Household appliance, in particular dishwasher
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dishwashers face challenges in achieving complete visual coverage of the washing area due to individual user configurations of washware carriers, leading to inadequate detection of soiling and loads, resulting in inefficient cleaning programs and increased water and energy consumption.
Innovation Solution
A dishwasher with an adjustable camera detection range, allowing for variable viewing directions through movable or pivotable camera units and optical devices, ensuring comprehensive visual capture of the washing compartment regardless of user configurations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple cameras are used to ensure complete coverage of the wash chamber, then detection reliability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The camera is made movable and pivotable, allowing it to dynamically change its detection direction. This enables a single camera to cover multiple areas of the wash chamber by adjusting its orientation, replacing the need for multiple fixed cameras while maintaining complete coverage and detection reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The single camera is designed to perform multiple detection functions by changing its orientation. It can detect different wash carriers, items, and soiling conditions in various locations within the wash chamber, making one camera universally capable of tasks that would traditionally require multiple cameras
2Device complexity
If a fixed camera viewing direction is used, then device complexity is reduced, but detection completeness deteriorates due to obstructions from user-configured wash carriers
Solution Approach 1:
The camera's viewing direction is made variable through movable and pivotable mounting. This allows the camera to adapt its detection angle to capture images of wash carriers and items regardless of their configuration, ensuring complete detection without requiring complex multi-camera systems
Solution Approach 2:
The camera system changes its operational parameters by adjusting its orientation and detection angle. This parameter change enables the camera to overcome obstructions caused by user-configured wash carriers and maintain complete detection coverage while keeping the device relatively simple
3Reliability
If comprehensive cleaning programs are run to ensure desirable cleaning results, then cleaning quality is improved, but energy and water consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The camera provides visual feedback about the actual load and soiling conditions in the wash chamber. This information feeds back to the control system, which can then adjust the cleaning program parameters (water volume, energy input, cycle duration) to match the actual cleaning needs, ensuring high cleaning quality while minimizing resource consumption
Solution Approach 2:
The camera performs preliminary detection of the load and soiling conditions before the cleaning cycle begins. This preliminary information allows the control system to pre-adjust the cleaning program to the appropriate level of intensity, avoiding unnecessary energy and water consumption while maintaining desirable cleaning results
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a household appliance, in particular a dishwasher, comprising a treatment container (3) providing a treatment compartment (4), which has a loading opening (5) for loading items to be treated (7), comprising a treatment compartment door (6) with which the loading opening (5) can be closed, and comprising a camera (9) which is used to visually capture the treatment compartment (4), wherein the area (10) of the treatment compartment (4) that can be captured by the camera (9) can be adjusted.