Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47L—DOMESTIC WASHING OR CLEANING; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47L15/00—Washing or rinsing machines for crockery or tableware
  • A47L15/42—Details
  • A47L15/4214—Water supply, recirculation or discharge arrangements; Devices therefor
  • A47L15/4217—Fittings for water supply, e.g. valves or plumbing means to connect to cold or warm water lines, aquastops
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
  • D06F39/00—Details of washing machines not specific to a single type of machines covered by groups D06F9/00 - D06F27/00 
  • D06F39/08—Liquid supply or discharge arrangements
  • D06F39/088—Liquid supply arrangements
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
  • D06F33/00—Control of operations performed in washing machines or washer-dryers 
  • D06F33/30—Control of washing machines characterised by the purpose or target of the control 
  • D06F33/47—Responding to irregular working conditions, e.g. malfunctioning of pumps 

Definitions

• a device and method at an inlet device in a household appliance is disclosed.
• the present invention relates to a device for detecting and removing the presence of obstacles for the function in an inlet device comprising at least one inlet valve for the inlet and closing off of water to a household appliance which uses water, with the inlet valve being electrically controllable for adjustment between an open and a closed position.
• the device further comprises a flow meter which is arranged in series with the inlet valve, which flow meter is arranged to detect a flow of water even during periods when this is not supposed to occur, and a control unit which, when the flow meter detects a flow of water during a period when this is not supposed to occur, is arranged to emit a control signal.
• the present invention also relates to a method for said device.
• the household appliance as such is equipped with some kind of inlet valve which is controlled automatically by the equipment which controls the rest of the household appliance.
• This valve is during operation normally under pressure from the water supply via the above mentioned coupling, and is open at suitable times in order to supply water. It is suitably placed in connection to the point where the coupling from the attachment point is attached to the household appliance.
• These kinds of inlet valves are preferably designed so that there is an element which hermetically locks the supply of water and which, in this position, is in a spring-biased end position. This element is in turn coupled to a solenoid, which when it is provided with a suitable voltage pulls the blocking element away, towards the force of the biasing spring so that the supply of water is enabled.
• the earlier mentioned manual safety valve is to be shut when the machine is not in use, in order to decrease the risk of overflow in the case of a leakage in said magnetic valve.
• the household appliance will fill with water if the safety valve is not closed or is not available at the same time as the magnetic valve in some way is stopped from being closed, which can result in an overflow.
• the magnetic valve can in some way be stopped from being closed, causing the household appliance to be filled with water even when this should not take place according to the program sequence of the household appliance which can result in an overflow.
• a main purpose of the present invention is to supply a device and a method to detect and remove the presence of particles which disturb the function of said inlet valves in a household appliance.
• a device which device comprises a flow meter placed in series with the inlet valve, preferably downstream from the inlet valve.
• This flow meter is arranged to detect a flow of water even during periods when this is not supposed to occur.
• the device further comprises a control unit, which when the flow meter detects a flow of water during a period when this is not supposed to occur is arranged to emit a control signal.
• the control signal emitted by the control unit is arranged to initiate that said inlet valve is opened and shut one or several times after the undesired flow of water has been detected.
• This purpose is also obtained by means of a method according to the invention, which comprises the flow measurement downstream from both inlet valves for the detection of a flow of water during periods when this is not supposed to occur.
• a control signal is emitted.
• said control signal is arranged to initiate that the supply of water is opened during a predetermined time, causing the interruption of said supply of water.
• Said inlet valves are preferably constituted by magnetic valves.
• the above method is repeated a predetermined number of times, following which a control unit is arranged to either separately or in combination terminate the dishwasher program and start an outlet pump arranged in the dishwasher, and to send an error message to the user.
• Said household appliance is preferably a dishwasher or a laundry machine.
• Fig. 1 is a view from behind of a household appliance to which the present invention is applied;
• Fig. 2 is a partial cut view of a closed magnetic valve
• Fig. 3 is a partial cut view of an open magnetic valve
• Fig. 4 shows an inlet with double magnetic valves
• Fig. 5 is a partial cut view of a closed magnetic valve where a complete closure has been blocked
• Fig. 6 shows an inlet with double magnetic valves, and a flow meter arranged downstream from the magnetic valves;
• Fig. 7 is a front view of a household appliance on which the present invention is applied.
• some sort of coupling 3 is needed to supply water from the water grid 1 to a dishwasher 2 from a suitable attachment point 4 in the household to the dishwasher 2.
• manual safety valve 5 in the form of a closure valve available, by means of which the user can turn off or on the supply of water to the dishwasher 2 in order to decrease the risk of leakage when the dishwasher 2 is not in use.
• the dishwasher 2 is, as such, equipped with an inlet at which an inlet device 6 according to the invention is arranged, and is controlled automatically by the equipment which controls the rest of the household appliance.
• This inlet device 6 exhibits inlets valves which, during operation, normally are under pressure from the water grid via the earlier mentioned coupling, and are opened at suitable points in time in order to supply water. They are suitably arranged in connection to the point where the coupling from the connection point 4 is attached to the dishwasher 2.
• Such an inlet valve 7 is shown in Fig. 2, and preferably has the function of an element 8 blocking the supply of water from an area A in a water conduit 9 to an area B in said water conduit 9, where said areas A, B are arranged on each side of the inlet valve 7.
• the area B is arranged downstream from the area A, with the area B thus being positioned closer to the washing space of the dishwasher than area A.
• Area A and area B are in Fig. 2 separated by the element 8. In this position the element 8 is in an end position, biased by a spring 10.
• This element 8 is in turn coupled to a solenoid 11 , which when it is supplied with a suitable voltage U, pulls the blocking element 8 away against the force of the biasing spring 10, so that water supply is enabled from area A to area B, which is illustrated in Fig. 3.
• a suitable amount of water has been supplied, the voltage is removed from the solenoid, causing the spring to press the blocking element 8 back so that the supply of water is interrupted, and the state in Fig. 2 is regained.
• This kind of inlet valve is called a magnetic valve, since it is the electromagnetic force of the solenoid 11 which controls the supply of water.
• manual safety valve 5 should be shut when the machine is not in use, in order to decrease the risk of overflow in the case of leakage in said magnetic valve.
• the dishwasher 2 will fill with water if the safety valve 5 is not closed or is not available at the same time as the magnetic valve in some way ceases to function, which can result in an overflow.
• the magnetic valve can in some way cease to function, causing the dishwasher 2 to fill with water even when this should not take place according to the program sequence of the household appliance, which could result in an overflow.
• Fig. 4 use is made of double magnetic valves 7, 12 for the inlet of water to a dishwasher.
• the solenoids 11 , 13 are supplied with voltage at the same time, causing them to open both of the magnetic valves 7, 12.
• the voltage is also removed at the same time from the solenoids 11 , 13, causing the two magnetic valves 7, 12 to close.
• the above means that if one of the magnetic valves 7, 12 would cease to function, there is still one which functions.
• the probability of both magnetic valves 7, 12 ceasing to function is considerably smaller than in the case of only one valve being present.
• FIG. 5 there can occur particles such as flakes from for example cracked washers or sand particles, which obstruct the function of both of the magnetic valves.
• particles such as flakes from for example cracked washers or sand particles, which obstruct the function of both of the magnetic valves.
• FIG. 5 an illustration is shown of how this might look for a magnetic valve 7.
• Such particles as the shown particle 14 can cause the magnetic valve 7 to almost close due to the influence of the spring 10, but leaving a sufficient opening for a certain flow of water through the magnetic valve 7 from area A to area B to occur.
• the inlet device carries out its function and this malfunction is not detected which does not have any practical significance either. If it takes place for both of the in Fig.
