System and method for sensing the dryness of clothing articles

A clothes dryer, comprising:

• a container for accommodating a plurality of clothing articles;
• a motor for rotating the container about an axis;
• a heater for supplying heated air to the container;
• a duct for directing the heated air outside the container;
• a temperature sensor for sensing the heated air and providing signal representations thereof;
• a phase angle sensor for sensing motor phase angle and providing signal representations thereof;
• and
• a controller responsive to both the temperature sensor and the phase angle sensor for determining the dryness of the plurality of clothing articles in the container as a function of the heated air temperature and the motor phase angle, the controller comprising a signal processing unit for processing the signal representations of the heated air temperature and the motor phase angle and a decision logic unit for determining the dryness of the clothing articles in the container as a function of the processed signal representations of the heated air temperature and the motor phase angle, wherein the decision logic unit decides whether the processed signal representations of the heated air temperature have reached a local maximum and the processed signal representations of the motor phase angle have reached a local minimum.

A method for drying clothing articles, comprising the steps of:

• providing a container for receiving the clothing articles;
• rotating the container about an axis with a motor;
• supplying heated air to the container;
• directing the heated air outside the container;
• sensing temperature of the heated air and providing signal representations thereof;
• sensing motor phase angle and providing signal representations thereof;
• and
• determining the dryness of the clothing articles in the container as a function of the heated air temperature and the motor phase angle, wherein the determining dryness comprises deciding whether the signal representations of the heated air temperature have reached a local maximum and the signal representations of the motor phase angle have reached a local minimum.

An appliance for drying clothing articles, comprising:

• a container for receiving the clothing articles;
• a heater for supplying heated air to the container;
• a duct for directing the heated air outside the container;
• a humidity sensor for sensing the humidity of the heated air entering the duct and providing signal representations thereof;
• and
• a controller responsive to the humidity sensor for determining the dryness of the clothing articles in the container as a function of the humidity of the heated air, the clothing articles being dry when the humidity signal representations are within a predetermined humidity range and when consecutive difference values of the humidity signal representations are within a predetermined interval.

A clothes dryer, comprising:

• a container for accommodating a plurality of clothing articles;
• a heater for supplying heated air to the container;
• a duct for directing the heated air outside the container;
• a humidity sensor for sensing the humidity of the heated air entering the duct and providing signal representations thereof;
• and
• a controller responsive to the humidity sensor for determining the dryness of the plurality of clothing articles in the container as a function of the humidity of the heated air, the plurality of clothing articles being dry when the humidity signal representations are within a predetermined humidity range and when difference values of the humidity signal representations are within a predetermined interval.

A method for drying clothing articles, comprising the steps of:

• providing a container for receiving the clothing articles;
• supplying heated air to the container;
• directing the heated air outside the container with a duct;
• sensing the humidity of the heated air entering the duct and providing signal representations thereof;
• and
• determining the dryness of the clothing articles in the container as a function of the humidity of the heated air, the clothing articles being dry when the humidity signal representations are within a predetermined humidity range and when difference values of the humidity signal representations are within a predetermined interval.

An appliance for drying clothing articles, comprising:

• a container for receiving the clothing articles;
• a motor for rotating the container about an axis;
• a heater for supplying heated air to the container;
• a duct for directing the heated air outside the container;
• a temperature sensor for sensing the heated air and providing signal representations thereof;
• a phase angle sensor for sensing motor phase angle and providing signal representations thereof;
• a humidity sensor for sensing the humidity of the heated air entering the duct and providing signal representations thereof;
• and
• a controller responsive to the temperature sensor, the phase angle sensor, and the humidity sensor for determining the dryness of the clothing articles in the container as a function of the heated air temperature, the motor phase angle, and the humidity of the heated air, the controller comprising a signal processing unit for processing the signal representations of the heated air temperature, the motor phase angle and the humidity of the heated air and a decision logic unit for determining the dryness of the clothing articles in the container as a function of the processed signal representations of the heated air temperature and the motor phase angle, wherein the decision logic unit decides whether the processed signal representations of the heated air temperature have reached a local maximum and the processed signal representations of the motor phase angle have reached a local minimum.

A clothes dryer, comprising:

• a container for accommodating a plurality of clothing articles;
• a motor for rotating the container about an axis;
• a heater for supplying heated air to the container;
• a duct for directing the heated air outside the container;
• a temperature sensor for sensing the heated air and providing signal representations thereof;
• a phase angle sensor for sensing motor phase angle and providing signal representations thereof;
• a humidity sensor for sensing the humidity of the heated air entering the duct and providing signal representations thereof;
• and
• a controller responsive to the temperature sensor, the phase angle sensor, and the humidity sensor for determining the dryness of the plurality of clothing articles in the container as a function of the heated air temperature, the motor phase angle, and the humidity of the heated air, the controller comprising a signal processing unit for processing the signal representations of the heated air temperature, the motor phase angle and the humidity of the heated air and a decision logic unit for determining the dryness of the clothing articles in the container as a function of the processed signal representations of the heated air temperature and the motor phase angle, wherein the decision logic unit decides whether the processed signal representations of the heated air temperature have reached a local maximum and the processed signal representations of the motor phase angle have reached a local minimum.

A method for drying clothing articles, comprising the steps of:

• providing a container for receiving the clothing articles;
• rotating the container about an axis with a motor;
• supplying heated air to the container;
• directing the heated air outside the container with a duct;
• sensing temperature of the heated air and providing signal representations thereof;
• sensing motor phase angle and providing signal representations thereof;
• sensing the humidity of the heated air entering the duct and providing signal representations thereof;
• and
• determining the dryness of the clothing articles in the container as a function of the heated air temperature, the motor phase angle, and the humidity of the heated air, wherein the determining dryness comprises deciding whether the signal representations of the heated air temperature have reached a local maximum and the signal representations of the motor phase angle have reached a local minimum.