EP1838201A1

EP1838201A1 - Integrated operation display device

Info

Publication number: EP1838201A1
Application number: EP05808059A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Wofgang Kaczmarek; Gerd Wilsdorf
Original assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeraete GmbH
Current assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Priority date: 2004-12-27
Filing date: 2005-10-21
Publication date: 2007-10-03
Anticipated expiration: 2025-10-21
Also published as: EP1838201B1; ES2425752T3; CN2933278Y; US8810423B2; PL1838201T3; DE102004062752A1; US20080106429A1; WO2006069832A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a household appliance, in particular to a dishwasher comprising a door (1), a control unit (6) for controlling the household appliance and a operation display device (9) for displaying at least one operation state of said household appliance. For this purpose, said operation display device (9) is provided with a large surface and displays the following operation states: operation , end of program and stop , respectively, on the entire surface thereof.

Description

Integrated operating display element

The invention relates to a household appliance, in particular a dishwasher, with a door, with an operating unit for controlling the household appliance and with a power indicator for reproducing at least one operating state of the household appliance.

From DE 197 24 479 A1 a program run display on a household appliance is known in which individual program steps are shown on a device arranged on the program template and is marked by an initiated by the flow control of the device light signal of each running program step. In this display, a variety of display options is sought and achieved in that the flow display contains a light emitting by corresponding driving light of different colors light source, which is arranged behind a translucent panel on which the program template is applied. In this case, the individual program steps of the program template are colored in accordance with the light color emitted by the light source emitted by the respective program steps in the device.

If the user wants to know only if he can empty the device, ie whether it has already completed its work program or is still working, he must determine this from the often extensive displays according to the prior art, which only on closer inspection or with more precise knowledge the meaning of the ads is possible. From DE 100 22 206 C2 is also a dishwasher, in particular a built-in dishwasher with a hinged door, known, having on its upper face an optical power indicator with one or more light sources. The light sources are covered with the appliance door closed by a resting on top of the dishwasher worktop, wherein in the gap above the door and the bottom of the covered worktop a light guide is fixed in position, which directs the signal light of the overlaid optical operating indicator to the front of the device. The optical waveguide is connected to a fixed to the worktop base over the door fixed in place Wrasenschutzelement and in a material cutout of this element in a frame part form and / or non-positively held. The positionally correct positioning of the frame part for the light guide of the vapor protection element via a template, which is used as a template for the frame part, the vapor protection element. Thus, a dishwasher is described in which the entire surface of the door is free of controls and operating displays and only a handle element interrupts the flat appearance of the front of the device. In such a dishwasher, however, only a narrow gap between the upper end face of the appliance door and the worktop for the reproduction of information about the operating state of the dishwasher is available. In addition, it is generally endeavored to keep these and other columns as low as possible. The gap is also difficult to see because worktops are generally placed with a clear overhang over the furniture parts mounted beneath them.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a household appliance, in which the operating display is clearly visible and quickly reproduces a rough information about the operating state of the household appliance.

In a household appliance of the type mentioned in the introduction, this object is achieved in that the operating display has a large surface area and displays one of the "operating", "program end" and "off" operating states over the entire area Providing information quickly, allowing the operator to grasp the operating state of the appliance at a glance, even from a distance, instead of approaching the device as before and having to learn from a wealth of information, that the device is still working and therefore can not be discharged yet.

In order to be able to recognize the coarse information even from a greater distance, the operating display is designed over a large area. The term "large area" is to be understood as meaning an area which is significantly larger than the extent of individual symbols or luminous dots, for example for El N / AU S displays of known status displays, for example at least twice their size For example, it can extend over the entire width of the appliance door as a linear operating display a grip on the door or the occupy a program run indicator according to the above-cited prior art surface. In any case, it is greater than the usual form about fingernail-sized display or lighting surfaces of previous ads.

