Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for washing fabric loads without water or using water only as a co-solvent are disclosed. One method of non-aqueous clothes washing includes the steps of disposing clothing in a wash container, delivering a wash liquor to the fabric load, the wash liquor comprising a substantially non-reactive, non-aqueous, non-oleophilic, apolar working fluid and at least one washing additive, applying mechanical energy to the clothing and wash liquor for a sufficient amount of time to provide fabric cleaning and, thereafter, substantially removing the wash liquor from the fabric load. The working fluid may be selected from the group consisting of perfluorocarbons, hydrofluoroethers, fluorinated hydrocarbons and fluoroinerts.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
November 19, 2008
Date of Patent:
September 11, 2012
Assignee:
Whirlpool Corporation
Inventors:
Kurt A. Estes, Daniel C. Conrad, Mark Bradley Kovich, Tremitchell L. Wright
Abstract: A method and apparatus for drying a fabric load which has been wetted with a working fluid including the steps of flowing drying gas through a container holding the fabric load, sensing the non-aqueous working fluid concentration and the aqueous working fluid concentration in the wash liquor or in the headspace above the fabric within the container and controlling drying in response to the sensed working fluid concentration.
Abstract: A top-loading coffeemaker comprises a housing having an open top and two covers pivotable between opened and closed positions. A filter basket can be inserted through a front portion of the open top to be supported above a carafe. A reservoir is located in a rear portion of the top-loading coffeemaker. A conduit extends from an inlet at the front portion of the top-loading coffeemaker to the reservoir. Water poured into the inlet flows through the conduit to the reservoir. A linkage connecting the two covers causes the rear cover to be opened when the front cover is opened, and enables the rear cover to be opened alone.
Abstract: Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention provide for improved clothes rollover in automatic washer cycles using time-varying rotor oscillations. An automatic washer has a wash chamber with a central axis and a rotor being rotatable about the central axis. Items are loaded into the wash chamber. Wash liquid is supplied into the wash chamber. The rotor is oscillated about the central axis by time-varying oscillations.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
May 9, 2002
Date of Patent:
October 31, 2006
Assignee:
Whirlpool Corporation
Inventors:
K. David McAllister, Carrie Ann Dickinson, Duane M. Kobos
Abstract: The invention relates to a device for measuring the turbidity of the rinsing liquid in a dishwasher by means of a turbidity sensor. If it is provided according to the invention that the turbidity sensor is incorporated into the inlet flow of the circulation pump into the water drain shaft of the dishwasher and continuously measures the turbidity of the rinsing liquid, that the upper and lower spraying plane can be operated alternately, that a difference value can be derived from the turbidity values associated with upper and lower spray plane, that parameters for the quantity and the type of soiling can be derived from the turbidity values and the difference value and that the further rinse program can be established and controlled with these parameters, then, with low complexity, measurement values for the degree of soiling can be obtained, from which value parameters for the further course of the program can be delivered.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
November 14, 2003
Date of Patent:
August 8, 2006
Assignee:
Whirlpool Corporation
Inventors:
Clemens Jung, Peter Schwarzweller, Konrad Petry, Reinhold Baltes