Dishwashing apparatus

In a multiple-fill dishwasher including a wash chamber having a sump at the bottom thereof,

• means including a remotely controlled inlet valve for supplying cleansing liquid into said sump,
• means for draining liquid and entrained soil from said sump,
• a recirculating pump having an intake adjacent the bottom of said sump and a spraying system receiving the output of said pump for spraying cleansing liquid onto soiled ware contained within said chamber,
• control means connected to control said valve, said drain means, and said pump to perform a selected one of a plurality of different cleansing cycles which are automatically selected according to the extent of soil on the ware to be washed,
• an operator-actuated switch means for commencing operating of the control means,
• and means for collecting soil particles in concentrated fashion during recirculation of the cleansing liquid,
• the improvement comprising:
• a sensor responsive to a predetermined or greater particulate soil concentration in said soil collecting means during liquid recirculation,
• means operated by said sensor during liquid recirculation in response to reaching or surpassing said predetermined soil concentration within said soil collecting means during a predetermined period in an early part of the dishwasher's operation to cause said control means to select a cycle designed to wash heavily soiled ware,
• and means operated by said sensor means in response to less than said predetermined soil concentration within said soil collecting means during said predetermined period to cause said control means to select a cleansing cycle designed to wash lightly soiled ware.

In a multiple-fill dishwasher including a wash chamber having a sump at the bottom thereof,

• means including a remotely controlled inlet valve for supplying cleansing liquid into said sump,
• means for draining liquid and entrained soil from said sump,
• a recirculating pump having an inlet adjacent the bottom of said sump and a spraying system receiving the output of said pump for spraying cleansing liquid onto soiled ware contained within said chamber,
• control means connected to control said valve, said drain means, and said pump to perform a selected one of a plurality of different cleansing cycles which are automatically selected according to the extent of soil on the ware to be washed,
• an operator-actuated switch means for commencing operating of the control means, and
• means including a soil collection chamber for collecting soil particles in concentrated fashion during recirculation of the cleansing liquid,
• the improvement comprising:
• sensor means responsive to a predetermined or greater particulate soil concentration in said collection chamber during liquid recirculation, and
• means operated by said sensor means during liquid recirculation in response to reaching or surpassing said predetermined soil concentration within said collection chamber to actuate said control means to cause said drain means to drain said sump, and subsequently, said valve to refill said sump.