Washing Machine Auxiliary Door for Safe Mid-Cycle Loading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing washing machines do not allow for safe and convenient additional loading of laundry during operation, requiring users to wait until a cycle is finished or water is drained to open the door.
Innovation Solution
A washing machine with an auxiliary door and a control system that detects drum temperature, rotation, and water level to safely unlock the door for additional loading, adjusting cycle profiles accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the door is locked during washing machine operation to ensure safety, then safety is improved, but the ability to additionally load laundry deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The door system is segmented into a main door and an auxiliary door. The main door remains locked during operation to ensure safety, while the auxiliary door can be opened to allow additional laundry loading. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by providing separate access paths with different security requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The auxiliary door acts as an intermediary element between the user and the drum interior. It provides a controlled access point that doesn't compromise the overall door locking system, allowing laundry addition without requiring the main door to be unlocked.
2Ease of operation
If the auxiliary door is unlocked during operation to allow laundry addition, then ease of operation is improved, but safety deteriorates due to high temperature and rotation
Solution Approach 1:
The control system performs preliminary checks before unlocking the auxiliary door. It detects whether the drum has stopped rotating and whether the internal temperature is within safe ranges. Only when these conditions are met does the system unlock the auxiliary door, preventing exposure to harmful factors.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors drum rotation status and internal temperature, providing feedback to the control unit. Based on this real-time feedback, the control system makes informed decisions about when to unlock the auxiliary door, ensuring user safety while maintaining ease of operation.
3Reliability
If the washing machine waits for the wash cycle to finish before allowing door opening, then safety is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to lost time
Solution Approach 1:
The door access function is segmented between the main door (locked until cycle completion) and the auxiliary door (available during safe conditions). This allows the washing machine to maintain safety protocols while improving productivity by enabling intermediate laundry additions without waiting for full cycle completion.
Solution Approach 2:
The door locking system transitions from a static state (main door locked throughout) to a dynamic state where the auxiliary door can be selectively unlocked during operation based on safety conditions. This dynamic approach optimizes both safety and time efficiency.
Data Source
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AI summary
Proposed are a washing machine and a control method therefor, which may allow a user to safely and additionally put laundry in during the operation of the washing machine including an auxiliary door. The washing machine includes an auxiliary door through which laundry is additionally put in, indicates whether additionally putting-in of laundry during the operation of the washing machine is allowed, and enables a user to determine the same, in order to provide an algorithm for safely operating the auxiliary door, and checks a rotation of a drum, a temperature of the inside, and a level of water when it is desired to additionally put laundry in, so as to enable the user to safely put the laundry in. Also, when the user additionally puts laundry in while the washing machine performs a cycle, the washing machine changes a cycle profile for each cycle, and corrects a cycle profile according to an additional put-in point, thereby raising reliability of the user for the washing machine.