CN114059300A - Door lock of electrical equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a door lock of an electric appliance, which can be engaged to a door hook of the electric appliance to lock a door of the electric appliance, comprising: a housing fixedly mounted to the electrical device; a cam pivotally mounted within the housing; a main slider movable between a latching position and a releasing position; a switch member electrically connected to the electric appliance; a lock pin displaceable toward the switch member in response to movement of the main slider from a stuck position to a release position, thereby opening the switch member; the door hook further comprises a stopping piece which can pivot between a stopping position and a stopping position, wherein the stopping piece is used for clamping the main sliding block when in the stopping position and is pivoted to the stopping position in response to the door hook moving out of the door hook hole so as to release the clamping of the main sliding block.

Description

Door lock of electrical equipment

Technical Field

The invention relates to a door lock of electrical equipment, in particular to a mechanism for fixing the door lock on the inner side of a closed door of the electrical equipment such as a washing machine.

Background

Currently, the door of an electrical appliance (e.g. a washing machine) is locked to the panel of the electrical appliance by means of a door lock. Taking a drum-type washing machine as an example, the observation window needs to be locked by a door lock for fixing, so as to prevent the drum-type washing machine from rotating at a high speed during operation (or rotating at a high speed due to inertia after stopping operation), which may cause damage to human body. For this reason, such door locks for electric appliances are required to satisfy safety requirements under certain conditions. For example, when the electrical appliance is operated at a high speed, under certain extreme conditions, the external force forcibly pulls the door, and the pulling force breaks off relevant parts of the door lock to forcibly open the door of the electrical appliance, at which time the working circuit of the electrical appliance needs to be cut off instantly to stop the operation of the electrical appliance.

One existing control method is generally to monitor an opened or closed state of a door of an appliance by additionally providing an actuator and a contact, which cooperate to open a main circuit when it is monitored that the door is opened. Examples of this are mentioned, for example, in the international patent application publication No. WO 2016102565. However, such actuator and contact-based control methods are not reliable and safe enough in some cases. On the one hand, the operation performance of the actuator and the contact itself may be affected due to the effects of device aging, short circuit, external interference, and the like. On the other hand, the whole process has a certain delay from the opening of the door to the generation of the response of the contact and the sending of the control signal to the receiving of the control signal by the control circuit and the corresponding action, and the delay may cause adverse effects in certain environments with higher requirements on safety.

In addition, for some existing electric product production lines, the actuator and the contact are additionally installed, so that the mechanical structure and the circuit structure of the electric product are greatly changed, and even the shell of the electric product can be redesigned, so that the design period is longer and the modification cost is higher.

Therefore, there is still a need in the industry to provide a door lock with an extreme power-off function in an extreme operating state, which is reliable in installation, low in cost, and less in modification of the existing door lock.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention aims to provide a door lock for an electrical appliance which can solve at least partially the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, which does not require the use of expensive sensors and which can be protected against power failure when the door of the electrical appliance is forcibly opened, with as few modifications as possible to the existing structure.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a door lock of an electric appliance, which is engageable to a door hook of the electric appliance to lock a door of the electric appliance, including: a housing fixedly mounted to an electrical appliance, wherein the housing has a door hook hole into which the door hook is inserted; a cam pivotally mounted within the housing, wherein the cam is pivotable between a closed door position and an open door position by a door hook; a main slider movable between a latching position and a releasing position, wherein the main slider is held at the latching position when the door hook is inserted into the door hook hole and moves to the releasing position when the cam rotates to the door opening position; a switch member electrically connected to the electric appliance; a lock pin displaceable toward the switch member in response to movement of the main slider from a stuck position to a release position, thereby opening the switch member; the door hook further comprises a stopping piece which can pivot between a stopping position and a stopping position, wherein the stopping piece is used for clamping the main sliding block when in the stopping position and is pivoted to the stopping position in response to the door hook moving out of the door hook hole so as to release the clamping of the main sliding block.

Compared with the prior art, the invention not only can more sensitively disconnect the switch device, but also has higher reliability, and can still ensure the operation of the machine to be stopped in time even if other parts in the door lock are damaged. On the other hand, the invention fully considers the internal structure of the existing door lock, and can allow the existing door lock to have the power-off protection function of the strong sliding door under the condition of only needing to carry out simple and low-cost modification design on the existing door lock, thereby greatly shortening the development period of products and remarkably reducing the corresponding manufacturing and modification cost.

In a preferred embodiment, the method further comprises: the switch member includes a movable contact and a stationary contact engageable with each other, wherein a top portion of the latch is operable to the movable contact to break the movable contact and the stationary contact upon displacement of the latch toward the switch member, thereby opening the switch member.

