Washing machine
A washing machine for minimizing damage to laundry and enabling effective washing of the laundry. The washing machine includes a water tub, a drum, and a control unit. The drum is installed in the water tub so as to rotate in a forward and/or a reverse direction. The control unit controls the rotation directions and angles of the rotation of the drum to cause an asymmetric swing motion of the drum.
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This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2004-71895 filed on Sep. 8, 2004 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a washing machine, and more particularly to a drum type washing machine having a drum adapted to rotate about a horizontal rotation axis.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional drum type washing machine generally includes a water tub installed in a machine body and adapted to contain wash or rinsing water, and a drum installed in the water tub, the drum being rotated by a driving force from a motor and being adapted to carry out laundry wash and spin-dry cycles. Such a drum is perforated with a plurality of small holes, allowing the wash or rinsing water to flow between the drum and the water tub and, in the spin-dry cycle, to centrifugally drain water from laundry, the water to be discharged into a space between the drum and the water tub through the small holes.
In the above-described drum type washing machine, when the drum rotates, the laundry in the drum is raised along an inner peripheral wall surface of the drum, and then dropped due to gravity from the vicinity of an apex, so that the laundry is washed by way of shock and friction generated during the dropping.
However, the above-described general washing manner using the drum type washing machine has a problem in that the laundry, specifically, silk or wool laundry, is vulnerable to damage by shock or friction. In order to eliminate this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. H09-276582 and H09-248395 disclose control methods of drum type washing machines, which will now be explained.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H09-276582 discusses minimizing damage to the laundry by repeatedly swinging the drum during the rotation thereof within an extent not causing movement of the laundry. In this case, however, since a two-revolution operation of the drum is added in the course of laundry douse and wash cycles for overturning the laundry, resulting in a limited reduction in damage to the laundry.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H09-248395, the wash cycle of the laundry is divided into first half and second half periods. During the first half period, the wash water in the water tub is kept at a first level and the drum rotates by a first rotation angle, causing the laundry to be dropped and overturned. In succession, during the remaining second half period, the wash water in the water tub is kept at a second level higher than the first level and the drum rotates by a second rotation angle smaller than the first rotation angle, allowing the laundry to be swung in a completely immersed state in the wash water so as to reduce damage to the laundry. In this case, however, in order to sufficiently douse the laundry with the wash water kept at a low level in the laundry douse cycle, the laundry must be dropped from a high swing angle of the drum. This may cause damage to the laundry.
Furthermore, although the swing angle of the drum must be kept at 120° in the wash cycle, such a swing angle is insufficient to overturn the laundry and hence prevents complete dousing of the laundry with the wash water and even washing of the laundry. Therefore, this increases the usage of the wash water, deteriorating a water saving advantage of the drum type washing machine.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention has been made in view of the problems involved with the above-described conventional drum type washing machines, and an aspect of the invention is to provide a drum type washing machine which can minimize damage to laundry during washing and enables effective washing of the laundry.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a washing machine including: a water tub; a drum in the water tub, the drum being rotatable in a forward rotation direction at a forward rotation angle and a reverse rotation direction opposite of the forward direction at a reverse rotation angle; and a control unit adapted to control the rotation directions and angles to yield asymmetric swing motion of the drum.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a washing machine including: a water tub; a drum in the water tub, the drum being rotatable in a forward direction and a reverse rotation direction opposite of the forward direction; and a control unit adapted to control the rotation of the drum to yield an asymmetric swing motion of the drum. During the asymmetric swing motion, the control unit controls forward and reverse rotation angles so that a reference position of the drum is displaced in the forward rotation direction.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a washing machine control method, including: determining whether a set wash mode is an asymmetrical swing mode in which a drum is alternately rotated in a forward direction and a reverse direction by respective forward and reverse rotation angles; asymmetrically swinging the drum, when the set wash mode is the asymmetrical swing mode, so that the drum alternately rotates in the forward direction and the reverse direction by the respective forward and reverse rotation angles, the alternately rotating causing one of a net forward rotation of the drum and a net reverse rotation of the drum.
Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to an embodiment of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiment is described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.
