Laundry treating appliance and method of operation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10501880-B2
Application number	US-201715606188-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 26, 2017
Priority date	May 26, 2017
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

A laundry treating appliance and method of operating a laundry treating appliance that includes wetting the laundry load in a drum according to a selected cycle of operation. A controller associated with the laundry treating appliance may be configured to determine a remaining moisture content of the laundry and a time remaining in the selected cycle of operation based on the remaining moisture content.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a laundry treating appliance in accordance with an automatic cycle of operation, the laundry treating appliance having a drum at least partially defining a treating chamber and rotatable about an axis of rotation, a motor configured to rotate the drum, a liquid supply system, and a controller configured to implement the cycle of operation, the method comprising:
receiving, as user input provided to the controller, a selected final remaining moisture content of a laundry load;
wetting the laundry load with liquid from the liquid supply system according to at least one of a wash phase or a rinse phase of a selected cycle of operation to define a selected phase, the wetted laundry load having a first remaining moisture content;
during the selected phase, rotating the drum;
determining, by an imbalance sensor in communication with the controller, a magnitude of imbalance of the laundry load;
determining, by the controller, a first extraction speed for rotating the drum during an extraction phase to extract moisture from the laundry load based on the magnitude of imbalance;
during the extraction phase, determining, by the controller, a time remaining in the extraction phase to decrease the first remaining moisture content of the laundry to the selected final remaining moisture content, wherein the controller is configured to provide the selected final remaining moisture content and a value indicative of the first extraction speed as input into a first function that provides an output indicative of the time remaining in the extraction phase; and
rotating the drum at the first extraction speed to extract moisture from the laundry load to decrease the remaining moisture content of the laundry load to the selected final remaining moisture content as determined by a moisture sensor.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising during the extraction phase, determining, by the controller, a second extraction speed, different than the first extraction speed, for rotating the drum based on the magnitude of imbalance.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising rotating the drum at the second extraction speed, wherein the second extraction speed is greater than the first extraction speed.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising, subsequent to rotating the drum at the second extraction speed, determining, by the controller, a second remaining moisture content, less than the first remaining moisture content, wherein the controller is configured to provide a value indicative of the second extraction speed as input into a second function that provides an output indicative of the second remaining moisture content.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising determining, by the controller, a time remaining in the extraction phase to decrease the remaining moisture content of the laundry from the second remaining moisture content to the selected final remaining moisture content, wherein the controller is configured to provide the selected final remaining moisture content and a value indicative of the second extraction speed as input into a second function that provides an output indicative of the time remaining in the extraction phase.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising displaying the time remaining in the extraction phase on a user interface incorporated into the laundry treating appliance based on the output indicative of the time remaining in the extraction phase.

7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining, during the rotating of the drum at the first extraction speed, a power output of the motor.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein when the power output of the motor is less than a predetermined power limit of the motor, rotating the drum at the second extraction speed.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the controller, a second remaining moisture content of the laundry, less than the first remaining moisture content, based on the first extraction speed and one of a time remaining in the extraction phase or an elapsed time.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the first function is based on at least one an amount of laundry in the load or a type of laundry in the load.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying the time remaining in the extraction phase on a user interface incorporated into the laundry treating appliance.

12. A laundry treating appliance, comprising:
a drum at least partially defining a treating chamber for receiving a laundry load for treatment according to a cycle of operation and rotatable about an axis of rotation;
a liquid supply system fluidly coupled with the treating chamber for supplying liquid to the laundry load to wet the laundry load to a first remaining moisture content according to at least one of a wash phase or a rinse phase of the cycle of operation to define a selected phase;
a motor operably coupled with the drum and configured to rotate the drum according to the selected cycle of operation; and
a controller operably coupled with the motor and configured to control the motor to rotate the drum, the controller being further configured to:
receive, as input from a user, a selected final remaining moisture content of the laundry load;
determine, by an imbalance sensor, a magnitude of imbalance of the laundry load;
determine a first extraction speed for rotating the drum during an extraction phase to extract moisture from the laundry load based on the magnitude of imbalance;
provide the selected final remaining moisture content and a value indicative of the first extraction speed as input into a first function that provides an output indicative of a time remaining in the extraction phase; and
rotate the drum at the first extraction speed to extract moisture from the laundry load to decrease the remaining moisture content of the laundry load to the selected final remaining moisture content as determined by a moisture sensor.

13. The laundry treating appliance of claim 12 , further comprising a user interface operably coupled with the controller, the controller configured to control the user interface to display the time remaining in the extraction phase.

14. The laundry treating appliance of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to, during the extraction phase, determine a second extraction speed, different than the first extraction speed, for rotating the drum based on the magnitude of imbalance.

15. The laundry treating appliance of claim 14 , wherein the controller is configured to, subsequent to rotating the drum at the second extraction speed, determine a second remaining moisture content, and where the controller is configured to provide a value indicative of the second extraction speed as input into a second function that provides an output indicative of the second remaining moisture content.

16. The laundry treating appliance of claim 15 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a time remaining in the extraction phase to decrease the remaining moisture content of the laundry from the second remaining moisture content to the selected final remaining moisture content, and where the controller is configured to provide the selected final remaining moisture content and a value indicative of the second extraction speed as input into a second function that provides an output indicative of the time remaining in the extraction phase.

17. The laundry treating appliance of d 16 , further comprising a user interface operably coupled with the controller, the controller configured to control the user interface to display the t

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Quinn Daniel E

Classifications

• G05B19/0415

  adapting phase duration according to measured parameters · CPC title

• D06F2222/00

  Textiles & Paper · mapped topic

• D06F2202/10

  Textiles & Paper · mapped topic

• D06F33/02 Primary

  Textiles & Paper · mapped topic

• D06F35/007

  for spin-drying only · CPC title