Dishwashers - Ideas for Improvement

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emmo

13 posts

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#268170 3-Mar-2020 11:02

(Would have wanted to post this in the StartUps forum but could not find the "New Topic" button in there)

Dishwashers are one of those home appliances that I thought haven't caught up to the digital, automated age. The basic design of dishwashers haven't changed for decades. Ie, load the dirty dishes, put detergent, adjust a setting (if necessary), push start, wait to finish, unload dishes. Sounds simple and works fine for a single household. However, in a workplace where 50 or more people loads/unloads dishes through out the day, a smarter way of using the DW is necessary.

Difficulties encountered using the DW in a workplace

Someone can accidentally open the DW in the middle of cycle, thereby prematurely stopping the cleaning cycle.
Someone can unload the dishes when cycle is not yet 100% complete
After or in the midst of a cleaning cycle, someone can load a dirty dish, simply because other people are too lazy to unload the clean dishes.
Knowing for sure if what's inside are clean or dirty dishes, is sometimes guesswork.

Ideas for a smarter DW to get around these difficulties. I think these ideas are quite easy to implement by the DW manufacturers.

Once DW is in the middle of a cycle, it should not be easy to open. Perhaps add an "Unlock" button which the user needs to press first. Very much like front loading washing machines.
Add a visual display to clearly show the status. A small screen perhaps or just light indicators would do. The statuses I'm thinking are the following.

- "Running" - this is the status when the DW is in a cleaning cycle.
- "Clean Dishes" - this is the status that will show as soon as cleaning is complete.
- "Empty" - this is the status when nothing is inside, which is right after all dishes have been unloaded. The easiest way to implement this is to incorporate some kind of an electronic weighing scale in the DW. Electronically, the weighing scale will detect if the DW is empty or not.
- "Dirty Dishes" - this is the status when someone puts in a new dish/utensil inside. Using the suggested electronic weighing scale, it should be easy for the DW to detect if something has been added inside. Any increase in the weight, the status should change to "Dirty Dishes". Any decrease in the weight, however, the status should remain unchanged. This happens when dishes are being unloaded.

trig42

5810 posts

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#2431688 3-Mar-2020 11:26

The two dishwashers I have anything to do with regularly do this.

The LG at work, the door is locked when it is running, it has a countdown timer. It's pretty obvious it is doing something. When it is not running, it is not so obvious that the dishes in there are clean or dirty, though looking at a glass usually tells you.

Dishdrawers at home - locked when running (would make a real mess it you yanked one open while it's going otherwise). Has a backlit LCD screen when it is going, showing run time till finished. When finished, screen shows 00, indicating it has done it's cycle, and hasn't yet been opened (once opened, screen goes blank).

Nate001

640 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2431707 3-Mar-2020 12:15

We have FP dishdrawers at work which you need to unlock to open. Doesn't stop people interrupting it mid cycle to look for a fork/spoon leave it without restarting.

You could as you suggest have a message on the screen, but at out workplace I can guarantee the majority will not read it.

We also have magnetic signs that say clean/dirty on the front, and people are generally pretty good at putting them on eg sticking the clean on once you start it and dirty after you unload it. That doesn't stop people putting dirty dishes in with the clean ones. "Oh all the dishwashers haven't been unloaded... I'll stick it in anyway - meh"

gcorgnet

1078 posts

Uber Geek

#2431793 3-Mar-2020 13:29

Sounds like you have a people problem rather than a dishwasher problem... You can't fix dumb/lazy people with technology, unfortunately...god knows we've tried this before...

emmo

13 posts

Geek

#2431804 3-Mar-2020 13:53

At home we usually rinse our dishes before loading in the dishwasher. We do this because we don't want the DW to smell as we don't run the DW everyday. We wait till it's full before running it. One day, my mother in law dropped by. Looks inside the DW. She thinks the dishes are clean and unloads not realising the DW hasn't been run yet. Can happen to anyone. Such situations can be prevented with the right technology and innovation. A display panel on the front door that clearly shows the status of what's inside whether "Dirty" or "Clean", would be extremely helpful.

MurrayM

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#2431825 3-Mar-2020 14:26

How about something like the DishWinkle Clean Dirty Dishwasher Indicator?

emmo

13 posts

Geek

#2431925 3-Mar-2020 14:51

MurrayM:

How about something like the DishWinkle Clean Dirty Dishwasher Indicator?

That's clever. I'd say it's a good example of thinking outside the box. Sometimes the best solution is the simplest one. Quite overpriced though.

Geektastic

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#2431974 3-Mar-2020 16:18

You could achieve the same effect by leaving a mug right side up.

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

MikeAqua

7779 posts

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#2431987 3-Mar-2020 16:56

How about a dishwasher that actually dries plastic.

NB: for some reason genuine Tupperware dries much better than other plastics.

