CN111172718A

CN111172718A - Clothes treating apparatus

Info

Publication number: CN111172718A
Application number: CN201811331385.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘让雷; 卢立群; 朱国防; 张红伟; 李文明
Original assignee: Qingdao Haier Washing Machine Co Ltd
Current assignee: Qingdao Haier Washing Machine Co Ltd; Haier Smart Home Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-11-09
Filing date: 2018-11-09
Publication date: 2020-05-19
Anticipated expiration: 2038-11-09
Also published as: CN111172718B

Abstract

The invention belongs to the field of household appliances, and particularly provides a clothes treatment device. The laundry treatment apparatus of the present invention includes a cabinet, a laundry treatment drum disposed in the cabinet, and a tray disposed at an upper portion of the cabinet, the tray being configured with an upper cover including a front side portion and a rear side portion, the rear side portion being pivotally connected with the tray so as to be able to expose the laundry treatment drum to the environment, the front side portion and the rear side portion being non-coplanar and at least a portion of the front side portion facing a front upper side of the cabinet in a state where the upper cover is pivotally closed with respect to the tray, the front side portion being provided with an operation panel thereon. Through such setting, operating panel can be towards the preceding top of box under the state that the upper cover was closed, and when the user operated clothing treatment facility, the user just can observe operating panel by a little lowering the head, conveniently observes and operates, has optimized user's use and has experienced, has solved current washing machine's operating panel and has set up in the front end of flat-plate upper cover, observes and operate inconveniently, uses the problem of experiencing the difference.

Description

Clothes treating apparatus

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the field of household appliances, and particularly provides a clothes treatment device.

Background

Along with the continuous improvement of the living standard of people, the washing machine becomes a necessary household appliance in the life of people. Washing machines are generally provided with an operation panel for a user to perform a relevant operation (selection of a washing mode, etc.) or to display relevant information (currently in a washing, rinsing, or spinning stage, etc.) to the user. Generally, an operation panel of a washing machine is disposed at a front portion of an upper surface of a tray, and when laundry is taken in and out from a loading port of the washing machine, water drops from the laundry drop onto the operation panel, and water drops dropping onto the operation panel easily permeate into the operation panel, causing a short circuit in an internal circuit of the operation panel and causing a failure.

In view of this, as an improved solution, the operation panel is provided at a front position of the upper cover of the washing machine. However, in the case where the upper cover of the washing machine is generally formed in a flat plate shape, and the operation panel is provided at the front end of the upper cover, when a user needs to operate the operation panel or read information on the operation panel, the user generally needs to look down at the operation panel by approximately 90 ° to perform a related operation, which results in poor user experience.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a new solution to the above problems.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, i.e., to solve the problems of the prior art that an operation panel of a washing machine is provided at a front end of a flat upper cover, observation and operation are inconvenient, and a user experience is poor, the present invention provides a laundry treating apparatus including a cabinet, a laundry treating tub provided in the cabinet, and a tray provided at an upper portion of the cabinet, the tray being provided with an upper cover, wherein the upper cover includes a front portion and a rear portion, the rear portion being pivotally connected to the tray so as to be able to expose the laundry treating tub to the environment, the front portion and the rear portion being non-coplanar and at least a portion of the front portion facing a front upper side of the cabinet in a state where the upper cover is pivotally closed with respect to the tray, the front portion being provided with an operation panel.

In a preferred embodiment of the above laundry treating apparatus, the front portion is rotatably provided to the rear portion to adjust a position of the front portion with respect to the rear portion, and the front portion can stay at least one intermediate position when rotated from an initial position to the intermediate position.

In a preferred embodiment of the above laundry treating apparatus, the front portion is pivotally connected to a front end of the rear portion, and a damper is provided between the front portion and the rear portion so that the front portion can stay at any position where it is pivotally reached.

In a preferred embodiment of the above laundry treating apparatus, the front portion includes a curved plate protruding from inside to outside, and the operation panel is disposed on the curved plate.

In a preferred embodiment of the above laundry treating apparatus, the front side part includes a coupling plate disposed between the curved plate and the rear side part.

In a preferred aspect of the above-described laundry treating apparatus, the laundry treating apparatus includes a hovering member configured to be able to stay at least one target position when the upper cover pivots to the target position with respect to the tray.

In a preferred embodiment of the above-described laundry treating apparatus, the hovering member is a hovering damper provided between the rear portion and the tray, and the hovering damper is configured to cause the upper cover to stay at an arbitrary position when pivoted to the arbitrary position with respect to the tray.

