(19)
(11) EP 1 154 064 A3

(12) EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION

(88) Date of publication A3:
23.10.2002 Bulletin 2002/43

(43) Date of publication A2:
14.11.2001 Bulletin 2001/46

(21) Application number: 01104871.7

(22) Date of filing: 28.02.2001
(51) International Patent Classification (IPC)7: D06F 37/20
(84) Designated Contracting States:
AT BE CH CY DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LI LU MC NL PT SE TR
Designated Extension States:
AL LT LV MK RO SI

(30) Priority: 09.05.2000 DE 10022609

(71) Applicant: WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION
Benton Harbor Michigan 49022 (US)

(72) Inventor:
  • Pöhler, Reinhold, c/o Whirlpool Europe s.r.l.
    21025 Comerio (IT)

(74) Representative: Guerci, Alessandro 
Whirlpool Europe S.r.l. Patent Department Viale G. Borghi 27
21025 Comerio (VA)
21025 Comerio (VA) (IT)

   


(54) Device to limit the imbalance of a washing unit of a clothes washer


(57) The invention concerns a device to limit the imbalance of a washing unit of a clothes washer that has a laundry drum rotatably mounted in a tub and is suspended in the machine housing to allow oscillation with springs, weights providing inertia, vibration dampers and the drive motor, whereby several sensors distributed on the perimeter of a tub detect the deflections due to imbalance in the spin cycle, and undertake related countermeasures to limit the arising paths and forces. The washing unit is prevented from overloading due to imbalances in the spin cycle independent of the load in the laundry drum as follows: The sensors (14) are perpendicular and/or parallel to the rotary axis (8) of the laundry drum (12), and they detect the displacements as well as the phase shifts between the displacements, and control and/or regulating parameters are fed to the spin cycle depending on the detected displacements and phase shifts as well as the speed of the laundry drum (12) and the drive motor (5).






Search report