JPH10151291A - Washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To wash a wash as successfully as possible even if the wash floats. SOLUTION: When a washing is performed in a 'faint water flow' course, the weight of washes stored in a washing drum is detected (step S1), then water is poured in the washing drum to a specified level according to the weight (steps S2 and S3). An agitator is driven, and whether a wash is floated or not is detected according to a detection signal from a rotation sensor based on a load applied to the agitator (step S5). If it is detected that a wash is floated (step S6), a sink operation for sinking the floated wash into the water is performed by pouring water into the washing drum and driving the agitator.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a washing machine suitable for washing laundry with a weaker than normal water flow.

[0002]

Conventionally, in a washing machine, in consideration of cloth damage or cloth shrinkage of the laundry, the number of rotations of the agitator is set to be lower than that of a standard course by a weak water flow. Washing course (for example, hand washing course,
Dry course) can be set.

[0003] However, the above-mentioned weak water flow course may cause the laundry to remain floating on the water, especially when washing laundry having water repellency (the property of repelling water). In such a case, since the water and the detergent are not sufficiently distributed to the laundry, the laundry may not be washed well or may not be rinsed well.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to solve the problem even when laundry is floating on water.
An object of the present invention is to provide a washing machine that can wash laundry as well as possible.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a washing tub, a stirrer provided at the bottom of the washing tub, and a laundry and a laundry. Along with driving the stirrer in a state where water at a specified water level is stored, a signal output unit that outputs a detection signal according to a load applied to the stirrer, and washing is performed based on the detection signal from the signal output unit. Cloth floating determining means for determining whether or not the object is floating, and when the cloth floating determining means determines that the laundry is floating, the process shifts to a cloth submerging step of submerging the laundry in water. It is characterized by doing.

[0006] According to the above means, when the cloth floating determination means determines that the laundry is floating, a cloth sinking step is performed to submerge the floating laundry in water.
This makes it possible to wash the laundry as well as possible.

[0007] In this case, the cloth floating determination means is configured to output a detection signal corresponding to a load applied to the stirrer when the stirrer is driven. It is preferable to determine whether the laundry is floating based on the total value (the invention of claim 2).

[0008] The cloth submerging step for submerging the laundry in water is preferably performed by pouring water into the washing tub and applying water to the laundry (claim 6). Further, it is preferable to drive the stirrer at the time of pouring water in the cloth submerging process (the invention of claim 7).

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, FIG.
1 shows a schematic configuration of the entire automatic washing machine according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 3, an outer box 1 having a substantially rectangular box shape is shown.
Inside, a water receiving tank 2 is disposed via a suspension mechanism 3. In the water receiving tub 2, a washing tub 4 having a large number of holes 4a on its peripheral wall is provided, and a stirring body 5 for generating a water flow is provided at the bottom of the washing tub 4.

At the outer bottom of the water receiving tub 2, a motor 6 which is, for example, an induction motor and is a driving source is provided, and the rotational force of the motor 6 is transmitted via a belt 7 and the like, and the washing tub 4 is rotated. And a mechanism unit 8 that rotationally drives the stirring body 5
Is provided. Although a detailed description is omitted, the motor 6 and the mechanical unit 8 control the rotation of the agitator 5 in the forward and reverse directions during the washing and rinsing steps, and the washing tub 4 rotates the agitator 5 during the dehydration step. It is designed to be rotated at high speed. A drain hose 9 is connected to the bottom of the water receiving tank 2, and a drain valve 10 is provided at a base end of the drain hose 9.

In an upper portion of the outer box 1, a top cover 11 having a laundry entrance (not shown) is provided. A water supply valve 12 and a water level sensor 13 for detecting a water level in the washing tub 4 are provided at a rear portion (the right side in FIG. 3) of the top cover 11. As shown in FIG. 4, an operation panel 16 having various switches 14 and a display unit 15 is provided on the upper surface of the front part of the top cover 11 and, for example, a microcomputer is provided on the back side thereof. A control device 17 (see FIG. 5) is provided.

FIG. 5 schematically shows an electrical configuration centered on the control device 17. The control device 17 receives signals from the water level sensor 13 and various switches 14 and also receives a signal from a rotation sensor 18 constituting signal output means provided in the motor 6. It has become so. And this control device 1
7 controls the display unit 15 in accordance with an operation program stored in advance based on the various input signals described above, and controls the motor 6, the water supply valve 12, and the drain valve 10 via the drive circuit 19 to perform washing. , A washing operation including processes such as rinsing and dehydration is performed.

