Continuous laundry cleaning appliance

Abstract

A household laundry appliance is provided for washing and drying individual pieces of laundry. The appliance includes a bin for holding laundry, wash and dry stations, and a robotic feeder mechanism to automatically convey laundry from the bin to the processing stations. The wash stations include a spray station for spraying the garments with a cleaning solution, and an ultrasonic station for applying ultrasonic vibrations to the garments. Rinse and extraction stations are provided upstream from the drying station to rinse the garments and then extract water from the garments. The garments are continuously transported through the appliance by a series of mesh conveyor belts between which the garments are sandwiched. The drying station includes fans for blowing heated air past the clothing to drive moisture out of the clothing. The temperature and velocity of the air may be adjusted to accommodate different garment materials and dampness. A controller interacts with sensors and actuators to control the operation of the appliance.

1 . A laundry appliance for cleaning laundry, comprising: 
 a bin for holding laundry to be cleaned;    an acquisition member adjacent the bin to automatically obtain a single piece of laundry from the bin; and    a transport member adjacent the acquisition member to move the single piece of laundry to a cleaning station.    
   
   
       2 . The laundry appliance of  claim 1  wherein the bin includes a top opening through which garments pass to the acquisition member.  
   
   
       3 . The laundry appliance of  claim 1  wherein the bin includes a bottom opening through which garments pass to the acquisition member.  
   
   
       4 . The laundry appliance of  claim 1  wherein the bin includes a side opening through which garments pass to the acquisition member.  
   
   
       5 . The laundry appliance of  claim 1  wherein the acquisition member is a pair of nip rollers.  
   
   
       6 . The laundry appliance of  claim 1  wherein the acquisition member is selected from a group consisting of a set of nip rollers, a vacuum system, an adhesive surface, a hook surface, a statically charged surface, a brush roller set, and a pinching mechanism.  
   
   
       7 . The laundry appliance of  claim 1  further comprising a separation member adjacent the acquisition member to separate the single piece of laundry from other laundry in the bin.  
   
   
       8 . The laundry appliance of  claim 1  wherein the separation member is a reciprocating robotic arm movable between a laundry pick up position and a laundry separating position.  
   
   
       9 . The laundry appliance of  claim 8  wherein the acquisition member is mounted on the robotic arm.  
   
   
       10 . The laundry appliance of  claim 1  wherein the transport member is a conveyor system.  
   
   
       11 . The laundry appliance of  claim 10  wherein the conveyor system includes a pair of belts between which the one piece of laundry is sandwiched.  
   
   
       12 . The laundry appliance of  claim 1  wherein the acquisition member is a pair of nip rollers, the separation member is a robotic arm having the nip rollers mounted thereon for movement between a first position within the bin and a second position out of the bin, and the transport member includes a conveyor system operatively mounted within the robotic arm to receive the single piece of laundry from the nip rollers.  
   
   
       13 . The laundry appliance of  claim 12  wherein the conveyor system includes a pair of belts between which the single piece of laundry is sandwiched.  
   
   
       14 . A method of cleaning laundry, comprising: 
 loading laundry into a bin;    acquiring an individual piece of laundry from the bin; and    transporting the separated piece of laundry to a cleaning station.    
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the piece of laundry is acquired from the top of the bin.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the piece of laundry is acquired from the bottom of the bin.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the piece of laundry is acquired from the side of the bin.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the acquisition step is accomplished with a pair of nip rollers.  
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising separating the acquired piece of laundry from other laundry in the bin.  
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the separating step is accomplished with a reciprocating robotic arm movable between a laundry pick up position and a laundry separation position.  
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the transport step is accomplished with a conveyor system.  
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the conveyor system includes a pair of belts, and the transport step includes sandwiching the piece of laundry between the belts for transport.  
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the acquisition step is accomplished with a pair of nip rollers, the separation step as accomplished with a reciprocating robotic arm having the nip rollers mounted thereon for movement between a first position in the bin and a second position out of the bin, and the transport step is accomplished with a conveyor system operatively mounted within the robotic arm to receive the piece of laundry from the nip rollers.  
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 23  further comprising sandwiching the piece of laundry between a pair of belts in the conveyor system.  
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising sensing the presence of laundry in the bin.  
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising sensing the presence of a piece of laundry in the acquisition step.  
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising sensing the presence of a piece of laundry in the transport step.  
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the automated feeder acquisition is accomplished with sensors and embedded control with a real-time clock and various software methods.  
   
   
       29 . A laundry appliance, comprising: 
 a bin for holding laundry to be washed;    a wash station for washing the laundry; and    a feeder to automatically convey laundry from the bin to the wash station.    
   
   
       30 . The laundry appliance of  claim 29  further comprising a drying station to dry the laundry that has been washed.  
   
   
       31 . The laundry appliance of  claim 30  further comprising an ultrasonic station upstream from the drying station for cleaning the laundry.  
   
   
       32 . The laundry appliance of  claim 30  further comprising a rinse station upstream of the drying station for rinsing laundry.  
   
   
       33 . The laundry appliance of  claim 30  further comprising an extraction station upstream of the drying station to remove water from the laundry.  
   
   
       34 . The laundry appliance of  claim 30  wherein the laundry moves continuously through the wash and dryer stations.  
   
