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.

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.

A control method for a clothing treatment apparatus. The clothing treatment apparatus includes an air washing device for performing air washing on clothing. The control method includes: obtaining the material of clothing; obtaining the type of a clothing detergent; obtaining the type of a stain on the clothing; and determining a parametric range of air washing according to the material of the clothing, the type of the clothing detergent, and the type of the stain on the clothing. The embodiments allow clothing to be subjected to air washing treatment within an optical parametric range, i.e., a detergent can exert an activation function to the greatest extent, and also allows a stain to be removed and cleaned within the most suitable parametric range to improve the clothing decontamination capability, thereby improving a clothing treatment effect and improving user experience.

A washing machine includes: a tub; a drum of metal material configured to be rotated in the tub; an induction heater configured to be fixed to the tub in a state of being separated from the drum, and to heat the drum; a first temperature sensor configured to have a tube of metal material heated by the induction heater and a thermistor disposed in the tube, at least a part of the tube being exposed between the tub and the drum; a second temperature sensor configured to be disposed in a position further away than the first temperature sensor from the induction heater in a circumferential direction, and detect a temperature of air between the tub and the drum; and a controller configured to control the induction heater based on a first detection value of the first temperature sensor and a second detection value of the second temperature sensor.

Disclosed herein is a method of controlling a laundry dryer for generating high-temperature steam through a steam part and controlling each of rotation of a drum and rotation of a circulation fan. The method includes a steam drying procedure drying operation of increasing an internal temperature of the drum to dry an object to be dried, a steam drying procedure steam supply operation of supplying steam into the drum after the steam drying procedure drying operation, and a re-drying operation of supplying hot air into the drum after the steam drying procedure steam supply operation. When steam is sprayed from the steam part, the rotation of the drum is maintained, the rotation of the circulation fan is stopped, such that the steam is evenly supplied to the object to be dried, damage to the object is prevented, and sterilization of the object is enhanced.

A dryer appliance may include a cabinet, a drum, a heater assembly, a temperature sensor, and a controller. The heater assembly may be in upstream fluid communication with a drying chamber. The temperature sensor may be in upstream fluid communication with the drying chamber. The controller may be in operable communication with the heater assembly and the temperature sensor. The controller may be configured to initiate a test cycle. The test cycle may include activating the heater assembly, detecting a first temperature upstream of the drum at a first moment following activating the heater assembly, detecting a second temperature upstream of the drum at a second moment following the first moment, determining a temperature delta as a difference between the second temperature and the first temperature, comparing the temperature delta to a delta threshold, and initiating an alert message based on comparing the temperature delta to the delta threshold.

A laundry treating apparatus including a dryer including a first cabinet, and a first drum rotatably disposed in the first cabinet, a washing machine including a second cabinet disposed under the first cabinet, a tub disposed in the second cabinet, and a second drum rotatably disposed in the tub, a refresher disposed at a lateral side of the first cabinet and the second cabinet, the refresher having an inner space for receiving laundry, a heating device disposed under the tub, the heating device being configured to heat air supplied into the inner space of the refresher, and a drain pump for discharging water in the tub, wherein the heating device includes a heat exchange unit, and wherein the drain pump is disposed below the tub and is disposed in the heating device.

A laundry treating apparatus including a dryer including a first cabinet, and a first drum rotatably disposed in the first cabinet, a washing machine including a second cabinet disposed over the first cabinet, a tub disposed in the second cabinet, and a second drum rotatably disposed in the tub, a refresher including a third cabinet disposed at a lateral side of the first cabinet and the second cabinet, the refresher having an inner space for receiving laundry, a heating device disposed between the first drum and the tub, the heating device including a heat exchange unit for heating air supplied into the refresher, and a drawer disposed below the heat exchange unit, the drawer having an inner space for storing water.

A laundry treating apparatus including a dryer including a first cabinet, and a first drum rotatably disposed in the first cabinet, a washing machine including a second cabinet disposed under the second cabinet, a tub disposed in the second cabinet, and a second drum rotatably disposed in the tub, a refresher including a third cabinet disposed at a lateral side of the first cabinet, the third cabinet having an inner space for receiving laundry, a first supply air duct for supplying air into the first drum, a second supply air duct for supplying air into the inner space of the second cabinet and a third supply air duct for supplying air into the inner space of the second cabinet.

A method and system for setting parameters of a treatment cycle in a household appliance is provided. First a model establishing a relationship between sets of configuration parameter values of achievable treatment performance is obtained. Then a target treatment performance for the treatment cycle is obtained. Values for a subset of a configuration parameter are fixed, the subset comprising at most all configuration parameters but a remaining configuration parameter. Then, a value for the remaining configuration parameter is determined. For this value, a difference between the target treatment performance and an achievable treatment performance predicted by the model using said value is below a predetermined threshold. Finally, the parameters of the treatment cycle, which can be setting parameters of the treatment cycle in the household appliance are output. The parameters comprise the determined value and the fixed values.