Computer means for commercial washing machines
First Claim
1. A washing/dry cleaning apparatus for automatically controlling a commercial washing/dry cleaning machine, each washing/dry cleaning machine having a wash motor and a plurality of functions associated with the operation of the washing/dry cleaning machine, said plurality of functions are controlled by a plurality of selectively operable relays and contactors, wherein the apparatus comprises:
- an automatic machine controlling means for selectively controlling the washing/dry cleaning machine in an automatic mode and a manual mode of operation, said automatic machine controlling means comprising a microcontroller connected to a microprocessor by a serial interfacer the microcontroller provides signals to the plurality of relays and contactors to control the washing/dry cleaning machine in association with the selected mode of operation,said manual mode comprising a manual push button module including a plurality of operator initiated manually activated switches, wherein said plurality of manually activated switches are connected to the microprocessor, said microprocessor decodes the activation of said manually activated switches and supplies compatible control signals along the serial interface to the microcontroller to selectively operate said plurality of relays and contactors, thereby controlling the operation of the washing/dry cleaning machine in the manual mode,said automatic mode controlling the microcontroller through an automatic series of program steps stored into memory to control said plurality of functions associated with the operation of the washing/dry cleaning machine to thereby control the washing/dry cleaning machine by automatically supplying control signals from the microcontroller to the plurality of relays and contactors, thereby controlling the operation of the washing/dry cleaning machine in the automatic mode,wherein said manually activated switches are inactive during said automatic mode, and the microcontroller does not read from the stored memory during the manual mode.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An improvement is provided to upgrade preexisting commercial washing machines by incorporating microprocessor based controls. Elimination of unwieldy harnesses between manual operation controls and the washing machine controls provided as are improvements in control of the system by using memory cards. Further, the system includes means to detect, early on, power failure and to store and restore the commercial washing machine operation at the point at which it stopped.
33 Citations
9 Claims
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1. A washing/dry cleaning apparatus for automatically controlling a commercial washing/dry cleaning machine, each washing/dry cleaning machine having a wash motor and a plurality of functions associated with the operation of the washing/dry cleaning machine, said plurality of functions are controlled by a plurality of selectively operable relays and contactors, wherein the apparatus comprises:
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an automatic machine controlling means for selectively controlling the washing/dry cleaning machine in an automatic mode and a manual mode of operation, said automatic machine controlling means comprising a microcontroller connected to a microprocessor by a serial interfacer the microcontroller provides signals to the plurality of relays and contactors to control the washing/dry cleaning machine in association with the selected mode of operation, said manual mode comprising a manual push button module including a plurality of operator initiated manually activated switches, wherein said plurality of manually activated switches are connected to the microprocessor, said microprocessor decodes the activation of said manually activated switches and supplies compatible control signals along the serial interface to the microcontroller to selectively operate said plurality of relays and contactors, thereby controlling the operation of the washing/dry cleaning machine in the manual mode, said automatic mode controlling the microcontroller through an automatic series of program steps stored into memory to control said plurality of functions associated with the operation of the washing/dry cleaning machine to thereby control the washing/dry cleaning machine by automatically supplying control signals from the microcontroller to the plurality of relays and contactors, thereby controlling the operation of the washing/dry cleaning machine in the automatic mode, wherein said manually activated switches are inactive during said automatic mode, and the microcontroller does not read from the stored memory during the manual mode. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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Specification