Dishwasher and Method for Controlling the Same

This is a continuation application, under 35 U.S.C. § 111 (a), of International Application No. PCT/KR2025/006044, filed May 7, 2025, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0080454, filed Jun. 20, 2024, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entireties by reference.

The disclosure relates to a dishwasher and a method for controlling the dishwasher.

In general, a dishwasher is a device for washing and drying dishes by spraying washing water at high pressure. The dishwasher is operated in such a way that washing water is sprayed at high pressure into a washing chamber in which dishes are accommodated, and the sprayed washing water contacts the dishes to wash away foreign substances such as food residues on a surface of the dishes.

For example, the dishwasher may include a washing process, a rinsing process, and a drying process. In the drying process, water and moisture remaining in a tub are removed by supplying heated air into the tub. A heater may be used to heat the air, and a fan may be used to cause the air heated by the heater to flow into the tub.

Existing dishwashers operate for a fixed drying time regardless of an external environment. A drying performance of a dishwasher is affected by external humidity. In a highly humid environment, dishes may not be adequately dried, and in a dry environment, dishes that have already completed drying may be unnecessarily dried.

The disclosure provides a dishwasher and a method for controlling the same that may maintain a drying performance regardless of an external environment.

In accordance with the present disclosure, a dishwasher may include: a user interface device; communication circuitry; and a controller configured to: receive, through the communication circuitry, external humidity information detected by an appliance in an environment of the appliance, based on the received external humidity information and a washing course of the dishwasher that is input via the user interface device, change setting information related to an operation of at least one of a rinsing process of the washing course or a drying process of the washing course, and based on the changed setting information, control the operation of the at least one of the rinsing process of the washing course or the drying process of the washing course.

The controller may be further configured to: receive the detected external humidity information at at least one of a power-on time of the dishwasher or a drying process start time of the dishwasher.

The appliance may be registered with a user account, and the controller may be further configured to: receive the detected external humidity information from a server through the communication circuitry.

The appliance may be registered with a user account, and the controller may be further configured to: receive the detected external humidity information from the appliance through the communication circuitry.

The appliance may include a plurality of appliances and each appliance of the plurality of appliances may be in a respectively corresponding environment, and the controller may be further configured to: receive identification information for each appliance of the plurality of appliances through the communication circuitry, and determine a target home appliance of the plurality of appliances based on the received identification information for each appliance of the plurality of appliances, and the received external humidity information is external humidity information detected by the determined target home appliance.

For each appliance of the plurality of appliances, the identification information may include information about a relative distance between the appliance and the dishwasher.

The controller may be further configured to: based on the received external humidity information, change a temperature of washing water of the dishwasher in the rinsing process of the washing course.

The controller may be further configured to: based on an external humidity indicated by the received external humidity information being greater than or equal to a first humidity, increase the temperature of the washing water in the rinsing process of the washing course, and based on the external humidity indicated by the received external humidity information being less than or equal to a second humidity lower than the first humidity, decrease the temperature of the washing water in the rinsing process of the washing course.

The dishwasher may further include: a tub; and a drying device configured to heat air in the tub, the drying device including: a fan configured to circulate air in the tub, and a heater configured to heat the air circulated by the fan, wherein the controller may be further configured to: based on the received external humidity information, change an operating time of the heater and an operating time of the fan in the drying process of the washing course.

The controller may be further configured to: based on an external humidity indicated by the received external humidity information being greater than or equal to a first humidity, increase the operating time of the heater and increase the operating time of the fan in the drying process of the washing course, and based on the external humidity being less than or equal to a second humidity lower than the first humidity, decrease the operating time of the heater and decrease the operating time of the fan in the drying process of the washing course.

The dishwasher may further include: a tub; a door configured to open and close to respectively open and close an opening of the tub; and a door operator configured to drive the door to open and close the opening of the tub, wherein the controller may be configured to: based on an external humidity indicated by the received external humidity information being greater than or equal to a first humidity, increase an opening time of the door and increase a number of times the door is opened in the drying process of the washing course.

