Active Drum Balancer Power Feed for Washer Vibration Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional laundry treatment apparatuses fail to actively resolve unbalanced rotation of drums during washing, leading to vibration and noise, especially during transient vibration states, and have difficulty in immediately correcting unbalanced states.
Innovation Solution
A laundry treatment apparatus with a balancer system featuring at least two independently moving balancing units in a housing fixed to the drum, powered electrically through a wired connection, which includes a power supply unit with a rotating shaft and contact elements to maintain power connectivity during drum rotation, allowing for active correction of unbalanced states.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional ball balancer or fluid balancer is used to control unbalanced state, then vibration control is effective in steady state, but satisfactory effects cannot be obtained under transient vibration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs active balancing units with motors that can dynamically adjust their positions and generate active counterbalancing forces. Unlike passive ball or fluid balancers, these active units can respond immediately to transient vibrations by receiving control signals from sensors, enabling effective vibration control across both steady and transient states through real-time dynamic adjustment.
2Device complexity
If passive balancer system is used, then device complexity is reduced, but ability to immediately resolve unbalanced state is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates sensors that detect drum vibration and unbalanced states, feeding this information to a control unit that immediately activates the balancing units. This feedback mechanism enables the system to detect unbalance conditions and respond actively and rapidly, significantly improving the speed of unbalance resolution compared to passive systems that rely solely on gravitational forces.
3Reliability
If multiple independently moving balancing units are added to the balancer, then active resolution of unbalanced rotation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the balancing function into multiple independent balancing units, each capable of individual control. This segmentation allows the system to address different aspects of unbalance simultaneously and provides redundancy, improving reliability while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a universal power supply system that serves multiple balancing units through a common rotating shaft connection. This multi-functional approach allows a single power supply mechanism to support several independently controlled balancing units, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining the capabilities of multiple active balancing elements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus effectively addresses unbalanced rotation by actively moving balancing units to compensate for unbalanced loads, reducing vibration and noise across all states, including transient conditions, and ensures continuous power supply to the balancing units.
Implementation Method 1
a first power supply unit fixed to the rotating shaft and including a connection line connected to the housing power line through the shaft through-hole, and a second power supply unit rotatably fixed to the first power supply unit to connect the connection line to a power source
Data Source
AI summary
A laundry treatment apparatus including a cabinet forming an appearance of the apparatus, a drum having a laundry space therein to accommodate laundry, a rotating shaft for rotatably supporting the drum in the cabinet, a balancer including a housing fixed to the drum, an accommodation space defined in the housing, a balancing unit movably provided in the accommodation space, and a housing power line provided in the accommodation space to supply the balancing unit with electric power, a shaft through-hole formed through the rotating shaft, a first power supply unit, fixed to the rotating shaft, including a connection line connected to the housing power line through the shaft through-hole, and a second power supply unit rotatably fixed to the first power supply unit to connect the connection line to a power source.