JPH0321200B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a dehydrating washing machine such as a fully automatic washing machine,
In particular, it relates to its drive device.

(Prior Art and Its Problems) Conventionally, in this type of washing machine, the operating levers for operating the dehydration brake and the clutch for switching between washing and dehydration are operated by suction by a plunger using a solenoid. Therefore, when the solenoid is energized, the plunger is suddenly attracted and collides with the core of the solenoid, generating an extremely loud sound.The sound is transmitted to the outer frame of the washing machine, etc., and is accompanied by echoes and resonances. This often caused great discomfort to the user.

Therefore, in order to eliminate such noise, various proposals have been made in which small motors are used to control the dehydration brake and the clutch for switching between washing and dehydration, but none of them poses practical problems. It has the following.

For example, in the device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 49-64269, the actuation lever is operated by a combination of a small motor and a group of reduction gears without using a solenoid. Since the motor is always turned on and in a rotating state, there is a stopper mechanism that prevents further operation after the dehydration brake and switching clutch have operated as specified, and a stopper mechanism that prevents the small motor from rotating after the stopper mechanism operates. It is necessary to provide a friction clutch for release, which causes problems such as a complicated mechanism, a short life span, and unstable operation, which is difficult in practice.

Furthermore, in the device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-129097, the above operating lever is operated by combining a small motor, a group of reduction gears, and a small solenoid. After the clutch has performed a predetermined operation, the small motor can be stopped and the predetermined operating state can be maintained by its static torque, and the stopper mechanism and friction clutch like the former can be omitted. However, on the other hand, a small solenoid is required to release the dehydration brake and the switching clutch from a predetermined operating state, and this also generates a collision noise between the plunger and the core, and the plunger does not operate properly. A clutch is required to release the mechanical connection between the small motor and the reduction gear group, which poses a practical problem.

(Object of the invention) In view of the above points, the present invention provides a washing machine. To perform dehydration switching quietly and reliably, and to drive a dehydration brake, clutch, and drain valve even with a small motor with low torque.

(Structure of the Invention) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a dehydration brake that brakes the rotation of the dehydration tank, a clutch that switches the transmission of the rotation of the washing and dehydration motor between washing and dehydration, and a clutch that opens and closes the drain hole. The dewatering brake, clutch, and drain valve are controlled by a small motor, which rotates around a rotating shaft to assume a first position during washing and a second position during dewatering. An operating lever is provided, and the operating lever includes the above-mentioned dehydration brake that brakes during washing and releases the brake during spin-drying, the above-mentioned clutch that releases the transmission during washing and transmits during spin-drying, and the above-mentioned clutch that closes during washing and opens during spin-drying. and a drain valve, the small motor is arranged near the end of the operating lever, and the output shaft of the small motor contacts the operating lever to move the operating lever to the first position or the second position. A locking means for fixing the rotational position of the cam when the cam detects that the actuating lever has been rotationally driven to the second position. is provided.

With the above configuration, by driving the small motor to rotate the cam, the actuating lever can be moved to the first position.
This position or the second position can be used for washing or dehydration.

That is, when the operating lever is in the first position, the dehydration brake brakes the dehydration tank, the clutch releases the rotation transmission of the washing and dehydration motor to the dehydration tank, and the drain valve is closed, so that washing is performed. be exposed.

On the other hand, when the operating lever is in the second position, the dehydration brake releases the dehydration tank, the clutch transmits the rotation of the washing and dehydration motor to the dehydration tank, the drain valve is opened, and dehydration is performed. .

In this case, the rotational position of the cam is detected when the operating lever is rotated to the second position, and the cam is locked at the rotational position corresponding to the second position of the operating lever. Washing and spin-drying can be switched by ensuring that the operating lever that drives the clutch and drain valve is in the correct position.

In addition, the dewatering brake, clutch, and drain valve are driven by the actuating lever, and since this actuating lever is driven by a cam installed at the end of the actuating lever, the actuating lever is driven with a small amount of force, and the driving torque of the small motor is reduced. It's small enough.

(Example) Examples of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described in detail below.

