The present application encompasses methods and apparatus for heating a load such as clothes immersed in a medium such as water during a heating period. A method embodiment of the present invention comprises heating the load and medium within an enclosure by subjecting said load and medium to heated air originated from a conventional energy source; and applying heat to said load and medium within the enclosure via an AC electrical field, embodied as a capacitor, originated from an RF power source.

The present invention relates to a clothes treating apparatus, including a communication unit to transmit or receive information related to a usage history of the clothes treating apparatus, a memory to store the information related to the usage history, an air supply device to heat air supplied into an accommodation space of the clothes treating apparatus, and a controller to extract a use time zone of the clothes treating apparatus based on the information related to the usage history, drive the air supply device in a preset pattern within the extracted use time zone, and stop an operation of the clothes treating apparatus at a time zone except for the extracted use time zone.

A combination washer/dryer having a cabinet defining an interior, a tub provided within the interior, and a drum rotatably provided within the tub and defining a treating chamber, an induction coil carried by the tub and generating a magnetic field encompassing at least a portion of the container, and a cooling element providing on at least one of the tub or closure to form a cooled surface in fluid communication with the treating chamber.

Disclosed herein is a method of controlling a laundry treating apparatus, if a user selects a uniform course, including performing a preheating operation of a heater to generate steam, performing a first cooling operation to operate a blower unit and a moving hanger after the preheating operation has been terminated, performing a steam operation to operate the blower unit and a steam unit and to circulate steam to a treating chamber after the first cooling operation has been terminated, performing a standby operation to operate the blower unit after the steam operation has been terminated, performing a second cooling operation to operate the blower unit after the standby operation has been terminated, and performing a drying operation to operate the blower unit and a heat pump unit and to provide heat to the treating chamber to dry the treating chamber after the second cooling operation has been terminated.

A clothes treatment apparatus and a method for controlling a clothes treatment apparatus are provided. The method may include feeding heated hot air to clothes or other items received in a drum, and dehydrating the clothes or other items by performing a first rotation cycle for rotating the drum at a first RPM for a predetermined period of time. The first RPM may be a RPM that allows a centrifugal force applied to the clothes or other items during rotation of the drum to exceed gravity.

The invention provides an apparatus (8) for cleaning cloth which includes a body (10) with an aperture, a closure, which is engageable with the aperture, a tub (26) with an outer shell and a cylindrical Inner cavity which corresponds with the aperture, a drum (28), which is positioned inside the cylindrical inner cavity (54) and which includes a wall, with an inner surface, an outer surface and a plurality of perforations (62) in the wait, a base (64) and an opposing mouth (66) which registers with the aperture, a drive means (30) which is connected to or engaged with the drum and which allows rotational movement of the drum about an axis, a generator (32) and an electrical power supply (78), inside the body, wherein the power supply is adapted to provide pulsating electrical power to the generator and wherein the generator is actuable to produce pulses of microwave energy at least into part of the drum.

A method for operating a clothes treating apparatus comprising a hot air supplying unit provided with a heater and a blowing device, and having a drying function of drying clothes by supplying hot air into a drum by use of the hot air supplying unit, includes rotating the drum with the clothes introduced therein, and supplying hot air into the drum by using the heater and the blowing device while the drum is rotated, wherein an air flow rate supplied by the blowing device changes during the hot air supplying step.

The invention relates to a laundry treating appliance and method for controlling the operation of the laundry treating appliance by determining the surface area of the laundry based on image data of the laundry.

A drum washing machine having an improved air circulation structure thereof. The drum washing machine includes a cabinet, a tub arranged within the cabinet, a drum rotatably arranged within the tub, a drying unit which heats and circulates air discharged from the tub so as to dry laundry within the drum, the drying unit including a drying duct equipped with a heater to heat air therein, a circulation passage provided such that air circulates between the tub and the inside of the drying duct, and a suction member which is coupled to one side of the drying duct and introduces air outside the tub onto the circulation passage, and a discharge member which is coupled to one side of the tub and discharges part of the air in the circulation passage to the outside of the cabinet.

A method for controlling an exhaust type clothes dryer may include measuring humidity of air passing through an interior of the drum to sense a degree of dryness of a target item, and discharging air that has passed through the drum or recirculating at least a portion of air that has passed through the drum to the drum by comparing a degree of dryness of the target item with a predetermined reference value. In the recirculating of air, an amount of recirculated air may be increased according to an increase in the degree of dryness of the target item by adjusting a degree of opening of a recirculation channel.