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US 12,460,334 B2Granted
Laundry washing machine with automatic temperature control
AssigneeMidea Group Co., Ltd.
InventorsPhillip C. Hombroek, Davis West, Dylan Nicholson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A laundry washing machine and method control a temperature of water used in a wash cycle based at least partially on the weight of a load being washed. A volume of hot water and a volume of cold water to be added to the wash tub to provide a target temperature of water in the wash tub may be determined and a hot inlet valve and a cold inlet valve may be controlled to respectively add the determined volume of hot water and determined volume of cold water to the wash tub.
Claims21
A laundry washing machine, comprising:
- a wash tub disposed within a housing;
- a water inlet configured to dispense water into the wash tub, the water inlet including a hot water valve and a cold water valve respectively configured to control a flow of hot water and a flow of cold water into the wash tub;
- a weight sensor positioned to sense at least a portion of a weight associated with the wash tub;
- and
- a controller coupled to the water inlet and the weight sensor, the controller configured to:
- determine a weight associated with the wash tub using the weight sensor after a load has been added to the wash tub,
- determine a target temperature of water to be added to the wash tub,
- determine, based at least in part on the determined weight associated with the wash tub, a volume of hot water and a volume of cold water to be added to the wash tub to provide the determined target temperature of water in the wash tub, and
- control the hot water valve and the cold water valve during a wash cycle to respectively add the determined volume of hot water and determined volume of cold water to the wash tub.
6 more elements
A laundry washing machine, comprising:
- a wash tub disposed within a housing:
- a fluid level sensor configured to sense a fluid level in the wash tub;
- a water inlet configured to dispense water into the wash tub, the water inlet including a hot water valve and a cold water valve respectively configured to control a flow of hot water and a flow of cold water into the wash tub;
- and
- a controller coupled to the water inlet and the weight sensor, the controller configured to perform a wash cycle for a load disposed in a wash tub by:
- initiating an initial fill phase of the wash cycle by controlling the water inlet to dispense a first volume of water into the wash tub;
- dynamically selecting a load type for the load during the initial fill phase;
- determining a target temperature for water in the wash tub based at least in part on the dynamically selected load type;
- determining a total volume of water to be added to the wash tub after the first volume of water has been added to the wash tub;
- determining a volume of hot water and a volume of cold water to be added to the wash tub based at least in part upon the determined target temperature and the determined total volume of water to be added to the wash tub;
- and
- controlling the hot water valve and the cold water valve to respectively add the determined volume of hot water and determined volume of cold water to the wash tub.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.