Many different principles can be used for a power indicator. In mechanical operation displays, for example, a movable pointer indicates the respective operating state on, for example, a straight-line or circular scale. In electronic displays, it is known to generate the pointer on a display or display the operating state on the display itself by literal playback or by appearance or backlighting of symbols, as shown in DE 203 16 158 U1. Simpler operating displays, as described for example in DE 100 22 206 C2, only give a rough information about the end of the working process of the household appliance by a light signal again. For the invention, it has been found to be advantageous that the operating display comprises a lamp element. Under a lighting element is to understand any device that is able to emit light using electricity. In the present case, the LED technology is particularly well suited for this purpose - also in conjunction with light pipes - because it only requires a small footprint, can be designed very inconspicuously at rest and yet is easily recognizable in the operating state because of its large amount of light in relation to its size. Lighting elements, in contrast to the other aforementioned principles generally have the advantage that they are perfectly recognizable both with sufficient illumination and even more so in poor lighting.

Even with a single luminaire element, it is possible to signal different operating states. According to the invention, a luminaire element indicates different operating states by different luminaire states, namely by continuous and flashing light, by different luminous intensities or by different flashing frequencies. For example, a lamp element in the idle state of the dishwasher can also be switched off and flash during the working process of the household appliance. The flashing light can at the same time assume a warning function, which indicates to the operator that the program sequence of the household appliance should not interfere, for example by opening the appliance door. Continuous light of the luminaire element finally can end the program - A -

and signal to the operator that the dishwasher can be unloaded.

According to an alternative embodiment of the invention, a lighting element may be provided which indicates different operating conditions by differently colored light. Once again, a switched-off luminaire element could indicate the device's idle state, a red light could indicate the work process of the device, and finally a green light could indicate the program's execution and the possibility of discharging the device. As light elements emitting different colored light, LEDs are suitable. Of course, it is also possible to combine several lighting elements, each of which emits only single-color light, but with different color features in a common operating display. Also suitable for this purpose are other technologies, for example those in which they radiate into a common light guide. This embodiment is not limited to only one LED as a lighting element, but may also include a plurality of LEDs having a plurality of different colors. Furthermore, operating states can also be indicated by a flashing of the luminous element in preferably different frequencies.

The operating display can in principle be arranged at any point on the front of the appliance door, which can be well viewed by an operator even from a greater distance. According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the power indicator is integrated in the handle element. An integration of the operating display in the handle element is understood to mean any arrangement which creates a connection between the operating display and the handle element and does not exceed those surfaces which the handle element anyway requires for mounting on the appliance door front. Gripping elements may, for example, have the form of bar handles, handles, handles or buttons. The invention thus turns away from a separate arrangement and construction of the power indicator and pursues the concept of exploiting any existing optical interruptions of the front of the device for a power indicator. It proposes to combine the functions of the operating display and the grip element in one component. Thus, on the one hand, it achieves that the operating display is arranged in a prominent position, which the operator can easily see at any time. On the other hand, the invention makes it possible that the viewing surface of the door is not broken by the arrangement of the power indicator. According to the invention, all those grip elements can be advantageously used, which offer the largest possible viewing area. As a handle element therefore advantageously serve a bow handle, a handle or a handle. In the operator facing viewing surfaces can be accommodated cheap operating displays invention. This is possible in principle in handle elements in the button shape, which must have a sufficiently large area so that the operating displays can be recognized as such.

The operating displays are to be integrated into the handle element in such a way that its appearance is not unnecessarily impaired. An advantageous embodiment of

The invention therefore provides that the lighting element functioning as an operating indicator is embedded in a recess in the grip element. Such, preferably linear depression is in elongated handle elements such as

Ironing handles or handles for design reasons in the form of grooves or beads anyway often available. This can therefore be preferably LEDs or

Accommodate light guides that interact with LEDs that are visually unobtrusive.

An alternative advantageous embodiment of the invention provides that the handle element made of a transparent material such. B. Plexiglas is formed, from which the lamp element is surrounded. The lighting element is thus poured into the handle element and thus illuminates the handle element from the inside completely or only partially. This creates on the one hand a large radiating surface for the luminaire element and on the other hand an interesting optical design.

