JPH07227493A - Operating method for washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a washing machine capable of dehydrating and rinsing without wasting time or water by controlling dehydrating and rinsing corresponding to the quality of the laundry. CONSTITUTION:The quality of the laundry is detected (step A7) and based on this detected quality of the laundry, the set conditions dehydrating and rinsing, namely, the supply of water during dehydrating and rinsing and the number of times of dehydrating cycles are changed (steps A8 and A9). Thus, the process of dehydrating and rinsing is executed corresponding to the quality (such as cotton or chemical fiber) of the laundry.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a washing machine, and more particularly to a water-saving type washing machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a general automatic washing machine, rinsing after washing is usually performed a plurality of times, for example, twice, and at the beginning, so-called water rinsing is performed in which water supply is continued even after supplying a predetermined amount of water. In the second time, so-called rinsing is performed so that the water supply is stopped after supplying a predetermined amount of water. For this reason, in rinsing, the softening agent is put into the washing / dehydrating tank and the softening agent treatment of the laundry is performed.

Recently, as a water-saving fully automatic washing machine, in order to suppress the amount of water used during rinsing as much as possible,
The first rinse has been commercialized as a dehydrated rinse instead of a water-filled rinse. In this dehydration rinse, water is supplied to the washing / dehydrating tub so that the water soaks into the entire laundry, and if soaked, the water supply is stopped and the washing / dehydrating tub is rotated at high speed to perform dehydration. Rinsing is carried out with the water. Further, in this dehydration rinsing, the water needs to be supplied only to such an extent that the water soaks into the laundry, the amount of water used can be suppressed, and water can be saved.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-42000 discloses a technique in which water supply and dehydration during the dehydration and rinsing are one cycle, and the number of cycles and the cycle time are changed according to the amount of laundry. Is disclosed. As a result, it is possible to appropriately perform dehydration rinsing according to the amount of laundry.

However, in addition to the amount of laundry, the quality of laundry such as cotton and synthetic fibers is an important factor in controlling dehydration rinsing, but dehydration rinsing control is performed according to the quality of laundry. No washing machine has been proposed yet.

[0006] For example, cotton is difficult to rinse, and if the number and time of the water supply and dehydration cycles during dehydration rinsing are determined according to this cotton, the number of cycles and the above cycles are used when dehydrating and rinsing synthetic laundry. Time is unnecessarily large or long, and time and water are wasted.

[0007]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to provide a washing machine capable of controlling dehydration rinsing according to the quality of laundry and performing dehydration rinsing without wasting time or water. is there.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a washing step of supplying water to a washing / dehydrating tub to perform washing, and after the washing step, water is supplied to the washing / dehydrating tub. A dehydration rinsing step of performing a cycle of supplying water to the extent that it soaks into the laundry and performing dehydration by rotating the washing / dehydration tub at a high speed, a load detection step of detecting the quality of the laundry, and a load detection step A method of operating a washing machine, comprising: a condition changing step of changing the set condition of the dehydration rinsing step based on the quality of the laundry.

Further, as a structure of claim 2, the set condition is a method of operating a washing machine, which is the number of cycles in the dehydration rinsing step.

[0010]

The quality of the laundry is detected, and based on the detected quality of the laundry, set conditions for dehydration rinsing, specifically, the number of cycles of water supply and dehydration during dehydration rinsing are changed. Accordingly, when the quality of the laundry is cotton or synthetic fiber, dehydration rinsing suitable for this is performed, and waste of time and water is suppressed while ensuring a predetermined dehydration rinsing performance.

[0011]

FIG. 1 shows the structure of a fully automatic washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 is a machine frame, 2 is an outer tub suspended and supported by four suspension bars 3 in the machine frame 1, and 4 is a vibration-proof spring or the like, and is interposed between each suspension bar 3 and the outer tub 2. The inserted anti-vibration device 5 is a washing / dehydrating tub which has a number of dewatering holes (not shown) in its periphery and is rotatably supported in the outer tub 2. 6 is a rotary blade rotatably arranged at the bottom of the washing / dehydrating tub 5, and 7 is a drive motor connected to the washing / dehydrating tub 5 and the rotary wing 6 via a power transmission mechanism 8. The motor 7 rotates only the rotary blades 6 during washing and normal rinsing, and rotates both the washing / dewatering tub 5 and the rotary blades 6 at high speed during dehydration (including dehydration during dehydration rinse). Reference numeral 9 is an electromagnetic water supply valve provided in the middle of the water supply nozzle 10, and 11 is an electromagnetic drainage valve provided in the middle of the drainage pipe 12. Reference numeral 13 denotes a water level sensor connected to an air trap 14 at the bottom of the outer tub 2 via a pressure hose. The water level sensor 13 detects the water level in the washing / dehydrating tub 5 and supplies it to the washing / dehydrating tub 5. You can see the amount of water.

