Patent ID: 7162759

Claim:
A method of determining a loading of a drum in a laundry treatment machine, which comprises: rotating the drum with a drive motor for ascertaining a mass moment of inertia of the drum loaded with laundry and driven at rotary speeds above a laundry-contact rotary speed; thereby driving the drum at a first constant rotary speed, preliminarily dewatering the laundry at the first constant rotary speed, and measuring a first electrical friction power consumed by the motor at the first constant rotary speed; driving the drum at a second constant rotary speed lower than the first constant rotary speed, and measuring a second electrical friction power consumed by the motor at the second constant rotary speed; subsequently accelerating the drum during an acceleration phase to the first constant rotary speed and measuring the electrical power consumed by the motor during the acceleration phase and measuring an acceleration time; forming a difference of value between the energy consumption during the acceleration phase and a product of the acceleration time with an average value of the first and second friction powers of the drum rotation measured with constant preliminary dewatering, and deducing from the difference value the loading of the drum.