In a preferred embodiment, the door hook further comprises a locking slide displaceable between an active position and a deactivated position in response to the removal of the door hook, wherein the locking slide in the active position holds the stop in the stop position and in the deactivated position allows free pivoting of the stop.

In a preferred embodiment, the door lock further includes a switch box, wherein the switch member is located in the switch box, and the main slider and the lock slider are sandwiched side by side between the switch box and the housing and the stopper is sandwiched between the main slider and the lock slider.

In a preferred embodiment, the main slider comprises a main slider inclined surface at the front against the cam and a positioning post at the rear adapted to engage a first resilient member biasing the main slider towards the release position, wherein the main slider is provided with a locking surface at a side adjacent the stop for engagement by the stop and an inclined surface on the top surface for engagement with the detent.

In a preferred embodiment, the top surface of the main slider has an inwardly concave depression, wherein the inclined surface protrudes outwardly from the depression.

In a preferred embodiment, the locking pin is arranged perpendicularly with respect to the main slider and has a drive surface at one end which cooperates with an inclined surface of the main slider, wherein the locking pin is provided at its other end with a guide projection for the guided displacement of the locking pin.

In a preferred embodiment, the stop is designed as a rocker pivotable about a pivot axis arranged on the housing, wherein a free end of the rocker positively engages with the locking surface of the main slider.

In a preferred embodiment, the locking slider comprises a positioning post at the front abutting against the abutment surface of the door hook and at the rear adapted to engage a second resilient member biasing the locking slider towards the rest position, wherein the locking slider is provided with a projection at a side adjacent to the stop for engagement with the stop.

In a preferred embodiment, the first and/or second spring element is designed as a compression spring.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned from the practice of the invention.

Drawings

Embodiments of the invention are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic bottom view of the door lock of the present invention with parts removed, with the door hook in the inserted state;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the door lock of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are sectional views of FIG. 2, respectively, with the door hook in an inserted state;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the door lock of FIG. 1 showing the switch box;

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the door lock of FIG. 1 showing the locking pin with the hook in a removed condition;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are sectional views of FIG. 2, respectively, with the door hook in an extracted condition;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic views of different sides of the locking pin of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows a schematic view of the main slide of the present invention;

FIGS. 9A and 9B show schematic views of different sides of the stop of the present invention, respectively;

fig. 10A and 10B show a schematic representation of different sides of the locking slide according to the invention.

Description of the reference numerals

100. The door lock 101, the door hook 101A, the door hook hole 102, the cam 102A, the return spring 103, the upper housing 104, the electrical port 105, the switch box 106, the connection terminal 107, the switch member 107A, the movable contact 107B, the stationary contact 108, the latch 108A, the latch drive surface 108B, the guide protrusion 201, the locking slider 201A, the top contact surface 201B, the positioning post 201C, the protrusion 202, the main slider 202A, the main slider inclined surface 202B, the abutment surface 202C, the positioning post 202D, the locking surface 202E, the depression 203, the stopper 203A, the stopper rotating shaft 205, the first elastic member 204, the second elastic member X, the door lock width direction Y, the door lock length direction Z, and the door lock height direction

Detailed Description

Referring now to the drawings, an illustrative version of the door lock of the electrical apparatus disclosed in the present invention will be described in detail. Although the drawings are provided to present some embodiments of the invention, the drawings are not necessarily to scale of particular embodiments, and certain features may be exaggerated, removed, or partially sectioned to better illustrate and explain the present disclosure. The position of some components in the drawings can be adjusted according to actual requirements on the premise of not influencing the technical effect. The appearances of the phrase "in the drawings" or similar language in the specification are not necessarily referring to all drawings or examples.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "secured to" another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. When a component is referred to as being "connected" to another component, it can be directly connected to the other component or intervening components may also be present. When an element is referred to as being "supported" or "disposed" or "mounted" to another element, it may be directly supported or mounted to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. Certain directional terms used hereinafter to describe the drawings, such as "transverse," "vertical," "front," "rear," "inner," "outer," "left," "right," "above," "below," and other directional terms, will be understood to have their normal meaning and refer to those directions as normally contemplated by the drawings. Unless otherwise indicated, the directional terms described herein are generally in accordance with conventional directions as understood by those skilled in the art. The terms "first," "second," and the like, as used herein, do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another.

Some embodiments of the invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments described below and the features of the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict.

For convenience of describing the specific embodiment, the width direction of the door lock 100 of the electrical appliance is exemplified as the x direction (first direction), the length direction of the door lock 100 is exemplified as the y direction (second direction), and the height direction of the door lock 100 is exemplified as the z direction (third direction).

