Washing machine

Abstract

A washing machine for minimizing damage to laundry and enabling effective washing of the laundry. The washing machine includes a water tub, a drum, and a control unit. The drum is installed in the water tub so as to rotate in a forward and / or a reverse direction. The control unit controls the rotation directions and angles of the rotation of the drum to cause an asymmetric swing motion of the drum.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2004-71895 filed on Sep. 8, 2004 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to a washing machine, and more particularly to a drum type washing machine having a drum adapted to rotate about a horizontal rotation axis. [0004] 2. Description of Related Art [0005] A conventional drum type washing machine generally includes a water tub installed in a machine body and adapted to contain wash or rinsing water, and a drum installed in the water tub, the drum being rotated by a driving force from a motor and being adapted to carry out laundry wash and spin-dry cycles. Such a drum is perforated with a plurality of small holes, allowing the wash or rinsing water to flow between the drum and the water tub and, in the spin-dr...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] The present invention has been made in view of the problems involved with the above-described conventional drum type washing machines, and an aspect of the invention is to provide a drum type washing machine which can minimize damage to laundry during washing and enables effective washing of the laundry.

Problems solved by technology

However, the above-described general washing manner using the drum type washing machine has a problem in that the laundry, specifically, silk or wool laundry, is vulnerable to damage by shock or friction.

In this case, however, since a two-revolution operation of the drum is added in the course of laundry douse and wash cycles for overturning the laundry, resulting in a limited reduction in damage to the laundry.

During the first half period, the wash water in the water tub is kept at a first level and the drum rotates by a first rotation angle, causing the laundry to be dropped and overturned.

This may cause damage to the laundry.

Furthermore, although the swing angle of the drum must be kept at 120° in the wash cycle, such a swing angle is insufficient to overturn the laundry and hence prevents complete dousing of the laundry with the wash water and even washing of the laundry.

Therefore, this increases the usage of the wash water, deteriorating a water saving advantage of the drum type washing machine.

Images