JP2011142934A - Drum washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to detect a time-dependent change in vibration of a water tank unit 7 and suppress abnormal vibration of the water tank unit 7.
Vibration detection means for detecting a vibration component is provided on the upper surface of a water tank unit, and it is determined that there is no load at a predetermined rotation time or a predetermined rotation speed range in a dehydrating operation after a washing and rinsing process. The vibration component at the front part of the water tank unit 7 output from the vibration detection means 40 at the time of the operation is compared with the output signal stored at the time of manufacture, and the rotational acceleration and ultimate rotation at the time of dehydration of the motor according to the change amount By adjusting at least one of the number and the operation time, it is possible to suppress abnormal vibration and abnormal noise in the resonance region and the steady region of the water tank.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a drum-type washing machine that suppresses vibration of a water tank when dehydration is started.

  Conventionally, this type of drum-type washing machine has been proposed to detect the unbalanced position of the laundry in the front-rear direction in the rotating drum from the output signals of two or more axes detected by vibration detecting means fixed to the water tank. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the main configuration of a conventional drum type washing machine described in Patent Document 1, and FIG. 7 shows the relationship between the unbalance of the drum type washing machine and the phase difference of vibration components. It is a graph to show.

  A lid on the front side in which a rotating drum 101 having a large number of dewatering holes 102 (partially shown) is opened in a water tank 103 elastically supported by a vibration damping damper 105 as a suspension structure in the housing 106. From 108, the rotation axis direction is arranged so as to incline downward from the horizontal direction toward the back side as the bottom.

  The rotating drum 101 comprises a water tank unit 110 that is driven to rotate by a motor 109 fixed to the back of the water tank 103, and by opening a lid 108 that can be opened and closed at the front side entrance of the housing 106. The laundry can be taken in and out through the front opening of the water tank 103 and the front opening of the rotating drum 101.

  Between the opening of the water tank 103 and the lid 108 provided at the inlet / outlet of the housing 106 containing the water tank unit 110, there is a pressure contact portion through an elastic seal member 111 such as rubber that seals between the two. The water tank unit 110 has a configuration of a swingable vibrating body that is anti-vibrated and supported from the bottom of the housing 106 by the anti-vibration damper 105.

  Further, an operation unit 112 and a control unit 113 for controlling each process such as rinsing, rinsing, and dehydration are disposed in front of the casing 106.

  In such a drum-type washing machine, since the rotary drum 101 is horizontal or inclined as described above, when laundry is stored in the rotary drum 101 and rotated, the laundry and water are below the rotary drum 101. Therefore, vibration tends to occur. In particular, when performing a dehydration process in which the rotating drum 101 is rotated at a high speed to dehydrate the laundry, after the washing or rinsing process is completed, the laundry containing water is stored in the rotating drum, and the laundry Depending on the type, the fabric or the shape of the laundry, the laundry tends to gather at a biased position of the rotary drum 101 during the rotation of the dehydration process. When the laundry is biased, a large vibration is generated in the water tank 103 containing the rotating drum 101, and abnormal vibration and abnormal noise are generated in the washing machine.

  In this type of drum-type washing machine, during the dehydration process, the rotational speed of the rotating drum is operated over a wide rotational speed range from low speed to high speed, and the laundry is unbalanced in the front-rear direction along the rotational axis. If this occurs, depending on the number of rotations, the rotating drum may be swung around, causing problems such as collision with the water tank and generating noise. In particular, the lid 108 side, which is the front side along the rotation axis, may occur. When a large unbalance is distributed, the wobbling tends to occur more easily than when there is an unbalance on the rear side. This is because the rotating drum 101 has a cantilever structure with respect to the water tank 103 at the same time as a heavy and highly inertial component such as the motor 109 is disposed in the rear.

  As a technique corresponding to this, Patent Document 1 of the conventional example discloses an output of vibration components in a plurality of directions output by the vibration detection means 104 fixed to the upper outer wall of the water tank 103 and capable of detecting vibration components in a plurality of directions of the water tank 103. Based on the signal, an unbalanced position of the laundry is detected so that an amplitude abnormality caused by an imbalance abnormality on the front side can be dealt with.

