Dryer monitoring

• US 8,782,922 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2010
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecolab USA Incorporated (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ecolab USA Incorporated (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Inventors: May, Robert E., Panama, Julio R., Parent, Nicholas D., Popa, Mihnea A., Weber, Bruce W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rinehart, Kenneth
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCCORMACK, JOHN PATRICK
• Application Number:
  US12/954,006
• Publication Number:
  US 20120124859A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,336 Days
• Field of Search: 344/91, 344/46, 344/93, 345/24, 345/72, 702/130, 702/188, 702/136, 340/870.08
• US Class Current: 34/491
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/00 Parameters monitored or detected for the control of domestic laundry washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/24 Spin speed; Drum movements
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/32 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/34 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/38 Time, e.g. duration
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/40 Opening or locking status of doors
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/58 Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/28 Arrangements for program selection, e.g. control panels therefor; Arrangements for indicating program parameters, e.g. the selected program or its progress
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 58/38 of drying, e.g. to achieve the target humidity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 58/50 Responding to irregular working conditions, e.g. malfunctioning of blowers

Abstract

A dryer monitoring system receives dryer information from one or more sensors concerning operation of one or more dryers, such as clothes dryers. For example, the dryer monitoring system may receive temperature, humidity, and/or dryer on/off information concerning the dryers. The dryer monitoring system may analyze the dryer information and generate reports communicating the dryer information, identify possible maintenance issues with the dryers, identify ambient environmental conditions that may lead to inefficient drying, identify possible operator errors, and/or diagnose other dryer conditions that may be determined based on the dryer information.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of dryer installations, each dryer installation including one or more clothes dryers;

a plurality of sensors, each of which detects dryer information associated with one of the clothes dryers at the dryer installations, wherein the dryer information includes temperature information, humidity information, and rotation information; and

a central computer that receives the dryer information associated with each of the one or more clothes dryers, the controller further including;

an analysis application that analyzes the dryer information associated with at least one of the one or more clothes dryers and generates one or more dryer status conclusions for the at least one of the one or more clothes dryer based on the analysis, wherein the status conclusion indicates that items in the at least one of the one or more clothes dryer are overdry if the analysis identifies a dryer rotation, a non-decreasing dryer humidity that satisfies than a low humidity threshold and a dryer temperature that satisfies a high dryer temperature threshold; and

a reporting application that generates reports based on the analysis.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the dryer information comprises at least one of moisture content information, ambient condition information, and dryer on/off information for each of the one or more clothes dryers at the dryer installations.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the analysis application analyzes temperature information and rotation information, and wherein the status conclusion indicates one or more of a possible dryer burner problem, a possible short cycle, a possible crosstalk between dryer vents, and a possible door not properly closed if the analysis identifies a dryer rotation and a decreasing dryer temperature.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the analysis application analyzes humidity information and dryer rotation information associated with at least one of the clothes dryers, and wherein the status conclusion indicates a possible washer extraction inefficiency if the analysis application identifies a dryer rotation and a dryer humidity that satisfies a high humidity threshold.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the analysis application analyzes temperature information, humidity information and rotation information, and wherein the status conclusion indicates of one or more of a possible burner failure or a possible incoming hot air blockage if the analysis application identifies a dryer rotation, a non-decreasing humidity that satisfies a high humidity threshold, and a non-increasing temperature that satisfies a low temperature threshold.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the analysis application analyzes dryer information from a selected group of dryer installations.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the reporting application generates reports concerning operation of the clothes dryers at a selected group of the dryer installations over a defined period of time.

8. A system comprising:

a plurality of clothes dryers;

a temperature sensor that senses temperature information associated with at least one of the plurality of clothes dryers;

a humidity sensor that senses humidity information associated with at least one of the plurality of clothes dryers;

a rotation sensor that senses rotation information associated with at least one of the plurality of clothes dryers;

and

a controller that receives the temperature, humidity, and rotation information from at least one of the plurality of clothes dryers, the controller further including;

an analysis application that analyzes the temperature, humidity, and rotation information and generates one or more dryer status conclusions based on the analysis, wherein the one or more dryer status conclusions indicate that items in the at least one of the plurality of clothes dryers are overdry if the analysis identifies a dryer rotation, a non-decreasing dryer humidity that satisfies a low humidity threshold and a dryer temperature that satisfies a high dryer temperature threshold; and

a reporting application that generates reports based on the analysis.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the dryer information further includes at least one of moisture content information, ambient condition information, and dryer on/off information.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the analysis application analyzes the temperature information and rotation information from the at least one of the plurality of clothes dryers, wherein the status conclusion indicates one or more of a possible dryer burner problem, a possible short cycle, a possible crosstalk between dryer vents, and a possible door not properly closed if the analysis identifies a dryer rotation and a decreasing dryer temperature.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the analysis application analyzes the humidity information and rotation information from the at least one of the plurality of clothes dryers, and wherein the status conclusion indicates a possible washer extraction inefficiency if the analysis application identifies a dryer rotation and a dryer humidity that satisfies a high humidity threshold.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the analysis application analyzes the temperature information, humidity information and rotation information from the at least one of the plurality of clothes dryers, and wherein the status conclusion indicates one or more of a possible burner failure or a possible incoming hot air blockage if the analysis application identifies a dryer rotation, a non-decreasing humidity that satisfies a high humidity threshold, and a non-increasing temperature that satisfies a low temperature threshold.

13. The system of claim 8 wherein if the analysis identifies a dryer rotation, a slow rate of dryer humidity change and a high dryer temperature, the controller generates a status conclusion indicative of a possible full linen screen or a possible small load.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein the reporting application generates one or more of a total dryer cycle report, a total over dry cycle report, an average dry time per load report, a total over dry time report, an average high temperature report, and an average low humidity report.

15. The system of claim 8 wherein the reporting application generates a report including dryer information for one or more of the plurality of clothes dryers.