Household appliance having a physical alteration element
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorsBenjamin E. Alexander, Brian A. Black, Thomas A. Latack, Matthew D. Rhodes
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A household appliance for treating at least one item according to at least one cycle of operation includes a treating chamber for receiving the at least one item for treatment according to the at least one cycle of operation, a treating chemistry dispenser receiving a unit dose container having an electrically conductive element, a physical alteration element located proximate to the treating chemistry dispenser and operable to physically alter at least a portion of the electrically conductive element and a sensor for sensing the physical alteration.
Claims16
A household appliance for treating at least one item according to at least one cycle of operation, comprising:
- a treating chamber for receiving the at least one item for treatment according to the at least one cycle of operation;
- a treating chemistry dispenser configured to receive a unit dose container having an electrically conductive element;
- a physical alteration element located proximate to the treating chemistry dispenser and operable to physically alter at least a portion of the electrically conductive element;
- an electrical sensor located proximate the unit dose container when the unit dose container is received within the treating chemistry dispenser, where the electrical sensor is configured to electrically sense a characteristic of electricity flowing through the electrically conductive element at a location where the physical alteration element has physically altered the electrically conductive element and provide an output indicative of the characteristic;
- and
- a controller configured to receive the output from the electrical sensor and configured to implement the at least one cycle of operation based on the received output or cease implementing the at least one cycle of operation based on the received output;
- wherein the at least one cycle of operation is implemented when the received output indicates the unit dose container is new.
A household appliance for treating at least one item according to at least one cycle of operation, comprising:
- a treating chamber for receiving the at least one item for treatment according to the at least one cycle of operation;
- a treating chemistry dispenser configured to receive a unit dose container;
- a unit dose container having an electrically conductive element, the unit dose container configured for containing treating chemistry;
- a physical alteration element located proximate to the treating chemistry dispenser and operable to physically alter at least a portion of the electrically conductive element;
- an electrical sensor located proximate the unit dose container when the unit dose container is received within the treating chemistry dispenser, where the electrical sensor is configured to electrically sense a characteristic of electricity flowing through the electrically conductive element at a location where the physical alteration element has physically altered the electrically conductive element and provide an output indicative of the characteristic;
- and
- a controller configured to receive the output from the electrical sensor and configured to implement the at least one cycle of operation based on the received output or cease implementing the at least one cycle of operation based on the received output;
- wherein the at least one cycle of operation is implemented when the received output indicates the unit dose container is new.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.