Hydraulic system for a household appliance
AssigneeCopreci, S.Coop.
InventorRodrigo Orue Orue
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hydraulic system for a household appliance which includes a pump that is driven by an electric motor, an outlet conduit in fluid communication with an outlet of the pump, a magnetic check valve having a flap and a control unit. The control unit is configured to control the speed of the electric motor in a closed loop and to determine whether the flap of the check valve is in an open position or in a closed position based on the torque of the electric motor estimated from the current consumption of the electric motor and/or the voltage in the terminals of the electric motor.
Claims20
A hydraulic system for a household appliance, the hydraulic system comprising:
- a pump having an impeller that when rotated drives a fluid towards a fluid outlet of the pump;
- an outlet conduit connected to and in fluid communication with the fluid outlet of the pump;
- a check valve located in the outlet conduit, the check valve including a support and a flap that is pivotably coupled to the support, the support including a support surface, each of the flap and the support surface comprising ferromagnetic properties with at least one of the flap and support surface comprising a permanent magnet, the flap being configured to pivot between an open position in which the flap is not supported on the support surface, and a closed position in which the flap is supported on the support surface, in the open position the flap allows the fluid to flow through outlet conduit, in the closed position the flap prevents the fluid from flowing through the outlet conduit;
- an electric motor coupled to the pump impeller in such a way that when the electric motor rotates the impeller also rotates;
- and
- a control unit that is configured to control the speed of the electric motor in a closed loop, the control unit also being configured to monitor current consumption of the electric motor and/or voltage in terminals of the electric motor to determine whether the flap of the check valve is in the open position or in the closed position.
A control method of a hydraulic system of a household appliance, the hydraulic system comprising:
- a pump having an impeller that when rotated drives a fluid towards a fluid outlet of the pump;
- an outlet conduit connected to and in fluid communication with the fluid outlet of the pump;
- a check valve located in the outlet conduit, the check valve including a support and a flap that is pivotably coupled to the support, the support including a support surface, each of the flap and the support surface comprising ferromagnetic properties with at least one of the flap and support surface comprising a permanent magnet, the flap being configured to pivot between an open position, in which the flap is not supported on the support surface, and a closed position, in which the flap is supported on the support surface, in the open position the flap allows the fluid to flow through outlet conduit, in the closed position the flap prevents the fluid from flowing through the outlet conduit;
- and
- an electric motor coupled to the pump impeller in such a way that when the electric motor rotates the impeller also rotates;
- the control method comprising controlling the speed of the electric motor in a closed loop, and monitoring current consumption of the electric motor and/or voltage in terminals of the electric motor to determine whether the flap of the check valve is in the open position or in the closed position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.