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing a dehydrating washing machine in an embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 1, 1 is an outer frame, 2 is a water tank that is elastically suspended within the outer frame 1 by a vibration-proof support mechanism, 3 is a washing/dehydration tank, and 4 is a hollow space that fixes the tank 3 at the upper end. A dewatering shaft, 5 is a rotating blade disposed at the inner bottom of the dehydrating tank 3, 6 is a rotating shaft rotatably inserted and supported in the dehydrating shaft 4, and has a rotary blade 5 fixed to its upper end and a pulley 7 fixed to its lower end, 8 11 is a washing and dewatering motor in which a belt 10 is stretched between a pulley 7 and a motor pulley 9 to transmit rotation to a rotating shaft 6;
1 is a dehydration brake provided on the dehydration shaft 4; 12 is a clutch for switching between washing and dehydration provided between the dehydration shaft 4 and the rotary shaft 6 or pulley 7; 13 is a drain valve; 14
15 indicates a board, and 15 indicates a mechanism case.

The dehydration brake 11 is as shown in FIG.
The brake drum 16 is fixed to the dewatering shaft 4 and the brake drum 1 is equipped with a brake lining on the inner surface.
An annular brake band 17 is elastically fitted to the outer periphery of the brake drum 6 and has one end bent outward to form a bent piece 18, and is fitted to the outer periphery of the upper boss portion 16a of the brake drum 16 via a bearing 19. Dehydration shaft 4
That is, a rotary drum 20 is rotatable with respect to the boss portion 16a, and a slit 22 at the tip of the rotary drum 20, which is protruded at a suitable location on the outer circumferential edge of the rotary drum 20, is connected to the brake band 1.
an arm 21 that is fitted into and engaged with the bent piece 18 of No. 7 as shown in the third figure, thereby bringing the rotating drum 20 and the brake band 17 into an integral relationship in the rotational direction;
The coil spring 24 is wound around the outer periphery of the rotating drum 20 and has one end fixed to the substrate 14 with a fastener 23 such as a bolt or nut to serve as a fixed end and the other end as a free end. The tightening direction is made to coincide with the rotating direction of the dehydration shaft 4 during dehydration.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the washing/dewatering switching clutch 12 is wound around a clutch boss 25 that is integrally provided on the rotating shaft 6 or the pulley 7, and is wrapped over both the clutch boss 25 and the dehydrating shaft 4. It is composed of a clutch spring 26 whose tightening direction coincides with the rotating direction during dehydration, and a rotatable clutch gear 27 located on the outer periphery of the clutch spring 26 and engaged with the lower end of the spring 26.

In FIG. 2, 28 is a brake lever for switching and operating the dehydration brake 11, and 29 is a clutch lever having a clutch pawl 30 for operating the washing/dehydration switching clutch 12. Both levers 28, 29 This will be explained in detail later. 3
1 is a coil spring which is wound around the outer periphery of the lower boss portion 16b of the brake drum 16, and has one end fixed to the mechanism case 15 with a fastener 32 such as a bolt and nut to serve as a fixed end, and the other end as a free end; The tightening direction of the coil spring 24 is set opposite to that of the other coil spring 24.

Next, the structure for switching the dehydration brake 11 and the washing/dehydration switching clutch 12 will be explained with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 33 denotes an operating lever rotatably supported on the base plate 14 or mechanism case 15 with a shaft 34, and is rotatably moved between a second position shown by a solid line and a first position shown by a broken line in FIG. It is always biased in the first position direction (in the direction of arrow B) by a spring 35 fitted to the shaft 34. This operating lever 33 has a brake lever 28
are integrally provided, a clutch lever 29 is integrally interlocked with the clutch lever 29, and the drain valve 13 is connected to one end of the operating lever 33 via a rod 36. The operating lever 33 is in the first position to brake the dehydration brake 11, release the washing/dehydration switching clutch 12, and close the drain valve 13, and in the second position to brake the dehydration brake 11. Release, clutch 12 to transmit power, drain valve 13
Let be each state of open. The dehydration brake 11 is released when the brake lever 28 engages with the free end of the coil spring 24 to relax the coil spring 24, and enters the braking state when the brake lever 28 is separated from the free end of the coil spring 24. On the other hand, when the clutch pawl 30 of the clutch lever 29 engages with the clutch gear 27 and relaxes the clutch spring 26, the clutch 12 for switching between washing and dewatering is released from transmitting power, and when the clutch pawl 30 is disengaged from the clutch gear 27, the power is transmitted. .

37 is a small motor incorporating a group of reduction gears, the shaft 38 of which rotates at a reduced speed as the motor section rotates, and the motor section consists of an AC synchronous motor. 39 is a spiral cam (rotating body) attached to the shaft 38, which comes into sliding contact with the operating lever 33 as it rotates;
The actuating lever 33 is moved from the first position to the second position against the spring 35.

