阅读说明：本技术 衣物处理装置及其操作方法 (Clothes treating apparatus and method of operating the same ) 是由 U.邵曼 K.施米德特 T.托雷斯桑切斯 A.特拉维拉米斯 于 2019-08-09 设计创作，主要内容包括：诸如洗衣机的衣物处理装置具有：可旋转滚筒,其具有用于在其中放置衣物的周向滚筒壁；用于滚筒的驱动马达；用于向驱动马达供应驱动电流的动力控制单元；用于监控供应给驱动马达的驱动电流的电流传感器器件；用于监控滚筒的旋转位置的传感器器件；和周向滚筒壁的内侧上的至少一个突伸。突伸在其在周向滚筒壁的内侧上的高度和外部形状上可变并且是柔性的。致动装置被提供成用于实现突伸的高度和形状的变化。可以记录针对随着突伸的变化的形状的电流的各种曲线并将其与针对不同类型的来自各种纤维的衣物的预存储的参考曲线进行比较。(The laundry treating apparatus such as a washing machine has: a rotatable drum having a circumferential drum wall for placing laundry therein; a driving motor for the drum; a power control unit for supplying a driving current to the driving motor; a current sensor device for monitoring a driving current supplied to the driving motor; sensor means for monitoring the rotational position of the drum; and at least one projection on the inside of the circumferential drum wall. The projections are variable in their height and outer shape on the inside of the circumferential drum wall and are flexible. The actuation means is provided for effecting a change in the height and shape of the projection. Various curves for the current of varying shape with the protrusion can be recorded and compared with pre-stored reference curves for different types of clothing from various fibers.)

1. Laundry treatment apparatus, in particular washing machine or dryer, having:

a rotatable drum having a circumferential drum wall for placing laundry therein,

-a drive motor for the drum,

-a power control unit for supplying a drive current to the drive motor,

-current sensor means for monitoring a drive current supplied to the drive motor,

-a rotational position sensor means for monitoring the rotational position of the drum,

-at least one projection on the inner side of the circumferential drum wall,

wherein the content of the first and second substances,

-said projection is variable or movable or flexible in its height on the inner side of the circumferential drum wall and/or said projection is variable or movable or flexible in its outer shape,

-actuating means are provided for effecting a change in the height or shape of said projection.

2. Device according to claim 1, wherein a device controller is provided having processing means for calculating a rotational position of the drum and/or a drive current from respective sensor means, wherein the processing means is adapted to calculate a weight of the load or laundry in the drum and/or a predominant fiber fraction of the laundry.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processing means are adapted to calculate the weight of the load or laundry in the drum and/or the main fiber fraction of the laundry for adapting a parameter of a further laundry treatment program to the detected load and/or main fiber fraction, wherein the parameter relates to the temperature of the water, the rotational speed of the drum or the shape of the at least one protrusion.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a memory is provided in the processing device, in which various sets of graphs representing the dependence of the driving current of the load in the drum and the main fiber portion of the laundry are stored.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the actuation means for changing the height or shape of the protrusion is a passive actuation means having a temperature dependent shape changing material in the form of a spring or a lever or a rod.

6. The device of claim 4, wherein the actuation device is shape-variable such that a first shape is present at temperatures below 30 ℃ and a second shape is present at temperatures above 30 ℃.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the third shape is present above 40 ℃.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the temperature dependent shape change material of the actuation device is inductively heatable and made of a ferromagnetic material.

9. Device according to claim 8, wherein outside the drum an induction heating device is fixedly positioned, placed so that the actuating device passes at a radially inner side of the induction heating device.

10. Device according to claim 1, wherein the projection is made of a resilient and flexible material in the form of a trough with two longitudinal end edges, wherein the projection is fixed to the inside of the drum by the two end edges such that in an initial state of the projection has a certain initial height and a certain initial profile, wherein in at least another state of the projection the height is reduced and the projection is bent sideways in the circumferential direction of the drum.

11. Device according to claim 10, wherein in an initial state of the projection, the projection is symmetrical in its profile when viewed from the side, wherein in at least another state of the projection is bent sideways to the side between 1 and 3 cm.

