Clothes treating apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11718950-B2
Application number	US-202117336808-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 2, 2021
Priority date	Apr 14, 2017
Publication date	Aug 8, 2023
Grant date	Aug 8, 2023

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 chamber;
a storage tank storing water;
a water level sensor sensing a water level of the steam unit;
a water supply pump supplying water from the storage tank to the steam unit; and
a control unit programmed to control or drive 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 determining whether the water level sensor is erroneously processed, and supplies water to the steam unit when the water level sensor is determined as erroneously processed, and
wherein when the water level sensor is determined as erroneously processed, the control unit sets a first limitation driving time which is variable on the basis of a driving of at least one of the steam unit, the blowing unit, and the heat pump unit, and the control unit stops the water supply pump when the water supply pump is driven longer than the first limitation driving time.

2. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein after the steam unit is driven and when the amount of water remaining in the steam unit is determined to be equal to or greater than a predetermined value the control unit determines the water level sensor is erroneously processed.

3. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the control unit determines whether the steam unit was driven prior to the heat pump unit being driven or the steam unit was driven after the heat pump unit is driven.

4. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 3 , wherein when the control unit determined that the steam unit was driven prior to the heat pump unit being driven, the control unit determines whether the amount of water remaining in the steam unit is equal to or greater than the predetermined value.

5. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the control unit operates a heater that is provided in the steam unit, before the steam unit is driven.

6. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising:
a water supply valve provided to a flow channel connected to an inlet of the water supply pump,
wherein when the water level sensor is determined as erroneously processed the control unit controls the water supply pump and the water supply valve to supply water to the steam unit.

7. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 6 , wherein when the water level sensor is determined as erroneously processed, 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.

8. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 2 , wherein when the water level sensor is determined as erroneously processed, the control unit drives the water supply pump to supply water to the steam unit on the basis of an amount of steam generated by the steam unit.

9. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the control unit sets the 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.

10. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising:
a display unit outputting information related to a state of the clothes treating apparatus,
wherein when the level sensor is determined as erroneously processed the control unit controls the display unit to output an error message.

11. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 10 , 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 the error message.

12. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 1 , 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.

13. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the water level sensor includes:
a first level sensor; and
a second level sensor having a height that is shorter than a height of the first level sensor,
wherein the control unit determines whether the second level sensor is erroneously processed.

14. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the control unit determines that the second level sensor is erroneously processed when both of the first level sensor and the second level sensor sense water in the water supply tank after the steam unit is driven.

15. The clothes treating apparatus of claim 13 , wherein at least part of the second level sensor is provided higher than the first level sensor.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Nam Wansik
• Kim Donghyun
• Lee Jinseong

Classifications

• D06F39/40

  Steam generating arrangements · CPC title

• D06F73/02 Primary

  having one or more treatment chambers · CPC title

• D06F39/008

  Textiles & Paper · mapped topic

• D06F58/10

  Drying cabinets or drying chambers having heating or ventilating means · CPC title

• D06F33/47 Primary

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