Laundry washing machine with automatic detection of detergent deficit
First Claim
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1. A laundry washing machine, comprising:
- a wash tub disposed within a housing;
a detergent dispenser configured to dispense detergent for washing a load disposed in the wash tub;
a fluid property sensor configured to sense turbidity and/or conductivity of fluid from the wash tub; and
a controller coupled to the detergent dispenser and the fluid property sensor, the controller configured to initiate a fill phase of a wash cycle to dispense water into the wash tub subsequent to a manual addition of detergent by a user to form a wash fluid, determine a detergent deficit in the wash fluid based upon a fluid property value sensed by the fluid property sensor, and cause the detergent dispenser to automatically dispense additional detergent in response to determining the detergent deficit;
wherein the controller is configured to determine the detergent deficit by;
determining a total amount of detergent to dispense;
determining an amount of detergent manually added by the user and sensed by the fluid property sensor; and
determining an amount of additional detergent to dispense based upon the determined total amount of detergent to dispense and the determined amount of detergent manually added by the user; and
wherein the controller is configured to cause the detergent dispenser to automatically dispense the additional detergent in response to determining the detergent deficit by causing the detergent dispenser to automatically dispense the determined amount of additional detergent.
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Abstract
A laundry washing machine and method utilize a fluid property sensor to determine a detergent deficit subsequent to manual addition of detergent by a user, such that additional detergent may be automatically dispensed.
38 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A laundry washing machine, comprising:
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a wash tub disposed within a housing; a detergent dispenser configured to dispense detergent for washing a load disposed in the wash tub; a fluid property sensor configured to sense turbidity and/or conductivity of fluid from the wash tub; and a controller coupled to the detergent dispenser and the fluid property sensor, the controller configured to initiate a fill phase of a wash cycle to dispense water into the wash tub subsequent to a manual addition of detergent by a user to form a wash fluid, determine a detergent deficit in the wash fluid based upon a fluid property value sensed by the fluid property sensor, and cause the detergent dispenser to automatically dispense additional detergent in response to determining the detergent deficit; wherein the controller is configured to determine the detergent deficit by; determining a total amount of detergent to dispense; determining an amount of detergent manually added by the user and sensed by the fluid property sensor; and determining an amount of additional detergent to dispense based upon the determined total amount of detergent to dispense and the determined amount of detergent manually added by the user; and wherein the controller is configured to cause the detergent dispenser to automatically dispense the additional detergent in response to determining the detergent deficit by causing the detergent dispenser to automatically dispense the determined amount of additional detergent. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of operating a laundry washing machine of the type including a wash tub disposed within a housing, a fluid property sensor configured to sense turbidity and/or conductivity of fluid from the wash tub, and a detergent dispenser configured to dispense detergent for washing a load disposed in the wash tub, the method comprising:
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initiating a fill phase of a wash cycle to dispense water into the wash tub subsequent to a manual addition of detergent by a user to form a wash fluid; determining with a fluid property sensor a detergent deficit in the wash fluid, wherein determining the detergent deficit includes; determining a total amount of detergent to dispense; determining an amount of detergent manually added by the user and sensed by the fluid property sensor; and determining an amount of additional detergent to dispense based upon the determined total amount of detergent to dispense and the determined amount of detergent manually added by the user; and automatically dispensing additional detergent with a detergent dispenser in response to determining the detergent deficit, wherein automatically dispensing the additional detergent in response to determining the detergent deficit includes automatically dispensing the determined amount of additional detergent. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification