Water supply circuit for a laundry treating appliance

Abstract

A laundry treating appliance and method of operating a laundry treating appliance includes a treating chamber receiving laundry for treating, a dispenser fluidly coupled to the treating chamber and a faucet. A water supply circuit includes a hot water inlet and a cold water inlet supplying hot water, cold water, or a mixture of hot and cold water to the faucet.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A laundry treating appliance comprising:
 a treating chamber receiving laundry for treatment;   a dispenser having at least first and second treating chemistry reservoirs fluidly coupled to the treating chamber;   a faucet having an outlet fluidly coupled to the treating chamber; and   a water supply circuit comprising:
 a hot water inlet; 
 a cold water inlet; 
 a diverter valve; 
 a first cold water supply conduit fluidly coupling the cold water inlet to the diverter valve; 
 a second cold water supply conduit bypassing the diverter valve and fluidly coupling the cold water inlet to the second chemistry treating reservoir; 
 a hot water supply conduit fluidly coupling the hot water inlet to the diverter valve; 
 a faucet supply conduit fluidly coupling the diverter valve to the faucet; and 
 a detergent supply conduit fluidly coupling the diverter valve to the first chemistry treating reservoir; 
 wherein the diverter valve can selectively and independently supply at least one of hot or cold water to at least one of the faucet or the first chemistry treating reservoir. 
   
     
     
         2 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a user interface configured to receive a selected temperature of water to supply to the faucet as an input. 
     
     
         3 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 2 , wherein a controller is communicably coupled with the user interface and configured to selectively control a ratio of hot water and cold water supplied to the faucet based on the input. 
     
     
         4 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 2 , wherein the user interface is at least one of a knob, a dial, a switch, a display, or a touch screen. 
     
     
         5 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the water supply circuit comprises an array of pilot valves controlling a flow of water through the hot water supply conduit and the first cold water supply conduit and the second cold water supply conduit. 
     
     
         6 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a door movable to selectively close the treating chamber in a closed position and to provide access to the treating chamber in an open position, wherein the faucet becomes accessible when the door is in the open position. 
     
     
         7 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the water supply circuit further comprises at least one temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of water supplied to at least one of the faucet, the first treating chemistry reservoir, or both. 
     
     
         8 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the water supply circuit is configured to selectively supply water to the faucet independent of supplying water to the first and second treating chemistry reservoirs during an automatic cycle of operation. 
     
     
         9 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 8 , wherein the water supply circuit can supply water to the faucet and the first treating chemistry reservoir simultaneously during the automatic cycle of operation. 
     
     
         10 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a cold water valve configured to selectively provide cold water to at least one of the first cold water supply conduit or the second cold water supply conduit, and a hot water valve configured to selectively provide hot water to the hot water supply conduit. 
     
     
         11 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 10 , wherein a controller is operably coupled to the cold water valve and the hot water valve to provide water to at least one of the first chemistry treating reservoir, the second chemistry treating reservoir, or the faucet at a desired temperature. 
     
     
         12 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 11 , further comprising a user interface operably coupled to the controller and configured to receive an input from a user corresponding to the desired temperature. 
     
     
         13 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the dispenser is configured to dispense water from at least one of the first chemistry treating reservoir and the second chemistry treating reservoir. 
     
     
         14 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the faucet supply conduit includes a first flow restrictor. 
     
     
         15 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 14 , wherein the first cold water supply conduit, the second cold water supply conduit, and the hot water supply conduit each include a second flow restrictor to control a flow rate of water through each conduit. 
     
     
         16 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 15 , wherein the flow restrictor is configured to provide a slow flow rate through the faucet supply conduit than the flow rate through the first cold water supply conduit, the second cold water supply conduit, and the hot water supply conduit. 
     
     
         17 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one check valve provided on the hot water supply conduit, the first cold water supply conduit, or the second cold water supply conduit to prevent water from back flowing. 
     
     
         18 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the diverter valve is configured to allow the hot water from the hot water supply conduit and the cold water from the first cold water supply conduit to mix prior to supplying the water to at least one of the detergent supply conduit or the faucet supply conduit. 
     
     
         19 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the faucet is without a controllable valve provided along the faucet supply conduit. 
     
     
         20 . A laundry treating appliance comprising:
 a treating chamber receiving laundry for treatment;   a dispenser having at least first and second treating chemistry reservoirs fluidly coupled to the treating chamber;   a faucet having an outlet fluidly coupled to the treating chamber;   a controller configured to operate the laundry treating appliance according to a cycle of operation; and   a water supply circuit comprising:
 a hot water inlet; 
 a cold water inlet; 
 a diverter valve; 
 a water supply conduit fluidly coupling the cold water inlet to the diverter valve; 
 a hot water supply conduit fluidly coupling the hot water inlet to the diverter valve; 
 a faucet supply conduit fluidly coupling the diverter valve to the faucet; and 
 a detergent supply conduit fluidly coupling the diverter valve to the first chemistry treating reservoir; 
   wherein the controller is operably coupled to the water supply circuit and configured to control the diverter valve to selectively supply water to one of the faucet, the first chemistry treating reservoir, or both the faucet and the first chemistry treating reservoir, and wherein the controller can control the diverter valve to supply water to the faucet at the request of a user.