JPH0822351B2 - Washing machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Object of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a washing machine in which a user can set the strength of a water flow of washing and the length of a washing time.

(Prior Art) This type of washing machine has a water flow setting switch for selectively setting the strength of the water flow of washing from a plurality of types, and a length of washing time from a plurality of types. This is a configuration in which a washing time setting switch for setting manually is provided on the operation panel. When washing, the user operates the water flow setting switch and the washing time setting switch to appropriately set the strength of the water flow and the washing time.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) By the way, when changing the strength of the water flow, a timer is used to change the electrical connection / disconnection pattern to the motor that drives the agitator, and the time for rotating and stopping the agitator Change the interval,
Alternatively, the rotational speed of the stirring body is changed by changing the above-mentioned power interruption pattern in time order of the cycle level of the AC power source by waveform control. For this reason, when the water flow is the “weak water flow”, the energization time for disconnecting the motor windings (starting / stopping the motor) is shorter than when the water flow is the “strong water flow”. On the other hand, the windings of the motor are most affected by the starting current and generate heat, and are cooled by a cooling fan that rotates together with the motor while the windings are energized. From this, the air cooling effect of the winding cooling fan is great in the case of "strong water flow" where the energization time is long, but the air cooling effect by the winding cooling fan is large in the case of "weak water flow" where the energization time is short. And the temperature of the winding tends to rise. Therefore, if the user performs the washing operation with the water flow set to "weak water flow" and the washing time set to "long time", the temperature rise width of the motor winding becomes too large, which adversely affects the winding characteristics. May be caused.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to solve such problems, and an object thereof is to allow a user to set the strength of water flow and the length of washing time, and to wind a motor for driving an agitator. It is an object of the present invention to provide a washing machine that can prevent the wire from overheating.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving Problems) In the washing machine of the present invention, when a weak water flow is set among a plurality of types of water flows that can be set by the water flow setting switch, it can be set by the washing time setting switch. It is configured to prevent the setting of the washing time of a predetermined time or more among the plurality of types of washing times.

(Effect) Even if there are multiple types of water flow and washing time that can be set by the user, when the water flow is set to a weak water flow (a water flow in which the temperature rise rate of the motor winding is relatively high), multiple types of washing time Washing time more than a predetermined time from (long washing time)
Is set, and the washing time is set to be shorter than the predetermined time, whereby long-time operation with a weak water flow can be avoided.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, in FIG. 3, reference numeral 1 denotes an outer box of a two-tub type washing machine, in which, as is well known, a washing tub and a dehydrating tub are provided side by side, and a washing fan equipped with a cooling fan is provided at the bottom of the washing tub. An agitator that is driven to rotate by a motor is provided, and a dehydration basket that is driven to rotate by a dehydration motor is provided in the dehydration tank. An operation box 2 is provided at the rear of the upper end of the outer box 1, and an operation panel 3 is provided on the front surface of the operation box 2. In FIG. 1 showing the operation panel 3 in an enlarged manner, 4 is a water flow setting switch, and the water flow of washing is selectively selected from among three types of “strong”, “standard”, and “weak” depending on the number of times of pressing. The light emitting element 4a is set and any one of the three light emitting elements 4a is turned on according to the set content. 5 is a washing time setting switch, and the washing time is "2 minutes" depending on the number of times it is pressed.
Four light emitting elements 5a are selectively set from four types of "5 minutes", "7 minutes", and "10 minutes", and according to the setting contents.
One of these lights up. 6 is a rinse strength setting switch, and the rinse strength is "weak" according to the number of times it is pressed.
It is set as an alternative from three types of "standard" and "strong",
In addition, any one of the three light emitting elements 6a is turned on according to the setting contents. Reference numeral 7 denotes a drainage setting switch, which is used to set whether or not to execute the drainage stroke of the washing operation. 8 is a clear switch for clearing the set contents, 9 is a start / stop switch for starting / stopping the washing / rinsing operation, 10 is a dehydration time setting switch, and the dehydration time is "1 / It is selectively set from four types of "4 minutes", "1 minute", "3 minutes", and "5 minutes", and any one of the four light emitting elements 10a is turned on according to the setting content. . 11 is a start / stop switch for starting / stopping the dehydration operation.

Next, the outline of the electrical configuration of the main part will be described with reference to FIG. 4. Reference numeral 12 is an operation control circuit including a microcomputer, and 13 is an input circuit including the above-mentioned various switches 4 to 11. A setting signal based on the operation of each switch is input from the input circuit 13 to the operation control circuit 12. 14 is a display circuit including each of the light emitting elements, and 15 is an operation control circuit.
It is a drive circuit that drives loads such as a washing motor and a dehydration motor based on the drive control signal from 12. Reference numeral 16 is a power supply circuit for applying a predetermined voltage to the operation control circuit 12.

Thus, in this washing machine, the washing motor is rotated in the forward and reverse directions to obtain a so-called reverse swirl water flow, and in order to change the strength of the water flow in accordance with the setting operation of the water flow setting switch 4, the forward rotation is performed. The electrical connection / disconnection pattern of the washing motor at the time of driving and at the time of reverse rotation driving is changed as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the length per rotation of the forward rotation period and the reverse rotation period decreases in the order of “strong”, “standard”, and “weak”, and the length per rotation of the rotation stop period. Are set to become longer in the same order. Furthermore, in order to decrease the rotation speed of the washing motor (stirring body) in the order of “strong”, “standard”, and “weak”, the power interruption pattern during the forward / reverse rotation period is controlled by the waveform control of the periodic level of the traffic power source. It changes on a timely basis. Specifically, in the "weak" water flow, energization (solid line part) and disconnection (dotted line part) are repeated alternately for each cycle of the commercial AC power supply, while in the "strong" water flow, as shown in FIG. During the forward / reverse rotation period, continuous energization is performed, and the "standard" water flow has an intermediate interruption pattern between the former and the latter.

By the way, FIG. 7 shows a temperature rise curve of the winding of the washing motor when the operation is performed for each of the "strong", "standard" and "weak" water flows for a long time. As is clear from this figure, in the "weak" water flow, the temperature rise width of the winding is large (the reason is that the energization time during power interruption to the winding (start / stop of the washing motor) is short, (Because the air cooling effect of the washing motor's winding by the cooling fan is less), if you operate for a long time with "weak" water flow, the winding will become overheated,
The characteristics of the winding may be adversely affected. Therefore, in this embodiment, when the user sets the water flow to "weak", the washing time is "7" which is a relatively long time which is a predetermined time or more.
The software of the operation control circuit 12 is configured so that the selection of "minute" and "10 minutes" is prevented, and the setting can be made only to "5 minutes" or "2 minutes" which is a relatively short time less than the predetermined time. ing. In this case, when the "weak" water flow is set, the second operation is performed by pressing the water flow setting switch 4.
As shown in FIG. 7A, “2 minutes” and “5 minutes” are selected alternately. Incidentally, in the display state column of FIG. 2, the diagonal lines indicate the lighting state of the light emitting elements, and thereafter indicate that they are turned on in the order of the arrows when the switch is pressed. Further, when the washing time is set to "10 minutes" or "7 minutes", the switching of the water flow to "weak" is prevented thereafter, and only "normal" or "strong" can be set. On the other hand, when rinsing with a "weak" water flow (see FIG. 2 (b)), the setting of "strong" for the rinse strength is blocked, and it can be set only to "standard" or "weak". Further, in the case of performing washing to rinsing in order with a "weak" water flow (see FIG. 2 (c)),
Only the wash time of "5 minutes" and the rinse strength of "low" or the wash time of "2 minutes" and the rinse strength of "standard" can be washed.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. When the user sets the water flow intensity to “standard” or “strong” by pressing the water flow setting switch 4 when washing, the washing time is then set to “normal” or “strong” by pressing the washing time setting switch 5. It can be set to any of 10 minutes, "7 minutes", "5 minutes" and "2 minutes", and the rinse strength can be set to any of "strong", "standard" and "weak" by pressing the rinse strength setting switch 6. .

On the other hand, when the user sets the strength of the water flow to "weak", the user is prevented from selecting a relatively long washing time of "10 minutes" and "7 minutes" (Fig. 2). (See (a)), either one of "5 minutes" and "2 minutes", which is a relatively short time, will be selected. As a result, the washing time in the "weak" water flow, where the amount of heat generated by the washing motor winding is relatively high, is limited to a relatively short time (within 5 minutes), and the washing motor winding is overheated. Is prevented from happening. In this case, the items that are washed with the "weak" water flow are those that are naturally easy to remove stains. Therefore, it is possible to sufficiently remove stains in a short washing time as described above without washing for a long time. it can.

When rinsing with a "weak" water flow (Fig. 2 (b))
), Setting the rinse strength to “strong” is blocked,
Either "standard" or "weak" will be selected. This limits the rinse time with "weak" water flow to sub-standard, again limiting the temperature rise of the wash motor windings.

On the other hand, by setting the strength of water flow, washing time and rinsing strength together and turning on the start / stop switch 9,
Although the process from washing to rinsing is automatically executed, even in this case, when "weak" water flow is selected, as shown in Fig. 2 (c), the washing time is "5 minutes" and the rinsing strength is "weak". Only the course or the wash time "2 minutes" and the rinse strength "standard" can be selected, and other combinations of the wash time and the rinse strength cannot be selected. As a result, the operating time of the washing motor from the start of washing to the end of rinsing is prevented from becoming too long, and the temperature rise of the winding of the washing motor is limited.

In the above embodiment, the water flow intensity and the washing time that can be set by the user are set to three types and four types, respectively, but the present invention is not limited to this. Also, the means for changing the strength of the water flow is not limited to the waveform control as in the above embodiment, but may be, for example, phase control or power interruption control by a timer.

In addition, the present invention can be variously modified within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention, for example, by being applied not only to the two-tub type washing machine as in the above-described embodiment but also to a washing machine for both dehydration and the like.

[Effects of the Invention] As apparent from the above description, the present invention has a weak water flow (the temperature rise rate of the winding of the motor is relatively high even if there are plural kinds of water flow and washing time which can be set by the user. When the water flow rate is set to "Wash flow", the setting of the washing time of a predetermined time or more (long washing time) is blocked from the plurality of types of washing times, and the washing time of less than the predetermined time is set. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the long-time operation in the weak water flow, and it is possible to prevent the winding of the motor for driving the stirring body from being overheated, which is an excellent effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an enlarged front view of an operation panel, FIG. 2 is a view for explaining control contents when a “weak” water flow is set, and FIG. Is a perspective view of the whole appearance, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the main part,
Fig. 5 is a time chart diagram showing the forward and reverse rotation timings of the washing motor, Fig. 6 is a waveform diagram of the voltage applied to the washing motor winding during "weak" water flow, and Fig. 7 is a diagram showing the washing motor winding. It is a figure which shows a temperature rise curve. In the drawing, 4 is a water flow setting switch, 5 is a washing time setting switch, 6 is a rinse strength setting switch, and 12 is an operation control circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A water flow setting switch for selectively setting the strength of the water flow of washing from a plurality of types including a weak water flow,
A washing time setting switch for selectively setting the length of washing time from a plurality of types, wherein a weak water flow of a plurality of types of water flows that can be set by the water flow setting switch is set. The washing machine is configured so as to prevent the washing time from being set to a predetermined time or longer among a plurality of types of washing times that can be set by the washing time setting switch.