CN114457557A

CN114457557A - Washing machine and ventilation module thereof

Info

Publication number: CN114457557A
Application number: CN202210119177.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王瑞; 曾耀华; 张发全; 袁龙翔
Original assignee: Qingdao Haier Washing Machine Co Ltd; Haier Smart Home Co Ltd
Current assignee: Qingdao Haier Washing Machine Co Ltd; Haier Smart Home Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-02-08
Filing date: 2022-02-08
Publication date: 2022-05-10

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of clothes treatment, and particularly provides a washing machine and a ventilation module thereof, wherein the washing machine comprises a clothes treatment barrel, and the ventilation module comprises: 1) a ventilation unit, comprising: a ventilation base body formed with a ventilation chamber; the ventilation chamber is provided with an air inlet which can be communicated with the external environment and an air outlet which can be communicated with the barrel inner space of the clothes treatment barrel, and air of the external environment can be distributed to the barrel inner space through the air outlet after entering the ventilation chamber through the air inlet; the air inlet is provided with a cover body, and at least one part of the cover body is movably arranged at the position of the ventilation base body corresponding to the air inlet; 2) a heating unit including a heating part capable of emitting heat to air emitted to the space inside the tub. With this configuration, the air containing heat can be discharged to the laundry in the space inside the tub.

Description

Washing machine and ventilation module thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of clothes treatment, and particularly provides a washing machine and a ventilation module thereof.

Background

A washing machine, which is a home appliance that has been sufficiently popularized, is mainly used to intensively clean laundry. For example, different clothes with different properties such as different materials can be washed by different washing programs. The washing machines on the market mainly comprise a pulsator washing machine and a drum washing machine, wherein the washing principle of the pulsator washing machine is to realize the cleaning of clothes to be washed by simulating a rubbing manual washing mode. The washing principle of the drum washing machine is to clean the laundry by a manual washing mode simulating a bangle/tumble.

The washing machine has a door body on the casing, and the washed clothes can be taken away in time and dried by opening the door body. There are however situations where: the user forgets to take the laundry away. The clothes after cleaning still contain moisture and are in a state that a plurality of clothes are piled up and twisted. In addition, the inner tub/drum is in a relatively closed environment, so that if the laundry is left in the inner tub/drum for too long (such as overnight or even days), odor may be emitted from the space of the inner tub/drum containing the laundry when the laundry is taken out, and even the laundry may get moldy.

As an improvement, the chinese patent application (CN110130053A) discloses a vent structure, a washing machine and a control method, and specifically discloses the following: the ventilation opening structure comprises a ventilation opening and a rotating body, and the ventilation opening is arranged on the device to be ventilated and is communicated with a cavity in the device to be ventilated; the rotor rotates and sets up in vent department, is provided with the first connecting hole that runs through on the rotor along radial, and first connecting hole can selectively communicate with the vent. The ventilation opening structure can shield the ventilation opening or enable the connecting hole on the rotating body to be communicated with the ventilation opening through the rotation of the rotating body, so that the ventilation opening can be selectively opened or closed, when the washing machine is in a washing state, the rotating body shields the ventilation opening, heat or washing water is prevented from being sprayed out of the ventilation opening, the heat loss is prevented, and a user is prevented from being burnt; after the washing machine finishes washing, the rotating body rotates to enable the connecting hole to be communicated with the ventilation opening, so that the inside and the outside of the washing machine are communicated, moisture is discharged from the ventilation opening, and the washing machine or clothes in the washing machine are prevented from going moldy and having peculiar smell.

It can be seen that in this document, the problem of mold, odor and the like of the clothes during the remaining period in the inner tub/drum space is ensured by ventilating the inner tub/drum space, however, the effect of only ventilating the clothes is limited, and if the clothes are not properly dried, the problem may be caused because the clothes are already scientifically cleaned in the clothes cleaning process: even if the clothes do not have the phenomena of mildewing, peculiar smell and the like, the clothes also need to be cleaned for the second time.

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

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem

The present invention has been made to solve at least some of the above problems, or at least some of the problems.

Technical scheme

In view of this, a first aspect of the present invention provides a ventilation module of a washing machine including a laundry treating tub, the ventilation module including: 1) a ventilation unit, comprising: a ventilation base body formed with a ventilation chamber; the ventilation chamber is provided with an air inlet which can be communicated with the external environment and an air outlet which can be communicated with the barrel inner space of the clothes treatment barrel, and air of the external environment can be distributed to the barrel inner space through the air outlet after entering the ventilation chamber through the air inlet; the air inlet is provided with a cover body, and at least one part of the cover body is movably arranged at the position of the ventilation base body corresponding to the air inlet; 2) a heating unit including a heating part capable of emitting heat to the air emitted to the space in the tub.

