Clothes treating apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11053636-B2
Application number	US-201815950743-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2018
Priority date	Apr 14, 2017
Publication date	Jul 6, 2021
Grant date	Jul 6, 2021

Abstract

A clothes treating apparatus includes a case with a treatment chamber for holding clothes, a steam unit supplying steam to the treatment chamber, a blowing unit drawing in air from the inside of the treatment chamber, a heat pump unit heating the air drawn in by the blowing unit and discharging the heated air to the inside of the treatment camber, and a control unit controlling the steam unit, the blowing unit, and the heat pump unit, wherein when the heat pump unit is driven after the steam unit is driven, the control unit supplies water to the steam unit after the driving of the heat pump unit terminates.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A clothes treating apparatus comprising:
a case including a treatment chamber for holding clothes;
a steam unit supplying steam to the treatment chamber;
a blowing unit drawing in air from the inside of the treatment chamber;
a heat pump unit heating the air and discharging the heated air to the inside of the treatment camber;
a water level sensor sensing a water level of the water supply tank;
a water supply pump supplying water to the steam unit; and
a control unit is programmed to control the steam unit, the blowing unit, the heat pump unit, the water level sensor, and the water supply pump,
wherein the control unit is further programmed such that if an amount of water remaining in the steam unit is determined to be equal to or greater than a predetermined value, when the heat pump unit is driven after the steam unit, the control unit supplies water to the steam unit.

2. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, after the driving of the steam unit and the driving of the heat pump unit sequentially terminate, the control unit determines the amount of water remaining in the steam unit and supplies water to the steam unit on the basis of a determining result.

3. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 2 , wherein, after the driving of the steam unit and the driving of the heat pump unit sequentially terminate, when the amount of water remaining in the steam unit is determined to be equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the control unit determines that the amount of water remaining in the steam unit was erroneously determined.

4. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 3 , wherein, when it is determined that the amount of water remaining in the steam unit was erroneously determined, the control unit supplies water to the steam unit on the basis of the amount of steam generated by the steam unit before the amount of water remaining in the steam unit was determined.

5. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising:
a water supply valve provided to a flow channel connected to an inlet of the water supply pump,
wherein when it is determined that an amount of water remaining in the steam unit was erroneously determined, the control unit controls the water supply pump and the water supply valve to supply water to the steam unit on the basis of an amount of steam generated by the steam unit before the amount of steam remaining in the steam unit was determined.

6. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 5 , wherein, when it is determined that the amount of water remaining in the steam unit was erroneously determined, the control unit opens the water supply valve, and when a preset period of time has elapsed since the water supply valve was opened, the control unit drives the water supply pump.

7. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the control unit sets a first limitation driving time on the basis of a time during which the steam unit is driven before the amount of water remaining in the steam unit was determined, and when the driving time of the water supply pump exceeds the first limitation driving time, the control unit stops the water supply pump.

8. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the steam unit includes:
a water supply tank storing water for generating steam; and
a heater heating water stored in the water supply tank.

9. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 8 , wherein
the water level sensor includes a first water level sensor and a second water level sensor, the sensors having different lengths, and
when both the first and second water level sensors determine water after the driving of the steam unit and the driving of the heat pump unit sequentially terminate, the control unit processes the determining result from the water level sensor as an error.

10. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 9 , wherein, when the determining result from the water level sensor is processed as an error, the control unit supplies water to the steam unit on the basis of an amount of steam generated by the steam unit before the amount of water remaining in the steam unit was determined.

11. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the control unit calculates the number of times the sensing result from the water level sensor is processed as an error, and when the calculated number of times exceeds a limitation number, the control unit stops an operation of the clothes treating apparatus and drains the water remaining in the water supply tank.

12. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 9 , wherein, when the draining of the water remaining in the water supply tank is completed, the control unit re-supplies a preset amount of water to the water supply tank.

13. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a display unit outputting information related to a state of the clothes treating apparatus,
wherein the control unit calculates the number of times the determining result from the water level sensor is processed as an error, and when the calculated number of times exceeds a limitation number, the control unit controls the display unit to output an error message.

14. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, after the driving of the steam unit and the driving of the heat pump unit sequentially terminate, when the amount of water remaining in the steam unit is equal to or smaller than the predetermined value, the control unit supplies water to the steam unit until the amount of water remaining in the steam unit exceeds the predetermined value.

15. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a water supply pump supplying water to the steam unit,
wherein the control unit drives the water supply pump during a preset second limitation driving time to supply water to the steam unit.

16. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the clothes treating apparatus performs:
a pre-steam operation to heat water remaining in the steam unit;
a steam operation to supply steam to the treatment chamber using heated water; and
a dry operation to supply heated air to the treatment chamber.

17. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 16 , wherein, after the dry operation is completed, the control unit determines whether the steam operation was performed before the dry operation was performed.

18. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 17 , wherein, when it is determined that the steam operation was performed before the dry operation was performed, the control unit supplies water to the steam unit.

19. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 18 , wherein, when it is determined that the steam operation was performed before the dry operation was performed, the control unit detects information related to a water level of the steam unit, and when the detected water level of the steam unit is determined to exceed a predetermined water level value, the control unit determines that the water level of the steam unit was erroneously determined.

20. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the control unit supplies water to the steam unit on the basis of an amount of steam generated by the steam operation performed before the water level of the steam unit was erroneously determined.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Nam Wansik
• Kim Donghyun
• Lee Jinseong

Classifications

• D06F35/00

  Washing machines, apparatus, or methods not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• D06F73/02 Primary

  having one or more treatment chambers · CPC title

• D06F33/47 Primary

  Responding to irregular working conditions, e.g. malfunctioning of pumps  (safety arrangements D06F37/42) · CPC title

• D06F33/74

  Responding to irregular working conditions, e.g. malfunctioning of pumps  (safety arrangements for washing machines D06F37/42) · CPC title

• D06F2103/18

  Washing liquid level · CPC title