A laundry apparatus includes an exterior housing, a tub, one or more tub mounts rigidly mounting the tub to the exterior housing, a drum positioned within the tub and rotatable relative to the tub, a control unit, a motor, one or more load imbalance sensors, and a dynamic balancing assembly. The motor is communicatively coupled to the control unit and operatively coupled to the drum. The one or more load imbalance sensors are communicatively coupled to the control unit and configured to output a load imbalance signal to the control unit, the load imbalance signal being indicative of a load imbalance within the drum. The dynamic balancing assembly is includes one or more counterweight devices configured to be orbited about the primary rotation axis to counteract a detected load imbalance in the drum. The tub is unsupported by any displaceable suspension members extending between the tub and the exterior housing.

A dryer appliance includes a microphone for monitoring sound generated during operation of the dryer appliance and a controller is operably coupled to the microphone. The controller is configured for obtaining a sound signal generated during operation of the dryer appliance and converting the sound signal into a spectrogram that represents a sound frequency and a sound amplitude over time. An artificial intelligence image recognition process is used to analyze the spectrogram to identify one or more sound signatures that are associated with particular operating conditions, and operation of the dryer appliance is adjusted based at least in part on the identification of the sound signature.

A laundry apparatus includes a tub, a drum, a control unit, a motor, and a dynamic balancing assembly. The drum is positioned within a fluid containment envelope of the tub and rotatable relative to the tub about a primary rotation axis. The motor is coupled to the tub and operatively coupled to the drum to cause rotation of the drum. The dynamic balancing assembly includes an orbital balancing passage arranged concentrically around the motor, a first counterweight device, and a second counterweight device. The first and second counterweight devices are positioned within the orbital balancing passage and are responsive to the control unit to move the first and second counterweight devices along the orbital balancing passage to adjust an angular position of the first and second counterweight devices. A cross-sectional plane passes through the dynamic balancing assembly, the motor, and the fluid containment envelope of the tub.

A method of operating a washing appliance includes obtaining images of a wash chamber using a camera assembly operating at a frame rate equivalent to the basket speed. The one or more images are analyzed, e.g., using a machine learning image recognition process, to determine a cloth coverage ratio of the load of clothes in the wash basket. The cloth coverage ratio is compared to a predetermined coverage threshold for reducing out of balance conditions. Specifically, if the cloth coverage area is greater than the threshold, the wash basket may be ramped up to a hold or plaster speed. By contrast, if the cloth coverage area is less than the threshold, the basket speed may be maintained or lowered to permit the clothes to redistribute before ramping to the hold or plaster speed.

An apparatus and method for reducing displacement of a washing machine having a drum rotatable about an axis of rotation is disclosed. The washing machine comprises a chassis and a motor for rotation a drum. The drum is suspended from the chassis by a suspension. The suspension can comprise springs having six natural frequencies that can resonate at a rotational speed of the drum driven by the motor. The suspension system can be tuned such that resonant frequencies can be varied based upon rotational speed of the drum.

A method is disclosed comprising inter alia a method comprising: acquiring at least one set of sensor data, wherein the at least one set of sensor data is acquired from at least one sensor; determining evaluation data indicative of a condition of a treatment chamber of a household appliance, wherein the evaluation data is determined based at least in part on the acquired set of sensor data; and outputting or causing the output of the determined evaluation data. Furthermore, a device for executing and/or controlling this method, a system with several devices for controlling and/or executing this method and a computer program for executing and/or controlling this method are disclosed.

A washing machine appliance may include a cabinet, a tub, a wash basket, and a controller. The tub may be positioned within the cabinet. The tub may define a tub outlet and a tub inlet. The wash basket may be rotatably mounted within the tub. The wash basket may define a chamber for receipt of articles for washing. The controller may be mounted to the cabinet and configured to initiate a washing operation. The washing operation may include flowing a volume of liquid to the tub, initiating a spin phase requiring rotation of the wash basket following flowing the volume of liquid to the tub, determining an out-of-balance (OOB) state within the wash basket, determining a user OOB preference following determining the OOB state, and adjusting the spin phase according to the determined user OOB preference.

A washing machine and method for operating a washing machine having a suds container for holding washing liquid, a non-ribbed drum provided with stamped portions rotatably mounted in the suds container for holding laundry, a motor for driving the drum, and a control device. During rotation of the drum in a subcritical rotational speed range, the method includes sampling a variable related to the drum or the motor over a predetermined period of time to determine time signals of the variable, executing a frequency analysis of the time signal of the variable to determine frequency components of the variable in a predetermined frequency range, summing the frequency components at predetermined frequencies of the predetermined frequency range, and detecting, depending on the sum of the summed up frequency components, whether a loading situation where laundry is sliding in the drum is present.

An appliance and method for determining an operational state of the appliance is provided. The appliance includes a cabinet, a flow device, and a sensor positioned at the cabinet. The cabinet includes a plurality of panels forming an interior volume at which a wash chamber is positioned. The flow device is configured to flow a fluid at the wash chamber. The sensor is positioned at the cabinet and configured to obtain sound vibrations from the wash chamber. The method includes obtaining, from the sensor, a signal during flow of a fluid at the wash chamber, and comparing the signal to a predetermined operational profile corresponding to operation of the flow device at the wash chamber to determine whether the flow device is operating properly.

A washing machine and method for operating a washing machine having a suds container and a non-ribbed drum. During rotation of the drum in a subcritical rotational speed range, the method includes determining an average value, a minimum, and a maximum of an oscillation of a physical variable relating to the drum or the motor, forming an overall average value from the determined average values, subtracting the overall average value formed from the corresponding minimum determined per oscillation and the corresponding maximum determined per oscillation to calculate a maximum value and a minimum value per oscillation, respectively. In each case an amount is formed from the respective calculated maximum value and an amount is formed from the respective calculated minimum value, a standard deviation from the amounts is determined, and a loading situation where laundry is rolling in the drum is determined based on the determined standard deviation.