12. A method for operating a laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

in a first step, various reference curves of the drive current are recorded, which vary as one variable of the group: the shape of the protrusions, the speed of rotation of the drum, the direction of rotation of the drum, the weight of the laundry, the typical size of several pieces of laundry, the main fiber portion of the laundry,

wherein for each reference curve only one of these variables is changed, wherein the other variables are kept constant,

-storing the reference curve,

-in a second step, when laundry is put into the drum and actually to be treated, a test is performed as a second step before starting the treatment of the laundry by varying at least one of the parameters of the group: said protruding shape, drum rotation speed, drum rotation direction, are then compared with various reference curves stored in said memory to determine at least one variable from the group: the weight of the garment, the typical size of several garments, the main fiber portion of the garment,

-in a third step, adapting the actual treatment of the laundry in the laundry treatment apparatus to the weight of the laundry, the typical size of several pieces of laundry and/or the main fiber fraction of the laundry.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the reference curve is stored in a memory of a processing device of a device controller.

14. Method according to claim 12, wherein the variables of the laundry treatment process are adapted to the kind of laundry or to the main fiber fraction of the laundry by changing the temperature of the water added to the laundry process and/or the rotational speed of the drum and/or changing the shape of the protrusions.

15. A method according to claim 12, wherein by monitoring the drive current supplied to the drive motor, the force is measured while several items of laundry are sliding down the inside of the circumferential drum wall in the drum while the drum is rotating.

16. Method according to claim 12, wherein the at least one protruding position is determined and taken into account by reading out information of the rotational position sensor means in addition to measuring the force or the current supplied to the drive motor, respectively.

17. A method according to claim 12, wherein additional information input is received by a water level sensor in the drum or by a water quantity sensor or by a temperature sensor for water temperature.

18. The method according to claim 12, wherein changing the shape of the protrusion in the first step or the second step comprises: bending the protrusion from a maximum in one direction along the circumferential direction of the drum to a maximum in an opposite direction along the circumferential direction of the drum.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the bending between the two maxima is performed in at least two or three steps.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a laundry treating apparatus, and particularly, the laundry treating apparatus may be a washing machine or a dryer. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method for operating such a laundry treatment apparatus.

Background

In the field of laundry treatment apparatuses, such as washing machines or dryers, there is a continuous effort to improve the laundry treatment process even further. One exemplary concern is to adapt the treatment process to the kind of laundry being treated, which means in particular various fibers such as polyester, cotton or wool. This serves to better adapt the laundry treatment process to the main part of the fibres present in the device in order to reduce wear on the laundry. Furthermore, in the case of synthetic fibres such as predominantly polyester, problems arise because the microfibres are difficult to extract from the sewage as they are flushed out of the device and into the sewage. This is an increasingly serious environmental problem.

Disclosure of Invention

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a laundry treatment apparatus and a method of operating the same, by means of which the problems of the art can be avoided and, in particular, the laundry treatment process can be better adapted to a specific type of laundry or to the fibers from which the laundry is made, respectively.

This is solved by a laundry treatment apparatus according to claim 1 and a method for operation of said laundry treatment apparatus according to claim 12. Advantageous and preferred configurations of the invention are the subject of further claims and are explained in more detail below. In this case, some features are described only for the laundry treatment apparatus or only for the corresponding method. However, irrespective of these, they are intended to be able to be applied to laundry treatment devices and corresponding methods by themselves, independently of one another. The wording of the claims forms the content of the description by means of explicit reference.

The laundry treating apparatus may preferably be a washing machine, a dryer, or a combined type apparatus having both functions. The laundry treatment apparatus has a rotatable drum with a circumferential drum wall, wherein laundry is placed in the drum for a laundry treatment process. A driving motor for the drum and a power control unit for supplying a driving current to the driving motor are provided. The drive motor and force transmission to the drum may be as known in the art, preferably with a belt. Further, a current sensor device is provided for monitoring the drive current supplied to the drive motor. These current sensor devices are preferably extremely sensitive and very accurate. A rotational position sensor device is provided for monitoring the rotational position of the drum. They can preferably distinguish the rotational position of the drum down to a rotational angle of about 5 °, preferably about 3 °, or only 1 °. At least one projection, preferably two or three such projections, is provided on the inner side of the circumferential drum wall. These projections are basically known and provided as standard in such laundry treatment devices. They serve to better agitate and spin several pieces of laundry during the washing process as well as during the drying process of wet laundry. Such projections are known in a variety of shapes.

According to the invention, at least one projection is variable, movable and/or flexible in its height on the inner side of the circumferential drum wall. Additionally or alternatively, the projection may be variable in its outer shape or, respectively, in its cross-section (when viewed in the axial direction of the drum). Actuating means are also provided to effect a change in the height or shape of the projection. These actuating means are preferably such that they can be controlled and activated in a precise manner as required.

In this way, the invention provides the possibility of adapting the variable protrusion to different kinds or stages of laundry treatment process. This may differ between washing the laundry at the beginning of the washing process, washing itself, and the laundry spinning to remove water from the laundry near the end. Furthermore, by changing the shape of the protrusion in a precisely defined manner during a specific procedure of the device, information about the laundry present in the drum can be retrieved, in particular a majority of the fibre classes of the laundry in the drum can be detected. This is achieved by the method of the invention, wherein in a first and preceding step of the method various reference curves of the drive current of the drive motor are recorded, wherein one of several variables is changed. These variables are the height or shape of the protrusion, the drum rotation speed, the drum rotation direction, the weight of the laundry present in the drum, the typical size of several pieces of laundry in the drum and the main fiber fraction of the laundry. Preferably, the drum rotation speed is not changed to limit the number of reference curves, which may be the case for the drum rotation direction.

For each of the mentioned reference curves, only one of these variables is changed. The other variables remain constant. These reference curves are stored in a memory of the laundry treatment apparatus, preferably in its apparatus controller or its memory. In a further second step, when the device is loaded with laundry in its drum, the test is performed as a second step before the laundry is actually treated or starts to be treated. Changing at least one of a shape of the protrusion, a drum rotation speed, and a variation of a drum rotation direction. During this second step, the drive current is monitored or monitored, in particular as a continuous curve, and then compared with various reference curves of the memory described above. This is used to determine at least one variable of the weight of the garment, the typical size of several pieces of garment and the most important group of main fiber parts of the garment by the best corresponding or most similar curve. After this, the actual treatment of the laundry in the device is adapted to the previously detected variable or variables, which means to the weight of the laundry, the typical size of several pieces of laundry and/or the main fiber portion of the laundry. This differentiation of these characteristics of the laundry is mainly achieved by very accurately monitoring the drive current supplied to the drive motor. This is based on the aspect of the invention that especially in case of a drum having a rather low speed of less than 100 rpm, preferably between 50 rpm and 30 rpm, the typical behavior of the laundry inside the drum is between rotating with the drum with little relative movement with the drum or falling from the inner wall of the drum or from the protrusion at a certain height. The signal of the drive current in the current sensor means indicates when the laundry falls from or slips on the protrusion during the rotational movement, since in this case the load on the drive motor is slightly reduced. When several pieces of laundry fall down onto the lower part of the inside of the drum wall, the drive motor is slightly decelerated and therefore a slightly larger moment must be generated. This condition can then be detected in the drive current, which condition is preferably detected as a small spike, the information of which can in turn be combined with the position information of the drum and the information about the rotational speed of the drum.

From the foregoing it is clear that the main object of the present invention is to improve the actual treatment of laundry by utilizing information already collected before about the weight of the laundry, the typical size of several pieces of laundry, the main fiber fraction, etc. The effect of the variable or flexible protrusions is necessary to collect this information by allowing to vary the way the laundry is rotated in the drum.

If the projections are not symmetrical as described above, different variations of the shape of the projections can be utilized by changing the drum rotation direction. This allows the projection not to have to be shape variable in both directions in the circumferential direction of the drum. The projection need only be curved to one side with one drum rotation direction. The bending to the other side can be omitted by merely changing the drum rotation direction to the opposite direction.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the laundry treatment apparatus has an apparatus controller with processing means for calculating or processing the rotational position of the drum and for processing the drive current from the respective sensor means for the drive current. Such a processing means is preferably a microprocessor or a corresponding controller. Preferably, the rotational position of the drum is calculated by detecting the rotational position of a drive motor for the drum, for example by an incremental encoder provided on the drive motor, as is known in the art. The processing means are further adapted to calculate the weight of the load or laundry in the drum, in particular by using information from the drive current sensor means. As explained before, the processing means may also calculate the main fiber part of the garment from the information gathered by comparing the actual parameters with various reference curves. Thus, the treatment device may adapt at least one parameter of the further laundry treatment process to better take into account the detected load and/or the main fiber portion of the laundry. This can be used for better cleaning of the laundry, for faster treatment of the laundry, or for more careful treatment of the laundry in a more energy-saving manner, and also for avoiding unnecessary or avoidable formation of microfibers made of synthetic material. This may be achieved by varying, preferably reducing, the water temperature used for the washing process, the shape of the at least one protrusion or preferably the rotational speed of the drum. It is also possible to introduce certain additives or additional laundry treatment substances into the laundry treatment process when it has been detected that the laundry is made mainly or only of a few pieces of synthetic material. Those additives can, for example, correspondingly reduce the friction of the laundry or its fabric, leading to a reduction of the microfibers produced.

