch itself can be surely detected promptly. This can prevent the dehydration tank from rotating even if the upper lid is opened.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart according to the present invention for searching for a failure of a safety switch and notifying an abnormality thereof.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the contents of a subroutine in the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart according to another invention of detecting a fire occurrence and notifying an abnormality thereof.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view of the fully automatic washing machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Washing / dehydrating tank 16 Safety switch 17 Upper lid 21 Thermistor

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A safety switch that operates by opening and closing the upper lid of the dehydration tank, and when the upper lid is opened, the safety switch is OF
In a washing machine that operates F to stop dehydration, the confirmation means for confirming whether the safety switch has been operated and the confirmation means that the safety switch is never turned OFF by the end of one washing The washing machine is characterized by comprising a control means for judging that the safety switch is out of order and for notifying the abnormality when the above is confirmed.