Laundry washing machine with automatic rinse operation type selection
First Claim
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1. A laundry washing machine, comprising:
- 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 controller coupled to the fluid property sensor, the controller configured to initiate a wash phase of a wash cycle to wash a load disposed in the wash tub, determine prior to initiating a rinse phase of the wash cycle and with the fluid property sensor a fluid property value associated with the wash fluid used during the wash phase of the wash cycle to assess a concentration of detergent and/or soil in the wash fluid, select prior to initiating the rinse phase of the wash cycle between a fill rinse operation and a spray rinse operation for a rinse phase of the wash cycle based at least in part upon the determined fluid property value, and after selecting between the fill rinse operation and the spray rinse operation, initiate the rinse phase of the wash cycle using the selected fill rinse or spray rinse operation, wherein the controller is configured to select between the fill rinse operation and the spray rinse operation by;
determining from the determined fluid property value whether the concentration of detergent and/or soil in the wash fluid meets a threshold;
selecting the fill rinse operation for the rinse phase in response to the threshold being met; and
selecting the spray rinse operation for the rinse phase in response to the threshold not being met.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A laundry washing machine and method utilize a fluid property sensor to dynamically select between different types of rinse operations, e.g., fill rinse operations or spin rinse operations, performed during a wash cycle.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A laundry washing machine, comprising:
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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 controller coupled to the fluid property sensor, the controller configured to initiate a wash phase of a wash cycle to wash a load disposed in the wash tub, determine prior to initiating a rinse phase of the wash cycle and with the fluid property sensor a fluid property value associated with the wash fluid used during the wash phase of the wash cycle to assess a concentration of detergent and/or soil in the wash fluid, select prior to initiating the rinse phase of the wash cycle between a fill rinse operation and a spray rinse operation for a rinse phase of the wash cycle based at least in part upon the determined fluid property value, and after selecting between the fill rinse operation and the spray rinse operation, initiate the rinse phase of the wash cycle using the selected fill rinse or spray rinse operation, wherein the controller is configured to select between the fill rinse operation and the spray rinse operation by; determining from the determined fluid property value whether the concentration of detergent and/or soil in the wash fluid meets a threshold; selecting the fill rinse operation for the rinse phase in response to the threshold being met; and selecting the spray rinse operation for the rinse phase in response to the threshold not being met. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification