Clothes washer accelerating systems and methods
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsChristopher Hoppe, Larry Hawkins, Derek Watkins, Mark Weaver, Michael Finch, Stephen Froelicher, Benton Oukrop
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A washing machine includes a cabinet, a tub mounted within the cabinet, and a basket rotationally mounted within the tub for relative rotation therewith. A suspension assembly supports the tub within the cabinet. A variable speed motor is included for rotating the basket about a rotation axis, and an inverter is operatively coupled to the motor. A controller is operatively coupled to the inverter and the motor and is configured to control the motor based on a drag torque on the basket.
Claims19
A washing machine comprising:
- a cabinet;
- a tub mounted within said cabinet;
- a basket rotationally mounted within said tub for relative rotation therewith;
- a suspension assembly configured to support said tub within said cabinet;
- a variable speed motor for rotating said basket about a rotation axis;
- an inverter operatively coupled to said motor;
- and
- a controller operatively coupled to said inverter and said motor, said controller configured to control said motor based on a drag torque on said basket.
A method of accelerating an unbalanced washer basket assembly during a spin cycle, said washer basket assembly including the basket and a tub supported by a suspension system in a washing machine including a variable speed motor, said method comprising:
- accelerating the basket to a rotational speed above a natural resonant frequency (NRF) of the basket assembly;
- holding the basket at said rotational speed above the NRF for a first time period;
- and
- operating the washer motor at a constant torque until a torque transmitted to the basket from the washer motor is substantially equal to a drag torque on the basket.
A system for accelerating an unbalanced basket assembly above a natural resonant frequency (NRF) and reducing an out-of-balance condition in a washing machine having a cabinet and a tub enclosing a washer basket rotatably mounted within said tub, said washing machine including a variable speed motor assembly for spinning said basket about a spin axis during a spin cycle, said tub being susceptible to an out-of-balance condition characterized by excursions of said tub in a direction generally perpendicular to said spin axis during said spin cycle, said system comprising:
- an inverter operatively coupled to the variable speed motor;
- and
- a controller coupled to said inverter, wherein said controller directs said inverter to operate said motor to accelerate the basket to a rotational speed below the NRF for a predetermined time period, thereby extracting water from the basket to reduce a size of the unbalance in the basket prior to accelerating the basket above the NRF.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.