With this configuration, the air containing heat can be discharged to the laundry in the space inside the tub. The air with the raised temperature is better able to dry the washed laundry, which is not removed from the space in the tub, than the normal air.

It is understood that the specific structure, number and arrangement position of the heating components relative to the heating unit can be determined by those skilled in the art according to actual conditions. Such as may be: the air inlet is arranged at the upstream side of the air inlet, namely the air is preheated before flowing into the ventilation chamber; the air outlet is arranged at the downstream side of the air outlet, namely, the air is subjected to heat supply after flowing out of the ventilation chamber; the air inlet is arranged on the air inlet side; and so on.

For example, the heating member may be disposed in the ventilation chamber or independently disposed outside the ventilation unit.

With regard to the above-mentioned ventilation module of a washing machine, in a possible embodiment, the heating unit comprises a heating base body formed with a heating chamber, the heating member being arranged in the heating chamber.

With this construction, a specific design of the heating unit is given.

It is understood that one skilled in the art can determine the manner in which the heating element is disposed in the heating channel according to actual situations, such as by directly or indirectly disposing the heating element in the channel to deliver heat to the heating channel.

It can be understood that, those skilled in the art can determine the structural form, the number and the movable portion of the cover body relative to the air outlet and the specific manner of realizing the movement according to the actual situation. For example, the cover body is formed by combining a plurality of sub cover bodies, wherein a part of the sub cover bodies can be movably arranged. Such as in a telescoping manner.

With the above-described laundry machine ventilation module, in a possible embodiment, the heating chamber can communicate with the ventilation chamber.

By means of this construction, a specific design of the ventilation module is given.

It will be appreciated that the skilled person can determine the specific communication between the heating chamber and the ventilation chamber according to the actual situation, such as: the heating chamber is a channel (denoted as channel 1) which is separately constructed, and the ventilation chamber comprises two channels (denoted as channel 21 and channel 22 respectively), wherein the channel 1 is communicated with the air inlet, and the channel 2 is communicated with the air outlet. Thus, the heated air from the external environment is delivered to the barrel space through the inlet → the passage 21 → the passage 1 → the passage 22 → the outlet. The passage 21 and the passage 22 may or may not be connected.

Still taking the case where the air is discharged into the internal space of the tub through the air inlet → the passage 21 → the passage 1 → the passage 22 → the air outlet, for example, a heating member may be provided only for the passage 1, or heating members may be provided for the passage 21 and the passage 22.

With regard to the above-mentioned laundry machine ventilation module, in a possible embodiment, at least a portion of the heating chamber is located within the ventilation chamber.

By such a construction, a specific construction of the heating chamber and the ventilation chamber is given.

In a possible embodiment of the above-mentioned ventilation module of a washing machine, the ventilation base body and the heating base body are fixedly connected or integrally formed, and the ventilation chamber and at least a part of the heating chamber are shared.

In a possible embodiment, the cover is rotatably disposed on the ventilation base corresponding to the air inlet.

With this configuration, a specific movable manner of the cover is given.

With regard to the above-mentioned ventilation module of a washing machine, in a possible embodiment, the ventilation unit comprises a drive mechanism connected with the ventilation base to drive the cover to rotate.

With this construction, a specific way of achieving the rotation of the cover is given.

For the above washing machine ventilation module, in a possible implementation manner, the cover body includes a cover body base body and a connection end extending from the cover body base body to a side close to the ventilation cavity, the connection end is provided with a connection shaft, and a power output end of the driving mechanism is connected with the connection shaft.

With this configuration, a specific configuration of the lid body is given.

As for the ventilation module of the washing machine, in a possible implementation manner, the washing machine comprises a plug-in end, and the heating component is arranged at the plug-in end in a plug-in manner; and/or the ventilation module is provided with a clapboard at a position corresponding to the air outlet, and the air outlet is divided into a plurality of air outlet areas by the clapboard.

Through the structure, a specific arrangement mode of the heating part and the air outlet is provided.

It is understood that the setting position of the plug end can be determined by those skilled in the art according to actual requirements, such as any reasonable position of the washing machine except the heating base body, the ventilating base body or both. And the technical personnel in the field can determine the number of the partition plates, the air outlet area of the separated air outlet area, the air outlet direction and other attributes according to the actual situation.

