Drying machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016265153-A1
Application number	US-201615064690-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 9, 2016
Priority date	Mar 9, 2015
Publication date	Sep 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A drying machine may include a drum configured to accommodate clothes, a fan motor configured to generate a flow of air, a heater configured to heat the air, a modulator configured to adjust a quantity of heat provided by the heater, and a user interface configured to provide a manager menu to correct a difference between a current quantity of heat caused by adjustment of the modulator and a target quantity of heat generated by variation in the modulator, where the modulator may include a device configured to manually set a maximum pressure and a minimum pressure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of controlling a drying machine, comprising:
a first load decision step for determining, based on variation in a temperature of air discharged from a drum, whether a load of clothes accommodated in the drum is a small load, a medium load, or a large load, wherein the variation in temperature of air is sensed by a temperature sensor and hot air is supplied to the drum by driving of the drum, a heater, and a fan motor, a second load decision step for determining whether the load is a small load or an extremely small load using a dryness sensor provided in the drum while the supply of hot air and the driving of the drum has been stopped, the second load decision step being selectively performed after the first load decision step based on the load being determined to be the small load in the first load decision step; and a drying step for performing drying based on the load determined in the first load decision step or the second decision step.

2 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein, during the drying step, based on the load being determined to be large, a supply target quantity of heat of the heater and a target RPM value of the fan motor are controlled to be greater than the quantity of heat of the heater and a target RPM value of the fan motor based on the load being determined to be small,
wherein the supply quantity of heat of the heater and the RPM value of the fan motor are controlled to be constant in the drying step based on the load being determined to be a small load and an extremely small load, and wherein the supply quantity of heat of the heater and the RPM value of the fan motor are controlled to vary in the drying step based on the load being determined to be a medium or large load.

3 . The control method according to claim 1 , further comprising an initial temperature sensing step for sensing a temperature using the temperature sensor before the first load decision step,
wherein the driving of the heater is stopped and the fan motor and the drum are driven in the initial temperature sensing step.

4 . The control method according to claim 3 , wherein the first load decision step is performed based on the initial sensed temperature in the initial temperature sensing step being a predetermined temperature or lower than the predetermined temperature,
wherein the initial temperature sensing step is repeated for a predetermined time based on the initial sensed temperature in the initial temperature sensing step exceeding the predetermined temperature, and wherein, while the initial temperature sensing step is repeated, the first load decision step is performed based on the initial sensed temperature being the predetermined temperature or lower, and the first load decision step is not performed and the second load decision step is performed based on the initial temperature exceeding the predetermined temperature.

5 . The control method according to claim 4 , wherein the initial temperature sensed during first load decision step is categorized into any of a plurality of temperature ranges.

6 . The control method according to claim 5 , wherein, in the first load decision step the load is determined to be the medium or large load based on the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor for a first set time being lower than a first reference temperature, which is higher than an upper limit temperature of the corresponding temperature range, and the second load decision step is omitted,
wherein, based on the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor within the first set time being the first reference temperature or higher, the control method further comprises a step of calculating a rate of increase of the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor from a point in time to determine whether the load is the small load or is the medium or large load, wherein, based on the rate of increase of the temperature being determined to be high or low based on whether the sensed temperature reaches a second reference temperature, which is higher than the first reference temperature, within a second set time, and wherein the load is determined to be the small load based on the rate of increase of the temperature being higher than a threshold temperature, and the load is determined to be the medium or large load based on the rate of increase of the temperature being lower than the threshold temperature.

7 . The control method according to claim 6 , wherein, in each temperature range, a difference between the second reference temperature and the first reference temperature is reduced as the temperature range is increased, and the second set time is a set time period.

8 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein the first load decision step includes a RPM setting step for setting the RPM of the fan motor to an increased value.

9 . The control method according to claim 8 , wherein the RPM stetting step is performed to increase the RPM in a stepwise manner.

10 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein the supply quantity of heat of the heater is controlled to be maximum in the first load decision step.

11 . The control method according to claim 1 , further comprising a duct blockage sensing step for sensing duct blockage using an airflow switch, wherein the duct blockage sensing step is eliminated in the first load decision step and the second load decision step, and is performed in performing the drying step.

12 . The control method according to claim 1 , further comprising a cooling step for supplying cold air into the drum by driving the drum and the fan motor after the drying step ends, and
wherein the fan motor is controlled to be operated at a previous RPM in cooling step.

13 . A drying machine comprising:
a drum configured to accommodate clothes; a fan motor configured to generate a flow of air, a heater configured to heat the air; a modulator configured to adjust a quantity of heat provided by the heater; and a user interface configured to provide a manager menu to correct a difference between a current quantity of heat caused by adjustment of the modulator and a target quantity of heat generated by variation in the modulator, wherein the modulator includes a device configured to manually set a maximum pressure and a minimum pressure.

14 . The drying machine according to claim 13 , wherein the heater is a gas burner, and the modulator is a gas valve,
wherein the modulator is configured to adjust an opening rate to adjust a pressure of gas supplied to the gas burner, and wherein the modulator is configured to adjust a voltage or current value applied to either end of a connection terminal to adjust the pressure of gas between the maximum pressure and the minimum pressure.

15 . The drying machine according to claim 13 further comprising a controller configured to perform control to apply a voltage or current value, corresponding to the target quantity of heat to the modulator based on a current dry state,
wherein the correction of the difference is performed by correcting a lookup table including a combination of the target quantity of values and the voltage or current value corresponding to the target quantity of heat, and
wherein the correction of the difference is performed as the voltage or current value corresponding to the target quantity of heat is reduced by a predetermined decrement based on the opening rate of the modulator being greater than a reference value, and as the voltage or current value corresponding to the target quantity of heat is increased by a predetermined increment based on the open

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• KIM Chungil
• Heo Namyeong

Classifications

• D06F2103/08

  Humidity · CPC title

• D06F2101/18

  Target temperature for the drying process, e.g. low-temperature cycles · CPC title

• D06F2101/00

  User input for the control of domestic laundry washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers · CPC title

• D06F2105/28

  Electric heating · CPC title

• D06F58/263

  Gas heating equipment · CPC title