Electrolux Appliances Aktiebolag

Electrolux Home Products, Inc.

Electrolux Consumer Products, Inc.

Electrolux Home Care Products, Inc.

Allison White

Yihong Li

Oscar Madalena

Helena Romito

Alberto Lucchetta

Elisa Stabon

Anthony Lufkin

Terry Anderson

Martino Bondi

Oscar Luiz Madalena

A laundry washing machine having: a casing, a washing tub located within the casing, a drum mounted within the washing tub and configured to rotate relative to the casing, a door attached to the casing and being openable to provide access to the drum, an additive loading and supply system configured to receive loose detergent, one or more valves configured to selectively provide water to the additive loading and supply system, a tub supply pipe fluidly connecting the additive loading and supply system to the drum, a receptacle configured to receive a unit dose package comprising a water soluble pouch containing a dose of cleaning product, and means for breaking the unit dose package outside the additive loading and supply system.

Method and apparatus for cleaning laundry

A laundry washing machine and a method for operating the washing machine offer ways to load a unit dose package into a compartment of the washing machine. A control unit controls the washing machine to add water to a compartment having a unit dose package. The tub is then filled with hot or cold water depending on the temperature of the water in the tub, or whether a sanitizing cycle of a washing program has been selected.

Method for operating a laundry washing machine using a unit dose package and laundry washing machine

A method and apparatus for breaking a unit dose package in a chamber within a post located in a basket of a laundry washing machine. The method includes filling the basket and the chamber, increasing a rotation speed of the basket and/or the post to raise the water level in the basket and lower the water level in the chamber to cause a unit dose package within the chamber to move downwards; reducing the rotation speed to lower the water level in the basket and raise the water level in chamber to cause the unit dose package within the chamber to move upwards; and repeating the steps of increasing and reducing the rotational speed to cause the unit dose package to break open and at least partially dissolve. A laundry washing machine configured to perform this process is also provided.

Laundry washing machine for use with unit dose detergent packages

A laundry washing machine having: a casing; a washing tub in the casing; a rotatable drum mounted within the washing tub; a door to provide access to the drum; a receptacle having a volume configured to receive a unit dose package comprising a water soluble pouch containing a dose of cleaning product; a tub supply pipe connecting the receptacle to the washing tub; one or more protrusions movably mounted to the casing to move between a first position in which the one or more protrusions are not located within the volume configured to receive the unit dose package, and a second position in which the one or more protrusions are located within the volume configured to receive the unit dose package; and a motor configured to move the one or more protrusions from the first position to the second position. Methods for operating a laundry washing machine are also provided.

A method for controlling a laundry washing machine. The method includes: performing a tub loading process comprising operating supply valve(s) to provide a first volume of water through a detergent supply system and into a tub to fill the tub with wash liquid; performing a washing process comprising rotating a drum to agitate laundry in in the presence of the wash liquid; performing a static rinsing process comprising operating a pump to remove a free volume of wash liquid from the tub without rotating the drum; and performing one or more rinsing processes comprising: operating the supply valve(s) to provide a volume of clean rinse water to the tub, operating the pump to remove the rinse water from the drum, and operating the motor to spin the drum at high speed to extract rinse water from the laundry, while continuing to operate the pump.

A laundry washing machine having a casing, a washing tub within the casing, a drum within the washing tub, a door to provide access to the drum, an additive loading and supply system configured to receive one or more cleaning products, a soaking chamber configured to receive and hold a unit dose package and at least a first volume of liquid, a tub supply pipe connecting the soaking chamber to the washing tub and/or drum, valves to dispense water into the soaking chamber, and a control unit operatively connected to the valves. The control unit has instructions that, when executed: cause the valves to supply the first volume of liquid to the soaking chamber, allow the first volume of liquid to reside in the soaking chamber for a predetermined amount of time, and subsequently release the first quantity of liquid from the soaking chamber to the tub supply pipe.

A method for controlling a laundry washing machine. The method includes: performing a tub loading process comprising operating supply valve(s) to provide a first volume of water through a detergent supply system and into a tub to fill the tub with wash liquid; performing a washing process comprising rotating a drum to agitate laundry in in the presence of the wash liquid; performing a static rinsing process comprising operating a pump to remove any free volume of wash liquid from the tub without rotating the drum; and performing one or more rinsing processes comprising: operating the supply valve(s) to provide a volume of clean rinse water to the tub, operating the pump to remove the rinse water from the drum, and operating the motor to spin the drum at high speed to extract rinse water from the laundry, while continuing to operate the pump.

A laundry washing machine having a casing, a washing tub located within the casing, a drum mounted within the washing tub and configured to rotate relative to the casing, a door attached to the casing and being openable to provide access to the drum, a receptacle configured to receive a unit dose package comprising a water soluble pouch containing a dose of cleaning product, a tub supply pipe fluidly connecting the receptacle to washing tub, and means for mechanically breaking the unit dose package.

A method for controlling a laundry washing machine. The method includes: performing a tub loading process comprising operating supply valve(s) to provide a first volume of water through a detergent supply system and into a tub to fill the tub with wash liquid; performing a washing process comprising rotating a drum to agitate laundry in the presence of the wash liquid; performing a static rinsing process comprising operating a pump to remove any free volume of wash liquid from the tub without rotating the drum; and performing one or more rinsing processes comprising: operating the supply valve(s) to provide a volume of clean rinse water to the tub, operating the pump to remove the rinse water from the drum, and operating the motor to spin the drum at high speed to extract rinse water from the laundry, while continuing to operate the pump.

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Charlotte, NC, United States of America

Allison White