WO2007064052A1

WO2007064052A1 - Control process of dehydration in drum type washing machine

Info

Publication number: WO2007064052A1
Application number: PCT/KR2005/004104
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bon Kwon Koo
Original assignee: Lg Electronics Inc.
Priority date: 2005-12-02
Filing date: 2005-12-02
Publication date: 2007-06-07

Abstract

There is provided a dehydration control method of in a drum type washing machine. The dehydration control method of the drum type washing machine includes a step of uniformly distributing a partially disposed liquid balancer. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a vibration from aggravating due to the partially disposed liquid balancer and to minimize a vibration of a drum because a drum rotational velocity of the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40) is set to be smaller than a specific vibration frequency of a drum type washing machine.

Description

CONTROL PROCESS OF DEHYDRATION IN DRUM TYPE

WASHING MACHINE

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a dehydration control method of a drum type washing machine, and more particularly, to a dehydration control method of a drum type washing machine which includes a liquid-balancer distribution step of uniformly distributing a liquid stored within a liquid balancer in a drum type washing machine provided with a liquid balancer. Background Art

[2] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the inside of a conventional drum type washing machine, FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a dehydration control process of the conventional drum type washing machine, and FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating a rotational velocity of a drum at a dehydrating process of the conventional drum type washing machine.

[3] As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional drum type washing machine includes a cabinet

1 including a base Ia and a door Ib, a tub 2 provided within the cabinet 1, a drum 3 rotatably provided within the tub 2 to rotate the laundry (m) and washing water with a lift 3a, a motor 4 for rotating the drum 3, and a spring 5, a damper 6, and a balancer 7 which damp a vibration transmitted to the tub 2. In the drum 3, a plurality of holes 3b are formed to inject washing water stored within the tub 2 into the drum 3, and the lift 3 a is formed within the drum 3. When the drum 3 is rotated, the lift 3 a moves the laundry (m) loaded within the drum 3 together with the washing water.

[4] A top portion of the tub 2 is connected by the spring 5 so that the tub is suspended within the cabinet 1. The damper 6 is connected to the tub 2 and the base Ia with a hinge so as to support the base Ia, and the spring 5 and the damper 6 offset a vibration transmitted from the tub 2 to the cabinet 1.

[5] The cabinet 1 is provided with the door Ib in a front surface thereof so that the laundry (m) may be put. Opening portions 2c and 3c are formed in front surfaces of the tub 2 and the drum 3 so that the laundry is put through the door Ib.

[6] The balancer 7 is provided in the front side of the rotating drum 3 to prevent a vibration generating due to imbalance of the drum 3 when the drum 3 is rotated. Particularly, the balancer 7 is a liquid balancer in which the inside thereof is filled with a liquid.

[7] Next, when the drum type washing machine having the above-mentioned construction is dehydrated, a control method of the drum will be described with reference to FIG. 2 or 3.

[8] Generally, a dehydrating process of the washing machine includes a disentangling step (S 1) of removing the tanglement of the laundry (m) within the drum 3, a balancing step (S2) of uniformly distributing the laundry (m) whose the tanglement is removed to the drum 3, an accelerating step (S3) of accelerating the drum to dehydrate the laundry, and a dehydrating step (S4) of rotating the drum 3 to a predetermined rotational velocity.

[9] In a dehydrating step of proceeding to the above-mentioned steps, the washing machine should pass through a resonance period of the washing machine generated by a rotation of the drum, but it abruptly accelerates a rotational velocity of the drum 3 in the accelerating step (S3) to escape the resonance period thereof.

[10] However, as shown in FIG. 3, a conventional drum type washing machine operates with only the disentangling step (Sl) and the balancing step (S2) by taking into consideration only the laundry (m) within the drum, so that there is a problem that a liquid within the liquid balancer 7 is not uniformly distributed.

[11] Specifically, the liquid balancer 7 of the conventional drum type washing machine is filled with a liquid and the liquid within the liquid balancer 7 is collected to the low side of the liquid balancer due to a weight thereof before the start of the dehydrating process.

[12] The drum type washing machine performs the disentangling step (Sl) and the balancing step (S2) to perform a dehydrating process and the laundry (m) is uniformly distributed within the drum 3 through the disentangling step (Sl) and the balancing step (S2).

[13] However, the liquid filled within the liquid balancer 7 may flow into any one side through the disentangling step (Sl) of repeatedly performing to remove the tanglement of the laundry (m).

[14] Thereafter, when the dehydrating process proceeds to the accelerating step (S3) at a state where the liquid of the liquid balancer 7 flows into any one side, there is a problem that a vibration due to imbalance of the liquid balancer 7 continues for a considerable period.

