JPS60225598A - Control of water supply of washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a control method for automatically supplying an appropriate amount of water to a washing machine.

[Prior art and its problems]

The conventional method for controlling the water supply of a washing machine is, for example, by presetting two to three levels of water level according to the amount of laundry, and setting the water level by the user as appropriate, and starting the water supply. When a predetermined water level is reached, a pressure sensor detects the water level and automatically stops water supply.

However, with this method, the user has to measure the amount of laundry each time to set the water level appropriate for the amount of laundry, which is time-consuming, so it is not used often. Regardless of the amount of water, the water level was often set at the highest level, resulting in a waste of water.

In addition, since the water level is set by the user's judgment, there is a risk that a large amount of laundry may be washed at a low water level, causing damage to the fabric.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the disadvantages of the conventional example, and to automatically supply an appropriate amount of water without requiring the user to manually measure the amount of laundry and manually set the water level. To provide a water supply control method for a washing machine that does not use the rotational speed of an agitating blade, which tends to become unstable, as a detection element, saves time for detection, prevents wasteful use of water resources, and improves washing efficiency. It is in.

[Key points of the invention]

However, according to the present invention, the purpose of the lever is to use a sensor that determines the maximum water level, and a sensor that determines the highest water level and an agitator blade after the drive motor is stopped, in an agitator-type washing machine that automatically supplies water into the washing tub and washes the clothes by rotating the agitator blades in forward and reverse directions alternately. A stirring blade inertial rotational movement amount detection means is provided to detect the amount of rotational movement due to inertia of the stirring blade, and after water is supplied for a certain period of time, the stirring blade is operated until the inertial rotational movement of the stirring blade reaches a predetermined amount or the water level reaches the highest water level. This is achieved by repeating water supply and stirring blade operation for a certain period of time.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional side view of an agitation type washing machine using the water supply control method of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the same. First, the overall structure of the washing machine will be explained. A watertight washing tub fixed inside the outer case (1) is shown, and a washing tub (2) is shown.
) A stirring blade (4) is attached to a rotating shaft (3) provided through a bearing (5) at the bottom of the washing tub (2) of the rotating shaft (3).
A pulley (6) is attached to the downwardly protruding part.

In addition, a washing drive motor (7) is located below the washing tub (2).
), and a belt (10) was passed between the pulley (9) attached to the rotating shaft (8) of the motor (7) and the pulley (6).

The pulley (6) has a plurality of detection holes (11) formed circumferentially at predetermined intervals for detecting the rotation angle and speed of the stirring blade (4).

In the figure, (12) is a rotation angle detector of the pulley (6) installed near the pulley (6). The light emitting part (12a) and the light receiving part (12b) are formed in the same manner.

In addition, a water supply valve (13) is provided at the top of the washing tub (2), and a pressure sensor (14) is provided to detect the highest water level when the water supply valve (13) supplies water into the washing tub (2). Ta.

FIG. 3 is a block circuit diagram of an embodiment of the method of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the same as above, which includes a storage circuit (15), an arithmetic processing circuit (16), an input control section (17), and an output control section (
The water supply control circuit (19) is configured with the water level detection signal from the pressure sensor (14) and the rotation angle detector (12).
) is introduced into the input control section (17), and the output signal from the input control section (17) is input to the arithmetic processing circuit (16).
), the arithmetic processing circuit (16) and the memory circuit (15)
Signals were sent back and forth between the two. In addition, an arithmetic processing circuit (16
) is introduced into the drive circuit of the water supply valve (13) and washing drive motor (7) via the output control section (18), and the control circuit (19) is connected to the power switch (20).
It is connected to.

Next, to describe the memory contents set in the memory circuit (15), the forward/reverse rotation flag of the motor (7) (step 100
), and also sets the reference pulse number Po to be generated corresponding to the rotation angle of the stirring blade (4) °ζ (step 101).
This number of pulses PO is stored in the register XO (step 102''), and after the operation of the stirring blade (4) is stopped at the appropriate water store, the reference number of pulses P1 generated when the stirring blade (4) rotates due to inertia is stored. is set and stored in register X1 (steps 105 and 106).Furthermore, the water supply valve (13
) to set the water supply time T1 and register Y1.
(Steps 107, 108>).

Next, the water supply operation of the present invention will be explained. To wash the laundry, put the laundry and detergent into the washing tub (2), turn on the power switch (20), and rotate the motor (7) at the correct speed. (Right) When the rotation operation flag F1 is set to 1, the pressure sensor (14) first determines whether the water level in the washing tub (2) has reached the maximum water level (step 109).
), at this point, water supply has not yet started, so no detection signal is output from the pressure sensor (14), and the water supply valve (13) is opened by the output signal from the control circuit (19), and the washing tub (2) Step 110: Water supply to the interior begins.
), and at the same time, the measurement timer starts measuring the water supply elapsed time T2 (step 111). This water supply elapsed time'r2
is the water supply time T1 (
Yt) is compared with the arithmetic processing circuit (16), and Yl>T2
That is, when the water supply time Tl (Yl) has not yet been reached, water supply is continued, and when Y1≦T2, that is, the elapsed water supply time T2 reaches the water supply time T1 (Yz) (step 1
12) The water supply valve (13) is automatically closed by the output signal from the control circuit (19) to stop the water supply (step 113).

Next, the rotation flag of motor (7) is positive (right) of Fl-1.
Since it is set to rotate (step 114), the rotation shaft (8) of the motor (7) starts to rotate in the positive (right) direction (step 115), and this rotation causes the pulley (9) and belt (10) to rotate. It is transmitted to the pulley (6) via the rotating shaft (3), and the stirring blade (4) also rotates clockwise. At this time,
The light emitting part (1) of the rotation angle detector (12) of the pulley (6)
2a) passes through the detection hole (II) as the pulley (6) rotates and is detected by the light receiving section (12b), and the detection result is converted into a pulse signal from the light receiving section (12b) and subjected to ζ calculation processing. It is added to the register N in the circuit (16) (step 117), and here the reference pulse number P
o(XO) (step 123), N≧X
In other words, when the stirring blade (4) has rotated by a preset angle, the power to the motor (7) is cut off and rotation is stopped (step 124).

