JPH08117493A - Clothes drier and method which judges drying time of clothes - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a measurement/control method and device capable of easily, highly accurately and automatically calculating drying time for a desired drying degree of clothes. SOLUTION: Relating to the method of automatically controlling a drying cycle until reaching a desired drying level in this clothes drier, an automatic drying cycle control method calculates and judges the required drying time by processing the plural initial temperatures (tl, t2,..., tn) of a hot blast used for drying the clothes and the time from the point of time of starting the drying cycle corresponding to them. The difference of the conditions of the drier and a drying object and a drying experiment result corresponding to it are taken into consideration and plural historical data obtained in previous experiments are also used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention does not terminate the drying process based on a preset time set by a user or a dryer itself via a timer, but detects actual moisture remaining on clothes to be dried. The present invention relates to a drying process for finishing the drying process based on the amount, particularly a clothes drying process. The remarkable feature of this method is that not only can the time required to bring the clothes to a predetermined dryness be judged at the very early stage of the process, but also this judgment can be made in a completely automatic manner by devising the operation. It is in a place where it can be done.

[0002]

2. Description of the Prior Art In the prior art, clothes dryers are known which are equipped with a device for automatically calculating the time required to achieve a given dryness level or degree of dryness. For example,
Bosch-Siemen's House Gelate
S. Hausgerate) in DE 30 30 864, the drying time is determined by calculating the temperature gradient between two consecutive time points in the initial temperature rise phase, based on the type of clothes to be dried. A method for automatically drying clothes is disclosed.

However, in such a method, the user must be fully aware of the type and type of fabric to be placed in the dryer drum and dried, and this information must be entered into the dryer itself. What must be done is a major issue. Furthermore, in the case of this method, the calculation is based on a single measured value, namely the initial temperature gradient, so that due to the effect of other factors affecting the drying time,
The accuracy will be extremely low.

Similarly, the clothes drying method disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-52598 of Hitachi is based merely on the measurement and treatment of the temperature rising gradient of the hot air used for drying. Therefore, it has the same basic problems as the above method.

Matsushita, Japan, JP 62-62-
No. 148698 describes several other types of information such as the temperature gradients in the experiments and the actual drying stage of the drying process and the moisture content and contact type detected by the appropriate sensor. And a clothes dryer programmed based on

In the case of such a dryer, the accuracy of the automatic calculation of the expected time required to bring the clothes to a predetermined drying level is actually high, but it is still necessary to use an extra sensor. Not only will it become a complication, but the associated complication of function and structure will be a major issue.

GB-A-2034451 shows a method by which the drying stage of a clothes dryer can be terminated on the basis of the measurement and analysis of the temperature rise gradient of the exhaust gas. However, the temperature rise pattern also depends on a number of other important factors whose effects are not yet known, so that in practice such a method is considerably less accurate.

[0008]

Therefore, after the desired degree of dryness has been preset, it is necessary to bring the garment to the preset degree of dryness solely on the basis of a simple temperature measurement at each subsequent time point. While time is automatically calculated with reasonable accuracy, it not only reduces the accuracy that occurs when a single temperature gradient is calculated, but also prevents the function and structure from being complicated by using an extra sensor. And the need to enter information about the type of fabric into the dryer, and to achieve these objectives with reliable, safe and low cost methods and means and readily available techniques. A possible clothes drying method is desirable, and indeed, the main object of the present invention is to provide such a clothes drying method.

[0009]

According to the present invention, in a clothes dryer, there is provided a method for automatically controlling a drying cycle until a large number of objects to be dried reach a desired degree of drying. It is set to the dryness to be achieved at the end of the cycle, after which the desired dryness is further processed so that the drying cycle ends as soon as the garment reaches the desired dryness. In a method for automatically controlling a drying cycle including steps, a series of initial temperatures (t1, t2 ... t) of hot air used for drying the clothes in the initial step of the drying cycle.
n), a measurement time point corresponding to the temperature value, the desired dryness that the garment should reach, and a plurality of pre-stored parameters identified on the basis of a number of experimental data. There is provided a method for automatically controlling a drying cycle of a clothes dryer, which is capable of calculating a drying time required to achieve the preset dryness only by processing.