[15] There is a problem that a phenomenon where the liquid within the liquid balancer 7 flows into any one side causes a vibration and a noise at a dehydrating process. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[16] Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve at least the problems and disadvantages of the background art.

[17] An object of the present invention is to provide a dehydration control method of a drum type washing machine which can prevent a vibration and a noise caused due to imbalance of a liquid balancer in a dehydrating process. Technical Solution

[18] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dehydration control method of a drum type washing machine including: a balancing step of uniformly distributing the laundry at the inside of a drum by rotating the drum in a predetermined velocity (w2); a step (S40) of uniformly distributing a liquid of a liquid balancer by rotating the drum in a predetermined velocity (w3); a step (S50) of accelerating the drum in a target velocity (w4); and a dehydrating step (S60) of rotating the drum in a predetermined velocity (w4).

[19] In the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40), a rotational velocity of the drum may be smaller than a specific vibration frequency of the drum type washing machine. The liquid-balancer distributing step may be continuously performed after the balancing step. In the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40), a rotational velocity of the drum may be 100 RPM or more.

[20] The liquid-balancer distributing step (S40) may be a process of acceleration a rotational velocity of the drum. Acceleration (al) of the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40) may be smaller than acceleration (a2) of the accelerating step (S50).

[21] The accelerating step (S50) may proceed to the dehydrating step (S60) via a specific vibration frequency of the drum type washing machine.

[22] The dehydration control method of the drum type washing machine may further include a step (S30) of correcting a position of the partially disposed laundry by rotating and suspending the drum before the liquid-balancer distributing step. A suspending period of the drum may be provided between the position correcting step (S30) and the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40).

Advantageous Effects

[23] A dehydration control method of a drum type washing machine according to the present invention includes a step of uniformly distributing a partially disposed liquid balancer, thereby preventing a vibration from aggravating due to the partially disposed liquid balancer

[24] In addition, a distributing step (S40) of the liquid balancer in the dehydration control method of a drum type washing machine according to the present invention is performed in a rotation velocity smaller than a specific vibration frequency of the drum type washing machine, so that there is an effect that a vibration of a drum is minimized.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[25] The invention will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings in which like numerals refer to like elements.

[26] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the inside of a conventional drum type washing machine;

[27] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a dehydration control process of the conventional drum type washing machine;

[28] FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating a rotational velocity of a drum at a dehydrating process of the conventional drum type washing machine;

[29] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the inside of a drum type washing machine according to the present invention;

[30] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a dehydration control method of the drum type washing machine according to the present invention;

[31] FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating a rotational velocity of a drum by the dehydration control method shown in FIG. 5; and

[32] FIG. 7 is a graph illustrating vibration displacements in the conventional drum type washing machine and the drum type washing machine according to the present invention. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[33] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of a dispenser assembly of a drum type washing machine according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[34] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the inside of a drum type washing machine according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a dehydration control method of the drum type washing machine according to the present invention, FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating a rotational velocity of a drum by a dehydration control method shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a graph illustrating vibration displacements in the conventional drum type washing machine and the drum type washing machine according to the present invention.

[35] As shown in FIG. 4, a composition of a drum type washing machine according to the present invention is as follows. The drum type washing machine according to the present invention includes a cabinet 10 whose a door 12 is formed in a front surface 11 thereof, a tub 20 provided within the cabinet 10, a spring 21 and a damper 22 which support the tub 20 and offset a vibration transmitted from the tub 20 to the cabinet 10, a motor 40 provided in the rear side of the tub 20, a drum 30 rotating by the motor 40, and a liquid balancer 50 which prevents a vibration generating in the tub 20.

[36] The door 12 is rotatably provided on a front surface 11 of the cabinet 10.

[37] In the tub 20 and the drum 30, opening portions 24 and 34 are formed toward the door 12 and the laundry 70 is put into the drum 30 through the opening portions 24 and 34. [38] In the low side of the tub 20, a plurality of dampers 22 are provided to connect a base 14 of the cabinet 10 and a low surface of the tub 20 to each other with a hinge.