After that, the stirring blade (4) continues to rotate due to inertia for a while, but at this time, the light emitting part (12a) of the rotation angle detector (12)
As the pulley (6) rotates, the light emitted from the detection hole (1
1) and is detected by the light receiving part (12b), and the detection result, that is, the amount of inertial rotational movement of the stirring blade (4) is detected by the light receiving part (12b).
2b) until the stirring blade (4) completely stops as a pulse signal N1 (step 125) arithmetic processing circuit (16)
(step 125A). When the rotation of the stirring blade (4) has completely stopped (step 125), the stirring blade (4) is completely stopped (step 125).
Step 125: Compare the number of pulses N1 measured during the inertial rotation in step 4) with the reference number of pulses XI set in advance.
B) If N1≧X1 and the measured number of pulses N1 does not reach the standard number of pulses Indicates that the amount of water supplied is insufficient, and then sets the operation flag F2 of the motor (7) to F2=1.
(Step 125C)
Proceeding to step 126, the forward/reverse operation flag of the motor (7) is switched. In other words, since F1=1, Fl
-0, and return the pulse signal value to N=0 (steer knob 128° 129).

Next, flag F2 is already set to F2=1 (step 12
5C) (step 130), rotation flag F2 = 01 water supply elapsed time T2 = 0, pulse signal N1-
0 (step 13L 132, 134) and start water supply again (steps 109, 110), and after stopping the water supply again in the same way as above, turn the motor (7) in reverse (
left) to rotate the stirring blade (4) by a predetermined angle (steps 111 to 123).

After rotating the specified angle, the power to the motor (7) is cut off again (
Step 124 ), the measured pulse number N1 is again compared with the reference pulse number Ps (Xt), and when N1≧X1, water supply and stirring are repeated until the pulse number N1 reaches the reference pulse number P1, and N1≧X1. case, i.e. stirring N(
When the amount of rotation due to inertia (4) reaches a predetermined value, it is determined that a sufficient amount of water has been supplied for the amount of laundry. Note that water above the maximum water level is not supplied due to the action of the pressure sensor (14) (step 109).

In this way, when the amount of water is insufficient for the amount of laundry, the amount of inertial rotation of the stirring blade (4) is small, and when the amount of water corresponding to the amount of laundry is supplied, the stirring blade (
4) detects the amount of inertial rotation movement of the stirring blade (4), determines whether the appropriate amount of water has been supplied, and adjusts the amount of water to match the amount of laundry. It is designed to automatically supply water until it reaches the maximum level.

When the appropriate amount of water is supplied in this way, the water supply operation is completed and the washing operation starts, and the detector (12) detects the agitation blade (4).
) is detected, and this pulse signal N enters the arithmetic processing circuit (16), where it is compared with the reference pulse number Po (Xo) (step 123).
4) has rotated by a predetermined angle, the rotation of the motor (7) is stopped in step 124'), the forward/reverse rotation flag of the motor (7) is switched in step 126, and the process proceeds to step 130 via step 127 or 128°129. Since the state is F2-0, the process returns to step 114 and the motor (7) repeats forward and reverse operation until the power switch (20) is turned off to perform the washing operation.

In this embodiment, as a means for detecting the rotation angle of the stirring blade (4), a detector (1) is installed on the pulley (6) of the stirring blade (4).
2), but is not limited to this, stirring blades (
It is also possible to use a motor that can directly detect the movement of 4), and it is also possible to use a Hall element, a speed generator, etc. in addition to an optical sensor for the type of detection 113 (12).

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the water supply control method of the present invention detects the amount of rotational movement due to the inertia of the stirring blades after cutting off the power to the motor, and automatically supplies the amount of water that matches the amount of laundry. This eliminates the need to manually set the water level each time.
It can improve the work efficiency of washing, and it also ensures that the appropriate amount of water is supplied and there is no risk of damage to the laundry.
It also helps save water. Furthermore, since the rotational speed of the stirring blade, which may become unstable, is not used as a detection element, measurement can be performed without depending on the set time, and the equipment required for measurement is inexpensive.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a vertical side view of a washing machine using the water supply control method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the same, FIG. 3 is a block circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the same. . (1)...Exterior case (2)...Washing tub (3)
... Rotating shaft 4) ... Stirring blade (5) ... Bearing
(6)...Pulley (7)...Washing drive motor (8)...Rotating shaft (9)...Pulley (10)...
... Belt (11) ... Detection hole (12) ... Rotation angle detector (12a) ... Light emitting part (12b) ... Light receiving part (1
3)...Water supply valve (14)...Pressure sensor (15)
)...Memory circuit (16)...Arithmetic processing circuit (17)
)...Input control section (18)...Output control section (19
)...Water supply control circuit (20)...Power switch agent Patent attorney Masuo Oone Figure 3 Figure 3 20 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an agitator-type washing machine that automatically supplies water into the washing tub and washes clothes by alternating forward and reverse rotation of the agitation blades, the sensor determines the maximum water level and the agitation blade detects the amount of rotational movement due to the inertia of the agitation blades after the drive motor has stopped. A means for detecting the amount of inertial rotational movement is provided, and the water supply and stirring blades are operated for a certain period of time until the amount of inertial rotational movement of the stirring blade reaches a predetermined amount or the water level reaches the maximum water level. A washing machine water supply control method characterized by repeating the following steps.