Fig. 1 and 2 are bottom and top views of a door lock 100 of the present disclosure, wherein some components including a lower housing are removed in fig. 1 for better illustration of the internal construction of the door lock 100. As shown in fig. 2, the door lock 100 is provided with a hook hole 101A on an upper case 103 thereof, the hook hole 101A allowing a hook 101 (not shown in fig. 2) to be inserted into and removed from the upper case 103. Also, as best seen in FIG. 1, the door lock 100 has a pivotable cam 102 mounted in its upper housing 103. The door hook 101 inserted into the door lock 100 through the hook hole 101A is engaged with the cam 102, and when the door is closed, the door hook 101 is inserted into the upper case 103 of the door lock 100 to engage the cam 102, pushing the cam 102 to pivot to its closed door position; when the door is opened, the door hook 101 is pulled out of the upper case 103 and pulls the cam 102 to pivot away from its closed door position to the switch position. The cam structure can work normally only by the simplest annular door hook, and can complete the door opening and closing actions only by simple pushing/pulling actions.

As shown in fig. 1, cam 102 may be fixedly mounted within upper housing 103 and pivot about a pin, for example. Here, an elastic member 102 designed as a return spring is mounted to act on the cam 102, the elastic member 102 generating a force that drives or hinders the cam 102 from pivoting. The resilient member may be a return spring as shown in fig. 1, but may be another resilient member. The elastic component acts on the cam 102, so that the cam can rapidly rotate after crossing an inflection point under the action of external force (door closing acting force) to generate auxiliary door-pulling force; accordingly, when the door is opened, the component can generate certain resistance to prevent the washing machine door from being opened accidentally.

As shown in fig. 4, the door lock 100 further includes a switch box 105. The switch box 105 is mounted on the left side of the upper case 103. The function of the switch box 105 is mainly to control the movement of the latch 108 to lock or release the main slider 202, and then to switch on or off the switch member 107, here shown as a striking plate, at the same time as locking or releasing the cam 102, and thus to switch on or off the power supply of the electrical appliance or the main circuit power supply. The locking pin 108 according to the invention can be seen in conjunction with fig. 7A and 7B, wherein the locking pin 108 carries at one end a drive surface 108A which cooperates with a main slide 202 mentioned below and is provided at its other end with a guide projection 108B for the guided displacement of the locking pin 108 under the influence of the electromagnetic drive of the switch box, wherein the guide projection 108B can be a shoulder projecting outward from the body of the locking pin 108.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 3A and 3B, here, the switch member 107 is configured as a spring piece extending in the Y direction in fig. 4, the middle portion of which is connected within the switch case 105 and the other end of which is electrically connected with the main circuit power supply of the electric appliance via three connection terminals 106 provided within the electric port 104 within the upper case 103. Here, as shown in fig. 3A, the tip of the spring piece has a movable contact 107A. The switch box 105 is provided with a stationary contact 107B below the movable contact 107A on the spring. By controlling the contact and separation of the movable contact 107A and the stationary contact 107B, the switching piece 107 can be controlled to be turned on and off, thereby controlling the on and off of the operating circuit. Here, the position of the stationary contact 107B is fixed, and the movable contact 107A can move relative to the stationary contact 107B by the action of the lock pin 108. Here, the lower end surface of the latch 108 acts on a portion between the middle and the tip of the spring piece 107, so that when the latch 108 acts downward in the vertical direction, the latch 108 can urge the spring piece 107 and enable the movable contact 107A at the tip thereof to move downward to be separated from the stationary contact 107B, thereby opening the switch member 107 (see fig. 6A), which causes the power supply or the main circuit power supply of the electric appliance to be disconnected. When the spring plate is not subjected to an external force, the spring plate 107 is restored to an initial position by an elastic force, in which the movable contact 107A is brought into contact with the stationary contact 107B, and the switch member 107 is turned on (see fig. 3A), which causes the power supply or the main circuit power supply of the electric appliance to be turned on.

As shown in fig. 1, a main slider 202 movable between a latching position and a releasing position is further installed in the upper case 103, wherein the main slider 202 is designed to be held at the latching position when the door hook 101 is inserted into the door hook hole 101 and to move the releasing position when the cam is rotated to the door opening position. As shown in fig. 8, the main slider 202 is preferably a single, substantially elongated piece made in one piece of thermoplastic material, comprising a main slider inclined surface 202B at the front, abutting against the cam, and a positioning post 202C at the rear, adapted to engage a first elastic element 205 which biases it towards the release position. The main slide inclined surface 202B may be designed as an inclined surface of revolution (e.g. a conical surface) or as an inclined plane surface, and the cam 102 is also a surface of revolution at the corresponding position, so that when the cam 102 is rotated to the door opening position so that the main slide inclined surface 202A is no longer in abutment with the cam, the main slide 202 can be pressed against the cam 102 by the first elastic member 205, and the first elastic member 205 is preferably designed as a compression spring.

