The present invention relates to a home appliance, in particular, a dishwasher, a washing machine or the like, and a method for controlling said home appliance. The home appliance comprises a water supply unit including a water supply port, for supplying water, like fresh water or drinking water to the home appliance, a water reservoir for storing water supplied to the home appliance by the water supply unit, a treatment space for treating objects in the home appliance, like dishes or laundry, at least one pump unit for circulating water inside the treatment space and for discharging water from the treatment space and a control unit for controlling the operation of the home appliance. In the inventive home appliance, a heat exchanger is arranged between the water supply unit and the water reservoir, for exchanging heat between the water supplied to the reservoir and the water discharged from the treatment space by the at least one pump unit.

A motor driving device includes a direct current (DC) link capacitor configured to store DC power, and an inverter configured to convert the DC power stored in the DC link capacitor into AC power and supply the AC power to a motor. The motor driving device includes a shunt resistor configured to sense current flowing through the inverter and detect whether the current has reached threshold current for controlling a regenerative voltage during a braking operation. A control unit is configured to control an operation of the inverter and perform a regenerative operation when the braking operation is started. The control unit, during the regenerative operation, switches motive power of a drum connected to the motor into regenerative energy and transmit the regenerative energy to the DC link capacitor, by controlling active component current and reactive component current together in response to the reaching of the threshold current.

A motor driving device includes a direct current (DC) link capacitor configured to store DC power, and an inverter configured to convert the DC power stored in the DC link capacitor into AC power and supply the AC power to a motor. The motor driving device includes a shunt resistor configured to sense current flowing through the inverter and detect whether the current has reached threshold current for controlling a regenerative voltage during a braking operation. A control unit is configured to control an operation of the inverter and perform a regenerative operation when the braking operation is started. The control unit, during the regenerative operation, switches motive power of a drum connected to the motor into regenerative energy and transmit the regenerative energy to the DC link capacitor, by controlling active component current and reactive component current together in response to the reaching of the threshold current.

The present invention relates to a laundry processing apparatus and a control method thereof. A laundry processing apparatus operated by means of a motor, which has a plurality of washing units for performing washing independently of each other, charges a current generated during braking of a motor provided in each of the first washing unit and the second washing unit in a battery provided therein and uses the charged power at the next driving of the motor, thereby preventing the wasting of energy and reducing energy consumption even when power consumption is increased due to a simultaneous operation of the first washing unit and the second washing unit.

A clothes cleaning system, including at least one laundry cleaning machine equipped with a mechanical arm and at least one laundry container. The clothes cleaning system utilizes the computer controlled mechanical arm to extract laundry items for loading or unloading the laundry cleaning machine. Users only need to place their laundry into the laundry container, wait for the cleaning process to complete and then take back their cleaned laundry. The clothes cleaning system may also include a robotic folding mechanism to fold laundry items before storage. The clothes cleaning system can also incorporate a storage system with a mechanical arm to place the basket to a location designated by a computer. The clothes cleaning system may also include a robotic laundry hanging system equipped with a robotic arm, which can hang individual items to air dry. The clothes cleaning system can also include a customer interface, which can recognize customers and their laundry container code when receiving or returning laundry to the customer. The clothes cleaning system can also incorporate a heat exchanger system to recover waste heat for recycling in the system.

The present invention provides a pump assembly for use in a household appliance comprising a pump, an electric motor having a rotor and a stator and a heat exchanger arranged to be in thermal contact with at least a portion of the stator. There is further provided a heat recovery system for use in a household appliance comprising a main fluid circuit, a fluid reservoir, a heat exchange circuit and a pump assembly for pumping working fluid through the main fluid circuit. The pump assembly comprises an electric motor, a heat exchanger provided in thermal contact with at least a portion of the electric motor, the heat exchanger being configured to transfer heat from the electric motor to a liquid coolant circulating in the heat exchange circuit.

The present invention provides a pump assembly for use in a household appliance comprising a pump, an electric motor having a rotor and a stator and a heat exchanger arranged to be in thermal contact with at least a portion of the stator. There is further provided a heat recovery system for use in a household appliance comprising a main fluid circuit, a fluid reservoir, a heat exchange circuit and a pump assembly for pumping working fluid through the main fluid circuit. The pump assembly comprises an electric motor, a heat exchanger provided in thermal contact with at least a portion of the electric motor, the heat exchanger being configured to transfer heat from the electric motor to a liquid coolant circulating in the heat exchange circuit.

The invention in particular is directed to a household appliance, such as a washing machine or dishwasher, comprising a heat pump arrangement (3) with a heat pump (4, 5, 6) adapted to transfer heat to an operating medium (2) of the appliance (1, 3), with a closed storage tank (9) adapted to receive a phase change substance (10) and being heat exchangeably coupled with a process side (5) of the heat pump (4, 5, 6), with at least one sensor (11) adapted and arranged to detect an actual phase state of the phase change substance (10), and with a recovery unit (12) adapted and operable to actively recover the phase change substance (10) in dependence of a signal of the sensor (11).

A household appliance has a working chamber and at least one latent heat store having a respective storage medium. The storage medium is thermally coupled via a respective associated heat exchanger to a working medium circulating through the working chamber. The working medium moves from the working chamber to a heat sink, from the heat sink to the heat exchanger, from the heat exchanger to a heat source, and from the heat source back to the working chamber. The storage medium forms a substance mixture together with a respective carrier fluid. The substance mixture can be conducted in a respective closed circuit through the associated heat exchanger for an exchange of heat with the working medium, and the substance mixture circulates between the associated heat exchanger and at least one reservoir in the respective closed circuit. The reservoir can be refilled layer-by-layer with the substance mixture conducted through the respective associated heat exchanger.

A method for reducing energy consumption by a medium heating device, the method comprising the step: scheduling an operation (501) of the first device (111) requiring heating of a first medium; scheduling an operation (502) of the second device (112) requiring heating of a second medium; the method being characterized in that it further comprises the steps of: sending (504), from the first device (111), information regarding its operation cycles and water parameters to the second device (112); rescheduling (505) operations of the liaised devices (111, 112) so that drain heat of the first medium is reused to heat a fresh intake of the second medium by the second device by means of a heat exchanger (160); instructing (506), the reprogrammed devices (111, 112) to start their operations according to the new schedule.