KR20040101001A - Drum Type Washing Machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A drum-type washing machine is provided to quickly execute locking of a drum for stopping the rotation of the drum while the drum rotates. CONSTITUTION: In a drum-type washing machine, a cylindrical drum(13) is installed to the inside of a wash tub(10) in a state of freely rotating around a horizontal or inclined shaft(14). The drum-type washing machine includes a direct current motor comprising a rotor(202) rotating integrally with the rotating shaft driving the drum and a stator giving driving force to the rotor; a drive control unit using an inverter, supplying an electric current to the stator to control the rotation of the rotor of the direct current motor; a locking unit of the drum for executing the combining action of a prominent part freely advancing and retreating and a recessed part receiving the prominent part between the drum or a rotating body rotating integrally with the drum and a fixed part not rotating, to fix the drum to a predetermined locking position of rotation; and a locking-executing unit executing stop control action of a first step for making the drum reach the vicinity of the locking position by utilizing suction force and repulsive force between the rotor and the stator, and stop control action of a second step for making the drum reach the locking position at low speed by utilizing the suction force between the rotor and the stator by the drive control unit. The locking-executing unit controls the locking unit of the drum advancing the prominent part and combining the prominent with the recessed part when the drum reaches the locking position in the stop control action of the second step.

Description

Drum Type Washing Machine

The present invention relates to a drum type washing machine having a drum rotating about a horizontal or inclined axis.

As a drum type washing machine, a clothes inlet opening and closing is freely formed on a circumferential surface of a drum freely rotated about a horizontal or inclined axis, and the upper lid installed on the upper surface of a gas box provided with the drum is opened. It is known to allow laundry to be put in and taken out of a drum through a clothes inlet (for example, Japanese Patent No. 2834855 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-103095). According to such a drum type washing machine, a user does not need to bend his / her waist when entering and exiting laundry, and it is possible to improve the convenience of use.

In this type of drum washing machine, it is necessary to stop the rotation of the drum and to maintain the state in the state where the opening for clothes (laundry) of the drum is located below the opening formed in the upper surface of the gas box for the entry and exit of the laundry. have. As a locking mechanism of the drum, the above-mentioned patent publication No. 2834855 provides a coupling member for engaging a gear of a pulley with a gear that rotates integrally with the drum, and brakes the DC motor electrically in the vicinity of the drum locking position. The door lock is to be executed after stopping at the position of. On the other hand, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-103095 discloses an engagement between a convex portion projecting in an inner circumferential direction from a drum position fixing device provided on one end surface of a washing tank in which a drum is built, and a recess formed in a rotor of a motor. The position of the drum is fixed.

As described above, in the drum type washing machine in which the clothes feeding opening is formed on the circumferential surface of the drum, there is a problem in terms of safety unless the upper lid is opened after the drum cannot be rotated by the drum locking mechanism. have. Therefore, when the locking operation of the drum takes time, for example, after the user stops operation and performs an operation for opening the upper lid (for example, pressing a button for preventing the upper lid), Allow the user to wait long until the upper lid can be opened. Therefore, in order to improve convenience in use, it is desired to complete the drum locking operation as quickly as possible.

In addition, since the drum must be unlocked before the drum is rotated in the locked state of the drum, it is necessary to promptly start the operation when the operation is restarted or when the operation is resumed after the operation is temporarily stopped. It is desired that the unlocking operation of the drum be completed as soon as possible.

In general, in the DC motor, when the rotor is rotated, both the suction force and the repulsion force of the magnetic force between the rotor and the stator can be used. However, when both the suction force and the repulsive force are used, the stability of position maintenance when the rotor is temporarily stopped is not so good, and there is a risk of causing a problem in the drum locking operation. For this reason, the present applicant mainly sucks the repulsive force of the magnetic force between the rotor and the stator when the drum washing machine described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-59787 tries to lock the drum. It is suggested to use the bay. As a result, the stability of the position maintenance becomes very high when the drum is temporarily stopped, and smoothness of rotation is impaired, but intermittent rotation becomes easy. Therefore, even when there is a movement of laundry in the drum or the laundry is pulled out, the drum can be stably stopped at any one of a plurality of rotational positions determined by the arrangement of the stator slot and the magnet of the rotor. . In addition, even when the drum is rotated at a very low speed, a high torque can be obtained.

However, in such a motor driving method, there is a risk of abnormal driving when the eccentric load caused by the load of the laundry is large. Therefore, it is difficult to increase the rotation speed of the rotor, and the time required to rotate the drum to the position where the drum can be locked. There are times when you need to.

