Method for operating a water-bearing household appliance and water-bearing household appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12419487-B2
Application number	US-202017608436-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 8, 2020
Priority date	Jun 11, 2019
Publication date	Sep 23, 2025
Grant date	Sep 23, 2025

Abstract

A method for operating a water-bearing household appliance for treating articles, in particular a dishwasher or washing machine, the water-bearing household appliance including a treatment chamber for treating the articles with a washing liquor and a dosing system for dispensing a dosing-amount of detergent provided by a dosing unit, the method comprising: selecting one of a plurality of different treatment cycles, controlling the water-bearing household appliance to perform the selected treatment cycle, actuating the dosing system to dispense the dosing-amount of detergent according to the selected treatment cycle, detecting a sensor signal of the dispensed dosing-amount of detergent, adjusting the selected treatment cycle as a function of the detected sensor signal, and controlling the water-bearing household appliance to perform the adjusted treatment cycle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for operating a water-bearing household appliance for treating articles, the water-bearing household appliance comprising:
a treatment chamber for treating the articles with a washing liquor; and
a dosing system for dispensing a dosing-amount of detergent provided by a dosing unit, the method comprising:
selecting one of a plurality of different treatment cycles,
controlling the water-bearing household appliance to perform the selected treatment cycle;
actuating the dosing system to dispense the dosing-amount of detergent according to the selected treatment cycle,
detecting a sensor signal generated by an impact of the dispensed dosing-amount of detergent after the dispensed dosing-amount of detergent is released from the dosing system, wherein the impact of the dispensed dosing-amount of detergent that generates the sensor signal is detected outside of the dosing unit, and wherein the sensor signal is a mechanical signal that is generated by an impact of the dosing-amount of detergent hitting a deflecting element after being dispensed and before being added to the washing liquor;
adjusting the selected treatment cycle as a function of the detected sensor signal; and
controlling the water-bearing household appliance to perform the adjusted treatment cycle.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein one or both the detected sensor signal and/or an analyzed sensor signal obtained by analyzing the detected sensor signal is compared with a pre-defined expected sensor signal and an error signal is generated as a function of a result of the comparison.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the pre-defined expected signal is one of a stored signal selected from a plurality of stored signals stored in a signal storage, a calculated signal calculated at a dispense-timing as a function of current operating parameters of the water-bearing household appliance or a determined signal determined from a plurality of historical detected sensor signals.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein one of a plurality of dosing paths is selected as a function of the detected sensor signal, the analyzed sensor signal and/or the error signal and a setting element is set for routing the dosing-amount of detergent to the selected dosing path.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
digitizing the detected sensor signal, and
processing the digitized sensor signal by means of digital signal processing techniques.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of adjusting the selected treatment cycle includes at least one of stopping the treatment cycle, shutting down the water-bearing household appliance, blocking the dispensed dosing-amount of detergent, selecting a different treatment cycle from the plurality and/or adjusting one or several parameters of the selected treatment cycle, in particular of a subsequent step of the selected treatment cycle.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein adjusting one or several parameters of the selected treatment cycle includes at least one of adding a dispense command to the selected treatment cycle, adjusting a timing of a dispense command of the selected treatment cycle, adjusting a dosing-amount of detergent of a dispense command, adjusting a temperature profile of the washing liquor over the course of the selected treatment cycle, adjusting a volume of washing liquor of a sub-step of the selected treatment cycle and/or adjusting timings of a transition from a sub-step to a subsequent sub-step of the selected treatment cycle.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor signal is produced by a mechanical sensing unit within the treatment chamber or within a dosing channel that connects the dosing system to the treatment chamber.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor signal is produced by a piezoelectric sensing unit present within the treatment chamber of the water-bearing household appliance.

Assignees

• Reckitt Benckiser Brands Ltd
• Bsh Hausgeraete Gmbh

Inventors

• Schultz Jakob
• Schiele Alexander
• Köhler Daniel
• Fletcher Henry Matthew Lawrence
• Burrows Matthew
• Gupta Siddharth

Classifications

• D06F39/022

  in a liquid state (D06F39/024 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A47L2501/07

  Consumable products, e.g. detergent, rinse aids or salt · CPC title

• A47L15/0055

  Metering or indication of used products, e.g. type or quantity of detergent, rinse aid or salt; for measuring or controlling the product concentration · CPC title

• D06F34/14

  Arrangements for detecting or measuring specific parameters · CPC title

• D06F33/37

  of metering of detergents or additives · CPC title