Patent ID: 6141887
Filing Date: 2000-11-07
Classification: D06F

Abstract:
An appliance for drying clothing articles, comprising:a container for receiving the clothing articles;a motor for rotating the container about an axis;a heater for supplying heated air to the container;a duct for directing the heated air outside the container;a temperature sensor for sensing the heated air and providing signal representations thereof;a phase angle sensor for sensing motor phase angle and providing signal representations thereof; anda controller responsive to both the temperature sensor and the phase angle sensor for determining the dryness of the clothing articles in the container as a function of the heated air temperature and the motor phase angle, the controller comprising a signal processing unit for processing the signal representations of the heated air temperature and the motor phase angle and a decision logic unit for determining the dryness of the clothing articles in the container as a function of the processed signal representations of the heated air temperature and the motor phase angle, wherein the decision logic unit decides whether the processed signal representations of the heated air temperature have reached a local maximum and the processed signal representations of the motor phase angle have reached a local minimum.