Normally, when the drum is locked by the drum locking mechanism, the energization to the motor for rotating the drum is stopped. In that state, the dimensions of the engagement between the convex portion and the recess of the drum locking mechanism are prevented. As much as the margin, the drum can rotate. Therefore, when laundry is put into the drum in such a state and it is largely pulled, the drum rotates even slightly due to the eccentric load, and the convex portion of the locking mechanism of the drum and the concave portion on the rotor side come into strong contact. As a result, when attempting to unlock the drum, there is a fear that the convex portion cannot be released from the concave portion due to a large frictional force, and the drum cannot be unlocked.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and a first object is to provide a drum type washing machine which can quickly lock a drum which stops the rotation while the drum is rotating.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a drum type washing machine capable of quickly and reliably unlocking the drum and shifting to operation even when the drum is difficult to be unlocked due to the load of laundry contained in the drum. To provide.

1 is an external perspective view of a drum type washing machine in one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional longitudinal sectional view of an inner main part of the drum type washing machine in the present embodiment.

3 is a left side view of an inner main part of the drum type washing machine according to the present embodiment.

4 is an electric system configuration diagram of an essential part of a drum type washing machine according to the present embodiment.

5 is a detailed configuration diagram of a drive control unit of a DC brushless motor which is a drum motor.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of the drum locking means, showing the unlocked state (A) of the drum and the locked state (B) of the drum.

7 is a view for explaining the locking operation of the drum in the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment.

8 is an explanatory view of the driving method using the suction force of the magnetic fields of the rotor and the stator in the drum type washing machine of this embodiment.

Fig. 9 is a control flowchart of the drum unlocking operation in the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment.

10 is an explanatory view of a drum unlocking operation in the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment.

Fig. 11 shows an example of an experimental result showing the effect of the drum unlocking method in the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment.

(Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawing)

One ; Body box 2; Upper lid 3; Laundry entrance

10; Washing tank 101; Washing tub opening 102; Laundry tub door

13; Drum 131; Drum opening 132; Drum door

14; Spindle 15; Auxiliary axes 16, 18; Bearing case

17, 19; Bearing 20; Drum motor (direct current motor)

201; Stator 202; Rotor

203; Rotation sensor 203a; Hall IC Board

203b; Stop position detecting magnet 21; Coupling driving part

211; Torque motor 212; Coupling Pin

213; Effector 213a; Opening 214; spring

215; Cam 216; Convex portion 217; Rotary position detector

22; Coupling groove 30; Control unit 31; Load drive section

311; Inverter circuit 40; Commercial ac power 41; DC converter

42; Current detector R1; Shunt resistance O1-Q6; Switching element

The first invention made to achieve the first object is, in the washing machine disposed in the gas box, in the drum washing machine in which the circumferential surface of the substantially cylindrical drum is freely rotated about a horizontal or inclined axis,

a) a direct current motor comprising a rotor which rotates integrally with the rotary shaft capable of rotating the drum, a stator for driving the rotor,

b) drive control means using an inverter circuit for supplying current to the stator to control the rotation of the rotor of the DC motor;

c) between the drum or the rotating body which is integrally rotated with the drum and the non-rotating convex part to receive the convex part and the convex part free of the convex part in order to fix the drum to a predetermined locking position on the rotation thereof; A locking means of the drum for engaging with the recess;

d) the stop control operation of the first step of bringing the drum to the vicinity of the locking position by means of the suction control and the repulsion force between the rotor and the stator by the drive control means; and between the rotor and the stator. When the drum reaches the locking position in the stop control operation in the second step, the convex portion is subjected to the stop control operation in the second step of using the suction force of Locking execution means of the drum for controlling the locking means of the drum to be advanced to engage with the recess, characterized in that it comprises a.

As mentioned above, when rotating the rotor of a DC motor generally, both the suction force and the repulsive force of the magnetic force between a rotor and a stator are used. In this drive system, it is possible to rotate the rotor at high speed, on the other hand, it is very difficult to stably stop the rotor at any position. On the other hand, in the drive system which mainly uses only the suction force of the magnetic force between the rotor and the stator, it is easy to rotate the rotor intermittently little by little, and the stability of position maintenance when the rotor is stopped is very high. On the other hand, however, it is extremely difficult to rotate the rotor at high speed like the former driving method.

Therefore, in order to make use of the characteristics of both driving methods, in the drum type washing machine according to the first invention, the drum locking execution means is the electronic driving method, i.e., the rotor, until the drum reaches the lock position. The drum is rotated by using the suction force and the repulsive force of the magnetic force between the and the stator together (the stop control operation in the first stage), and then in the latter driving manner until the drum reaches the locked position, that is, the rotor and The drum is rotated at a low speed mainly using the suction force of the magnetic force between the stator (second stop control operation). When the drum reaches the locking position in the stop control operation of the second stage, the drum is locked by advancing the convex portion of the locking means of the drum and engaging the recess.