The dishwasher may further include: a tub; and an internal humidity sensor configured to sense an internal humidity of the tub and produce data corresponding to the sensed internal humidity, wherein the controller may be further configured to: based on a difference between an external humidity indicated by the received external humidity information and the produced data, perform an additional drying operation or stop a drying operation in the drying process of the washing course.

In accordance with the present disclosure, a method for controlling a dishwasher including a user interface device, communication circuitry, and a controller, may include: by the controller, receiving a selection of a washing course of the dishwasher via the user interface device, receiving, through the communication circuitry, external humidity information detected by an appliance in an environment of the appliance, based on the received external humidity information and the received selection of the washing course, changing setting information related to an operation of at least one of a rinsing process of the washing course or a drying process of the washing course, and based on the changed setting information, controlling the operation of the at least one of the rinsing process of the washing course or the drying process of the washing course.

The receiving the external humidity information may further include: receiving the detected external humidity information from a server through the communication circuitry, the appliance being registered with a user account, or receiving the detected external humidity information from the appliance through the communication circuitry, the appliance being registered with the user account.

The receiving the external humidity information may further include: receiving identification information for each appliance of a plurality of appliances through the communication circuitry, each appliance of the plurality of appliances being in a respectively corresponding environment, determining a target home appliance of the plurality of appliances based on the received identification information for each appliance of the plurality of appliances, and receiving the external humidity information as external humidity information detected by the determined target home appliance in the respectively corresponding environment through the communication circuitry.

Various embodiments of the disclosure and terms used herein are not intended to limit the technical features described herein to specific embodiments, and should be understood to include various modifications, equivalents, or substitutions of the corresponding embodiments.

In describing of the drawings, similar reference numerals may be used for similar or related elements.

The singular form of a noun corresponding to an item may include one or more of the items unless clearly indicated otherwise in a related context.

In the disclosure, phrases, such as “A or B”, “at least one of A and B”, “at least one of A or B”, “at least one of A, or B”, “A, B or C”, “at least one of A, B and C”, and “at least one of A, B, or C” may include any one or all possible combinations of the items listed together in the corresponding phrase among the phrases.

The term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Terms such as “1st”, “2nd”, “primary”, or “secondary” may be used simply to distinguish an element from other elements, without limiting the element in other aspects (e.g., importance or order).

When an element (e.g., a first element) is referred to as being “(functionally or communicatively) coupled” or “connected” to another element (e.g., a second element), the first element may be connected to the second element, directly (e.g., wired), wirelessly, or through a third element.

It will be understood that when the terms “includes”, “comprises”, “including”, and/or “comprising” are used in the disclosure, they specify the presence of the specified features, figures, steps, operations, components, members, or combinations thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, figures, steps, operations, components, members, or combinations thereof.

When a given element is referred to as being “connected to”, “coupled to”, “supported by” or “in contact with” another element, it is to be understood that it may be directly or indirectly connected to, coupled to, supported by, or in contact with the other element. When a given element is indirectly connected to, coupled to, supported by, or in contact with another element, it is to be understood that it may be connected to, coupled to, supported by, or in contact with the other element through a third element.

It will also be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on” another element, it may be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present.

Hereinafter, the principles of operation and embodiments of the disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

illustrates a dishwasher according to an embodiment.is a cross-sectional view of a dishwasher according to an embodiment.

Referring toand, a dishwashermay include a main body. The main bodymay include a cabinetforming an external appearance, and a door. The main bodymay include a top coverwhich is provided at an upper side of the cabinetand forms an upper surface of the main body. The top covermay be formed integrally with or separately from the cabinet. The top covermay be formed as part of the cabinet. In a case where the dishwasheris prepared in a built-in form, the cabinetmay be omitted.

The dishwashermay include a tubdisposed inside the main body. The tubmay form a washing chamberinside. The doormay be rotatably mounted on the cabinetto open and close the tub. The doormay be rotatably installed on the cabinet. The doormay be hingedly coupled to a lower portion of the cabinet. The doormay be coupled to the cabinetby a hinge device.

