Method for controlling laundry processing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10718083-B2
Application number	US-201716091025-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 16, 2017
Priority date	Apr 5, 2016
Publication date	Jul 21, 2020
Grant date	Jul 21, 2020

Abstract

A method for controlling a laundry processing apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is a method for controlling a clothes processing apparatus, comprising the steps of: inputting a “drying” start command; forwardly rotating a drying drum and a drying fan; supplying hot air into the drying drum; operating a timer so as to calculate drying time; and operating a dryness sensor so as to detect the dryness of laundry, wherein a controller determines that the laundry is tangled, if a dryness sensing value (K) detected by the dryness sensor is greater than or equal to a first set value (k 1 ) before a first set time (T 1 ) elapses after “drying” starts, and the controller performs a primary laundry untangling process for reversely rotating the drying drum for a second set time (T 2 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for controlling a laundry processing apparatus, the method comprising:
inputting a command for starting drying;
forwardly-rotating a drying drum and a drying fan;
supplying hot air into the drying drum;
integrating a drying time by operating a timer; and
sensing a dryness of laundry in the drying drum by operating a dryness sensor,
wherein a controller determines that the laundry is tangled, when a dryness sensing value (K) sensed by the dryness sensor is equal to or greater than a first set value (k 1 ) before a first set time (T 1 ) elapses after the drying is started, and
wherein the controller performs a primary laundry untangling process of reversely rotating the drying drum for a second set time (T 2 ).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein, when the second set time (T 2 ) elapses, a rotational direction of the drying drum is changed such that the drying drum is controlled to be forwardly rotated.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the primary laundry untangling process is performed only one time for the second set time (T 2 ).

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein whether the drying is completed is determined after the first set time (T 1 ) elapses, and
wherein a variation (H) of the dryness sensing value is calculated, by the controller, for a specific duration using the sensed dryness value receive from the dryness sensor before the drying is completed.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the variation (H) of the dryness sensing value is a result obtained through {(second sensing value−first sensing value)/elapsed time}, and
wherein the second sensing value is greater than the first sensing value.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the controller determines that the laundry is tangled when it is determined that the variation (H) of the dryness sensing value is greater than a set value (h), and performs a secondary laundry untangling process of reversely rotating the drying drum for a third set time (T 3 ).

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein, when a time interval, which is taken to increase a dryness sensing value from the first sensing value to the second sensing value, is determined to be less than a set time (t), the controller determines that the laundry is tangled and performs the secondary laundry untangling process of reversely rotating the drying drum for the third set time (T 3 ).

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein, when the third set time (T 3 ) elapses, the rotational direction of the drying drum is changed and the drying drum is controlled to be forwardly-rotated.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the secondary laundry untangling process is performed only one time for the third set time (T 3 ).

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the second set time (T 2 ) is equal to the third set time (T 3 ) or
wherein one of the second set time (T 2 ) and the third set time (T 3 ) is shorter than the other of the second set time (T 2 ) and the third set time (T 3 ).

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein, when the third set time (T 3 ) elapses, the rotational direction of the drying drum is changed and the drying drum is controlled to be forwardly-rotated.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the secondary laundry untangling process is performed only one time for the third set time (T 3 ).

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the second set time (T 2 ) is equal to the third set time (T 3 ) or
wherein one of the second set time (T 2 ) and the third set time (T 3 ) is shorter than the other of the second set time (T 2 ) and the third set time (T 3 ).

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Kim Taewan

Classifications

• D06F2103/34

  Humidity · CPC title

• D06F2103/10

  expressed as capacitance or resistance · CPC title

• D06F2103/02

  Characteristics of laundry or load · CPC title

• D06F58/50 Primary

  Responding to irregular working conditions, e.g. malfunctioning of blowers · CPC title

• D06F2103/38

  Time, e.g. duration · CPC title