JPH0370592A - Controllable running of washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect surely the falling-down of a washing machine for preventing the washing machine from the secondary disaster after the falling-down by providing a vibration sensing device to be turned on and off in running and stopping the running of the washing machine when the turning-off operation is carried out continuously for a certain time. CONSTITUTION:A vibration sensor 33 catches an impact to detect the acceleration of an outer box 1. When the acceleration exceeds a certain value, mercury 35 moves to part from an electrode 36a, so that the contacts of electrodes 36a, 36b are turned off and the generation of umbalance in a controller 24 is outputted. The controller 24 receives the OFF output to measure an OFF time. The controller 24 judges whether or not ON-OFF time exceeds 50 seconds, and if it exceeds 50 seconds and the controller judges further whether or not the OFF motion over 5 seconds was previously present among the ON-OFF motion of the vibration sensor 33, so that, when the vibration sensor 33 performs the ON-OFF motion in the running and the OFF motion is continuously carried out for a certain time, a washing machine is judged to be swung and fall down by the swing so that the running of the washing machine is stopped by shutting off the power supply or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method for controlling the operation of a fully automatic washing machine among washing machines.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art There are two known washing machines: a two-tub washing machine that has a washing tub and a dehydration tub, and a single-tub fully automatic washing machine that uses a washing tub and a dehydration tub in common.

As is well known, a fully automatic washing machine is equipped with a rotating tank that functions as a washing and dehydrating tank with dehydrating holes all around the water receiving tank inside the outer box.
Further, rotary blades such as a pulsator and an agitator are provided at the bottom of the rotating tub, and the washing machine is relatively compact compared to a two-tank washing machine.

After putting the laundry and detergent into the rotating tub, water is collected in the rotating tub and water tank, and while the rotating tub is stopped, the rotary blades are driven to rotate to perform washing and rinsing, and after draining, the rotating tub is run at high speed. It rotates and uses centrifugal force to drain the water contained in the laundry from the dehydration hole into the water tank for dehydration.

By the way, in a fully automatic washing machine, compared to a two-tank washing machine, there is no difference in the size of the outer box and the rotating tub that performs dehydration (in the case of a two-tank washing machine, the outer box is separate from the washing tub and the dehydration receiving layer). (The washing machine is large enough to store laundry items side by side), and when the laundry is unbalanced during spin-drying, it tends to cause the whole washing machine to shake, and if the shaking is significant, the machine may topple over.

In particular, regarding falls, when washing items with waterproof coatings such as wind runners and sheets, this will block the dehydration hole of the rotating tub, and the unevenness of the laundry may be due to unevenness of the water inside. This causes a strong force to be applied all at once in one direction, causing the washing machine to overturn in an extremely short period of time.

Conventionally, in order to cope with unbalanced operation during dehydration, the fifth
As shown in the figure, in anticipation of the shaking range of the water tank (4), use the lever (19> as the operator) and use the micro switch (20).
A safety switch (22) is provided in combination with the safety switch (22). In the figure, (21) indicates the restoring spring of the lever (19>).

In this way, when the water receiving tank shakes greatly due to a large deviation of the laundry in the rotating tub, its end pushes the lever (19).
The microswitch (20) is activated and the motor is temporarily stopped.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, due to space constraints, this one-lever type safety switch can only be installed in one location at most. and,
If the washing machine falls over, use the lever (19) depending on how it falls.
The aircraft does not always fall in the direction in which the lever (19) is provided, and the water tank (4) may not touch the lever (19) even after falling. leading to a very dangerous situation.

Further, since the microswitch (20) has poor reliability against water, steam, etc., countermeasures include housing it in a case or using a special waterproof switch, making it complicated and expensive.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling the operation of a washing machine, which eliminates the disadvantages of the conventional example, can reliably detect overturning simply by adding an inexpensive device, and can prevent secondary disasters after the washing machine overturns. It is about providing.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention suspends a water receiving tank inside an outer box in a vibration-proof manner, provides a rotating tank within this water receiving tank, and further provides rotary blades such as a pulsator and an agitator within the rotating tank. A fully automatic washing machine is equipped with a vibration sensor, and the vibration sensor performs an ON-OFF operation during operation, and then stops the operation of the washing machine when the OFF operation continues for a certain period of time. This is a summary.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, when the vibration sensor continues to turn off for a certain period of time, it is determined that the washing machine has fallen over, and the operation of the washing machine is stopped.

