Household appliance leveling method and device and household appliance

Abstract

The invention provides a household electrical appliance leveling method and device and a household electrical appliance, and the method comprises the following steps: S1, obtaining a first state of the household electrical appliance, judging whether a first set condition is satisfied, if yes, executing S2, and if not, executing S3; s2, acquiring a second state of the household appliance, judging whether a second set condition is met or not, if so, executing S4, and if not, executing S3; s3, the leveling mechanism adjusts the height of at least one bottom foot of the household appliance; and S4, leveling is finished. Leveling of the household electrical appliance can be achieved, manual adjustment of a user is not needed, use convenience and user experience are improved, when the first state and the second state of the household electrical appliance meet the first set condition and the second set condition at the same time, it is judged that the household electrical appliance is leveled, it can be guaranteed that the household electrical appliance is in a stable state, and user experience is improved. The bottom feet are prevented from being suspended, the household appliance is prevented from rolling over, the personal and property safety of a user is effectively guaranteed, and the reliability of the household appliance is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of household appliances, and in particular relates to a household appliance leveling method, a household appliance leveling device and a household appliance. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous development of science and technology, various household appliances have entered thousands of households. Whether for safety or to ensure the normal operation of household appliances, household appliances should be placed horizontally and stably, otherwise users need to manually adjust the height of the feet of household appliances for leveling. Now some household appliances also have a more convenient leveling function.

[0003] Generally, household appliances have four feet, which are distributed in a rectangular shape at the bottom of the appliance. If the ground is uneven, you need to adjust the height of at least one of the feet to level it. The common method of leveling household appliances on the market is to adjust the height of the feet according to the indication of the level. However, this method has certain defects:

[0004] As we all know, three points can determine a plane. In some cases, the household appliance is already in a horizontal state according to the measurement of the level instrument, but three of its bottom feet may be on the ground, while one foot may be suspended in the air. This situation is easily overlooked, but it is easy to cause a rollover accident, resulting in property loss or even casualties to the user.

[0005] In view of this, the present invention is proposed. Summary of the invention

[0006] The main purpose of the present invention is to solve the above technical problems and provide a household appliance leveling method, device and household appliance to ensure that after the leveling is completed, each foot of the household appliance is stably grounded.

[0007] To achieve the above object, the technical solution of the present invention is:

[0008] The first technical solution of the present invention is a household appliance leveling method, comprising the following steps:

[0009] S1, obtaining a first state of the household appliance, determining whether a first setting condition is met, if yes, executing S2, if no, executing S3;

[0010] S2, obtaining a second state of the household appliance, and determining whether the second setting condition is met, if so, executing S4, if not, executing S3;

[0011] S3, the leveling mechanism adjusts the height of at least one foot of the household appliance;

[0012] S4. End leveling.

[0013] Preferably, the first state is the tilt direction and tilt angle, the first setting condition is that the tilt angle is less than the first setting value, the second state is the pressure value of each foot, and the second setting condition is that the pressure value of each foot is greater than the second setting value;

[0014] Alternatively, the first state is the pressure value of each foot, the first setting condition is that the pressure value of each foot is greater than the second setting value, the second state is the tilt direction and tilt angle, and the second setting condition is that the tilt angle is less than the first setting value.

[0015] Preferably, the first setting value ranges from 0 to 10°; and the second setting value is greater than or equal to 0.

[0016] Preferably, the foot whose height needs to be adjusted is selected according to the tilt direction, and the height that needs to be adjusted is calculated according to the tilt angle;

[0017] Preferably, the projection of the central axis of the household appliance on the horizontal plane is obtained. If the projection or the projection extension line passes through any foot of the household appliance, the height of the foot is adjusted first, otherwise the heights of the two feet closest to the projection or the projection extension line are adjusted first.

[0018] Preferably, the foot height is preferentially adjusted to a pressure value that is less than or equal to the second set value.

[0019] Preferably, before executing step S4, the following steps are further performed:

[0020] S40, obtaining the tilt direction and angle of the household appliance, and determining whether the tilt angle is less than a first set value; if so, the household appliance notifies the user that the leveling is successful; if not, the household appliance notifies the user that the leveling is unsuccessful.

[0021] Preferably, the household appliance is leveled by operating the leveling mechanism manually or automatically.