The tub 20 is supported by the damper 22, whereby a vibration of the tub 20 is prevented from transmitting to the cabinet 10. [39] The spring 21 connects an upper surface of the tub 20 and an inner surface of the cabinet 10 to each other and is provided in plurals to support the tub 20. [40] In the drum 30, a plurality of holes 31 are formed to inject washing water injected from the tub 20 into the drum and a plurality of lifts 36 are provided in an inner surface

32 of the drum 30. The lift 36 is fixed to the inner surface 32 of the drum 30 to move the laundry 70 to the upper side by the rotating drum 30. [41] The liquid balancer 50 includes a housing 52 and a liquid 54 whose a predetermined amount is charged in the housing 52. [42] The drum type washing machine having the above-mentioned construction performs a wash process, a rinse process, a dehydrating process, etc. of the laundry to wash the laundry 70. [43] The dehydrating process of the drum type washing machine will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 or 6. [44] First, the dehydrating process of the drum type washing machine is performed by a controller (not shown) of the washing machine and the drum 30 rotated by the motor

40 performs a disentangling step (SlO) of disentangling from the tangled laundry 70. [45] The disentangling step (S 10) is a process of rotating the motor 40 several times in the rotation direction or the reverse direction after driving it with a predetermined rotational velocity (wl: 50 rpm) for a predetermined time in a forward direction and a backward direction and the laundry 70 is accelerated and decelerated several times through the disentangling step (SlO) to disentangle the tanglement of the tangled laundry 70. [46] Next, in the dehydrating process of the drum type washing machine, a balancing step (S20) of uniformly distributing the laundry 70 in which the tanglement is removed through the disentangling step (SlO) within the drum 30 is performed. [47] The balancing step (S20) is a process of removing a partial disposition of the laundry due to the flow of the laundry 70 into any one side and stopping the drum 30 after rotating the drum 30 in a predetermined rotational velocity (w2: 100 rpm) for a predetermined time (t2) within the motor 40. [48] Specifically, a rotational velocity of the balancing step (S20) is set to be smaller than a specific vibration frequency of the drum type washing machine and is set to 100 rpm in the present embodiment. [49] When the balancing step (S20) is performed, the controller measures a vibration displacement (x) generated in the drum 30. When the vibration displacement (x) is a reference value or more, the controller performs a step (S30) of correcting a position of the partially disposed laundry 70 by rotating the drum 30 several times with the velocity that is smaller than the rotational velocity wl. The position correcting step (S30) is repeatedly performed until the vibration displacement (x) is a predetermined displacement or less.

[50] Next, in the dehydrating process of the drum type washing machine, the balancing step (S25) of rotating the drum 30 for a predetermined time (t3) is performed again after the position correcting step (S30) and an eccentric force of the laundry is corrected again by the balancing step (S25). On the other hand, the drum rotated for a period of t3 is not decelerated differently from the balancing step (S20) previously performed and proceeds to a step (S40) of uniformly distributing the liquid 54 of the liquid balancer 50.

[51] A liquid-balancer distributing step (S40) is a step of uniformly distributing the liquid suspended between the position correcting step (S30) and the balancing step (S25) and collected in the low side of the balancer 50 in a housing 52 of the balancer 50 and accelerating the drum 30 up to the velocity of w3 which is faster than a rotational velocity of the balancing step (S25).

[52] As described above, the liquid balancer 50 accelerated up to the velocity of w3 is provided a centrifugal force to the liquid 54 by the acceleration and the liquid 54 to which the centrifugal force is applied is uniformly distributed over an entire housing 52.

[53] In addition, the liquid 54 distributed as described above corrects again an eccentric force of the rotating drum 30 and is moved to an equilibrium position of a force with the drum 30 by a centrifugal force.

[54] The rotational velocity w3 is a velocity smaller than a rotational velocity to cause a resonance in the washing machine and acceleration (al) of the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40) has a value smaller than the abrupt acceleration (a2) used in a dehydrating process of a general washing machine.

[55] Next, in the dehydrating process of the drum type washing machine, a step (S50) of abruptly accelerating a rotational velocity of the drum 30 is performed to minimize a vibration by a resonance point generated by a specific vibration frequency of the washing machine and the acceleration (a2) of the accelerating step (S50) has a value larger than the acceleration (al) of the distributing step (S40).

[56] That is, the accelerating step (S50) is a step of increasing a rotational velocity of the drum 30 to a target velocity w4 for dehydrating the laundry 70 by passing through the resonance point within a possible shortest time.

[57] Thereafter, in the dehydrating process of the drum type washing machine, a step (S60) of dehydrating the laundry is performed while a rotational velocity of the drum 30 is kept to w4.

[58] A vibration displacement (x) of the washing machine generated by the dehydrating process will be described with reference to FIG. 7.

[59] First, graphs shown in FIGS. 7a and 7b show a vibration displacement of the drum at a dehydrating process in a conventional drum type washing machine and a drum type washing machine according to the present invention, but FIG. 7a shows a vibration displacement graph of a case of performing an accelerating step (S3) in a state where a distributing step of the liquid balancer 50 is omitted at a dehydrating process according to the related art and FIG. 7b shows a vibration displacement graph of a case performed the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40) and the accelerating step (S50) by a dehydration control method of the drum type washing machine according to the present invention.

