JPS6314639B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to controlling the rinsing process of a washing machine using a photocoupler.

In conventional washing machines, the number of rinse steps, pre-rinse, and water rinse are selected by a sequence set in advance on a timer or by a switch provided on the operation panel.
In either case, the user makes a selection based on his/her experience based on the amount of cloth, quality of the cloth, amount of detergent, etc., so there are times when the rinse is too much and a lot of unnecessary water is used, or when the rinse is insufficient and the rinse is repeated. There was an inconvenience that I had to do it. Therefore, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-5627, there is a system that detects the transparency of washing water at the initial stage of washing and sets the rinsing time according to this transparency to solve the above-mentioned inconvenience.

However, by simply detecting the transparency at the initial stage of washing, it is only possible to set the rinse time.
It has been difficult to set the rinsing method, number of rinses, etc. in consideration of detergent concentration, amount and type of laundry.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to perform rinsing control according to the detergent concentration and the amount and type of laundry.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In Fig. 1 showing the general structure of a washing machine, 1 is the main body, 2 is an outer tank suspended from the main body 1, 3 is an inner tank for washing and dehydrating clothes, and during dehydration, the inner tank 3 becomes the outer tank 2.
is rotated by a motor 4 attached to the bottom of the
Further, during washing and rinsing, the pulsator 5 is rotated by the motor 4.

6 is a detector attached to the drainage path of the outer tank 2, and 7 is a drainage solenoid valve. As shown in FIG. 2, the detector 6 includes a light emitting element 8 made of an infrared light emitting diode and a light receiving element 9 made of a phototransistor.
The light emitting element 8 and the light receiving element 9 are arranged to face each other, and the drainage liquid can freely pass between the light emitting element 8 and the light receiving element 9.

In FIG. 3, which shows a control circuit consisting of an A-D converter that converts the analog output of the detector 6 into digital, and a control section that performs status and sequence control, 10 is an A-D converter that converts the analog output of the detector 6 into digital. It has the function of converting the analog value of the output voltage _VO into a digital value. 11 is a clock section, 12 is a ladder-shaped DA converter, and the output of this ladder-shaped DA converter 12 is determined by the pulses from the clock section 11.
V _A occurs stepwise as shown in FIG.

13 is a comparison unit that compares the output V _O of the detector 6 and the output V _A of the ladder-type D-A converter 12; 14 is a comparison unit
The AND section 15 is a control section that performs sequence control of the washing operation based on state detection, and is constituted by a microcomputer.

In FIG. 3, the R terminal of the control section 15, the pulse output V _B of the clock section 11, the output V _O of the detector 6,
Output V _C of comparison section 13 and output Vi of AND section 14
The waveform diagram of is shown in FIG.

When the rinsing process is started, the pulsator 5 rotates to agitate the laundry, and the detergent liquid contained in the laundry is gradually dissolved by this stirring, so that the rinsing liquid becomes cloudy. Then, the transmittance of the light of the detector 6 deteriorates, and the output V _O of the detector 6 in the rinsing process decreases.
The output V _O decreases as shown in FIG. 5, which shows the change in V O .

In other words, the more turbid the rinsing liquid is, the lower the output V _O becomes, so the degree of rinsing can be detected by this change in output.

Therefore, the output voltage of the detector 6 is measured at the start of the first rinsing process and at the end of the first rinsing process, and depending on the amount of change Va in the output voltage, whether to perform a test rinse in the subsequent rinsing process or not. Or decide whether to perform water rinsing or how many times to perform rinsing.

For example, if the amount of change Va in the output V _O of the detector 6 is O≦Va
If <0.5, try rinsing with 1 remaining rinse, if 0.5≦Va<1, inject with 1 remaining rinse, and if 1≦Va<2, use 2 remaining rinses. If 2≦Va, it is preferable to rinse with water for the remaining number of rinses.

When measuring the output V _O of the detector 6, when the R terminal of the control section 15 changes from L level to H level, a pulse is output to the clock section 11, and the ladder type D
The output voltage V _A of the -A converter 12 increases each time this pulse is input.

Then, when V _O > V _A , the output V _C of the comparator 13 becomes H level, AND is taken with the pulse output V _B , and the output Vi of the AND section 14 has the same waveform as the pulse output V _B and becomes the H level of the comparator 13. It enters input terminal A and is counted.

Also, when V _O ≦ V _A , the output V _C of the comparator 13 becomes L.
level, and the output Vi of the AND section 14 also becomes an L level and is no longer counted.

In other words, the output of the detector 6, which is an analog voltage, V _O
is converted into the number of pulses, so the output of the detector 6
The amount of change Va in the measured value of V _O is calculated in the control section 15 as the number of pulses.

This amount of change Va is then compared with a preset value, and as a result, the number of rinses, sample rinse, and injection rinse are selected by the control unit 15, and the sequence control of the subsequent rinse process is performed. .

Therefore, a detector 6 optically detects a change in turbidity during the rinsing process using a light receiving element 9 and a light emitting element 8 provided in the drainage path of the outer tank 2, and a controller 15 that performs status and sequence control. , an A-D converter 1 that converts the analog output of the detector 6 into digital.
Effective rinsing can be achieved by controlling whether water is poured or hardened in the subsequent rinsing process based on the output difference of the detector 6 between the start of the rinsing process and the end of the rinsing process. can be done.

As described above, according to the present invention, the difference in turbidity between the start and end of the first rinsing process, which changes depending on the amount of cloth, type of cloth, amount of laundry, water level, etc., is detected. Therefore, the rinsing method and number of rinses in the subsequent rinsing process can be set, and effective rinsing can be performed according to the amount of cloth, type of cloth, amount of washing, etc.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a fully automatic washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a detector in the washing machine, Fig. 3 is a control circuit diagram including the detector, and Fig. 4 is a waveform diagram of each part in the same control circuit,
FIG. 5 is an output characteristic diagram of the detector during the rinsing process of the washing machine. 6...Detector, 10...A-D converter, 15...
...control section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Equipped with a detector that optically detects turbidity changes in the rinsing process, and a control unit that performs status and sequence control, and the control unit is equipped with a detector that detects the turbidity change in the rinsing process at the start of the first rinsing process and at the end of the process. A washing machine that determines the rinsing method, number of rinses, etc. for subsequent rinsing steps at the end of the first rinsing process based on the difference in output from the rinsing machine.