According to this configuration, since the drum is rapidly rotated to the vicinity of the predetermined locking position necessary for locking the drum, the drum is rotated accurately and stably to the locking position, so that the drum is quickly locked in the rotating state. I can do it. As a result, for example, when the user wants to temporarily enter or leave the laundry by temporarily stopping or stopping the operation, the waiting time until the lid can be opened can be shortened and the convenience of use can be improved.

As a specific aspect of the drum type washing machine according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided rotation detecting means for detecting that the drum is in the locking position, and the drum locking execution means is provided at the stop control operation of the first step. When the rotation detection means detects that the drum has come to the locked position, it can be configured to switch to the stop control operation of the second step.

In this configuration, when the drum is rotated by using the suction force and the repulsive force of the magnetic force between the rotor and the stator, the locking position is detected by the rotation detecting means, and the operation is switched to the stop control operation of the second stage. By inertial rotation, the drum passes through the locking position and stops once within the predetermined range near the locking position, and rotates at a low speed in the reverse direction by the action of the suction force of the magnetic force between the rotor and the stator from that position. Therefore, the time required for the stop control operation of the second stage, which occupies the most time among the drum locking operations, can be almost always made constant, and thus the time required for the drum locking can be stably shortened.

Further, in the drum type washing machine according to the first aspect of the invention, the drive control means detects the current in the inverter circuit when performing control by using the suction force of the magnetic force between the rotor and the stator mainly. In the method for controlling the on / off of the inverter circuit so that the detection current is constant, the torque of the DC motor is preferably controlled.

In this configuration, even when the coil resistance value fluctuates due to a temperature rise due to a current flowing through the stator coil, etc., a substantially constant current can flow through the coil, thereby maintaining a constant torque of the DC motor. There is a number. As a result, even when there is a movement of laundry in the drum or a load of laundry, the intermittent rotation of the drum is smoothed during the drum stop control operation of the second stage, and the drum is correctly positioned at the desired locking position. It becomes easy.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a drum washing machine in which a drum having a circumferential surface is freely rotated about a horizontal or inclined axis inside a washing tank disposed in a gas box.

a) a motor for rotating the drum,

b) drive control means for driving the motor;

c) between the drum or the rotating body which is integrally rotated with the drum and the non-rotating convex part to receive the convex part and the convex part free of the convex part in order to fix the drum to a predetermined locking position on the rotation thereof; A locking means of the drum for engaging with the recess;

d) unlocking means for controlling the drum to control the driving control means capable of reciprocating the drum forward and backward in rotation when the convex portion and the concave portion are engaged to release the convex portion by retreating; It characterized by having a.

When the drum is stopped and the drum is in the locked state, for example, the drum may rotate slightly due to factors such as the load of laundry in the drum and convex due to the strong friction between the convex portion and the concave portion of the drum locking means. Even when the retraction (departure) of the part is disturbed, if the driving means for unlocking the drum controls the drive control means to reciprocate the drum forward and backward, the convex portion and the concave portion of the drum locking means are The drum rotates as much as the margin in the engagement dimension, such a strong friction is eliminated in a short time, and the retraction operation of the convex portion is possible in the meantime. This makes it possible to reliably achieve the unlocking operation of the drum.

As described above, according to the drum type washing machine according to the second invention, even when it is difficult to disengage the convex portion and the concave portion of the drum locking means, it is possible to promptly release the coupling and move the drum into a rotatable state. As a result, it is possible to quickly shift to the next operation operation such as starting operation or restarting operation, and it is possible to prevent an undesired delay of the operation time.

As a specific aspect of the drum type washing machine according to the second aspect of the invention, the unlocking means for unlocking the drum first attempts the retracting operation of the convex portion without performing the reciprocating rotational movement of the drum, and convex in that state. It can be set as the structure which controls so that reciprocation rotation of a drum may be performed when an addition cannot be separated from a recessed part.

According to this configuration, when the convex portion can be retracted smoothly without problems such as strong friction between the convex portion and the concave portion of the drum locking means, since the reciprocating rotation of the drum is not performed, the motor is unnecessarily driven. It is possible to complete the unlocking operation of the drum as soon as possible, and to move to the next operation.

Also, in general, if it is caused by the tendency of the laundry to be assumed, the retraction operation of the convex portion will be possible while the drum is reciprocated to some extent. Therefore, if the drum is not unlocked even after the drum is reciprocated for a predetermined number of times or for a predetermined time, it is possible that the load of the laundry is abnormal or that the laundry is entangled with each other. This is high. Therefore, if the drum cannot be unlocked even after the drum has been reciprocated for a predetermined number of times or for a predetermined period of time, an abnormality notification means for informing the user of an abnormal condition may be further provided. As a result, the user can be notified of the abnormal condition promptly, and necessary processing can be performed.

