JPH07100096B2 - Washing machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a washing machine in which an appropriate amount of cloth can be added according to the amount of water.

(Prior Art) Generally, in a washing machine, the amount of laundry that can exhibit appropriate cleaning performance is prescribed in advance for the amount of water supplied to the tub, and the user can use this as a guideline for laundry. It is decided that the input amount of the

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, the laundry is put in at exactly the right amount, and therefore, how much more is left for the appropriate amount of laundry depending on the amount of water. It is not clear to the user whether additional laundry can be added. Moreover, even if the user can predict to some extent the amount of laundry that can be additionally loaded, the amount of laundry per laundry is not exactly known, and therefore the number of additional laundry to be loaded is likely to be incorrect. Under these circumstances, in reality, the amount of laundry loaded is likely to be excessive or excessive, which has been a factor causing deterioration of cleaning performance and waste of water and detergent.

The present invention is intended to solve such problems,
Therefore, the purpose is to be able to easily know the amount of laundry that can be added additionally in relation to the amount of water supplied to the tub as the number of the laundry, and to add the appropriate amount of laundry without excess or deficiency. Providing a washing machine to get.

[Structure of the Invention] (Problems for Solving Problems) A washing machine of the present invention is provided with a cloth amount detecting means for detecting the amount of laundry put in a tub, and an amount of water supplied to the tub. And a calculating means for calculating the amount of laundry that can be additionally loaded into the tub based on the cloth detected by the cloth amount detecting means, and converting the calculated value into the number of laundry of a predetermined type, and this calculating means. And a display unit for digitally displaying the conversion result of the above as the number of laundry items that can be additionally input.

(Operation) When the laundry is put into the tub, the laundry amount of the laundry is detected by the laundry amount detecting means, and the laundry amount that can be added additionally is converted into the number of laundry by the computing means based on the detection result. , That is digitally displayed on the display means as the number of laundry items that can be additionally loaded. By this display, the user can concretely know how many more can be input, and it is possible to prevent the user from mistakenly adding the additional amount.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, in FIGS. 2 and 3 showing the overall configuration, the first is, for example, an outer box of a two-tub type washing machine, inside of which a washing tub 2 and a dehydrating tub 3 are provided side by side, and an inner bottom portion of the washing tub 2 is provided. The motor 4
A pulsator 5 driven by is provided. 6
Is a drainage channel for draining water in the washing tub 2, and a drainage valve 7
It is opened and closed by. 8 is an overflow pipe which communicates with the inside of the washing tub 2 and the drainage channel 6, 9 is an operation box which is erected at the rear of the upper end of the outer box 1, and a water supply water level switching lever 11, a water injection switching lever 12 and an operation panel 13 are provided on the front surface thereof. Etc. are provided. Hereinafter, the configuration of the operation panel 13 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. Reference numeral 14 is a water flow set switch for switching the water flow into three stages of strong, medium and weak.
Corresponding to this, three light emitting elements 15 are provided in a vertical line for displaying the water flow. 16 is a washing time set switch for changing the washing time and the rinsing time into four stages of 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes and 10 minutes respectively, and correspondingly, four light emitting elements 17 for displaying the washing and rinsing time are provided. They are provided in a horizontal row. 18 is a washing start switch for starting and temporarily stopping the washing / rinsing operation, and 19 is a dehydration time set switch for switching the dehydration time in three stages of 1 minute, 3 minutes and 5 minutes, which corresponds to the dehydration time display As shown in FIG. 3, three light emitting elements 20 are arranged in a line. 21 is a dehydration start switch for starting and temporarily stopping the dehydration operation. Reference numeral 22 is a display means for displaying the number of laundry items that can be additionally loaded. This means that the operation panel 13 has three transparent windows 23 for laundry, for example, a T-shirt pattern, three in each row (nine in total). In addition to being formed, one light emitting element 24 (see FIG. 4) corresponding to each of the transparent windows 23 is arranged in the operation box 9. In this case, in order to switch the appropriate number display according to the type of laundry to be additionally loaded, three laundry type washing switches 25 to 27 are provided in a row in a row below the display means 22. There is. By operating these laundry type washing switches 25 to 27, the number (number of sheets / number) of "T-shirts", "Y-shirts", and "slacks" that can be added additionally is displayed on the display means. On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the strain sensor 28 is attached to the lower outer periphery of the washing tub 2 so as to be in close contact therewith.
The strain sensor 28 detects the strain of the laundry tub 2 due to the weight of the laundry loaded into the laundry tub 2 to detect the amount of laundry, that is, the weight of the laundry. In this case, the strain sensor 28 has a structure in which a resistance wire is closely contacted in a meandering manner on a resin film base.
Is detected as a change in electric resistance due to expansion and contraction of the resistance wire due to the strain.