[0022] Preferably, after the leveling fails, the user decides or the household appliance automatically performs the leveling procedure again;

[0023] Preferably, after N consecutive leveling failures, the household appliance sends a tilt alarm to the user.

[0024] The second technical solution of the present invention is a household appliance leveling device, which adopts the household appliance leveling method as described above.

[0025] A third technical solution of the present invention is a household appliance, which adopts the household appliance leveling method as described above, or includes the household appliance leveling device as described above.

[0026] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0027] 1. The present invention can realize the leveling of household appliances without manual adjustment by users, thereby improving the convenience of use and user experience. When the first state and the second state of the household appliance simultaneously meet the first set condition and the second set condition, the present invention determines that the household appliance has been leveled, thereby ensuring that the household appliance is in a stable state, eliminating the situation where the bottom feet are suspended in the air, preventing the household appliance from tipping over, effectively protecting the personal and property safety of users, and improving the reliability of the household appliance.

[0028] 2. After the leveling fails, the user decides or the household appliance automatically executes the leveling procedure again, which increases the user's control over the leveling process of the household appliance. After N consecutive leveling failures, the user is given a tilt alarm to remind the user that there may be a problem and provide a corresponding solution. This effectively prevents malfunctions and safety hazards caused by tilt problems. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] The accompanying drawings are part of the present invention and are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention and their descriptions are used to explain the present invention, but do not constitute an improper limitation of the present invention. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work. In the accompanying drawings:

[0030] Figure 1 is a flow chart of the leveling procedure of Example 1 of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 2 It is a flow chart of the leveling procedure of Example 2 of the present invention.

[0032] It should be noted that these drawings and textual descriptions are not intended to limit the conceptual scope of the present invention in any way, but are intended to illustrate the concept of the present invention for those skilled in the art by referring to specific embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0034] [Example 1]

[0035] like Figure 1As shown, this embodiment provides a method for leveling household appliances, where household appliances mainly refer to various appliances that need to be placed flat on the ground or on a table, including but not limited to washing machines, dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers, electric ovens, microwave ovens, steam ovens, etc. It is understandable that this method is also applicable to household appliances that need to be hung on the wall but need to be fixed at a specific distance from the wall, such as water heaters, air conditioners, etc. This is a technical solution that can be thought of by those skilled in the art, and will not be described in detail below.

[0036] Most household appliances are in the shape of a rectangular block as a whole, with four height-adjustable feet at the bottom. The height of the feet can be adjusted to keep the household appliances in a horizontal state to ensure their stability and safety performance during operation.

[0037] The household appliance leveling method provided by the present embodiment, in which when the body inclination angle of the household appliance is within a set range and the foot pressure meets the set conditions, it is determined that the household appliance has been leveled. The household appliance leveling method commonly used in the market now mainly sets a level in the appliance, adjusts the foot height according to the indication of the level, and then determines whether it has been leveled. In some cases, according to the measurement of the level, the household appliance is already in a horizontal state. During the adjustment process, three of the four feet may be on the ground, but the other foot is suspended. In this case, the level may be displayed as being leveled, but this is obviously unsafe. The present invention adds a judgment that the foot pressure meets the set conditions before determining that the household appliance has been leveled, so that the body can be guaranteed to be level, and the four feet of the household appliance are all firmly on the ground, which is safer and more reliable.

[0038] Furthermore, the household appliance leveling method of this embodiment includes the following steps:

[0039] S1, obtaining a first state of the household appliance, determining whether a first setting condition is met, if yes, executing S2, if no, executing S3;

[0040] S2, obtaining a second state of the household appliance, and determining whether the second setting condition is met, if so, executing S4, if not, executing S3;

[0041] S3, the leveling mechanism adjusts the height of at least one foot of the household appliance;

[0042] S4. End leveling.

[0043] Specifically, the first state is the tilt direction and tilt angle, the first setting condition is that the tilt angle is less than the first setting value, the second state is the pressure value of each foot, and the second setting condition is that the pressure value of each foot is greater than the second setting value;

[0044] Alternatively, the first state is the pressure value of each foot, the first setting condition is that the pressure value of each foot is greater than the second setting value, the second state is the tilt direction and tilt angle, and the second setting condition is that the tilt angle is less than the first setting value.

[0045] Preferably, the first setting value ranges from 0 to 10°, more preferably from 0 to 5°. The smaller the first setting value is, the more stable the household appliance can be, but it will also increase the difficulty of leveling and the time required for leveling.

