Sensor-Based Detergent Dispenser for Automatic Load-Responsive Dosing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing household appliances, such as washing machines and tumble dryers, often require manual user intervention to account for varying soiling levels and scenarios, leading to suboptimal cleaning results due to the lack of automated and reliable adjustment of parameters.
Innovation Solution
A device comprising a dispensing module and a sensor module that determines the load status of the treatment chamber, allowing for the controlled dispensing of preparations like detergents based on sensor information, ensuring improved cleaning results across different scenarios.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual user intervention is used to adjust parameters for varying soiling levels, then user control is maintained, but cleaning results become suboptimal due to lack of automated adjustment
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically detects soiling levels using sensors and adjusts detergent dispensing parameters without requiring manual user intervention. The control unit processes sensor signals and autonomously determines optimal cleaning parameters, enabling the system to serve itself rather than relying on user expertise or attention.
Solution Approach 2:
Sensors continuously monitor the treatment chamber conditions (such as load weight, volume, or soiling characteristics) and provide feedback signals to the control unit. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables real-time adjustment of dispensing parameters based on actual chamber conditions, ensuring reliable cleaning results across varying scenarios.
2Reliability
If parameters are automatically adjusted based on sensor information, then cleaning results are optimized, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor system and control unit are designed to handle multiple detection and control functions through a single integrated architecture. The sensors can detect various parameters (weight, volume, soiling), and the control unit processes multiple sensor inputs to determine comprehensive cleaning parameters, reducing the need for separate specialized components for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The system optimizes cleaning results by dynamically changing operational parameters (detergent dosage, dispensing timing, water temperature) based on sensor measurements. Rather than adding complex hardware for each cleaning scenario, the system achieves optimization through flexible parameter adjustment controlled by software logic in the control unit.
3Quantity of substance
If detergent dispensing is controlled based on load status, then detergent usage is optimized, but measurement precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses sensors to detect load characteristics and applies partial adjustment to detergent dispensing based on detected conditions. Rather than requiring extremely precise measurement of every parameter, the system determines sufficient adjustment levels that achieve optimal cleaning without demanding ultra-precise measurement capabilities from individual sensors.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit integrates multiple sensor inputs (weight, volume, soiling characteristics) to form a composite assessment of load status. By combining multiple measurement dimensions, the system achieves accurate detergent dosage control through aggregated information rather than relying on single high-precision sensors.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention discloses, amongst other things, a device (100) for use in a domestic appliance (300), the device (100) having: at least one housing (104), wherein the housing (104) is designed to be positioned in a treatment chamber (310) of a domestic appliance (300); wherein the housing (104) has: at least one output module (110) which is designed to output at least one preparation into the treatment chamber (310) of the domestic appliance (300) and/or to trigger an output; and at least one sensor module (112) which is designed to determine an item of sensor information which is characteristic of the state of the treatment chamber (310) of the domestic appliance (300) and/or of the device (100), wherein the sensor module (112) comprises at least one sensor, wherein the item of sensor information at least partially represents an item of information which is ascertained by means of the at least one sensor (115b); wherein the item of information which is ascertained by the sensor (115b) is at least partially indicative of a state of loading of the treatment chamber (310) of the domestic appliance (300); and wherein the output and/or the triggering of the output of the preparation by the at least one output module (110) is performed at least partially based on the sensor information.