In a preferred embodiment of the above laundry treating apparatus, the hovering member is a stepping motor, a housing of the stepping motor is fixedly connected to the tray, an output shaft of the stepping motor is fixedly connected to the rear portion, and the output shaft is coaxial with a pivot between the rear portion and the tray.

In a preferred embodiment of the above laundry treating apparatus, the front portion and the rear portion are integrally formed.

In a preferred technical solution of the above laundry treating apparatus, the laundry treating apparatus is a washing machine, a dryer, or a washing and drying all-in-one machine.

As can be appreciated by those skilled in the art, in the technical solution of the present invention, a laundry treatment apparatus comprises a cabinet, a laundry treatment drum disposed in the cabinet, and a tray disposed at an upper portion of the cabinet, the tray being configured with an upper cover including a front side portion and a rear side portion, the rear side portion being pivotally connected with the tray so as to be able to expose the laundry treatment drum to the environment, the front side portion being non-coplanar with the rear side portion and at least a portion of the front side portion facing forward and upward of the cabinet in a case where the upper cover is pivotally closed with respect to the tray, the front side portion being provided with an operation panel thereon. With this arrangement, the operation panel positioned on the front portion of the upper cover can be oriented forward and upward of the case in a state where the upper cover is closed. When the user operates the clothing treatment facility, the user can observe the operation panel by slightly lowering the head, so that the observation and the operation are convenient, the use experience of the user is optimized, and the problems that the operation panel of the existing washing machine is arranged at the front end of the flat-plate-shaped upper cover, the observation and the operation are inconvenient, and the use experience is poor are solved.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the front portion of the upper cover is rotatably provided to the rear portion so as to adjust a position of the front portion with respect to the rear portion, and the front portion can stay at least one intermediate position when rotated from the initial position to the intermediate position. Through the arrangement, the position of the front side part relative to the rear side part can be adjusted, so that the operation panel arranged on the front side part can be positioned in the excellent observation visual field range of users with different heights, and the observation and the operation of the users with different heights are facilitated.

Drawings

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in conjunction with a washing machine with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 is a schematic view of a washing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention in a state where an upper cover is closed;

fig. 2 is a schematic view of a washing machine in a half-opened state of an upper cover according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of an upper cover of a washing machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

List of reference numerals:

1. a box body; 2. a tray seat; 21. a laundry input port; 3. an upper cover; 31. a front side portion; 311. a curved plate; 312. a connector tile; 32. a rear side portion; 4. a hover damper; 5. an operation panel; 6. a damper.

Detailed Description

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present invention are only for explaining the technical principle of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. For example, although the present invention has been described in relation to a washing machine, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention may be modified as required to suit particular applications, such as clothes dryers, washing and drying machines, shoe washers, etc. Obviously, the technical solution after adjustment still falls into the protection scope of the present invention.

It should be noted that in the description of the present invention, the terms "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "inner", "outer", etc. indicating directions or positional relationships are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the drawings, which are only for convenience of description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed in a specific orientation, and be operated, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

Furthermore, it should be noted that, in the description of the present invention, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "fixed," "disposed," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, and may be, for example, a fixed connection or a detachable connection; can be mechanically or electrically connected; may be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, fig. 1 is a schematic view of a washing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention in a state where an upper cover is closed; fig. 2 is a schematic view of a washing machine in a half-opened state of an upper cover according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the washing machine mainly includes a cabinet 1, a tray 2 disposed above the cabinet 1, a laundry treatment tub (not shown) disposed in the cabinet 1, and a tray 2 disposed at an upper portion of the cabinet 1, a laundry input port 21 for inputting laundry is provided at a middle portion of the tray 2, the tray 2 is provided with an upper cover 3, the upper cover 3 includes a front portion 31 and a rear portion 32, the rear portion 32 is pivotally connected to the tray 2 so as to be able to expose the laundry treatment tub to the environment, the front portion 31 and the rear portion 32 are not coplanar, at least a portion of the front portion 31 faces the front upper portion of the cabinet 1 in a state where the upper cover 3 is pivotally closed with respect to the tray 2, and an operation panel 5 is provided on the front portion 31.

Through such setting, operating panel 5 sets up on the front portion 31 of upper cover 3, and operating panel 5 can be towards the preceding top of box 1 under the condition that upper cover 2 is closed, and the user only needs to lower the head downwards a little just can be better observe operating panel 5, has made things convenient for user's observation and operation, has optimized user's use and has experienced.

With continued reference to fig. 1 and 2, the front and

rear sections

31, 32 are preferably of one-piece construction. The front part 31 and the rear part 32 are integrally formed, so that the upper cover 3 is convenient to manufacture, the assembly processes can be reduced, the production progress is accelerated, and the manufacturing cost is reduced. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the front face section 31 and the rear face section 32 may also be provided in a monolithic configuration.

Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of an upper cover of a washing machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 3, the front portion 31 of the upper cover 3 is rotatably provided to the rear portion 32 so as to adjust the position of the front portion 31 relative to the rear portion, and the front portion 31 can stay at least one intermediate position when rotated from the initial position to the intermediate position. Preferably, two dampers 6 are provided between the front side portion 31 and the rear side portion 32, the dampers 6 being capable of causing the front side portion 31 to stay at any position to which it is pivoted with respect to the rear side portion 32.

When different users operate the washing machine, the front part 31 can rotate relative to the rear part 32 to an optimal position suitable for self observation according to actual conditions, and the front part 31 can keep the current position by adjusting the rear damper 6, so that the users can observe and operate the operation panel 5 more conveniently. The damper 6 can stop at any position when the front part 31 pivots relative to the rear part 32, so that the adjustment range is expanded, the operation panel 5 can be in a better visual field range of a user by adjusting the position of the front part 31 relative to the rear part 32, and the observation and the operation of the user are facilitated.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the number of dampers 6 is two merely for illustrative purposes and that one skilled in the art can adjust them as needed to suit a particular application, e.g., one, three or more dampers 6 can be disposed between the front and

rear portions

31, 32.

In addition, it should be understood that the damper 6 is just an example, and those skilled in the art can also make the front portion 31 stay at any position to which it pivots, such as the front portion 31 and the rear portion 32 are pivotally connected by a shaft and hole structure, the front portion 31 stays at any position to which it pivots by an interference fit or transition fit between the shaft and the hole, etc. In addition, a person skilled in the art can also make the front side portion 31 stay at some typical positions where it is pivoted by corresponding structures according to actual requirements, for example, the front side portion 31 is pivoted between the front side portion 31 and the rear side portion 32 to stay at a plurality of set positions by a ratchet mechanism, and the like.

With continued reference to fig. 3, the front portion 31 preferably includes a curved plate 311 that is convex from the inside to the outside, and the operation panel 5 is disposed on the curved plate 311. With such an arrangement, when water drops fall on the surface of the operation panel 5, the water drops can be quickly dropped from the surface of the operation panel 5, and the water drops can be prevented from staying on the operation panel 5 for a long time and penetrating into the operation panel 5 to short-circuit the circuit and cause a failure. In the first embodiment, the front portion 31 may be configured to include a curved plate protruding from the inside to the outside. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the curved plate may be a circular arc plate with uniform curvature, a combination of multiple circular arc plates, or the like.

With continued reference to figure 3, the front portion 31 preferably includes a connector tile 312, the connector tile 312 being disposed between the curved plate 311 and the rear portion 32, for example, the connector tile 312 may be a flat strip or a curved strip or the like. The damper 6 is fixed to the connector tile 312 and the damper 6 is simultaneously connected to the rear side portion 32. Through the setting of linking up the fishplate bar 312, make things convenient for the installation of attenuator 6, can avoid simultaneously that attenuator 6 installs easily to make curved plate 311 produce stress concentration and influence joint strength on curved plate 311.

With continued reference to fig. 1 and 2, preferably, the washing machine comprises a hovering member arranged to be able to stay in at least one target position when the upper cover 3 is pivoted to the tray 2 with respect to the target position. Such as the target position is selected by the user or the washing machine is preset with some typical positions suitable for users with different height sections. Preferably, the hovering member is a hovering damper 4 disposed between the rear portion 32 and the tray 2, the hovering damper 4 being capable of causing the upper cover 3 to stay in an arbitrary position when pivoted to that position with respect to the tray 2. It should be noted that the structure of the hover damper is well known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail herein.

