KR20030012415A - method for normal operating sense of drum motor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A normal operation sensing method for a drum motor is provided to obtain information such as the rotation state, the operation state, the rotation speed of a motor which generates driving force, by detecting a driving current value to compare with a set current values. CONSTITUTION: A normal operation sensing method for a drum motor includes the steps of setting a driving current range of a drum motor when the operation of the drum motor is normal(110), driving the drum motor, detecting a driving current of the drum motor(120,140), and determining whether the detected value is in the set range to determine whether a current operation of the drum motor is normal(130,150,170).

Description

Method for normal operating sense of drum motor

The present invention relates to a drum motor, and more particularly, to a method of detecting a normal operation of a drum motor to determine whether the motor is normally driven by sensing a current generated when the drum motor is driven.

Hereinafter, a motor rotation detection method of a dryer according to the prior art will be described.

1A and 1B are exploded perspective views showing the main parts of a general dryer. According to this, the drum 1 is installed inside a cabinet (not shown) constituting the exterior of the dryer. The drum (1) is formed so as to be open in both the horizontal axis, the belt groove (2), which is wound around the belt (not shown) driven by a separate drive source is formed along the middle of the outer surface. When the drum 1 rotates, a plurality of baffles 6 are formed to turn over the object to be dried in the drying chamber 5.

The front head 7 and the rear head 9 are installed at the front and rear ends of the drum 1, respectively. Therefore, the front head 7 and the rear head 9 serve to support the front and rear ends of the drum 1, respectively. At this time, a sealing member 8 is installed between the front head 7 and the drum 1 which are relatively rotated and between the rear head 9 and the drum 1 to prevent leakage. Of course, a plurality of rollers (not shown) for supporting the drum 1 are installed at positions corresponding to the front and rear ends of the drum 1.

The front head 7 is provided with a through hole 8 for communicating the inside and the outside of the drying chamber 5. The through hole 8 is selectively opened and closed by a door (not shown).

An air supply duct 12 is installed in the rear head 9, and the air supply duct 12 serves as a passage for supplying air, more precisely, hot air, into the drying chamber 5. It communicates with the interior of the drying chamber 5.

And one side of the front head 7 corresponding to the lower end of the through hole 8 of the front head 7 is provided with an outlet assembly 12 which is a part of the air escape from the drying chamber (5). The outlet assembly 13 is provided with a lint filter 14. The lint filter 14 serves to filter foreign matter (for example, seams or dust) mixed in the air flowing out of the drying chamber 5.

The lint duct 15 is installed in communication with the outlet assembly 12, and the lint filter 13 is positioned to the inside of the lint duct 15. The blower 17 is installed to be connected to the lint duct 15 to suck the air inside the drying chamber 5 through the lint duct 15. The blower 17 is installed inside the blower housing 18. One side of the blower housing 18 communicates with the lint duct 15, and an exhaust pipe 19 is connected to the other side. Therefore, the air exiting the drying chamber 5 and passing through the lint duct 15 is discharged to the outside through the exhaust pipe 19 by the force of the blower 17.

On the other hand, the hot air duct 20 is installed to be connected to the air supply duct (12). The hot air duct 20 serves to supply hot air having a drying function in the drying chamber 5. To this end, the hot air duct 20 is provided with a configuration for generating heat energy for heating the air.

That is, a gas nozzle 22 is installed at the inlet of the hot air duct 20. The gas nozzle 22 serves to inject the supplied gas. The gas nozzle 22 is provided with a valve for controlling the supply of gas. Reference numeral 23 is a gas pipe.

A mixing tube 24 for mixing the gas injected from the gas nozzle 22 and the primary air is installed to extend from the inlet of the hot air duct 20 to the inside. Here, the inlet of the mixing tube 24 is located to correspond to the gas nozzle 22. In the mixing tube 24, the gas injected from the gas nozzle 22 and the external air introduced through the inlet of the mixing tube 24, that is, primary air, are mixed. The spark plug 26 is installed at the tip of the mixing tube 24 to generate spark for ignition.

Figure 2 is a control configuration for detecting whether the drum motor rotates in the dryer according to the prior art.

A power supply unit 38 for supplying power to drive the dryer, a signal input unit 33 for a user to input a driving signal of the dryer, and a drive unit for driving the dryer according to the signal input from the signal input unit 33 40, a motor rotation detection switch 35 for detecting whether the motor is rotated, a rotation speed sensor 45 for detecting a rotation speed according to the rotation of the motor, and a controller for controlling the driving ( 30).

In addition, the drive unit 40 includes a motor for driving the drum 1 and a heater unit 55 for drying the laundry cloth in the drum. The heater unit 55 includes an integral configuration for generating hot air and supplying the generated hot air into the drum 1.

It will be described that the general dryer having such a configuration is operated.

Put the laundry cloth to be dried in the drying chamber 5 formed in the drum 1, close the door, press the operation button, and the belt wound around the belt groove 2 is driven by a separate driving source. (1) is rotated.

