Controlling refrigerant and air mass flow rate based on moisture extraction rate in a dryer appliance

A dryer appliance, comprising:

• a cabinet;
• a drum rotatably mounted within the cabinet, the drum defining a chamber for receipt of articles for drying, the drum defining a drum outlet and a drum inlet to the chamber;
• a conditioning system having a sealed system along which a working fluid flows;
• a duct system for providing fluid communication between the drum outlet and the conditioning system and between the conditioning system and the drum inlet, the duct system, the conditioning system, and the drum defining a process air flowpath;
• a blower fan operable to move process air along the process air flowpath;
• a collection tank in fluid communication with the conditioning system for receiving condensate water from process air flowing through the conditioning system;
• a drain pump in fluid communication with the collection tank and operable to remove a volume of water from the collection tank;
• and
• a controller communicatively coupled with the drain pump, and during a drying cycle, the controller is configured to:
• receive an input indicative of a pump activation frequency of the drain pump;
• determine a moisture extraction rate indicative of a rate at which moisture is removed from articles within the chamber based at least in part on the pump activation frequency;
• and
• cause adjustment of a mass flow rate of the working fluid flowing along the sealed system based at least in part on the determined moisture extraction rate.

A method of operating a dryer appliance in a drying cycle, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a controller of the dryer appliance, an input indicative of a pump activation frequency of a drain pump, wherein when the drain pump is activated, the drain pump removes water from a collection tank that collects water from process air flowing along a closed loop air circuit of the dryer appliance;
• determining, by the controller, a moisture extraction rate indicative of a rate at which moisture is removed from articles within a chamber of a drum based at least in part on the received input indicative of the pump activation frequency;
• and
• causing, by the controller, adjustment of one or more drying cycle settings based at least in part on the determined moisture extraction rate.