JPH06315594A - Control method for washer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Mechanism] The mechanical loss of the drive unit is detected by detecting the back electromotive force of the motor 8 when the rotary blade 6 is rotated immediately after the motor 8 by the terminal voltage of the motor 8 drive capacitor 8a. , DC rectangular wave pulse, the time t between the pulses is measured a plurality of times, and the time t at the time of forward and reverse rotation is compared to detect. [Effect] By detecting the mechanical loss of the drive unit, it is possible to prevent cloth damage at low water level agitation, reduce noise, and prevent customer complaints by notification sound and display at the time of abnormality.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a washing control method for detecting a mechanical loss of a drive unit such as a motor in a cloth amount detecting device of a washing machine which catches the amount of clothes put in a washing tub as a rotation resistance of a stirring blade. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional cloth amount detecting process, clothes are put in a washing tub, and after the water is supplied to a minimum water level or below the minimum water level, and to display a detergent standard, the cloth amount is detected without supplying water. It was a thing. In the case of unidirectional water supply, the cloth amount detection accuracy varies because the clothes in the tank are not uniformly sprayed with water. In order to solve this problem, a method of slowly rotating the washing tub / dehydrating tub has been proposed as a means for uniformly applying water to the clothes in the tub. In this case, since the clutch device has changed from the washing state to the dehydration state, if the cloth amount detection process is performed in this state, the mechanical loss of the clutch will be overloaded compared to normal washing operation, the motor will lock and the correct cloth amount can be detected. Absent.

Therefore, in order to normally wash the drive unit, a stirring process is added as a pre-process of the cloth amount detecting process, which is equal to or less than the normal washing process and stronger than the cloth amount detecting process.
However, as described above, since the stirring process is operated in a place where the water level is low, there is a concern that the cloth may be damaged, and at the same time, the cloth is biased and there is a problem of a collision noise to the outer frame. . In addition, customers often misunderstand that it is normal laundry, and there are some complaints that the laundry amount detection sensor and water level detection sensor may be defective.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the conventional cloth amount detecting step, the damage to the cloth that occurs during the stirring step at a low water level, which is a step before the cloth amount detection, is performed after the rotary water supply in which water is evenly applied to the clothes.
There was a problem with customer complaints due to low vibration level and low water level during washing.

An object of the present invention is to improve the basic performance mentioned above.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, in the cloth amount detecting step of the present invention, a motor for driving a washing / dehydrating tank or a stirring blade, a control means for controlling energization of the motor, and In a device equipped with a cloth amount detecting device such as a rotation sensor, the control means energizes the motor for a predetermined time during the stirring process at a low water level, which is a pre-process of the cloth amount detecting process, and immediately after that, the rotation is performed during the energization pause time. From the output result of the cloth amount detection device such as a sensor, lock detection is performed due to mechanical loss of the drive unit from the motor to the rotor, and only when locked, the stirring process is continued at a low water level until the lock is released. To do. Further, when not locked, the stirring process at a low water level is skipped and the cloth amount detection process is performed.

[0007]

[Function] In this cloth amount detecting step, the lock is detected by the mechanical loss of the drive section from the motor to the rotary blades, and the damage to the cloth due to the shortening of the stirring time at a low water level and the shaking of the outer tub to the outer frame We will prevent customer complaints such as the collision noise and low water level, and prevent variations in cloth amount detection accuracy.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a washing machine adopting an embodiment of the present invention uses a suspension bar 2 in an outer frame 1 made of a steel plate, and a vibration isolator 3 made of a coil spring or elastic rubber to make an outer member made of synthetic resin. Four suspension rods 2 and four vibration damping devices 3 configured to suspend the tank 4 are provided.

In the outer tub 4 for storing water for washing,
A washing / dehydrating tank 5 made of synthetic resin is rotatably provided. A large number of dehydrating holes 5a are provided in the washing / dehydrating tub 5, and a rotary blade 6 made of a pulsator or an agitator is rotatably provided in the central bottom portion. During washing and rinsing operations, the washing / dehydrating tub 5 is kept stationary and the rotor 6 is rotated clockwise and counterclockwise. Also, during the dehydration operation, the washing and dehydrating tub is rotated in one direction. The rotation of the rotary vanes 6 and the washing / dehydrating tub is performed by the drive device 7.

The drive unit 7 includes a motor 8 and a transmission means 9 composed of a pulley 9a and a belt 9b for transmitting the rotation of the motor 8 to the rotary blade 6 or the washing / dehydrating tub 5, and only the rotary blade 6 at the time of washing and rinsing. And a drainage device 12 that controls drainage. A clutch device 10 for rotating the washing / dehydrating tub 5 during dehydration, a solenoid 7a for switching the clutch device 10 and a drainage device 12 for draining water.

The drive device 7 is fixed to the bottom surface of the outer tank 4 by using a support plate 15 made of a steel plate. In the outer tank 4, the pressure of water in the outer tank 4 is transmitted to the water level sensor 26. An inlet 4c for connecting the S tube 27 is provided.

An operation box 1 for accommodating a loading port 19a for loading laundry and electric parts such as a controller is provided on the upper portion of the outer frame 1.
There is provided a top cover 19 made of synthetic resin which forms 9b. A lid 20 made of synthetic resin is provided on the charging port 19a.

An operation panel 21 is mounted on the upper surface of the operation box 19b, and a water supply solenoid valve 24 is provided in the operation box 19b.