Then, the blower 17 is operated to suck the air inside the drying chamber 5 through the lint duct 15. In this case, the outside air flows into the drying chamber 5 through the air supply duct 12.

As such, when the motor is driven to rotate the drum, the motor rotation detecting switch 35 detects whether the motor rotates, and transmits the detected signal to the controller 30. The controller 30 determines whether the motor is rotated based on the detection signal, and controls the hot air to be supplied into the drum 1 when the motor is normally rotated. That is, the heater unit 55 is driven to control the hot air formed by the amount of heat generated by the heater to be supplied to the air supply duct 12.

Hot air generation by the operation of the heater unit 55 is performed as follows. The air supplied to the air supply duct 12 becomes a relatively high temperature while passing through the hot air duct 20. That is, gas is injected into the mixing tube 24 through the gas nozzle 22, and primary air enters the inlet of the mixing tube 24, and the gas is mixed with the gas in the mixing tube 24. The air is mixed and is first burned by ignition by the spark plug 26 at the outlet of the mixing tube 24.

As such, the heat energy generated by the combustion of the gas heats the air sucked by the suction force driven by the blower 17 into the hot air duct 20 to make hot air.

The hot air is delivered to the interior of the drying chamber 5 formed inside the drum 1 through the air supply duct 12. The hot air in the drying chamber (5) absorbs the moisture contained in the laundry cloth, and then exits from the drying chamber (5) through the outlet assembly (13). At this time, the air is discharged from the drying chamber 5 through the outlet assembly 13 is made by the suction force of the blower (17). Air passing through the outlet assembly 13 is filtered through the lint filter 14 so that foreign matter such as dust or seams is filtered out.

As described above, the related art detects whether the motor is rotated by the motor rotation detection switch 35 which detects the rotation of the motor when the motor is driven to drive the drum. In addition, the rotation speed of the motor was determined by having a rotation speed sensor mounted on one side of the motor to detect the rotation speed of the motor.

Therefore, the prior art had the following problems.

A switch for detecting whether the motor is rotated and a sensor for detecting the speed of the motor are provided, and the motor is rotated and the rotation speed is detected. Therefore, a large number of parts such as various types of sensors were needed. These components have increased manufacturing costs. In addition, although a large number of parts are provided to determine whether the drum motor is rotated as described above, it is not known whether the drum motor rotates normally.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of detecting a normal operation of a drum motor, which detects whether a normal operation is performed by detecting a current flowing in a motor according to rotation of a motor driving a drum.

Figure 1a, 1b is an exploded perspective view showing the main configuration of a typical dryer,

2 is a configuration diagram for detecting the motor rotation of the dryer according to the prior art,

3 is a configuration diagram for detecting the motor rotation of the dryer according to the invention,

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing the range and operating state of the current according to the motor rotation in the dryer according to the present invention,

Figure 5 is a flow chart for detecting the motor rotation of the dryer according to the invention.

* Explanation of Signs of Major Parts of Drawings *

60: signal input unit 65: power supply unit

70: control unit 75: current measuring unit

80: drive unit 85: motor

90: heater unit

In the dryer according to the present invention for achieving the above object, the method for detecting the normal operation of a drum motor includes a storage step of storing a current flow value when the motor operates normally, a driving step of driving the motor, and driving of the motor. It includes a current measuring step of measuring the flow of current, a determination step of determining whether the motor rotates normally according to the measured value, and a control step of controlling the driving of the heater unit in accordance with the determination.

Hereinafter, a method of detecting a normal operation of a drum motor according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a control block diagram for detecting whether the drum motor rotation is a normal operation in the dryer according to the present invention.

A power supply unit 65 for supplying power to the dryer, a signal input unit 60 for inputting a driving signal to perform drying, a drive unit 80 for driving the dryer in accordance with the input signal, and a drum It includes a current measuring unit 75 for measuring the current flowing through the motor in accordance with the drive, and a control unit 70 for controlling the drive unit.

The drive unit 80 is configured to include a motor 85 for supplying power to rotate the drum 1, and a heater unit 90 for supplying hot air into the drum for the drying stroke. The heater unit 90 includes a series of all configurations for generating hot air and supplying the generated hot air into the drum 1.

In addition, when the rotation of the motor is in a normal state, the range of the current measurement value detected by the current measuring unit 75 is preset in the controller 70. Therefore, when the current value is out of the range of the current measurement value preset in the controller 70, it is determined that the motor does not rotate normally or the driving of the motor is stopped. The current measuring unit 75 measures the flow of current flowing through the motor as the motor rotates. In the present invention, it is measured using a current trasformer (C T).

When driving the drum in the dryer according to the present invention having the above configuration, looking at the range and operation state of the current according to whether the drum motor is rotated as follows.

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing the range and operating state of the current in accordance with the rotation of the motor in the dryer according to the present invention.

