Learn something new every day - front load washing machines

Pulled two front load machines apart yesterday, these machines are a bit of engineering genius., but in my opinion have way to many circuit boards.

The drive motor is 3 phase which is made possible with the use of a phase converter that you will find next to the motor in the bottom of the machine this makes it possible to run the washing machine from a single phase outlet.

Have not yet got my head wrapped around how the phase converter makes 3 phase from a single phase 110 volt outlet, but can see some electronic hacks coming up using the phase converter to power up other DIY home made experimental equipment once the word gets around of the availability of such a device.

By using the 3 phase motor the manufacture has cut production cost down as they can control the speed and direction of the mechanics electronically eliminating the transmission which would involve either metal stamping, casting and machining of gears along with the cost of a lubricant.

Perfect motor for a drill press or metal lathe where you could have complete control of speed and or direction of rotation by simply hacking the phase converter.

http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...pseuspbzo4.png

Turn your sound down, this video shows a washing machine 3 phase motor operating from a variable frequency controller speed and rotation management.

https://youtu.be/sZB57XA0l8I

Short engineering history of the front load washer:

Initially the only washers that were front load were commercial units with massive belt drives on a planetary reduction at the back of the machine. The planetary set with bearing goes for 200 bucks on ebay fyi, you can find these pulled from any laundrymat from the 80s and 90s.

The first home "high efficiency" washers suffered two issues, they were initially DC brushed motors with a heavy duty inverter circuit (high cost) usually built into an assembly at the back of the drum. The second initial design was a belt driven standard brushed AC motor that was fed varying voltage and the belt was cogged. This was terrible and I'm sure some of you have seen the plastic "big end" pulley all torn to bits.

About...ohh fifteen years ago? they started using ac induction motors, 24 pole, single phase. Some of you know this design well as its the big copper ring at the business end of the drum. It is set up exactly like old yamaha motorcycle stators. A board feed high frequency pulses into the motor and there is a hall effect sensor to tell the "computer" where the motor is. This design suffered board failures, of which I used to sit down and do repairs on. In fact the washer at my house is this stator design.

What alloy is showing is a solid state variable frequency drive. The VFD on the board is only rated for a few amps. This system allows for longevity. The ac induction motor regardless of it being single or 3 phase can be "soft started" so no more chewing up belts, no chewing up the planetary reductions or gear boxes. This motor can also be set to run the machine in what is called "delicate" mode, in addition to allowing the variation of speed for the spin cycle. Some of these systems are linked to a electronically controlled transmission that will spin a large agitator in the bottom of the machine and move the drum back and forth in rhythm. No matter what the most valuable component on even a BROKEN washer is the board. They all work essentially the same of this type and if your handy and have appliance store contacts...there's some money to be made.

Neat washing machine pulled two apart and looking forward to making some money off of them.

They're loaded with electronic boards, the water pump is unique in that the impeller on the water pump is magnet driven similar to the one below.

With the magnet driven impeller no chance of water getting inside the motor as this compartment is sealed and separate from the armature also if something jams the impeller the motor will not burn out just quit pumping.

Cheap pump to manufacture as it does not require ceramic bellows water seal, just a cheap O-ring.

Too bad the washing machine magnet pumps are ugly otherwise we could be selling these to the home-brew folks.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...psbd795880.jpg

I take it your a guy that can really appreciate consumer level engineering, the dummy resistant systems and the ways they work around problems to ensure a UL listing.

Thanks for the post Alloy2,, I have put a few of these motors aside to use on a lathe and my small drill press.
I didn't know they needed the circuitboard to drive them though...

The advantage for using them in a drill press, in theory, is that I could use it as a tapping machine to tap threads in things.
I make stuff out of bullet shells as a hobby and it takes a long time for any certain operation when you make 100 of something.

The guys setup in the YouTube video is quite nice, using a off the shelf 3 phase controller with only a little work to set it up.

Thanks again.