Although not shown in detail, the rotation sensor 18 comprises, for example, an eight-pole permanent magnet provided around the rotation axis of the motor 6 and a Hall IC for detecting a change in the magnetic flux. Four pulse signals are output per one rotation. Here, the motor 6
When the stirrer 5 is rotated via the mechanism section 8 by the motor, the rotation speed (rotational speed) of the motor 6 changes according to the load applied to the stirrer 5.
And outputs a detection signal corresponding to the load applied.

In the present embodiment, the control device 17 controls the washing tub 4 before supplying water into the washing tub 4 at the start of the washing operation, as described later, based on the detection signal of the rotation sensor 18. It has a function of detecting the weight of the laundry stored therein, and determines whether the laundry stored in the washing tub 4 is floating before the washing and rinsing steps and after water supply. This constitutes a cloth floating determination means.

The flowcharts shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 show portions related to the gist of the present invention in the contents of control by the control device 17, which will be described below along with related operations.

FIG. 1 and FIG.
4 shows an example of control when the “weak water flow” course is selected by the course switch. Here, the "weak water flow" course is a setting suitable for washing delicate clothes, such as lingerie and knit, which are concerned about cloth damage and cloth shrinkage.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, the energization pattern of the motor 6 is controlled to 1/3 power to reduce the power to 1/3 by cycle control and 1/5 to reduce the power to 1/5 by the cycle control. The 1/5 control is alternately repeated (in the motor energization waveform of FIG. 6D, the hatched portion is the energization waveform). In FIG. 6, the commercial power supply (A
An AC clock signal is created from the power supply waveform of C),
A triac control signal is created from the C clock signal, and a motor conduction waveform is created from the triac creation signal. As the time limit for driving the motor, the motor is continuously turned on. By performing such control, as shown in FIG. 7, the rotation speed of the stirring body 5 is 160 rpm in the case of the "standard" course, whereas the "weak water flow"
In the case of the course, the rotation speed is about 36 rpm, which is not more than 1/4 of the rotation speed of the standard washing course.

As described above, the "weak water flow" course is a method in which the rotation speed of the agitator 5 is set lower than that of the "standard" course, and the mechanical force on the cloth is small and the cloth is not damaged. Few. FIG. 8 shows the relationship between the rotation speed of the stirrer 5 and the area shrinkage of the cloth. In FIG. 8, when the rotation speed of the stirrer 5 is 40 rpm or less, the area shrinkage (%) is 8% or less, and there is no problem with washing delicate clothes. On the other hand, in the case of such a "weak water flow" course, since the rotation speed of the stirrer 5 is low, when the laundry is floating on the water, there is a problem that the laundry cannot be drawn into the water. . The present invention is particularly designed to cope with such a case.

In FIG. 1, when the "weak water flow" course is set, first, a weight detecting step S1 for detecting the weight of the laundry put in the rotating tub 4 is executed. In the weight detection step S1, the motor 6 is driven in a predetermined energizing pattern to drive the stirrer 5 in a predetermined pattern before water is supplied into the washing tub 4. At this time, when the weight of the laundry is small, the load applied to the stirring body 5 is small and the number of rotations of the motor 6 increases, so that the number of pulses from the rotation sensor 18 is large,
Conversely, when the weight of the laundry is large, the load on the stirring body 5 is large, and the rotation speed of the motor 6 does not increase, so that the number of pulses from the rotation sensor 18 decreases. By counting the number of pulses, the weight of the laundry is determined in three stages, for example, a small amount, a medium amount, and a large amount.

After the weight detection step S1, the water supply valve 1
2 is operated to supply water into the washing tub 4 until the water level reaches a specified level (steps S2 and S3). At this time, the detergent previously stored in the detergent container (not shown) is supplied into the washing tub 4 together with the supplied water, or the user inputs the detergent. Note that the specified water level here is a detection water level at the time of performing cloth floating detection described later, and is set one step lower than the set water level in the washing process as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. The specified water level is determined based on the result of the detection in the weight detection step S1 based on the weight (W) of the laundry.
It can be changed according to. This is because, for example, when the amount of laundry is large, if the specified water level (detection water level) is low, the amount of water is too small relative to the amount of laundry, so that the cloth floating determination described below cannot be performed well.

After the inside of the washing tub 4 reaches the specified water level, if it is determined in step S4 that laundry is contained from the result of the weight detection step S1, the washing tub 4 A cloth floating detection step S5 for detecting whether the laundry is floating on the water is executed.

