Method for estimating the amount of laundry loaded in a rotating drum of a laundry washing machine

A method for determining a laundry load (QL) of a laundry treating machine having an outer casing, a laundry treating group which is placed inside said outer casing and comprises, in turn, a rotatable drum structured for housing the laundry to be treated, and an electric motor for rotating said drum, wherein said method comprises:

• controlling the electric motor to cause said drum to change the rotational speed according to a prefixed reference speed profile comprising at least an acceleration ramp (Ra(i)), wherein the drum is accelerated from a low speed (B1) to a prefixed high speed (B2) and at least a constant speed phase S(k) wherein the drum speed is maintained about said high speed (B2),
• sampling first torque values (Ti) generated by said electric motor during said acceleration ramp Ra(i) according to a prefixed first sample time (Δta),
• sampling second torque values (Tj) generated by said motor during said constant speed phase S(k) according to a prefixed second sample time (Δtb),
• calculating a third value (TU), which is indicative of an average torque being calculated, in turn, on the basis of said second torque values (Tj),
• determining a fourth value (Torque_int) by performing an integral function with respect to said first torque values (Ti) and said the third value (TU), and
• determining the amount of laundry load (QL) on the basis of at least said fourth value (Torque_int).