Whirlpool Corporation

Peter Richmond

Brian P Janke

Alberto Regio Gomes

Andrew David Litch

Farhad Ashrafzadeh

Peter E Zasowski

Jeffrey A Spindler

Christopher A Kruckenberg

Stephen L Keres

Tushar Kulkarni

John W Morrison

Guolian Wu

Steven John Kuehl

Ali R Buendia-Garcia

Rodney Michael Welch

Antony Mark Rappette

Ronald L Voglewede

Ryan Robert Bellinger

David John Kmet

Jonathan D Gephart

Steven J Vornsand

Ali R Buendia Garcia

Marcelo C Silva

Rodrigo Stanziola Teixeira

Richard A McCoy

Matthew Peter Ebrom

Kevin Michael Chase

Tony Lee Koenigsknecht

Randell Lee Jeffery

Erik Peter Oosterwal

Rodrigo S Teixeira

Chad Lange

Jonathan C Valentine

Marcelo Campos Silva

Horacio B Polli

Stephen J Kuehl

Martin P Winik

Bob A Ghent

An appliance includes an appliance housing, an interface adapted to receive power information, a plurality of sensors for sensing environmental conditions, a plurality of controls for controlling operations of the appliance, and an intelligent control. The intelligent control is disposed within the appliance housing and operatively connected to the interface and the plurality of sensors and adapted to dynamically select control values associated with the plurality of controls based on at least one of the power information, the environmental conditions, or a combination thereof to increase energy efficiency of the appliance.

On-line energy consumption optimization adaptive to environmental condition

A diverter valve assembly includes a manifold defining a plenum with an inlet and multiple outlets, a membrane movably mounted within the plenum and having at least one through opening, which is sequentially aligned with the multiple outlets upon movement of the membrane, indicia provided on the membrane corresponding to each of the multiple outlets, and a sensor configured to sense the indicia and provide an output of the sensed indicia.

Dish treating appliance with diverter valve position sensing

A dish treating appliance for treating dishes according to an automatic cycle of operation and including a tub at least partially defining a treating chamber receiving dishes for treatment according to the automatic cycle of operation, multiple sprayers emitting a liquid into the treating chamber, and a diverter valve having a manifold defining a plenum with an inlet and multiple outlets and a membrane movably mounted within the plenum and having at least one through opening, which is sequentially aligned with the multiple outlets upon movement of the membrane.

A laundry treating appliance for treating a laundry load according to at least one cycle of operation and a method of operating a laundry treating appliance to control the rotation of the drum to distribute the laundry load with an acceptable amount of imbalance such that the laundry treating appliance may be operated in an effective and efficient manner.

Laundry treating appliance and method of operation

Methods of operation for refrigerator appliance configurations with a controller, a condenser, at least one evaporator, a compressor, and two refrigeration compartments. The configuration may be equipped with a variable-speed or variable-capacity compressor, variable speed evaporator or compartment fans, a damper, and/or a dual-temperature evaporator with a valve system to control flow of refrigerant through one or more pressure reduction devices. The methods may include synchronizing alternating cycles of cooling each compartment to a temperature approximately equal to the compartment set point temperature by operation of the compressor, fans, damper and/or valve system. The methods may also include controlling the cooling rate in one or both compartments. Refrigeration compartment cooling may begin at an interval before or after when the freezer compartment reaches its lower threshold temperature. Freezer compartment cooling may begin at an interval before or after when the freezer compartment reaches its upper threshold temperature.

Synchronous temperature rate control for refrigeration with reduced energy consumption

An apparatus for detecting an imbalance in the laundry load and effecting a redistribution of the imbalance by reducing the rotational speed of the treating chamber such that part of the load may redistribute while part of the load remains satellized, without ceasing rotation, and increasing the rotational speed back to a spin speed after redistribution.

Apparatus for redistributing an imbalance in a laundry treating appliance

Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to regulate relay coil switching are disclosed. A disclosed example method of regulating switching times of a relay having a pair of contacts to selectively and electrically couple an analog alternating current (AC) power source and a load includes forming a digital pulse train representative of an AC signal at the load, determining a first value corresponding to a representative pulse width of the digital pulse train, providing a first relay switching signal to the relay at a first time relative to a zero crossing of the AC signal, selecting a second time for providing a second relay switching signal to the relay based the first value and a second value representative of the width of a first pulse of the digital pulse train associated with the first relay switching signal at the first time, and providing the second relay switching signal to the relay at the second time.

Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to regulate relay coil switching

A method of determining a time delay for turning off an evaporator fan in a refrigerator after a compressor of the refrigerator is turned off includes operating the evaporator fan in the refrigerator for a period of time, operating the compressor of the refrigerator to cool the refrigerator to a predetermined temperature after turning off the evaporator fan, determining a power consumption value for operating the compressor to cool the refrigerator, repeating the previous steps to obtain a plurality of times and a plurality of power consumption values, selecting the time coinciding with a lowest power consumption value, and adapting the refrigerator to use the time as the time delay for turning off the evaporator fan in the refrigerator after the compressor of the refrigerator is turned off.

Refrigerator with energy consumption optimization using adaptive fan delay

An apparatus and method for controlling a drying cycle of a laundry treating appliance by monitoring a temperature of the exhaust air flow.

Method to control a drying cycle of a laundry treating appliance

A laundry treating appliance may include a rotatable treating chamber for receiving a laundry load for treatment, and a motor for rotating the treating chamber, and may be operated such that during the acceleration of the laundry load toward a satellizing speed, the satellizing of the laundry load may be detected, whereby subsequent operation of the laundry treating appliance may be controlled based on the detection.

Method for detecting satellization speed of clothes load in a horizontal axis laundry treating appliance

A water filter includes a filter unit having a body portion adapted to be rotatingly received into a filter head assembly. An engagement protrusion extends from the body portion and is adapted for reception in a complementary receiver in the filter head assembly. An electronic device is disposed on the filter unit having a memory storage unit. A laterally extending key member is disposed on the body portion between the first engagement surface and the second engagement surface. The laterally extending key member is adapted to reposition an interference member from an interference position, whereby the body portion can be fully inserted into the filter head assembly to a non-interference position, whereby the body portion can be fully inserted into the filter head assembly.

Electronic interface for water filtration system

An apparatus and method for detecting an imbalance in the laundry load within the treating chamber and forming a counterbalance to the imbalance.

Method and apparatus for forming a counterbalance to an imbalance in a laundry treating appliance

A refrigerator appliance configuration, and associated methods of operation, for an appliance with a controller, a condenser, at least one evaporator, a compressor, and two refrigeration compartments. The configuration may be equipped with a variable-speed or variable-capacity compressor, variable speed evaporator or compartment fans, a damper and/or a dual-temperature evaporator with a valve system to control flow of refrigerant through one or more pressure reduction devices. The controller, by operation of the compressor, fans, damper and/or valve system, depending on the appliance configuration, controls the cooling rate in one or both compartments to synchronize, alternating cycles of cooling the compartments to their set point temperatures.

Growing community of inventors

Berrien Springs, MI, United States of America

Peter Richmond