Laundry care appliance comprising a controller
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional laundry care appliances require multiple dosing steps over a long period, leading to inefficiencies in supplying laundry care substances and making it difficult to ensure precise dosing, which can prolong the laundry care program and result in under or over-dosing.
Innovation Solution
A laundry care appliance with a controller that synchronizes the supply of water and laundry care substances during a single dosing period, allowing for precise determination and timely delivery of the substances based on the water amount, using mechanisms like simultaneous or delayed activation of supply devices and valve positions to optimize dosing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If multiple dosing steps are used to supply laundry care substance, then the dosing can be distributed over time, but the overall duration of the laundry care program is lengthened and dosing precision is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple dosing steps into a single dosing period where water and laundry care substance are supplied simultaneously or in close sequence. This merging of dosing operations eliminates the time spread across multiple steps while maintaining precise dosing control through coordinated activation of water supply and substance supply devices.
2Productivity
If water and laundry care substance are supplied simultaneously, then the dosing time is reduced, but precise coordination of supply amounts is required
Solution Approach 1:
The controller monitors the supply processes of both water and laundry care substance, coordinating their activation and quantities. The system uses feedback control to ensure that the amounts supplied are precisely matched to the program requirements, adjusting the dosing based on detected parameters such as water flow rate and substance delivery rate.
3Loss of substance
If dosing is performed over a long period, then more time is available for complete dosing, but the consumption of laundry substance and water increases
Solution Approach 1:
The controller determines the required amount of laundry care substance in advance based on the program parameters before the dosing period begins. This preliminary calculation allows for optimized dosing where the exact quantity needed is supplied during the condensed dosing period, avoiding both under-dosing and over-dosing that would waste substance.
4Loss of time
If a single dosing period is used to supply both water and laundry care substance, then the program duration is shortened, but the coordination complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The controller performs multiple functions: it determines the laundry care substance amount, coordinates water supply activation, monitors substance delivery, and adjusts dosing parameters. This multi-functional control approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate control systems into a single coordinating device, managing complexity while achieving precise synchronized dosing.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a laundry care appliance (100) comprising an outer tub (105) for receiving washing liquid, a water supply device (115) for supplying water to the outer drum (105), a substance supply device (119) for supplying a laundry care substance to the outer drum (105), and a controller (123) for controlling the water supply device (115) and the substance supply device (119), said controller (123) being designed to activate the water supply device (115) during a metering time period in order to supply a quantity of water to the outer drum (105), to determine a quantity of laundry care substance depending on the supplied quantity of water during the metering time period, and to activate the substance supply device (119) during the metering time period in order to supply the determined quantity of laundry care substance to the outer drum (105).