Provided are a washing machine in which an auxiliary door can be safely and conveniently used and a method of controlling the same. The auxiliary door through which laundry can be additionally put into the washing machine, and the auxiliary door can be safely locked/unlocked. Because an open/closed state of the auxiliary door can be indirectly determined through a locking/unlocking operation of the auxiliary door, even when a door opening/closing detecting device has broken down, the auxiliary door can be safely used. The auxiliary door is unlocked by default and conditions on which the auxiliary door is locked for safety if necessary, are minimized during an operation of the washing machine so that use convenience of the auxiliary door can be enhanced, and a locked state of the auxiliary door is maintained according to the amount of laundry so that the laundry can be safely put into the washing machine.

A clothes dryer includes a cabinet having a front surface with an opening in the front surface; a drum inside the cabinet and configured so that objects to be dried are insertable through the opening to be received in the drum; a heat exchanger; and a door to open and close the opening, and including a ventilation member, wherein the door is configured so that, with the door being in an open state, the ventilation member covers at least a portion of the opening so that the ventilation member prevents objects in the drum from moving through the opening, air passing through the heat exchanger is discharged from the drum, through the ventilation member and the opening, to an outside of the cabinet, and outside air is supplied through the ventilation member and the opening to the heat exchanger.

In a laundry treatment apparatus including a cabinet having an opening formed in one side thereof, a door rotatably coupled to the cabinet to open and close the opening, a drum rotatably provided inside the cabinet and configured to accommodate laundry introduced through the opening, a door lock unit provided inside the cabinet and configured to lock the door when the door closes the opening or release a locked state of the door in order to open the opening closed by the door, a communication unit configured to receive remote inputs of a user for communication with an external device, and a switch unit configured to connect or disconnect an external power, a locked state of the door and connection to the external power are maintained while a user maintains remote control after a preset cycle including rotation of the drum is performed.

The present invention relates to a combination washing and drying appliance for laundry. The appliance is configured to automatically transfer wet clothes from the washing unit to the dryer unit for automatically drying the clothes. The appliance has either vertical or horizontal stacked washing and dryer units. The washing and dryer units have a common conduit for automatically transferring the wet laundry from the washing unit to the dryer unit after a wash cycle is completed. The dryer unit is automatically activated for drying wet clothes when the wet clothes are deposed in the dryer drum of the dryer unit. The common conduit is accessible only after completion of the wash cycle using sliding doors positioned on the washing tub of the washing unit and the dryer drum of the dryer unit.

Disclosed are a washing machine and a control method thereof, capable of preventing occurrence of an accident related to a child or a pet being inside a washing tub. A washing machine according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a concentration sensing part configured to a sense a concentration of a specific component in air measured inside or outside the washing tub, a controller configured to switch the door and the washing tub to a safe mode based on the concentration of the specific component sensed by the concentration sensing part, and a release signal detector configured to detect a release signal for switching the door and the washing tub, which have been switched to the safe mode by the controller, back to a normal mode.

Disclosed is a laundry treating apparatus including: a water discharger supply pipe for supplying water stored in a water collector to a water discharger; a water supply pipe constructed to connect the water discharger and the water collector to each other; and a water collector water-level sensor for measuring a water-level inside the water collector, and a controller configured to control the laundry treating apparatus comprising: a water-level sensing operation in which the water collector water-level sensor measures the water-level of the water collector during a drying operation; and a cleaning water supply operation in which when the water-level of the water collector is lower than a predefined cleaning-related reference water-level, a water supply valve is controlled to supply water stored in the water discharger to the water collector.

A washing machine includes a housing equipped with an inlet, a door to open or close the inlet and including a latch with a locking hole formed at the latch, a door locking device including a locking member with a locking bar formed at the locking member to be inserted to the locking hole, and configured to lock or unlock the door according to whether the locking member is fixed, an automatic door opening device to deliver driving power to the locking member so that the locking bar is removed from the locking hole, and a controller to control the door locking device to unlock the door by unfixing the locking member, in response to a completion of a washing course and to control the automatic door opening device to open the door by delivering the driving power to the locking member in response to the door being unlocked.

Provided is a method for preventing an accident related to children or pets that may occur by a home appliance using artificial intelligence. According to the present disclosure, the method for preventing the accident comprises comparing a distance between the home appliance and a generation position of the voice signal and a reference distance when the generation position of the voice signal is outside of the home appliance. Then, the present disclosure enables switching a door of the home appliance to a lock state when a distance between the home appliance and the generation position of the voice signal is less than the reference distance. Thus, the present disclosure may enable controlling the home appliance to prevent children or pets from entering an inside of the home appliance.

A light sensor device is disclosed for installation in a heat-using domestic electrical appliance such as, for example, a washing machine or a dishwasher and permits the implementation of a touch-free operating function, for example an automatic door opening function. The light sensor device includes in some embodiments: a window element which is formed of light-permeable material and is arranged with space on a first window side for hand movements; a first light source arrangement arranged to radiate visible light into the window element; a second light source arrangement which is arranged to radiate infrared light through the window element from a second window side opposite the first window side; and a photodetector arrangement which is sensitive to infrared light of the second light source arrangement and is arranged on the second window side, for detecting infrared light which strikes the photodetector arrangement from the window element.

The present disclosure relates to a laundry device provided with: a cabinet which includes a front cabinet having a cabinet input hole formed therein; a tub which is installed inside the cabinet and has a tub input hole positioned on an extension line of the cabinet input hole; a cabinet door which is installed in the cabinet and opens and closes the cabinet input hole; a tub door which is installed in the tub and opens and closes the tub input hole; a cabinet door lock which senses whether the cabinet door is open or closed, as well as sets the lock state of the cabinet door; and a tub door lock which sets the lock state of the tub door according to whether the cabinet door is open or closed.