Electronic washer control including automatic load size determination, fabric blend determination and adjustable washer means

A washing machine comprising:

• a rotatable container to receive fabrics to be washed;
• an electrically energized motor, means operatively connecting said motor to said container to rotate said container;
• control means connected to said motor and effective to cause said motor to rotate said container with at least one constant torque and to generate a signal representative of the time required for said motor to accelerate said container from a first predetermined speed to a second higher predetermined speed, during such at least one constant torque operation the signal thereby being representative of the mass of the load of fabrics in said container;
• and
• memory means storing a plurality of values representative of fabric loads of predetermined masses and defining ranges of fabric load mass;
• and wherein
• said control means is effective to compare the generated signal with the stored values and determine the range of fabric load mass appropriate for the load of fabrics in said container.

A fabric washing machine comprising:

• a rotatable container to receive fluid and fabrics to be washed in the fluid;
• agitation means adapted to contact the fabrics to be washed and oscillatable in forward and reverse directions to agitate the fabrics;
• an electrically energized motor, means operatively connecting said motor to said container and said agitation means to selectively rotate said container and oscillate said agitation means;
• control means connected to said motor and effective to cause said motor to rotate said container with a constant torque and to generate a signal representative of the time required for said motor to accelerate said container from a first predetermined speed to a second higher predetermined speed;
• memory means storing a plurality of load values representative of the corresponding acceleration times of fabric loads of predetermined masses and defining ranges of fabric load mass;
• said control means is effective to compare the generated signal with the stored load values and determine the range of fabric mass appropriate for the fabrics in said container;
• said memory means storing a plurality of sets of empirically determined agitation values representative of instantaneous angular motor velocities defining wash stroke oscillations of said agitation means corresponding to respective ones of the fabric load mass ranges;
• and
• said control means is effective to call up individual values from the set of values corresponding to the range of fabric mass appropriate for the load of fabrics in the container in a predetermined timed sequence and to cause said motor to operate in accordance with the then called up value to provide wash stroke oscillations appropriate for the fabric load in said container.

A fabric washing machine comprising;

• a rotatable container to receive fluid and fabrics to be washed in the fluid;
• agitation means to contact the fabrics to be washed and oscillatable to agitate the fabrics;
• an electrically energized motor, means operatively connecting said motor to said container and said agitation means to selectively rotate said container and oscillate said agitation means;
• control means connected to said motor and effective to cause said motor to rotate said container and a load of fabrics therein, to measure a characteristic of the rotation which is independent of friction of said machine and is dependent upon the mass of fabrics in said container and to generate a signal representative of the measured characteristic;
• memory means storing predetermined values representative of fabric loads of known masses and defining predetermined ranges of fabric load mass;
• and
• said control means is effective to compare the generated signal with the stored values and thereby determine the range of fabric mass appropriate for the load of fabrics in the container.

A fabric washing machine, comprising:

• a container to receive fabrics to be washed;
• an electrically energized motor, means operatively connecting said motor to said container to selectively rotate said container with said motor;
• control means connected to said motor and effective to cause said motor to rotate said container;
• said control means also being effective to repeatedly measure a signal representative of the instantaneous torque of said motor and a signal representative of the corresponding speed of said motor as said motor rotates said container through a predetermined angular distance;
• said control also being effective to multiply each torque signal and corresponding speed signal to provide a signal representative of the differential work of said motor and to sum the differential work signals to provide a signal representative of the total work of said motor;
• whereby the total work signal is representative of the mass of the load of fabrics in said container.

A fabric washing machine, comprising:

• a rotatable container to receive fabrics to be washed;
• agitation means to contact the fabrics to be washed and oscillatable to agitate the fabrics:
• an electrically energized motor, means operatively connecting said motor to said container and said agitation means to selectively rotate said container and to oscillate said agitation means;
• and
• control means connected to said motor and effective to cause said motor to rotate said container with a constant speed input signal;
• to repeatedly measure a signal representative of the instantaneous torque output of said motor and a signal representative of the instantaneous angular speed of the motor;
• to multiply the torque signal and the speed signal and thereby provide a signal representative of the differential work of the motor;
• to sum the differential work signals to provide a signal representative of the total work;
• to sum the instantaneous speed signals to provide a signal representative of the angular distance traveled by the motor;
• and to terminate the measurements and summations upon the signal representative of the angular distance reaching a predetermined total whereby the signal representative of the total work is representative of the work required for said motor to rotate the fabrics in said container a predetermined angular distance.

