Abstract: A method determines an actuation of a door of a household appliance by a user. The door closes an access opening of a body of the appliance to an interior space by virtue of an elastic seal that is arranged on the door inner side and braces circumferentially against a region of an edge of the access opening. A plunger is moved by a drive unit until a plunger head braces against the door inner side. The plunger is influenced into an opening direction of the door by the drive unit using a bracing force that is smaller than a force for opening the door. An arbitrary stroke of the plunger is detected by a sensor and a sensor signal is allocated to the detected stroke. The sensor signal is compared with a comparison value and the actuation by the user is determined in dependence upon the comparison.

Abstract: A method determines a door opening request based on a pressure actuation against a door of a household appliance. A plunger is driven by an electric machine via a transmission. An electrical voltage is applied to a stator winding which is electrically coupled to a control unit at least during temporary support of the plunger head against a door inner face. When the door is in the closed state a force is applied to the plunger and by a sensor facility a stator winding-side induced voltage is detected, which has a voltage pulse depending on the pressure actuation. An amplitude of the voltage pulse is compared in a first comparison with a voltage comparison value and a temporal extent of the voltage pulse is compared in a second comparison with a time comparison value. The door opening request is determined depending on comparison results of the first and second comparison.

Abstract: A method determines an actuation of a door of a household appliance by a user. The door closes an access opening of a body of the appliance to an interior space by virtue of an elastic seal that is arranged on the door inner side and braces circumferentially against a region of an edge of the access opening. A plunger is moved by a drive unit until a plunger head braces against the door inner side. The plunger is influenced into an opening direction of the door by the drive unit using a bracing force that is smaller than a force for opening the door. An arbitrary stroke of the plunger is detected by a sensor and a sensor signal is allocated to the detected stroke. The sensor signal is compared with a comparison value and the actuation by the user is determined in dependence upon the comparison.