  FIG. 7 is an example showing the relationship, and the phase angle difference (degree) and unbalance between the vibration in the X direction and the vibration in the Y direction of planes orthogonal to each other of the aquarium unit 110 detected by the vibration detection means 104. If the phase angle difference is large, it is determined that the unbalance generation position is ahead. Under the control of the control means 113, abnormal vibration occurs due to the clothes unwinding process and the reduction of the spin speed. We were taking measures to prevent damage to the equipment and noise.

JP 2006-311884 A

  However, in the conventional configuration, the aquarium unit 110 is a resonance target with respect to the vibration source of the rotating drum 101 as disclosed, and therefore the aquarium unit 110 is at the resonance point due to the imbalance generated in the rotating drum 101. When the resonance occurs, abnormal noise is generated as abnormal vibration of the entire water tank unit 110. In addition, such resonance may be transmitted from the lid 108 to the housing 106 via the elastic seal member 111, thereby causing abnormal vibration.

  In addition, there is a possibility that abnormal vibration may be generated in any place regardless of whether the place of occurrence of imbalance is the front part or the rear part.

  Since the rotating drum 101 has a cantilever structure that can freely rotate with respect to the water tank 103, it tends to be a so-called flourwood movement in which the front part swings more greatly than the back part (rear part). Even if the back (rear) side swing of the drum 101 is small, when the water tank unit 110 is resonated, the water tank 103, the rotating drum 101, the motor 109, etc. There has been a problem that the joint with the structure may be damaged.

  In addition, the structural member changes with time. In particular, when the rubber parts such as the elastic seal member 111 pressed against the water tank unit 110 and the drainage hose connected to the water tank unit 110 are cured, the structure of the water tank unit 110 is changed. There is also a problem that the possibility of generating abnormal vibration and abnormal noise is increased from the initial state by increasing the vibration in the resonance region.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a drum type washing machine that prevents abnormal vibration and abnormal noise of a water tank in a resonance region and a steady region.

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the drum type washing machine of the present invention has a bottomed cylindrical shape and has a horizontal rotating shaft or a rotating shaft inclined downward from the front side to the back side. A rotating drum, a water tub that rotatably contains the rotating drum, a motor that is fixed to the back of the water tub and rotationally drives the rotating drum, and a washing machine housing that elastically supports the water tub with a vibration damping damper, The motor comprises a control means for controlling each process of rotation, washing, rinsing, dehydration and tank washing, and a vibration detection means for detecting the vibration of the water tank, and the control means performs a dehydration operation after the washing and rinsing process. The output signal of the vibration component of the water tank output from the vibration detection means during the tank cleaning course and the output of the vibration component stored by the vibration detection means at the time of manufacture at a predetermined rotational speed time point or a predetermined rotational speed range And at least one of the rotational acceleration of the motor at the start of dehydration, the reached rotational speed of the motor at the time of steady dehydration, and the dehydration operation time are compared according to the amount of change in the output signal. It is what you do.

  Thereby, the vibration of the whole water tank unit can be reduced while ensuring the dewatering performance.

  The drum type washing machine of the present invention can prevent abnormal vibration and abnormal noise in the resonance region and steady region of the water tank.

Sectional drawing of the principal part structure of the drum type washing machine which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. Block diagram of control circuit of the drum type washing machine Graph showing the correlation between the elapsed time of the drum type washing machine and the signal corresponding to the vibration of the aquarium when it is determined that there is no load The correlation between the amount of change in the output signal corresponding to the vibration of the aquarium when it is determined that the drum type washing machine is in an unloaded state, the rotational acceleration of the motor, the number of revolutions reached during dehydration, and the operation time during dehydration Graph showing A graph showing the setting of the elapsed time of dehydration operation and the rotation speed of the motor Sectional drawing which shows the principal part structure of the conventional drum type washing machine A graph showing the relationship between the unbalanced state of the drum type washing machine and the phase difference of vibration components

