Method for controlling clothing treatment apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025237003-A1
Application number	US-202218700074-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 11, 2022
Priority date	Oct 12, 2021
Publication date	Jul 24, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present application relates to a clothing treatment apparatus comprising: an acceleration step of accelerating a drum so that the number of revolutions thereof reaches a preset reference number of revolutions; a material-distinguishing step of distinguishing clothing materials according to whether an average value of current supplied to a stator during the time taken until the reference number of revolutions is reached is greater than or equal to a preset reference value; a water supply step of supplying water to a tub; and a treatment step of separating foreign substances from the clothing by rotating the drum, wherein, in the treatment step, the temperature of the water stored in the tub and/or the number of revolutions of the drum is controlled to differ according to the clothing material confirmed through the material-distinguishing step.

First claim

1 . A method for controlling a laundry treatment apparatus that includes a tub to store water therein, a drum provided inside the tub to accommodate clothes, a stator to form a rotating magnetic field, and a rotor rotated by the rotating magnetic field and connected to the drum through a rotary shaft, the method comprising:
an acceleration step of accelerating the drum so that a revolutions per minute (RPM) of the drum increases to a preset reference RPM; a material-distinguishing step of distinguishing materials of clothes according to whether an average value of a current supplied to the stator during a time taken to reach the reference RPM is greater than or equal to a preset reference value; a water supply step of supplying water to the tub; and a treating step of rotating the drum to separate foreign substances from the clothes, wherein the treating step differently controls at least one of a temperature of the water stored in the tub and the RPM of the drum depending on the material of clothes confirmed through the material-distinguishing step.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the reference RPM is set to an RPM that applies centrifugal force of 1G to the clothes located inside the drum.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the acceleration step includes:
controlling acceleration of the drum to be maintained at 1 rpm/s to 10 rpm/s.

4 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the acceleration step includes:
controlling acceleration of the drum to be maintained at 3 rpm/s to 5 rpm/s.

5 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the material-distinguishing step includes:
if the average value of the current supplied to the stator during the time taken to reach the reference RPM is greater than or equal to the reference value, determining a material of the clothes to be a first material in which a polyester content of the clothes put into the drum is 80% or more; and if the average value of the current supplied to the stator during the time taken to reach the reference RPM is less than the reference value, determining a material of the clothes to be a second material in which a polyester content of the clothes put into the drum is less than 80%.

6 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the treating step includes:
if the clothes are determined to be the clothes made of the first material, heating the water stored in the tub to 30° C. using a heater provided in the tub.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the treating step includes:
if the clothes are determined to be the clothes made of the second material, heating the water stored in the tub to 40° C.

8 . The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:
a thickness-distinguishing step of distinguishing a thickness of clothes according to whether a deviation per unit time of the current supplied to the stator during the material-distinguishing step is less than a preset reference deviation.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the thickness-distinguishing step includes:
if the deviation per unit time of the current supplied to the stator during the material-distinguishing step is less than a preset reference deviation, determining a thickness of the clothes to be a first thickness smaller than a reference thickness; and if the deviation per unit time of the current supplied to the stator during the material-distinguishing step is greater than or equal to the reference deviation, determining a thickness of the clothes to be a second thickness larger than the reference thickness.

10 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein:
if the clothes made of the first material are confirmed to be the clothes having the first thickness, the treating step includes: a heating step of heating the water to 30° C.; and a step of executing a first motion in which clockwise rotation of the drum and counterclockwise rotation of the drum are alternately performed and the drum rotates at a first RPM at which centrifugal force of less than 1G occurs.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein:
if the clothes made of the first material are confirmed to be the clothes having the second thickness, the treating step includes:
a heating step of heating the water to 30° C.; and
a second motion execution step of causing centrifugal force of less than 1G and rotating the drum at a second RPM higher than the first RPM.

12 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein:
if the clothes made of the first material are confirmed to be the clothes having the second thickness, the treating step includes:
a heating step of heating the water to 30° C.;
a first motion execution step of alternately performing clockwise rotation of the drum and counterclockwise rotation of the drum, and rotating the drum at the first RPM at which centrifugal force of less than 1G occurs; and
a second motion execution step of causing centrifugal force of less than 1G and rotating the drum at a second RPM higher than the first RPM,
wherein the first motion execution step and the second motion execution step are executed alternately.

13 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein:
if the clothes made of the second material are confirmed to be the clothes having the first thickness, the treating step includes:
a heating step of heating the water to 40° C.; and
a first motion execution step of performing the first motion.

14 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein:
if the clothes made of the second material are confirmed to be the clothes having the second thickness, the treating step includes:
a heating step of heating the water to 40° C.; and
a second motion execution step of causing centrifugal force of less than 1G and rotating the drum at a second RPM higher than the first RPM.

15 . A method for controlling a laundry treatment apparatus that includes a tub to store water therein, a drum provided inside the tub to accommodate clothes, a stator to form a rotating magnetic field, and a rotor rotated by the rotating magnetic field and connected to the drum through a rotary shaft, the method comprising:
an acceleration step of accelerating the drum so that a revolutions per minute (RPM) of the drum increases to a preset reference RPM; a material-distinguishing step of decelerating the drum so that an RPM of the drum decreases to a deceleration reference RPM lower than the reference RPM; distinguishing materials of clothes according to whether an average value of a current supplied to the stator during a time taken to reach the deceleration reference RPM is greater than or equal to a preset reference value; a water supply step of supplying water to the tub; and a treating step of rotating the drum to separate foreign substances from the clothes, wherein the treating step differently controls at least one of a temperature of the water stored in the tub and the RPM of the drum depending on the material of clothes confirmed through the material-distinguishing step.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Yu Seonhwa
• Kim Jaehyun
• Seo Hyunseok

Classifications

• D06F2105/10

  Temperature of washing liquids; Heating means therefor · CPC title

• D06F2105/46

  Drum speed; Actuation of motors, e.g. starting or interrupting · CPC title

• D06F2103/06

  Type or material · CPC title

• D06F2103/24

  Spin speed; Drum movements · CPC title

• D06F2103/38

  Time, e.g. duration · CPC title