In addition, a user interface devicemay be provided on an outer surface of the main body.

The user interface devicemay receive a control command from a user and may output an electrical signal corresponding to the received command.

The user interface devicemay include at least one of a keyboard, mouse, track-ball, touch screen, touch pad, paddle, lever, handle, joystick, or other various input devices.

The user interface devicemay include at least one of a plasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystal display (LCD), or a seven-segment display to display various information related to operation of the dishwasher.

The user interface devicemay be implemented as a touch screen.

The user interface devicemay receive a washing course selection from a user and display the selected washing course and information related to the washing course. For example, washing courses may include automatic, standard, intensive, glassware, rapid, self-clean, downloadable courses, and the like. In a case where a user selects a “standard”, the standard washing course and information related to the standard washing course may be displayed.

illustrates a state in which a door of a dishwasher is opened according to an embodiment.illustrates the dishwasher ofviewed from another direction.

Referring toand, the cabinetmay be provided in a substantially box shape. One side of the cabinetmay be open. In other words, the cabinetmay have an opening. For example, a front side of the cabinetmay be open. The cabinetand the tubmay be provided in the shape of a hexahedron in which substantially one surface is opened so as to serve as an opening. The cabinetmay include a rear plateboth side platesandextending to one side and the other in front of the rear plateand a front plateformed to be bent from the both side platesandThe front platemay be provided to form an opening at the front of the cabinet. The front plateis shown as being integrally extended from the both side platesandbut is not limited thereto. The doormay be arranged to open and close the opening in the front plate

Inside the cabinet, a sump, a plurality of baskets, guide racks, and a plurality of spray nozzles,, andmay be disposed. Here, the sumpmay be disposed in a lower portion of the tubto collect water used for washing, the plurality of basketsmay be provided to be withdrawable from the inside to the outside of the cabinetto accommodate dishes, the guide racksthat support the plurality of baskets, and the plurality of spray nozzles,, andthat spray water delivered from the sumptoward the dishes accommodated in the plurality of baskets. The plurality of spray nozzles,, andmay be referred to as a sprayer.

A plurality of dishes of various volumes and/or sizes may be accommodated in the plurality of baskets. The types and sizes of dishes accommodated in the plurality of basketsare not limited. The plurality of basketsmay include a first basket, a second basket, and a third basket.

The first basketmay be coupled to the tubat an upper portion of the tubso as to be located above the second basketand the third basket. The second basketmay be coupled to the tubat a middle portion of the tubso as to be located below the first basketand/or above the third basket. The third basketmay be coupled to the tubat a lower portion of the tubso as to be located below the first basketand the second basket.

The first basketmay be a sub-basket that accommodates relatively small dishes. A small cup such as an espresso cup may be accommodated in the sub-basket. The types of dishes accommodated in the sub-basket are not limited to the above example. In addition, in a case where the plurality of basketsare arranged to be separated in the vertical direction at different heights, the number of baskets is not limited to the examples described above.

The dishwashermay include the plurality of guide racksto support the plurality of basketsinside the tub. The plurality of guide racksmay be provided as rails for withdrawing out each of the baskets.

The guide racksmay be installed on inner surfaces of side wallsandof the tubof the dishwasher to allow each of the plurality of basketsto slide toward the front surface of the tub. For example, the guide racksmay be installed on the left walland right wallof the tub. A plurality of guide racksmay be provided. Along the guide racks, the first basket, the second basket, and the third basketmay slide back and forth within the tub.

The sumpmay be installed at a center of the lower portion of the cabinetto collect washing water used for washing. The sumpmay store and supply washing water. The sumpmay include a washing pumpto pump the stored water to the sprayer. Washing water pumped by the washing pumpmay be supplied to each of the first spray nozzle, the second spray nozzle, and the third spray nozzlethrough a rear supply pipe. In addition, the sumpmay include a washing water heaterdisposed below the cabinetto heat washing water, and a drain pumpdisposed below the tubto drain the washing water to the outside.