Washing machine and method of controlling the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11261552-B2
Application number	US-201916422576-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 24, 2019
Priority date	Mar 31, 2015
Publication date	Mar 1, 2022
Grant date	Mar 1, 2022

Abstract

Provided is a washing machine that includes a body which includes an opening, an auxiliary washing unit which forms a washing space with an open top when being mounted on the body, a water supply apparatus which supplies warm water to the washing space, and a control unit which controls distribution of cold water and hot water of the water supply apparatus to supply the warm water to the washing space.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A washing machine comprising:
a body having an opening;
a door assembly, installed above the body, including an auxiliary washing unit and a door, wherein the auxiliary washing unit and the door are each pivotable to provide:
a first configuration of the door assembly where the auxiliary washing unit is mounted on the body, positioned in the opening, and forms a washing space with an open top, and the door is opened to allow laundry to be placed in the washing space;

a water supply apparatus which mixes hot water and cold water to provide warm water that is suppliable by the water supply apparatus to the washing space when the door assembly is in the first configuration;
a temperature sensor which measures a temperature of the warm water before being supplied to the washing space; and
a control unit which controls distribution of the cold water and the hot water, based on the temperature measured by the temperature sensor.

2. The washing machine of claim 1 , wherein the water supply apparatus comprises:
a hot water distributing device which distributes the hot water which flows in from outside of the washing machine; and
a cold water distributing device which distributes the cold water which flows in from the outside of the washing machine.

3. The washing machine of claim 2 , wherein the water supply apparatus further comprises a mixing device which generates the warm water by mixing the hot water distributed by the hot water distributing device with the cold water distributed by the cold water distributing device.

4. The washing machine of claim 1 , wherein the control unit stops supplying the hot water when the temperature of the warm water measured by the temperature sensor is a preset first critical temperature or higher.

5. The washing machine of claim 4 , wherein the control unit resumes supplying the hot water when the temperature of the warm water measured by the temperature sensor is a preset second critical temperature or lower.

6. The washing machine of claim 2 , wherein the control unit controls the temperature of warm water by controlling distribution of the hot water by the hot water distributing device.

7. The washing machine of claim 6 , wherein
the hot water distributing device comprises at least one hot water valve to distribute the hot water, and
the control unit controls the temperature of the warm water by controlling opening and closing of the hot water distributing device.

8. The washing machine of claim 6 , wherein
the hot water distributing device comprises a proportional control valve to distribute the hot water, and
the control unit controls the temperature of the warm water by controlling an opening degree of the proportional control valve.

9. The washing machine of claim 3 , wherein the control unit controls the temperature of the warm water by controlling the distribution of the cold water by the cold water distributing device.

10. The washing machine of claim 1 , wherein the water supply apparatus is located on a side of the door assembly.

11. The washing machine of claim 10 , wherein the water supply apparatus is located at one of left, right, front, and rear of the door assembly.

12. The washing machine of claim 10 , the water supply apparatus includes components located at the left, the right, the front, and the rear of the door assembly.

13. The washing machine of claim 1 , wherein
the water supply apparatus includes an outlet that is lower than the door through which the warm water is supplied to the washing space, and is above an upper edge of the auxiliary washing unit when the door assembly is in the first configuration.

14. The washing machine of claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary washing unit and the door are each pivotable to further provide:
a second configuration of the door assembly where the auxiliary washing unit is mounted on the body and positioned in the opening, and the door is closed over the auxiliary washing unit, and
a third configuration of the door assembly where the door is opened, and the auxiliary washing unit is not mounted on the body, to allow laundry to be received in the washing machine through the opening.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Chang Hoo
• Back Dong-Il
• Kim Min-Hyung

Classifications

• D06F33/34 Primary

  of water filling · CPC title

• D06F33/00 Primary

  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

• D06F31/00

  Washing installations comprising an assembly of several washing machines or washing units, e.g. continuous flow assemblies · CPC title

• D06F23/04

  and rotating or oscillating about a vertical axis · CPC title

• D06F2105/04

  from separate hot and cold water inlets · CPC title