CN1928190A - Drum washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A drum type washing machine, comprising: a water storage tank (33), which contains a rotating drum (31) and is elastically supported; a water supply valve (44a), which supplies water to the water storage tank (33); a water level detection mechanism (46 ), which detects the water level in the water storage tank (33); the drain valve (43), which discharges the water in the water storage tank (33); the washing heater (45), which heats the washing water in the water storage tank (33) water; and a temperature detection mechanism (55) that detects the temperature of the washing water in the water storage tank (33). In addition, there is a heated washing course in which the washing heater (45) is controlled to heat the washing water for washing. It is judged that the amount of water is large, and the control of lowering the heating temperature of the washing heater (45) and the temperature detection mechanism (55) is performed.

Description

front load washing machine

technical field

The present invention relates to a drum-type washing machine that rotates and drives a rotating drum having a rotation center axis in a horizontal direction or an oblique direction to perform processes such as washing, rinsing, and dehydration.

Background technique

In the conventional drum-type washing machine, the rotary drum rotates with a horizontal or inclined direction as the central axis, and water is supplied to the water level set in the water storage tank, so that washing, rinsing, dehydration, and drying can be performed. A heating mechanism 20 for heating (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).

4 and 5 show the structure of a conventional washing machine, and the structure will be described below. Rotary drum 1 is provided with a plurality of water passage holes 2 over the entire outer periphery thereof, and is disposed in water storage tank 3 so as to be rotatable. A rotary shaft 4 is fixed horizontally to the rotation center of the rotary drum 1 , and a motor is connected to the rotary shaft 4 to drive the rotary drum 1 in rotation. Several protruding plates 6 are provided on the inner wall surface of the rotary drum 1 to facilitate stirring of the clothes.

The water storage tank 3 is suspended on the washing machine main body 7 in a shakeable manner by the spring body 8, the bottom of the water storage tank 3 is connected to one end of the drainage connection pipe 9, and the other end of the drainage connection pipe 9 is connected to the drain pump 10. Thus, the washing water in the water storage tank 3 is drained. The drain pipe 11 connected to the drain pump 10 adopts a structure in which once it rises up in the main body, it bends at the height of the overflow surface 26 and folds back down, and then drains out of the washing machine. The water supply valve 12 supplies water into the water storage tank 3 , and the water level detection mechanism 18 detects the water level in the water storage tank 3 . The heating mechanism 20 is constituted by a sheathed heater or the like, and has a heated washing course for washing with warm water by heating the supplied washing water.

The air in the water storage tank 3 is taken in from the warm air discharge port 17 by the blower fan 13, the heater 14, and the warm air supply path 15, and is blown from the warm air supply port 16 for drying.

With the above structure, washing, rinsing, and dehydration are performed until dry.

However, in such a conventional washing machine, in the case of running a heated washing course for washing with warm water at a high temperature (for example, set to 90° C., etc.) for the purpose of bleaching/sterilization, if the high-temperature If the water is drained from the state, there is a possibility of scalding due to the deformation/damage of the drainage path or the deformation/damage of the drain port on the side of the building to be drained, or the possibility of burns when the discharged water touches the human body, so it is necessary to supply The cold water is drained after cooling the warm water. If the capacity of the laundry is large, the amount of warm water is also large, so more water and time are needed to cool the warm water.

In addition, as the above-mentioned countermeasures, it is also described in the operation manual, etc., that the maximum input capacity of the laundry in the heated washing process is set to be more limited than the standard washing capacity, but since the user does not necessarily follow the instructions in the manual, cannot be a solution.

In addition, there is also a detection error in the amount of laundry in the method of installing a laundry amount detection mechanism and detecting the capacity of the laundry immediately after the start of operation and before the water supply, using a weight sensor or the current value during the inertial rotation of the rotary drum, etc. In addition, these methods cannot judge the raw material of the laundry, and therefore the water content of the raw material is poor, so that the water content cannot be accurately judged.

In addition, an overflow path (overflow path) connected to the drain path from the water storage tank is provided so that when the water supply valve or the water level detection mechanism fails, or these signal transmission paths and the control part are abnormal, the normal When the water in the overflow state, which is not easy to occur during washing, is discharged out of the washing machine, if the capacity of the laundry is large, after the washing is completed, the high-temperature water flows out from the overflow path immediately due to the small amount of water used to cool the high-temperature washing water, resulting in The problem that water for cooling cannot be supplied sufficiently.

Patent document: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-201991

Contents of the invention

In view of this, the purpose of the present invention is to operate a heated washing course for washing with warm water at a high temperature (for example, set to 90° C., etc.) for the purpose of bleaching/sterilizing, even if the capacity of the laundry is large ( When the high-temperature water is cooled and discharged, water and time will not be excessively used, and high-temperature water will not be discharged to improve safety.

In addition, the purpose is to provide a large amount of laundry (washing) when the overflow path that is connected to the drain path from the water storage tank is provided so that the water in the overflow state that does not occur during normal washing is discharged outside the washing machine. When there is a lot of water), even if the water for cooling cannot be supplied sufficiently, the water in a high-temperature state will not be discharged from the overflow path, thereby realizing a safe washing machine.