(Example)

Hereinafter, a drum type washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11.

1 is an external perspective view of a drum type washing machine of the present embodiment.

In this drum type washing machine, the gas box (1). The angle between the upper surface and the front surface is formed as a slanted portion slightly slantly forward, and a large laundry inlet 3 is formed over the rear of the inclined portion, and the laundry inlet 3 is formed at the rear of the slant. The sealing is freed by the upper lid 2 which can stand in a single fold state. The detergent container 4 which can be pulled freely forward on the left side of the upper lid 2 is extended in the front-rear direction on the right side. The panel 5 is formed. The operation panel 5 has various operation keys, such as for setting a driving course and a reservation time, and lights up according to these settings, notifies the progress of the washing administration, or the remaining time of reservation or operation. Various indicators for display are appropriately distributed.

2 and 3, the internal structure of the drum type washing machine of this embodiment will be described. 2 is a front longitudinal cross-sectional view of the inner main portion, and FIG. 3 is a left side view of the inner main portion. 2 and 3, description of the gas box 1 forming the outline is omitted.

On the pedestal portion 6, the washing tank 10 whose circumferential surface is substantially cylindrical and whose both ends are almost closed is suspended from both left and right sides in a state in which both sides face the left and right sides of the gas box 1, respectively. The two springs 11 and the damper 12 which support the lower part of the washing tank 10 in the front-back direction are appropriately supported freely of swinging. Inside the washing tub 10, the horizontal drum 13, in which both end surfaces of the substantially cylindrical circumferential surface on which a plurality of water passages are drilled, is almost closed, can be freely rotated about a horizontal axis C extending in the horizontal direction. It is installed.

The main shaft 14 fixed to the center of the left end surface of the drum 13 is supported by a bearing 17 supported by an aluminum die-cast first bearing case 16 fixed to the left end surface of the washing tank 10. Sustained. On the other hand, the auxiliary shaft 15 fixed to the center of the right end surface of the drum 13 is supported by the bearing 19 supported by the second bearing case 18 fixed to the right end surface of the washing tank 10. . The horizontal axis C is formed by the main axis 14 and the auxiliary axis 15.

The rotor 202 of the drum motor 20, which is an outer rotor DC motor, is fixed to the front end of the main shaft 14 protruding laterally from the left end surface of the washing tank 10, and the first bearing serving as a motor stand. The stator 201 of the drum motor 20 is fixed to the case 16. When a drive current is supplied to the stator 201 from the control part mentioned later, the rotor 202 rotates accordingly, and the drum 13 rotates by the main shaft 14 at the same rotational speed as the rotor 202.

From the upper portion of the circumferential surface of the washing tank 10 to the inclined front, at the same position as the laundry inlet of the gas box, a washing opening 101 for entering and exiting the laundry is formed, and the washing tank opening 101 has a washing tank door ( 102) open and close freely. In addition, a drum opening 131 is formed on the circumferential surface of the drum 13 to put laundry out, and the drum opening 131 is a drum door composed of two doors having a double-barrier door that opens and closes from side to side. Opening and closing is free by 132. Since the drum 13 is rotatable, the drum 13 is kept stationary at a position (corresponding to the locking position in the present invention) in which the drum opening 131 is radially coincident with the washing opening 101. The lower side of the stator 201 is provided with a drum lock driving portion 21, and constitutes the drum locking means according to the present invention together with the engaging groove portion 22 formed in the outer edge of the rotor 202.

Next, the detail and specific operation | movement of the structure of the drum lock means are demonstrated. 6 is an enlarged view of the drum locking means, (A) shows an unlocked state of the drum (the drum 13 is rotatable), and (B) shows a locked state of the drum (the drum 13 is not rotatable). .

The lock driving part 12 of the drum includes an actuator 213 having a torque motor 211, a coupling pin 212 (corresponding to the convex portion in the present invention) at an end thereof, and an actuator 213. The spring 214 and the cam 215 fixed to the rotating shaft of the torque motor 211 is comprised. The actuator 213 can move only in the vertical direction along the guide groove, and the protrusion 216 formed in the cam 215 can move in the opening 213a formed in the actuator 213.

As shown in Fig. 6A, when the protrusion 216 is at the lowest position, the protrusion 216 presses the actuator 213 downward against the spring force 214 against the force applied thereto. Coupling pin 212 is pulled downward in the retracted position. In this state, when the torque motor 211 rotates in the left rotation direction, the protrusion 216 rises in accordance with the rotation, and the actuator 213 gradually moves upward by the force of the spring 214. As a result, the defect pins 212 start to advance upward.