In the cloth floating detection step S5, it is determined whether the cloth is floating as follows. As shown in FIG. 11, the motor 6 is driven in accordance with a preset energizing pattern in accordance with the weight (set water level) of the laundry to
, Which allows the cloth floating detection water flow (weak water flow)
Generate The energization pattern for the cloth floating detection water flow is performed for 15 cycles, and a value K1 that is the sum of the fluctuations of the output pulses from the rotation sensor 18 in the forward / reverse direction except for the first cycle is obtained (see the following equation (1)). ).

[0023]

(Equation 1) Here, in the case where the laundry is floating on the water, even if the stirring body 5 is driven, the state is almost the same as the case where only the water is simply stirred. That is, the fluctuation of the number of output pulses of the rotation sensor 18 is small. On the other hand, when the laundry is submerged in the water, the state of the laundry changes as the stirring body 5 is driven, so that the load applied to the stirring body 5 fluctuates, that is, the output of the rotation sensor 18. The fluctuation of the pulse number increases. In the first embodiment, it is determined whether or not the laundry is floating based on such a principle.

In step S6, the value K1 (in this case, indicated by hexadecimal number (HEX)) obtained as described above is compared with a preset value, and the value K1 is set in advance. If the value is smaller than the value, it is determined that the cloth is floating. If the value is equal to or larger than a preset value, it is determined that the cloth is submerged in water.

Then, the above-described cloth floating determination step S6
When it is determined that the cloth is floating, a cloth immersion step S7 for submerging the cloth in water is executed. In the cloth immersion step S7, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the water supply valve 12 is opened to inject water into the washing tub 4 and the motor 6 is energized to generate a weak water flow. This is performed by driving the stirring body 5 in advance. As a result, water is applied to the floating laundry from above, and since the laundry is turned by the water current, the water is applied to the entire laundry. Will be submerged as much as possible.

In this case, the water injection time (the time of the cloth sinking process)
Changes according to the water pressure P applied to the water supply valve 12,
Change the weight according to the weight of the laundry (set water level). The reason for changing the water injection time according to the water pressure P is to keep the water injection amount as constant as possible. Also, changing the water injection time depending on the weight of the laundry (set water level) is that if there is a large amount of laundry, the amount of floating laundry also tends to be large. When the amount of laundry is small, the amount of floating laundry also tends to decrease, so the amount of water injected is reduced.

When the submerging process is completed (step S
8) It is determined whether or not the water level in the washing tub 4 is one step higher than a set water level set according to the weight of the laundry (step S9). If the water level in the washing tub 4 has not reached the water level one step higher than the set water level in step S9, the process returns to step S5, and the cloth floating detection is performed again.

If it is determined in the cloth floating determination step S6 that the cloth is sinking, the process proceeds to step S10 according to "NO" to determine whether the water level in the washing tub 4 has reached the set water level. Judge. When the water level in the washing tub 4 has not reached the set water level, water is supplied until the water level reaches the set water level (step S11). When the water level in the washing tub 4 reaches the set water level, the process proceeds to step S12, It is determined whether or not the water level in the tank 4 has exceeded the set water level. If it is determined that the water level has exceeded the set water level, notification of detergent addition is made (step S13).

This notification is performed, for example, by blinking a lamp (not shown) for illuminating the character 15a "add detergent" on the operation panel 16 shown in FIG. The user additionally inputs the detergent based on the notification. The reason for performing this notification is to prevent the detergent concentration as low as possible when the water level in the washing tub 4 exceeds the set water level by performing the cloth immersion process.

In the case where a detergent automatic dispenser is installed, the detergent can be automatically dispensed by operating the detergent automatic dispenser.

In step S12, if the water level in the washing tub 4 does not exceed the set water level (including the case of the set water level), no notification of the addition of detergent is made, and the process proceeds to the washing process (step S14). Here, the washing step by the weak water flow is performed, and thereafter, the process shifts to the rinsing step.

If it is determined in step S4 that the laundry is not stored in the washing tub 4, the process proceeds to step S10 without detecting the cloth floating. In step S9, it is determined whether or not the water level in the washing tub 4 has reached the higher set water level. If it is determined that the water level has reached the higher set water level, the process proceeds to step S13.