[0046] When the tilt angle of the body is controlled within the first set value, the stable operation of the household appliance can be basically guaranteed. However, for safety reasons, the method further determines whether the foot pressure meets the set conditions, thereby determining whether the foot is stably grounded. Of course, the two steps of determining whether the tilt angle of the body is less than the first set value and determining whether the foot pressure is greater than the second set value can be interchanged and can achieve similar effects.

[0047] Furthermore, when the suspended base is about to touch the ground, a slight height adjustment may cause a sudden change in the base pressure. Therefore, when it is determined that the base pressure does not meet the set conditions, the adjustment of the base is more precise, and the adjustment rate of the base height should be lower than the adjustment rate when it is determined that the inclination angle of the household appliance is greater than or equal to the first preset value.

[0048] Furthermore, the height of the foot that needs to be adjusted is selected according to the tilt direction, and the height of the foot that needs to be adjusted is calculated according to the tilt angle. Generally, the foot corresponding to the tilt direction should be adjusted higher, or the opposite foot should be adjusted lower. When the height of the foot that needs to be adjusted is calculated by trigonometric function, for example, when the tilt angle is θ, the height Δh that needs to be adjusted can be estimated using the following formula:

[0049] Δh=l·(1-cosθ)

[0050] Where l is the height of the household appliance.

[0051] It is understandable that when a household appliance has four feet, according to the different placement directions or the different inclination directions of the placement surface, there are generally two states of the feet when the appliance is tilted: state one is tilting toward one foot, and the foot opposite to the tilting direction is tilted and suspended in the air; state two is tilting toward two feet. According to the above different tilting states, in state one, it is preferred to adjust the height of only one foot at a time, while in state two, it is possible to choose to adjust the height of the two feet in the tilting direction or opposite to each other at the same time.

[0052] Preferably, the projection of the central axis of the household appliance on the horizontal plane is obtained. If the projection or the projection extension line passes through any foot of the household appliance, it means that the current tilt state is in state one, and the height of the foot is adjusted first. Otherwise, it means that the current state is in state two, and the height of the two feet closest to the projection or the projection extension line is adjusted first. In this way, the foot that needs to be adjusted can be quickly located, and the efficiency of adjustment is improved. It is understandable that in some cases, raising the height of one or more feet and lowering the height of one or more feet on the opposite side of the foot can have the same or similar effect, and the height of the foot on the opposite side can also be adjusted in the opposite direction according to this principle.

[0053] When the foot of a household appliance is suspended in the air, the theoretical value of the pressure of the suspended foot is zero. However, in practice, since the pressure sensor is generally set in the foot, even if it is suspended in the air, the sensor may produce a weak pressure reading under the action of gravity. Therefore, a second set value slightly greater than zero is set. When the pressure value is less than the second set value, the foot is considered to be suspended in the air, and its height should be increased until it is grounded. When each foot is grounded, the pressure value of each foot should be greater than the second set value.

[0054] Preferably, the foot height is preferentially adjusted to a level where the current pressure is less than or equal to the second set value.

[0055] Ideally, when a household appliance is in a stable state and placed on a flat surface, the pressure on its four feet should be the same. However, in actual situations, due to the structural settings of the internal components of the household appliance or the different items placed in it, its center of gravity may be tilted, resulting in different pressures on each foot. However, under the premise that the inclination angle of the fuselage is adjusted to a set range, as long as each foot is under pressure, it can be guaranteed that it is in contact with the bottom surface, and the household appliance is in a relatively safe and stable state at this time.

[0056] Furthermore, according to different configurations of the household appliance, the household appliance can be leveled by operating the leveling mechanism manually or automatically.

[0057] Furthermore, leveling may not always be successful, nor may the household appliance be leveled under all circumstances. After a leveling failure, the user may decide or the household appliance may automatically perform the leveling procedure again;

[0058] Preferably, after N consecutive leveling failures, the household appliance sends a tilt alarm to the user. The range of N is preferably 1-5, more preferably 2 or 3, and can be set according to the user's usage habits. Multiple consecutive leveling failures indicate that the current tilt of the household appliance is relatively serious. It may be set on a plane with a large slope, or it may be placed improperly, resulting in the base being suspended in the air. At this time, a tilt alarm is issued to the user, reminding the user that the current state is dangerous and prone to accidents, and the user should deal with it in time. This means that the placement of the household appliance is not appropriate, the household appliance cannot be leveled, or there is a problem with the leveling mechanism that makes it impossible to level, and the user needs to further confirm the cause. When the household appliance is leveled and the tilt alarm is automatically released, or before the user manually releases the tilt alarm, the household appliance will prohibit itself from taking actions that affect its own placement stability, such as a washing machine that will not wash or spin dry.

