Methods for determining and performing conditioning operations within a laundry treatment appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12258701-B2
Application number	US-202117513136-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 28, 2021
Priority date	Oct 28, 2021
Publication date	Mar 25, 2025
Grant date	Mar 25, 2025

Abstract

A method of operating a dryer appliance includes predicting a removal point at which a laundry load will be removed from the tub of the dryer, the removal point being a certain amount of time after the completion of a main drying operation, determining a length of time required to perform a conditioning operation on the laundry load, determining a start time for the conditioning operation, and implementing a responsive action at the start time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a laundry treatment appliance, the laundry treatment appliance comprising a tub provided within a cabinet, the method comprising:
performing a drying operation on a laundry load within the laundry treatment appliance;
predicting a removal point at which the laundry load will be removed from the tub;
determining a conditioning time of the laundry load upon completion of the drying operation, the conditioning time being a length of time required to perform a conditioning operation;
determining a start time of the conditioning operation by subtracting the conditioning time from the removal point; and
implementing a responsive action at the determined start time.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining one or more properties relating to the laundry load upon completion of the drying operation; wherein the one or more properties comprise a temperature within the tub upon completion of the drying operation, a time of day, a size of the laundry load, and a type of the laundry load.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining an idle time of the laundry load, the idle time being an amount of time between a completion of the drying operation and the start time, wherein the idle time is predicted according to heuristic data.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining a load conditioning operation time, the load conditioning operation time being an amount of time required to perform a load conditioning operation.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the responsive action comprises performing the load conditioning operation.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the responsive action comprises sending, via a remote connection, a prompt to a remote device of a user, the prompt comprising a request to perform the load conditioning operation.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the load conditioning operation comprises at least one of a warming operation to supply heated air to the laundry load and a scent operation to supply a predetermined scent to the laundry load.

8. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining, via a temperature sensor provided within the tub, that a temperature within the tub is below a predetermined temperature limit; and
implementing the responsive action in response to determining that the temperature within the tub is below the predetermined temperature limit.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the responsive action comprises performing the conditioning operation.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the responsive action comprises sending, via a remote connection, a prompt to a remote device of a user, the prompt comprising a request to perform the conditioning operation.

Assignees

• Haier Us Appliance Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Scheckelhoff Ryan James
• Reeves Joshua

Classifications

• D06F2103/04

  Quantity, e.g. weight or variation of weight · CPC title

• D06F2103/38

  Time, e.g. duration · CPC title

• D06F2103/32

  Temperature · CPC title

• D06F2103/06

  Type or material · CPC title

• D06F2105/56

  Remaining operation time; Remaining operational cycles · CPC title