On the other hand, FIG. 2 shows the contents of control in the case where the rinsing is performed in the "weak water flow" course. In this case, first, the water supply valve 12 is operated and the washing tub 4 is operated.
Water is supplied until the water level reaches the specified level (steps T1 and T1).
2). The specified water level here is a detection water level at the time of performing cloth floating detection similarly to the washing process, and is set one step lower than the set water level, and according to the weight (W) of the laundry. Can be changed.

After the inside of the washing tub 4 reaches the specified water level, if it is determined in step T3 that laundry is stored (from the detection result in step S1),
A cloth floating detecting step T4 for detecting whether or not the laundry in the washing tub 4 is floating on the water is executed, and thereafter, whether or not the cloth is floating is determined in a cloth floating determining step T5. The cloth floating detecting step T4 and the cloth floating determining step T5 are performed in the same manner as the cloth floating detecting step S5 and the cloth floating determining step S6 during washing. And
If it is determined in the cloth floating determination step T5 that the cloth is floating, a cloth sinking step T6 for submerging the cloth in water is executed. This cloth sinking step T6
This is also performed in the same manner as the above-described cloth sinking step S7 during washing.

When the submerging process is completed (step T
7) It is determined whether or not the water level in the washing tub 4 is one level higher than a set water level set according to the weight of the laundry (step T8). In step T8, if the water level in the washing tub 4 has not reached the water level one step higher than the set water level, the process returns to step T4, and the cloth floating detection is performed again.

If it is determined in the cloth floating determination step T5 that the cloth is sinking, the process proceeds to step T9 according to "NO" to determine whether the water level in the washing tub 4 has reached the set water level. Judge. When the water level in the washing tub 4 has not reached the set water level, water is supplied until the water level reaches the set water level (step T10). When the water level in the washing tub 4 reaches the set water level, the rinsing process by the weak water flow is performed. (Step T11), and thereafter, dehydration is performed.

If it is determined in step T3 that the laundry is not stored in the washing tub 4, the process proceeds to step T9 without detecting the floating of the cloth. In step T8, it is determined whether or not the water level in the washing tub 4 has reached the higher set water level. If it is determined that the water level has reached the higher set water level, the process proceeds to step T11.

According to the first embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. That is, in the case of performing the “weak water flow” course, after supplying water to the washing tub 4 and before performing the washing process, it is determined whether the laundry is floating, and when it is determined that the laundry is floating. Performs a submerging process by driving the stirring body 5 while pouring water into the washing tub 4. As a result, water is applied to the whole of the floating laundry from above, so that the floating laundry can be submerged as much as possible. Therefore, even in the case of easy-to-float laundry, such as light-weight clothing, water and detergent can be spread to the laundry as much as possible.
It is possible to wash well even with a weak water flow.

In the case where the washing rinsing step is performed, after the water is supplied to the washing tub 4 and before the washing rinsing step is performed, it is determined whether the laundry is floating, and it is determined that the laundry is floating. In this case, water is poured into the washing tub 4 and
, So that water is spread to the laundry as much as possible, even in the case of easy-to-float laundry, such as clothes, as in the case of washing described above. Rinsing can be performed satisfactorily even with a weak water flow.

In this case, when performing the cloth submerging process,
Since not only the water injection but also the stirring body 5 is driven, the water is applied to the floating laundry as much as possible from above, so that the floating laundry can be sunk even better. .

FIGS. 14 and 15 show a second embodiment of the present invention. This second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that it is determined whether or not laundry is floating. The cloth floating judgment method is different.

Here, when the laundry is floating on the water, even if the stirring body 5 is driven, the state is almost the same as that of stirring only the water. , That is, the number of output pulses of the rotation sensor 18 increases. On the other hand, when the laundry is submerged in the water, the load on the stirring body 5 increases with the driving of the stirring body 5, that is, the rotation sensor 18
Output pulse number decreases.

In the second embodiment, it is determined whether or not laundry is floating based on such a principle. As shown in FIG. 14, the motor 6 is driven for 4 cycles in the forward rotation at an on / off time of, for example, 0.1 second on / 0.5 second off, is turned off for 1.2 seconds, and then is turned off for 0.2 second.
The rotation sensor 18 is driven for 4 cycles of reversal in an on / off time limit of second on / 0.5 seconds off, and is input during three cycles of normal rotation excluding one cycle of the first normal rotation and four cycles of reversal.
, The total number of output pulses K2
Is compared with a preset value (120 (HEX) in this case). If the total number of pulses K2 is larger than the preset value, it is determined that the cloth is floating, and the preset value is set. If the value is equal to or less than the value, it is determined that the cloth is submerged in the water. Also in the second embodiment, the same operation and effect as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

