Patent ID: 7935194

Claim:
An automatic dishwasher comprising: a housing defining a wash chamber having an open face providing access to the wash chamber; a door moveably mounted to the housing to selectively close the open face; at least one basket located within the wash chamber for holding utensils; a liquid recirculation system for recirculation liquid within the wash chamber to remove soil on the utensils and having a movable portion that moves within the wash chamber by bi-directionally translating along two orthogonal directions in a horizontal plane relative to the basket; a liquid source comprising a flexible liquid delivery line located within the wash chamber; a sensor carried by the movable portion of the liquid recirculation system for determining a utensil load at different portion of the basket; and a controller operably coupled to the movable portion and the movable sensor to control the path of movement of the movable sensor by controlling the bi-directional translational movement of the movable portion along two orthogonal directions in a horizontal plane relative to the basket to determine the presence of a utensil load at different portions of the basket when the door to the open face is closed and during a running of a dishwashing cycle; wherein the movable portion may be moved bi-directionally along the two orthogonal directions to effect a corresponding movement of the movable portion within the wash chamber.