[0059] Furthermore, the leveling procedure can be triggered manually by the user, or automatically after the triggering condition is met. The triggering condition can be set as: each time the household appliance is started, or in the process of long-term operation of the household appliance, the detection procedure is started in real time or at intervals, or the leveling is performed only when the device is installed for the first time (including relocation). In the detection procedure, it is detected whether the tilt angle of the household appliance is less than the first set value, and whether the foot pressure is greater than the second set value. If the current state of the household appliance does not meet any of the above two conditions, the leveling procedure is started.

[0060] [Example 2]

[0061] This embodiment provides a household appliance leveling method, which is different from the first embodiment in that the leveling procedure of this embodiment further performs the following steps before executing step S4:

[0062] S40, obtaining the tilt direction and angle of the household appliance, and determining whether the tilt angle is less than a first set value; if so, the household appliance notifies the user that the leveling is successful; if not, the household appliance notifies the user that the leveling is unsuccessful.

[0063] The leveling procedure of this embodiment includes:

[0064] S1, obtaining a first state of the household appliance, determining whether a first setting condition is met, if yes, executing S2, if no, executing S3;

[0065] S2, obtaining a second state of the household appliance, and determining whether the second setting condition is met, if so, executing S4, if not, executing S3;

[0066] S3, the leveling mechanism adjusts the height of at least one foot of the household appliance;

[0067] S40, obtaining the tilt direction and angle of the household appliance, and determining whether the tilt angle is less than a first set value, if so, the household appliance notifies the user that the leveling is successful, and if not, the household appliance notifies the user that the leveling fails;

[0068] S4. End leveling.

[0069] After the leveling is completed, regardless of whether the result is successful or not, a notification will be sent to the user, which improves the interactivity between the user and the home appliance, and allows the user to obtain information in a timely manner and respond promptly when an abnormality occurs.

[0070] Furthermore, after the leveling fails, the user decides or the household appliance automatically performs the leveling procedure again. Not every adjustment can successfully level the appliance. When the leveling fails, the appliance can perform the leveling again for multiple adjustments to improve the success rate of the leveling.

[0071] It is understandable that, based on the above-mentioned leveling failure, if the tilt angle of the body cannot be adjusted to meet the first setting condition, or the foot pressure cannot be adjusted to meet the second setting condition, it will also be considered as a leveling failure. Possible reasons for these situations include but are not limited to: the appliance is tilted too much, some of the appliance's feet are hanging in the air, etc.

[0072] [Example 3]

[0073] The present embodiment provides a household appliance leveling device, which adopts the household appliance leveling method as described in the above embodiment.

[0074] Furthermore, the leveling device includes a leveling mechanism for controlling the height of each foot, a balance sensor for obtaining the current tilt direction and angle of the fuselage, and a pressure sensor for obtaining the pressure value of each foot.

[0075] Furthermore, the leveling mechanism includes a rotating motor and a base. The rotating motor can drive the base to rotate through a transmission structure. The base is provided with threads. When it rotates in different directions, the height of the base is increased or decreased under the action of the threads.

[0076] Exemplarily, the transmission structure may be that a first gear is provided at the output end of the motor, a second gear is provided on the foot, the first gear and the second gear are meshed with each other, when the motor outputs power, the first gear rotates and drives the second gear to rotate, and the foot also rotates accordingly. Preferably, the diameter of the first gear is smaller than the second gear, so that the motor speed will be slowed down under the action of the gear when it is transmitted to the foot, which is convenient for fine control of the foot height on the one hand, and prevents the height adjustment of the foot from exceeding the stroke due to excessive speed, causing the foot to fall off due to excessive adjustment, or to be squeezed and damaged by adjusting too short.

[0077] It is understandable that when manual leveling is adopted, the base can be directly rotated manually, and a rotating motor may not be provided in the manual leveling household appliance.

[0078] Furthermore, a rubber pad for buffering energy is arranged at the bottom of each foot, and a pressure sensor is arranged inside the rubber pad or between the foot and the rubber pad.