When the current value measured by the current measuring unit 75 is between 0 and a predetermined current value a, the state of the motor for driving the heater is set to the controller 70 in a disconnected state.

When the value measured by the current flowing in the current transformer 75, the current, is between a and a predetermined current value b, the motor for driving the heater unit 90 rotates normally. The magnitude of the predetermined current value at which the current is measured is denoted by an inequality sign as follows.

0 <a <b (a and b are current measured values)

In addition, when the current measured in the current transformer 75, the current flowing in the current range is between b and c, the motor is in a confined state or a starting state. Therefore, the motor does not rotate. The magnitude of the current measurement value is c greater than b, and all the current measurement values are expressed as inequality as follows.

0 <a <b <c (a, b, c are current measurements)

The measured values are 3A, 10A and 100A, respectively, and the measured values are based on experimental values.

Hereinafter, an operation process for detecting whether the drum motor operates normally will be described.

5 is an operation flowchart for detecting whether the motor operates normally in the dryer according to the present invention.

Power is applied from the power supply unit 65 to the dryer, and the user flows the laundry cloth into the drum to dry the laundry cloth. The user inputs a control signal for drying the laundry cloth through the signal input unit 60. The drum motor starts to rotate in order to drive the drum according to the input signal (step 100).

As the drum motor rotates, the air remaining in the drum exits through the lint duct 15. Air discharged from the drum is discharged to the outside through the exhaust pipe 19 by the force of the blower (17).

When the operation is in progress, the current measuring unit 75 senses the flow of the current flowing in the drum motor (step 110), and transmits data to the controller 70.

The controller 70 determines whether the transmitted data is within a preset range of the current value of the drum motor (step 120), and when the measured current value is smaller than the preset predetermined current value a, determines that the motor is disconnected. (Step 130).

However, when the value of the current measured by the current measuring unit 75 in step 120 is greater than a, the predetermined current value a, the value is compared with the maximum current measured value b greater than the predetermined current value a (step 140).

If the value measured by the current measuring unit 75 is smaller than the maximum current value b, the motor 85 determines that the normal rotation is performed (operation 150). At this time, the heater unit 90 is operated to dry the laundry cloth under the control of the controller 70 (operation 160). That is, the power of the heater provided in the heater unit 90 is turned on to supply hot air into the drum. As the heater is turned on, hot air is generated and the hot air is introduced into the drum to perform the drying process of the laundry cloth in the drum.

However, if the value measured by the current measuring unit 75 is greater than the maximum current value b, the controller 70 determines that the motor 85 is in a restrained state or a starting state (step 170). When the motor is in the restrained state in step 170, since the abnormal operation of the drum motor occurs, the heater unit 90 is also controlled to not operate (step 180).

The predetermined current value a is about 3A, and the maximum current value b is about 10A. The reference values are based on experimental values.

As described above, according to the present invention, as the drum is driven, the current value flowing through the motor is measured through the current measuring unit 75, and whether the rotation of the motor driving the drum is normal according to the measured current measurement value. It is the technical idea that can judge whether or not.

In addition, it is possible to determine the rotational speed of the current drum motor by using the detected current value. This is because, when power is supplied to the drum motor, the magnitude of the current supplied to the drum motor varies depending on the initial operation state, the normal state, and the non-rotation state.

The drum motor normal motion detection method in the dryer according to the present invention is only one embodiment, and the normal motion detection method of the drum motor is not limited to the dryer, and all of the drum motors such as a washing machine and a dehydrator to determine whether the driving of the drum motor is normal are normal. It is a field.

In addition, the rights of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments but are defined by the claims, and those skilled in the art can make various modifications and adaptations within the scope of the claims. It is self evident.

In the present invention, when the user uses the dryer, the presence of rotation abnormality of the motor generating power is determined based on the current flow value set in the control unit so as to drive the drum while simultaneously driving the heater to dry the laundry cloth.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily obtain information such as whether the motor rotates, an abnormal state, a rotation speed, etc. according to the measured current value. In addition, it is possible to determine the abnormality of the motor rotation by using the current measurement value flowing through the motor without providing a separate device (motor rotation detection switch, rotation speed sensor, etc.), thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of the product. As a result, this can maximize the satisfaction of the user using the product.

Claims (4)

A setting step of setting a drive current range of the drum motor when the drum motor is in a normal state; A driving step of driving a drum motor; A detecting step of detecting a driving current of the drum motor; And determining whether or not the value detected in the detecting step is within the range set in the setting step, and determining whether the current drum motor is in normal operation. The method of claim 1, The drive of the drum motor, the normal operation detection method of the drum motor, characterized in that for rotating the drum for the drying operation. The method of claim 2, And a heater driving step of driving a heater generating heat energy for supplying hot air into the drum according to the result of the determining step. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The setting step may further set the drive current range of the drum motor according to the initial operation state, disconnection state, restraint state of the drum motor, The determining step, the normal operation detection method of the drum motor, characterized in that for determining the current operating state of the drum motor based on the set drive current range.