JPH11146999A - Drum type washing and drying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect a degree of drying of laundry without using a special sensor by comparing a weight of the laundry measured in a drying process with a weight measured at the initial time of washing and controlling the drying process using the results of comparison. SOLUTION: A weight of laundry is measured at first before all processes. The weight of washing is measured as, for example, a current value of carried into an electric motor when a drum is rotated. A drying process is started after washing and dry spinning processes are completed. Here, weights of the laundry in a tank are measured at a certain interval of time. The measurement can be done while the drum is continuously rotated in the same way as the first measurement. The obtained weight information is memorized in a weight memory device and is compared with the weight information which is obtained at the initial time and is memorized to obtain a degree of drying at the time. Moreover, the data obtained in the measurements for several times in the drying process is also memorized to predict the time up to the completion of drying using this data and display remaining time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a washing and drying integrated washing machine such as a drum type washing and drying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional general washing and drying machine mainly including a drum type washing machine is characterized in that washing to drying are automatically performed. In particular, when you put the laundry and press the start button, it detects the amount of laundry and the quality of the cloth, sets the appropriate amount of water and time, and also automatically sets the type of detergent. Some have.

However, it is not easy to estimate an appropriate time at the initial stage, especially for drying, and a method is adopted in which the drying process is completed under appropriate conditions using a temperature sensor or a humidity sensor. I have. This method is originally used in clothes dryers. For example, a known example disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-31782 aims to prevent uneven drying during drying and undried by increasing the temperature detection accuracy of a thermistor (temperature sensor) for detecting the end of drying. In addition, JP-A-5-317590
In the example described in the publication, temperature sensors are installed at the entrance and the exit of the washing tub, and an attempt is made to grasp the dry state in the tub by using a change in the detected temperature difference.

[0004]

The prior art as described above determines whether the drying of the laundry in the drum or the washing tub is completed by determining the change in the temperature in the tub or the change in the temperature difference between the inlet and the outlet. This is performed using the following method, but has the following problems.

[0005] This method does not detect the progress of drying during the progress of drying, but utilizes the change in temperature immediately before or after the end of drying. In addition, there is a delay in the response speed of the temperature sensor, and it takes time until a change in temperature is detected. For this reason, it is premised that overdrying, which continues the operation even after the drying is completed, may cause the laundry to become hot and may be damaged, and also increase the amount of electricity used.

[0006] Further, if a temperature change due to some disturbance or the like is detected during drying, the drying process may be terminated without drying. These problems are caused by using a temperature that indirectly indicates the degree of drying of the laundry inside.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of detecting the degree of drying of laundry by effectively utilizing the functions of a conventional drum type washing machine without using a special sensor or the like. The present invention provides a drum-type washer-dryer that realizes the end of drying without assuming overdrying and the prevention of non-drying using the method.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a drum type washing machine, comprising: a washing machine main body; an outer tub elastically supported by the main body and holding water; In a drum-type washing machine consisting of a porous rotating drum supported by bearings in an outer tub and enclosing laundry and rotating around a horizontal axis, and a Weight measuring means for rotating the drum before starting to obtain the weight information of the laundry from the load amount, a storage device for storing the weight information, and further storing the weight of the laundry measured during the drying step and the stored weight. The apparatus has a drying process control means constituted by a comparison device for comparing the weight and a control device for controlling the drying process using the comparison result.

As in the present invention, the degree of drying at each point in the drying process is achieved by using the dryness detecting means using a comparison between the weight of the laundry before washing and the weight of the laundry during the drying process. (Dryness).

[0010] Further, as described in claim 2 of the present invention, the end of the drying step is determined by using the remaining time of the drying step estimated from the time change of the weight of the laundry during the drying step. It is possible to reduce the possibility of overdrying at the end of the drying step or undriedness at the end of the drying step.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a general drum type washing machine, and a drum type washing machine according to the present invention also has a configuration as shown in FIG. The structure of the drum type washing machine and the flow of dry air will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a frame of a washing machine;
Is elastically supported on the frame 1 by the suspension spring 4 and retains water in the outer tub 3. The outer tub 3 is located in the outer tub 2 and is supported on the outer tub 2 by the bearing 13 so as to be rotatable about a horizontal axis as a rotation axis. A drum 5 is a door for taking in and out the laundry, 6 is a bellows mainly for preventing the laundry from jumping out and leaking water, 7 is a lifter for lifting the laundry, and 8 is a damper for absorbing and reducing the vibration of the outer tub 2. is there. The drum 3 is connected so that power from a motor 10 is transmitted by a belt 12 and a pulley 11 to rotate.

The arrows shown in the figure indicate the flow of dry air. The air sent from the drying fan 15 is
It is heated by the heater 16 and sent through the drying duct 17 into the tank. The air moistened by absorbing the moisture of the laundry in the tub is returned to the drying fan through the condensing bellows 18 and the condensing duct 19. During this time, in the condensation duct 19, moisture is condensed by heat exchange with the cooling water supplied from the cooling water supply pipe 25, and the air is dehumidified to become dry air. The condensed water is discharged through the water pipe 20 together with the cooling water.

Next, a conventional method of determining the end of drying and a method of determining the degree of drying according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a method of judging the end of drying using a temperature sensor installed in a bath, which is one of the conventional methods of judging the end of drying, using transition of a temperature change in a drying process. It is.

When the drying step is started, after passing through a preheating section, it enters into a drying progress section in which the temperature is constant. Immediately before and after the end of the drying, the temperature in the tank rises, and as shown in the figure, the drying step is ended when a certain temperature rise ΔT is detected. In this method, the temperature rise immediately before the end of drying or after the end of drying is used.
After the laundry is dry, you must continue driving. Further, a temperature change due to a disturbance during drying may be detected, and the drying step may be terminated without drying. Therefore, it is necessary to increase ΔT to prevent the drying step.