In addition, since the seismic sensor is not limited to the direction but acts on shaking in all directions, and also detects the acceleration of vibration, it can reliably detect the fall even when the aircraft suddenly falls over. can.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 shows a washing machine for carrying out the operation control method of the present invention.
In the vertical side view showing an example, there are hanging rods (2) inside the outer box (1).
) to suspend the water tank (4) with an anti-vibration spring (3) interposed. A motor (
5) and the mechanism section (6) are installed side by side, and the pulley (7) provided on the rotating shaft of the motor (5) and the pulley (8) provided on the mechanism section (6) are connected by a V-belt (9).

The mechanism part (6) protrudes a double structure drive shaft (10a) (10b) toward the inside from the bottom of the water receiving tank (4), and furthermore, this drive shaft (10a) (10b)
It is equipped with a spring clutch (11) and a brake mechanism (12) that can be switched between driving both the outer drive shaft (10a) and rotating only the outer drive shaft (10a).

Further, a drain valve (13) is attached to the bottom of the water tank (4), and a drain hose (14) is connected to this.

Inside the water receiving tank (4), a rotating tank (15) is connected to the drive shaft (10a) with a cage-shaped body made of enamel or synthetic resin and has water permeable holes (15a) in the surrounding side wall. A rotary blade (16) having blades (16a) projecting radially is coupled to the drive shaft (10b).

In addition, a top panel (17) with a lid (18) is attached to the top surface of the outer box (1), and although not shown, the control board on which various push button switches and electronic devices for operation control are attached is attached to this top panel. (17), and a part of the front side is configured as an operation panel.

The above is the same as the conventional example, but in the present invention, the top panel (17
).

The seismic sensor (33) is normally used as a shock sensor in other fields; for example, as shown in FIG. One electrode (36a) was placed in the center, and the whole was installed in a housing (37) with the case (34) itself serving as the other electrode (36b).

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram of a control system showing one embodiment of the present invention, in which (32) is a rotation speed detection means using a speed generator provided on the output shaft of the motor (5), and (23) is a A water level detection means is provided with a bellows having an iron core and a variable coil facing the case connected to a water guide hose rising from the bottom of the water tank (4), and an oscillator connected to the coil. (24) in the figure is the top This is a control device using a microcomputer chip installed on a control board within the panel (17).

This control device (24) is connected to a power source (25), and further has a display (26) provided at the output terminal on the control board and exposed on the operation panel side of the top panel (17).
), a piezoelectric buzzer (29), and an amplifier (27) to connect a motor (8), a drain valve (13), and a water supply valve (28). On the other hand, the input side terminal of the control device (24) includes, in addition to the operation switch section (30) of the operation panel on the upper surface of the top panel (17), the rotation speed detection means (32).
A water level detection means (23) is connected via a frequency divider (31).

In addition, the lid switch (1 day) that operates when the lid (1 day) is opened is
38) and a seismic sensor (33) are also connected to the input side terminal of the control device (24).

Next, to explain the usage and operation, the rotating tank (15
), and the water supply valve (28) is opened to supply water.

Water accumulates in the rotating tank (15) and the water receiving tank (4), and the water level detection means (23) connected via a pressure hose determines whether the water level has reached a specified level or lower (RESET) or not. 24), and if the water level reaches the specified level, the water supply valve (28) is closed and the motor (5) is energized.

The action of the water level detection means (23) is to detect the change in pressure with a bellows, detect it as a change in the "L value" of the coil arranged around the iron core, and output it to an oscillator having an LC oscillation circuit. A control device (24) having a microcomputer captures the signal through a frequency divider (31) and performs calculations.

The motor (5) performs forward and reverse operation, and the pulley (7L)
The rotary blade (16) is oscillated via the V-belt (9), pulley (8), and mechanism part (6), and the laundry is stirred and washed (
or rinsing) process is performed.

After the specified time, the process moves to the drainage process. During this draining process, the motor (5) stops, and then the drain valve (
13) is activated and water is drained out of the machine via the drain hose (14).