Next, control of the small motor 37 will be explained. FIG. 5 shows an example of a state detection means for detecting the states of the dehydration brake 11, the washing/dehydration switching clutch 12, and the drain valve 13, and 40 is a detection sensor formed by combining a light emitting element and a light receiving element. Then, both elements are faced to each other with a gap 41 in between.
Reference numeral 42 denotes a shielding protrusion protruding from the back surface of the cam 39, which is located within the gap 41 of the detection sensor 40 when the cam 39 is in the solid line position in FIG. 4 (that is, when the operating lever 33 is in the second position). It blocks light from the light emitting element. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the control circuit section, where 43 is an operation control section that sequentially executes a series of operations from washing to the final dehydration process according to a predetermined program, and 44 is a state detection section. It consists of the above-mentioned detection sensor 40, and detects the state based on the output signal of the light receiving element. Reference numeral 45 denotes a motor control section that controls the energization of the small motor 37 based on the instruction signal from the operation control section 43, and performs control as shown in the flowchart shown in FIG.

In the above configuration, the operation during the dehydration process will be explained in particular.

When the dewatering process begins, the operation control section 43 rotates the small motor 37 by applying alternating current to the small motor 37 using the motor control section 45 . Then, the cam 39 rotates in the direction of the arrow, that is, in the counterclockwise direction, to rotate the operating lever 33 in the direction of the second position against the spring 35, and eventually the peak point P of the cam 39 reaches the point of contact with the operating lever 33. passing by,
The cam 39 reaches a predetermined position (the position shown in the fourth figure). At this point, the shielding protrusion 42 of the cam 39 enters the gap 41 of the detection sensor 40 and blocks the light from the light emitting element. Then, the operation control section 43 determines that the cam 39 has reached a predetermined position based on the signal from the state detection section 44 (i.e., the detection sensor 40),
The small motor 37 is controlled by giving an instruction to the motor control unit 45.
The current applied to motor 3 is changed from AC to DC.
Lock 7. When the small motor 37 switches from alternating current to direct current, the rotating magnetic field changes to a static magnetic field, which locks the motor 37 and holds the cam 39 in place. In this state, the actuating lever 33 is
The dehydration brake 11 is in the released state, the washing/dehydration switching clutch 12 is in the power transmission state, and the drain valve 13 is in the open state.

Therefore, when the washing/spindle motor 8 is turned on, its rotational force is transmitted to the spindle shaft 4 via the washing/spindle switching clutch 12, and the washing/spindle tank 3 rotates to perform spin-drying. The discharged water is discharged to the outside through the drain valve 13. At this time, since the coil spring 24 is in a relaxed state due to engagement with the brake lever 28, the rotating drum 20 rotates together with the brake band 17 along with the dewatering shaft 4.

When the dehydration process is completed, the operation control section 4
3 turns off the washing/drying motor 8, and at the same time, the motor control section 45 cuts off the electricity (direct current application) to the small motor 37 to release the lock. Then,
Since the small motor 37 receives the biasing force of the spring 35 and the biasing force of the spring built into the drain valve 13 via the operating lever 33, it is rotated in the direction of the arrow, that is, in the counterclockwise direction, and the operating lever 33 is rotated in the direction of the broken line shown in the fourth figure. It rotates to the first position and stops. In this state, however, the clutch lever 29 engages the clutch claw 30 with the clutch gear 27 to release the power transmission state by the clutch spring 26, while the brake lever 28 releases the engagement with the free end of the coil spring 24. Then, the coil spring 24
Since the tightening direction of the coil spring 24 and the rotation direction of the rotating drum 20 are the same, the rotating drum 20 is attached to the coil spring 24.
The rotation of the brake band 17 is prevented due to the tightening of the winding, and accordingly, the rotation of the brake band 17 is also prevented, and a frictional force is generated between the brake band 17 and the brake drum 16 which is rotating due to inertia. The dewatering shaft 4 is braked by force to quickly stop its inertial rotation.

As described above, by controlling the energization of the small motor 37, the dehydration brake 11, the washing/dehydration switching clutch 12, etc. can be controlled.

Furthermore, since the dehydration brake 11 is configured to switch to the braking state by cutting off the power to the small motor 37, the dehydration brake 11 will continue to perform braking even if the power is cut off due to a power outage or careless power OFF during the dehydration operation. , the inertial rotation of the washing and dehydrating tub 3 can be quickly stopped, which is extremely safe. In addition, if there is a disconnection in the small motor 37, the dehydration brake 11
When the clutch 12 for switching between braking and washing and dewatering is in the power transmission release state, the dehydration shaft 4, that is, the washing and dehydration tank 3, is not rotated, and the dehydration operation is performed when the small motor 37 is out of control. It can be avoided.

