Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.

JaeHyo Lee

Je Kwon Yoon

Hoyoung Lee

Khalid Jamal Mashal

Seung-Yeong Park

Ryan James Scheckelhoff

Myunggeon Chung

Hyeonsoo Moon

Minsu Kim

A washing machine appliance includes a wash basket that is rotatably mounted within a wash tub and that defines a wash chamber for receiving a load of clothes. A dispensing assembly selectively dispenses wash fluid through a discharge nozzle into the wash tub and a camera assembly is used to monitor the wash fluid and diagnose issues related to the detergent quantity. Specifically, a controller of the washing machine appliance uses the camera assembly to obtain one or more images of the load of clothes as fresh water is dispensed to determine whether detergent was added manually. The controller further determines whether a smart dispense feature is activated or deactivated and implements a responsive action in response to determining that either 1) detergent is present and the smart dispense feature is activated or 2) detergent is not present and the smart dispense feature is deactivated.

Systems and methods for using artificial intelligence for detergent diagnostics in a washing machine appliance

A washing machine appliance includes a wash basket that is rotatably mounted within a wash tub and that defines a wash chamber for receiving a load of clothes. A water supply adds water to the wash tub during a fill cycle and a camera assembly is used to monitor the water level. Specifically, the camera assembly obtains one or more images of the wash chamber during and/or after a fill cycle and a controller analyzes the images using a machine learning image recognition process to determine when the water within the wash tub has reached a predetermined water level, e.g., optimized based on load size or other load parameters. If the water in the wash tub is below or above the predetermined water level, the controller may implement responsive action, e.g., by adjusting at least one operating parameter of the washing machine appliance.

Method of using image recognition processes for improved operation of a laundry appliance

A washing machine appliance includes a camera assembly mounted in view of a wash chamber for obtaining images of the wash chamber. The lens of the camera assembly is positioned adjacent a water outlet of a water dispenser and a controller is configured to facilitate an automated cleaning method for the camera assembly, the method including obtaining one or more images of the wash chamber using the camera assembly, analyzing the one or more images to determine an image quality, determining that the image quality has dropped below a quality threshold, and operating the water dispenser to perform a lens cleaning operation in response to determining that the image quality has dropped below the quality threshold.

Automated lens cleaning for a camera assembly based on image recognition in a washing machine appliance

A laundry appliance includes a basket rotatably mounted within a cabinet and defining a chamber configured for receiving a load of clothes, a water supply valve for regulating a flow of water into the chamber, and a camera assembly mounted within the cabinet in view of the chamber. A controller is configured to determine that the water supply valve is open to permit the flow of water into the chamber, identify an anticipated fog condition within the chamber based at least in part on the water supply valve being open, obtaining one or more images of the chamber using the camera assembly, analyzing the one or more images of the chamber to determine an actual fog condition in the chamber, and implementing a responsive action if the actual fog condition is different than the anticipated fog condition, e.g., providing a user notification.

Water temperature evaluation method using image recognition in a laundry appliance

A laundry appliance includes a basket rotatably mounted within a cabinet and defining a chamber configured for receiving a load of clothes, a door pivotally mounted to the cabinet for providing selective access to the chamber, and a camera assembly mounted within the cabinet in view of the chamber. A controller is configured to initiate an automatic self-clean cycle, the method comprising determining that the door is closed, obtaining one or more images of the chamber using the camera assembly, determining that there is no load in the chamber based at least in part on the one or more images, determining that a self-clean condition is satisfied, and commencing the self-clean cycle.

Automatic self clean cycle start using artificial intelligence in a laundry appliance

A washing machine appliance includes a wash basket that is rotatably mounted within a wash tub and that defines a wash chamber for receiving a load of clothes. A camera assembly is mounted within the wash tub for taking images of the load of clothes during and/or after a wash or rinse cycle. A controller is operably coupled to the camera for obtaining and analyzing the images using a neural network image recognition process (such as an R-CNN process) to determine a whether the level of suds or bubbles exceeds a suds threshold. If there are too many suds in the wash tub, the controller may implement corrective action, e.g., by decreasing a water temperature, adding more water, or reducing the amount of detergent that is auto-dispensed in a subsequent wash cycle.

A washing machine appliance and methods for operating the same are provided. The washing machine appliance includes features for executing a calibration cycle in which water flow rates through one or more valves may be calculated and water pressure conditions may be detected and identified. Further, in some instances, the flow rate setting of the washing machine appliance may be adapted or modified in accordance with the flow rates calculated during the calibration cycle.

Washing machine appliance and methods for operating the same in a calibration cycle

A washing machine appliance with smart automatic washing functionality is provided. The washing machine automatically senses the amount of articles within a wash chamber defined by the washing machine appliance and runs the wash cycle automatically when the amount of articles within the wash chamber is greater than a minimum load size threshold and less than a maximum load size threshold. Methods for providing such smart automatic washing functionality are also provided.

Growing community of inventors

Seoul, South Korea

JaeHyo Lee