US 10,047,470 B2Granted

Method of controlling washing machine

AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.

InventorsKyunghoon Kim, Younghan Cho, Moonsuk Choi

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Abstract

Disclosed is a method of controlling a washing machine including detecting an amount of clothes contained in a drum, supplying washing water based on the detected amount of clothes, washing the clothes by applying current to a drive module after the supply of the washing water, a rinsing operation of rinsing the clothes by supplying water to a tub from an external water source, after the washing of the clothes, determining unbalance of the clothes by applying current to the drive module while washing water is contained in the tub, after the rinsing of the clothes, dispersing the clothes by controlling the current applied to the drive module when the unbalance of the clothes is determined to be equal to or higher than a set value, discharging the washing water contained in the tub when the unbalance of the clothes is determined to be lower than the set value, and dehydrating the clothes to remove the washing water from the clothes, after the discharge of the washing water.

Claims9

Dependent claims

A method of controlling a washing machine having a tub and a drum, the method comprising:

detecting an amount of clothes in the drum;
supplying washing water based on the detected amount of clothes;
after supplying the washing water, washing the clothes by applying current to a drive module;
after washing the clothes, rinsing the clothes by supplying water to the tub from an external water source;
after rinsing the clothes, determining unbalance of the clothes by applying current to the drive module while washing water is in the tub;
when the unbalance of the clothes is determined to be equal to or greater than a predetermined value, supplying washing water to the tub and dispersing the clothes by controlling the current applied to the drive module;
when the unbalance of the clothes is determined to be less than the predetermined value, discharging the washing water in the tub;
and
after discharging the washing water, dehydrating the clothes to remove the washing water from the clothes,
wherein determining the unbalance of the clothes includes:
after rinsing the clothes, discharging the washing water in the tub s until a level of the washing water in the tub is determined to reach an unbalance determination level, and then stopping the discharging of the washing water when the level of the washing water is determined to reach the unbalance determination level;
after discharging the washing water in the tub until the level of the washing water in the tub is determined to reach the unbalance determination level, accelerating the drum in an unbalance-inducing pattern to create an unbalance by controlling the current of the drive module;
and
after accelerating the drum in the unbalance-inducing pattern, detecting the unbalance and comparing the detected unbalance with the predetermined value,
wherein a pulsator is provided in the drum, and the pulsator is rotated by the drive module,
wherein the unbalance determination level is a level at which at least a portion of the pulsator is immersed in the washing water,
wherein the unbalance-inducing pattern accelerating the tub in a pattern is in strong correlation with dehydration vibrations generated in a dehydration operation in order to intentionally create unbalance in the drum,
comprising applying, by a controller, current corresponding to a target speed to the drive module, and detecting an actual speed variation of the drum, and
wherein determining the unbalance of the clothes includes comparing the actual speed variation of the drum with the predetermined value.

16 more elements

A method of controlling a washing machine having a tub and a drum, the method comprising:

performing a rinsing operation;
discharging washing water in the tub until a level of the washing water in the tub is determined to reach an unbalance determination level, and then stopping the discharging of the washing water when the level of the washing water is determined to reach the unbalance determination level;
after discharging the washing water until the level of the washing water in the tub is determined to reach the unbalance determination level, accelerating a drum in an unbalance-inducing pattern, to create an unbalance, by controlling a drive module;
and
after accelerating the drum, detecting unbalance and comparing the detected unbalance with a predetermined value,
wherein a pulsator is provided in the drum, and the pulsator is rotated by the drive module,
wherein the unbalance determination level is a level at which at least a portion of the pulsator is immersed in the washing water,
wherein the unbalance-inducing pattern accelerating the tub in a pattern is in strong correlation with dehydration vibrations generated in a dehydration operation in order to intentionally create unbalance in the drum,
comprising applying, by a controller, current corresponding to a target speed to the drive module, and detecting an actual speed variation of the drum, and
wherein the detecting of the unbalance and the comparing includes comparing the actual speed variation with the predetermined value,
wherein when the speed variation is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the method comprising supplying washing water to the tub and dispersing clothes in the drum by controlling the drive module.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/011,296Filed 29 Jan 2016
Priority: KR 10-2015-00161052 Feb 2015
Published: US 2016/0222569 A14 Aug 2016
Granted: 14 Aug 2018
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification17 codes

D06F 37/12
Rotary receptacles, e.g. drums: adapted for rotation or oscillation about a vertical axis
D06F 29/02
Combinations of a washing machine with other separate apparatus in a common frame or the like, e.g. with rinsing apparatus: with liquid-extracting…
D06F 33/46
Control of washing machines characterised by the purpose or target of the control: control of the energy or water consumption
D06F 33/34
Control of operational steps, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending on the condition of the laundry: of water filling