The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 27, 1983
Filed:
Jun. 29, 1981
Clifford L Deschaaf, Lincoln Township, Berrien County, MI (US);
Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor, MI (US);
Abstract
A fabric treating apparatus, such as a domestic clothes dryer, is provided with a digital control circuit and a sensor system which cooperate to terminate a fabric treatment operation when the fabric reaches a desired condition. A digital counter receives and accumulates timing pulses. A sensing circuit repetitively charges a capacitor which is allowed to discharge through a sensor in contact with the wet fabric load. If the fabric in contact with the sensor is wet, the capacitor will quickly discharge. As the fabric dries the capacitor will discharge more slowly. After the capacitor has been allowed to discharge for a preselected period, the charge on the capacitor is read and if low, the counter is reset. As the fabric load approaches the desired dryness condition, the remaining charge on the capacitor will increase until it reaches a level which prevents the counter from being reset. Thus, the counter accumulates successively greater counts before being reset, until eventually a preselected count is accumulated in the counter which triggers cicruitry to terminate the fabric drying operation.