On the other hand, to explain the electric circuit configuration with reference to FIG. 4, the strain sensor 28 constitutes a bridge circuit 30 together with three resistors 29, and a DC power source 31 is connected between the common connection points 30a and 30b. The weight detection circuit 32 is configured. The common connection point 30c of the bridge circuit 30 is connected to the comparator of the A / D conversion circuit 33.
34 is connected to the non-inverting input terminal (+), and the sawtooth wave generating circuit 35 is connected to the inverting input terminal (-). 36 is 3
In the input type AND circuit, the output terminal of the comparator 34, the clock pulse generating circuit 37 and the control pulse generating circuit 38 are connected to the input terminal thereof, while the counter 39 is connected to the output terminal of the AND circuit 36. . The A / D conversion circuit 33 and the weight detection circuit 32 configured as described above constitute the cloth amount detection means 40. On the other hand, reference numeral 41 denotes a microcomputer, which functions not only as an operation control means for controlling the operation but also as a calculation means for calculating the number of laundry items that can be added additionally. The input terminals P ₀ , P ₁ , P _{2 of} this microcomputer 41
Is connected to the output terminals a, b and c of the counter 39, and the other input terminals SG ₁ , SG ₂ , SG ₃ , DG ₁ , DG ₂ and DG ₃ are connected to the matrix circuit of the nine light emitting elements 24 described above. 42 is connected. 43
Is a clock pulse generation circuit for applying a clock pulse to the microcomputer 40.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Now, it is assumed that the water supply to the washing machine 2 is completed. First, the weight A of the stored water in the washing tub 2 is detected using the strain sensor 28 as follows. Since the peripheral wall of the washing tub 2 is strained and deformed according to the weight A of the stored water, the electric resistance value of the strain sensor 28 changes accordingly and the voltage of the level corresponding to the weight A of the stored water is output from the weight detection circuit 32. V ₁ is output to the A / D conversion circuit 33, which causes the weight A of the stored water to flow from the counter 39 of the A / D conversion circuit 33.
Is supplied to the microcomputer 41. The output waveform of each part of the A / D conversion circuit 33 at this time is as shown in FIG. 5, in which Va is the output waveform of the control pulse generation circuit 38 and Vb is the sawtooth wave generation circuit 35.
Is an output waveform of the comparator 34, Vd is an output waveform of the clock pulse generation circuit 37, and Ve is an output waveform of the 3-input AND circuit 36. Then, after the weight A of the stored water is detected, when the laundry is put into the washing tub 2, the strain deformation of the peripheral wall of the washing tub 2 is expanded according to the input amount, and the resistance of the strain sensor 28 is correspondingly increased. As the amount of change increases, the weight detection circuit 32 outputs a level voltage V ₁ according to the total weight B (the total weight of the stored water and the laundry) in the washing tub 2.
The output voltage V ₁ gradually increases as the total weight B increases while the laundry is being put in, as shown in FIG. 5, but the output voltage V ₁ is changed in such a transient state that the laundry is washed. Even if the weight X of the object is calculated, there is no real benefit, so in this embodiment,
The change amount ΔB of the total weight B per unit time is calculated, and only the total weight B is measured until the calculated value becomes zero. Then, when the amount of change ΔB becomes zero, the weight X of the laundry in the washing tub 2 is calculated by subtracting the weight A of the stored water from the total weight B, that is, calculating BA. . Next, the laundry weight X and the stored water weight A
Based on the above, the weight Y of the laundry that can be additionally charged is calculated as follows. That is, the ROM of the microcomputer 41 stores, as data, the relationship between the weight of the stored water (water supply amount) in the washing tub 2 and the appropriate weight of the laundry at that time, which is obtained based on experiments in advance. ing. Then, with respect to the weight A of the stored water in the washing tub 2 detected as described above, an appropriate weight Y of the laundry is stored in the microcomputer 41.
Read from ROM. Then this appropriate laundry weight Y
The calculation of subtracting the weight X of the laundry in the washing tub 2 from Y, that is, Y
By calculating -X, the weight Z of the laundry that can be additionally loaded into the washing tub 2 is calculated. Then, the number N of laundry items that can be additionally loaded is calculated by dividing the weight Z of laundry items that can be additionally loaded by the weight C per laundry item, that is, by calculating Z / C (where N is a decimal point or less). Is a rounded integer). Since the weight C per piece of laundry differs depending on the type of laundry, in this embodiment,
The type of laundry can be selected from the three types of laundry of "T-shirt", "Y-shirt" and "slacks" by the laundry type selection switches 25 to 27. Therefore, if the type of laundry to be additionally loaded is, for example, "T-shirt", the corresponding laundry type selection switch
When 25 is pressed, the number N of "T-shirts" that can be added additionally is calculated. Then, according to the number N of sheets that can be additionally charged, the same number of light emitting elements 24 are turned on. For example, when the number N of sheets that can be additionally charged is three, three light emitting elements are provided.
24 is turned on and the transparent windows 23 of the display means 22 are lightened by three as indicated by the diagonal lines in FIG. As described above, in the present embodiment, the amount of laundry that can be additionally added is displayed as a number (number of sheets / number) instead of a unit of weight, so that the user can add the number of additional laundry just by looking at the display. You will be able to know concretely what to put in it without any thought. For this reason, the user does not mistakenly add the additional amount, and can surely add an appropriate amount of laundry to the washing tub 2 without excess or deficiency, and reduce the cleaning performance and waste water and detergent. It can be lost.

