Method of selecting a wash cycle for an appliance

• US 5,611,867 A
• Filed: 04/12/1995
• Issued: 03/18/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Maytag Corporation (Whirlpool Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Maytag Corporation (Whirlpool Corporation)
• Inventors: Corbett, Mitchell N., Gardner, Douglas W., Cooper, Randall L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Warden, Jill
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHAUDHRY, SAEED T
• Application Number:
  US08/422,124
• Time in Patent Office: 706 Days
• Field of Search: 134/18, 134/25.2, 134/57 D, 68/12.02
• US Class Current: 134/18
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 15/0021 Regulation of operational steps within the washing processes, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending from the detergent nature or from the condition of the crockery
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2301/00 Manual input in controlling methods of washing or rinsing machines for crockery or tableware, i.e. information entered by a user
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2401/10 Water cloudiness or dirtiness, e.g. turbidity, foaming or level of bacteria
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2401/12 Water temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2401/24 Spray arms status, e.g. detection of spray arm rotation
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2401/30 Variation of electrical, magnetical or optical quantities
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 2501/30 Regulation of machine operational steps within the washing process, e.g. performing an additional rinsing phase, shortening or stopping of the drying phase, washing at decreased noise operation conditions
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/16 Washing liquid temperature
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/20 Washing liquid condition, e.g. turbidity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/24 Spin speed; Drum movements
• 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 34/22 Condition of the washing liquid, e.g. turbidity

Abstract

A method of selecting a washing cycle for an intelligent appliance uses several factors to make a cycle selection. The first factor is a combination of the water turbidity, conductivity and temperature as well as the wash arm speed. The other factors are the average of previously selected cycles, the number of times the appliance door has been opened, and the time between wash cycles. The appliance also allows the user to bump up the selected cycle to a higher cycle if the user is unsatisfied with the performance of the appliance. If a failure has occurred with any of the sensors or in the communications routine, the appliance selects the average of previously selected cycles as the wash cycle.

Claims

1. A method of selecting a washing cycle from a plurality of progressively higher wash cycles for an intelligent appliance for which a number of previous wash cycles have been selected from the plurality of wash cycles, comprising the steps of:

sensing a plurality of operating conditions in the appliance;

generating a first value based on the sensed conditions;

determining an average selected cycle from the number of previously selected wash cycles;

generating a second value based on the determined average selected cycle;

sensing the number of occurrences that the appliance is opened;

generating a third value based on the number of occurrences that the appliance is opened;

measuring an amount of time elapsed since one of the previous wash cycles;

generating a fourth value based on the amount of time elapsed since one of the previous wash cycles; and

making a cycle selection based on the first, second, third, and fourth values.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the sensed operating conditions include at least one of turbidity of the water in the appliance, conductivity of the water in the appliance, and temperature of the water in the appliance.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

providing a rotating wash arm for spraying water in the appliance; and

wherein one of the sensed operating conditions is speed of the wash arm.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

providing a user input;

generating a fifth value based on the user input; and

making a cycle selection based on the first, second, third, fourth and fifth values.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

determining whether an error has occurred while sensing the plurality of operating conditions in the appliance;

calculating an average cycle selected from a number of previously selected cycles; and

selecting the determined average selected cycle if the error has occurred.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the cycle selection is made by calculating a sum of all the values.

7. A method of selecting a washing cycle for an appliance having a controller with an automatic cycle selection scheme that automatically selects an initial cycle from a set of progressively higher cycles comprising the steps of:

automatically selecting an initial cycle from the set of progressively higher cycles;

entering a value into the controller; and

increasing the initial cycle to a higher cycle from the set of progressively higher cycles based on the value.

8. A method of selecting a wash cycle from a plurality of wash cycles for an appliance for which wash cycles have previously been selected, the appliance having a plurality of sensors to sense operating conditions in the appliance for use in an automatic cycle selection of a wash cycle comprising the steps of:

sensing with said sensors the operating conditions in the appliance;

determining a first wash cycle automatically from said sensed operating conditions;

determining whether any of said sensors have produced a faulty sensed operating condition;

calculating a second wash cycle comprising an average of previously selected wash cycles; and

selecting the second wash cycle automatically if any of said sensors have produced faulty sensed operating condition.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the plurality of sensors includes a turbidity sensor.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the plurality of sensors includes a conductivity sensor.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:

providing a controller for controlling the appliance;

providing a communications interface between the controller and the appliance;

determining whether the communications interface has failed; and

selecting the average selected cycle if the communications interface has failed.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:

assigning values to each of the possible wash cycles;

adding the values corresponding to each of the previously selected cycles;

dividing the resultant sum by the number of previously selected cycles to calculate the average selected cycle from the number of cycles previously selected.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of monitoring the plurality of sensors to determine whether any of the sensors have failed.

14. A method of selecting a washing cycle for an intelligent appliance comprising the steps of:

sensing turbidity of the water in the appliance;

generating a first value based on the sensed turbidity;

sensing conductivity of the water in the appliance;

generating a second value based on the sensed conductivity;

sensing temperature of the water in the appliance;

generating a third value based on the sensed temperature;

making a cycle selection based on the first, second, and third values.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the steps of:

repeating the step of making a cycle selection based on the first, second, and third values to select a plurality of successive wash cycles over time;

determining a most frequently selected cycle from the plurality of successive wash cycles; and

making subsequent cycle selections based on the first value, second value, third value, and the most frequently selected cycle.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising the steps of:

repeating the step of making a cycle selection based on the first, second, and third values to select a plurality of successive wash cycles over time;

measuring an amount of time elapsed since the selection of one of the plurality of successive wash cycles; and

making subsequent cycle selections based on the first value, second value, third value, and the measured amount of time.

16. The method of claim 16 further comprising the steps of:

repeating the step of making a cycle selection based on the first, second, and third values to select a plurality of successive wash cycles over time;

sensing a number of occurrences that the appliance is opened over a period of time; and

making subsequent cycle selections based on the first value, second value, third value, and the sensed number.