  A first aspect of the present invention is a rotary drum that is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape and has a horizontal rotation shaft or a rotation shaft that is inclined downward from the front side to the back side, and includes the rotation drum rotatably. A water tank, a motor that is fixed to the back of the water tank and rotationally drives the rotating drum, a washing machine housing that elastically supports the water tank with a vibration-proof damper, and rotation, washing, rinsing, dehydration, and tank washing of the motor And a vibration detecting means for detecting the vibration of the water tank, and the control means is at a predetermined rotational speed time point or a predetermined rotational speed range in the dehydrating operation after the washing and rinsing process. The output signal of the vibration component of the water tank output from the vibration detection means at the time of the tank cleaning course is compared with the output signal of the vibration component stored by the vibration detection means at the time of manufacture. According By adjusting at least one of the rotational acceleration of the motor at the start of dehydration, the reached rotational speed of the motor at the time of steady dehydration, and the dehydration operation time, Abnormal vibration and abnormal noise in the resonance region and the steady region can be prevented.

  According to a second invention, in the first invention, the output signal of the vibration component of the water tank output from the vibration detection means during the tank cleaning course is greater than the output signal of the vibration component stored by the vibration detection means during manufacture. In such a case, until the amount of change in the output signal exceeds the specified value, the dewatering performance is ensured by adjusting only the rotational acceleration of the motor at the start of dewatering as the amount of change in the output signal increases. While suppressing vibration due to a rapid increase in rotational speed, it is possible to prevent abnormal vibration and abnormal noise in the resonance region and steady region of the water tank.

According to a third invention, in the first invention, the output signal of the vibration component of the water tank output from the vibration detection means at the time of the tank cleaning course is larger than the output signal of the vibration component stored by the vibration detection means at the time of manufacture. In such a case, after the amount of change in the output signal exceeds a predetermined value, the rotation acceleration of the motor at the start of dehydration and the reaching rotation speed of the motor at the time of steady dehydration are adjusted to be small and the dehydration operation is performed. By adjusting the length of time to be long, the vibration caused by a rapid increase in rotational speed while ensuring dewatering performance is suppressed, and damage to the joints of structures such as water tanks, rotating drums, motors, and bearings due to vibration Can be suppressed, and abnormal vibration and abnormal noise in the resonance region and steady region of the water tank can be prevented.

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

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a main configuration of a drum type washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control circuit of the drum type washing machine.
FIG. 3 is a graph showing the correlation between the elapsed time of the drum type washing machine and the output signal α corresponding to the vibration of the water tank when it is determined that there is no load.
FIG. 4 shows the amount of change in the output signal α corresponding to the vibration of the aquarium when it is determined that the drum-type washing machine is in an unloaded state, the rotational acceleration of the motor, the reached rotation speed during dehydration, and the operation time during dehydration FIG. 6 is a graph showing the interrelationship of the motor, A is the rotational acceleration of the motor, B is the reached rotational speed during dehydration, and C is the operation time during dehydration. FIG. 5 is a graph showing the setting of the dehydration operation elapsed time and the motor rotation speed.

  1 and 2, a water tub unit 7 is swingably accommodated in a washing machine housing 6, and the water tub unit 7 includes a rotating drum 2 having a bottomed cylindrical shape in a water tub 3 so as to be rotatable. The rotating shaft 2 a of the drum 2 is supported by a bearing 68 provided on the back surface of the water tank 3, and a motor 5 for driving the rotating drum 2 is connected to the rotating shaft 2 a on the bearing 68. Therefore, the rotating drum 2 has a cantilever structure with respect to the water tank 3.

  The rotating drum 2 is arranged together with the water tank 3 so that the direction of the rotating shaft 2a is horizontal or the inclined direction downward from the horizontal direction from the front side to the back side which is the bottom. Since the water tank unit 7 is provided with components such as the bearing 68 and the motor 5 on the back side thereof, the position of the center of gravity G is closer to the back side (the motor 5 side) than the depth of the water tank 3.

