Methods of determining a load size in a laundry treating appliance

• US 10,214,848 B2
• Filed: 06/24/2016
• Issued: 02/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Leitert, Andrew, McAllister, Karl David
• Primary Examiner(s): Bell, Spencer E
• Application Number:
  US15/191,698
• Publication Number:
  US 20160305058A1
• Time in Patent Office: 977 Days
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/04 Quantity, e.g. weight or variation of weight
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/06 Type or material
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/02 Water supply
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/24 Flow or velocity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/42 Detergent or additive supply
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/48 Drum speed
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/56 Remaining operation time; Remaining operational cycles
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/58 Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/18 Condition of the laundry, e.g. nature or weight
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/28 Arrangements for program selection, e.g. control panels therefor; Arrangements for indicating program parameters, e.g. the selected program or its progress

Abstract

Methods of determining a laundry load size in a laundry treating appliance comprising a rotatable drum at least partially defining a treating chamber for receiving laundry for treatment in accordance with a treating cycle of operation, at least one imaging device, and a controller having a processor, the method includes generating multiple images and determining, by the controller, a load size based on the multiple images.

Claims

1. A method of determining a laundry load size in a laundry treating appliance comprising a rotatable tub or rotatable drum at least partially defining a treating chamber for receiving laundry for treatment in accordance with a treating cycle of operation, at least one imaging device, and a controller having a processor, the method comprising:

rotating the rotatable tub or the rotatable drum;

generating multiple images of a laundry load within the treating chamber, from a single imaging device, where the generated multiple images are from different viewpoints of the laundry load;

combining, by the controller, the multiple images together to define a composite;

analyzing, by the controller utilizing a computer algorithm, the composite to define a 3D model of the laundry load including mountains and valleys in the laundry load;

determining, by the controller, multiple heights defining the mountains and valleys in the laundry load; and

determining a load size based on the 3D model including the multiple heights defining the mountains and valleys in the laundry load.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein rotating the rotatable drum comprises rotating the rotatable drum below a tumbling speed.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a load type based on the 3D model of the laundry load.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the multiple images comprise two images.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting at least one parameter of the treating cycle of operation based on the determined load size.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the at least one parameter is a cycle time, an air flow rate in the treating chamber, a wash liquid fill level, or an amount of treating chemistry.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein generating the multiple images comprises generating the multiple images at different predetermined rotational positions of the rotatable drum.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising displaying on a user interface of the appliance a set cycle time based on the determined load size.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the predetermined rotational positions of the rotatable drum are not equidistant.

10. A method of determining a laundry load size in a laundry treating appliance comprising a rotatable tub or rotatable drum at least partially defining a treating chamber for receiving laundry for treatment in accordance with a treating cycle of operation, at least one imaging device, and a controller having a processor, the method comprising:

rotating the rotatable tub or the rotatable drum;

generating multiple images of a laundry load within the treating chamber, from a single imaging device, where the generated multiple images are from different viewpoints of the laundry load;

combining, by the controller, the multiple images together to define a composite;

analyzing, by the controller, the composite to define a surface topology of mountains and valleys of the laundry load within the treating chamber relative to a predetermined reference height of the rotatable tub or the rotatable drum; and

determining, by the controller, a load size based on the surface topology by comparing the surface topology to the reference height and determining a volume of the laundry load based on the comparing.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the multiple images comprise two images.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein determining the volume of the laundry load comprises determining a solid volume underlying the surface topology in addition to the volume of the surface topology.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the reference height is a top of the drum.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining multiple heights of the mountains and valleys of the laundry load within the drum and determining a volume of the laundry load therefrom.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining a load type based on the mountains and valleys of the laundry load.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying on a user interface of the appliance a set cycle time based on the determined load size.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein rotating the rotatable drum comprises rotating the rotatable drum below a tumbling speed.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein generating the multiple images comprises generating the multiple images at different predetermined rotational positions of the rotatable drum.