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Development of an active two degree-of-freedom balancer for top loading washing machines

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Abstract

A liquid balancer mounted at the top for reducing the vibration of a top loading washing machine may tilt to the side of unbalanced laundry and cause more vibration. In this study an active two degree-of-freedom balancer with a central mass and a pair of outer masses was developed to reduce the vibration caused by unbalanced laundry. If the position and weight of unbalanced laundry are known, the central mass and the outer masses are moved to the opposite side of the unbalanced laundry, and the angle between the central mass and the outer masses is modulated to cancel out the extra centrifugal force created by the unbalanced laundry. Three motors and a control unit to move the masses and to modulate the angle were installed inside the central mass. Experiments were conducted for three different unbalanced laundry conditions to evaluate the performance of the new balancer, which was proven to be quite effective in reducing the vibration of the top-loading washing machine.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support by Industry-Academy Cooperation Program of LG Electronics, and advice by Research Fellow Young-Jong Kim and Senior Engineer Dong-Cheol Kim at Appliance Laboratory, LG Electronics are highly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sogang University, Seoul, 04107, Korea

    Min-Goo Jeong, In-Yong Kwak & Hyun-Yong Jeong

Authors
  1. Min-Goo Jeong
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  2. In-Yong Kwak
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  3. Hyun-Yong Jeong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hyun-Yong Jeong.

Additional information

Recommended by Editor Seungjae Min

Min-Goo Jeong finished his Master’s program in Mechanical Engineering, Sogang University and works at LG Electronics.

In-Yong Kwak finished his Master’s program in Mechanical Engineering, Sogang University.

Hyun-Yong Jeong received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and has been a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Sogang University since 1998. His research interests include material modeling and component design.

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Jeong, MG., Kwak, IY. & Jeong, HY. Development of an active two degree-of-freedom balancer for top loading washing machines. J Mech Sci Technol 34, 2933–2939 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0625-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0625-2

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