The aforementioned memory for the treatment device is preferably adapted to store various curve groups or graph groups (curve groups or graph groups representing the dependence of the driving current of the load in the drum and of the main fibre portion of the laundry). An additional variable of these two values may be a certain position or shape of at least one protrusion. This is the preferred way to base the better comparisons mentioned earlier.

Monitoring or measuring the drive current supplied to the drive motor may also be used to measure, respectively, the force or pulse acting on the drum during rotation of the drum when several pieces of laundry slide down the inside of the circumferential drum wall in the drum. This slipping of the laundry usually ends when the laundry hits the next projection rotating with the drum. The higher the force or pulse, the more representative the signal or change in signal in the drive current.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, a water level sensor or a water amount sensor is provided in the drum. This additional information may also be used in the treatment device to better assess information about the laundry. During the second step of the aforementioned test, laundry is present in the drum, which should be wetted with water, but preferably no water is present in the drum or in its lower region, so that the drum does not rotate in this residual water in its lower region.

A temperature sensor for the water temperature may also be provided, for example in the lower region of the drum or in the sump of the drum or for the drum. Such a temperature sensor is not only used to take into account the water temperature during the second step of testing the laundry, but also to heat the water of the washing process to a certain temperature in an accurate manner.

In order to vary the height or the shape or the general form of the projection, respectively, passive actuation means may be provided in one embodiment of the invention. This means that no directly energized mechanical actuator (actor) such as an electric motor or an electromagnetic device, respectively, is provided in the drum or in the projection itself. Such passive actuation means preferably comprises a temperature dependent shape changing material, which may be in the form of a spring, a lever or a rod. The passive actuation means may be influenced by changing its temperature. This can also be achieved by changing the water temperature inside the drum such that the actuating means is influenced by this water temperature, which in turn can be influenced again by heating the water accordingly. In a laundry treatment apparatus such as a washing machine, this is simple. Alternatively, the passive actuation means may be directly heated, preferably inductively heated.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, in particular as a passive actuation device, the actuation device is shape-variable in the temperature range common for treating laundry. It may be provided that the actuation means, and thus the projection, may have a first shape at a temperature below 30 ℃. They may have a second shape at temperatures above 30 ℃. It may even be provided that there is at least one further temperature step, wherein the actuation means has a third shape at a temperature above 40 ℃. Such a step division into about 10 ℃ allows to precisely influence the actuation means while using a temperature range still acceptable for most of the several pieces of laundry to be treated.

In another embodiment of the invention, the temperature dependent shape changing material for the protruding actuation means may be inductively heated. This is achieved in a simple manner by a shape changing material made of or in contact with a ferromagnetic material or any other material that can be inductively heated. This allows the induction heating means to heat the actuating means placed outside the drum. The induction heating device is then placed at the drying position, where it can also be easily fixed or repaired, since it can be fixed to the drum receiving part of the non-movable or non-rotating laundry treating device, respectively. This also facilitates the electrical connection to the induction heating means due to the simple fixing means. The actuating means may pass at the radially inner side of the induction heating means and thus be heated while in range, even though this may last for a short time span when the drum is rotating at a constant speed. In order to allow faster or more intense heating, a long induction heating device may be provided, or alternatively several induction heating devices placed next to each other. It may also be provided that the drum is brought into a position in which the actuating means is directly adjacent to the induction heating means, the drum is stopped or made to stand still in this position for some time, for example 3 to 10 seconds, for the induction heating means to heat the actuating means sufficiently to effect a change in its shape, which in turn affects the protruding shape change. After this, since it may take some time for the actuating means to cool down and to change back the shape again, it is possible to continue the second step of the invention, in which the behaviour of the laundry in the drum is tested.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the projections are made of a resilient and flexible material in the form of valleys. Such a trough has two longitudinal end edges, which are advantageously parallel to each other. The projections are fixed to the inside of the drum by the two end edges. This results in a protruding initial state which has a certain initial height and a certain initial contour. The projections may be, but need not be, symmetrical as explained before. In at least one further state of the projection, the height is slightly reduced, wherein the projection is bent sideways in the circumferential direction of the drum. This can be done in a small number of steps (e.g. up to three steps). On the one hand, the differentiation between the changing behavior of several pieces of laundry in the drum allows a more detailed analysis. On the other hand, the step of testing too many varying parameters may cause the user to spend too long waiting before the actual laundry treatment process can be started. In addition, it should be ensured that the protruding state as well as the state of the actuating means are known, which again means that too many varying protruding states should not be used in order to avoid errors.

Although the protruding initial state may be symmetrical in its contour when viewed from the side, this is not mandatory. The height of the protrusion may be between 3 cm and 10 cm. The lateral bending towards the protruding side may be in the range between 1 cm and 3 cm, which means between 10% and 50% of its height. The projections may also be water permeable, for example by having small holes or perforations.

It is also possible to change the shape of the projection in the first or in the second step such that it comprises bending a maximum of the projection in one direction in the circumferential direction of the drum to a maximum in the opposite direction. Preferably, the bending between these two maxima is carried out in steps. Most preferably, there are at least three steps.

The projection may be made of a sufficiently flexible material, such as a thin metal sheet, preferably stainless steel. Preferably, the projection is made of a synthetic material. The actuation means is preferably located inside the protrusion such that it is not damaged by the laundry or a large number of laundry treatment processes. The actuation means may be arranged to be sealed against water inside the protrusion. However, preferably they can also be in good contact with the water inside the drum and are therefore sufficiently protected against corrosion by using suitable materials. This allows the actuating means to be heated or cooled directly by the water in the drum.

These and further features are apparent not only from the claims but also from the description and the drawings, the individual features being implemented individually by themselves or multiply in the form of subcombinations for the embodiments of the invention and in different fields and can be advantageous and independently protectable embodiments for what is claimed herein. The division of the present application into various sections and subheadings does not limit the general validity of the statements made thereby.

Drawings

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like elements will be represented by like reference numerals throughout the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of a washing machine according to the present invention, in which a plurality of laundry items,

figure 2 is a schematic view of the forces acting on a piece of laundry in the drum of a washing machine,

fig. 3A to 3D are respective courses of actual movements of several pieces of laundry in the drum, having various fibers and sizes,

fig. 4 is a simplified graph of drive current over time, wherein spikes indicate movement of several clothes items,

fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the projection in the drum, which has internal actuating means and external induction coils for activating them,

fig. 6 is a detail of the actuator of fig. 5 at a temperature below 30 c and at a temperature above 30 c, consisting of a sleeve with a stem therein, a conventional spring and a spring made of a temperature dependent shape changing material,

fig. 7 is a schematic view of the projection on the inside of the drum according to fig. 5, having three different shapes, an

Fig. 8 is another schematic view of the projection according to fig. 5 with a symmetrical shape change to both lateral sides.

Detailed Description

From fig. 1 a schematic view of a washing machine 11 according to the invention can be taken. The washing machine 11 has a housing 12 with a rotary drum 14 in the housing 12, the rotary drum 14 being placed in a stationary drum receptacle 13 surrounding the rotary drum 14. As is common in the art, the drum 14 is rotated or driven by a drive motor 16 with a drive belt 17, respectively. On the inside of the drum 14, three protrusions 19 are provided in the form of ribs or in the form of triangles with rounded tips pointing towards the inside of the drum 14. The projections 19 are shown in outline and may preferably have such a form in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the drum 14.

Inside the drum 14, several pieces of laundry 30 are shown as being rotated and thrown. This will be described in detail later.

The drive motor 16 is driven or energized by a power control unit 32, which power control unit 32 is in turn controlled by a controller 34, preferably the main controller of the entire washing machine 11. The controller 34 is connected to a current sensor 35, and the current sensor 35 can accurately monitor the drive current supplied to the drive motor 16 by the power control unit 32. Such current sensors are known in the art and can be provided by a person skilled in the art without any problems. It may also be integrated into the power control unit 32 or into the drive motor 16 itself.

Integrated into the drive motor 16 is a rotational position sensor device for monitoring or detecting the rotational position of the drum, which is not shown here due to the integration. As is also common in the art, such a rotational position sensor device may be integrated into the drive motor 16, preferably as an incremental encoder. The rotational position sensor device is also connected to the central controller 34.

