Laundry treating appliance and method of operation for a laundry treating appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11655577-B2
Application number	US-202117546471-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2021
Priority date	Jul 8, 2013
Publication date	May 23, 2023
Grant date	May 23, 2023

Abstract

A laundry treating appliance and a method operating a laundry treating appliance having a dye sensor configured to output a signal indicative of the amount of dye within liquid in the treating chamber, a controller having a memory in which is stored a set of executable instructions including at least one user-selectable cycle of operation, and a user interface operably coupled with the controller and providing an input and output function for the controller and provide information related to a dye release.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laundry treating appliance, comprising:
a treating chamber;
a dye sensor configured to provide an output, the output indicative of an amount of dye within liquid in the treating chamber;
a controller having a memory in which is stored a set of executable instructions comprising a treating cycle of operation; and
a user interface operably coupled with the controller and providing an input and output function for the controller; and
wherein the controller is configured to receive the output from the dye sensor and determining a dye has been released from the laundry within the treating chamber to define a determined dye release and the controller is further configured to control the user interface to indicate, on the user interface, information related to the determined dye release, where the information is separate from an alert that the released dye has been determined, and where the information comprises educational information to prevent future dye release or information regarding at least one consequence of at least one action taken by the laundry treating appliance including at least one of: that the treating cycle of operation used more water, that the treating cycle of operation was less energy efficient, that the treating cycle of operation time will be longer, or that there was reduced performance during the treating cycle of operation.

2. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the user interface comprises a LCD.

3. The laundry treating appliance of claim 2 wherein the LCD provides a user with multiple screens of information related to the information.

4. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to initiate an audible alert that the released dye has been determined.

5. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to send a text message to a user, send an electronic mail to a user, or provide audio information to a user.

6. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the information related to the determined dye release is regarding the at least one action taken by the laundry treating appliance and comprises text indicating information including at least one of: draining of liquid from the treating chamber, stopping of the treating cycle of operation, altering of a tumble pattern, adding of cool water to the treating chamber, or adding a rinse or a spin phase.

7. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to determine an amount of dye color in liquid within the treating chamber.

8. The laundry treating appliance of claim 7 wherein the controller is further configured to determine the dye release when the determined amount of dye color satisfies a threshold.

9. The laundry treating appliance of claim 8 wherein the controller is further configured to indicate on the user interface when a dye release event has been determined.

10. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to initiate at least one action to alter the treating cycle of operation to reduce an amount of dye color in treating liquid.

11. The laundry treating appliance of claim 10 wherein the at least one action comprises draining of treating liquid from the treating chamber, stopping of the treating cycle of operation, altering a tumble pattern, adding cool water to the treating chamber, adding a rinse or adding a spin phase.

12. The laundry treating appliance of claim 10 wherein the at least one action taken comprises the controller altering the treating cycle of operation to drain treating liquid when the released dye has been determined and repeat a wash phase or repeat a rinse phase of the treating cycle of operation.

13. The laundry treating appliance of claim 10 wherein the information regarding the at least one consequence includes that the treating cycle of operation utilized more water and that the cycle length is longer.

14. The laundry treating appliance of claim 10 wherein the at least one action taken further comprises the controller modifying a parameter of the treating cycle of operation including at least one of: a temperature of the treating liquid, a pH of the treating liquid, or an amount of a treating agent to add.

15. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the educational information comprises at least one of: information on proper laundry article separation, information related to label care information, or information on selection of a cycle parameter to reduce dye release.

16. A laundry treating appliance, comprising:
a treating chamber;
a controller having a memory in which is stored a set of executable instructions comprising a treating cycle of operation; and
a user interface operably coupled with the controller and providing an input and output function for the controller; and
wherein the controller is configured to receive an output from a dye sensor indicative of an amount of dye or a presence of dye within liquid in the treating chamber and the controller is configured to determine therefrom that a dye has been released from laundry within the treating chamber to define a determined dye release and the controller is further configured to control the user interface to indicate, on the user interface, information related to the determined dye release, where the information is separate from an alert that the released dye has been determined, and where the information comprises educational information to prevent future dye release or information regarding at least one consequence of at least one action taken by the laundry treating appliance including at least one of: that the treating cycle of operation used more water, that the treating cycle of operation was less energy efficient, that the treating cycle of operation time will be longer, or that there was reduced performance during the treating cycle of operation.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Ashrafzadeh Farhad
• Civanelli Claudio
• Ihne Sarah E

Classifications

• D06F2103/18

  Washing liquid level · CPC title

• D06F2105/58

  Indications or alarms to the control system or to the user · CPC title

• D06F33/37 Primary

  of metering of detergents or additives · CPC title

• D06F2105/42

  Detergent or additive supply · CPC title

• D06F2105/60

  Audible signals · CPC title