Dispensing treating chemistry in a laundry treating appliance

• US 9,534,336 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2011
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Hendrickson, Michael S., Kaeding, Janice M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barr, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): OSTERHOUT, BENJAMIN LEE
• Application Number:
  US13/267,218
• Publication Number:
  US 20130086754A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,916 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/02 Characteristics of laundry or load
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/02 Water supply
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/42 Detergent or additive supply
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/58 Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/37 of metering of detergents or additives
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/57 of metering of detergents or additives
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/18 Condition of the laundry, e.g. nature or weight
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 39/02 Devices for adding soap or other washing agents

Abstract

A method of operating a laundry treating appliance having a treating chamber for receiving laundry for treatment and a dispensing system for dispensing treating chemistry for use in treating the laundry comprises, determining an amount of laundry in the treating chamber, setting at least one of a dilution and a delivery rate for the treating chemistry based on the determined amount of laundry to define a dispensing parameter and controlling the dispensing system to dispense the treating chemistry according to the dispensing parameter.

Claims

1. A method of operating a laundry treating appliance having a treating chamber for receiving laundry for treatment and a dispensing system for dispensing a treating chemistry for use in treating the laundry, the method comprising:

determining an amount of laundry in the treating chamber;

varying at least one of a dilution rate or a delivery rate for the treating chemistry based on the determined amount of laundry to define a dispensing parameter; and

controlling the dispensing system to dispense the treating chemistry according to the dispensing parameter.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the controlling the dispensing system comprises supplying water to the treating chamber and supplying treating chemistry into the supplied water according to the dispensing parameter.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the dispensing parameter is the dilution of the treating chemistry.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the dispensing parameter is the delivery rate of the treating chemistry.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the controlling the dispensing system further comprises supplying water and the treating chemistry is delivered at the delivery rate for a duration of the supply of water.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the supplying water comprises supplying a predetermined amount of water.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the delivery rate is constant for the duration of the supply of water.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the treating chemistry is delivered intermittently at at least one intermittent delivery rate for the duration of the supply of water.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the at least one intermittent delivery rate is equal to the delivery rate.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the treating chemistry is delivered at the at least one intermittent delivery rate two or more times and an average of the intermittent delivery rates is equal to the delivery rate.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the dispensing parameter is set such that a rate of deposition of the treating chemistry on the laundry is approximately 0.75 ml treating chemistry/L of water to 10 ml treating chemistry/L of water.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the dispensing the treating chemistry comprises supplying the treating chemistry into a mixing chamber.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the dispensing the treating chemistry comprises supplying the treating chemistry into a flow of water.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising determining a flow rate of the flow of water and the dispensing parameter is based on the determined flow rate of water.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising supplying water to sufficiently saturate the laundry and delivering the treating chemistry at the delivery rate for a duration of an additional supply of water.