As explained before and as will be explained in detail below, the controller 34 is further provided with a memory 37, the memory 37 preferably being integrated into one semiconductor component. Finally, on the outside of the drum receiving portion 13, the induction coil 40 is also set as an option. The induction coil 40 may be used to act on the actuator inside the projection 19, which will also be described in detail below. The induction coil 40 may also be very long in the circumferential direction of the drum reception 13, e.g. occupying a quarter or even a third of its circumferential portion. Alternatively, several single and rather small induction coils may be provided along the circumferential portion.

In FIG. 2, for a better basic understanding, the drum 14 is shown with one piece of laundry 30 therein, the center of gravity or center of mass of the piece of laundry 30 is at an angle α from the vertical axis as indicated by the dashed line, the laundry 30 abuts against the inside of the drum 14 due to rotation of the drum 14, gravity F_GRPointing vertically downwards. Centrifugal force F generated by the rotation of the drum and dependent on its speed of rotation_CEDirected outwardly in a radial direction away from the center of the drum 14 and through the center of gravity of the laundry 30. Frictional force F_FRThe friction force F is directed in the circumferential direction or in the tangential direction from the contact area of the laundry 30 with the inside of the drum 14, respectively_FRAlso in relation to centrifugal force F_CEAt right angles. Sliding force F_SLUnder the friction force F_FRPointing in the opposite direction. If the laundry 30 does not abut against the abutment projection 19, the laundry 30 passes through the friction force F_FRMoves counterclockwise together with the rotary drum 14. Sliding force F_SLIs caused by gravity F_GRThe resulting manner of pulling the garment 30 down again. When the fabric or fiber of the garment 30 has a small coefficient of friction and/or the garment 30 is lightweight, it may be that the garment 30 does not absorb too much water and then does not have sufficient frictional force F_FR. As a result, the laundry 30 slides only downwards on the inside of the drum 14, most likely also on the projections 19. Therefore, the behavior of the laundry 30, in particular easily rotating together with the drum 14 by means of the projections 19, depends among others on the coefficient of friction of the laundry 30, which depends also on the coefficient of friction of the laundry 30 made ofThe type of fiber.

It is also easy to imagine that the behavior of the laundry 30 also depends to a large extent on the height and shape of the projection 19, whether or not the laundry 30 can slide on the projection instead of rotating with the projection 19. Thus, it is easily conceivable that by changing the shape of the protrusion 19, different kinds of behavior of the laundry 30 may be generated and detected. Since the rotation speed and the rotation angle of the drum 14 are known by the previously explained rotational position sensors, and due to the fact that they are related to the position of the protrusions 19, a signal or a set of signals can be obtained that gives an indication of the behavior of the laundry 30, which ultimately can help to distinguish the kind of fabric, in particular which is the main fiber portion, from which the laundry 30 is made, and potentially the size of the laundry 30. This may help to define the optimal process parameters for a laundry treatment process, especially for washing laundry, as the process is gentle to the fabric to reduce wear of the fabric and the generation of fibres or micro-fibres, respectively. On the other hand, it should of course be ensured that the laundry is cleaned during the washing process.

It can be detected by monitoring the drive current of the drive motor 16 whether the piece of laundry 30 slides over the projection 19 or whether it enters into a rotational movement together with the projection 19. In the first case, when the laundry 30 slides on the projection, a slight but significant drop in the drive motor and drive current therefore occurs within a very short time span until the laundry 30 falls onto the lower portion of the drum 14, where the laundry 30 must enter into rotational motion again, which means that an additional tensioning must be brought by the drive motor 16. This results in some sort of spike in the drive current, no matter how small the spike can be. This additional tension in the drive current in the form of a spike or any other discontinuous change may be detected by a corresponding precision current sensor device.

In the second case, when laundry 30 does not slide on projection 19 but rotates with it and with drum 14, the driving current may vary slightly depending on whether laundry 30 has to be lifted upwards in the upper right quadrant (and possibly also in the lower right quadrant) of drum 14 according to fig. 2. In the other two quadrants on the left, the drive current is slightly lower. In any case, if the laundry does not slip or fall on the projection 19, there is no discontinuous spike in the driving current. This will be explained later in fig. 4.

Fig. 3A to 3D show simplified results of experiments using two different types of fibers and different sizes of clothes. The clothing has been marked with a feature point and the movement of the feature point has been recorded by the camera. The results are shown in simplified footprints or routes that the clothing has traveled. All four figures have been recorded in experiments using a rotational speed of 46 rpm.

