Method of determining fabric type of a laundry load in a laundry treating appliance

• US 9,243,987 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2013
• Issued: 01/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Chanda, Hirak, Ghosh, Kaustav, Leitert, Andrew J., McAllister, Karl David, Strait, Jon D., Yuan, Yingqin, Rapson, Amy L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fitzgerald, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huang, David Z
• Application Number:
  US13/874,517
• Publication Number:
  US 20140326067A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,000 Days
• Field of Search: 73/32.R
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 2105/02 Water supply
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/10 Temperature of washing liquids; Heating means therefor
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/42 Detergent or additive supply
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/48 Drum speed
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/56 Remaining operation time; Remaining operational cycles
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/58 Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 25/00 Washing machines with receptacles, e.g. perforated, having a rotary movement, e.g. oscillatory movement, the receptacle serving both for washing and for centrifugally separating water from the laundry and having further drying means, e.g. using hot air control of washing or of washing and drying D06F33/00, D06F34/00; domestic laundry dryers D06F58/00
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/34 of water filling
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/37 of metering of detergents or additives
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/18 Condition of the laundry, e.g. nature or weight
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 9/00 Investigating density or specific gravity of materials; Analysing materials by determining density or specific gravity
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 9/30 by using centrifugal effects

Abstract

A method of determining a fabric type for a laundry load can include comparing the density of the laundry load in a first wetted state, which may be a dry state or a partially saturated state, to the density of the laundry load in a second wetted state, which may be a partially saturated, fully saturated, or beyond fully saturated state, and determining a fabric type based on the comparison.

Claims

1. A method of determining a fabric type for a laundry load located within a treating chamber defined by a rotatable drum of a laundry treating appliance configured to treat the laundry according to an automatic cycle of operation, the method comprising:

determining a density of the laundry load in a first wetted state to define a first density;

determining a density of the laundry load in a second wetted state to define a second density;

comparing the first density and the second density; and

determining a fabric type based on the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the comparison comprises determining a difference between the first density and the second density.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the fabric type is a function of the magnitude of the difference.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein determining the difference comprises determining a quantitative difference.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein determining the difference comprises determining a qualitative difference.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein determining a qualitative difference comprises:

categorizing ranges for the first density and the second density;

associating at least some of the ranges for the first density with ranges for the second density; and

assigning a fabric type to at least some of the associated ranges.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the categorized ranges for the first density comprise at least:

low, medium, and high;

the categorized ranges for the second density comprise at least;

low, medium, and high; and

at least one of the following associations is made;

low first density is associated with the low second density to represent a synthetic fabric type;

low first density is associated with the medium second density to represent a bulky fabric type;

medium first density is associated with the medium second density to represent a blend of synthetic and cotton fabric types;

medium first density is associated with the high second density to represent a terry cotton fabric type;

high first density is associated with the low medium second density to represent a lingerie fabric type; and

high first density is associated with the medium second density to represent a jeans cotton fabric type.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the first density comprises determining a first inertia value during rotation of the drum at a spin speed with the laundry load in the first wetted state, determining the second density comprises determining a second inertia value during rotation of the drum at a spin speed with the laundry load in the second wetted state, and comparing the first density and the second density comprises determining a difference between the first inertia value and the second inertia value.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the first density comprises determining a first volume of the laundry load in the drum while the laundry load is in the first wetted state, determining a first mass of the laundry load while the laundry load is in the first wetted state, and determining a first quotient of the first mass divided by the first volume.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein determining the second density comprises determining a second volume of the laundry load in the drum while the laundry load is in the second wetted state, determining a second mass of the laundry load while the laundry load is in the second wetted state, and determining a second quotient of the second mass divided by the second volume.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein at least one of the first volume and the second volume is determined by digitally imaging the laundry load within the treating chamber.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the second wetted state comprises the laundry load being at least partially saturated.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the first wetted state comprises the laundry load being dry.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the second wetted state comprises the laundry load being fully saturated.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the second wetted state comprises the laundry load being beyond saturation in a dynamic state.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the first wetted state comprises the laundry load being at least partially saturated, and the second wetted state comprises the laundry load being more saturated than in the first wetted state.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising wetting the laundry load with liquid prior to determining the second density.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the wetting of the laundry load comprises supplying liquid to achieve a predetermined liquid-to-cloth ratio.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein wetting the laundry load comprises supplying liquid to a level in the treating chamber lower than the level of the laundry load in the treating chamber.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting at least one of the following parameters for the automatic cycle of operation according to the determined fabric type:

water amount, water temperature, detergent amount, drum rotation speed, wash duration, and soak time.