Further, the main slider 202 is provided at one side thereof with a locking surface 202D for engagement with a stopper described in detail later and provided at the top surface with a slope 202A for engagement with the striker 108. Here, it is preferable that when the main slider 202 is molded by a mold, a recess 202E recessed inward is provided on the top surface thereof, and this recess 202E allows the lock pin 108 to move vertically inward when the drive surface 108 of the lock pin 108 is disengaged from the inclined surface 202 of the main slider as mentioned below, which allows the lock pin 108 to be reset by the spring piece and thus the movable contact 107A and the stationary contact 107B to be engaged. The depth and length of the recess 202E can be designed appropriately according to the travel of the lock pin 108, and the slope projects outward from the recess 202E.

Fig. 9A and 9B show a stop 203 according to the invention, wherein the stop is designed as a rocker which can be pivoted about a pivot 203A arranged in the upper housing 103, wherein a free end 203B of the rocker is designed as a hook which can be brought into engagement with a locking surface 202D of the main slide 202. Further, in fig. 10A and 10B, a locking slide 201 according to the invention is shown which is displaceable between an operating position and a rest position in response to the removal of the door hook 101, which is also preferably a substantially elongated single piece made in one piece from a thermoplastic material. In particular, comprising a top abutment surface 201A at the front, which can abut against the door hook 101, and a positioning post 201B at the rear, which is adapted to engage a second elastic member 204, preferably a compression spring, which biases it towards the operating position, wherein said locking slider is provided, on the side adjacent to the stop, with a projection 201C which engages with the above-mentioned stop 203, thereby retaining the stop 203 in the stop position when the locking slider 201 is in its operating position.

The mounting relationship of the above components within the door lock 100 is shown in fig. 1, with the main slider 202 and the lock slider 201 sandwiched side-by-side between the switch box 105 (visible in fig. 4) and the upper housing 103 and the stop 203 sandwiched between the main slider 202 and the lock slider 201. Fig. 1 and 3B show a closed door state of the electrical appliance, when the door hook 101 has been inserted into the door hook hole 101A and when the abutment surface 201A of the front portion of the locking slider 201 has been in abutting engagement with the door hook 101, which enables the locking slider 201 to be held in the working position against the force of the second resilient member 204 of the rear portion thereof, when the locking slider 201 holds the stopper 203 in the stopping position by means of the projection 201C thereof, and the stopper 203 in the stopping position engages with the locking surface 202D of the main slider 202 by means of the free end 203B to stop the main slider 202. At this time, as shown in fig. 3A and 3B, the main slider 202 receives the lock pin 108 by means of the recess 202E of the top surface thereof, which makes the switching piece 107 in the on state, and the electric appliance can be normally operated at this time.

However, when the electrical equipment is operating, if an external force is applied to forcibly pull the door, even the cam 202 of the door lock 100 is damaged to open the door of the electrical equipment, in order to ensure safety, the operation of the electrical equipment needs to be stopped immediately, so that the latch 108 is needed to immediately disconnect the operating circuit of the electrical equipment. The situation shown in fig. 5 and 6A and 6B will explain the operating principle of breaking the operating circuit by means of the stop 203.

As shown in fig. 5, when the door hook 101 is damaged and the cam 202 is forcibly pulled out, the locking slider 201 cannot be abutted on the door hook 101, and is moved to the stop position thereof by the elastic force of the second elastic member 204, so that the projection 201C of the locking slider 201 is no longer abutted on the stopper 203 and is kept at the stop position. The stop 203, which is out of support of the lock slide 201, will rotate clockwise about its pivot axis 203A to an unlocked position, which releases the engagement between the free end 203B and the locking surface 202D of the main slide 202. Meanwhile, since the door hook 101 has been pulled out from the cam 102, the cam 102 is rotationally restored by the return spring 102A, that is, the abutment between the inclined surface 202A of the main slider 202 and the cam 102 is released. At this time, the main slider 202 will be moved from its stop position to the right side of fig. 5 to the release position by the reset force of the first elastic member 205, and under the action of this, the inclined surface 108A of the latch 108 will slide out of the recess 202E of the main slider 202 and abut against the inclined surface 202A on the top surface of the main slider 202, which causes the latch 108 to be displaced toward the switch member 107, with the result that the movable contact 107A and the stationary contact 107B are disconnected, thereby disconnecting the power supply of the electrical apparatus or the main circuit power supply.

