Dispensing cup monitoring for a dishwasher appliance
AssigneeHaier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.
InventorsJason Murray, Brett Alan Farris
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A dishwasher appliance includes a door pivotally mounted to a cabinet to provide selective access to a wash chamber, a dispensing assembly including a dispenser cup, a dispenser door for providing selective access to the dispenser cup, and an actuating mechanism for moving the dispenser door from a closed position to an open position, and a magnetic sensing assembly operably coupled to the dispensing assembly. A controller is configured to energize the actuating mechanism, obtain a signal from the magnetic sensing assembly, determine that the dispensing assembly has malfunctioned based on the signal from the magnetic sensing assembly, and implement a responsive action in response to determining that the dispensing assembly has malfunctioned.
Claims20
A dishwasher appliance defining a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction, the dishwasher appliance comprising:
- a wash tub positioned within a cabinet and defining a wash chamber;
- a door pivotally mounted to the cabinet to provide selective access to the wash chamber;
- a dispensing assembly comprising a dispenser cup, a dispenser door for providing selective access to the dispenser cup, and an actuating mechanism for moving the dispenser door from a closed position to an open position;
- a magnetic sensing assembly operably coupled to the dispensing assembly;
- and
- a controller in operative communication with the dispensing assembly and the magnetic sensing assembly, the controller being configured to:
- energize the actuating mechanism;
- obtain a signal from the magnetic sensing assembly;
- determine that the dispensing assembly has malfunctioned based on the signal from the magnetic sensing assembly;
- and
- implement a responsive action in response to determining that the dispensing assembly has malfunctioned.
A method of operating a dishwasher appliance, the dishwasher appliance comprising a dispensing assembly comprising a dispenser cup, a dispenser door for providing selective access to the dispenser cup, and an actuating mechanism for moving the dispenser door from a closed position to an open position, the dishwasher appliance further comprising a magnetic sensing assembly operably coupled to the dispensing assembly, the method comprising:
- energizing the actuating mechanism;
- obtaining a signal from the magnetic sensing assembly;
- determining that the dispensing assembly has malfunctioned based on the signal from the magnetic sensing assembly;
- and
- implementing a responsive action in response to determining that the dispensing assembly has malfunctioned.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.