As shown in Fig. 6B, when the cam 215 is rotated halfway and the protrusion 216 reaches the highest position, the actuator 213 also reaches the highest position, and the coupling pins 212 are the most. Advance. At this time. If the coupling groove portion 22 is present at the front of the entrance, the coupling pin 212 is fitted into the groove (life-saving) of the coupling groove portion 22, thereby fixing the position of the rotor 202. That is, the drum 13 is locked in the drum in the locked position.

When the torque motor 211 rotates again in the left rotation direction, the protrusion 216 descends in accordance with the rotation, and the actuator 213 gradually moves downward (retreats) accordingly. Then, the coupling pin 212 is separated from the groove hole of the coupling groove 22, the rotor 202 is free to rotate. That is, the lock of the drum is released. In accordance with the rotational operation of the torque motor 211 which rotates in only one direction as described above, locking of the drum and unlocking of the drum are achieved.

4 is an electric system configuration diagram of an essential part of the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment. The control unit 30 is composed mainly of a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a timer, and the like. The control unit 30 operates operations of washing, rinsing, dehydration and drying in accordance with a control program stored in the ROM. Various control for execution is performed. The controller 30 is provided with an input signal of a key from various operation keys 5a provided on the operation panel 5 to give the user various settings and instructions, and at the same time detects the water level of the water stored in the washing tank 10. The detection signal is input from the rotation sensor 203 etc. which are attached to the sensor 37 and the drum motor 20, and consist of a hall element etc. for detecting the rotation position of the rotor 202, respectively. Detailed description of the rotation sensor 203 will be described later.

In addition, a load driving unit 31 is connected to the control unit 30, and the load driving unit 31 allows the drum motor 20, the fan motor 32, the water heating heater 33, and the drying heater. 34, the water supply valve 35, the drain valve 36 and the like are controlled respectively. In addition, in order to perform the locking operation of the drum as described later, the control unit 30 detects the detection signal from the rotation position detector 217 incorporated in the torque motor 211 provided in the lock driving unit 21 of the drum. While receiving, the operation of the torque motor 211 is controlled. The rotation position detector 217 detects the advance position and the retraction position of the coupling pin 212, respectively.

5 is a detailed configuration diagram of the drive control circuit of the DC brushless motor which is the drum motor 20. As shown in FIG. The 100 V AC voltage from the commercial AC power supply 40 is DC-directed by the AC-DC converter 41 and is included in the inverter circuit including the plurality of switching elements (the load driver 31 is included in the drum at 311). The signal is converted into a PWM signal corresponding to each coil of the stator 201 of the motor 20. Since the drive current of the inverter circuit 311 flows through the shunt resistor R1, the current detector 42 detects a voltage value corresponding to the inverter drive current, and the controller 30 keeps the detected voltage value approximately constant. The duty ratio of the PWM signal applied to the control terminals of the respective switching elements Q1 to Q6 is adjusted so as to maintain it.

In the drum type washing machine according to the present embodiment, the drum motor 20 may be driven by a driving method using only suction force of the magnetic force between the stator 201 and the rotor 202, as will be described later. It is different from the driving method using both a normal suction force and a repulsion force, and the coil current of the stator 201 becomes considerably large (for example, about 7 amps) in order to rotate while maintaining the rotor 202. On the other hand, in the above structure, the coil current is relatively large, so that the temperature rise of the coil is large, and even when the coil resistance value changes due to the effect, the coil current can always be kept substantially constant. In this way, a substantially constant torque can be obtained.

5 is a simplified example in the case where the stator 201 of the drum motor 20 is three slots (three coils). In practice, the rotor 202 of the drum motor 20 is here. ) Has 24 poles and the stator 201 has 36 slots.

Next, the configuration of the rotation sensor 203 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 7. Fig. 7 is an explanatory view of the drum locking operation in the drum type washing machine according to the present embodiment, showing the rotation state of the rotor 202. Figs.

The hall IC substrate 203a is attached to the stator 201 of the drum motor 20 as the rotation sensor 203. The Hall IC substrate 203a is provided with one Hall IC for detecting that the rotor 202 is in the locked position, in addition to the two to three Hall ICs required for the rotation control of the drum motor 20. The rotor 202 is provided with a magnet 203b for detecting the stationary position. When the rotor 202 rotates and the magnet 203b comes over the hole IC 203a, the engaging groove 22 of the rotor 202 is attached. ) Is configured to be exactly the exit position of the coupling pin 212 of the lock drive unit 21 of the drum.