FIG. 16 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that
The specific method of submerging is different. That is,
When the water flow generated by the stirring body 5 is strengthened to some extent, the force for pulling the floating laundry into the water also increases. Therefore, in the third embodiment, as the cloth sinking process, no water is injected, and the rotation speed of the stirring body 5 is reduced. In the case of a weak water flow (the rotational speed of the stirring body 5 is set at 36 rpm), the cloth sinking process is performed. In this case, the rotation speed of the stirrer 5 is such that the laundry is hardly damaged by the cloth, for example, 60 rpm.
m. In addition, the time of this cloth sinking process is the first
It is preferable to change according to the weight of the laundry as in the case of the embodiment. In the third embodiment, the same operation and effect as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

[0045]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the cloth floating determining means determines whether or not the laundry is floating, and when it is determined that the laundry is floating, performs the cloth sinking process. Even when the laundry floats on the water, the laundry can be washed as well as possible.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the washing operation is started after the cloth sinking process is performed, the laundry can be more appropriately washed. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the washing operation performed after performing the cloth immersion step is an operation performed with the weak water flow, it is more effective to perform the cloth floating determination and the cloth immersion step. .

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is determined whether or not the laundry is floating by changing the prescribed water level for determining whether or not the laundry is floating according to the weight of the laundry. Can be performed more favorably.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, floating laundry can be sunk well by pouring water into the washing tub and applying water to the laundry. According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, by driving the agitator at the time of pouring water, water is applied to the whole of the floating laundry, so that the floating laundry can be sunk more favorably. According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to wash the laundry more satisfactorily by performing the notification prompting the addition of the detergent after the water injection.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the floating laundry can be sunk as much as possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing control contents at the time of washing in a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing control contents at the time of rinsing.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional side view of the entire washing machine.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an operation panel.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration.

FIG. 6 is a waveform chart when a “weak water flow” course is performed.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the number of rotations of a stirring body.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the relationship between the rotation speed of the stirrer and the area shrinkage of the cloth.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a relationship between a prescribed water level and a set water level.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a relationship between the weight of laundry, a prescribed water level, and a set water level.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a specific example for cloth floating determination.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an operation state of a water supply valve and a motor during a submerging process.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a relationship between water pressure, laundry weight, and water injection time during a cloth immersion process.

FIG. 14 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram showing an energization pattern of a motor when a cloth floating detection water flow is generated.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a specific example for cloth floating determination;

FIG. 16 is a view showing a third embodiment of the present invention and showing the number of rotations of a stirrer.

[Explanation of symbols]

4 is a washing tub, 5 is a stirring body, 6 is a motor, 12 is a water supply valve,
13 is a water level sensor, 15 is a display unit, 15a is a character, 17
Denotes a control device (cloth floating determination means), and 18 denotes a rotation sensor (signal output means).

Claims (9)

[Claims] A washing tub, a stirrer provided at the bottom of the washing tub, and driving the stirrer in a state where laundry and water at a specified water level are contained in the washing tub. Signal output means for outputting a detection signal according to the load applied to the agitator, and cloth floating determination means for determining whether the laundry is floating based on the detection signal from the signal output means, A washing machine characterized by shifting to a cloth sinking step of submerging the laundry in water when the cloth floating determination means determines that the laundry is floating. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cloth floating determination means determines whether the laundry is floating based on a fluctuation value of the load data based on a detection signal from the signal output means or a total value of the load data. Item 7. The washing machine according to Item 1. 3. The washing machine according to claim 1, wherein a washing operation is started after the cloth submerging process is completed. 4. The washing machine according to claim 3, wherein the washing operation after the completion of the submerging process is performed with a weak water flow in which the rotation speed of the agitator is 1/4 or less of the rotation speed of the standard washing course. . 5. The washing machine according to claim 1, wherein a prescribed water level for determining whether or not the laundry is floating by the cloth floating determination means is changed according to the weight of the laundry. 6. The washing machine according to claim 1, wherein the submerging step is performed by pouring water into the washing tub and applying water to the laundry. 7. The washing machine according to claim 6, wherein the stirrer is driven at the time of pouring water in the cloth submerging process. 8. The washing machine according to claim 6, wherein a notification prompting the addition of the detergent is performed after water injection. 9. The washing machine according to claim 4, wherein the cloth submerging step is performed by controlling the stirrer so that the water flow becomes stronger than the weak water flow.