As can be seen from the above, according to the present invention, by providing the locking slider 201 and the stopper 203 that are linked to the door hook 101, when the door of the electrical equipment is opened abnormally (for example, when the door is forcibly opened by an external force), the operating circuit of the electrical equipment can be cut off in time, and the operation of the device can be stopped. On the one hand, this design not only allows a more sensitive switching off of the switching device, but also provides greater reliability, even if other parts inside the door lock are damaged, and it is still possible to ensure a timely stopping of the machine. On the other hand, the design fully considers the internal structure of the existing door lock, and the existing door lock can be allowed to have the power-off protection function of the strong sliding door under the condition of only needing simple and low-cost modification design on the existing door lock, so that the development period of the product is greatly shortened, and the corresponding manufacturing and modification cost can be remarkably reduced.

It is to be understood that while the specification has been described in terms of various embodiments, it is not intended that each embodiment comprises a separate embodiment, and such descriptions are provided for clarity only and should be taken as a whole by those skilled in the art, and that the embodiments may be combined to form other embodiments as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The above description is only an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Equivalent alterations, modifications and combinations will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and principles of the invention.

Claims (10)

1. A door lock (100) of an electrical appliance engageable to a door hook (101) of the electrical appliance to lock a door of the electrical appliance, characterized by comprising:

a housing (103) fixedly mounted to the electrical appliance, wherein the housing has a door hook hole (101A) into which the door hook is inserted;

a cam (102) pivotally mounted within the housing, wherein the cam is pivotable between a closed door position and an open door position by a door hook;

a main slider (202) movable between a latching position and a releasing position, wherein the main slider is held at the latching position when the door hook (101) is inserted into the door hook hole and is moved to the releasing position when the cam (102) is rotated to the door opening position;

a switch member (107) electrically connected to the electric appliance;

a lock pin (108) displaceable toward the switch member (107) in response to movement of the main slider (202) from a stuck position to a released position, thereby opening the switch member;

wherein the door hook further comprises a stopper (203) which can pivot between a stopping position and a stopping position, wherein the stopper (203) blocks the main slider in the stopping position and is pivoted to the stopping position in response to the door hook moving out of the door hook hole so as to release the blocking of the main slider.

2. A door lock according to claim 1, characterized in that the switching piece comprises a movable contact (107A) and a stationary contact (107B) which are engageable with each other, wherein the top of the latch (108) is able to act on the movable contact, breaking the movable contact and the stationary contact when the latch (108) is displaced towards the switching piece, thereby opening the switching piece.

3. A door lock according to claim 1, further comprising a lock slide (201) displaceable between an active position and a deactivated position in response to the removal of the door hook, wherein the lock slide in the active position holds the stop in the stopped position and in the deactivated position allows free pivoting of said stop.

4. A door lock according to claim 3, characterized in that it further comprises a switch box (105), wherein said switch member is located inside said switch box and said main slider (202) and said locking slider (201) are interposed side by side between said switch box (105) and said casing (103) and said stop is interposed between said main slider and said locking slider.

5. A door lock according to claim 4, characterized in that the main slider (202) comprises a main slider inclined surface (202B) at the front, abutting against the cam, and a positioning post (202C) at the rear, adapted to engage to a first resilient member biasing the main slider towards the release position, wherein the main slider is provided with a locking surface (202D) at the side adjacent to the stop for engagement by the stop and on the top surface with an inclined surface (202A) for engagement with the latch.

6. A door latch according to claim 5, characterized in that the top surface of the main slider has an inwardly concave depression, wherein the ramp (202A) projects outwardly from said depression.

7. A door lock according to claim 5, characterized in that the locking pin (108) is arranged perpendicularly in relation to the main slider and has at one end a driving surface (108A) cooperating with the inclined surface of the main slider, wherein the locking pin is provided at its other end with a guiding protrusion (108B) for the guided displacement of the locking pin.

8. A door lock according to claim 6, characterized in that the stop (203) is configured as a rocker pivotable about a pivot axis provided on the housing, wherein a free end of the rocker is form-fitted with the locking surface of the main slider.

9. A door lock according to claim 8, characterized in that the locking slider (201) comprises a abutment surface (201A) at the front, which abuts against the door hook, and a positioning post (201B) at the rear, which is adapted to engage a second resilient member biasing the locking slider towards the rest position, wherein the locking slider is provided with a projection (201C) at a side adjacent to the stop, which projection engages the stop.

10. A door lock according to claim 9, characterized in that the first spring element (204) and/or the second spring element (205) are configured as compression springs.

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