A washing machine comprising;

• a rotatable container to receive fluid and fabrics to be washed in the fluid;
• an electrically energized motor, means operatively connecting said motor to said container to selectively rotate said container;
• control means operatively connected to said motor and including memory means storing a plurality of sets of predetermined operation values, each set of values providing a different wash cycle of operation of said washing machine;
• said memory means also storing a plurality of predetermined size values representative of a characteristic of rotation of said container with corresponding predetermined weights of fabrics therein;
• said control means is effective to cause said motor to rotate said container and a load of fabrics, to determine the value of the corresponding characteristic of rotation, to compare the determined value with the stored size values and to select the stored size value most nearly representative of the weight of the load of fabrics in said container;
• said control means also is effective to select one of the sets of operation values based upon the selected size value.

A fabric washing machine comprising;

• a container to receive fluid and fabrics to be washed;
• agitation means to agitate the fluid and fabrics;
• an electrically energized motor, means operatively connecting said motor to said container and said agitation means to selectively rotate said container and oscillate said agitation means;
• control means operatively connected to said motor and effective to selectively cause said motor to rotate said container and oscillate said agitation means;
• said control means including memory means storing a plurality of sets of predetermined operation values, each set of values providing a different wash cycle of operation of said washing machine;
• said memory also storing a plurality of predetermined mix values, each of the mix values being representative of an operational characteristic of said machine with a load of fabrics of a particular mix of materials;
• and
• said control means is effective to measure the operational characteristic of the machine representative of the material mix of the load of fabrics then in said container, to compare the measured characteristic with the stored mix values and select the stored mix value most representative of the measured characteristic.

A washing machine comprising;

• a rotatable container to receive fluid and fabrics to be washed in the fluid;
• agitation means to agitate the fluid and fabrics;
• an electrically energized motor, means operatively connecting said motor to said container and said agitation means to selectively rotate said container and oscillate said agitation means;
• control means operatively connected to said motor and including memory means storing a plurality of sets of predetermined operation values, each set of values providing a different operation of said washing machine;
• said memory means also storing a plurality of predetermined size values representative of a particular characteristic of rotation of said container with corresponding predetermined weights of fabrics therein;
• said control means is effective to cause said motor to rotate said container and a load of fabrics therein, top determine the value of the particular characteristic of rotation, to compare the determined value with the stored size values and to select the stored size value most nearly representative of the weight of that load of fabrics;
• said memory also storing a plurality of sets of predetermined mix values, each set of mix values corresponding to a particular load size value and each of the mix values in a set being representative of a particular operational characteristic of said machine with a load of fabrics of a particular mix of materials;
• and
• said control means is effective to determine the particular operational characteristic of the machine representative of the material mix of the load of fabrics then in the container, to compare the determined characteristic with the stored mix values of the set of mix values corresponding to the selected size value and select the stored mix value most representative of the determined characteristic, said control also is effective to operate said machine in accord with the set of predetermined operation values appropriate for the selected mix value.

A fabric washing machine comprising:

• a container to receive fluid and fabrics to be washed in the fluid;
• agitation means to agitate the fluid and fabrics;
• fluid supply means for supplying fluid to said container;
• an electrically energized motor, means operatively connecting said motor to said agitation means to oscillate said agitation means;
• control means operatively connected to said motor and to said fluid supply means, said control means including means for providing a signal representative of the weight of the load of fabrics in said container;
• said control means being effective to cause said fluid supply means to provide at least one predetermined amount of fluid to said container according to the signal representative of the weight of fabrics in said container, to cause said motor to oscillate said agitation means a predetermined number of strokes, to generate a signal representative of at least a predetermined portion of the electric current drawn by said motor during such oscillations;
• and
• memory means storing a plurality of empirically determined values representative of fabric loads of predetermined materials mixes and defining ranges of fabric material mixes;
• said control means being effective to compare the generated signal with the stored values and determine the material mix range appropriate for the load of fabrics in said container.