A second aspect of the invention provides a washing machine comprising a ventilation module of a washing machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.

It can be understood that the washing machine has all the technical effects of the ventilation module of the washing machine described in any one of the foregoing, and the description thereof is omitted.

Drawings

The ventilation module of the washing machine of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, taking as an example a chamber in which the ventilation chamber and the heating chamber are common. In the drawings:

fig. 1 illustrates a first structural view of a ventilation module of a washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 illustrates a second structural schematic view of a ventilation module of a washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exploded view of a ventilation module of a washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

fig. 4 illustrates a schematic structural view of an assembly including a cover and a driving mechanism in a ventilation module of a washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

List of reference numerals:

100. a ventilation module; 11. a ventilated substrate (heated substrate); 111. a ventilation chamber (heating chamber); 112. a body portion; 1121. a screw hole; 1122. buckling; 113. a rear cover; 12. an air inlet; 13. a cover body; 131. a cover body base; 132. a connecting end; 133. a connecting shaft; 14. a drive mechanism; 141. a housing; 15. an air outlet; 151. a partition plate; 152. an air outlet area; 2. a heating member; 21. and (4) a plug.

Detailed Description

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that these embodiments are only for explaining the technical principle of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Although the embodiment is described with reference to the ventilation module in which the ventilation chamber and the heating chamber are a common chamber, those skilled in the art may modify the embodiment according to the actual situation, for example, the ventilation chamber and the heating chamber are two independent and communicable chambers respectively configured by the ventilation substrate and the heating substrate.

It should be noted that in the description of the present invention, the terms of direction or positional relationship indicated by the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc. are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the drawings, which are merely for convenience of description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. The singular forms "a", "an" and "the" may include the plural forms as well.

Furthermore, it should be noted that, in the description of the present invention, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

Furthermore, while numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a better understanding of the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In some instances, the detailed structure of the washing machine and its operation principle, which are well known to those skilled in the art, are not described in detail in order to make the gist of the present invention obvious.

The washing machine includes a laundry treating tub, and after washing laundry is completed, there may be a case where: the user forgets to take the laundry in the wet state after the washing is completed. In view of this, a ventilation function, such as an 8-hour self-ventilation function, may be added to the washing machine, so that the washed laundry stored in the space inside the tub can be automatically dried in case the laundry is not taken out in time after the washing is completed. In one embodiment, a 7.44W, 2.01m/min axial flow fan is provided on the washing machine, and is activated to draw ambient air into the tub interior to dry the washed laundry after detecting that the washed laundry has been stored in the tub interior for a time period exceeding a predetermined time period. Specifically, the negative pressure formed in the tub inner space by the axial flow fan sucks air of the external environment into the tub inner space, thereby drying the laundry having been washed. However, considering the blowing capacity of the blower and the accumulation and twisting state of the laundry in the space of the tub, it is still possible that the drying effect of the laundry is limited by only the ventilation, as described in the background art, and since the laundry has been cleaned scientifically in the cleaning process of the laundry, if the laundry is not dried properly, such a problem may be caused: even if the clothes do not have the phenomena of mildewing, peculiar smell and the like, the clothes also need to be cleaned for the second time. Therefore, the present invention has been made, and in particular, the laundry is dried by configuring the ventilation module of the present invention in a washing machine.

Referring to fig. 1 to 4, fig. 1 illustrates a first structural view of a ventilation module of a washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, fig. 2 illustrates a second structural view of the ventilation module of the washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, fig. 3 illustrates an explosion view of the ventilation module of the washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 4 illustrates a structural view of an assembly including a cover and a driving mechanism in the ventilation module of the washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1 to 4, the ventilation module 100 mainly includes a ventilation unit and a heating unit, wherein:

1) the ventilation unit includes a ventilation base 11 formed with a ventilation chamber 111 having an air inlet 12 capable of communicating with an external environment and an air outlet 15 capable of communicating with the space in the tub of the laundry treating tub, so that air of the external environment can be distributed to the space in the tub through the air outlet after entering the ventilation chamber through the air inlet, thereby drying the space in the tub where laundry, which has been washed but not taken away, is located.

