JPH07100097B2 - Washing machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention is designed to perform each step of washing and dehydration in a rotating tank for washing and dehydration. The present invention relates to a washing machine having a dehydration operation mode including an interval operation mode in which a rotary tub is rotated intermittently and a normal operation mode in which a rotary tub is continuously rotated.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in a washing machine for dehydration and dehydration, each process such as washing and dehydration is performed in a rotating tub for washing and dehydration. In this case, when the dewatering process is performed after the washing process is performed, a large amount of bubbles may be generated and the rotation of the rotary tank may be restricted. It is believed that this is due to the following. That is, the drainage condition of the washing machine may be deteriorated because the drainage hose may have an inconvenient form for drainage depending on the installation location of the washing machine. In such a case, since the drainage of the dehydrated water is poor, the water accumulates in the water receiving tank, and this is stirred by the rotation of the rotary tank to generate bubbles.

As a countermeasure against this, in recent washing machines, the amount of water to be dehydrated does not suddenly increase by performing a so-called interval rotation in which the rotary tub is intermittently rotated at the beginning of the dehydration process for a predetermined time. At the same time, even if dehydrated water is accumulated in the water receiving tank, the stirring force of the rotating tank is suppressed, so that the generation of bubbles is eliminated, and the rotating tank is normally rotated after the execution of this interval operation. I am trying to drive.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) However, in the above-mentioned one, since the interval operation is uniquely executed when the dehydration process is started, there is no bubble generation factor such as good drainage conditions. Even in such a case, there is a problem that the interval operation is executed and the predetermined time of the dehydration process becomes unnecessarily long.
In this interval operation, a relatively large noise is generated because the motor for driving the rotary tank is driven intermittently. Therefore, if there is a risk of foaming, the execution of the interval operation is unavoidable. Other than that, the reality was that I wanted to refrain from that interval driving.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to be able to perform an interval operation when there is a bubble generation factor in the dehydration process.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a washing machine capable of shortening the time required for the stroke and preventing noise generation when there is no risk of bubbles during the spin-drying process when there is no bubble generation factor.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention is configured such that each step of washing and dehydration is performed in a rotating tank for washing and dehydration, and is rotated as a dehydration operation mode of the dehydration step. A dehydration process control circuit for controlling a dehydration process and a motor load amount detection for detecting a load amount applied to a dehydration motor in a device having an interval operation mode for intermittently rotating a tank and a normal operation mode for continuously rotating a rotating tank An apparatus and a storage unit for storing execution determination data, wherein the dehydration process control circuit stores the execution determination data in the storage unit when the load amount of the motor exceeds a reference value, and the dehydration process. At the beginning of the process, the presence / absence of execution decision data in the storage means is judged. Sometimes interval operation are those wherein that is configured to perform a normal operation without performing.

(Operation) In the present invention, the presence or absence of the bubble generation factor is determined based on the load amount applied to the motor. In other words, when bubbles are generated due to the execution of the dehydration process, the rotation of the rotary tank is restricted and the load on the motor becomes large. Therefore, the presence of the bubble generation factor can be determined by the load on the motor. In this case, the bubble generation factor is caused by the drainage condition due to the installation of the washing machine. Therefore, it is predicted that the bubble generation factor will exist even when the dehydration process is executed next time. Therefore, in the present invention, when the load amount of the motor exceeds the reference value, the execution decision data is stored in the storage means, and at the beginning of the dehydration process, the presence or absence of the execution decision data in the storage means is determined. , Because the interval operation is executed only for "Yes",
The interval operation can be executed only when there is a bubble generation factor in the dehydration process, and in other cases, the interval operation need not be executed.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, in FIG. 2, 1 is an outer box of a washing machine for combined use of dehydration and 2
Is a water receiving tank arranged inside the outer box 1 via an elastic suspension mechanism 3, 4 is a rotating tank for washing and dehydrating arranged in the water receiving tank 2, and 5 is an inner bottom portion of the rotating tank 4. The agitator 6 is a motor that also serves as a washing motor and a dehydrating motor, 7 is a drive mechanism for transmitting the rotational force of the motor 6 to the agitator 5 or the rotary tank 4, and 8 is a drain valve.