The water level sensor 26 arranged in the operation box 19b detects the pressure of the water in the outer tub 4 to determine whether or not the water has accumulated up to the specified water level. The water level sensor 26 is composed of a core, a coil, a spring and the like.

A controller for controlling washing, rinsing, dehydration, etc. is arranged in the storage box 31. The operation panel 21 includes a power switch button 29 and an external operation switch 3
0 is placed.

FIG. 2 shows the operation panel 21.

In the above configuration, when the power switch button 29 is pressed to turn on the power switch and the "sensor (standard)" button of the external operation switch 30 is pressed, the water supply solenoid valve 26 is energized by a signal from the controller, Water is supplied to the washing and dehydrating tank. At this time, the solenoid 7a is also energized to be in a dehydrating state, the motor is energized for 0.5 seconds to 4 seconds off, and the washing / dehydrating tub rotates in one direction with a gentle rotation to evenly distribute the laundry in the tub. Rotation water supply is started to rotate the tank so that the water is supplied (see Fig. 5). With such a configuration, the clothes in the tank do not include the wet cloth and the dry cloth, and the load amount is detected in the complete wet cloth state, so that the accuracy can be improved. When the water level sensor detects water supply up to the minimum water level, the water supply solenoid valve 26 and the solenoid 7a are deenergized and the motor 8 is energized to perform low water level stirring. Further, from the cloth amount detection circuit and the output result shown in FIGS.
The lock is detected by the mechanical loss from the rotor to the rotor 6.

The lock is detected by detecting the back electromotive force of the motor 8 when the rotor 6 is rotated by inertia immediately after the motor 8 is turned off.
It is detected by the terminal voltage of the driving capacitor 8a, converted into a DC rectangular wave pulse, and the time t between the pulses is measured to determine the amount of mechanical loss. That is, when the amount of mechanical loss is large, the resistance of the rotating body 6 is large, so inertial rotation is interrupted and the time t between pulses becomes long, and conversely, when the mechanical loss is small, the time t between pulses becomes short. In particular, the clutch device 10 has the largest mechanical loss, and when explained based on the washing control process diagram of FIG. 5, when the transition from the tank rotary water supply to the low water level stirring process is performed, the clutch device 10 is a clutch that applies spring force. There is a dehydration mode in which the rotary blades 6 and the washing and dehydrating tub 5 rotate integrally. If low water level agitation is performed at this point, the mechanical loss will be large due to the tightness of the spring at the time of forward rotation, and the mechanical loss will be small at the time of reverse rotation due to the looseness of the spring.

Therefore, the output result t ₁ at the time of forward and reverse rotation in FIG.
By comparing t ₂ , ... t _n-1 and t _n , the magnitude of the mechanical loss of the clutch device 10 is discriminated, and the mechanical loss can be detected until the output of the forward and reverse rotations becomes almost the same value. To finish. In addition, the forward and reverse output values t ₁ , t ₂ , ... T
_The longer the on-time during stirring, the shorter the time when _n-1 and t _n become substantially equal, but the lower the water level becomes, so the cloth movement becomes unreasonable, and the cloth piece deviation easily occurs. Then, the outer tub 4 swings around and collides with the outer frame 1 in the worst case, and a collision sound is produced and the cloth is severely damaged.

Therefore, the low water level stirring is stronger than the cloth amount detecting stirring, and the reverse stirring water flow is equal to or less than the normal stirring, for example, 0.1.
It is preferable to operate by turning on and off repeatedly for 5 to 1.0 seconds.

Further, by detecting the mechanical loss of the drive unit and ending the low water level stirring in a short time, the cloth damage is prevented, the collision noise is reduced, and the cloth amount detecting sensor due to the small amount of water,
It helps prevent complaints such as defective water level detection sensors.

Further, as a result of the above-mentioned output at the time of forward and reverse rotation, t ₁ and t ₂ , ... T _n-1 and t _n are compared, and when both values are equal to or more than the values preset in the microcomputer, the motor 8 Since the abnormality of the drive section from the rotor to the rotary blade 6 and the excessive amount of cloth are put in, the user can understand by the alarm sound and the display, so that the cleaning power is reduced and the cloth is not damaged, and the power switch is provided. It is possible to prevent an overload on the motor 8 by automatically turning off.

[0023]

According to the present invention, it is possible to detect the mechanical loss of the drive unit, so that it is possible to prevent the cloth from being damaged by the low water level stirring.
It helps reduce the collision noise between the outer tank and outer frame and prevents complaints such as defective sensors.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a fully automatic washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of an operation panel.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a cloth amount detection circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an output waveform diagram output in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Outer frame, 4 ... Outer tub, 5 ... Washing / dehydrating tub, 6 ... Rotor blade,
8 ... Motor, 10 ... Clutch device.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Kyoichi Sugano Kyoichi Sugano 1-1-1 Higashitaga-cho, Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki Living Company Division, Hitachi Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A washing machine comprising a motor for driving a washing / dehydrating tub or a stirring blade, a control means for controlling energization of the motor, and a cloth amount detecting device such as a rotation sensor.
A method for controlling a washing machine, wherein the control means energizes the motor for a predetermined time, and detects a mechanical loss of the motor by an output of the rotation sensor during an energization suspension time immediately after that. 2. A method of controlling a washing machine, wherein the mechanical loss detecting step of claim 1 is a step prior to the cloth amount detecting step.