Laundry machine having induction heater and control method of the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11739470-B2
Application number	US-202217679777-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2022
Priority date	Dec 13, 2018
Publication date	Aug 29, 2023
Grant date	Aug 29, 2023

Abstract

A laundry machine includes a tub, a drum that is rotatably mounted in the tub, and an induction heater that is provided in the tub and configured to heat an outer circumferential surface of the drum. The laundry machine also includes a motor that is configured to rotate the drum, a user interface comprising a course selection unit that is configured to allow a user to select a course, and an option selection unit that is configured to allow the user to select option information that is related with the course selected. The laundry machine further includes a processor that is configured to control the drum rotation speed and the induction heater. The course selection unit comprises a wash-drying course that performs heat-spinning by default, the heat-spinning being configured to heat the drum by driving the induction heater when the drum rotates.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laundry machine comprising:
a tub;
a drum that is rotatably mounted in the tub and that is configured to receive laundry;
an induction heater that is located on the tub and that is configured to heat the drum;
a motor that is configured to rotatably drive the drum; and
a user interface comprising:
a course selection unit that is configured to select one of a plurality of courses,
an option selection unit that is configured to select an option that corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of courses, and
a processor that is configured to control a spinning speed of the drum and that is configured to drive the induction heater,

wherein the processor is configured to determine whether to perform a heat-spinning operation or a normal spinning operation based on a selected course, the heat-spinning operation being configured to perform spinning and heating the drum and the normal spinning operation being configured to perform spinning the drum without heating,
wherein the processor is configured to, based on the heat-spinning operation being performed, calculate an instantaneous power of the motor and determine an output of the induction heater differently based on the calculated instantaneous power of the motor and a predefined upper power limit of the laundry machine.

2. The laundry machine of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to sequentially perform a washing, a rinsing, and the spinning, and
wherein the processor is configured to perform, during drum spinning, the normal spinning operation or the heat-spinning operation based on the determination.

3. The laundry machine of claim 2 , wherein the spinning comprises an initial spinning and a late spinning, and
wherein the initial spinning is a process of performing laundry disentangling that includes tumble driving in which the drum is repeatedly rotated in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions and the late spinning is a process of rotating the drum in one direction at a spinning revolutions per minute (RPM).

4. The laundry machine of claim 3 , wherein the processor is configured to, based on the heat-spinning operation being performed, control the induction heater to heat the drum during at least one of the initial spinning or the late spinning.

5. The laundry machine of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether to perform drying after the spinning and perform the drying when performing of the drying is determined.

6. The laundry machine of claim 5 , wherein the processor is configured to, based on a determination that the drying is to be performed determine to perform the heat-spinning operation during the spinning.

7. The laundry machine of claim 2 , wherein the processor presets a target spinning speed of the drum during the spinning based on the selected course.

8. The laundry machine of claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to, based on the heat-spinning operation being performed during the spinning, set a heating target temperature inside the tub based on the target spinning speed of the drum,
wherein, based on the target spinning speed of the drum decreasing, the heating target temperature increases, and
wherein, based on the target spinning speed of the drum increasing, the heating target temperature decreases.

9. The laundry machine of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of courses include a wash-drying course, and
wherein the processor is configured to, based on the wash-drying course being selected, sequentially perform the washing, the rinsing, the spinning and the drying.

10. The laundry machine of claim 1 , further comprising:
a temperature sensor that is configured to sense a temperature inside the tub and that is disposed at a lower side of the tub.

11. The laundry machine of claim 1 , wherein the upper power limit is determined by subtracting a preset margin from allowable power of the laundry machine.

12. A method of an operation of a laundry machine comprising a tub, a drum, an induction heater, a motor, a user interface comprising a course selection unit and an option selection unit, and a processor, the method comprising:
obtaining a course selected among a plurality of courses;
determining whether to perform a heat-spinning operation ora normal spinning operation based on the selected course, wherein the heat-spinning operation being configured to perform spinning and heating the drum and the normal spinning operation being configured to perform the spinning the drum without heating the drum; and
based on the heat-spinning operation being performed:
calculating an instantaneous power of the motor for driving the drum, and
determining an output of the induction heater differently based on the calculated instantaneous power of the motor and an upper power limit of the laundry machine.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
performing washing;
performing rinsing; and
performing spinning that includes performing the normal spinning operation or the heat-spinning operation based on the determination.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein performing the spinning comprises performing an initial spinning and a late spinning, and
wherein the initial spinning is a process of performing laundry disentangling that includes tumble driving in which the drum is repeatedly rotated in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, and the late spinning is a process of rotating the drum in one direction at a spinning revolutions per minute (RPM).

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein performing the heat-spinning comprises heating the drum during at least one of performing the initial spinning or performing the late spinning.

16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining whether to perform drying after the spinning; and
performing the drying based on the determination.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein, based on a determination that drying is to be performed, determining whether to perform a heat-spinning operation or a normal spinning operation during the heat-spinning operation.

18. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
presetting a target spinning speed of the drum during the spinning based on the selected course.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
setting, based on a determination that the heat-spinning operation is to be performed during the spinning, a heating target temperature inside the tub based on the target spinning speed of the drum,
wherein, based on the target spinning speed of the drum decreasing, the heating target temperature increases, and
wherein, based on the target spinning speed of the drum increasing, the heating target temperature decreases.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of courses include a wash-drying course which sequentially performs the washing, the rinsing, the spinning and the drying, and
wherein obtaining a course selected among the plurality of courses includes obtaining the wash-drying course.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Lee Youngjoo
• Hong Sangwook

Classifications

• D06F25/00 Primary

  Washing machines with receptacles, e.g. perforated, having a rotary movement, e.g. oscillatory movement, the receptacle serving both for washing and for centrifugally separating water from the laundry and having further drying means, e.g. using hot air  (control of washing or of washing and drying D06F33/00, D06F34/00; domestic laundry dryers D06F58/00) · CPC title

• D06F33/52

  Control of the operational steps, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending on the condition of the laundry · CPC title

• D06F33/60

  of centrifugal separation of water from the laundry · CPC title

• D06F34/28 Primary

  Arrangements for program selection, e.g. control panels therefor; Arrangements for indicating program parameters, e.g. the selected program or its progress · CPC title

• D06F39/04 Primary

  Heating arrangements · CPC title