Next, in FIG. 1 showing the electrical configuration, 9 is a control circuit which is a dehydration process control circuit, which is composed of a microcomputer having a writable non-volatile flag memory which is a storage means, in addition to controlling the dehydration process. It also controls the washing process. 10 is a water supply valve for supplying water into the rotary tank 4, 11 is a drive circuit for driving this water supply valve, 12 is a drive circuit for driving the drain valve 8, 13 is a drive circuit for driving the motor 6, and 14 is a start switch. An input circuit composed of a washing time setting switch or a dehydration time setting switch, 15
Is a water level sensor for detecting the water level in the rotary tank 4. Reference numeral 16 is a load current detection device which is a motor load amount detection device, which detects a current flowing through the motor 6 and inputs the detected value to the control circuit 9. The control circuit 9 has a reference value Am for the detected current value. As can be seen from FIG. 3, the reference current Am is such that the load current flowing through the motor 6 becomes abnormally large as shown by the solid line in the figure. The value is set so that this can be determined in some cases. In this case, the load current flowing through the motor 6 becomes an excessive current because the rotation of the rotary tank 4 is restricted when a large amount of bubbles are generated in the water receiving tank 2, and thus the excessive current (current exceeding the reference value Am) is The presence or absence of the bubble generation factor can be determined by detecting it. In the figure, the change in normal load current is shown by a broken line.

By the way, the control circuit 9 has an interval operation mode in which the rotation tank 4 and hence the motor 6 are intermittently driven as a dehydration operation mode in the dehydration step executed by the dehydration process control program, and a continuous rotation drive in the motor 6. Although it has a normal operation mode, the dehydration process is specifically controlled as follows. This control configuration is based on the software configuration and will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the control contents of the dehydration process. The flag shown in FIG. 4 is “1” and is used as execution decision data, but it is set to “0” at the time of shipment of the washing machine by the manufacturer. There is. When the dehydrating operation after the washing operation is performed is started to open the drain valve 8 (Step S _1), and the flag memory flag to determine whether the "1" (step S _2). When this dehydration step is performed for the first time, the flag because it is "0", in which case the (Step S ₂ "NO") drives continuously rotating the rotatable tub 4 (Step S _3), the following Motor 6
Load current (detection current) is equal to or larger than the reference value Am (Step S _4).

Here, when the load current of the motor 6 does not exceed the reference value Am, the execution time of this dehydration process is counted (step
S _5), and it determines whether or not the execution time has elapsed set time (Step S _6). Thus, when the load current of the motor 6 does not exceed the reference value, that is, when the bubble generation factor does not exist, the rotation drive of the rotary tub 4 is stopped when the execution time of the dehydration process has passed the set time ( step S ₇₎ and then, terminates the dehydration process the drain valve 8 closed (step S ₈₎ to. As mentioned above, the above-mentioned bubble generation factor is often due to good or bad drainage conditions depending on the installation state of the washing machine, so if the load current does not exceed the reference value by the execution of this first dehydration step, It is considered that the bubble generation factor does not occur even when the next dehydration process is executed.

Here, when the load current of the motor 6 exceeds the reference value Am during the execution of the first dehydration process (“YE in step S ₄
S ”), that is, when it is considered that bubbles have occurred, the rotary drive of the rotary tank 4 is stopped (step S ₉ ), and the flag of the flag memory is set to“ 1 ”. That stores the execution data (step S _10). Thereafter, to perform a bubble erasing operation (Step S ₁₁ to Step S _14). In this bubble elimination operation, the drain valve 8 is closed, the rotary tank 4 is supplied with a predetermined amount of water, the stirring 5 is rotationally driven for a predetermined time, and the drain valve 8 is opened. When the execution of the bubble erasing operation is completed, the step S ₃ and subsequent operation again. In this case, since bubbles are erased, the load current of the motor 6 is equal to or less than the reference value Am, perform the steps S ₅ to S S ₈ described above ends the dehydration step. In this way, when the load current exceeds the reference value Am in the first dehydration process, that is, when there is a bubble generation factor, this bubble generation factor is often caused by the installation state of the washing machine as described above, so the next time It is considered that bubbles also occur during the execution of the dehydration process.

