Laundry treating appliance with fluffing-state detection

• US 9,353,475 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2014
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Ashrafzadeh, Farhad, Carow, James P., Heilman, Layne E., Kanchanavally, Shreecharan
• Primary Examiner(s): Lu, Jiping
• Application Number:
  US14/470,994
• Publication Number:
  US 20140366398A1
• Time in Patent Office: 642 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/02 Characteristics of laundry or load
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/04 Quantity, e.g. weight or variation of weight
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/08 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/12 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/32 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/36 Flow or velocity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/38 Time, e.g. duration
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/20 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/24 Flow or velocity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/28 Electric heating
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/30 Blowers
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/38 Conditioning or finishing, e.g. control of perfume injection
• 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 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 33/00 Control of operations performed in washing machines or washer-dryers D06F31/00 takes precedence; details of control systems therefor D06F34/00; control of operations performed in domestic laundry dryers D06F58/32
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/52 Control of the operational steps, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending on the condition of the laundry
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/18 Condition of the laundry, e.g. nature or weight
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 58/38 of drying, e.g. to achieve the target humidity
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/55 : Specular reflectivity

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of determining a fluffing state of laundry based on a determined temperature indicative of the surface of the laundry.

Claims

1. A laundry treating appliance for treating laundry in accordance with a treating cycle of operation, comprising:

a treating chamber;

a non-contact temperature sensor configured to repeatedly generate temperature data representative of at least a portion of the laundry in the treating chamber; and

a controller operably coupled to the temperature sensor and configured to determine a fluffing state of the laundry, where a surface of the laundry is free of liquid, from the temperature data and continue the treating cycle of operation and take an action based on the determined fluffing state, the action comprising;

setting at least one parameter of a treating cycle of operation, wherein the at least one parameter comprises a cycle step within a cycle of operation, a cycle temperature, a direction of drum rotation, an air flow rate of heated air flowing through the treating chamber, a direction of agitator rotation, an agitator rotational speed, a wash liquid fill level, a type of treating chemistry to dispense, a time to dispense a treating chemistry, an amount of treating chemistry to dispense, or combinations thereof; and

wherein the controller is further configured to end the treating cycle of operation subsequent to the taking an action.

2. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to determine an end of the treating cycle of operation after determining the fluffing state of the laundry.

3. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the setting a cycle step comprises selecting the type of cycle of operation.

4. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to determine an end of at least a cycle step of the treating cycle of operation after determining the fluffing state of the laundry.

5. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the cycle step of the treating cycle of operation comprises a heating step, an air flow step, a dispensing step, or a rotational step.

6. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1, further comprising a heating element to supply heated air to the treating chamber and wherein ending the treating cycle of operation comprises turning the heating element off to supply unheated air to the treating chamber.

7. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the non-contact temperature sensor is configured to determine a surface temperature of at least a portion of the laundry.

8. The laundry treating appliance according to claim 1 wherein the non-contact temperature sensor comprises a thermal imaging device.

9. The laundry treating appliance according to claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to initially select the treating cycle of operation based on the temperature data.

10. The laundry treating appliance according to claim 1, further comprising a dispensing system for dispensing a treating chemistry into the treating chamber.

11. The laundry treating appliance according to claim 10 wherein the dispensing system is operably coupled to the controller and wherein at least one of a type of treating chemistry, a time to dispense a treating chemistry, or an amount of treating chemistry is selected based on the temperature data.

12. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1, further comprising at least one of the following sensors operably coupled to the controller and providing a corresponding input to the controller:

a treating chamber temperature sensor, an inlet air temperature sensor, an exhaust air temperature sensor, a moisture sensor, an air flow rate sensor, a weight sensor, or a motor torque sensor.