Further, preferably, the temperature of the hot air used for drying the clothes is measured when the hot air is discharged from the clothes to be dried.

Further preferably, in any one of the above methods, the treatment is performed at the initial temperature (t1, t2, ... T).
a function with at least some of n) as parameters,
This is done by solving a plurality of fixed parameters that are characteristic of various operation modes of the dryer when drying different objects to be dried.

Here again, preferably, a large number of objects to be dried in which the fixed parameters (a1, a2, ... Ak) are variable in the dryer at least in weight, type of clothes and initial water content are assumed. The results of a plurality of experiments performed by the above method are processed according to a learning algorithm.

According to the present invention, it is possible to operate in accordance with any one of the above methods and automatically terminate the drying cycle as soon as the drying time calculated according to the method has elapsed. A clothes dryer is provided.

[0014] Preferably, immediately after the end of the last temperature measurement time (tn) in the initial stage of the drying cycle, information on the time remaining until the completion of the drying process is made available. It would be even better if possible.

[0015]

The contents of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the following examples do not limit the present invention.

In the following description, the term "water" shall be used similarly to mean wash or rinse water. However, the present invention is also applied to a composite type washer / dryer for washing and drying clothes, and to the drying stage and the apparatus and mechanism of such a washer / dryer used only in the drying stage or only in the drying stage. In addition, as can be easily understood by those skilled in the art, the contents expressed using these terms do not impair the clarity and clarity of the following description even with such simplification. Should not be.

With particular reference to FIG. 1, which shows a preferred embodiment of the invention, the method according to the invention and its operating principle are explained below.

The method of the present invention is based on the calculation of the drying time which is carried out when the first stage of the drying cycle is finished and the inside of the dryer actually starts to reach the steady-state temperature condition.

From the experiments carried out in this connection, the temperature of the hot air at the outlet of the drying drum was chosen as the preferred parameter of the method on which this calculation is based. However, the temperature is not the only parameter of the method.

FIG. 1 shows a general change pattern of the temperature during the drying process.

In the initial heating stage, the temperature of the hot air rises somewhat, but the actual temperature change is affected by a number of major factors, including:

-Weight and type of clothes to be dried-initial water content of clothes-structure of dryer-both initial temperature of the structure and clothes-rated output of heating element-flow velocity of hot air-heat capacity of structure-others By conducting a sufficient number of drying experiments while systematically changing the factors, the shape of the temperature curve naturally changes depending on the individual experimental conditions, but there is a sufficient correlation with the drying time. all right. In particular,
The final drying conditions of the experiment are well known as "iron drying" and "wardrobe drying" which indicate how to treat the clothes after drying.

In order to take advantage of such a clear correlation, a calculation algorithm is devised which directly quantitatively links the shape of the temperature rise curve in the initial heating stage with the time required to dry the clothes to a preset level. Was done.

The principle of the neural network is used in this algorithm. The principles of neural networks are well known to those skilled in the art, but will be more fully demonstrated by the following examples. However, the following example does not limit this.

Regarding the principle of the neural network, for example, "Neural Nets" by Monik Koehle, Springer Verlag Wien-New York (Springer Ver.
lag Wien-New York) and "Neural network experiments on personal computers and terminals (NEURALNETWOR
K EXPERIMENTS ON PERSONAL COMPUTERS AND WORKSTATIO
NS) ”.

The neural network technology will be described below.

As a simplified model of the function of the brain, it is presumed that the stimulated neuron stimulates an adjacent neuron, this action is repeated repeatedly, and finally the final output neuron is stimulated. (See Figure 2).

For example, neuron A1 receives six inputs, combines them and sends four outputs to neurons B1, B2, B3, B4. The manner in which A1 combines three inputs to produce an output is given by:

Output = 1 / {1 + exp [(a1.input 1
+ A2 ・ Input 2 + a3 ・ Input 3 + a4 ・ Input 4 + a5 ・
Input 5) -b]} The value of the neural network is the coefficients a1, a2.
..By appropriately selecting etc. and b, the activity of the body tissue can be reproduced, that is, the output signal from the input signal can be output in the same manner as the actual body tissue responds to the input signal. The point is that it can be calculated.

Therefore, the simulation of body tissue is summarized in the following tasks.