  The aquarium unit 7 is supported by the anti-vibration damper 70 on the lower side closer to the front side than the position of the center of gravity G, and between the upper support fitting 75 fixed to the upper part of the aquarium 3 and the upper surface of the washing machine casing 6. The water tank unit 7 is urged toward the front side by the first coil spring 71 that is installed, and further between the back surface below the support height position by the vibration damping damper 70 and the back surface of the washing machine housing 6. The coil spring 72 is erected. Thereby, the aquarium unit 7 supported by the anti-vibration damper 70 closer to the front side than the position of the center of gravity G is biased counterclockwise in FIG. It is configured as a support structure with a high damping effect.

  In particular, the support position Q and the center of gravity G by the anti-vibration damper 70 are on the rear side with respect to the center position S in the direction orthogonal to the rotation shaft 2a of the rotary drum 2, and moreover, between the center position S and the support position Q. The distance L1 is greater than the distance L2 between the center position S and the center of gravity G (L1> L2), and the support position Q is not behind the center of gravity G when viewed in the direction of gravity, but has a condition of being positioned in front of the center of gravity G. The vibration on the back side and the rear side of the water tank unit 7 is easily suppressed.

  A vibration detecting means 40 such as a three-dimensional acceleration sensor is attached to the front surface of the aquarium 3 to detect the acceleration and determine the amplitude of the vibration behavior of the front portion of the aquarium 3 during dehydration.

In addition, there is a sealing property between the front of the water tub 3 and the front surface of the washing machine casing 6 so that water and splashes during washing, rinsing, and dehydration do not pass into the washing machine casing 6 and the lid body 9. In addition, an elastic seal member 41 made of a material such as rubber that absorbs vibration of the water tank 3 is provided.

  In addition, a water injection pipe 12 and a drain pipe 13 are connected to the water tank 3, and water supply or drainage into the water tank 3 is performed by controlling the water supply valve 14 and the drain valve 13.

  The drum type washing machine of the present embodiment is provided with a control means 20 for controlling a series of operation operations including washing, rinsing, dewatering, and drying based on an instruction input from a user and an operation state monitoring of each part. ing.

  The control means 20 rectifies the AC power 31 by the rectifier 32, and uses the DC power smoothed by the smoothing circuit composed of the choke coil 33 and the smoothing capacitor 34 as the driving power to drive the motor 5 to rotate by the inverter circuit 26. At the same time, based on the operation instruction input from the input setting means 21 and the monitoring information of the operation state detected by the detection means such as the water level detection means 16 and the cloth amount detection means 30 for detecting the water level in the water tank 3, The rotation of the drum driving motor 5 is controlled, and the load driving means 37 controls the operation of necessary loads such as the water supply valve 14, the drain valve 13, the blower fan 17, the first heater 18, and the second heater 19. Information input from the input setting means 21 is displayed on the display means 35 to inform the user.

  The motor 5 includes a stator having three-phase windings 5a, 5b, and 5c and a rotor having a two-pole permanent magnet, and is configured as a DC brushless motor provided with three position detection elements 24a, 24b, and 24c. The rotation is controlled by a PWM control inverter circuit 26 constituted by the switching elements 26a to 26f.

  The rotor position detection signals detected by the position detection elements 24a, 24b, and 24c are input to the control means 20, and the on / off states of the switching elements 26a to 26f are PWM-controlled by the drive circuit 25 based on the rotor position detection signals. As a result, energization of the three-phase windings 5a, 5b, and 5c of the stator is controlled to rotate the rotor at a required rotational speed.

  The control means 20 detects the cycle each time the signal state of any of the three position detection means 24a, 24b, 24c changes, and the rotational speed detection means 24 uses the rotational speed of the rotor as an internal function based on the period. Calculated by

  The current detection means 27 includes a resistor 28 connected to one input terminal of the inverter circuit 26 and a current detection circuit 29 connected to the resistor 28, detects the input current value of the inverter circuit 26, and outputs the output. Input to the control means 20. When the motor 5 is a direct current brushless motor, the torque is substantially proportional to the input current. Therefore, the torque of the motor 5 is detected by detecting the input current value of the inverter circuit 26 by the current detection circuit 29 connected to the resistor 28. can do.