In the above-described drum type washing machine according to the present embodiment, when the drum 108 rotates, the laundry in the drum 108 is raised along an inner peripheral wall surface of the drum 108, and then dropped due to gravity from the vicinity of an apex (i.e., the highest point), so that the laundry is washed by way of shock and friction generated during the dropping.
The drum type washing machine according to the present embodiment also includes a drive unit 210 adapted to drive the motor 110, a drain pump 116, a dehydration heater 216, and a display device 218. In the wash or rinsing cycle, the motor 110 rotates the drum 108 in forward or reverse directions for specified periods, and in the spin-dry cycle, rotates the drum 108 at a high speed. The drain pump 116 forcibly discharges the wash water from the water tub 102, and the dehydration heater 216 heats air introduced into the water tub 102, causing dehydration (drying) of the laundry using the heated air. The display device 218 indicates the operation state of the washing machine to a user.
In the above-described washing machine according to the present embodiment, if the user selects a swing mode suitable to minimize damage to the laundry, the drum 108 carries out an asymmetric swing motion, rather than a continuous rotating motion, during the laundry douse or wash cycle.
If the swing mode is selected, in an initialized state wherein the drum rotates reverse by the specified angle, the drum is controlled in a rotational direction so that it alternately rotates forward and reverse by the specified forward and reverse rotation angles (operation 708). After the lapse of a specified time corresponding to the swing mode, the swing mode ends (operation 710).
The above-described embodiment of present invention provides a drum type washing machine which can minimize damage to laundry, specifically, silk or wool laundry vulnerable by shock or friction caused during washing, as a result of carrying out asymmetric swing motion of a drum thereof. Further, according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, since the drum simultaneously swings and gradually rotates forward, laundry can be easily overturned even by rotation of the drum across a small angle, resulting in a reduction of douse or wash time and enabling effective washing of the laundry. The gradual forward rotation, furthermore, enables continuous overturn of the laundry.
Although an embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, the present invention is not limited to the described embodiment. Instead, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made to the embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims and their equivalents.
Claims
1. A washing machine comprising:
- a water tub;
- a drum in the water tub, the drum being rotatable in a forward rotation direction at a forward rotation angle and a reverse rotation direction opposite of the forward direction at a reverse rotation angle; and
- a control unit adapted to control the rotation directions and angles to yield asymmetric swing motion of the drum.
2. The machine according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the rotation angles so that the forward angle of the drum is greater than the reverse angle of the drum during the asymmetric swing motion.
3. A washing machine comprising:
- a water tub;
- a drum in the water tub, the drum being rotatable in a forward direction and a reverse rotation direction opposite of the forward direction; and
- a control unit adapted to control the rotation of the drum to yield an asymmetric swing motion of the drum,
- wherein during the asymmetric swing motion, the control unit controls forward and reverse rotation angles so that a reference position of the drum is displaced in the forward rotation direction.
4. The machine according to claim 3, wherein the control unit controls the rotation angles so that the forward rotation angle is greater than the reverse rotation angle to cause gradual displacement of the reference position.
5. A washing machine control method, comprising:
- determining whether a set wash mode is an asymmetrical swing mode in which a drum is alternately rotated in a forward direction and a reverse direction by respective forward and reverse angles;
- asymmetrically swinging the drum, when the set wash mode is the asymmetrical swing mode, so that the drum alternately rotates in the forward direction and the reverse direction by the respective forward and reverse rotation angles, the alternately rotating causing one of a net forward rotation of the drum and a net reverse rotation of the drum.
6. The washing machine control method of claim 5, wherein the forward rotation angle is 60° and the reverse rotation angle is 45°.
7. The washing machine control method of claim 5, wherein a difference between the forward and the reverse rotation angles is 15°.
8. The washing machine control method of claim 5, wherein the one of the rotation angles is greater than the other of the angles.
9. The washing machine control method of claim 5, wherein the alternately rotating yields continuous overturn of laundry in the drum.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 21, 2005
Publication Date: Mar 9, 2006
Applicant: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Suwon-si)
Inventors: Chang Park (Seoul), Hyun Kim (Yogin-City), Chang Kim (Suwon-City)
Application Number: 11/110,794
International Classification: D06F 33/00 (20060101); D06F 35/00 (20060101);