Method and system for setting parameters of a treatment cycle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12509809-B2
Application number	US-202017771722-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 23, 2020
Priority date	Oct 25, 2019
Publication date	Dec 30, 2025
Grant date	Dec 30, 2025

Abstract

A method and system for setting parameters of a treatment cycle in a household appliance is provided. First a model establishing a relationship between sets of configuration parameter values of achievable treatment performance is obtained. Then a target treatment performance for the treatment cycle is obtained. Values for a subset of a configuration parameter are fixed, the subset comprising at most all configuration parameters but a remaining configuration parameter. Then, a value for the remaining configuration parameter is determined. For this value, a difference between the target treatment performance and an achievable treatment performance predicted by the model using said value is below a predetermined threshold. Finally, the parameters of the treatment cycle, which can be setting parameters of the treatment cycle in the household appliance are output. The parameters comprise the determined value and the fixed values.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method for setting parameters of a treatment cycle in a household appliance and running the treatment cycle on the household appliance, the method comprising:
obtaining, via a data-processing device, a model establishing a relationship between different sets of reference configuration parameters of treatment cycles and values of achievable treatment performance; setting, via the data-processing device, a target treatment performance for the treatment cycle; obtaining, via the data-processing device, fixed values for a subset of the reference configuration parameters of the treatment cycle, the subset of the reference configuration parameters comprising at most all of the reference configuration parameters but at least one remaining reference configuration parameter from all of the reference configuration parameters; determining, via the data-processing device, a value for the at least one remaining reference configuration parameter for which a difference between the target treatment performance and a predicted achievable treatment performance is below a predetermined threshold, the predicted achievable treatment performance being predicted by the model using the determined value for the at least one remaining reference configuration parameter; outputting, via the data-processing device, the parameters of the treatment cycle to the household appliance, the parameters of the treatment cycle being usable as setting parameters of the treatment cycle in the household appliance, the setting parameters of the treatment cycle comprising the determined value for the at least one remaining reference configuration parameter, and the fixed values for the subset of the reference configuration parameters; and running, via the data-processing device, the treatment cycle on the household appliance using the setting parameters of the treatment cycle, wherein: the model is in the form of a multidimensional function having at least two variables as inputs, the function comprising at least one term that is a multiplication product of a plurality of variables selected from the at least two variables; and the at least two variables as inputs are selected from among: a load of items introduced inside the household appliance; a temperature inside a treatment chamber of the household appliance; a number of turns per second of a rotating element of the household appliance; a value of a water hardness of water used by the household appliance during the treatment cycle; a value of dirtiness of soilings on items to be treated; a duration of the treatment cycle; and an amount of a type of cleaning agent.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the multidimensional function is a polynomial function.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the model is determined using an analysis of variance approach.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the achievable treatment performance comprises at least one among:
a cleanliness value of the treatment cycle; a number of soilings remaining on items to be treated; a value indicative of an amount of water used during the treatment cycle; a value indicative of an amount of energy consumed during the treatment cycle; a value indicative of an greenhouse gas emissions generated during the treatment cycle; a duration of the treatment cycle; a value indicative of noise generated by the household appliance during the treatment cycle; a temperature reached in the treatment chamber of the household appliance during the treatment cycle; and a number of rotations per minute of a drum of the household appliance during the treatment cycle.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one remaining reference configuration parameter comprises at least two remaining reference configuration parameters, the method further comprising:
determining, based on the model, one selected reference configuration parameter from the at least two remaining reference configuration parameters, the at least two remaining reference configuration parameters having values for which the difference between the target treatment performance and a second predicted achievable treatment performance is minimized, the second predicted achievable treatment performance being predicted by the model using the values for the at least two remaining reference configuration parameters.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a group of values for the at least one remaining reference configuration parameter for which a difference between the target treatment performance and a second predicted achievable treatment performance is below a second predetermined threshold, the second predicted achievable treatment performance being predicted by the model using the determined group of values for the at least one remaining reference configuration parameter; outputting a list of suggested reference configuration parameters of the treatment cycle, the suggested reference configuration parameters of the treatment cycle being suggested setting parameters of the treatment cycle in the household appliance using the determined group of values for the at least one remaining reference configuration parameter and the fixed values for the subset of the reference configuration parameters.

7 . A method for setting parameters of a treatment cycle in a household appliance and running the treatment cycle on the household appliance, the method comprising:
obtaining, via a data-processing device, a model establishing a relationship between different sets of reference configuration parameters of treatment cycles and values of achievable treatment performance; setting, via the data-processing device, a target treatment performance for the treatment cycle; obtaining, via the data-processing device, fixed values for a subset of the reference configuration parameters of the treatment cycle, the subset of the reference configuration parameters comprising at most all of the reference configuration parameters but at least one remaining reference configuration parameter from all of the reference configuration parameters; determining, via the data-processing device, a value for the at least one remaining reference configuration parameter for which a difference between the target treatment performance and a predicted achievable treatment performance is below a predetermined threshold, the predicted achievable treatment performance being predicted by the model using the determined value for the at least one remaining reference configuration parameter; outputting, via the data-processing device, the parameters of the treatment cycle to the household appliance, the parameters of the treatment cycle being usable as setting parameters of the treatment cycle in the household appliance, the setting parameters of the treatment cycle comprising the determined value for the at least one remaining reference configuration parameter, and the fixed values for the subset of the reference configuration parameters; and running, via the data-processing device, the treatment cycle on the household appliance using the setting parameters of the treatment cycle, wherein: the model is in the form of a multidimensional function having at least four variables as inputs, the function comprising at least one term that is a multiplication product of a plurality of variables selected from the at least four variables; and the at least four variables as inputs are selected from among: a load of items introduced inside the household appliance; a temperature inside a treatment chamber of the household appliance; a number of turns per second of a rotating element of the household appliance; a value of a water hardness of water used by the household appliance during the treatment cycle;

Assignees

• Henkel Ag & Co Kgaa

Inventors

• Kessler Arnd
• Hardacker Ingo
• Barackov Slavoljub
• Juckel Thomas
• Dietrich Annette

Classifications

• D06F2105/02

  Water supply · CPC title

• D06F34/24

  Liquid temperature · CPC title

• D06F2105/56

  Remaining operation time; Remaining operational cycles · CPC title

• D06F2103/22

  Content of detergent or additives · CPC title

• D06F2103/24

  Spin speed; Drum movements · CPC title