[0079] [Example 4]

[0080] A third technical solution of the present invention is a household appliance, which adopts the household appliance leveling method as described above, or includes the household appliance leveling device as described above.

[0081] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0082] 1. The present invention can realize the leveling of household appliances without manual adjustment by users, thereby improving the convenience of use and user experience. When the first state and the second state of the household appliance simultaneously meet the first set condition and the second set condition, the present invention determines that the household appliance has been leveled, thereby ensuring that the household appliance is in a stable state, eliminating the situation where the bottom feet are suspended in the air, preventing the household appliance from tipping over, effectively protecting the personal and property safety of users, and improving the reliability of the household appliance.

[0083] 2. After the leveling fails, the user decides or the household appliance automatically executes the leveling procedure again, which increases the user's control over the leveling process of the household appliance. After N consecutive leveling failures, the user is given a tilt alarm to remind the user that there may be a problem and provide a corresponding solution. This effectively prevents malfunctions and safety hazards caused by tilt problems.

[0084] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0085] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "upper", "lower", "front", "back", "left", "right", "inside", "outside", "top", "bottom", etc. indicate directions or positional relationships based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific direction, be constructed and operated in a specific direction. Therefore, they cannot be understood as limitations on the present invention.

[0086] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present invention, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0087] In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "example", "specific example", or "some examples" etc. means that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described may be combined in any one or more embodiments or examples in a suitable manner. In addition, those skilled in the art may combine and combine the different embodiments or examples described in this specification and the features of the different embodiments or examples, without contradiction.

[0088] As described above, similar technical solutions can be derived from the scheme contents given in the accompanying drawings. However, any simple modification, equivalent changes and modifications made to the above embodiments according to the technical essence of the present invention without departing from the contents of the technical scheme of the present invention still fall within the scope of the technical scheme of the present invention.

Claims

1. A household appliance leveling method, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: S1, obtaining a first state of the household appliance, determining whether a first setting condition is met, if yes, executing S2, if no, executing S3; S2, obtaining a second state of the household appliance, and determining whether the second setting condition is met, if so, executing S4, if not, executing S3; S3, the leveling mechanism adjusts the height of at least one foot of the household appliance; S4. End leveling.

2. The household appliance leveling method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first state is the tilt direction and tilt angle, the first setting condition is that the tilt angle is less than the first setting value, the second state is the pressure value of each foot, and the second setting condition is that the pressure value of each foot is greater than the second setting value; Alternatively, the first state is the pressure value of each foot, the first setting condition is that the pressure value of each foot is greater than the second setting value, the second state is the tilt direction and tilt angle, and the second setting condition is that the tilt angle is less than the first setting value.

3. The household appliance leveling method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The first setting value ranges from 0 to 10°; the second setting value is greater than or equal to 0.

4. The household appliance leveling method according to claim 2, characterized in that: Select the foot that needs to be adjusted according to the tilt direction, and calculate the height that needs to be adjusted according to the tilt angle; Preferably, the projection of the central axis of the household appliance on the horizontal plane is obtained. If the projection or the projection extension line passes through any foot of the household appliance, the height of the foot is adjusted first, otherwise the heights of the two feet closest to the projection or the projection extension line are adjusted first.

5. The household appliance leveling method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The foot height is preferably adjusted to a pressure value less than or equal to the second set value.

6. The household appliance leveling method according to claim 2, characterized in that: Before executing step S4, the following steps are also performed: S40, obtaining the tilt direction and angle of the household appliance, and determining whether the tilt angle is less than a first set value; if so, the household appliance notifies the user that the leveling is successful; if not, the household appliance notifies the user that the leveling is unsuccessful.

7. The household appliance leveling method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The household appliance is leveled by operating the leveling mechanism manually or automatically.

8. The household appliance leveling method according to claim 7, characterized in that: After the leveling fails, the user decides or the household appliance automatically performs the leveling procedure again; Preferably, after N consecutive leveling failures, the household appliance sends a tilt alarm to the user.

9. A household appliance leveling device, characterized in that: A household appliance leveling method as described in any one of claims 1 to 8 is adopted.

10. A household appliance, characterized in that: A household appliance leveling method as described in any one of claims 1 to 8 is adopted, or a household appliance leveling device as described in claim 9 is included.

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