Generally, different users have different heights, and the height of the washing machine is fixed. For the users with higher height, when the washing machine is used, the users with higher height need to bend down to operate the operation panel so as to control the washing machine to execute the corresponding working program, and great inconvenience is brought to the users with higher height. By arranging the hovering member on the washing machine, a user can open the upper cover 3 and hover to a certain position according to the actual situation of the user, so that the operation panel 5 is at a proper height, the user is prevented from bending down, and the user experience is optimized. The hovering member is provided as a hovering damper 4, which enables the upper cover 3 to stay at any position when pivoted to the tray 3, thereby expanding the adjustment range and enabling the upper cover 3 to stay at the most suitable height for users with different heights.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the hover damper 4 is only a specific embodiment as the hover member, and those skilled in the art can make adjustments as needed to suit a particular application, for example, the back portion 32 and the disk seat can be pivotally connected by a pivot and hole structure, the shaft and hole structure can be arranged in an interference fit or transition fit, or the hover member can be a parking damping hinge disclosed in a clothes treatment device (publication No. CN107794723), the hover member can be a stepper motor, the housing of the stepper motor is fixedly connected to the disk seat 2, the output shaft of the stepper motor is fixedly connected to the back portion 32 and the output shaft is coaxially pivoted between the back portion 32 and the disk seat 2. The user can control the output shaft of the stepping motor to rotate a set angle according to the height condition of the user, so that the upper cover 3 is pivoted open and hovered at a set position, and the user can conveniently observe and operate the operation panel 5. It should be noted that the arrangement of the hovering mechanism may also be applied to the second embodiment. The front side part 31 is rotatably arranged on the rear side part 32 so as to adjust the position of the front side part 31 relative to the rear side part 32, and the front side part 31 can stay at the intermediate position when rotating from the initial position to at least one intermediate position, and on the basis, a hovering member is arranged between the disk seat 2 and the rear side part 32, so that the upper cover 3 can be hovered to the set position, and meanwhile, the position of the front side part 31 relative to the rear side part 32 is adjusted, so that the operation panel 5 can be further positioned in the optimal height and the optimal visual field range, and the use experience of a user is optimized.

As can be seen from the above description, the laundry treating apparatus includes a cabinet, a laundry treating drum disposed in the cabinet, and a tray disposed at an upper portion of the cabinet, the tray being configured with an upper cover including a front side portion and a rear side portion, the front side portion of the upper cover being rotatably disposed at the rear side portion so as to adjust a position of the front side portion with respect to the rear side portion and being capable of staying at least one intermediate position when the front side portion is rotated from an initial position to the intermediate position, the rear side portion being pivotally connected with the tray so as to be capable of exposing the laundry treating drum to the environment, the front side portion being non-coplanar with the rear side portion and at least a portion of the front side portion facing upward and forward of the cabinet in a state where the upper cover is pivotally closed with. Through such setting, when the user operates clothing treatment facility, the user just can observe operating panel by slightly lowering the head, conveniently observes and operates, has optimized user's use and has experienced, has solved current washing machine's operating panel and has set up in the front end of flat-plate upper cover, observes and operate inconveniently, uses and experiences poor problem. Preferably, the laundry treating apparatus includes a hovering member configured to be able to stay at least one target position when the upper cover pivots to the at least one target position with respect to the tray. In this way, the operation panel can be positioned at an optimal height suitable for the operation of the user, thereby further optimizing the use experience of the user.

The above examples only express embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. A laundry treating apparatus, characterized in that the laundry treating apparatus comprises a cabinet, a laundry treating tub provided in the cabinet, and a tray provided at an upper portion of the cabinet, the tray being provided with an upper cover,

wherein the upper cover includes a front portion and a rear portion pivotally connected to the seat so as to be able to expose the laundry treatment tub to the environment, the front portion being non-coplanar with the rear portion and at least a portion of the front portion facing upwardly and forwardly of the cabinet in a condition in which the upper cover is pivotally closed relative to the seat, the front portion having an operating panel provided thereon.

2. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the front side portion is rotatably provided to the rear side portion so as to adjust a position of the front side portion with respect to the rear side portion, and

the front portion is capable of staying in at least one intermediate position when rotated from the initial position to the intermediate position.

3. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the front side portion is pivotally connected with a front end of the rear side portion, and

a damper is provided between the front side portion and the rear side portion so that the front side portion can stay at any position to which it is pivoted.

4. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the front portion includes a curved plate protruding from inside to outside, the operation panel being provided to the curved plate.

5. The garment treatment apparatus of claim 4 wherein the front portion includes an engagement tab disposed between the curved plate and the rear portion.

6. The laundry treating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, comprising a hovering member configured to be capable of staying at least one target position when the upper cover pivots to the target position with respect to the tray.

7. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the hovering member is a hover damper provided between the rear portion and the tray, the hover damper being capable of causing the upper cover to stay in an arbitrary position when pivoted to that position with respect to the tray.

8. The laundry processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the hovering member is a stepping motor, a housing of the stepping motor is fixedly connected with the tray, an output shaft of the stepping motor is fixedly connected with the rear side portion and the output shaft is coaxial with a pivot axis between the rear side portion and the tray.

9. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the front side portion and the rear side portion are of an integrally formed structure.

10. The laundry processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the laundry processing apparatus is a washing machine, a dryer, or a washer-dryer.