A fabric washing machine comprising:

• a container to receive fluid and fabrics to be washed in the fluid;
• agitation means to agitate the fluid and fabrics;
• fluid supply means for supplying fluid to said container;
• an electrically energized motor, means operatively connecting said motor to said container and said agitation means to selectively operate said container and to oscillate said agitation means;
• memory means storing a plurality of size values representative of a characteristic of operation of said container with corresponding predetermined weights of fabrics therein;
• control means operatively connected to said motor and to said fluid supply means;
• said control being effective to cause said motor to operate said container, to determine the value of the corresponding operating characteristic of said container to compare the determined value with the stored size values and to select the stored size value representative of the weight of fabrics in that load;
• said memory means also storing a plurality of sets of predetermined mix values, each of said sets of mix values corresponding to a particular load size value and each of the mix values in a set being representative of an oscillation characteristic of said agitation means with a load of fabrics of a particular mix of materials;
• and said control means is effective to cause said fluid supply means to provide at least one predetermined amount of fluid to said container, to cause said motor to oscillate said agitation means a predetermined number of strokes, to generate a signal representative of at least a predetermined portion of the electric current drawn by said motor during such oscillation, to compare the generated signal with the stored mix values corresponding to the selected size value and select the stored mix value representative of the material mix range appropriate for the load of fabrics in said container.

A fabric washing machine comprising:

• a container to receive fluid and fabrics to be washed in the fluid;
• fluid supply means for supplying fluid to said container;
• agitation means to agitate the fluid and fabrics;
• an electrically energized motor, means operatively connecting said motor to said agitation means to oscillate said agitation means;
• and
• control means operatively connected to said motor and to said fluid supply means, said control means including means for providing a signal representative of the mass of fabrics in said container;
• said control means being effective to cause said fluid supply means to repeatedly provide predetermined incremental amounts of fluid to said container according to the signal representative of the mass of fabrics in said container, to cause said motor to provide an oscillation operation of a predetermined number of strokes of said agitation means after each fluid addition, to provide a current signal representative of at least a portion of the electric current drawn by said motor during the oscillation operations and provide a mix signal based upon the total current drawn;
• and
• memory means storing a set of predetermined mix values representative of predetermined material mixes of fabrics in a load corresponding to the predetermined mass of fabrics;
• said control being effective to compare the mix signal with the set of mix values and select the stored mix value appropriate for the material mix of the fabrics in said container.

A fabric washing machine comprising:

• a container to receive fluid and fabrics to be washed in the fluid;
• fluid supply means for supplying fluid to said container;
• agitation means to agitate the fluid and fabrics;
• an electrically energized motor;
• means operatively connecting said motor to said agitation means to oscillate said agitation means;
• means for providing a signal representative of the mass of the load of fabrics in said container;
• and
• control means operatively connected to said motor and to said fluid supply means, said control means being effective to cause said motor to provide an oscillation operation of said agitation means with no addition of fluid to said container, to cause said fluid supply means to repeatedly provide fluid to said container in incremental cumulative volumes according to the signal representative of the mass of the load of fabrics in said container, to provide an oscillation operation of said agitation means with each incremental volume of fluid, to provide a motor signal representative of the torque output of said motor during each of the oscillation operations and provide a mix signal based upon the motor signals.

A fabric washing machine comprising:

• a container to receive fluid and fabrics to be washed in the fluid;
• fluid supply means for supplying fluid to said container;
• agitation means to agitate the fluid and fabrics;
• an electronically commutated motor;
• means operatively connecting said motor to said container and said agitation means to selectively rotate said container and to oscillate said agitation means;
• and
• control means operatively connected to said motor and to said fluid supply means;
• said control means including memory means storing a plurality of sets of operation values, each set of operation values providing a different wash cycle of operation of said washing machine;
• said memory means also storing a plurality of size values, each of said size values being representative of an operating characteristic of said motor when rotating said container with a different predetermined weight of fabrics in said container;
• said control means being effective to cause said motor to rotate said container with a load of fabrics therein to provide a motor feedback signal representative of the operating characteristic of said motor with that load of fabrics in said container, to compare the motor feedback signal with the stored size values and thereafter to operate said washing machine in accordance with the stored value appropriate for the load of fabrics in said container.