A structural unit, in particular a heating pump for a water-conducting domestic appliance, in particular a domestic dishwasher, includes a heatable tube section through which a liquid can flow during operation and in which one or more mechanical structures are arranged that produce locally different flow speeds of the liquid. A first temperature measuring device is arranged on an outer side of the tube section radially outside a region of lower flow rate or less incident flow, and a second temperature measuring device is arranged on the outer side of the tube section radially outside a region of higher flow rate or more incident flow.

Disclosed herein is a chemical dosing system for an appliance, such as a laundry washing machine or a dishwashing machine, having a water inlet, the system comprising a meter determining the volume of water supplied to the appliance, a pump for dispensing a quantity of a chemical to the appliance and a control unit arranged to receive a signal from the meter and to cause to be dispensed to the appliance a volume of chemical that is proportional to the quantity of water supplied to the appliance. The disclosed system may enable a correct quantity of chemical to be automatically dispensed to many types of appliance, without the need to know anything about the appliance, or to derive an electrical signal from the appliance.

In a method for operating a household appliance having a user interface for operation of the household appliance by a plurality of users, a number of predetermined usage actions of a particular user of the plurality of users when operating the household appliance is registered in a user-specific manner, and a user-specific control surface is provided by way of the user interface for the particular user on the basis of the usage actions of the particular user as registered in a user-specific manner.

An automated cleaning machine includes a trained cleaning outcome classifier that automatically classifies or scores cleaning outcomes for a cleaning machine using machine learning techniques. The cleaning outcome classifier may be trained on training data comprising a plurality of training inputs and a known output for each of the plurality of training inputs. Each of the plurality of training inputs may include one or more cleaning process parameters corresponding to a cleaning process executed by a cleaning machine executed during a training phase. The known output for each training input may include a cleaning outcome classification or score. The cleaning outcome of a novel cleaning process may then be classified or scored with the trained cleaning outcome classifier based on one or more cleaning process parameters corresponding to the novel cleaning process.

According to an implementation of the present disclosure, the dishwasher includes a case forming an outer appearance of the dishwasher and defining an opening at a front side of the case; a door configured to open and close the opening; a tub configured to receive washing water; a sump disposed at a bottom surface of the tub and configured to collect and spray the washing water; a rack disposed inside the sump and configured to accommodate a dish; a dish recognition camera configured to capture an upper portion of the rack and disposed at at least one of an inner surface of the door or an inner surface of the tub; and a controller configured to control operation of the dishwasher and the dish recognition camera.

A dishwasher appliance includes a user interface panel positioned on a door at a top edge of the door. A circuit board is positioned within the door. A user touch input and a side-fire light emitting diode are mounted to the circuit board. A lightguide is positioned within the door. An inlet of the lightguide is positioned proximate the side-fire light emitting diode, and an outlet of the lightguide positioned below the circuit board. The side-fire light emitting diode is operable to emit light, and the lightguide is configured such that the light from the side-fire light emitting diode is reflected within the lightguide from the inlet of the lightguide to the outlet of the lightguide in order to illuminate an indicator at the outlet of the lightguide with the light from the side-fire light emitting diode.

Appliances configured to detect leaks and methods of detecting leaks are provided. The appliance includes a grounded chassis. The appliance also includes a first levelling leg electrically coupled to the chassis and a second levelling leg electrically isolated from the chassis. The appliance also includes a controller in in operative communication with the second levelling leg and the chassis. The controller is configured for, and related methods include, monitoring electrical continuity between the second levelling leg and the chassis and detecting water on the base surface in response to electrical continuity between the second levelling leg and the chassis.

Dishwashing appliances and methods, as provided herein, may include features or steps such as activating the drain pump for an activation period and receiving a pump-status signal during the activation period. Dishwashing appliances and methods may further include features or steps for detecting a pressure (P1) upstream from the drain pump during the activation period, determining a condition at the filter based on the pump-status signal and P1, and directing the drain pump based on the determined condition.

Systems and methods are described, which relate to the control of additive dispensers to provide defined amounts of one or more additive compounds to water to produce customized water. A given additive dispenser may include multiple inputs and/or outputs. Predefined water profiles may be stored in memory. A given water profile may define the amounts of additives to be delivered by the additive dispensers to achieve desired water characteristics. A controller may determine actual water characteristics of input water based on corresponding sensor data, and may compare the actual water characteristics to desired water characteristics in order to determine the amount of additive or additives that should be delivered to the input water to achieve the desired water characteristics. The additive dispensers may be network-enabled and may include transceivers configured to receive instructions related to production of customized water from a user device.

Systems and methods are described, which relate to internet-of-things (IoT) feedback systems, in which data received from a given IoT device may be analyzed by a controller and used as a basis for controlling another IoT device and/or sending an alert to a user. The controller may activate a dehumidifier upon detecting activation of a sump pump. The controller may monitor water level data and alert a user and/or request maintenance of the sump pump upon detecting the water level exceeds a threshold. The controller may monitor dishwasher data to detect suboptimal performance of a dishwasher, in response to which the controller may instruct valves of a manifold and water heater to close to isolate the dishwasher, and instruct a water softener to elevate salt levels of softened water during a self-cleaning cycle of the dishwasher.