In fig. 3A, a relatively small piece of clothing made of polyester having a size of about 40 cm x 40 cm has been used. Obviously, the garment has a low coefficient of friction and is relatively lightweight. It always slides and even never performs half or quarter of a rotational movement.

Fig. 3B shows a fairly small piece of clothing made of cotton, but of the same size. It can be seen that on the one hand the piece of laundry has rotated completely or almost completely with the drum 14 a number of times, but sometimes it has also slid over the projection in a similar manner to fig. 3A.

In fig. 3C, a piece of clothing made of polyester has been used, but it has a size of 80 cm x 80 cm, four times as large as before. It can be seen that during the rotation of the drum 14, the piece of laundry has been lifted slightly higher by the projection, but still always slides on the projection.

In fig. 3D, a comparable piece of laundry made of cotton, also of the same size 80 cm x 80 cm, is shown, which then performs a full rotation mainly with the drum 14. The garment rarely slips over the projection or falls from its top position.

When considering fig. 3A to 3D and observing the driving current i showing a change with time t_DIn fig. 4, it is easy to conceive that the driving current i can be monitored_DThe behavior of the piece of clothing actually shown by fig. 3A to 3D is read out. The presence of a spike or step in the drive current iD clearly indicates that a slip of the laundry has occurred and thatThe other being the dropping, the slipping of the laundry and in particular the dropping influence the motor torque of the drive motor 16 and may thus be at the drive current i_DAs seen therein. In the memory 37 of the controller 34, various such curves of drive current are stored, one for each defined set of values for the variables mentioned earlier. By applying a voltage to the measured drive current i_DThe most similar drive current can be found by comparison with other drive current curves stored in the memory 37 as a reference. This represents a set of such values. To verify the set of values, the drive current i may be obtained_DWherein some parameters, such as the shape of the projections 19, are changed. This will result in another comparison and another verification of the most similar reference curve representing a set of such values. After a small number of such comparisons, the most similar value can usually be determined. The information about the details of the laundry present inside the drum 14, which has been obtained by the comparison detailed previously, is then used to optimize the further laundry treatment process. This can be done as explained at the beginning.

It is now also easily conceivable that the information according to fig. 3A to 3D can be even more diversified by changing the shape of the projection 19. Now, this is not only what the present invention is about, but what the present invention is mainly related to. It is also advisable to carry out the process of detecting the type and size of fibres of the laundry when the drum 14 is not full, but is preferably filled at most with half of its nominal load, more preferably with only one third of its nominal load. This allows each single piece of laundry to have mainly enough space to allow relative free movement inside the rotating drum 14.

Fig. 5 shows an enlarged projection 19 fixed to the inside of the drum 14 in a side view. The actuator 22 is mounted on top of the metal base 20 and abuts with its right end against the inside of the projection 19, the metal base 20 preferably being made of aluminum or comprising aluminum. The projections 19 are made of an elastic sheet material, such as a synthetic material, or alternatively of a thin stainless steel. The actuator 22 can be moved to the right as indicated by the arrow into the position indicated by the dotted line, thereby pushing the projection 19 to the right into the position of the projection 19' indicated by the dashed line. It is easy to imagine that if drum 14 is rotated anticlockwise, adjusted projection 19' allows laundry 30 to slide on it more easily than projection 19. However, if the drum 14 rotates clockwise, the projection 19' has a stronger holding force on a piece of laundry, resulting in the laundry not sliding thereon as easily. This variation of the shape of the projections 19 allows to collect even more variations of the information about the type and size of the laundry inside the drum 14 during rotation. A further option is to influence the sliding behavior of the laundry on the projection, which allows even better differentiation of the type of laundry.

As already explained before, the actuator 22 comprises or at least partly consists of a shape changing material, the change of shape of which depends on the temperature. In order to influence the temperature of the actuator 22 or alternatively the base 20 (which in turn may heat the actuator 22), an induction coil 40 is positioned on the outside of the receiving portion 13, the induction coil 40 being controlled by the controller 34, as already explained with reference to fig. 1. Even for very short time spans, while the drum 14 rotates with the pedestal 20 and moves with respect to the induction coil 40, this may allow for heating at least to some extent. Another option as an alternative is to vary the temperature of the water inside the drum 14, which is at least variable between a room temperature of about 20 ℃ and an elevated temperature of about 40 ℃. Longer or more such induction coils 40 may also be provided.