[60] In the graph, a partially disposed amount of the liquid balancer 50 may be different in each case, but a purpose of the present invention is to effectively distribute a partially disposed liquid of the liquid balancer 50 and it should be paid attention that how quickly the vibration generated by the partially disposed liquid is damped.

[61] Therefore, in the graph shown in the FIG. 7a, it can be confirmed that the deceleration width is considerably smooth and is small although the vibration displacement generated in the balancing step (S2) proceeds to the accelerating step (S3) and the dehydrating step (S4).

[62] However, in the graph of FIG. 7b shown by a dehydration control method of the drum type washing machine according to the present invention, it can be confirmed that the vibration displacement generated in the balancing step (S25) is abruptly decelerated though the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40) and is decreased by a vibration generated at a regular dehydrating process after proceeding to the accelerating step (S50).

[63] The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

[64]

Industrial Applicability

[65] A dehydration control method of a drum type washing machine according to the present invention includes a step of uniformly distributing a partially disposed liquid balancer, thereby preventing a vibration from aggravating due to the partially disposed liquid balancer. [66] Furthermore, in a distributing step (S40) of the liquid balancer in the dehydration control method of a drum type washing machine according to the present invention, a rotation velocity of the drum is set to be smaller than a specific vibration frequency of a drum type washing machine, so that there is an effect that a vibration of the drum is minimized.

[67] Furthermore, the distributing step (S40) of the liquid balancer in the dehydration control method of a drum type washing machine according to the present invention accelerates a drum with a rotational velocity (w3) smaller than a resonance point in a rotational velocity (w2) of the balancing step (S25), so that there is an effect that liquid of the liquid balancer is uniformly distributed while minimizing a vibration of a drum.

[68] Furthermore, the distributing step (S40) of the liquid balancer in the dehydration control method of a drum type washing machine according to the present invention is continuously performed after a balancing step (S25), so that there is an effect that a distributing time of a liquid within the liquid balancer is minimized.

[69] Furthermore, acceleration (al) of the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40) according to the present invention is smaller than acceleration (a2) of the accelerating step (S50), so that there is an effect that the distributed liquid is prevented from flowing again into the one side and the laundry within the drum is prevented from moving due to reduction of the acceleration.

[70]

Claims

[I] A dehydration control method of a drum type washing machine comprising: a balancing step of uniformly distributing the laundry at the inside of a drum by rotating the drum in a predetermined velocity (w2); a step (S40) of uniformly distributing a liquid of a liquid balancer by rotating the drum in a predetermined velocity (w3); a step (S50) of accelerating the drum in a target velocity (w4); and a dehydrating step (S60) of rotating the drum in a predetermined velocity (w4).

[2] The dehydration control method of claim 1, wherein in the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40), a rotational velocity of the drum is smaller than a specific vibration frequency of the drum type washing machine.

[3] The dehydration control method of claim 1, wherein in the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40), a rotational velocity of the drum is 100 RPM or more.

[4] The dehydration control method of claim 1, wherein the accelerating step (S50) proceeds to the dehydrating step (S60) via a specific vibration frequency of the drum type washing machine.

[5] The dehydration control method of claim 1, wherein the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40) is a process of accelerating a rotational velocity of the drum.

[6] The dehydration control method of claim 1, wherein the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40) is continuously performed after the balancing step.

[7] The dehydration control method of claim 6, wherein in the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40), a rotational velocity of the drum is smaller than a specific vibration frequency of the drum type washing machine.

[8] The dehydration control method of claim 6, wherein the accelerating step (S50) proceeds to the dehydrating step (S60) via a specific vibration frequency of the drum type washing machine.

[9] The dehydration control method of claim 6, wherein the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40) is a process of accelerating a rotational velocity of the drum.

[10] The dehydration control method of claim 1, wherein in the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40), acceleration is performed from a predetermined velocity (w2) thereof to a predetermined velocity (w3) thereof.

[I I] The dehydration control method of claim 1, wherein acceleration (al) of the liquid-balancer distributing step (S40) is smaller than acceleration (a2) of the accelerating step (S50).

[12] The dehydration control method of claim 1, further comprising a step (S30) of correcting a position of the partially disposed laundry by rotating and suspending the drum before the liquid-balancer distributing step. [13] The dehydration control method of claim 12, wherein a suspending period of the drum is provided between the position correcting step (S30) and the liquid- balancer distributing step (S40).