JPH05192289A - Tableware washing/drying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate an unnecessary detection time and to shorten the washing time by varying the detection time in accordance with transmittance detected by a photosensor. CONSTITUTION:By opening a feed water valve, water is fed into a washing tank. After water is fed, transmittance of fresh water is detected by a detecting subroutine in order to determine a reference value of the transmittance, and an output value D of a photosensor 18 is stored in a memory 31. Thereafter, by operating a pump 11 and a timer 29, an operation of the pump 11 is continued for two minutes. When the lapse of two minutes are measured by the timer 29, the pump 11 is stopped, and the transmittance of washing water is detected by the detecting subroutine again. In accordance with a difference between the output value D of the photosensor in this case and the previous transmittance stored in the memory 31, an arithmetic part 30 decides a degree of dirt and determines a washing time T. After this washing time T is determined, the pump 11 is operated again and this state is continued until the washing time T elapses. When the time T elapses, the pump 11 is stopped, and by draining washing water stored in the washing tank, a washing process is finished.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a dishwasher / dryer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional dishwasher / dryer of this type is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-48724. In this product, at least a part of the wall surface of the water absorption pipe provided between the water reservoir provided at the bottom of the cleaning tank and the water absorption side of the nozzle pump is formed of a translucent material, and the liquid inside the water supply pipe is A light-emitting element and a light-receiving element for detecting a change in the transmittance of the light-receiving element are arranged, and the completion of the steps of cleaning, rinsing, draining and drying is controlled by the change in the amount of light received by the light-receiving element.

[0003]

Generally, there are suspended substances such as detergents, foams of detergents, and food residues in the wash water. For this reason, as in the conventional example, when the wash water is flowing and light is transmitted to detect the transmittance of the wash water, the floating matter is irradiated with light and diffusely reflected in the wash water, and the light receiving element receives the light. The amount of received light did not reach, and the suspended matter passed irregularly through the detector, so the amount of received light constantly changed, and accurate transmittance could not be detected.

Therefore, in order to detect the permeability as accurately as possible, it has been considered to stop the operation for a certain period of time to stop the flow of washing water to precipitate the suspended matter and then detect the permeability.

However, in this method, if the amount of dirt in the clean water or the wash water is very small, the suspended matter does not float in the wash water, and the permeation rate immediately after the pump is stopped is accurate. Regardless, the pump was stopped for a certain period of time before starting operation, so I was losing time.

The present invention solves such a problem.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] Means of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems include a cleaning tank, a nozzle arranged in the cleaning tank, a pump for supplying water to the nozzle, and cleaning in the cleaning tank. An optical sensor for detecting the transmittance of light of water, and a control unit for controlling the operation of the pump based on the output of the optical sensor, wherein the control unit detects the transmittance by the optical sensor. The operation of the pump is stopped for a predetermined time, and if the output of the optical sensor reaches a certain level, the operation of the pump is started even if the predetermined time has not elapsed.

[0008]

In other words, when the control unit determines that the transmittance reaches a certain level when the pump is stopped for a predetermined time and the transmittance is detected by the optical sensor, the pump stop time has passed the predetermined time. The operation of the pump is started even if it is not done.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 1, 1 is a metal frame for covering the upper surface and left and right side surfaces of a dishwasher / dryer main body, 2 is a door which is provided on the front surface of the main body so as to be openable and closable, 3 is a washing tank disposed in the frame 1, 4 Is a tableware basket that can be taken in and out of the cleaning tank 3 through the door 2, and 5 is a mounting rail for the tableware basket 4 provided in the middle stage of the cleaning tank 3.

6 is a cleaning nozzle arranged at the inner bottom of the cleaning tank 3, 7 is an annular sheathed heater arranged parallel to the inner bottom of the cleaning tank 3, and 8 is provided in a recess 9 on the inner bottom surface of the front of the cleaning tank 3. A removable residue filter 10 is a door switch for detecting opening / closing of the door 2.

Incidentally, a propulsion injection hole for laterally injecting the cleaning water is provided on both sides of one end of the cleaning nozzle 6, and a valve for alternately opening and closing these two injection holes is also provided. There is. The cleaning nozzle 6 is rotated by spraying cleaning water from this spray hole.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a cleaning / drainage pump (hereinafter referred to as a pump), which supplies cleaning water to the cleaning nozzle 6 when the pump 11 rotates forward, and drains the cleaning water in the cleaning tank 3 when rotating reversely. Drain through a pipe (not shown).

When the pump 11 is rotating forward, drive-stop-
By driving, the valve in the cleaning nozzle 6 operates to change the opening direction of the propulsion injection hole and reverse the rotation direction of the cleaning nozzle 6.

Reference numeral 12 is a circulation duct communicating with the cleaning tank 3 and forming a closed loop with the cleaning tank 3. This circulation duct 12
Separates the air inside the tank from the outside air to exchange heat, and dehumidifies the air inside the tank. Reference numeral 13 denotes a double-sided fan having one surface exposed to the outside air and the other surface exposed to the air in the tank, and having blades on both surfaces thereof. Air is forcedly circulated.