Next, in the drum washing machine having the above configuration, an operation when the drum 13 is stopped and the drum 13 is stopped to complete the drum locking operation will be described.

In general, the rotation control of the brushless motor smoothly rotates the rotor by using the attraction force and the repulsion force between the stator and the rotor. However, in such a driving method, the drum can be rotated at a low speed. Attempting to do so usually lowers the torque. Therefore, in the state where the laundry is accommodated in the drum, the laundry moves at the time of pausing after the drum is rotated finely, and the drum is easily rotated by the eccentric load caused by the washing of the laundry, thus maintaining a stable pause state. It's hard to do

On the other hand, in the drive system which rotates a rotor intermittently by using only a suction force, without using the repulsive force of the magnetic force between a stator and a rotor, sufficient torque is produced even at low speed intermittent rotation, and is temporarily stopped. It is possible to improve the position maintainability of the On the other hand, in this drive system, it is difficult to rotate the rotor at high speed, and when the rotation angle to the fixed position of the drum is large, time is required to rotate to the fixed position.

Therefore, in the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment, the control as described below is executed at the time of the drum locking operation so as to make use of the characteristics of both driving methods.

It is assumed that the rotor 202 is now at the position shown in Fig. 7A. At this time, the control unit 30 rotates the rotor 202 right at a rotational speed of about 30 to 40 rpm by the load driving unit 31 by a normal driving method using both suction and repulsive force. The control unit 30 recognizes that the rotor 202 has reached the locked position by the detection signal of the stop position detecting Hall IC on the Hall IC substrate 203a (see Fig. 7B). Accordingly, the control unit 30 switches the driving method of the drum motor 20 to a method using only suction force, and stops the rotor 20 once.

The rotor 202 passes through the locking position by inertia rotation and stops once at the position that proceeded in the right rotation direction (see Fig. 7C). Thereafter, the rotor 202 is gradually rotated (about 2 rpm) in the left rotation direction by the driving method using only the suction force of the magnetic force between the stator 201 and the rotor 202. When the control part 30 recognizes that the rotor 202 has reached the locked position by the detection signal of the stop position detecting Hall IC, the control part 30 holds the rotor 202 at that position, and as described above in that state, the torque The motor 211 is driven to advance the coupling pin 212 to fit into the coupling groove 22 to be coupled (see FIG. 7D).

In this manner, first, the rotor 202 is controlled to be in the vicinity of the predetermined lock position by the driving method using the suction force and the repulsion force of the magnetic force between the stator 201 and the rotor 202, and then the driving method is suction force. Switching to using only, the rotor 202 is rotated to the locked position, and then the engaging pin 212 is pushed out of the lock driving portion 21 of the drum. In this way, fast and reliable drum locking can be achieved. According to the verification of the present inventors, from the beginning, when the drum is locked by the driving method using only suction force, it takes about one minute to reach about 20 seconds by switching the two-step driving method as described above. It was confirmed that it can be pulled out.

Next, the specific control operation when rotating the rotor 202 using only the suction force as described above will be explained with reference to FIG. In the principle diagram of this operation, for the sake of simplicity, a stator composed of a two-pole rotor in the center and three phases (three slots) of U, V, and W on the outer circumferential side is disposed.

As shown in Fig. 8A, a current flows in the U phase and the V phase, and the U phase is the N pole and the V phase is the S pole. At this time, the permanent magnet of the rotor 202 is attracted to the magnetic field generated in the stator 201 and is stably held at the position as shown. If the current continues to flow in this state, the rotor 202 does not rotate and stays in a fixed position.

Subsequently, as shown in Fig. 8B, when a current flows in the W phase and the V phase, respectively, and the W phase is the N pole and the V phase is the S pole, the rotor 202 is rotated about 60 degrees to the left. Is kept in the position. Subsequently, as shown in Fig. 8C, when a current flows in the W phase and the V phase, respectively, and the W phase is the N pole and the U phase is the S pole, the rotor 20 again rotates by about 60 degrees. Rotate Even in this case, if the current continues to flow in the same state, the position of the rotor 202 remains fixed.

In this way, the rotor 202 can be rotated intermittently in the left rotation direction by 60 ° by changing the phases through which current flows one by one. In each state as shown in Figs. 8A to 8F, the rotor 202 maintains its rotation position only by the attraction force of the magnet. Therefore, the position of the rotor 202 is stable and does not rotate easily even if the force which makes the rotor 202 rotate from the exterior, for example.

Since the stator 201 is three-phase, since the stator 201 is 36-phase in the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment, the rotation step angle of the rotor 202 becomes 5 °, Each time the energization is switched, the rotor 202 can be rotated at a low speed by 5 °, and the rotor 202 can be stably stopped at an arbitrary position in the angle unit. In addition, the angle determined by the number of slots is 60 ° in the example described above, instead of allowing a current to flow in a rectangular wave shape in each phase, but in a sine wave phase. , The stopping angle of the rotor 202 can be controlled in units smaller than 5 °).

As described above, since the rotation of the rotor 202 is controlled as described above when the coupling pin 212 of the lock driving portion 21 of the drum is advanced, the coupling pin 212 is a groove of the coupling groove 22. When inserted into the hole, the rotor 202 does not move, and almost no impact is applied to the coupling pin 212.

After the coupling pins 212 of the lock drive unit 21 of the drum are fitted to the coupling groove 22, the energization to the drum motor 20 is stopped. In this state, the drum 13 can be rotated by the margin of the defect dimension in the engagement of the engaging groove 22 and the engaging pin 212. For example, when laundry is put in the drum 13 while the inside of the drum 13 is empty, the drum 13 rotates slightly by the eccentric load, and the front of the coupling groove 22 Coupling pins 212 are in strong contact with edges or trailing edges. An example of the state is shown in Fig. 10A.

In this state, even when the torque motor 211 is driven to unlock the drum, there is a possibility that the coupling pin 212 cannot be separated from the coupling groove 22. Therefore, in the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment, control is performed in accordance with the flowchart shown in FIG. 9 at the time of unlocking the drum.

That is, for example, when it is necessary to unlock the drum, such as when starting operation, the controller 30 energizes the stator 201 of the drum motor 20 according to the locking position, and the rotor ( The position of 202 is fixed electrically (step S10). However, when the eccentric load is large, the state as shown in Fig. 10A is not solved. Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the engagement pin 212 is in the retracted position by the detection signal by the rotation position detector 217 (step S11). The process ends as it is.

If it is determined that the engagement pin 212 is not in the retracted position, the engagement pin 212 is considered to be in the advance position or in an inaccurate state during the movement, neither in the retracted position nor the advance position. At this time, the control unit 30 energizes the torque motor 211 to operate the coupling pin 212 (step S12). When the actuator 213 is in a movable state, the torque motor ( In accordance with the operation of 211, the actuator 213 retreats, or retreats after the advance operation. Then, by the detection signal by the rotation position detector 217, it is again determined whether the engagement pin 212 is in the retracted position (step S13), and when it is determined that it is in the retracted position, the drum is unlocked. Since it can be judged that this has been executed normally, the operation of the torque motor 211 is stopped (step S19), and the processing ends.

If it is determined in step S13 that the coupling pin 212 is not in the retracted position, it is determined whether 10 seconds have elapsed since the start of the operation of the torque motor 211 (step S14). Go back. Therefore, in step S13 and S14, the rotation control of the rotor 202 is not executed until 10 seconds have elapsed from the start of the operation of the torque motor 211, and the coupling pin 212 is merely operated by the torque motor 211. Try to retract.

After 10 seconds have elapsed since the start of the operation of the torque motor 211, the reciprocating rotational motion of the drum 13 is executed while the torque motor 211 is operated. That is, the control unit 30 performs drive control so that the rotor 202 is energized to the stator 201 so as to perform one reciprocating rotational movement in the range of about ± 4 ° from the current position (step S15). After that, the detection signal of the rotation position detector 217 determines whether the engagement pin 212 is in the retracted position (step S16). When the drum 13 is rotated as described above, as shown in FIG. 10 (B), the frictional force due to the strong contact between the coupling pin 212 and the coupling groove 22 is temporarily lost or weakened, thereby engaging The pin 212 is in a state of being easily released from the engaging groove portion 22. Therefore, the coupling pin 212 is moved to the retracted position during this reciprocating rotation movement, and it is often determined that the coupling pin 212 is in the retracted position at step S16. In that case, the process proceeds from step S16 to S19 to stop the operation of the torque motor 211 to end the processing.

If it is determined in step S16 that the engaging pin 212 is not in the retracted position, it is determined whether the drum reciprocating rotational movement of step S15 has been repeated three times (step S17), and if not performed three times, step S15 Return to Therefore, when the coupling pin 212 does not reach the retracted position by repetition of steps S15 to S17, the drum reciprocating rotational motion is repeated three times at most. Sometimes, even when the coupling pin 212 cannot be detached from the defect groove 22 by one drum reciprocating rotational motion, the coupling pin 212 is generally a defective groove portion during the three drum reciprocating rotational motions. 22) the drum is unlocked.

If it is determined in step S17 that the drum reciprocating rotational motion is repeated three times, there is a possibility that a certain abnormal state is issued, for example, the drum cannot be unlocked for other reasons. Thus, for example, an alarm state is issued by a buzzer or an abnormal state (notification sound) such as lighting an abnormal warning LED is performed (step S18), and the user is notified of the abnormality.

Thus, in the drum type washing machine of this embodiment, even when it is difficult to unlock the drum, the coupling pin 212 is easily pulled out by reciprocating the drum 13, thereby releasing the unlocking of the drum. I can promote it.

Fig. 11 shows the results of experiments verifying the effect of the drum unlocking operation by the control method as described above. FIG. 11 shows the result of checking whether the coupling pin 212 can be detached from the coupling groove 22 when an eccentric load for rotating the drum 13 forward or backward is applied to the inside of the drum 13. The conventional control method mentioned here does not execute the reciprocating rotational motion of the drum 13. In this longitudinal cooling method, when the operating force (drawing force) of the coupling pin 212 is 3 kgf, the eccentric load is 5.98 kgf so that the coupling pin 212 does not fall out, and the eccentric load is maintained even when the operating force of the coupling pin 212 is 4 kgf. At 9.18 kgf, the coupling pin 212 does not fall out. On the other hand, according to the new control method which added the reciprocating rotational motion of the drum 13, even if the operating force is 3 kgf, even if the eccentric load of 9.18 kgf is applied, the engagement pin 212 can be removed without a problem. Therefore, the torque of the torque motor 211 for operating the actuator 213 can be reduced by that much, and there is an advantage that the cost can be reduced.

In addition, this embodiment is an example of the present invention, it is obvious that the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, it can be changed, modified or added as appropriate within the scope and spirit of the present invention.

According to the present invention, in the drum type washing machine having the opening of the laundry inlet on the drum circumferential surface, it is possible to provide the drum type washing machine which can quickly perform the operation when the drum is stopped and the position thereof is fixed in the drum rotation state. have.

Thereby, the drum type washing machine which improved the user's ease of use can be provided.

Claims (6)

In the washing machine disposed in the gas box, in the drum type washing machine in which the drum has a circumferential surface of a substantially cylindrical drum disposed freely about a horizontal or inclined axis, a) a direct current motor comprising a rotor which rotates integrally with the rotary shaft capable of rotating the drum, a stator for driving the rotor, b) drive control means using an inverter circuit for supplying current to the stator to control the rotation of the rotor of the DC motor; c) between the drum or the rotating body which is integrally rotated with the drum and the non-rotating convex part to receive the convex part and the convex part free of the convex part in order to fix the drum to a predetermined locking position on the rotation thereof; A locking means of the drum for engaging with the recess; d) the stop control operation of the first step of bringing the drum to the vicinity of the locking position by means of the suction control and the repulsion force between the rotor and the stator by the drive control means; and between the rotor and the stator. A stop control operation of the second step of reaching the lock position at a low speed is performed mainly by using suction force of. When the drum reaches the lock position in the stop control operation of the second step, the convex portion And a drum locking execution means for controlling the locking means of the drum to move forward and engage with the recess. 2. The rotation detecting means according to claim 1, further comprising rotation detecting means for detecting that the drum is in the locked position, wherein the drum locking means comprises: the drum being rotated by the rotation detecting means during the stop control operation of the first step. And detecting a lock position, the drum washing machine being switched to the stop control operation of the second step. 2. The inverter circuit according to claim 1, wherein the drive control means detects a current of the inverter circuit and performs a control so as to mainly use a suction force between the rotor and the stator, so that the detected current is constant. The on-off control of the drum washing machine, characterized in that to control the torque of the DC motor constantly. In the washing machine disposed in the gas box, in the drum type washing machine in which the drum has a circumferential surface of a substantially cylindrical drum disposed freely about a horizontal or inclined axis, a) a motor for rotating the drum, b) drive control means for driving the motor; c) between the drum or the rotating body which is integrally rotated with the drum and the non-rotating convex part to receive the convex part and the convex part free of the convex part in order to fix the drum to a predetermined locking position on the rotation thereof; A locking means of the drum for engaging with the recess; d) unlocking means for controlling the drum to control the driving control means capable of reciprocating the drum forward and backward in rotation when the convex portion and the concave portion are engaged to release the convex portion by retreating; Drum-type washing machine comprising a. 5. The drum according to claim 4, wherein the unlocking means for unlocking the drum attempts to retract the convex portion without first performing the reciprocating rotational motion of the drum, in which case the convex portion cannot escape from the concave portion. Drum washing machine, characterized in that to control to perform the reciprocating rotation of the. The apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, further comprising an abnormal state notification means for informing the user of an abnormal condition when the drum cannot be unlocked even after the drum reciprocating rotation is performed for a predetermined number of times or for a predetermined time. Drum-type washing machine comprising a.