EP-4740826-A1 - DISHWASHER

EP4740826A1EP 4740826 A1EP4740826 A1EP 4740826A1EP-4740826-A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a dishwasher that is configured to turn on an indicator only when a door is closed, so that when the door is opened and the bottom surface to which a visible light beam is irradiated is covered by the door, the indicator is turned off to prevent unnecessary power consumption, and is configured to apply an animation effect to a visual image displayed through the indicator when it is confirmed that a user is close to the dishwasher.

Inventors

JUNG, Sang Ick

Assignees

LG Electronics Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20240719

Claims (15)

A dishwasher comprising: a tub inside which a washing space is formed; A door opening or closing an open front side of the tub; an indicator projecting a visible light beam onto an outside floor surface to display predetermined information as a visual image; and a control part controlling operation of the indicator based on whether the door is in a closed state or an opened state, or based on whether a user is present within a predetermined set distance range from the door.
The dishwasher of claim , wherein the control part performs a step of making decision on whether to operate the indicator based on whether the door is in a closed state or an opened state.
The dishwasher of claim 2, further comprising: a door position sensor sensing whether the door is in a closed state, wherein the step of making decision on whether to operate the indicator includes: a step of receiving an output signal from the door position sensor; a step of determining, from the output signal received from the door position sensor, whether the door is in a closed state; and a step of turning on the indicator by supplying power to the indicator when a decision is made that the door is in a closed state in the step of determining whether the door is in a closed state.
The dishwasher of claim 3, further comprising: an input part into which a user's operation for turning power on and off, a user's operation for selecting a washing course, and a user's operation for starting a course are input, wherein the control part further performs a step of receiving the operation for turning power on, which is input through the input part, before the step of receiving an output signal from the door position sensor.
The dishwasher of claim 3, wherein the control part further performs a step of determining whether the operation for selecting a washing course, and the operation for starting a course are input, before the step of turning on the indicator, when a decision is made that the door is in a closed state in the step of determining whether the door is in a closed state,
The dishwasher of claim 5, wherein in the step of turning on the indicator, the indicator displays visual information corresponding to the selected washing course.
The dishwasher of claim 3, further comprising: an optical sensor disposed in the door and sensing external illumination, wherein the step of turning on the indicator includes: a step of receiving an output signal from the optical sensor; a step of comparing the external illumination sensed from the output signal received from the optical sensor with a preset reference illumination; and a step of supplying, to the indicator, an adjusted power lower than a basic power when it is determined that the external illumination is less than the reference illumination.
The dishwasher of claim 7, wherein the step of turning on the indicator further includes a step of supplying the basic power to the indicator when it is determined that the external illumination is greater than or equal to the reference illumination.
The dishwasher of claim 2, wherein the control part further performs a step of, before the step of making decision on whether to operate the indicator, turning on the indicator regardless of whether the door is in an opened state or in a closed state when power is applied from an external power supply for a first time after connection to an external power supply has been cut off,
The dishwasher of claim 9, wherein the control part further performs: a step of comparing an elapsed time from after the power is first supplied from an external power supply with a predetermined set time; and a step of turning off the indicator by cutting off the power supplied to the indicator when it is determined that the elapsed time has reached the predetermined set time in the step of comparing an elapsed time with a predetermined set time.
The dishwasher of claim 1, wherein the control part performs a step of driving the indicator in a normal mode or in a proximity mode based on whether a user is present within a predetermined set distance range from the door.
The dishwasher of claim 11, further comprising: an optical sensor disposed in the door and sensing whether a user is present within the set distance range, wherein the step of driving the indicator in a normal mode or in a proximity mode includes: a step of receiving an output signal from the optical sensor; and a step of determining, based on the output signal received from the optical sensor, whether a user is present within the set distance range.
The dishwasher of claim 11, wherein the driving according to the normal mode is a driving to change the visual image in response to a progress status of a washing course to be progressed in the washing space, and wherein the driving according to the proximity mode is a driving to change the visual image by additionally applying an animation effect to the driving according to the normal mode.
The dishwasher of claim 13, wherein the animation effect includes a brightness variation region movement effect, in which a portion of a display region where the visual image is displayed is set as a brightness variation region so as to have a lower or higher brightness than a remaining region, and the brightness variation region is moved.
The dishwasher of claim 13, wherein the visual image includes a letter image, and wherein the animation effect includes a letter movement effect, in which letters of a sentence forming the letter image are moved in a unit of a letter at a predetermined time interval.