Mike

MadEngineer

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#2432012 3-Mar-2020 18:17

Just to add to above comments, dish drawer already does this. If you’ve cheaped out get a Velcro sticker spot and attach a card with dirty/clean on each side.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

mattwnz

20157 posts

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#2432020 3-Mar-2020 18:31

emmo:

At home we usually rinse our dishes before loading in the dishwasher. We do this because we don't want the DW to smell as we don't run the DW everyday. We wait till it's full before running it. One day, my mother in law dropped by. Looks inside the DW. She thinks the dishes are clean and unloads not realising the DW hasn't been run yet. Can happen to anyone. Such situations can be prevented with the right technology and innovation. A display panel on the front door that clearly shows the status of what's inside whether "Dirty" or "Clean", would be extremely helpful.

They were discussing this on Seven Sharp, and apparently the powder requires the dishes to be dirty for the soap powder to stick to it. The only thing I rinse are things with egg on them, as that causes the dishwasher to smell very eggy after the cycle. I think it must be some sort of reaction that occurs. If rinsing before hand you maybe able to get away with a quicker wash cycle. But IMO there isn't much difference in time between rinsing and just washing up without the dishwasher. Especially as some poor dishwashers are terrible at drying.

MikeAqua

7779 posts

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#2432598 4-Mar-2020 16:51

MadEngineer: Just to add to above comments, dish drawer already does this. If you’ve cheaped out get a Velcro sticker spot and attach a card with dirty/clean on each side.

We have two of those magnetic plastic buttons (the ones that stick to whiteboards). Button = dirty and is removed from the drawer when the wash cycle is started.

Mike

emmo

13 posts

Geek

#2432618 4-Mar-2020 17:22

Buttons, magnetic stickers, velcro, dishwinkle, they will work too for all intents and purposes. But these methods rely on human intervention, which can fail sometimes. Label can fall off or sometimes no one bothers to put any label at all. Not to say it looks crude and now that the label is old and scruffy, it becomes an eyesore. At work we use the velcro system as you see in the photo. Everyday that I see it, I shake my head and think -- tsk, tsk, surely there is a better way.

There's A Way To Do It Better -- Find It. Thomas Edison

MikeAqua

7779 posts

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#2432649 4-Mar-2020 17:48

emmo:

Buttons, magnetic stickers, velcro, dishwinkle, they will work too for all intents and purposes. But these methods rely on human intervention, which can fail sometimes. Label can fall off or sometimes no one bothers to put any label at all. Not to say it looks crude and now that the label is old and scruffy, it becomes an eyesore. At work we use the velcro system as you see in the photo. Everyday that I see it, I shake my head and think -- tsk, tsk, surely there is a better way.

There's A Way To Do It Better -- Find It. Thomas Edison

The issue with a system like the one in the dish drawer is that it doesn't really know when the clean dishes have been removed. If someone sees the clean dishes, can't be bothered, closes the draw again and puts their dirty dishes in the sink it shows dirty again. So that system too is subject to human behavioural issues. You could have a camera or load sensor to tell whether the dishes have been removed I suppose. But you will still get that person who drops a dirty spoon into a clean dishwasher because they don't care. How about a housekeeping robot. It would know the status of the dishwasher.

I'll stick with the magna-dots.

Mike

emmo

13 posts

Geek

#2432831 4-Mar-2020 22:01

MikeAqua:

The issue with a system like the one in the dish drawer is that it doesn't really know when the clean dishes have been removed. If someone sees the clean dishes, can't be bothered, closes the draw again and puts their dirty dishes in the sink it shows dirty again. So that system too is subject to human behavioural issues. You could have a camera or load sensor to tell whether the dishes have been removed I suppose. But you will still get that person who drops a dirty spoon into a clean dishwasher because they don't care. How about a housekeeping robot. It would know the status of the dishwasher.

Well, your're right Mike. A load sensor is precisely what's needed. And I think in my original post where I proposed incorporating an electronic weighing scale is your load sensor. An electronic weighing scale can easily detect when dishes/items were added or removed. Using the DW's running mode and subsequent changes in the weight inside, the DW can determine the status of what's inside. I can see how it can be programmed.

if (mode = running) newStatus = "Running" /* door locked */
else if (mode = completed) newStatus = "Clean Dishes" /* door unlocked */
else if (newWeight > previousWeight) newStatus = "Dirty Dishes"
else if (newWeight <= previousWeight) /* no change in status */

But then you might argue, what if newStatus is "Clean Dishes", but then some moron instead of unloading, puts in a dirty spoon making the newWeight > previousWeight? Which means the newStatus will now show as "Dirty Dishes" using the above algorithm. True that could happen. In this case there is no way for the DW to know that everything inside is clean apart from one spoon. I can think of an improvement to the above algorithm to remedy this. It involves the use of a "startingWeight" which is the weight when the DW is empty. The improved algorithm would know if an item was added without first unloading everything inside. In which case the newStatus should be "Contaminated" (meaning a dirty dish was mixed with clean ones), and perhaps then make it display a rude message. But I'm sounding too techie. So to make it simple, in this situation, leave the status as "Dirty Dishes" and simply rerun the DW anyway. The camera you proposed would still be of use in tracking the person who put in the dirty spoon. 😄