Method and apparatus for closing a pathway of a power supply circuit by configuring a door lock in locked position to pre-charge a motor drive
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsJonathan Blair Talmadge, Steven Michael Recio, Douglas Laurence Robertson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An appliance including a motor drive, a power supply circuit electrically coupling the motor drive to a power supply, a cabinet having an opening, a door for opening and closing the opening of the cabinet, and a door lock. When the door lock is in a locked position, the door lock is configured to secure the door and close a pathway of the power supply circuit thereby enabling a current to travel from the power supply through a pre-charge circuit to the motor drive.
Claims20
An appliance comprising:
- a motor drive;
- a power supply circuit electrically coupling the motor drive to a power supply;
- a precharge circuit electrically coupled in series between the power supply and the motor drive;
- a relay electrically coupled in parallel with the precharge circuit;
- a cabinet having an opening;
- a door for opening and closing the opening of the cabinet;
- a door lock configured to secure the door when the door lock is in a locked position, the door lock further configured to close a pathway of the power supply circuit when the door lock is in the locked position thereby enabling a current to travel from the power supply through the pre-charge circuit to the motor drive;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- detect a request to begin an operation of the appliance;
- initiate a door locking process to secure the door with the door lock;
- detect when a pre-charge of the motor is complete;
- and
- close the relay to bypass the precharge circuit and electrically couple the power supply to the motor supply.
An appliance in accordance with claim wherein the appliance is a horizontal axis washing machine.
A controller configured to pre-charge a device for an appliance, the controller comprising:
- a computer-readable memory for storing data indicative of current threshold levels;
- and
- a computer processor programmed to:
- receive instructions to begin an operation based on user defined settings;
- initiate a pre-charging of the device by sending a signal to a door lock causing the door lock to move to a locked position, the door lock, upon movement to the locked position, configured to close a pathway of a power supply circuit electrically coupling the device to a power supply thereby enabling a current to travel from the power supply through a pre-charge circuit to the device;
- detecting when the pre-charge of the device is complete;
- and
- closing a relay to bypass the pre-charge circuit and provide electrical power directly to the device.
A method comprising:
- receiving instructions to begin an operation in an appliance;
- and
- initiating, by a computer processor, a pre-charging of a device for the appliance by sending a signal to a door lock causing the door lock to move to a locked position, the door lock, upon movement to the locked position, configured to close a pathway of a power supply circuit electrically coupling the device to a power supply thereby enabling a current to travel from the power supply through a pre-charge circuit to the device;
- detect when the pre-charge of the device is complete;
- and
- close a relay to bypass the pre-charge circuit and provide electrical power directly to the device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.