Drum Water Balancers for Washing Machine Eccentricity Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional laundry treatment apparatuses face challenges in reducing drum eccentricity, particularly in transient states, and struggle to effectively balance loads across the entire drum length, leading to increased power consumption and limitations in balancer capacity.
Innovation Solution
A laundry treatment apparatus with multiple water-filled balancers spaced apart on the drum's circumference, featuring an inflow channel device to guide water from the back to the balancers and an outflow channel to drain water, allowing for active control of eccentricity reduction and agitation of laundry.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a ball balancer or fluid balancer is used to reduce eccentricity, then eccentricity reduction is achieved in steady state, but significant effect is not expected in transient state
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the balancer's mass distribution changeable during operation. Water is selectively supplied to or drained from the balancer's internal space, allowing the balancer to dynamically adjust its mass distribution in response to real-time eccentricity conditions, thereby effectively counteracting both transient and steady-state vibrations
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameter of the balancer's mass by controlling water flow. By adjusting the amount of water in the balancer's internal space based on detected eccentricity, the system modifies the balancer's mass distribution to optimally counterbalance the drum's eccentricity under varying operating conditions
2Power
If much power is consumed to rotate the drum, then drum rotation is maintained, but power consumption increases when eccentricity reduction is not required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by enabling the balancer to automatically adjust its own mass distribution in response to eccentricity conditions. The system uses water supply and drainage mechanisms that operate based on real-time vibration detection, allowing the balancer to self-regulate without requiring additional power-intensive mechanical actuators or complex control systems
3Reliability
If there is a limit to including a balancer with capacity-hungry ball or fluid, then balancer capacity is constrained, but effective eccentricity reduction is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by transforming the balancer from a static mass to a dynamic mass system. Water can be selectively supplied to or drained from the balancer's internal space, allowing the mass to be dynamically adjusted based on the severity and type of eccentricity, thereby enhancing adaptability without requiring a permanently heavy structure
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 solution actively and positively reduces drum eccentricity from the front to the rear, reduces power consumption by controlling water flow, and allows for easier eccentricity control by leading the balancer to designated locations, enhancing the overall balancing and rotation efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
A laundry treatment apparatus includes a cabinet with a laundry feeding hole formed therein, a tub provided within the cabinet for holding washing water, a drum installed within the tub for holding laundry, a driving unit to rotate the drum, a plurality of balancers each having an internal space formed in the balancer in which water is received, the plurality of balancers spaced apart from each other on the circumference of the drum, and an inflow channel device to selectively guide water from the outside of the drum to the internal spaces of the plurality of balancers when the drum is rotated
Implementation Method 2
an outflow channel to guide water so that the water flows out from the internal space of each balancer
Implementation Method 3
The drum may be rotated without maintaining a dynamic equilibrium depending on laundry stored therein. The dynamic equilibrium means 'the state in which total moment generated by a centrifugal force or a centrifugal force becomes 0 with respect to the rotation axis when a rotating body is rotated'
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed herein is a laundry treatment apparatus including balancers. The laundry treatment apparatus includes a cabinet 1 with a laundry feeding hole formed therein, a tub 10 provided within the cabinet and for holding washing water, a drum 20 installed within the tub for holding laundry, a driving unit to rotate the drum, a plurality of balancers 110 each having an internal space formed in the balancer in which water is received, the plurality of balancers spaced apart from each other on the circumference of the drum, and an inflow channel device 140 to selectively guide water from the outside of the drum to the internal spaces of the plurality of balancers when the drum is rotated.