Laundry treating appliance and method of operation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10619284-B2
Application number	US-201715606210-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 26, 2017
Priority date	May 26, 2017
Publication date	Apr 14, 2020
Grant date	Apr 14, 2020

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 and determining a magnitude of imbalance of the wetted laundry load. A controller of the laundry treating appliance is configured to determine a first extraction speed for rotating the drum based on the magnitude of imbalance.

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:
wetting a laundry load with liquid from the liquid supply system to form a wetted laundry load according to at least one of a wash phase or a rinse phase of a selected cycle of operation to define a selected phase;
during the selected phase, rotating the drum;
determining, by the controller, a magnitude of imbalance of the wetted laundry load based on an imbalance sensor output or based on at least one characteristic of the motor as output from the motor or a sensor operably coupled thereto;
determining, by the controller, a first extraction speed for rotating the drum based on the magnitude of imbalance, wherein the controller is configured to provide the magnitude of imbalance as input into an algorithm that provides an output indicative of the first extraction speed, the algorithm comprising at least one non-linear polynomial function; and
rotating the drum at the first extraction speed to extract at least a portion of the liquid carried by the wetted laundry load.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising pre-rotating the drum at a second extraction speed, less than the first extraction speed, prior to rotating the drum at the first extraction speed.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, during the rotating of the drum at the first extraction speed, a power output of the motor.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein when the power output of the motor is less than a predetermined power limit of the motor, rotating the drum at a third extraction speed, greater than the first extraction speed.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising repeatedly determining the power output of the motor and successively rotating the drum at increasing extraction speeds when the power output of the motor is less than a predetermined power limit of the motor.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the algorithm provides a unique output indicative of a unique first extraction speed for each unique input.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the algorithm comprises the at least one non-linear polynomial function, which defines a first non-linear polynomial function and a second function, different than the first non-linear polynomial function.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
when the magnitude of imbalance satisfies a first threshold, providing the magnitude of imbalance as input to the first non-linear polynomial function, which provides an output indicative of the first extraction speed; and
when the magnitude of imbalance satisfies a second threshold, providing the magnitude of imbalance as input to the second function, which provides an output indicative of the first extraction speed.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the second function is one of a linear function or a non-linear polynomial function.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the algorithm further comprises a third function, different than the first non-linear polynomial function and the second function, the method further comprising:
when the magnitude of imbalance satisfies a third threshold, providing the magnitude of imbalance as input to the third function, which provides an output indicative of the first extraction speed.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the third function is one of a linear function or a non-linear polynomial function.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising rotating the drum at the first extraction speed until a time threshold is satisfied.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising rotating the drum at the first extraction speed until a threshold of a remaining moisture content of the wetted laundry load is satisfied, the remaining moisture content determined by a moisture sensor.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising estimating a moisture content of the wetted laundry load to define an estimated remaining moisture content and further comprising rotating the drum at the first extraction speed until a threshold of the estimated remaining moisture content of the wetted laundry load is satisfied.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Quinn Daniel E

Classifications

• G01H1/003

  of rotating machines (G01H1/10 takes precedence) · CPC title

• D06F23/02

  and rotating or oscillating about a horizontal axis · CPC title

• D06F37/20

  Mountings, e.g. resilient mountings, for the rotary receptacle, motor, tub or casing; Preventing or damping vibrations · CPC title

• D06F37/203

  Textiles & Paper · mapped topic

• D06F33/02

  Textiles & Paper · mapped topic