  As described above, the rotating drum 2 of the water tank unit 7 elastically supported as described above has a cantilever structure, and the direction of the rotating shaft 2a is horizontal or inclined, so that the laundry is stored. In the dehydration process in which the laundry and water tend to be biased downward when they rotate, and vibration is likely to occur, and the laundry is dehydrated by rotating the rotary drum 2 at a high speed of a target rotation speed of 1000 to 1600 rpm. After completion of the washing or rinsing process, the laundry containing water tends to gather at a biased position of the rotary drum 2 depending on the type, fabric or shape.

When the laundry is biased, a large vibration is generated in the water tank 3 containing the rotating drum, and abnormal vibration and abnormal noise are generated in the washing machine. In addition, the press-contact portion of the washing machine housing 6 and the water tank unit 7 by the elastic seal member 41 is relatively hard in order to ensure a sufficient sealing pressure that does not allow water or splashes to pass during washing, rinsing, and dehydration. Therefore, the vibration of the water tub 3 can be easily transmitted to the washing machine casing 6 as well. It becomes a resonance object.

  Since the water tank unit 7 has a resonance target structure of vibration from the rotary drum 2, the rotation speed of the rotary drum 2 is the first resonance point near 120 rpm, the second resonance point near 250 rpm, and further 1000 rpm or more. There is a third resonance point, and in order to prevent abnormal vibration of the entire aquarium unit 7 due to each of these resonance points, the position of occurrence of unbalance of clothes distributed inside the rotary drum 2 is related to the front and the rear. There is a need to respond.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the center of gravity G of the water tank unit 7 that is supported in a vibration-proof manner and the support position Q of the water tank 3 with respect to the center position S in the direction of the rotation axis 2a of the water tank 3 is the rotation shaft 2a. When viewed in the orthogonal direction, the dimensions L2 and L1 are positioned on the back side.

  In addition, the vibration of the back of the water tank unit 7 that is located near the front side of the center of gravity G when the support position Q is seen in the front-rear direction, that is, the vibration of the rear of the water tank unit 7 and the vibration of the front of the water tank 3 are highly reliable. The control means 20 uses the three-dimensional acceleration provided on the front surface of the upper surface of the water tank 3 at a predetermined rotational speed or in a predetermined rotational speed range in the dehydrating operation after the washing and rinsing process. From the correlation between the vibration components in three directions in the three directions at the front part of the aquarium output from the vibration detection means 40 such as a sensor and the estimated vibration components in at least one direction in the three directions at the rear part of the aquarium, In addition, a determination of an abnormal amplitude in the rear part is performed.

  In addition, this drum type washing machine cleans dirt such as detergent scum collected on the inner periphery of the water tub 3 and the outer periphery of the rotating drum 2 and puts the laundry in order to prevent the laundry from being recontaminated. In other words, a tank cleaning course that operates only with water and detergent in an unloaded condition is recommended, and users are encouraged to operate regularly on this course.

  In FIG. 3, the horizontal axis indicates the elapsed time from the time of manufacture to the actual use, and the vertical axis is output from the vibration detection means 40 provided in the water tank unit 7 when operated in a tank cleaning course, that is, in an unloaded state. An output signal α of the vibration component of the aquarium unit 7 is shown. The value a of the output signal α at the elapsed time 0 is the output signal of the vibration component stored at the time of manufacture. The plurality of curves show various behaviors of the output signal α when the tank cleaning course is operated a plurality of times.

  The output signal α exhibits various behaviors as shown in the figure, but tends to increase with time. The large output signal is estimated to be larger in various unbalanced states where the load is higher. Similarly, the vibration of the water tub unit 7 is increased and the vibration of the washing machine casing 6 is also increased.

  Next, the correlation between the amount of change in the output signal α and the means for suppressing the increase in vibration of the water tub unit 7 and the washing machine casing 6 will be described.

  In FIG. 4, the horizontal axis indicates the amount of change in the output signal α, and the vertical axis indicates the rotational acceleration A of the motor that is a means for suppressing the increase in vibration of the water tub unit 7 and the washing machine housing 6, the reached rotational speed B during dehydration, The correlation of the operation time C at the time of dehydration which supplements a dehydration rate is shown.

