Washing Machine Drum Control for Faster Laundry Balance Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional washing machines require excessive time for unbalance reduction control to maintain balanced laundry before spin-drying, leading to prolonged spin-drying times due to inefficient laundry wrapping processes, especially with unbalanced loads like small amounts or blue jeans.
Innovation Solution
A control method for a washing machine that accelerates the drum in stages to determine if laundry is balanced or unbalanced by monitoring motor current, allowing for real-time unbalance detection and reperformance of the wrapping process when unbalanced, thereby reducing unbalance reduction control time and improving spin-drying efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the conventional laundry wrapping process is used to maintain balanced laundry state, then the laundry can be wrapped against the drum wall, but the spin-drying time becomes excessively long due to repeated untangling and re-wrapping cycles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism by detecting motor current during the laundry wrapping process and using this information to determine whether laundry is balanced or unbalanced. Based on this real-time feedback, the control unit adjusts the drum rotation speed dynamically, allowing the system to respond to the actual state of laundry distribution and avoid unnecessary repeated wrapping cycles, thereby reducing spin-drying time while maintaining laundry balance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies dynamics by changing the drum rotation speed based on the detected laundry state. Instead of using fixed rotation speeds, the system dynamically adjusts the drum speed during the wrapping process according to real-time motor current measurements, enabling adaptive control that optimizes the wrapping efficiency and reduces the number of repeated cycles needed to achieve balanced laundry distribution.
2Productivity
If the drum rotation speed is increased to accelerate the laundry wrapping process, then the wrapping efficiency improves, but the laundry distribution becomes more unbalanced
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts drum rotation speed based on real-time motor current detection. During the wrapping process, the drum speed is varied adaptively - increasing speed to improve wrapping efficiency when laundry is balanced, and adjusting speed when unbalance is detected. This dynamic speed control allows the system to optimize wrapping efficiency while preventing excessive unbalance, resolving the contradiction between productivity and laundry stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The feedback mechanism monitors motor current during drum rotation and uses this information to determine laundry balance status. This real-time feedback enables the control unit to adjust rotation speed appropriately - accelerating when balanced to improve wrapping efficiency, and modulating speed when unbalance occurs - thereby achieving both high productivity and maintained laundry balance throughout the process.
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
This approach significantly reduces the unbalance reduction control time and enhances the success rate of the laundry wrapping process, leading to faster high-speed spin-drying operations and overall reduced spin-drying time.
Implementation Method 1
accelerating the drum such that the laundry sticks to an inner wall of the drum
Implementation Method 2
detecting motor current during the wrapping of the laundry, determining whether the laundry is in an unbalanced state or a balanced state based on the detected motor current
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are a washing machine that is capable of maintaining the balanced state of laundry to more smoothly perform a spin-drying operation and a control method thereof. The control method of the washing machine including a drum to receive laundry and a motor to rotate the drum to reduce unbalance generated due to the nonuniform distribution of the laundry, includes wrapping the laundry by accelerating the drum such that the laundry sticks to an inner wall of the drum, detecting motor current during the wrapping of the laundry, determining an unbalanced state of the laundry based on the detected motor current, and controlling speed of the drum based on a result of the determination.