Then, after the additional loading of the laundry, the set switches 14 and 16 are operated to set the strength of the water flow and the washing time, and the washing start switch 18 is turned on to start the washing operation.

In the present embodiment, a plurality of, for example, three laundry type selection switches 25 to 27 are provided so that the number of laundry items that can be additionally input for the three types of laundry can be selectively switched and displayed. According to the type of laundry to be additionally loaded, by turning on the laundry type selection switch suitable for the type, the number of laundry to be additionally loaded can be accurately known, which is more practical.

Further, in this embodiment, since the shape of each transparent window 23 of the display means 22 is a pattern of clothing such as a T-shirt, the display mode of the additional chargeable number is not confused with the display mode of other driving modes. It is easier for the user to understand. However, the shape of each transparent window 23 of the display means 22 is not limited to the pattern of clothes, and may be another shape, such as a simple circle, or each light emitting element 24 may be provided on the operation panel 13 without providing the transparent window 23. The display means 22 may be configured to be exposed, and the display means 22 may be configured by a numeral display. In short, as long as the display means 22 can digitally display the number of laundry items that can be additionally loaded, the present invention is intended. The purpose of can be fully achieved.

Further, the cloth amount detecting means is not limited to the one using the strain sensor 28 as in the present embodiment, and for example, a method of detecting the cloth amount based on the load acting on the motor, or the loading of laundry. A method of detecting the amount of cloth based on the fluctuation of the water level in the later washing tub may be used. Further, the amount of water is not limited to being measured by weight, but can be measured by, for example, a flow meter.

Further, in the present embodiment, the laundry is put in after the water is supplied into the washing tub 2, but for example, in a washing machine in which the water supply amount (water level) can be set in advance, the laundry is put in before the water is supplied,
At that time, the number of laundry items that can be additionally added may be displayed according to the set water supply amount, and the set water supply amount may be supplied after the laundry items are added.

In addition, the present invention can be applied to not only the two-tub type washing machine washing machine as in the above-described embodiment but also a dehydration washing machine, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

[Effect of the invention] As is apparent from the above description, the present invention displays the amount of laundry that can be additionally added in relation to the amount of water supplied to the tub, not as a unit of weight, but as a specific number. By looking at the display, the user can know how many more sheets can be thrown in without any thought, so that an appropriate amount of laundry can be thrown in without excess or deficiency. The excellent effect of obtaining is obtained.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an enlarged front view of an operation panel portion, FIG. 2 is a vertical side view of the whole,
FIG. 3 is the same perspective view, FIG. 4 is an electric circuit diagram related to the detection and display of the amount of cloth, FIG. 5 is an output waveform diagram of each part in the A / D conversion circuit, and FIG. It is a flowchart figure which shows the process until the number of objects is displayed. In the drawing, 2 is a washing tub (tub), 13 is an operation panel, 22 is display means, 23 is a transparent window, 24 is a light emitting element, 25 to 27 are laundry type selection switches, 28 is a strain sensor, and 40 is a cloth amount. The detection means 40 is a microcomputer (calculation means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cloth amount detecting means for detecting the amount of laundry to be put into the tub, and the amount of laundry to be added to the tub in relation to the amount of water supplied to the tub. Calculation means for calculating the laundry amount detected by the laundry amount detecting means and converting the calculated value into the number of laundry of a predetermined type, and a display for digitally displaying the conversion result by this operating means as the number of additional loadable laundry A washing machine comprising means.