In one embodiment, the ventilation base 11 includes a main body 112 and a rear cover 113, which are fastened to form the ventilation chamber 111, and the upper portion of the main body is provided with a mounting structure including a screw hole 1121 and a fastener 1122, such as a screw and a fastener for mounting the ventilation module to the top inner wall of the washing machine. It is obvious that this is only an exemplary description and a person skilled in the art can flexibly adjust the structure of the ventilation base, the specific way in which the ventilation module is fixed to the washing machine, etc. according to the actual situation.

2) The heating unit includes a heating base formed with a heating chamber provided with a heating part 2 such that the air introduced into the space of the tub through the ventilation unit is heated by the heating part, thereby better drying the space of the tub where the laundry, which has been washed but not taken away, is located. In this embodiment, the heating substrate and the ventilation substrate are of a common structure, and accordingly, the ventilation chamber and the heating chamber are of a common chamber.

In one possible embodiment, the heating element is a straight tube structure with a body extending completely into the ventilation chamber, one end of which is fixed to the wall of the ventilation base and has a plug 21. Thus, the heating element can be electrically connected by inserting the plug into an insertion end (such as a socket) disposed on the washing machine. On this basis, only need to make the heating element circular telegram alright heat the air in the ventilation chamber. It is obvious that this is only an exemplary description, and those skilled in the art can flexibly adjust the structural form of the heating component and the specific arrangement thereof according to actual situations. Such as a helical heating tube disposed on the inner wall of the heating chamber.

In a possible embodiment, the cover 13 is disposed at the air inlet of the ventilation module, and the cover is movably disposed at a position of the ventilation base corresponding to the air inlet, so that the cover is in a state of blocking the air inlet during a normal operation of the washing machine or when there is no ventilation requirement in the laundry treatment tub, and thus, the washing water can be prevented from overflowing to the outside during the normal operation of the washing machine. When the ventilation is required in the clothes treatment barrel, the cover body is in a state of opening the air inlet, and the specific opening degree and other states can be adjusted according to actual requirements, so that the effective ventilation of the clothes in the barrel is realized.

In one possible embodiment, the cover is rotatably arranged on the ventilation base body at a position corresponding to the air inlet. If the cover is provided with a driving mechanism 14, if the driving mechanism is a motor, the cover can be driven to rotate by the motor.

Illustratively, the cover 13 mainly includes a cover base 131 and two connecting ends 132 extending from the cover base to a side (right side in fig. 4) near the ventilation cavity, each connecting end is provided with a connecting shaft 133 arranged along the length direction of the cover, one of the connecting shafts is freely accommodated in a mounting hole (not shown) on a side plate of the ventilation base, and the other connecting shaft is connected with a power output end of the motor. The ventilation module is provided with a housing 141 for the motor, which housing is arranged outside the motor after the motor has been mounted on the ventilation base body, which housing can be connected to the ventilation base body by means of a snap connection or the like as shown in the figures.

Based on the structure, the cover body can perform the following activities by controlling the operation parameters of the motor: if the cover body is turned over by 90 degrees from front to bottom during the normal operation of the washing program of the washing machine so as to seal the air inlet, the phenomena of splashing of washing water and the like during the normal operation of the washing program of the washing machine can be effectively avoided, and the service performance of the washing machine during the normal washing is ensured. During the non-use state of the washing machine, if no clothes are stored in the clothes treatment barrel, namely, the user takes the clothes in time for airing treatment, the blocking state of the cover body can be maintained. If the clothes which are not taken away are detected in the clothes processing barrel, the adjustment that the air outlet is opened and the heating part is started to give heat to the air in the ventilation cavity can be carried out through the motor according to the actual condition of the clothes. The cover is typically turned over 90 ° from front to top to fully open the air inlet while the heating element is operating.

It can be understood that, a person skilled in the art may determine the opening degree and the opening manner of the air inlet according to actual conditions, and may determine the start-stop state and the operation parameters of the heating component in the start state according to actual requirements. Such as may be: and at intervals, the cover plate is continuously and fully opened once and continuously for a set time. The heating member is activated once every interval for a state where the cover is opened a plurality of times. Exemplarily, the following steps are carried out: the cover plate is fully opened every 30min for 5min, and if the heating component is not started when the cover plate is fully opened for the first time, the heating component is started for the second time.

In one possible embodiment, the ventilation module is provided with two partitions 151 along the air outlet direction at positions corresponding to the air outlets 15, so that the air outlets are divided into three air outlet areas 152 by the two partitions.