One possible way of implementing such an actuator 22 can be taken from fig. 6. The sleeve 24 has a sleeve spring 25 abutting against its base, the sleeve spring 25 being made of a shape-changing material having a temperature dependence. A hollow rod 27 is inserted into the sleeve 24 containing a rod spring 28 made of conventional steel. The rod spring 28 abuts against the bottom of the rod 27, and the sleeve spring 25 abuts against the bottom of the rod 27 from the other end. Thus, the two springs 25 and 28 are pressed against each other. The right end of the rod spring 28 abuts against a counterpart inner rod 27, which is fixed to the outer sleeve 24. The actuator 22 in the lower position in fig. 6 is present at a temperature of less than 30 deg.c. It can be seen that the sleeve spring 25 has a length of about one third of the length of the rod spring 28. When the temperature rises above 30 ℃, for example up to 35 ℃ or even up to 40 ℃, the sleeve spring 25 extends as a result of having passed its point of change of shape. The sleeve spring 25 is extended by applying more force to the rod spring 28 and simultaneously compresses the rod spring 28 to cause both springs 25 and 28 to have about the same length due to their balance of spring forces. This is the actuator 22 in the upper position of fig. 6. The rod 27 is pushed out of the sleeve 24 some distance d, causing the actuator 22 to lengthen in its overall length. It can thus be easily seen that by varying the temperature of the actuator 22 or the sleeve spring 25, its length can be varied, which can be used according to fig. 5. It is contemplated that rod spring 28 may also be made of a shape-changing material such that the lower, longer state of actuator 22 may be at a higher temperature and the upper state at a higher temperature. An advantage of making the sleeve spring 25 from a shape-changing material is that it can be heated more efficiently by the base 20 and sleeve 24. It is also possible to make the sleeve 24 from a material that can be inductively heated, which will provide a more direct heating of the sleeve spring 25. One skilled in the art will readily recognize heating the susceptor 20 or the sleeve 24 itself, for example, by the induction coil 40. If a change in the water temperature is used to change the shape of the actuator 22, this need only be done in a short time, preferably at most 5 minutes. Therefore, even if the laundry should be treated with a low temperature of not more than 30 ℃ for analysis, it can be treated in this manner.

In fig. 7, the projection 19 mounted to the inside of the drum 14 is changed in its shape twice, for example with an actuator not shown but substantially similar to one of fig. 5. The shape of the projection 19', indicated by a dashed line, as a first variant has a height h₂Height h₂Slightly smaller than the height h of the projection 19 in its original and symmetrical state₁. If the projection 19' is deformed even more (possibly by an additional actuator and even another temperature for the shape change) this will result in the projection 19 "having the shape indicated by the dash-dotted line. The projection 19 "has an even lower height h₃And more particularly, the shape thereof is asymmetrical to such an extent that it depends on the direction of rotation of the drum 14, which is directed to the laundryThe effect on whether to slide down is very strongly unpredictable. This projection 19 "will enable very easy and effective movement of the laundry therewith, wherein only very smooth pieces of laundry slide thereon, instead of being carried along in the direction of rotation of the drum 14.

Another option of changing the shape of the protrusion 119, which is fixed to the inside of the drum 114, is shown in fig. 8. Mounted to the base 120 are two actuators 122 similar to one of fig. 5 and 6, but the two actuators 122 point and operate in opposite directions. In the normal position of the actuator 22 (which in turn comprises a shape changing material as explained before), which abuts on the inner side of the projection 119, the projection 119 has a shape as shown for example in fig. 1 and 5. When the actuators 122 are activated again, preferably by a temperature change, they are in a position according to the dotted line and push the opposite walls of the protrusion 119 apart, resulting in a change of shape indicated in dashed lines. The new shape of the projection 119', indicated with a dashed line, is still symmetrical with respect to the same line of symmetry as the projection 119, but is slightly flattened and widened at its free end. The adjusted protrusion 119' acts on the laundry 30 independently of the direction of rotation of the drum 14, but will still be apparent.

By varying the shape of the protrusion during the test sequence in which the laundry enters the washing machine 11 and evaluating the data obtained from monitoring the drive current, the controller 34 can distinguish what the main part of the fibers of the laundry 30 inside the drum 14 is and potentially the typical size of the laundry. If it has been detected that the laundry is made substantially or mainly of synthetic fibres, such as polyester, the following washing process may then be adapted to this information, preferably by mainly trying to reduce the wear on the laundry. This again reduces the production of microfibrils into the effluent of the washing process, which is increasingly important for ecological reasons.