Next, in the dewatering step, the drain valve (13) remains open and the motor (5) is continuously rotated in one direction at high speed [at this time, the spring clutch (11) is being switched]. The rotary tub (15) rotates together with the rotary blades (16) via the pulley (7), V-belt (9), pulley (8), and mechanism part (6), and the water contained in the laundry is removed by centrifugal force. The water flows through the water permeation hole (15a) to the water receiving tank (4) and is further drained out of the machine.

By the way, the continuous rotation of the rotating tank (15) at the high speed is such that the rotation speed gradually increases until it reaches a specified rotation speed.

Therefore, if the laundry in the rotating tub (15) is unbalanced, it will cause an imbalance during the low-speed rotation stage before high-speed rotation, and the water receiving tank (4) will also flow through the rotating tub (15), especially from the top. It shook violently and even collided with the inside of this outer box (1).

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, the seismic sensor (33) captures this impact and detects the acceleration of the outer box (1), and when the acceleration exceeds a certain value, the mercury (35) is released into a crucible-shaped Case(
34) by moving inside and away from the electrode (36a), the contact point between the electrode (36a) and the electrode (36b) becomes 0FFL,
It is output to the control device (24) that an imbalance has occurred (Step I).

The control device (24) receives this OFF output and outputs the OFF output.
Measure the FF time. The control device (24) determines whether this OFF time is 50 seconds or more (step entrance), and if it is 50 seconds or more, it further determines whether or not the OFF time is 50 seconds or more during the ON-FF operation of the seismic sensor (33) for 5 seconds or more. It is determined whether there is an OFF operation.

In this way, if the seismic sensor (33) performs an ON-OFF operation during operation, and then an OFF operation is performed continuously for a certain period of time, it is determined that the washing machine is shaking and the shaking is the cause of the fall. Stop the washing machine by turning off the power (Step-ho).

Also, if the OFF time of the seismic sensor (33) is less than 50 seconds, the
If there is an OFF operation for more than a second, the control device (24) detects the number of times, and if there is an OFF operation two or more times (Step 2), the water tank (4)
) has determined that an imbalance has occurred, causing a large swing.
Measures will be taken to correct the imbalance, such as temporarily turning off the power to the motor (5) and increasing the amount of water supplied. Alternatively, the piezoelectric buzzer (29) may be sounded to notify that the device is unbalanced.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the washing machine operation control method of the present invention, a water receiver is suspended in a vibration-proof manner inside an outer box, a rotary tank is rotatably provided in the water receiver, and a rotary tank is rotatably provided in the water receiver. In fully automatic washing machines equipped with rotary blades such as pulsators and agitators,
By adding an inexpensive device called a seismic sensor, this seismic sensor detects the acceleration of the vibration of the washing machine, thereby making it possible to reliably detect the overturning of the washing machine.

Further, secondary disasters after the washing machine falls can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram of a control system showing one embodiment of the washing machine operation control method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the same, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal side view showing an example of the washing machine to be used.
FIG. 4 is a longitudinal side view showing an example of a seismic sensor, and FIG. 5 is a longitudinal side view showing a conventional example. (1)...Outer box (2)...Hanging rod (3)
・・Vibration-proof spring (4)・・Water tank (5)・・Motor (6)・・Mechanism part (7) (8,)・
...Pulley (9) ...V belt (10a) (LQ
b)...Drive shaft (11)...Spring clutch (12)
)...Brake mechanism (14)...Drain hose (15a)...Water hole (16)...Rotary blade (17)...Top panel (19)...Lever (21)...・Returning spring (23)... Water level detection means (25)... Power supply (27) -... Amplifier (29)... Buzzer (31)... Frequency divider (33)... Earthquake sensing Container (35)...Mercury (37)...Housing (13)...Drain valve (15)...Rotating tank (16a)...Blade (18)...Lid (20)...・Micro switch (22)...Safety switch (24)...Control device (26)...Indicator (28)...Water valve (30)...Operation switch section (32)... Rotation speed detection means (34)...Case (36a) (36b) Electrode (38)...Lid switch Fig. 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a fully automatic washing machine in which a water tank is suspended in a vibration-proof manner inside an outer box, a rotating tank is installed inside the water tank, and rotary blades such as a pulsator or agitator are installed in the rotating tank, a vibration sensor is installed. 1. A method for controlling the operation of a washing machine, characterized in that the seismic sensor performs an ON-OFF operation during operation, and then stops operation of the washing machine when the OFF operation is continuously performed for a certain period of time.