FIG. 2 shows a block circuit of the washing machine. 15
Is a control unit including a microcomputer that controls the washing machine. The control unit 15 controls the drive motor 7, the electromagnetic water supply valve 9, and the electromagnetic drain valve based on the key input signal from the key input unit 16, the detection result of the water level sensor 13, the detection result of the load detection circuit 17, and the like. 11 is driven and controlled.

The load detection circuit 17 detects the current flowing through the drive motor 7 during washing. Then, the control unit 15
Compares the detection output of the load detection circuit 17 with a predetermined reference value, and determines the amount of laundry by its magnitude. Furthermore,
The load detection circuit 17 samples and detects some current values flowing in the drive motor 7 at the time of washing, and the control unit 15
Determines the quality of the laundry by obtaining the variation degree of the sampled current value (difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the current value). The load detection circuit 17 may detect the current during inertial rotation when the drive of the drive motor 7 is stopped during washing.

FIG. 3 shows a basic operating procedure of the washing machine.
The control unit 15 first executes the washing process, then sequentially executes the dehydration rinsing process and the normal rinsing process (reserve rinsing), and finally executes the dehydration process.

FIG. 4 shows a flow of a program incorporated in the control unit 15. The operation of the washing machine will be described below with reference to FIG. When a start key signal arrives based on the operation of the start key on the key input unit 16, the control unit 1
5 starts the operation, and first executes the washing process. In this washing process, the control unit 15 supplies water by opening the water supply valve 9 until the water level sensor 13 detects a predetermined water level (until a predetermined amount of water is accumulated in the washing / dehydrating tank 5) ( S1 step). When a predetermined water level is detected, the water supply valve 9
Is closed. Then, when a predetermined amount of water is accumulated, the control unit 15 rotates only the rotary blades 6 at a low speed under the drive of the drive motor 7, thereby washing is performed (step S2).

When the washing process is completed, the controller 15 then executes a dehydration rinsing process. In the dewatering and rinsing step, first, the drain valve 11 is opened to drain the washing water at the time of washing, and the washing and dewatering tub 5 is rotated at high speed together with the rotary vanes 6 to dewater the laundry (step S3). When this is finished, dehydration rinsing is executed (S4 step). The drain valve 11 maintains the open state.

That is, referring to FIG. 6, for a certain time t, the controller 15 opens the water supply valve 9 to supply water. During this water supply, the control unit 15 repeats driving the driving motor 7 for 1 second and stopping for 5 seconds. At this time, washing and dewatering tank 5
Repeats to enter the inertial rotation state immediately when it tries to rise to the high-speed rotation state together with the rotor blades 6. After all, the washing and dehydrating tub 5 rotates slowly.

Therefore, water is supplied while the washing / dehydrating tub 5 slowly rotates, and the laundry in the washing / dehydrating tub 5 is almost evenly flooded with water, so that the entire laundry is impregnated with water. When the time t has elapsed, the water is sufficiently soaked in, and the laundry is in a state of containing a sufficient amount of water.

After that, the water supply valve 9 is closed, and the controller 15 drives the drive motor 7 for a certain time t1 to rotate the washing / dehydrating tub 5 at high speed for dehydration. As a result, the detergent is splashed with the water soaked well.

Assuming that the above-described series of flow of supplying water while slowly rotating the washing / dehydrating tub 5 and then dehydrating it is one cycle, this cycle is repeatedly executed a plurality of times in the dehydration rinsing in step S4. .

When the dehydration rinsing step is completed, the control section 15 subsequently executes a normal rinsing (reserving rinsing) step. In this process, as in the case of the washing process, the control unit 15 opens the water supply valve 9 to supply water until the water level sensor 13 detects a predetermined water level (S5 step).
The drain valve 11 is closed in advance just before the dehydration rinsing process. When the predetermined water level is detected, the water supply valve 9 is closed.
Then, when a predetermined amount of water is accumulated, the control unit 15 rotates only the rotary blades 6 under the drive of the drive motor 7, whereby the rinsing is performed (step S6).

