Laundry treating appliance with over-sudsing condition compensation measures

• US 10,047,469 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2015
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Leep, Nicholas
• Primary Examiner(s): Ko, Jason
• Application Number:
  US14/976,621
• Publication Number:
  US 20170175315A1
• Time in Patent Office: 967 Days
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2101/00 User input for the control of domestic laundry washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2101/20 Operation modes, e.g. delicate laundry washing programs, service modes or refreshment cycles
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/20 Washing liquid condition, e.g. turbidity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/24 Spin speed; Drum movements
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/42 Detergent or additive supply
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 25/00 Washing machines with receptacles, e.g. perforated, having a rotary movement, e.g. oscillatory movement, the receptacle serving both for washing and for centrifugally separating water from the laundry and having further drying means, e.g. using hot air control of washing or of washing and drying D06F33/00, D06F34/00; domestic laundry dryers D06F58/00
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/37 of metering of detergents or additives
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/22 Condition of the washing liquid, e.g. turbidity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 39/02 Devices for adding soap or other washing agents

Abstract

A method of automatically initiating a procedure to adjust dosing of laundry treating chemistry after satisfying a threshold of determined over-sudsing conditions in a laundry treating appliance during a cycle of operation. When an over-sudsing condition is detected, an over-sudsing counter is initialized, and the data is stored in the memory of a laundry treating appliance as an aggregate total. Once a predetermined threshold is satisfied, a predetermined dosage of laundry treating chemistry is reduced and the over-sudsing counter is reset. The over-sudsing counter can also be reset in the event of an operational event such as a replenishment of a bulk treating chemistry, input by a user of a default value, or passing of a temporal reference, wherein the predetermined dosage is reset to a default value.

Claims

1. A method of operating a laundry treating appliance having a treating chamber for receiving laundry for treatment according to automatic cycles of operation, the method comprising:

executing multiple automatic cycles of operation having a predetermined dosage of treating chemistry;

monitoring for an over-sudsing condition during the execution of the automatic cycles of operation;

determining when an over-sudsing condition occurs during the execution of the automatic cycles of operation,

wherein the determining when the over-sudsing condition comprises at least one of sensing a surfactant, turbidity, motor torque, pressure, or conductivity value;

increasing a cumulative total of determined over-sudsing conditions in a controller of the laundry treating appliance in response to each determining of an over-sudsing condition; and

adjusting the predetermined dosage of a treating chemistry when the cumulative total satisfies a predetermined threshold after the executing of the multiple automatic cycles of operation.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the executing the automatic cycles of operation comprises dispensing the predetermined dosage from a bulk dispenser.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the increasing the cumulative total occurs only when the automatic cycles of operation includes the dispensing of treating chemistry from the bulk dispenser.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the cumulative total is reset upon the adjusting of the predetermined dosage.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the increasing the cumulative totals occurs only when the determined over-sudsing condition occurs within a predetermined temporal reference.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the predetermined temporal reference is at least one of a predetermined number of executed cycles of operation or a predetermined time.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the adjusting the predetermined dosage comprises reducing the predetermined dosage.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising resetting the predetermined dosage to a default value in response to an operational event wherein the operational event comprises at least one of a replenishment of a bulk treating chemistry, a user input of the default value, or passing of a predetermined temporal reference.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the operation event comprises passing of a predetermined temporal reference and the predetermined temporal reference is at least one of a predetermined number of executed cycles of operation or a predetermined time.

10. A method of operating a laundry treating appliance having a treating chamber for receiving laundry for treatment according to automatic cycles of operation, the method comprising:

executing multiple automatic cycles of operation including the dispensing of a predetermined dosage of treating chemistry from a bulk dispenser;

monitoring for an over-sudsing condition during the execution of the automatic cycles of operation;

determining when an over-sudsing condition occurs during the execution of the automatic cycles of operation,

wherein the determining when the over-sudsing condition comprises at least one of sensing a surfactant, turbidity, motor torque, pressure, or conductivity value;

increasing a cumulative total of determined over-sudsing conditions in a controller of the laundry treating appliance in response to each determining of an over-sudsing condition; and

adjusting the predetermined dosage when the cumulative total satisfies a predetermined threshold after the executing of the multiple automatic cycles of operation.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the cumulative total is reset upon the adjusting of the predetermined dosage.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the increasing the cumulative total occurs only when the determined over-sudsing condition occurs within a predetermined temporal reference.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the adjusting the predetermined dosage comprises reducing the predetermined dosage.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising resetting the predetermined dosage to a default value in response to an operational event wherein the operational event comprises at least one of a replenishment of a bulk treating chemistry, a user input of the default value, or passing of a temporal reference.