Reference numeral 15 is a rear plate for closing the rear surface of the dishwasher main body, 16 is a bottom plate for closing the bottom surface of the main body, and 17 is a bottom plate 1.
The leg portions are provided near the four corners of No. 6, respectively. The rear plate 15
The bottom plate 16 forms the outer frame of the dishwasher together with the metal frame 1.

Reference numeral 18 denotes an optical sensor, and as shown in FIG. 2, a light emitting element case 22 and a light receiving element case 23, which are sensor boxes accommodating a light emitting element 20 and a light receiving element 21, respectively, are attached to a water inlet 19 of the pump 11. The pump casing 26 is attached with screws so that the light emitting surface 24 and the light receiving surface 25 face each other on the outer circumference.

FIG. 3 shows a control block diagram of the dishwasher. It is to be noted that the components having the same numbers as those described above have the same functions and therefore the description thereof will be omitted.

Reference numeral 27 is a control unit for controlling the operation, and for example, a microcomputer is used.

The control unit 27 includes a judgment unit 28 for judging whether the permeability is close to that of fresh water, and a timer 29 for counting the operating time or the stop time of the pump 11.
It also has a computing unit 30 that computes the operating time of the pump 11 from the permeability of the wash water, and a memory 31 that stores the output value D of the optical sensor 18.

The operation of the washing process having such a structure is shown in FIGS.
Work based on. First, a water supply valve (not shown) is opened to supply a predetermined amount of water (S-1) into the cleaning tank 3.

After the water supply, in order to determine the reference value of the permeability,
The permeability of fresh water is detected by the detection subroutine described later (S
-2), the output value D of the optical sensor 18 is stored in the memory 31 (S-3).

Thereafter, the pump 11 is operated (S-4) and the timer 29 is operated to continue the operation of the pump 11 for 2 minutes (S-5). When the timer 29 counts 2 minutes, the pump 11 is stopped (S-6), and the permeability of the washing water is detected again by the detection subroutine (S-).
7).

In accordance with the difference between the output value D of the optical sensor at this time and the previous transmittance stored in the memory 31, the calculation unit 30
Determines the degree of contamination of the wash water and determines the wash time T (S-8).

After the washing time T is determined, the pump 11 is restarted.
Is operated (S-9), and this state is continued by the timer 29 until the washing time T elapses (S-10).

When the time T has elapsed, the pump 11 is stopped (S-11) and the cleaning water in the cleaning tank 3 is drained (S-1).
2) Finish the washing process.

In the detection subroutine, first, the timer 29
(S-13), the optical sensor 18 detects the permeability of the wash water (S-14), and the optical sensor output value D is obtained. Then, the output value D is compared with the level H of the transmittance when it is close to the fresh water state (S-15).

In this comparison, if it is judged that the output value D is higher than the level H, that is, it is clean, the timer 2
9 is reset (S-17), and the subroutine is immediately exited. The output value D of the optical sensor 18 at this time becomes detection data when it is determined in step (S-15) that the output value D is higher than the level H.

If the output value D is smaller than the level H, that is, if it is dirty, the optical sensor 18 continues to detect the permeability of the washing water again. If this state continues even if 1 minute is counted by the timer 29, the timer 29 is reset (S-17) and the subroutine is exited. The output value D of the optical sensor 18 at this time becomes data when one minute has elapsed since the detection of the transmittance was started in the detection subroutine.

That is, when it is detected in step (S-2) in FIG. 4, since the cleaning water is clean, the permeability is large and the pump 11 immediately starts its operation without waiting for 1 minute, Also, when it is detected in step (S-7), it is very dirty because there are floating substances such as food residue and detergent bubbles in the wash water, and the pump 11 is stopped for 1 minute until the floating substances settle. Then, the pump 11 will be operated again.

Although the washing process will be described in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to all processes such as a pre-washing process and a rinsing process which are detected by an optical sensor.

[0031]

According to the present invention, since the detection time is changed according to the transmittance detected by the optical sensor, the unnecessary detection time can be eliminated and the cleaning time can be shortened.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a cross-sectional view of the dishwasher of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of the dishwasher of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of a washing process of the dishwasher / dryer of the present invention.

5 is an operation flowchart of a detection subroutine in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Cleaning tank 11 Cleaning and drainage pump 18 Optical sensor 27 Control unit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Katsushi Onishi 2-18 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning tank, a nozzle arranged in the cleaning tank, a pump for supplying water to the nozzle, an optical sensor for detecting the light transmittance of the cleaning water in the cleaning tank, and an optical sensor for the optical sensor. A control unit that controls the operation of the pump based on the output, and the control unit stops the operation of the pump for a predetermined time in order to detect the transmittance with the optical sensor, and outputs the output of the optical sensor. Is a certain level, the dishwasher / dryer is characterized in that the operation of the pump is started even if the predetermined time has not elapsed.