For this reason, the laundry is over-dried, and there is a problem that the laundry is damaged by high temperature and the amount of power consumption increases. Further, since the temperature is kept constant during the drying, it is difficult to predict the drying rate, the time until the end of the drying, and the like.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the basic idea of the method for detecting the degree of drying related to the present invention by using the time change of the weight of the laundry.

The curve in the figure shows the transition of the weight of the laundry, and the weight decreases as the drying time elapses. The weight of the laundry is measured before the start of washing, and is also measured at certain time intervals during the drying process, and is stored in the storage device. By comparing the weight before the start of washing with the weight at a certain point in time, it is possible to predict the degree of drying (dryness) at that point and the remaining drying time predicted from past data to some extent accurately. According to this method, it is possible to predict while correcting the drying end time, and it is possible to know the degree of drying without being affected by a local temperature change in the tank due to disturbance or the like. The time until the end of the drying can be used as a time display for notifying the user of the time until the end of the drying.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a control system constituting the present invention. Numeral 31 in the figure is a control device for controlling all processes from washing to drying, including a weight storage device 33 for storing the weight of the laundry, and a comparison / arithmetic device for performing weight comparison, prediction of drying time, and the like. 32. Numeral 34 denotes a weight measuring device for measuring the weight of the laundry, and for example, a device for measuring a current value supplied to the electric motor can be used, but the present invention is not limited thereto. 36
Is a display device that conveys various information to a user, and displays a remaining time and a degree of dryness in a drying process.

Next, an embodiment of the control flow of the drying process using the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, the weight of the laundry is measured at the beginning of each process. The weight of the laundry is
For example, it is measured as a value of a current supplied to the electric motor when the drum is rotated. This weight information is stored in the storage device.

After the washing and dehydration are completed, the drying process is started.
In the drying step, the weight of the laundry in the tub is measured at certain time intervals. This measurement can be performed while the drum is continuously rotated, similarly to the weight measurement performed first, and does not hinder the interruption of the drying process. The weight information obtained in the drying process is also stored in the weight storage device 33, and is compared with the initially obtained and stored weight information to determine the degree of dryness at that time.
Also, several measurement data during the drying process are stored, and the time until the end of the drying is predicted using this, and the drying time is set based on the time, and is displayed as the remaining time. I do.

Since the above control is repeatedly performed for each weight measurement, it can be corrected. When the end of the drying is approached, the accuracy can be improved by shortening the time interval. The end of the drying step may be determined, for example, when the drying rate with respect to the initial weight reaches 100%.

The degree of dryness is defined as follows.

(Dryness) = (Initial weight) / (Current weight) × 100 (%) FIG. 6 is applicable to a case in which wet laundry is consistently performed from washing to drying. 7 is a flowchart showing an embodiment in which the dryness detecting means using weight measurement of the present invention is combined with a conventional method using a temperature sensor.

As shown in the figure, a switch for “power saving drying (normal)” and “drying firmly (wet from the beginning)” that can be selected by the user at the start of all the processes is prepared, and the switch is wet from the beginning. The user is instructed to select "dry firmly" for the washed laundry. As shown in the figure, when the user instructs "power saving drying (normal)", the drying end method using the drying degree detecting means according to the present invention is selected, and when "solid drying" is selected, overdrying is performed. By using the conventional method of performing the above, a drum type washing machine which can cope with the above-mentioned laundry can be obtained.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the weight measuring device for measuring the weight information of the laundry, the storage device for storing the weight information and the weight information are used. By using a control device including a comparison / arithmetic unit for performing comparisons and calculations, by configuring a dryness detection unit that uses a comparison between the weight of the laundry before washing and the weight of the laundry during the drying step, the drying is performed. The degree of drying (degree of drying) at each point in the process can be known.

Further, as described in claim 2 of the present invention, the end of the drying step is determined by using the remaining time of the drying step predicted from the time change of the weight of the laundry at the time of the drying step. An energy-saving drum-type washing machine that can prevent overdrying at the end of the drying process, eliminate damage to laundry due to high temperature, and reduce power consumption can be realized. Further, the possibility of uneven drying at the end of the drying step such as undried can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a drum type washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram relating to a conventional drying end determination method.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a method of determining a drying condition according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a drying process using the drying condition detecting method of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an embodiment in which the present invention and a conventional method are combined.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Frame, 2 ... Outer tank, 3 ... Drum, 4 ... Suspension spring, 5
... doors, 6 ... bellows, 7 ... lifters, 8 ... dampers, 9 ...
Legs, 10 motor, 11 pulley, 12 belt, 13
... Bearing cylinder, 15 ... Dry fan, 16 ... Dry heater, 17
... drying duct, 18 ... condensing bellows, 19 ... condensing duct, 20 ... drain pipe, 21 ... drain pump, 22 ... drain port,
23: water supply valve, 24: intake pipe, 25: cooling water supply pipe.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A washing machine main body, an outer tub elastically supported by the main body to hold water, and located in the outer tub and supported by the outer tub by bearings, including laundry and rotating about a horizontal axis. In a drum type washing machine including a porous rotating drum, a drive system, a water supply / drainage system, a drying system, a control system, etc., a weight measuring device for measuring weight information of laundry, a storage device for storing the weight information, and a weight Consisting of a control unit including a comparison / arithmetic unit that performs comparison and arithmetic using information, and having a dryness detecting means by comparing / calculating the weight of the laundry measured in the drying process and the weight measured in the initial stage of washing. A drum type washing machine characterized by the following. 2. The drum type washing machine according to claim 1, wherein the end of the drying step is determined by using the remaining time of the drying step estimated from the time change of the weight of the laundry during the drying step.