In this example, the two baffles separate the outlet into three outlet areas having substantially the same area. And because the baffle sets up along the air-out direction roughly, consequently there is not obvious difference in the air-out direction of air-out region and the air-out direction of an independent air outlet before not dividing. Obviously, the skilled in the art can adjust the number, the structural form, the arrangement orientation, etc. of the partition boards according to the actual situation, for example, it may be: the partition board is a board which is obliquely arranged, so that the air outlet direction of the corresponding air outlet area can be adjusted; the two surfaces of the partition board are both inclined planes (the thicknesses of the two surfaces in the air outlet direction are different), so that the air outlet directions of the two air outlet areas related to the two surfaces can be adjusted in opposite directions; and the like.

Still use aforementioned air outlet to include a plurality of air-out regions as an example, in order to set up the air-out parameter in each air-out region better, can be for the regional configuration of one or more air-out wherein with the mobilizable block structure that aforementioned lid is similar, so, alright adjust through the open and close state to the block structure in corresponding air-out region to carry out more detailed adjustment to the air output, the air-out direction etc. in corresponding air-out region.

As based on such a setting, such a demand can be coped with: according to the quantity and the state of the clothes in the space in the barrel, one or more air outlet regions are selected to be in a communicated state. On this basis, under the condition that corresponding air-out region is in the connected state, need constantly to change the air-out direction. At this time, the plugging structure of the air outlet region which does not need to be air-out is firstly moved to a state that the corresponding air outlet region is closed. Then the plugging structure of the air outlet area needing air outlet moves to the state that the corresponding air outlet area is opened, and on the basis, the plugging structure moves according to a set mode, so that the requirement of changing the air outlet direction is met. Based on this, alright optimize the performance of ventilation module in the air-out link.

It can be seen that, in the ventilation module of the washing machine according to the present invention, in case that the laundry is not removed from the space in the tub in time after the washing of the laundry is completed, the ventilation unit and the heating unit cooperate to seek to release the air containing heat to the laundry in the space in the tub. The temperature of the air delivered to the space in the tub is increased by adding heat to the air compared to ordinary air. Based on this, it is expected that the washed laundry remaining in the space inside the tub is better dried.

So far, the technical solutions of the present invention have been described in connection with the preferred embodiments shown in the drawings, but it is easily understood by those skilled in the art that the scope of the present invention is obviously not limited to these specific embodiments. Equivalent changes or substitutions of related technical features can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the principle of the invention, and the technical scheme after the changes or substitutions can fall into the protection scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A ventilation module of a washing machine, characterized in that it comprises a laundry treatment tub, comprising:

1) a ventilation unit, comprising:

a ventilation base body formed with a ventilation chamber;

the ventilation chamber is provided with an air inlet which can be communicated with the external environment and an air outlet which can be communicated with the barrel inner space of the clothes treatment barrel, and air of the external environment can be distributed to the barrel inner space through the air outlet after entering the ventilation chamber through the air inlet;

the air inlet is provided with a cover body, and at least one part of the cover body is movably arranged at the position of the ventilation base body corresponding to the air inlet;

2) a heating unit including a heating part capable of emitting heat to the air emitted to the space in the tub.

2. The ventilation module of a washing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heating unit includes a heating base formed with a heating chamber, the heating member being disposed at the heating chamber.

3. A ventilation module for a washing machine as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the heating chamber is communicable with the ventilation chamber.

4. A ventilation module for a washing machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least a portion of the heating chamber is within the ventilation chamber.

5. A ventilation module for a washing machine as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the ventilation base and the heating base are fixedly connected or integrally formed, at least a portion of the ventilation chamber and the heating chamber being common.

6. The ventilation module of a washing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cover is rotatably provided at a position of the ventilation base corresponding to the air inlet.

7. The ventilation module of a washing machine as claimed in claim 6, wherein the ventilation unit includes a driving mechanism connected with the ventilation base to drive the cover to rotate.

8. The ventilation module of a washing machine as claimed in claim 7, wherein the cover body comprises a cover body base and a connection end extending from the cover body base to a side close to the ventilation chamber, the connection end is provided with a connection shaft, and a power output end of the driving mechanism is connected with the connection shaft.

9. The ventilation module of a washing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the washing machine includes a plugging end, the heating member being disposed at the plugging end in a plugging manner; and/or

The ventilation module is provided with a baffle plate at a position corresponding to the air outlet, and the air outlet is divided into a plurality of air outlet areas by the baffle plate.

10. Washing machine, characterized in that it comprises a ventilation module of a washing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 9.