Whirlpool Cabrio Full Wash Cycle Video

[DADoES]

 
No belt.  The basket sits on a collar on the motor shaft, the agitator bolts to the shaft inside the basket.  The basket floats upward about 3/8" when the tub fills to disengage from the drive collar so the agitator can oscillate separately.  As stated above, the SmartDrive motor is a 3-phase, brushless, (in this case, 36-pole, 48-magnet), DC-powered stepper mechanism that is entirely software controlled.  A rotor position sensor gives the control board feedback to monitor rotational distance and speed.

I don't think the video clip shows a full fill/load.

 

[tolivac]

Thats interesting-A DC stepper type motor-almost sounds like a giant version of the DC brushless pulsed motor used in Technics DD Turntables-same idea.Alter the pulses and the motor oscillates instead of rotating.However think I would rather stick with the traditional AC induction motor,belt and transmission.The Technics TT motor is also miniature 3Ph DC pulsed motor.The PM rotor is on the bottom of the platter-the stator in the TT base,along with the electronics.

 

[joe_in_philly]

Just a thought...

Perhaps the lid locks during agitation to prevent people from adding clothes as it is filling and sensing - doing so may confuse the sensing process. Another reason may be to prevent additional items from being added. If users have to pause the machine in order to add more clothes, then the machine will have a chance to sense if anything was added and adjust the water level.