Household cleaning appliance with a dispensing system operable between a single use dispensing system and a bulk dispensing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11035070-B2
Application number	US-201816110614-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2018
Priority date	Jul 1, 2008
Publication date	Jun 15, 2021
Grant date	Jun 15, 2021

Abstract

A household cleaning appliance having a rotatable drum located within the interior and defining a treating chamber for receiving an article for treating and wherein a rotational axis of the drum is vertical and a method for operating the household cleaning appliance. The household cleaning appliance includes a dispensing system that includes and can be operated as a non-bulk dispensing system or as a bulk dispensing system in a household cleaning appliance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. In a laundry treating appliance configured to execute a cleaning cycle on a laundry article, having at least one non-bulk laundry aid dispensing chamber fluidly coupled to a treating chamber, wherein the at least one non-bulk laundry aid dispensing chamber stores a single dose of treating chemistry that is dispensed to the treating chamber in total as part of execution of the cleaning cycle, a method comprising:
adding bulk dispensing functionality to at least one non-bulk laundry aid dispensing chamber by fluidly coupling a liquid bulk dispensing cartridge to the at least one non-bulk laundry aid dispensing chamber, where the liquid bulk dispensing cartridge is configured to contain multiple doses of liquid treating chemistry and the liquid bulk dispensing cartridge is located outside the at least one non-bulk laundry aid dispensing chamber; and
metering, via a treating chemistry meter, at least one of the multiple doses of liquid treating chemistry into the non-bulk laundry aid dispensing chamber such that the metered liquid is dispensed to the treating chamber, via the non-bulk laundry aid dispensing chamber as part of the execution of the cleaning to provide the non-bulk laundry aid dispensing chamber with the bulk dispensing functionality.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the fluidly coupling further comprises inserting the liquid bulk dispensing cartridge in a drawer of the laundry treating appliance and closing of the drawer effects the fluidly coupling.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein the closing of the drawer fluidly couples the liquid bulk dispensing cartridge to the treating chemistry meter which is fluidly coupled to the at least one non-bulk laundry aid dispensing chamber.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein the metering further comprises dispensing the liquid treating chemistry into a conduit fluidly coupled to the treating chamber.

5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising flushing the conduit to dispense the metered liquid treating chemistry into the treating chamber.

6. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising flushing the at least one non-bulk laundry aid dispensing chamber to dispense the metered liquid treating chemistry into the treating chamber.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the metering further comprises dispensing the liquid treating chemistry into a conduit fluidly coupled to the treating chamber.

8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising flushing the conduit to dispense the metered liquid treating chemistry into the treating chamber.

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising flushing the at least one non-bulk laundry aid dispensing chamber to dispense the metered liquid treating chemistry into the treating chamber.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the laundry treating appliance further comprises an access panel moveable between an opened position, where the at least one non-bulk laundry aid compartment is accessible, and a closed position, where the at least one non-bulk laundry aid compartment is inaccessible by a user.

11. In a laundry treating appliance configured to execute a cleaning cycle on a laundry article, having a cabinet defining an interior, a rotatable drum located within the interior and defining a treating chamber for receiving an article for treating and a dispensing system having a single use dispensing chamber located within the cabinet, wherein the single use dispensing chamber is fluidly coupled to the treating chamber, and wherein the single use dispensing chamber stores a single dose of treating chemistry that the dispensing system dispenses to the treating chamber as part of execution of the cleaning cycle, a method comprising:
adding bulk dispensing functionality to the single use dispensing chamber by fluidly coupling a liquid bulk dispensing cartridge to the single use dispensing chamber and metering, via a treating chemistry meter, liquid treating chemistry from the liquid bulk dispensing cartridge into the single use dispensing chamber, where the liquid bulk dispensing cartridge is configured to contain multiple doses of liquid treating chemistry and the liquid bulk dispensing cartridge is located outside the single use dispensing chamber, and wherein the metering via the treating chemistry meter comprising metering at least one of the multiple doses of liquid treating chemistry into the single use dispensing chamber such that the metered liquid is dispensed to the treating chamber via the single use dispensing chamber as part of the execution of the cleaning cycle to provide the single use dispensing chamber with the bulk dispensing functionality.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein the fluidly coupling further comprises inserting the liquid bulk dispensing cartridge in a drawer of the laundry treating appliance and closing of the drawer fluidly couples the liquid bulk dispensing cartridge to the treating chemistry meter which is fluidly coupled to the single use dispensing chamber.

13. The method according to claim 12 wherein the metering further comprises dispensing the liquid treating chemistry into a conduit fluidly coupled to the treating chamber.

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein the conduit is between the treating chemistry meter and the single use dispensing chamber.

15. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising flushing the conduit to dispense the metered liquid treating chemistry into the treating chamber.

16. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising flushing the single use dispensing chamber to dispense the metered liquid treating chemistry into the treating chamber.

17. The method according to claim 11 wherein the laundry treating appliance further comprises an access panel moveable between an opened position, where the single use dispensing chamber is accessible, and a closed position, where the single use dispensing chamber is inaccessible by a user.

18. The method according to claim 11 wherein a rotational axis of the rotatable drum is vertical.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Doyle Colleen M
• Hendrickson Michael S
• Luckman Joel A
• Adams Joseph W
• Gallagher Eric A
• Riutta Erik D
• Singhal Ajay
• Stormo Guy

Classifications

• D06F39/02

  Devices for adding soap or other washing agents · CPC title

• D06F35/006

  for washing or rinsing only · CPC title

• D06F33/00

  Control of operations performed in washing machines or washer-dryers  (D06F31/00 takes precedence; details of control systems therefor D06F34/00; control of operations performed in domestic laundry dryers D06F58/32) · CPC title

• D06F2105/42

  Detergent or additive supply · CPC title

• D06F33/37

  of metering of detergents or additives · CPC title