Thus, if the flag of the flag memory is "1", that is, the execution determination data is stored in the first dehydration process, it is determined whether the flag memory is "1" at the beginning of the dehydration process in the next and subsequent dehydration processes. From the determination (step S ₂ ), the flag “1” is determined at this time, the interval operation having the contents described above is executed at the predetermined time T (step S ₁₅ ), and then the normal operation having the contents described above is performed. run at set time (step S ₁₆ to step S _20). As a result, in the dehydration process where foam generation factors are present and foam generation is expected,
Interval operation is executed.

If the flag of the flag memory is "0", that is, if the execution determination data is not stored in the first dehydration process, it is determined whether the flag memory is "1" at the beginning of the dehydration process in the next and subsequent dehydration processes. From (step S ₂ ), the flag “0” is determined at this time, and the normal operation (continuous rotation of the rotary tank 4 in step S ₃ ) is executed for the set time without executing the interval operation. As a result, only the normal operation is executed in the dehydration process in which it is expected that the bubble generation factor does not exist and bubbles are not generated.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a washing machine for combined use of dehydration, but, for example, some recent two-tub type washing machines perform washing and dehydration in a dehydration tank. Corresponds to a rotary tub for washing and dehydrating, so that the present invention can be applied to a two-tub type washing machine of this type.

Besides, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As will be apparent from the description of the abnormality, the present invention is designed to perform each of washing and dehydrating steps in a rotating tank for washing and dehydrating, and as a dehydrating operation mode of the dehydrating step. A dehydration process control circuit for controlling a dehydration process and a motor load for detecting a load amount applied to the dehydration motor in an inverter operation mode for intermittently rotating the rotation tank and a normal operation mode for continuously rotating the rotation tank. Quantity detection device,
Storage means for storing execution decision data,
The dehydration process control circuit stores the execution determination data in the storage unit when the load amount of the motor exceeds the reference value, and determines whether or not the execution determination data is stored in the storage unit at the beginning of the dehydration process. ", The normal dehydration operation is executed after executing the interval dehydration operation, and the normal dehydration operation is executed without executing the interval operation when" No ". Therefore, when performing the dehydration process, it is possible to determine the presence or absence of a bubble generation factor, and when there is a risk of foam generation, it is possible to automatically perform an interval operation to prevent the generation of foam, as well as the possibility of foam generation. If there is not, it is not necessary to execute the interval operation, and it can greatly contribute to shortening the time required for the dehydration process and preventing noise generation when there is no risk of foaming. Excellent effects such as.

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electrical configuration, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional side view of a washing machine, and FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of changes in load current of a motor. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control contents of the dehydration process. In the figure, 4 is a rotary tank, 6 is a motor, 9 is a control circuit (dehydration process control circuit), and 16 is a load current detection device (motor load amount detection device).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotating tank for washing and dehydrating, wherein each step of washing and dehydrating is performed, and an interval operation mode for intermittently rotating the rotating tank and a rotating tank as a dehydration operation mode of the dehydration step. A normal operation mode for continuously rotating the motor, a dehydration process control circuit for controlling the dehydration process, a motor load amount detection device for detecting a load amount applied to the dehydration motor, and a storage unit for storing execution determination data. The dehydration process control circuit stores the execution determination data in the storage unit when the load amount of the motor exceeds a reference value, and the presence or absence of the execution determination data in the storage unit at the beginning of the dehydration process. If "Yes", the interval dehydration operation is executed, then the normal dehydration operation is executed, and if "No", the interval operation is not executed normally. Washing machine, characterized in that it is configured to perform the rolling.