Clothes fabric type blend detection method and apparatus

A method for detecting a mix of fabric types making up a load of items disposed in a clothes washer comprising:

• in a calibration portion,
• establishing a range of possible values of a predetermined washer operating parameter as a function of a range of fabric types, for a range of load weights capable of being processed by said clothes washer;
• defining, using fuzzy logic, a plurality of sets of membership functions for said range of load weights, each membership function at each load weight corresponding to a predetermined fabric type and further being defined at least in part as a function of said predetermined washer operating parameter to be sensed;
• and
• in a run-time portion,
• obtaining a value of the load weight for the items loaded in said clothes washer;
• sensing a value of said predetermined washer operating parameter;
• retrieving data corresponding to said set of membership functions defined at said load weight;
• and
• computing a degree of fulfillment of the sensed washer operating parameter in each of said membership functions corresponding to said predetermined fabric type, said degree of fulfillment in each of said membership functions indicating a relative proportion of the fabric type represented by said membership function.

A washer controller comprising a microprocessor having a set of data stored therein necessary to define a set of fuzzy logic membership functions, for a given fabric load, representative of a plurality of fabric types that may be introduced into a washer,

• said controller further including means for receiving an input signal generated by a washer operating state sensor and for receiving an input signal corresponding to a weight of a fabric load present in a washer;
• said controller further having means for detecting a relative proportion of various predetermined fabric types in a fabric load present in a washer, by processing said operating state input signal, said fabric load weight signal and said data defining said set of fuzzy logic membership functions to determine a level of fulfillment in each membership function, at said fabric load weight, of said sensed washer operating state;
• and
• said controller further having means for sending a control signal based upon a detected blend of fabric types to at least one washer component to control at least one washer operating parameter.