In the above embodiment, during washing or rinsing, the operating lever 33 is in the first position, the dehydration brake 11 is in the braking state, the washing/dehydration switching clutch 12 is in the disengaged state, and the drain valve 13 is in the closed state. . Therefore, even though washing or rinsing is carried out by periodically reversing the rotating shaft 6 and the rotary blades 5 by the left-right reversing drive of the washing and dehydrating motor 8, the washing and dehydrating tub 3 cannot be rotated in either direction. do not have. That is, when the washing and dewatering tank 3 attempts to rotate in the same direction as during dehydration, the rotating drum 20 and the brake band 17 are in a stopped state due to the tightening of the coil spring 24, and the rotation between the band 17 and the brake drum 16 is interrupted. It is prevented by the frictional force, and if it tries to rotate in the opposite direction, it is prevented by the tightening of the coil spring 31.

(Other Embodiments) If the reduction ratio of the reduction gear group of the small motor 37 is increased so that its static torque can hold the cam 39 in a predetermined position (against the biasing force of the spring 35, etc.), the size can be reduced. There is no need to apply direct current to the motor 37 to lock it. However, when rotating the cam 39 from a predetermined position and moving the operating lever 33 from the second position to the first position, it is necessary to turn on the small motor 37.

Although the optical detection sensor 40 is used as an example of the state detection section 44, the cam position is not limited to this, and the position of the cam may be detected by a combination of a reed switch and a magnet, a micro switch, etc. The state may be detected by detecting the position of a lever, etc. In short, it is only necessary to detect the state of the dehydration brake and the clutch for switching between washing and dehydration, whether directly or indirectly, and the specific means for doing so is not particularly limited. It's not something you can do. Furthermore, the small motor is not limited to one with a built-in reduction gear group, but may be one with a separate reduction gear group.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and may be implemented by appropriately modifying the structure of the dehydration brake, the shape of the rotating body (cam), etc. without departing from the scope of the invention. Of course you can get it.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, by driving the small motor to rotate the cam, the operating lever takes the first position or the second position, and washing or dehydration can be performed. , it is possible to switch between washing and dewatering much more quietly than when using a solenoid.

In the case of the present invention, the position of the cam is detected when the operating lever is rotated to the second position, and the cam is locked at the rotational position corresponding to the second position of the operating lever. By ensuring the drive position of the clutch and the operating lever that drives the drain valve, it is possible to reliably switch between washing and dewatering using a small motor.

In addition, the dehydration brake, clutch, and drain valve are driven by the operating lever, and by driving this operating lever with a cam installed at the end of the operating lever, the torque of the small motor that drives the operating lever can be reduced, making it possible to A small motor can generate a large amount of force, making it even quieter and more energy efficient.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing a dehydrating washing machine in an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same main part,
Fig. 3 is a view taken from the arrow A of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the switching structure as above, Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the position detection section of the cam as above, and Fig. 6 is a control circuit section of the small motor as above. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the same control flowchart. 3: Washing and dehydration tank, 4: Dehydration shaft, 11: Dehydration brake, 12: Washing/dehydration switching clutch, 2
8: Brake lever, 29: Clutch lever, 3
3: Actuation lever, 35: Spring (biasing means),
37: Small motor, 39: Cam.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A dehydration brake that brakes the rotation of a dehydration tank, a clutch that switches the transmission of the rotation of a washing/dehydration motor to washing or dehydration, and a drain valve that opens and closes a drain hole. A device in which the dewatering brake, clutch, and drain valve are controlled by a small motor is equipped with an operating lever that rotates around a rotating shaft and assumes a first position during washing and a second position during dewatering. The operating lever is connected to the above-mentioned dewatering brake that brakes during washing and releases the brake during spin-drying, the above-mentioned clutch that releases the transmission during washing and transmits during spin-drying, and the above-mentioned drain valve that closes during washing and opens during spin-drying, and A small motor is disposed near the end of the operating lever, and a cam is provided on the output shaft of the small motor for contacting the operating lever to drive the operating lever to the first position or the second position. The present invention is characterized in that it is provided with a position detection means for detecting the rotational position of the cam and a locking means for fixing the rotational position of the cam when it is detected that the cam has rotationally driven the operating lever to the second position. Driving device for dehydrating washing machines. 2. The drive device for a dehydrating washing machine according to claim 1, wherein the locking means converts the small motor from an alternating current rotating magnetic field to a direct current static magnetic field. 3. The drive device for a dehydrating washing machine according to claim 1, wherein the locking means is a static torque of a reduction gear of the small motor.