The latest washing machines use inverter control for both washing and spin-drying. Inverter control helps reduce wash/spin noise and vibration and enables a washing machine to adjust the amount of water and motor torque to suit the washload. IGBTs are used for motor drive, and microcontrollers for overall control. Additionally, an intelligent power device (IPD) is used to drive a water circulating pump of a spin dryer. Power factor correction (PFC) ICs or IGBTs are used in the power supply circuit to keep harmonics in the input current below the IEC limit.