In order to achieve the above object of the present invention, the drum type washing machine of the present invention includes: a rotating drum having a rotation center axis in a horizontal direction or an inclined direction; a water storage tank containing the rotating drum inside and elastically supported by the main body of the washing machine; Mechanism, which supplies water to the water storage tank; water level detection mechanism, which detects the water level in the water storage tank; drainage mechanism, which discharges the water in the water storage tank; heating mechanism, which heats the water storage tank washing water in the tank; a temperature detection mechanism that detects the temperature of the washing water in the water storage tank; and a control mechanism that inputs data from the temperature detection mechanism, etc., controls the heating mechanism, etc. Washing, rinsing, dehydration work, and the heated washing process for washing with heated washing water are controlled. In the heated washing process, when the rate of increase in temperature detected by the temperature detection mechanism is below a specified value, the The control means performs control to lower the heating temperature of the washing water by the heating means.

In the above-mentioned way, when running the heated washing process of washing with warm water at a high temperature (for example, set to 90°C, etc.) for the purpose of bleaching/sterilizing, etc., even if the capacity of the laundry is large (the washing water is large) In the case of high-temperature water cooling and draining, water and time will not be excessively used.

In addition, an overflow path connected to the drain path from the water storage tank is provided so that the water in the overflow state that does not occur during normal washing is discharged outside the washing machine. When the capacity of the laundry is large (the washing water is large), Even when water for cooling cannot be supplied sufficiently, a safe washing machine is realized without draining water in a high-temperature state.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a side sectional view of a front-loading washing machine according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a part of the modularized control circuit diagram of the washing machine.

Fig. 3 is a working flow diagram of the main components of the washing machine.

Fig. 4 is a side sectional view of a conventional washing machine.

Fig. 5 is a partially broken perspective view of a conventional washing machine.

Detailed ways

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a front-loading washing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partial modularized control circuit diagram of the front-loading washing machine.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , the rotary drum 31 is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape and has a plurality of water passage holes 32 all over its circumference, and is rotatably disposed in the water storage tank 33 . A rotation shaft (rotation center axis) 34 is provided in an oblique direction at the rotation center of the rotary drum 31, and the axis direction of the rotary drum 31 is arranged to incline downward from the front side to the rear side. This rotating shaft 34 is connected to a motor 35 attached to the bottom of the water storage tank 33, and rotates and drives the rotating drum 31 in forward and reverse directions. Several protruding plates 36 are provided on the inner wall surface of the rotary drum 31 to facilitate stirring of the clothes. The opening provided on the upward inclined surface on the front side of the water storage tank 33 is covered by the lid body 37 in a freely openable and closable manner. Since the cover body 37 is arranged on an upward slope, it is not necessary to bend down when taking out/putting in laundry.

The water holding tank 33 is suspended on the washing machine main body 39 in a shakeable manner by spring 40 and dividing plate 41 for anti-vibration support. mechanism) 43 to discharge the washing water in the water storage tank 33. The water supply valve (water supply mechanism) 44a supplies water into the water storage tank 33 through the water supply path 44b. The water level detection mechanism 46 detects the water level in the water storage tank 33 . On the bottom of the water storage tank 33, a washing heater 45 (heating mechanism) for making the supplied water warm is provided. The temperature detection mechanism 55 is provided at the bottom of the water storage tank 33 and detects the temperature of the washing water heated by the washing heater 45 .

When the washing water level in the water storage tank 33 rises due to some abnormality, an overflow line (line) 19b is set so as to overflow from the overflow port 19a for safety. The other end of the overflow path 19 whose one end is connected to the overflow port 19 a is connected to the drain path 42 a on the downstream side by the drain valve 43 .

Also, in the present embodiment, the rotating shaft 34 is provided in an inclined direction at the center of rotation of the rotating drum 31, and the axis direction of the rotating drum 31 is arranged to be inclined downward from the front side to the back side, but it may also be arranged on the rotating drum. The rotation center of 31 is provided with the rotation shaft 34 in the horizontal direction, and the axial center direction of the rotating drum 31 is provided in the horizontal direction.

In addition, in this embodiment, although it does not have a drying function, it is not limited to this.

Control device 47, adopts the circuit structure as shown in Figure 2, has the control mechanism 48 that is made of microcomputer, controls motor 35, drain valve 43, water supply valve 44, washing heater 45 by power switch (power switch) mechanism 49 etc., and control a series of processes such as washing, rinsing, and dehydration in turn. The input setting mechanism 50 sets the operation course, etc., and the control mechanism 48 inputs information from the input setting mechanism 50, displays the information on the display mechanism 51 as a basis, and notifies the user. In addition, the commercial power supply 52 is connected to an input of a power supply by operating a power supply switch 53 .

The control means 48 controls the rotation of the motor 35 based on the information from the rotation speed detection means 54 which detects the rotation speed of the motor.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the operation of main components of the front-loading-type washing machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, based on FIG. 3 , the operation and function in the case of performing control to lower the heating temperature when the heating washing course is operated and the rate of increase in temperature detected by the temperature detection means is below a predetermined value will be described.

Start the operation of the heating and washing process (step 100), and when the water supply process (step 101) ends, the washing heater 45 (heating mechanism) starts heating the washing water until the set temperature (for example, 90° C.) in the washing process. (step 102). If the water temperature reaches the specified standard temperature (such as 50° C.) (S103) by the temperature detection mechanism, then measure the required time (temperature rise rate) before reaching the specified temperature (such as 60° C.) from the temperature (step 104), if Exceeding the first prescribed time (for example 5 minutes), then it is judged that the quantity is large (for example 30L), the washing water temperature is set to the first heating temperature (for example 70°C) lower than the prescribed heating temperature (step 105), Continue to run the washing process.

In step 106, if the required time is less than the first predetermined time (for example, 5 minutes), if it exceeds the next second predetermined time (for example, 4 minutes), it is judged that the amount of water is slightly larger (20 L), and the heating temperature is also set to A second heating temperature (for example, 80° C.) that is slightly lower than the predetermined heating temperature and higher than the first heating temperature is set (step 107 ), and the washing process is continued.

When the required time is less than the second predetermined time (for example, 4 minutes), it is judged that the amount of water is small (for example, 10 L), and the washing water temperature is set to a predetermined heating temperature (for example, 90° C.) (step 108), and the operation is continued. Washing process.

Next, in the cooling step (step 109), the water supply mechanism is used to supply water to cool the washing water to a predetermined temperature (for example, 65° C.), and then the washing step (step 110) is completed and the next step (drainage) is entered.

Here, W is heater power (W), C is heat capacity (4.18kJ/kg·deg), d is specific gravity (1kg/L), α is loss coefficient (1.25), V is water volume (L), ⊿ T is used as the rise temperature (deg), and the time h (minutes) for the water temperature of the water volume V (L) to rise by ⊿T is calculated by Equation 1. That is, it can be seen that the rise time h (minutes) of the water temperature is proportional to the water volume V (L).

【Formula 1】

h＝(0.2778×60×C×d×V×⊿T×α)/W

Therefore, the setting of the heating temperature is judged by the rising time of the washing water temperature, so it is detected by the actual water content that also includes the difference in water content according to the raw material or type of the laundry, so that there are fewer mechanical deviation factors and accurate washing can be performed. judgment. That is, more accurate determination can be made compared with the case of using a conventional weight sensor or a current value during inertial rotation of the rotary drum. In addition, it is more efficient to change the rotation number of the drum or the rotation and stop time setting of the washing order according to the washing capacity determined by the above determination result.

In addition, since a large amount of water requires a lot of energy for heating the washing water, according to the present embodiment, the amount of water during draining and cooling is reduced, which saves energy and is very economical.

In addition, even if the present invention does not cause the washing water to become high temperature as in the past during the heating washing process, the effect is particularly effective when there is an overflow path that restricts the supply of cooling water for cooling the high-temperature washing water. high.

Also, in principle, the higher the temperature, the higher the sterilization effect. However, the antibacterial effect required in general households is mainly to eliminate Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, etc. It is known that generally speaking, the antibacterial effect corresponding to Escherichia coli or Staphylococcus aureus, etc., if 50~ Warm water above 60°C is effective for a specified time.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, it is proposed that the first heating temperature is set to 70° C. when it is judged that the amount of water is large, and the possibility that the desired sterilization effect cannot be obtained at 70° C. is low.

Also, in principle, the bleaching effect is greater the higher the temperature. However, the bleaching effect required in general households is to remove macular stains on cotton materials due to sebum, or stains such as food residues such as oil and pigment, and a sufficient bleaching effect can generally be obtained at 40 to 60°C.

As described above, there is a heated washing process. In the heated washing process, when the rate of increase in temperature detected by the temperature detection mechanism is below a predetermined value, it is determined that the amount of washing water is large and the heating temperature is lowered. Economical and safe draining after heated wash cycles.

As described above, the washing machine according to the present invention has a washing machine having a central axis of rotation in a horizontal direction or an oblique direction, and has a heating washing process, and in the heating washing process, the temperature increase rate detected by the temperature detection means is within a predetermined value. In the following cases, the control to lower the heating temperature is performed, so it can be useful as a washing machine having a function of economically and safely performing draining after the heated washing process.

Claims (1)

1. A drum type washing machine, comprising: a rotating drum having a central axis of rotation in a horizontal direction or an inclined direction; A water storage tank, which contains the rotating drum inside and is elastically supported by the main body of the washing machine; a water supply mechanism, which supplies water to the water storage tank; a water level detection mechanism, which detects the water level in the water storage tank; a drainage mechanism, which discharges the water in the water storage tank; a heating mechanism for heating the washing water in the water storage tank; a temperature detection mechanism that detects the temperature of the washing water in the water storage tank; and A control mechanism that inputs data from the temperature detection mechanism, etc., controls the heating mechanism, etc. to control a series of washing, rinsing, dehydration operations, and a heated washing process of washing with heated washing water, In the heated washing process, the control means performs control to lower the temperature of the washing water heated by the heating means when the rate of increase in temperature detected by the temperature detection means is equal to or less than a predetermined value.

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