Description

[Technical Field] The present invention relates to a dishwasher, and more specifically, to a dishwasher configured to turn on an indicator only when a door is in a closed state, so that when the door is opened and a floor surface to which a visible light beam is irradiated is covered by the door, the indicator is turned off to prevent unnecessary power consumption, and configured to apply an animation effect to a visual image displayed through the indicator when it is confirmed that a user is close to the dishwasher, so that the user can intuitively recognize whether the dishwasher is operating normally or whether the washing course is progressing normally. [Background Art] A dishwasher is a device which sprays washing water such as water to a wash target such as tableware, cooking utensils and the like accommodated therein to wash the wash target. At this time, the washing water used for washing the wash target may contain a detergent. Ordinarily, the dishwasher is constructed by including a tub forming a washing space therein, a storage part accommodating the wash target in the tub, a spray arm spraying the washing water to the storage part, and a sump storing an amount of water therein and supplying the washing water to the spray arm. By using this dishwasher, the time and effort required to wash tableware and other wash target after a meal can be reduced, contributing to user convenience. Recently, the proportion of dishwashers disposed in a built-in manner is gradually increasing for the purpose of expanding the space for the kitchen. In particular, more and more products have been recently released, which have a cover panel attached to the front surface of the doors so as to create a sense of unity with the space in which the dishwasher is disposed and the surrounding furniture. The cover panel may be manufactured to have the same material texture and color as the exterior of the surrounding furniture in order to create a sense of unity with the surrounding furniture. However, when the dishwasher is disposed in a built-in manner with the cover panel attached to the door in this way, the cover panel is in a state of covering the door generally. As a result, the user has difficulty in intuitively determining whether the dishwasher is operating. In this regard, European Patent Publication No. 3945978 (Related Document 001) discloses a dishwasher configured to irradiate a visible light beam toward an outside floor surface through an optical unit disposed in the door so as to allow the operating status of the dishwasher to be visually checked. [Disclosure] [Technical Problem] The optical unit provided in the dishwasher of the aforementioned Related Document 001 is configured so that the turned-on state of the optical unit is maintained regardless of whether the door is open. As a result, even when the floor surface on which the visible light beam is irradiated is covered by the door at the time of the opening of the dishwasher door, the turned-on state of the optical unit is maintained, resulting in the problem of unnecessary power consumption. Besides, the optical unit provided in the dishwasher of Related Document 001 is configured so that the turned-on state of the optical unit can be continuously maintained even in a standby state in which the dishwasher is not actually operating. Thus, even when the user is aware that the dishwasher is in a state capable of normal operation or in a standby state, the optical unit is needlessly maintained in the turned-on state, resulting in the problem of unnecessary power consumption. Meanwhile, the optical unit provided in the dishwasher of the aforementioned Related Document 001 is configured so that the optical unit is maintained in the turned-on stated regardless of whether the user is in proximity. Therefore, there is a problem in that it is difficult to intuitively recognize whether the dishwasher is operating normally or whether the washing course is progressing normally, only through the visible light beam displayed by the optical unit during operation of the dishwasher or during progress of the washing course. Due to this, there is a problem in that, in order for the user to check whether the dishwasher is operating normally or whether the washing course is progressing normally, an additional confirmation procedure, such as visually checking the display of the door, is required, which may cause inconvenience to the user. The present invention has been conceived to solve the problems of the related art as described above, and the first object thereof is to provide a dishwasher and a control method thereof, which are configured to turn on the indicator only when the door of the dishwasher is in a closed state, so that the indicator is turned off when the floor surface on which the visible light beam is irradiated becomes covered by the door at the time of the opening of the door, thereby preventing unnecessary power consumption. Additionally, the second object