According to a further alternative embodiment of the invention, the operation indicator is housed in a cup-shaped handle member. Such a grip element has an aperture approximately in the plane of the surface of the appliance door and an underlying recess behind. By engaging in the recess, the panel can be engaged behind, so that on her the door can be opened to open. Since the panel is generally engaged behind with four fingers, the recess of the grip extends approximately hand-width in the horizontal direction. The lighting element of the operating display can preferably be arranged in the panel or behind it. in the In the second case, the recess may be provided with a fillet so that it serves as a reflector for the light emitted by the luminaire element. Thus, a status indicator is created, which is visible only in operation and then only indirectly, which can be an advantage in terms of design.

An operating display according to the invention, in particular in the form of a lamp element, only gives rough information. Further information on the program status or program sequence is generally given in a display. Under a display in this sense, both a conventional program flow display e.g. in a conventional, linear or circular scale form or an LCD display or a screen display to understand. According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the operation indicator is designed as illumination of a display. This inventive arrangement uses the already existing surface of the display for the power indicator and thus reduces the space required on the front of the door for technical control devices.

For design reasons, it is desirable to equip in particular dishwashers with a door that has a surface adapted to the rest of the kitchen furniture. For this purpose, so-called fully integrated dishwashers have been manufactured and used recently, which have neither operating units nor operating displays on the front of the appliance door. They only have a handle for operating the appliance door and are thus hardly distinguishable from the fronts of the other kitchen furniture. The controls of the dishwasher are then housed in an end face of the door, which is visible and accessible to the operator only when you open the door.

Nevertheless, an indication of the operating state or the working progress of the dishwasher is also desirable here to notify the operator of the completion of the cleaning process. Because the faster he has access to the washed dishes. A display also prevents the operator from accidentally interrupting the dishwasher by opening the appliance door. This danger is even more so, as modern dishwashers are very quiet and their operating noise is additionally dampened by the fact that a furniture front is placed on the door. According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, a household appliance with concealed arranged operating unit on a built-in handle element operation indicator in one of the previously described embodiments. This allows an operating display to be integrated into the front of a door without the appliance door having to deviate from the rest of the kitchen furniture.

According to an alternative embodiment of the invention, an operating display is arranged in an upper end face of the appliance door. Even so, the above-described optical effect can be achieved, but without having to provide a special grip. The arrangement in the upper end face causes the gap is illuminated above the door and thus provides the desired information. This arrangement is therefore particularly recommended for built-in appliances in which the gap above the door is not largely covered by a worktop.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings in principle. Show it:

FIG. 1: an upper part of a door of a stationary dishwasher,

2 shows an upper part of a door of a built-in dishwasher,

3 shows a perspective view of an upper portion of a door of a fully integrated dishwasher and

Figure 4: a perspective view of an upper portion of an alternative

Appliance door of a fully integrated dishwasher.

1 shows a frontal view of a dishwashing machine dishwasher door 1. It is not substantially different in the area of interest here from that of a built-in dishwasher whose appliance door is shown in detail in FIGURE 2. Both figures are therefore described together below 1 has, above a front 2, the surface of which is designed in accordance with the fronts of the remaining kitchen furniture, an operating panel 3. Its surface is substantially divided into three sections, in the left-hand section a starter button 4 is arranged, which is turned on or off the dishwasher serves in its middle Section, the control panel 3, a handle member 5 for opening and closing the door 1 on. In its right section, an operating unit 6 is arranged in the control panel 3, which is divided into a display 7 and a series of switches 8. About the switch 8, the work program of the dishwasher can be preselected, which is then displayed in the display 7. The display 7 also provides information about which program section the dishwasher is currently in. This can be done either by numbers, by symbols or by graphs such as bar graphs. In order to obtain this information, however, the user must approach the dishwasher in order to correctly read the information reproduced there from the display.