The rotational acceleration A of the motor is set so as to decrease as the change amount of the output signal α increases. The reached rotation speed B at the time of dehydration is not changed when the change amount of the output signal α is smaller than a predetermined value. Set to decrease as the value increases. The operation time C at the time of dehydration that compensates for the dehydration rate is not changed when the change amount of the output signal α is small, similarly to the reached rotation speed B at the time of dehydration, and after the change amount of the output signal α exceeds the predetermined value X. Is set to be longer as the amount of change in the output signal α becomes larger, contrary to the ultimate rotational speed B during dehydration.

  By setting as described above, the elapsed time of operation and the number of revolutions of the motor are changed as shown in FIG. 5 by the change amount of the output signal α indicating the vibration component of the vibration detecting means 40 provided in the water tank unit 7. Is set to a predetermined value X, the rotational acceleration of the motor at the start of dehydration is set to be smaller than the initial setting state A, so that the motor rotation speed is changed to the state of A with a small inclination and reaches steady state. The rotation speed and the operation time at the time of dehydration are kept at the initial setting states A-B and A-C, respectively.

  When the change amount of the output signal α exceeds the predetermined value X, the rotation acceleration A of the motor is similarly set smaller than the initial setting state A at the start of dehydration, so that the progress of the motor rotation speed has a small inclination. In the state of W-A, the steady reaching rotation speed B is also set to the state of W-B lower than the initial setting state A-B, and the operation time C during dehydration is also the state of W-C longer than the initial setting state A-C. Set to.

  In this way, by adjusting the setting of the rotational acceleration A of the motor, the rotation speed B reached at the time of dehydration, and the operation time C at the time of dehydration to compensate for the dewatering rate, the water tank unit 7 in the resonance region and the steady region of the water tank unit 7 is adjusted. Vibration can be suppressed, and abnormal vibration and abnormal noise in the resonance region and steady region of the water tub unit 7 and the washing machine housing 6 can be prevented over time without impairing the dewatering performance.

  The drum type washing machine of the present invention is useful as a washing machine that detects vibration of a water tank by vibration detection means and suppresses vibration over time.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 Rotating drum 2a Rotating shaft 3 Water tank 5 Motor 6 Washing machine housing 7 Water tank unit 9 Door 20 Control means 24 Rotation speed detection means 30 Cloth amount detection means 40 Vibration detection means 70 Vibration damping damper

Claims (3)

A rotating drum having a bottomed cylindrical shape and having a horizontal rotating shaft or a rotating shaft inclined downward from the front side to the back side opening; a water tank that rotatably includes the rotating drum; and A motor that is fixed to the back and rotationally drives the rotating drum, a washing machine housing that elastically supports the water tub with a vibration-proof damper, and controls the rotation, washing, rinsing, dehydration, and tub washing processes of the motor. Control means and vibration detection means for detecting the vibration of the water tank, the control means at the time of a predetermined number of rotations or a predetermined number of rotations in a dehydration operation after washing and rinsing process, at the time of the tank cleaning course The output signal of the vibration component of the water tank output from the vibration detection means is compared with the output signal of the vibration component stored by the vibration detection means at the time of manufacture. A rotation acceleration of the motor, and the attained revolutions of the motor at the time of dehydration steady drum type washing machine which is adapted to adjust at least one of dehydration operation time. When the output signal of the vibration component of the water tank output from the vibration detection means at the time of the tank cleaning course becomes larger than the output signal of the vibration component stored at the time of manufacture by the vibration detection means, the change amount of the output signal is 2. The drum type washing machine according to claim 1, wherein adjustment is made so that only the rotational acceleration of the motor at the start of dehydration is reduced as the amount of change in the output signal increases until a predetermined value is exceeded. When the output signal of the vibration component of the water tank output from the vibration detection means at the time of the tank cleaning course becomes larger than the output signal of the vibration component stored at the time of manufacture by the vibration detection means, the change amount of the output signal is 2. After the predetermined value is exceeded, the rotational acceleration of the motor at the start of dehydration and the reached rotational speed of the motor at the time of steady dehydration are adjusted to be small, and the dehydration operation time is adjusted to be long. Drum-type washing machine.