   
       35 . The laundry appliance of  claim 29  wherein the bin has a top discharge of garments to the feeder.  
   
   
       36 . The laundry appliance of  claim 29  wherein the bin has a bottom discharge of garments to the feeder.  
   
   
       37 . The laundry appliance of  claim 29  wherein the bin has a side discharge of garments to the feeder.  
   
   
       38 . The laundry appliance of  claim 29  wherein the feeder includes a robotic arm assembly movable to and from the bin to retrieve laundry from the bin.  
   
   
       39 . The laundry appliance of  claim 38  wherein the arm assembly includes means for acquiring individual pieces of laundry from the bin.  
   
   
       40 . The laundry appliance of  claim 39  wherein arm assembly includes nip rollers to acquiring individual pieces of laundry from the bin.  
   
   
       41 . The laundry appliance of  claim 38  wherein the arm assembly includes a conveyor system for transporting laundry from the bin to the wash station.  
   
   
       42 . The laundry appliance of  claim 38  wherein the arm assembly includes a sensor to detect the presence of laundry.  
   
   
       43 . The laundry appliance of  claim 29  further comprising sensors, an embedded controller and hardware and software control logic and algorithms that control the operation of various processing stations inside the machine.  
   
   
       44 . The laundry appliance of  claim 29  further comprising a sensor in the bin to detect garments in the bin and automatically actuate the feeder.  
   
   
       45 . A laundry bin for holding laundry to be processed; 
 feed means to automatically pick up a piece of laundry from the bin;    a water spray station adapted to receive a piece of laundry from the feed means for cleaning the laundry;    an ultrasonic station for cleaning the laundry;    a rinse station for rinsing the laundry;    an extraction station for removing water from the laundry;    a drying station for drying the laundry; and    transport means for continuously transporting the laundry one piece at a time through the water spray, ultrasonic, rinse and drying stations.    
   
   
       46 . The laundry appliance of  claim 45  wherein the bin has a top discharge to the feed means.  
   
   
       47 . The laundry appliance of  claim 45  wherein the feed means reciprocates between a pick-up position within the bin and a separation position outside the bin.  
   
   
       48 . The laundry appliance of  claim 45  wherein the transporting means includes belt conveyors passing through each station.  
   
   
       49 . The laundry appliance of  claim 48  wherein the belt conveyors include upper and lower tracks between which the laundry pieces are sandwiched.  
   
   
       50 . The laundry appliance of  claim 49  wherein the tracks are mesh to allow water and air to pass through.  
   
   
       51 . The laundry appliance of  claim 45  wherein the water spray stations includes spray nozzles positioned on opposite sides of the laundry.  
   
   
       52 . The laundry appliance of  claim 51  wherein the water spray stations includes a pair of manifolds each supporting a plurality of the spray nozzles on opposite sides of the laundry.  
   
   
       53 . The laundry appliance of  claim 45  wherein the transport means moves the laundry along a path, and wherein the ultrasonic station includes an ultrasonic head moving across the path of the moving laundry.  
   
   
       54 . The laundry appliance of  claim 53  wherein the ultrasonic head is supported on a screw for traversing the laundry path.  
   
   
       55 . The laundry appliance of  claim 54  wherein the screw has a double helix to control movement of the head in opposite directions across the laundry path.  
   
   
       56 . The laundry appliance of  claim 54  wherein the screw is reversible, with limit switches to control movement of the head in opposite directions across the laundry path.  
   
   
       57 . The laundry appliance of  claim 45  wherein the extraction station includes wringer rollers.  
   
   
       58 . The laundry appliance of  claim 45  wherein the drying station includes an air supply to blow air across the laundry.  
   
   
       59 . The laundry appliance of  claim 58  wherein the drying station includes a heater to heat the air.  
   
   
       60 . The laundry appliance of  claim 58  wherein the drying station includes internal walls to define a serpentine path of air flow.  
   
   
       61 . The laundry appliance of  claim 58  wherein air turbulence is created within the drying station.  
   
   
       62 . A residential method of processing laundry, comprising: 
 loading laundry into a bin;    automatically feeding individual pieces of laundry from the bin into a water spray station;    spraying water onto the laundry in the spray station;    exposing the laundry to ultrasonic vibrations in an ultrasonic station;    rinsing the laundry in a rinse station;    extracting water from the laundry in an extraction station;    drying the laundry in a drying station; and    continuously transporting the laundry pieces through the spray, ultrasonic, rinse, extraction and drying stations.    
   
   
       63 . The method of  claim 62  wherein the transporting of the laundry pieces is accomplished by belt conveyors passing through each station.  
   
   
       64 . The method of  claim 63  further comprising sandwiching the laundry between opposing tracks of the belt conveyors.  
   
   
       65 . The method of  claim 62  wherein the spraying of water is directed to opposite sides of the laundry.  
   
   
       66 . The method of  claim 62  wherein the ultrasonic vibrations are generated by an ultrasonic head traversing across the laundry as the laundry moves through the ultrasonic station.  
   
   
       67 . The method of  claim 62  wherein the rinsing is directed to opposite sides of the laundry.  
   
   
       68 . The method of  claim 62  further comprising recirculating drying air in the drying station.