For the information as to whether the machine is still running or whether it has completed its program, a light strip 9 is integrated as an operating display in the stylus element 5 for the purpose of reproduction. It is located above a recess 13, which serves as an intervention for the operator. With the help of the depression, the operator can engage behind an aperture 14, which coincides with the control panel 3 in FIG. 1 and is formed separately in FIG. The lighting strip 9 is arranged in the aperture 14 and thus centrally on the front of the appliance door 1 and so in any case associated with the associated dishwasher, so can not accidentally, for example. in unlit kitchen, be assigned to a device next to the dishwasher.

The light strip 9 can be controlled in three ways: Without power, so off, it indicates the idle state of the device; blinking (or in red light) it signals the operation of the dishwasher during which the user should not open the appliance door 1, and with steady light (or green light) it indicates the completion of the washing program on which the user opens the dishwasher and can empty. Of course, the signaling can also be reversed in terms of continuous and flashing light. Alternatively, the light band may result in two colors, so that it lights up in a different color instead of flashing when the dishwasher program is completed.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective partial view of a door 1 of a so-called fully integrated dishwasher. Because here the front 2 optically not by a Operating element is to be affected, an operating unit 11 is disposed on an upper end face 10 of the door 1. The end face 10 is covered with the door closed by a worktop or a kitchen furniture above it, whereby the control unit 6 is visible and accessible to the user only with the door open 1. The front 2 of the appliance door 1 carries only a stylus element 12, which is designed as a bow-shaped handle. In order to give the operator at least a rough information about the operating state of the dishwasher, a rod-shaped lamp is integrated as a power indicator 9 in the handle member 12. As in the previous embodiment of Figures 1 and 2, it indicates by continuous or flashing the operating condition of the dishwasher. Since it is integrated in the grip element 12, it does not require any additional surface on the front 2. It does not interrupt the uniform appearance of the door 1, which does not differ appreciably from the other kitchen furniture.

It also shows one of the comparable in Figure 3 perspective partial view of a door 1. In contrast to the door according to Figure 3, however, the operating indicator 9 instead of the handle member 12 in a front portion 15 of the upper end face 10 of Appliance door arranged. This has the advantage that no separately ausgestaltetes handle member 12 must be used for this embodiment, but a handle element can be used, as it comes with the other kitchen furniture used. The user now no longer has a direct view of the operating display 9, but receives the information about the operating state of the dishwasher in that the gap above the appliance door 1 is optionally lit on the entire width of the dishwasher. Therefore, this arrangement is preferred in built-in appliances, because there is no worktop arranged above the view of the gap limits. In a further embodiment (not shown), the operating display can also be installed in at least one side surface of the appliance door. Thus, either one or both side columns are lit or all three columns are lit.

Claims

claims

1. Household appliance, in particular a dishwasher, with a door (1), with an operating unit (6) for controlling the household appliance and with an operating display (9) for reproducing an operating state of the household appliance, characterized in that the operating display (9) is formed over a large area and displays one of the operating states "Operation", "End of program" and "Off".

2. Household appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that the operating display (9) comprises a lamp element, the different

Operating states indicated by continuous and flashing light or by different flashing frequencies.

3. Household appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that the operating display (9) comprises a lamp element, the different

Operating states indicated by different colored light.

4. Household appliance according to one of claims 1 to 3 with a concealed operating unit (11), characterized in that an operating display (9) in an upper end face (10) of the appliance door (1) is arranged.

5. Household appliance according to one of the above claims with a handle element (5) for opening and closing the appliance door (1), characterized in that the operating indicator (9) in the handle element (5, 12) is integrated.

6. Household appliance according to claim 5, characterized in that the operating display (9) in a recess in the grip element (12) is embedded.

7. Household appliance according to claim 5, characterized in that the grip element is formed of a transparent material, of which the operating indicator (9) is surrounded.

8. Household appliance according to claim 5, characterized in that the handle element (5) has a recess (13) and a diaphragm (14) and the operating indicator (9) in or behind the diaphragm (14) is arranged.

9. Household appliance according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the operating display (9) is designed as illumination of a display.

10. Household appliance according to one of claims 5 to 9 with a concealed operating unit (11).