Laundry washing machine calibration
AssigneeMidea Group Co., Ltd.
InventorsPhillip C. Hombroek, Andrew Perry, Abubakar Abukar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A laundry washing machine and method adapt the operation of a laundry washing machine for a particular installation environment using a calibration process that may be performed at installation and/or at various times thereafter to determine one or more operational settings used to control the operation of the laundry washing machine. A calibration process, for example, may determine one or more of an ambient light characteristic, a water supply pressure, and an empty wash tub weight to generate one or more operational settings used by a controller of a laundry washing machine.
Claims20
A laundry washing machine, comprising:
- a wash tub disposed within a housing;
- a water inlet configured to dispense water from a water supply into the wash tub;
- a fluid level sensor configured to sense a fluid level in the wash tub;
- and
- a controller coupled to the water inlet and the fluid level sensor, the controller configured to generate a calibration factor associated with a water pressure of the water supply to which the water inlet is coupled by performing a calibration process that controls the water inlet to dispense water into the wash tub while the wash tub is empty and determines a time to reach a predetermined fluid level sensed by the fluid level sensor;
- wherein the controller is further configured to set one or more operational settings for a wash cycle using the generated calibration factor.
A laundry washing machine, comprising:
- a wash tub disposed within a housing;
- a color detection sensor positioned to capture color composition data of a load of articles over time as the load of articles is added to the wash tub;
- and
- a controller coupled to the color detection sensor and configured to generate a color correction factor associated with an installation location of the laundry washing machine by performing a calibration process that uses the color detection sensor to capture color composition data while the wash tub is empty;
- wherein the controller is further configured to set one or more operational settings for a wash cycle using the generated color correction factor.
A laundry washing machine, comprising:
- a wash tub disposed within a housing;
- a wash basket disposed within the wash tub and rotatable about an axis of rotation;
- a weight sensor configured to sense a weight of the wash tub, the weight sensor disposed in a position offset from the axis of rotation of the wash basket;
- and
- a controller coupled to the weight sensor, the controller configured to generate an empty weight factor associated with the wash tub by performing a calibration process that uses the weight sensor to capture a plurality of weight values during rotation of the wash basket about the axis of rotation and while the wash tub is empty;
- wherein the controller is further configured to set one or more operational settings for a wash cycle using the generated empty weight factor.
A method of calibrating a laundry washing machine installed at an installation location, the method comprising:
- upon initial startup of the laundry washing machine, prompting a user to confirm that installation of the laundry washing machine is complete;
- prompting the user to open a door of the laundry washing machine and confirm that normal and/or ambient lighting conditions for the installation location are present;
- generating a color correction factor associated with the installation location of the laundry washing machine by using a color detection sensor of the laundry washing machine to capture color composition data of a wash tub of the laundry washing machine while the wash tub is empty;
- generating a calibration factor associated with a water pressure of the water supply by controlling a water inlet of the laundry washing machine to dispense water into the wash tub while the wash tub is empty and determining a time to reach a predetermined fluid level sensed by a fluid level sensor of the laundry washing machine;
- generating an empty weight factor associated with the wash tub by using a weight sensor to capture a plurality of weight values during rotation of a wash basket disposed in the wash tub about an axis of rotation and while the wash tub is empty;
- and
- thereafter setting the laundry washing machine in a normal operation state such that during the performance of a wash cycle in the laundry washing machine, the color correction factor, the calibration factor and the empty weight factor are used to set one or more operational settings for the wash cycle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.