Laundry treating appliance with tuned suspension system

• US 10,100,453 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2016
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Borlin, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Perrin, Joseph L.
• Application Number:
  US15/047,075
• Publication Number:
  US 20170241064A1
• Time in Patent Office: 971 Days
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/04 Quantity, e.g. weight or variation of weight
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/26 Imbalance; Noise level
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/48 Drum speed
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/48 Preventing or reducing imbalance or noise
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/16 Imbalance
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/18 Condition of the laundry, e.g. nature or weight
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 37/02 Rotary receptacles, e.g. drums
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 37/22 in machines with a receptacle rotating or oscillating about a horizontal axis
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 37/268 for suspension devices
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 37/36 for rotating the receptacle at more than one speed D06F37/304, D06F37/308 take precedence

Abstract

An apparatus and method for reducing displacement of a washing machine having a drum rotatable about an axis of rotation is disclosed. The washing machine comprises a chassis and a motor for rotation a drum. The drum is suspended from the chassis by a suspension. The suspension can comprise springs having six natural frequencies that can resonate at a rotational speed of the drum driven by the motor. The suspension system can be tuned such that resonant frequencies can be varied based upon rotational speed of the drum.

Claims

1. A laundry treating appliance comprising:

a chassis defining an interior;

a drum disposed within the interior;

a motor operably coupled to the drum and having a drive for rotating the drum;

a suspension system suspending the drum from the chassis and having six natural frequencies including three translational frequencies and three rotational frequencies, the suspension system includes at least one spring that is configured to group the three translational frequencies and three rotational frequencies into a first group determined by a predetermined first rotational speed range of the drum or the motor and a second group determined by a predetermined second rotational speed range of the drum or the motor that is separated from the predetermined first rotational speed range, in this manner the first group and the second group are correlated to known speeds that can be accelerated through during a cycle of operation; and

a controller configured to accelerate the drum, via the motor, to a rotational speed between the first group and the second group.

2. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the first group and second group are separated by at least 70 rpm.

3. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the first group comprises two translational frequencies and the second group comprises one translational frequency and three rotational frequencies.

4. The laundry treating appliance of claim 3 wherein the first group comprises natural frequencies between 70-105 rpm.

5. The laundry treating appliance of claim 4 wherein the second group comprises natural frequencies between 170-260 rpm.

6. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine operational parameters while the drum is rotated at the rotational speed between the first and second group.

7. The laundry treating appliance of claim 6 wherein the controller is configured to determine of at least one of a motor torque, a drum imbalance, a load imbalance, an imbalance magnitude, a drum position, a load position, a load mass, inertia, or friction.

8. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the at least one spring includes multiple springs.

9. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein an angle of the spring, a stiffness of the spring, a location of the spring, or an orientation of the spring configures the spring to group the three translational frequencies and three rotational frequencies.

10. The laundry treating appliance of claim 9, further comprising a counterweight mass operably coupled to one of the drum or the suspension system.

11. A laundry treating appliance comprising:

a chassis defining an interior;

a drum disposed within the interior;

a motor operably coupled to the drum and having a drive for rotating the drum;

a controller operably coupled to the motor and configured to accelerate the drum, via the motor; and

a suspension system suspending the drum from the chassis and having six natural frequencies including three translational frequencies and three rotational frequencies, the suspension system includes at least one spring that is configured to group the three translational frequencies and three rotational frequencies into a first group determined by a predetermined first rotational speed range of the drum or the motor and a second group determined by a predetermined second rotational speed range of the drum or the motor that is separated from the predetermined first rotational speed range, in this manner the first group and the second group are correlated to known speeds;

wherein the controller is configured to accelerate through the predetermined first rotational speed range and rotate the drum at a rotational speed between the predetermined first rotational speed range and the predetermined second rotational speed range during a cycle of operation.

12. The laundry treating appliance of claim 11 wherein the controller is further configured to determine operational parameters while the drum is rotated at the rotational speed between the predetermined first rotational speed range and the predetermined second rotational speed range.

13. The laundry treating appliance of claim 12 wherein the controller is configured to determine of at least one of a motor torque, a drum imbalance, a load imbalance, an imbalance magnitude, a drum position, a load position, a load mass, inertia, or friction.

14. The laundry treating appliance of claim 12 wherein after the operational parameters have been determined the controller is further configured to accelerate through the predetermined second rotational speed range and rotate the drum at a rotational speed above the predetermined second rotational speed range.

15. A laundry treating appliance comprising:

a chassis defining an interior;

a drum disposed within the interior;

a motor operably coupled to the drum and having a drive for rotating the drum;

a suspension system suspending the drum from the chassis and having six natural frequencies including three translational frequencies and three rotational frequencies, the suspension system includes at least two springs and each spring is configured to group the three translational frequencies and three rotational frequencies of the suspension system into a first group determined by a predetermined first rotational speed range of the drum or the motor and a second group determined by a predetermined second rotational speed range of the drum or the motor that is separated from the predetermined first rotational speed range, in this manner the first group and the second group are correlated to known speeds that can be accelerated through during a cycle of operation; and

a controller configured to accelerate the drum, via the motor, to a rotational speed between the first group and the second group.

16. The laundry treating appliance of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to determine operational parameters while the drum is rotated at the rotational speed between the first and second group.

17. The laundry treating appliance of claim 16 wherein the controller is configured to determine of at least one of a motor torque, a drum imbalance, a load imbalance, an imbalance magnitude, a drum position, a load position, a load mass, inertia, or friction.