Laundry washing machine with automatic rinse operation type selection

• US 10,358,760 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2016
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Midea Group Co., Ltd
• Original Assignee: Midea Group Co., Ltd
• Inventors: Hombroek, Phillip C., Hoppe, Christopher G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Perrin, Joseph L.
• Application Number:
  US15/198,971
• Publication Number:
  US 20180002859A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,118 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 2103/04 Quantity, e.g. weight or variation of weight
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/06 Type or material
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/18 Washing liquid level
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/20 Washing liquid condition, e.g. turbidity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/22 Content of detergent or additives
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/02 Water supply
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/42 Detergent or additive supply
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/52 Changing sequence of operational steps; Carrying out additional operational steps; Modifying operational steps, e.g. by extending duration of steps
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/58 Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/00 Control of operations performed in washing machines or washer-dryers D06F31/00 takes precedence; details of control systems therefor D06F34/00; control of operations performed in domestic laundry dryers D06F58/32
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/36 of washing
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/37 of metering of detergents or additives
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/38 of rinsing
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/18 Condition of the laundry, e.g. nature or weight
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/22 Condition of the washing liquid, e.g. turbidity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 35/006 for washing or rinsing only
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 39/02 Devices for adding soap or other washing agents
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 39/087 Water level measuring or regulating devices

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.

Claims

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.

2. The laundry washing machine of claim 1, wherein the fluid property sensor includes a turbidity sensor configured to measure turbidity of the fluid from the wash tub, and wherein the controller is configured to select between the fill rinse operation and the spray rinse operation at least based upon turbidity of the fluid from the wash tub.

3. The laundry washing machine of claim 2, wherein the turbidity sensor is further configured to measure conductivity of the fluid from the wash tub, and wherein the controller is further configured to select between the fill rinse operation and the spray rinse operation based upon conductivity of the fluid from the wash tub.

4. The laundry washing machine of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to determine whether to perform an additional rinse operation based at least in part upon a second fluid property value sensed by the fluid property sensor after the selected fill rinse operation or spray rinse operation is performed.

5. The laundry washing machine of claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to select between the fill rinse operation and the spray rinse operation to be performed as the additional rinse operation based upon the second fluid property value.

6. The laundry washing machine of claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to repeat the selected fill rinse operation or spray rinse operation as the additional rinse operation.

7. The laundry washing machine of claim 1, further comprising a weight sensor operatively coupled to the wash tub to sense a weight associated with the wash tub and a fluid level sensor configured to sense a fluid level in the wash tub, wherein the controller is configured to dynamically select a load type from among a plurality of load types based at least upon weight and fluid level values sensed respectively by the weight and fluid level sensors, and to control a wash cycle at least based upon the selected load type.

8. The laundry washing machine of claim 7, further comprising a water inlet configured to dispense water into the wash tub, wherein the controller is further configured to initiate an initial fill phase of a wash cycle by controlling the water inlet to dispense water into the wash tub and to dynamically select the load type during the initial fill phase after a selected amount of water has been dispensed by the water inlet.

9. The laundry washing machine of claim 1, further comprising a detergent dispenser configured to dispense detergent for washing a load disposed in the wash tub, wherein the controller is configured to control dispensing of detergent by the detergent dispenser based at least in part upon the fluid property value.

10. The laundry washing machine of claim 1, wherein determining from the determined fluid property value whether the concentration of detergent and/or soil in the wash fluid meets a threshold includes determining from the determined fluid property value whether the concentration of soil in the wash fluid meets the threshold.