• a flow meter 15 arranged downstream from the two magnetic valves 7, 12 which can detect the presence of the flow of water even during periods when this should not occur, that is when the magnetic valves are supposed to be closed.
• the direction of the flow of water is shown with an arrow in the drawing.
• This is detected by a control unit 16, which when the flow meter 15 detects the flow of water during a period when this should not occur, that is when the solenoids are not supplied with voltage, delivers a control signal to a power unit 17 which then supplies a voltage to the solenoids 11 , 13 comprised in the magnetic valves 7, 12. They are then opened during a predetermined period of time, following which the voltage is removed so that said magnetic valves 7, 12 are again closed. Because of this, the particles which blocked the closing of the magnetic valves 7, 12 will hopefully have been removed.
• the control unit 16 can be of a kind which is used to control the cleaning process in a dishwasher, and is in principle known as such.
• control unit 16 again delivers a voltage from a power supply 17 to the solenoids 11 , 13 comprised in the magnetic valves 7, 12.
• the magnetic valves 7, 12 are then opened again during a predetermined amount of time, following which the voltage is removed so that said magnetic valves 7, 12 are again closed.
• the control unit 16 is arranged to, either separately or in combination, terminate the dishwashing program and to start an outlet pump 18 arranged in the dishwasher 2, see Fig. 7, at the same time as an error message is sent to the user.
• the error message can either be in the shape of a light or a sound signal, or a text message on a display 19 arranged in the dishwasher 2, or a combination of these steps.
• the control unit 16 is then instead arranged to, either separately or in combination, terminate the dishwashing program and to start an outlet pump 18 arranged in the dishwasher 2, see Fig. 7, and send an error message to the user as described above.
• the flow meter 15 consists of a blade breaker and a magnet arranged in an impeller (not shown details), and the number of times which the breaker is opened and closed is proportional to the flow of water. This kind of flow meter is generally known, and is not described in more detail.
• the flow meter detects a flow of water which exceeds a certain threshold value when no flow of water should occur according to the program of the cleaning sequence, the program is stopped. Possibly, particles have then blocked the closure of the two magnetic valves 7, 12. Following this, the magnetic valves 7, 12 are opened a period of time in the interval of 1-5 seconds, for example for about 2 seconds, following which they are closed for a period of time in the interval of 5-20 seconds, for example for approximately 12 seconds. If the flow meter 15 detects a water flow which exceeds a certain threshold during a time in the interval of the final 3-12 seconds, for example the last approximately 6 seconds of the previously mentioned 5-20 seconds, the above mentioned cycle will be repeated.
• the invention is not limited to that which has been described above, but various embodiments are possible within the scope of the claims.
• the invention can also be applied to other household appliances with an inlet of water, such as for example a washing machine.
• the invention can also be applied to a household appliance with the inlet of water, with only one inlet valve for the control of the water intake.
• the kind of inlet valve which is used is a magnetic valve
• the activation could be of such a kind that the valves are closed when voltage is supplied, and open in the absence of voltage.
• the used kind of inlet valve can also be of another kind than a magnetic valve, for example a motor valve which is driven between two stable end positions by activation with a voltage pulse.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Water Supply & Treatment (AREA)
• Washing And Drying Of Tableware (AREA)
• Measuring Volume Flow (AREA)
• Domestic Plumbing Installations (AREA)
• Massaging Devices (AREA)
• Refuse Collection And Transfer (AREA)
• External Artificial Organs (AREA)
• Percussion Or Vibration Massage (AREA)
• Processing Of Meat And Fish (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20288855

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (3)

• 2002
  • 2002-08-30 SE SE0202577A patent/SE524065C2/sv not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2003
  • 2003-08-29 DK DK03791536.0T patent/DK1545283T3/da active
  • 2003-08-29 AU AU2003253563A patent/AU2003253563A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2003-08-29 WO PCT/SE2003/001346 patent/WO2004019749A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2003-08-29 EP EP03791536A patent/EP1545283B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-08-29 AT AT03791536T patent/ATE533394T1/de active

Patent Citations (3)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events