-Selection of the number of layers of the neuron layer-Selection of the number of neurons for each layer-Selection of appropriate coefficients a1, a2 ... b For this last step, the input data in the experiment and the output data related to it are selected. Based on the coefficients a1, a2 ...
It can be automated anyway by using a commercially available calculation software package that can analyze b.

A method of applying the neural network technique to the clothes drying algorithm will be described below.

An automatic calculation control device such as a microprocessor stores a desired drying level in its own storage device and corresponds to the respective time points t1, t2 ... tn in the first stage of the drying cycle. A plurality of temperatures T1, T2, ... Tn detected at regular intervals are also stored (see FIG. 3).

Based on the following three factors, it is possible to obtain an algebraic function capable of calculating and transmitting the drying time required for achieving the preset dryness.

-Measured temperature data-Other parameters a1, a2 stored in advance
Ak-desired dryness The function is a respective experimental data obtained in each dryer capable of carrying out the process using a learning algorithm according to the principles of a neural network (eg "perceptron" type). While classifying the historical data set in an appropriate discriminative manner by treating the most important parameter called the difference between the instantaneous value, the average value and the temperature value forming the historical data set (based on thermodynamic requirements Selected and empirically fine-tuned) and all of the most important factors affecting the drying process, such as the amount and type of clothes to be dried, room temperature and dryer temperature, dryer heat capacity, etc. To be sequentially and systematically changed and stored with the experimentally measured drying time for each drying level. I obtained.

The difference compared to the conventional methods and techniques is that in the method according to the invention, instead of the notion of temperature gradient (which is the basis of the patent), the notion of historical data set and Corresponding mathematical and experimental techniques are used and various methods of classifying historical data sets are applied in terms of correlating the results with the time required for drying.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that numerous other improvements and optimizations can be made in using the above method using techniques and knowledge well known in the art. Thus, although the present invention has been described in general terms, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that many more variations and modifications, including structure and shape, are possible. Should not be considered limited by the above examples. Therefore, modifications that are understood by those skilled in the art and that do not depart from the scope of the invention and its true meaning should be construed as falling within the scope of the appended claims.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is an excellent effect that automatic control of the drying cycle of the clothes dryer can be achieved with high accuracy and easily.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a graph showing a general temperature curve of hot air in a clothes dryer.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a neural network structure similar to a clothes dryer according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph of the graph of FIG. 1 showing the sampling of the initial measurement time point and its associated temperature in the method according to the invention.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Fabio Marcuzzi Pordenone 33170, Via Flora, Italy 3 (72) Inventor Francesco Dorius Italy, Udine, Cervignano del Friuli 33052, Via Torino 26

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method for automatically controlling a drying cycle in a clothes dryer, wherein a large number of objects to be dried reach a desired degree of drying, wherein the dryer is to be achieved at the end of the cycle. In the drying cycle automatic control method, the drying cycle is further set so that the drying cycle is finished as soon as the clothes are set to the desired drying degree. In the initial stage of the drying cycle, a series of initial temperatures (t1, t2 ... tn) of hot air used for drying the clothes, a measurement time point corresponding to the temperature value, and the clothes to be reached. Desired dryness,
By simply processing a plurality of data indicating a plurality of pre-stored parameters identified on the basis of a large number of experimental data, it becomes possible to calculate the drying time required to reach the preset dryness. A method for automatically controlling a drying cycle of a clothes dryer, comprising: 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the temperature of the hot air used to dry the garment is measured when the hot air is exhausted from the garment to be dried. 3. The initial temperature (t1, t
2 ... Tn) and a plurality of fixed parameters characterizing various operation modes of the dryer when drying different objects to be dried. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: 4. The fixed parameters (a1, a2, ...
Ak) is obtained by processing the results of a plurality of experiments performed on the dryer with a large number of objects to be dried, the weight, type of clothes and initial water content being variable according to a learning algorithm. The method of claim 3, wherein the method is performed. 5. It is possible to operate according to the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and to automatically terminate the drying cycle as soon as the drying time calculated according to the method has elapsed. A clothes dryer characterized by 6. Immediately after the end of the last temperature measurement time (tn) in the initial stage of the drying cycle, it is possible to make available information on the time remaining until the completion of the drying process. The clothes dryer according to claim 5, which is characterized in that.