When the normal rinsing process is completed, the control unit 15 finally executes the dehydration process. In the dehydration process, first, the drain valve 11 is opened to drain the water for rinsing (S7 step). When drainage is completed, control unit 1
In step 5, the washing / dehydrating tub 5 is rotated at high speed to perform dehydration (step S8). The drain valve 11 maintains the open state.
The operation ends when the dehydration process ends.

In step S2 of the washing process, the control unit 15 also performs control along the flow of the program shown in FIG. That is, the control unit 15 inputs the drive motor current value at the time of washing detected by the load detection circuit 17 (step A1), compares this current value with a predetermined reference value, and based on the magnitude thereof. Perform load detection.
Specifically, the amount of laundry is classified into large, medium, and small to determine (A2 step). Larger amount of laundry is 3.5
It is Kg or more. In case of medium, 2.5Kg or more 3.5K
It is less than g. In the case of small, it is less than 2.5 Kg.

Then, the control unit 15 changes the time required for one cycle consisting of water supply and dehydration, which is one of the setting conditions for the dehydration rinse, depending on whether the amount of laundry is large, medium or small. Specifically, it is changed to 5 minutes, 4 minutes, and 3 minutes (A3, A4, A5 steps). Instead of the required time for one cycle, the required time t for water supply during one cycle or the required time t1 for dehydration during one cycle may be changed depending on whether the laundry amount is large, medium or small.

Next, the control section 15 inputs a sampling of several drive motor current values at the time of washing detected by the load detection circuit 17 (step A6), and the degree of variation in the sampled current values (current value). The difference between the maximum value and the minimum value is obtained, and the degree of variation is compared with a predetermined reference value, and further load detection, that is, the quality of the laundry is detected based on the magnitude. Specifically, when the degree of variation is larger than the reference value, it is determined that the quality of the laundry is cotton, and when it is the other way around, it is determined that the quality of the laundry is synthetic fiber (A7 step). . This is based on the characteristic that the variation degree is large for cotton and the variation degree is small for synthetic fiber.

Then, the control unit 15 changes the number of repetitions of the cycle of water supply and dehydration, which is one of the set conditions for the dehydration rinse, depending on the quality of the laundry, that is, cotton or synthetic fiber. Specifically, in the case of cotton, the number of repetitions is changed to 3 times, and in the case of synthetic fiber, the number of repetitions is changed to 2 times (steps A8 and A9). Instead of the number of times the cycle is repeated, the required time for one cycle, the required time t for water supply during one cycle, and the required time t1 for dehydration during one cycle are changed according to the quality of the laundry. Is also good. In this case, each required time will change based on both the quantity and quality of the laundry.

Under the set conditions (the required time for one cycle and the number of cycle repetitions) thus changed according to the quantity and quality of the laundry, the dehydration rinsing is executed in step S4. Therefore, the amount of laundry (large
Dehydrated rinsing suitable for medium / small) and quality (cotton or synthetic fiber) is performed, and it is possible to reduce waste of time and water while ensuring a predetermined dewatering rinsing performance.

In the above embodiment, the rinsing process is usually performed in the rinsing step, but water rinsing may be performed instead of the rinsing process.

[0029]

According to the present invention, the quality of laundry is detected,
Based on the detected quality of the laundry, the setting conditions for the dehydration rinsing, specifically, the number of cycles of water supply and dehydration during the dehydration rinsing are changed, and therefore, the quality of the laundry (cotton or synthetic fiber) is changed. ) Appropriate dehydration rinsing can be performed, and it is possible to suppress waste of time and water while ensuring a predetermined dehydration rinsing performance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a fully automatic washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of the washing machine.

FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing a basic operating procedure of the washing machine.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a program incorporated in a control unit of the washing machine.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a program of a main part during a washing process, which is incorporated in a control unit of the washing machine.

FIG. 6 is a timing diagram showing a drive timing of a main part at the time of spin-drying and rinsing of the washing machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Washing / dehydrating tub 7 Drive motor 9 Electromagnetic water supply valve 11 Electromagnetic drainage valve 13 Water level sensor 15 Control unit 17 Load detection circuit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A washing step of supplying water to a washing / dehydrating tub to carry out washing, and after this washing step, water is supplied to the washing / dehydrating tub to such an extent that water soaks into the laundry and the washing / dehydrating tub is opened. A dehydration rinsing step that performs a cycle of spinning at high speed, a load detection step that detects the quality of laundry,
A method of operating a washing machine, comprising: a condition changing step of changing a setting condition of the dehydration rinsing step based on the quality of the laundry detected in the load detecting step. 2. The set condition is the number of cycles in the dehydration rinsing step.
How to operate the washing machine described in.