Customer selection of desired remaining moisture in clothing via user interface at machine or portable electronic device

• US 10,443,182 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2016
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Adkins, Andrew, Halbleib, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Gravini, Stephen M
• Application Number:
  US15/393,311
• Publication Number:
  US 20180187366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,020 Days
• Field of Search: 34427
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/08 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/38 Time, e.g. duration
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/28 Electric heating
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/58 Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/62 Stopping or disabling machine operation
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/30 characterised by mechanical features, e.g. buttons or rotary dials
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/32 characterised by graphical features, e.g. touchscreens
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 58/20 General details of domestic laundry dryers D06F59/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 58/38 of drying, e.g. to achieve the target humidity

Abstract

A method of controlling the clothes dryer includes offering one or more preset dryness levels that may be selected using a programmable dryness level selector to establish a drying cycle. Each of the preset dryness levels may correspond to a stored remaining moisture content. The method additionally includes sensing a remaining moisture content of a load of fabric in the clothes dryer and displaying the remaining moisture content of the load of fabric to a user. The method further includes automatically stopping the clothes dryer using a controller configured to determine when the remaining moisture content of the load of fabric reaches the selected preset dryness level. The one or more preset dryness levels may be customizable by saving a target remaining moisture content for each preset dryness level.

Claims

1. A method of drying a load of fabric using a clothes dryer, the method comprising:

offering one or more preset dryness levels that are selectable using a programmable dryness level selector to establish a drying cycle;

selecting one of the one or more preset dryness levels using the programmable dryness level selector to define a selected preset dryness level;

retrieving a stored target remaining moisture content that corresponds to the selected preset dryness level;

customizing the selected preset dryness level by changing the stored target remaining moisture content corresponding to the selected preset dryness level to a desired remaining moisture content in response to user input wherein the desired remaining moisture content is different than the stored target remaining moisture content;

sensing a remaining moisture content of the load of fabric in the clothes dryer; and

automatically stopping the clothes dryer using a controller configured to determine when the remaining moisture content of the load of fabric reaches the corresponding stored target remaining moisture content.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of:

displaying the remaining moisture content of the load of fabric.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein sensing the remaining moisture content comprises using one or more sensors with one or more physics modules.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein displaying the remaining moisture content includes continually updating a real time remaining moisture content during the drying cycle.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of displaying the remaining moisture content includes simultaneously displaying an estimated time remaining for the drying cycle.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of:

receiving user input from a portable electronic device by the controller to change the stored target remaining moisture content corresponding to the selected preset dryness level to the desired remaining moisture content.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of:

displaying the stored target remaining moisture content for each selected preset dryness level with the programmable dryness level selector.

8. A method of controlling a clothes dryer, the method comprising:

offering one or more preset dryness levels that are selectable using a programmable dryness level selector to establish a drying cycle;

selecting one of the one or more preset dryness levels using the programmable dryness level selector to define a selected preset dryness level;

retrieving a stored target remaining moisture content that corresponds to the selected preset dryness level;

customizing the selected preset dryness level by changing the stored target remaining moisture content corresponding to the selected preset dryness level to a desired remaining moisture content in response to user input wherein the desired remaining moisture content is different than the stored target remaining moisture content;

saving the desired remaining moisture content as the stored target remaining moisture content to correspond to the selected preset dryness level;

sensing a remaining moisture content of a load of fabric in the clothes dryer;

and

automatically stopping the clothes dryer using a controller configured to determine when the remaining moisture content of the load of fabric reaches the corresponding stored target remaining moisture content.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein sensing the remaining moisture content comprises using one or more sensors.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising displaying the remaining moisture content of the load of fabric wherein displaying the remaining moisture content includes continually updating a real time remaining moisture content during the drying cycle.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising a step of:

displaying an estimated time remaining for the drying cycle.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising a step of:

receiving user input from a portable electronic device by the controller to change the stored target remaining moisture content corresponding to the selected preset dryness level.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising a step of:

displaying the stored target remaining moisture content for each selected preset dryness level with the programmable dryness level selector.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the programmable dryness level selector has more than one preset dryness level with a user-modifiable stored target remaining moisture content.

15. A clothes dryer comprising:

a cabinet;

a drum rotatably mounted within the cabinet for receiving a load of fabric to be dried;

a display adapted to present a real time remaining moisture content for the load of fabric;

a controller configured to receive information from one or more sensors and a selector to determine a length of time for a drying cycle; and

a control panel coupled to the cabinet;

wherein

the selector comprises a programmable dryness level selector with one or more preset dryness levels, the one or more preset dryness levels each having a corresponding user-modifiable stored target remaining moisture content.

16. The clothes dryer of claim 15, further comprising:

one or more sensors and/or one or more physics modules to sense the real time remaining moisture content for the load of fabric.

17. The clothes dryer of claim 15, wherein the display simultaneously presents an estimated time remaining for the drying cycle.

18. The clothes dryer of claim 15, wherein the programmable dryness level selector displays a stored target remaining moisture content for each preset dryness level.

19. The clothes dryer of claim 15, wherein the programmable dryness level selector has more than one dryness level that can be preset with a stored target remaining moisture content.

20. The clothes dryer of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to receive input from a portable electronic device to change the length of time for the drying cycle.