EP2610398B1 - Liquid reservoir for a home appliance having a liquid level floating element - Google Patents
Liquid reservoir for a home appliance having a liquid level floating element Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP2610398B1 EP2610398B1 EP11195949.0A EP11195949A EP2610398B1 EP 2610398 B1 EP2610398 B1 EP 2610398B1 EP 11195949 A EP11195949 A EP 11195949A EP 2610398 B1 EP2610398 B1 EP 2610398B1
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- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- reservoir
- liquid
- liquid reservoir
- filter
- condensate
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Images
Classifications
-
- D—TEXTILES; PAPER
- D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
- D06F58/00—Domestic laundry dryers
- D06F58/20—General details of domestic laundry dryersÂ
- D06F58/24—Condensing arrangements
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Textile Engineering (AREA)
- Detail Structures Of Washing Machines And Dryers (AREA)
Description
- The invention relates to a liquid reservoir for a home appliance, in particular for a laundry treatment apparatus, like a dryer, a washing machine or a washer-dryer, or dishes treatment machine, having a liquid level detection unit using a floating element. Further the invention relates to a home appliance, in particular a laundry treatment apparatus or dishes treatment machine, having such liquid reservoir.
- The laundry dryer of
DE 88 11 974 U - Similar the removable condensate container of the laundry dryer in
US 2010/0236091 A1 is equipped with a guiding cage installed in the container for guiding a floater with a magnet. In one embodiment the cage vertically extends from the bottom to the top of the container. One Reed relay is installed above the container and one reed relay is installed below the container at the container compartment such that insertion of the container after liquid draining and the maximum filling level can be detected, respectively. - It is an object of the invention, to provide a liquid reservoir with a cage for a floating element and a home appliance that has such liquid reservoir, wherein the liquid reservoir has a design that improves assembling.
- The invention is defined in
claims - According to claim 1 a liquid reservoir for a home appliance is provided, which is adapted to store liquid that is used in a treatment process. The domestic home appliance may be a laundry treatment apparatus (e.g. a dryer, a washing machine, a washer-dryer) and the liquid stored in the liquid reservoir may be water, condensate water, liquid detergent, a dry treatment detergent, a fragrance, a sterilizer or any mixture thereof. Or the home appliance may be a dishwasher and the liquid stored in the liquid reservoir may be water, a softening or descaling agent, a liquid detergent or any mixture thereof.
- The dryer may be any type of dryer or washing machine having drying function, like an exhaust type dryer that exhausts the drying air to the outside of the dryer body after the process air has passed the laundry storing compartment. Preferably the dryer is a condenser type in which the processing air is (substantially or the most time) circulated in a closed loop and the humidity from the laundry is condensed at a process air heat exchanger or condenser and collected in at least one condensate collection tank. The condenser type dryer may use ambient or outside air for heat exchanging or may use a heat pump system.
- The liquid reservoir has a floating element (e.g. a floater) arranged within the reservoir and the floating element is adapted to float on the liquid in the reservoir and to indicate the liquid level at least over a portion of the liquid level range in the reservoir. 'Floating' includes swimming of the floating element on the liquid surface having a portion above the liquid surface and it includes a floating where the floating element is immersed below the liquid surface, but has a predefined relation to the liquid surface and is ascending and descending with the rising or falling liquid surface level in the reservoir.
- The floating element is guided and/or trapped in a guiding device forming a cage for the floating element within the liquid reservoir. The guiding element defines the movement path of the floating element during liquid level change in the liquid reservoir at least along the portion of the liquid level range. So the guiding element is designed such that floating element may be floating the full range in the reservoir from the lowest liquid level (here it means liquid surface level) to the highest liquid level. At least the floating element has a traveling or movement path that includes a predefined minimum level and a range above the minimum level. Preferably the movement path includes a maximum position that includes or is close below to the maximum liquid level or an overflow level of the liquid reservoir. The floating element is provided such as to be monitored visually by a user of the home appliance and/or to be monitored using a detector unit that is adapted to detect at least one position of the floating element along its movement path in the guiding element.
- The liquid reservoir comprises a container formed by or essentially formed by a front or first shell part and a rear or second shell part joined together to form the container or the essential part thereof. In the following reference to the first shell part includes 'front shell part' and reference to second shell part includes 'rear shell part', wherein preferably 'rear' and 'front' refer to the relative location of the respective shell part with respect to the front and rear of the home appliance. The container may be formed of more than two shell parts, but preferably exactly two shell parts are used for forming the liquid receiving volume of the container or the whole container. Basically there are (at least) two shell parts each having at least one partial element of the guiding device for guiding the floating element along its movement path during liquid level changes. I.e. at least one first guiding element of the guiding device is formed at the first shell part and at least one second guiding element is formed at the second shell part.
- When the shell parts for forming the container are in the assembled state, the first and second guiding elements together form the complete cage or at least a portion of the cage for the floating element. Thus when the shell parts are mounted together, the cage formed thereby prevents an escape of the floating element along the movement path of the floating element. This has several advantages. On the one hand, providing the cage in the liquid reservoir and trapping the floating element in the cage is simply made during assembling the liquid reservoir in that the floating element is positioned at any position (which is convenient during the assembling steps) of the movement path in the cage and the shell parts are combined with another - so that the floating element is trapped in the cage. Preferably the combining of the shell parts is made by gluing, welding, ultrasonic welding, heat melting, screwing, clamping, snap-fitting or a combination thereof. On the other hand the advantage is that the shell parts comprise all elements that are required to form the guiding element (cage) such that no separate assembling steps for mounting the guiding element in the reservoir are required. Further, as the floating element cage is arranged within the liquid reservoir, no separate liquid connection to the outside of the liquid reservoir and its container is required.
- In an embodiment, the first and/or the second shell part has a wall section or a laterally protruding wall section comprising a transparent element (the 'transparent element is also denoted 'liquid reservoir window or is a 'liquid reservoir window') or comprising a transparent element at an outermost area thereof. The transparent element is preferably an optically transparent element (window) such that the floating element can be observed visually by a user and/or using a detector unit from the outside of the liquid reservoir container. The transparent element is transparent at least in a specific range of the light spectrum, preferably in at least a portion of the visual light spectrum. The 'transparent' includes glass transparency or translucency like frosted glass.
- Preferably the transparent element has (glass-like) transparency which improves the detectability through the transparent element. The 'transparent element' may refer to a section of the at least one shell part which is used for user visual monitoring - e.g. if the shell part is completely transparent or translucent, the 'transparent element' may be this shell section that is presented or visible for the user. Alternatively or additionally, the 'transparent element' or a portion thereof may be portion of the respective shell part or the complete shell part may be formed to be transparent. Preferably the transparent element section used for monitoring the floating element is arranged at a protruding wall section or a section of the respective shell part that represents an outermost surface of the container. This 'offshore' or exposed position of the transparent element at the container facilitates observability or detectability and/or positioning the transparent element close to an opening or window in or at an outer housing element of the home appliance, like a front wall or front panel.
- At least a portion of the movement path of the floating element may be guided by the guiding device along the transparent element. Preferably the inner side of the transparent element forms part of the guiding device, more preferably and if the transparent element is protruding from the container, the inner side of the protruding transparent element forms a channel or groove section that preferably guides the floating element at two or three sides. Then a simple closing element of the guiding device is required at the other shell part to trap the floating element along its path section of the transparent element. The transparent element section of the container where the transparent element is provided may have a cross section that is profiled like a U-, V-, corner- or angle-profile which accomplishes for example the 'protruding' form of the transparent element.
- Preferably the transparent element is a monolithic part of or is integrally formed with or a single molt part with the first and/or second shell part. Thereby the 'transparent element' has not to be assembled in a separate step to the container to form an outer wall section thereof. More preferably the first and/or the second shell part is made of transparent or translucent plastic. Preferably at least substantial portion of the liquid reservoir outer or container wall is a front shell of the liquid reservoir made of transparent or translucent plastic. Preferably the at least one shell part or all shell parts forming the container and comprising the transparent element are molded, injection molded, extruded or blow-molded.
- In an embodiment the liquid reservoir comprises a liquid level indication unit having a detector (also denoted as detector unit) adapted to detect at least one position of the floating element. Preferably the detector is arranged at or close to the or a transparent element or the detector is arranged at a position of the movement path of the floating element outside the movement path of the floating element along the or a transparent element. In case the detector detects the floating element optically, the detector is preferably arranged at a window position such as to detect the floating element through the transparent element. Alternatively or additionally (for example for a second detector unit for detecting a second liquid level) the detector is arranged at a path section offset to the path along the transparent element. Preferably the liquid level detectable by the detector is close to or below the lowest liquid level that is visually observable by a user through the transparent element. For example for this, preferably, the guiding device is guiding the floating element at its path along the transparent element and the at least one detection position of the detector. Preferably the detector unit is completely mounted outside the container such that there needs not to be a separate encapsulation of the detector unit or parts thereof which prevents a contact between the detector unit and the liquid in the container. Then no wiring has to be guided through the container wall to the inside of the container.
- For mounting the detector unit, preferably the first and/or second shell part comprises or forms a seat for receiving the detector such that the detector is arranged at the container in a convenient position after mounting. Preferably the liquid reservoir comprises at its outer surface and close to the movement path of the floating element one or more of the following mounting elements for fixing the detector at the liquid reservoir: a fixing socket, a snap fit mount, a latch, a clamping element, a mounting rip, and a concave receptacle. Preferably the mounting elements are formed at the first and/or second shell element and more preferably at least a portion of the mounting elements are made monolithically or integrally as a part of the respective shell part.
- In an embodiment the movement path of the floating element in the guiding device has a (substantially) vertical component and at least along a portion of the movement path a component slanted with respect to the vertical direction such as to deflect the floating element in a horizontal direction. Preferably the movement path of the floating element along the transparent element is (substantially) horizontal and horizontally offset relative to the movement path along the liquid level detection path. This has the advantage that the floating element is shifted along a transparent element section of the movement path towards the outside (e.g. the transparent element is protruding as above) such that monitoring by a user from outside the home appliance is improved. On the other hand the detector unit can be provided back-shifted with respect to the outer housing or wall elements of the home appliance.
- For protection of the detector unit against liquid contact, preferably the liquid reservoir comprises a liquid deflection element arranged vertically above the mounting location of the detector unit. The deflection element is adapted to guide liquid flowing or dripping towards the detector unit laterally away from the detector. Preferably the liquid deflection element is monolithically or integrally formed with the liquid reservoir wall section (the respective shell part) where it is arranged at. The liquid deflection element may have or form a shield, a housing, a partial housing, a roof or a porch for the detector or the detector and its wiring connectors. Alternatively or additionally the liquid deflection element or the at least one mounting element for the detector are partially formed at the first and/or second shell part of the liquid container.
- The floating element may comprise a magnetic element and the detector comprises a magnetic field sensitive element or a REED element or Hall sensor. However, if the detector unit uses optical (reflection or using an electric eye, a photo bar or the like), ultrasonic or other non-magnetic detection, no additional element has to be provided at the floating element.
- According to
claim 13, a home appliance is provided. As mentioned above the home appliance may be a laundry treatment apparatus, a laundry dryer, a washing machine, a wash-dryer or dish treatment machine. The home appliance comprises a liquid reservoir as set out in the claims and/or as described above and/or in the detailed embodiment, wherein the liquid reservoir is mounted within the home appliance at a position to be arranged behind a front wall. The front wall may be a front wall that has a loading opening to a storing compartment adapted to receive laundry or dishes to be treated. Preferably, after assembling the home appliance, the liquid reservoir is permanently or fixedly installed in the home appliance, i.e. is a non-removable reservoir. - Preferably the liquid reservoir has a transparent element as described above for visual user inspection of the liquid level in the reservoir. For the floating element to be observable by the user standing in front of the front wall, the front wall has an opening or a window at a position such that the area of the front wall opening or window at least partially coincides with the area of the transparent element.
- In an embodiment the home appliance has a steam generator for generating steam during at least one laundry or dishes treatment sequence of the home appliance. The steam generating unit may be any steam generating unit, like a boiler-type steam generator or preferably a flow-through steam generator that may transform the supplied liquid into steam with a rate corresponding to the liquid supply rate. The steam generator is preferably arranged in the cabinet of the home appliance, more preferably is arranged at a lower region of the home appliance. In case of a dryer, the steam generation unit is arranged e.g. below the laundry or dishes storing compartment and/or at a basement cover shell - for example of a heat pump system dryer.
- Preferably the protruding wall section where the transparent element is arranged extends close to the opening or a window of the front wall or extends to the plane of the opening or a short distance through the plane of the opening in the front wall. Thus the liquid level and the floating element can be better observed by the user.
- The home appliance may comprise a front frame extending from a base region to an upper region at the front region of the home appliance, wherein the front wall is at least partially supported by the front frame, and wherein the liquid reservoir is preferably arranged between the front wall and the front frame.
- Reference is made in detail to a preferred embodiment of the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying figures, which show:
- Fig. 1
- a perspective view of a partially disassembled condenser dryer,
- Fig. 2
- the front view of the dryer of
Fig. 1 , - Fig. 3
- a perspective view of a front wall, a front frame and portion of a front panel of the dryer of
Fig. 1 , - Fig. 4
- the perspective view with the front wall and the front frame where the front panel and a lid are shown in exploded illustration,
- Fig. 5
- the front view with the condensate drawer taken out from the drawer compartment of the dryer,
- Fig. 6
- a cross section perpendicular to the front plane in an upper front area taken along the line A-A shown in
Fig. 5 where the filter/valve unit of a reservoir is arranged, - Fig. 7
- in top view from left to right the front frame, the reservoir, a filling unit of the reservoir and the front wall,
- Fig. 8
- an exploded view of the front frame, the reservoir, the filling unit and the front wall,
- Fig. 9
- a perspective view of the front frame with mounted reservoir and filling unit, and a fluff filter partially lifted in the process air channel,
- Fig. 10
- the perspective view of
Fig. 9 with the fluff filter completely inserted in the process air channel, - Fig. 11
- a front view of the front frame with the reservoir and reservoir piping mounted,
- Fig. 12
- a perspective view of the front frame, a rear frame and a steam generator arranged between on a base section cover shell,
- Fig. 13
- a side view of the front frame, the steam generator and further reservoir piping,
- Fig. 14
- a rear view of the front frame showing conduit passages and an overflow pipe,
- Fig. 15a
- the reservoir in more detail in exploded view,
- Fig. 15b
- the reservoir in assembled state with the filling unit disassembled,
- Fig. 16a to
- 16c a front view, a left side view and a top view of the reservoir,
- Fig. 17a
- the sectional view of the reservoir along line A-A in
Fig. 16a , - Fig. 17b
- the sectional view of the reservoir along line B-B in
Fig. 16a , - Fig. 17c
- the sectional view of the reservoir along line C-C in
Fig. 16a , - Fig. 17d
- the sectional view of the reservoir along line D-D in
Fig. 16a , - Fig. 17e
- the sectional view of the reservoir along horizontal line E-E in
Fig. 16a , - Fig. 17f
- a detail of a level detector and PCB holder as detail A from
Fig. 15a , - Fig. 18a
- a detail view of the filling area in exploded view as detail A from
Fig. 4 , - Fig. 18b
- and 18c the detail view of the filling area as enlarged detail A from
Fig. 3 with a valve switch in valve open position (18b) and valve closed position (18c), - Fig. 19a and 19b
- sectional views through the filling unit of the reservoir with a valve filter open (19a) and closed (19b),
- Fig. 20a and 20b
- a top view to the front frame and the front wall with (20a) and without (20b) a portion of the front panel where the drawer opening is arranged,
- Fig. 21
- a detail view of the laundry compartment back wall with a steam inlet cone as a detail A from
Fig. 12 , - Fig. 22
- the front frame, the rear frame and the basement top cover at the battery channel in cross section along section B-B in
Fig. 11 , - Fig. 23
- a steam inlet unit with the steam inlet cone in cross section as detail C from
Fig. 22 or cross section similar to the section A-A ofFig. 27 , - Fig. 24
- the steam inlet unit in exploded view,
- Fig. 25
- a rear perspective view of the dryer with the bottom unit and right side wall removed,
- Fig. 26
- the rear view of the steam inlet unit mounted as detail B from
Fig. 25 , - Fig. 27
- a front view of the steam inlet unit with the rear frame and back wall shell removed,
- Fig. 28
- a block diagram showing some of the components of the dryer and their functional or connection relation to each other,
- Fig. 29
- a rear perspective view to the drum, a condensate container housing and the front frame,
- Fig. 30
- the view of
Fig. 29 with the condensate container and a portion of the drum wall removed, - Fig. 31
- detail view B of
Fig. 30 showing the front drum sealing, and - Fig. 32
- another embodiment of the floater and the floater cage corresponding to
Fig. 17d . - In the following a detailed embodiment of the invention is described using here as an exemplary home appliance or domestic appliance a
dryer 2 of the condenser type. Implementing the invention or portions of the invention in a condenser type dryer is preferred, however, the invention can also be implemented in any other type of dryer or in any other type of domestic appliance. For example the home appliance may be a washing machine having drying function with or without a heat exchanger or condensing unit. Preferably the home appliance uses a heat exchanger in which condensate is collected and preferably supplied to the liquid reservoir (62 below). In the embodiments of the above examples of home appliances or in a further embodiment of a home appliance in which the invention may be implemented in a whole or in parts thereof is a laundry treatment machine in which steam is supplied to the laundry. The steam may be generated from water, fragrance, a deodorant, a sterilizer, liquid detergent, a waterproofing agent or any other agent, or any combination of these agents. - The following groups or sub-units of the domestic appliance can be implemented individually in the domestic appliance or in any combination of the groups:
- a front frame which has at least one passage or opening therein for guiding at least one liquid conduit therethrough;
- a front wall of the home appliance having an opening or window for inspection of a water level in a liquid reservoir arranged behind the opening or window, the reservoir preferably adapted to supply water to a steam generator;
- an upper front panel in which a panel window is provided to have access to servicing elements of a liquid reservoir (like a filling inlet for manually filling liquid, a filter and/or a valve); preferably the panel window is arranged at a frame for a drawer opening (opening to a drawer compartment, e.g. for condensate drawer); more preferably the drawer has a handling or grip portion that is arranged at a position adjacent to the panel window and/or the panel window is not part of a drawer housing or compartment in which a drawer is received;
- a steam supplying nozzle unit having a nozzle body extending into an interior of a preferably horizontally rotating laundry chamber, wherein the nozzle unit preferably provides a detangling function;
- a nozzle unit to supply steam into a laundry storing and treatment chamber having a nozzle body with a volume inside the laundry treatment chamber, wherein the nozzle volume provides a steam and droplet separation function in the interior of the laundry treatment chamber;
- a liquid reservoir storing treatment liquid adapted to treat laundry, wherein the reservoir is composed of at least two reservoir wall shells, wherein, when the wall shells are combined to provide the liquid storing container, a floater element is captured in a cage which is formed of at least a first cage part arranged at a first of the shells and of a second cage part which is formed at a second of the shells;
- a liquid reservoir for storing a treatment liquid adapted to treat laundry, wherein the liquid reservoir has a transparent element at an outer area thereof, adapted for visual inspection of a floater or the liquid level through the transparent element, and wherein the liquid reservoir further has a detector to detect the liquid level in the reservoir, preferably by using the floater;
- a condensate water filter element that is adapted to catch debris or fluff in a fluff trap to avoid insufficient sealing of a valve element; and/or
- a condensate water filter having a filter grid structure that reduces the filter flow resistance by providing an opening close to a filtered water outlet.
- The following figures are not drawn to scale and are provided for illustrative purposes.
-
Fig. 1 shows a front perspective view of a partially disassembled condenser dryer that uses a heat pump system. In the shown state the loading door of thedryer 2, the right cover, the lower shell of a bottom unit and a bottom panel are removed. The outer appearance of the depicteddryer 2 is defined by atop cover 4, a left cover orwall 6, afront cover 8 having aloading opening 10 and a fronttop panel 12. The fronttop panel 12 frames adrawer cover 14, wherein here the drawer has a condensate container that is completely pushed in a drawer compartment located at the upper part of the dryer. The right portion of the fronttop panel 12 forms aninput section 16 wherein here the details of theinput section 16 are not shown (like indicators, a display, switches and so on). - The
loading opening 10 is surrounded by aloading frame 18 which is formed in thefront cover 8. In loading direction behind the bottom section of the loading frame 18 a filter compartment/process air channel 32 is arranged which is adapted to receive afluff filter 34 and which is formed in a front frame 30 (compareFigs. 9 and 10 ). At the back side of the loading opening in the front frame 30 adrum 20 is arranged. In the embodiment shown thedrum 20 is a rotating drum cylinder that is extending between the back side of thefront frame 30 and the front side of arear frame 31. The open rear end of cylindricalrotatable drum 20 is closed by a compartment back wall 26 (Fig. 2 ) which is mounted at the rear frame 31 (Fig. 12 ). Backwall 26 is preferably provided as a separate element to therear frame 31, formed for example from a metal plate. In the shown embodiment the rotation axis of the drum is horizontal, however, the rotation axis may be inclined with respect to the horizontal axis or may be even vertical with some modifications to the shown embodiment, however without the requirement to modify other groups of the dryer. -
Fig. 29 shows in perspective back view thedrum 20, thefront frame 30 and the drawer housing orcompartment 15a in which thecondensate drawer 15a is completely inserted. Below thecondensate drawer compartment 15a and adjacent to the left upper corner of thefront cover 8 or left above middle of theloading opening 10, awindow panel 22 is inserted into a front cover window opening 52 (Fig. 4 ). Thewindow opening 52 and thewindow panel 22 allow visual inspection into the inside of the dryer outer body where aliquid reservoir 62 is arranged to check the liquid level (see more detail below). - As indicated in
Fig. 2 showing the dryer ofFig. 1 in front view, the condensate drawer has adraw handle 24 at thedrawer cover 14 to be gripped by the user for pushing the condensate drawer in or pulling it out of the condensate drawer compartment that is extending into the interior of thedryer 2.Fig. 2 gives a view onto the compartment backwall 26 which has a plurality ofair inlet openings 28 through which processing air enters the laundry storing compartment from the back side or rear side of thedrum 20. In the center of the compartment backwall 26 and surrounded by the air inlet openings 28 acone 252 is arranged which has in this embodiment laundry detangling function and further supplies steam into the interior of the laundry compartment formed by thedrum 20, theback wall 26, the loading frames in thefront frame 30 and the loading door (not shown). -
Fig. 3 shows a perspective front view of thefront frame 30 with thefront cover 8 mounted thereon. From the fronttop panel 12 only thedrawer portion 13 with thedrawer opening 36 is shown mounted at the upper section of thefront frame 30. The condensate drawer and thus thedrawer cover 14 are removed such that one can see details of the lower frame section of thedrawer portion 13 which is surrounded by circle A. More details of view A can be seen inFigs. 18b and 18c and are described below. In the meantime it is mentioned that the lower frame section of thedrawer opening 36 is exposed after extracting the condensate drawer, also exposing auser filling section 38. Theuser filling section 38 is covered by alid 40 which is pivotably mounted at the lower frame of thedrawer opening 36 of thedrawer portion 13 viahinges 48 arranged at thelower drawer portion 13. Thesection 42 covered bylid 40 has afilter opening 44 in which a filter is inserted and has a fillingopening 46 used to fill in water into thewater reservoir 62 storing the water for steam generation. A typical value for the water storing volume inreservoir 62 is about 1.9 liters, preferably the volume is in a range of 1 to 3 liters, more preferably from 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 1.5 to 2.5 or 1.75 to 2.25 liters. Typically 0.7 liters are required for a steam treatment such that about 3 steam treatment cycles can be executed with thedryer 2 without manually replenishing liquid into the reservoir when no other liquid (e.g. condensate water) is supplied thereto. - It is to be noted that arranging the
user filling section 38 in a lower frame portion of thedrawer opening 36 allows a simple modification of standardized dryers for models that use steam generation and models that do not use steam generation. For models with steam generation the fronttop panel 12 with theuser filling section 38 is used, while for models without steam generation there is nouser filling section 38 and instead the lower portion of the frame of thedrawer opening 36 is just a flat plate without any openings and/or lid. -
Fig. 4 shows the arrangement ofFig. 3 partially exploded in that the fronttop panel 12 is lifted off from thefront frame 30 and thelid 40 covering thesection 42 of theuser filling section 38 is also taken away. InFig. 4 theuser filling section 38 is a modified embodiment in which there is no separate division bar or rib which is dividing thefilter opening 44 and the fillingopening 46 as compared to the embodiment ofFig. 3 . Instead there is a single opening which exposes the openings for filling in the water for steam generation and for exchanging or servicing the filter of thereservoir 62. In the exploded view one can see that there is anopening 50 in the top frame of thefront cover 8. Theopening 50 overlaps with theopening 44/46 when the fronttop panel 12 is mounted on thefront frame 30, wherein the lower frame of thedrawer opening 36 is arranged close to or abutting to and parallel to the front cover top frame. In another embodiment the fronttop panel 12, more specifically thedrawer portion 13 forming the panel frame around drawer opening 36 just has a recess or gap over the fillinginlet 136 and/orfilter access 134 instead of theseparate openings drawer portion 13. - Further in
Fig. 4 thewindow panel 22 is removed such that one can see the frontcover window opening 52 which allows a view to the interior of the dryer just behind thefront cover 8 where thereservoir 62 is arranged behind thewindow opening 52. The dryer models which use mainly the same components (for example the heat pump system, the base section, thefront frame 30, therear frame 31 and the drum) can be modified from between steam type by exchanging thefront cover 8 having theopening top panel 12 having theuser filling section 38 or not can be exchanged between the models using the same standardized dryer (home appliance platform). In a modification thefront cover 8 shown inFig. 4 can be used always with theopening 50, while for example theopening 52 is closed by a closed or window-less panel (e.g. thewindow panel 22 without window) or theopening 52 may be provided by punching it, if the dryer model is provided with a steam generation unit and thereservoir 62.Fig. 18a shows the section A indicated inFig. 4 in more detail. -
Fig. 5 shows a front view of thefront frame 30, thefront cover 8 and the fronttop panel 12 without details of theinput section 16 and with the condensate drawer removed such that thedrawer opening 36 to the drawer compartment can be seen. Through thewindow panel 22 and the front cover window opening 52 alevel window 68 of thereservoir 62 can be seen. The section A-A ofFig. 5 is shown inFig. 6 which will be described in detail below. -
Fig. 7 shows in top view from left to right thefront frame 30, thereservoir 62, areservoir inlet unit 70, thefront cover 8 and thewindow panel 22. Thereservoir 62 and thereservoir inlet unit 70 form together areservoir unit 60 which has the function to store water to be supplied to a steam generator, to receive water filled in by a user manually and to filter condensate water which is pumped from a condensate collector of acondensate unit 92 to thereservoir 62. Thereservoir 62 is forming a container composed of a front orfirst shell 64 and a rear orsecond shell 66 which are glued, welded, ultrasonic welded or otherwise mounted together. Thelevel window 68 is protruding at the front side of thefront shell 64 such that it is arranged immediately behind the frontcover window opening 52 in thefront cover 8 in the assembled state. At least thelevel window 68, preferably the completefront shell 64 or bothshells - The
reservoir inlet unit 70 is a pluggable component that can be plugged into thereservoir 62 and provides the manual filling, condensate filling and filtering function to thereservoir 62. Thereservoir inlet unit 70 has acondensate plug 132 that is protruding from the (back)surface of theunit 70 and is adapted to be inserted in a respective coupling or socket 106 (Fig. 15a ) at the front side of thefront shell 64. Condensate which was pumped from a condensate reservoir to the filter in theunit 70 exits theunit 70 towards the interior ofreservoir 62 during a filling process for filling the reservoir with condensate water. A second plug is a fillingplug 138 which protrudes at the back side ofunit 70 and is adapted to be inserted in a respective coupling orsocket 108 at thefront shell 64. Liquid filled in manually into theunit 70 flows into thereservoir 62 via the fillingplug 138. - It is to be mentioned that the individual elements or groups of elements of the
reservoir inlet unit 70 may be integrated into the front and/orrear shell reservoir 62. Thereservoir 62 and thereservoir inlet unit 70 are provided as two separate components in this embodiment for simplifying the manufacturing process of the front andrear shells unit 70 into thereservoir 62. However, the reservoir may be easily modified, for example in providing the shell separation in a horizontal plane instead of a vertical plane and the filter and filling openings may be arranged then in the upper shell for example. -
Fig. 8 shows an exploded perspective view of thefront frame 30, thereservoir 62, the fillingunit 70, thefront cover 8 and thepanel 22. Thefront frame 30 has areservoir mounting bracket 72 adapted to receivereservoir 62. -
Fig. 9 shows the state in which thereservoir 62 is mounted at the front side of thefront frame 30 and theunit 70 is mounted at the front side ofreservoir 62. The reservoir and theunit 70 are dimensioned such that these make use of the hollow space or dead volume which is present in the dryer between the front side offront frame 30 and the back side of thefront cover 8. This means that the structure of thefront frame 30 is optimized for the supporting function of the frame in respect of mounting the components and cover elements of the dryer and the structure is further optimized and adapted such as to receive thereservoir unit 60 without compromising the required mechanical stability and by integrating thereservoir unit 60 under reduction of extra-space for it. In the embodiment - for further contributing to this optimization - the back side of reservoir 62 (here the rear shell 66) is adapted in a way to match the front structure of thefront frame 30 and distribute the volume required for containing the liquid in the reservoir to areas and spaces between theframe 30 and thecover 8 where the respective space is available under preservation of the mechanical function of the front frame design elements and thefront cover 8. - This means that the
front frame 30 can be used in unmodified form as a platform element for a dryer model that has a reservoir unit (e.g. for the steam generation unit) as well as for a dryer model that does not make use of the reservoir unit (and the steam generation and steam treatment of the laundry). In the design optimizing process thefront frame 30 is adapted to receive the reservoir unit (at least partially) such that no defective mechanical properties for the general purpose function of thefront frame 30 are implemented, for example a riser feed through 74 is provided in a base area of the front frame without having an effect on its structural stability, while the feed through 74 provides an important liquid passage and/or pipe supporting function without requiring additional elements. This correspondingly applies for the overflow feed through 86 shown inFig. 14 . -
Figs. 9 and 10 further show the arrangement of thefluff filter 34 in the process air channel section which is formed in the lower region of thefront frame 30. The process air that has crossed thedrum 20 is leaving the laundry treatment compartment at the lower section just in front of theloading frame 18 which is closed by a loading door through the channel section formed inframe 30 towards a battery channel 78 (Fig 11 shows upper part of battery channel as part of the upper basement shell or battery top cover 230) which provides another process air channel section formed in the base unit of the drum. The air in the process air channel section of theframe 30 is passing thefluff filter 34 to remove the fluff.Fluff filter 34 can be taken out of the process air channel section by pulling it upward as is indicated by the filter position shown inFig. 9 as compared to the one inFig. 10 , where the filter is completely inserted for proper operation. -
Fig. 11 shows a front view of the dryer withcover 8 andtop cover 4 as well asleft cover 6 removed and without a lower portion of the base section. On the bottom an upper portion or covershell 230 of thebase section 76 is shown which includes theupper portion 78 of the battery channel where the process air enters which comes through the process air channel section going through thefront frame 30. Thefluff filter 34 is also removed in this figure. As inFig. 9 thereservoir unit 60 is mounted and the pipes connecting the unit to other elements are shown. Ariser pipe 82 comes from the back side of thefront frame 30 and is guided through the riser feed through 74 from where it goes upward to a filter inlet 98 (Fig. 15b ) of thereservoir inlet unit 70. Afeed pipe 84 is connected to afeed outlet 100 at the lower end ofreservoir 62 and goes down at the front side offrame 30 and through asupply feed recess 75 formed at the lower edge offront frame 30. Theriser pipe 82 and thefeed pipe 84 are clamped byclamps 89 mounted at the front side offrame 30. The cross-sectional view indicated by section B-B inFig. 11 is shown inFig. 22 (similarly inFig. 13 ). -
Fig. 14 is a view to the back side of thefront frame 30. Anoverflow pipe 88 is guided from an overflow feed through 86 in the upper region of theframe 30 to the lower region of the frame. Thepipe 88 is mechanically fixed to the frame byclamps 89 provided at the backside offrame 30. The overflow feed through 86 is a passage from the front side to the rear side offrame 30 below thedrawer opening 36 and is coinciding or overlapping with a overflow connection at the back side of the reservoir 62 (in front projection - compareoverflow outlet 102 shown inFig. 17c .) - The outlet of
overflow pipe 88 is connected to abattery inlet 90 as can be seen fromFigs. 12 and 13. Fig. 12 shows at 78 the upper shell of the battery channel. Overflow liquid that is descending inoverflow pipe 88 enters the battery channel at 90 and is guided within the battery channel towards acondensate pump unit 92 where the condensate water that has condensed from the process air at the evaporator of the heat pump system is collected together with the liquid coming down theoverflow pipe 88. Thecondensate pump unit 92 is assigned to thebattery channel 78 and collects the condensate water and the overflow water fromreservoir 62 in a condensate container (304 inFig. 28 ). The pump (306 inFig. 28 ) of thecondensate pump unit 92 pumps the condensate from the condensate container to a liquid branch which has afirst pump outlet 94, which is connected to theriser pipe 82, and asecond pump outlet 96, which is connected to a pipe which supplies the condensate into the container (302 inFig. 28 ) of the condensate drawer. - The respective flow resistances from the
branch 94/96 through the pipes and vertical height difference to thereservoir inlet unit 70 and the condensate drawer (compare 15a inFig. 29 or 302 inFig. 28 ) are designed such that about 20% to 40% of the condensate water is supplied toreservoir 62 viaunit 70 and the remainder of the condensate water is pumped to the condensate drawer (unless thefilter valve 198 of thefilter 190 in thereservoir inlet unit 70 is closed). Under normal operation conditions - as an average over several laundry treatment processes - the water consumed bysteam generator 140 is less than the condensate water which is pumped from thecondensate pump unit 92 into thereservoir 62. This guarantees that thereservoir 62 is always filled and normally needs not to be manually filled by the user. Further, as there is a higher condensate water amount pumped to thereservoir 62 than consumed by thesteam generator 140, there is a steady or periodic overflow of condensate water which is flowing back throughoverflow pipe 88 fromreservoir 62 into thebattery channel 78 and from there back into thecondensate pump unit 92. However, the circulation of this pumped and returned condensate water stops after a while as the higher proportion of the pumped condensate water finally collects in the condensate drawer until the condensate water level in thecondensate pump unit 92 drops to a level where no condensate water will be pumped. - On the other hand, if the maximum level in the
reservoir 62 and the maximum level in thecondensate drawer 15a/302 are both reached or exceeded, thecondensate pump unit 92 provides a signal initiated by a second maximum level in the condensate tank (304 inFig. 28 ) to thecontrol unit 300 which then stops operation of the dryer and/or stops a laundry drying process in which the condensate is formed by the laundry drying. Thecontrol unit 300 waits for the user draining thecondensate drawer 15a/302 such that pump 306 can again pump condensate into the condensate tank ofdrawer 15a. In another embodiment a maximum filling level in thecondensate drawer 15a/302 can be monitored instead or in addition to the second maximum level for thecondensate tank 304 and the dryer or the drying process may be stopped as beforehand. - As next the
reservoir 62 andinlet unit 70 will be described in more detail, while thesteam generator 140 is described in more detail below.Fig. 15a shows an exploded view of the reservoir in more detail. The reservoir is composed of afront shell 64 and arear shell 66 which are to be joined together in a vertical plane. Thefeed outlet 100 which supplies the water to thesteam generator 140 viapipe 84 is formed at the bottom end of thefront shell 64. Theoverflow outlet 102 is formed in an upper region ofrear shell 66 and is to be connected to theoverflow pipe 88 which is arranged at the back side offront frame 30. Thefront shell 64 further has acondensate coupling 106 adapted to couple with thecondensate plug 132 protruding at unit 70 (seeFig. 15b ), and has a fillingcoupling 108 adapted to couple with the fillingplug 138 of unit 70 (shown inFig. 7 ). In the openings ofoverflow outlet 102,condensate coupling 106 and filling coupling 108 aseal 104 is inserted which has the form of a cylindrical sleeve with a collar. After insertion ofseal 104 into the respective openings, theplugs overflow outlet 102 to the inlet of theoverflow pipe 88 through the overflow feed through 86 are inserted to provide a sealed coupling. - On the front side of
front shell 64 aninlet unit recess 110 is formed which contour is adapted to receive a portion of the volume ofreservoir inlet unit 70. Preferably, theinlet unit recess 110 is formed such that when theunit 70 is mounted on thefront shell 64, theunit 70 is received flush or nearly flush with the main front surface of front shell 64 (in this case without considering the protruding level window 68). At the lower end of the inlet unit recess 110 apipe recess 112 is formed which receives afilter housing 130 ofunit 70 and the upper portion of theriser pipe 82 which is connected to thefilter inlet 98. - The
rear shell 66 has mountinggrooves 114 formed on its back side which are adapted to receiveribs 115 which are formed on the front side of front frame 30 (seeFig. 8 ) and which serve to provide mechanical stability for the front frame structure. The wall parts of therear shell 66, which form thegrooves 114, partially separate the internal volume ofreservoir 62 such that it can be said that the volume of the reservoir is split into partial volumes fluidly connected to each other so that the different portions of the split volume fit into recesses of the front frame for minimizing the space requirement for thecontainer 62 by using dead volume in the structure of thefront frame 30. - For determining the liquid level within the
reservoir 62, the reservoir provides thelevel window 68 through which afloater 116 can be visually observed by the user. In addition to this human detection, the level is also detected electronically by using adetector unit 126 which is mounted on a side wall of thefront shell 64 close to thelevel window 68 and adapted to detect thefloater 116. In this embodiment, thefloater 116 is detected magnetically, using a respective sensor of the detector unit 126 (see below) and amagnet head 117 being part of thefloater 116. Thefloater 116 is received in acage 124 formed by respective portions of the front andrear shell front shell 64 thecage 124 is formed by a channel that is open at one side (here the back side) and on the side of therear shell 66 the cage section is formed by afloater cam 118 which protrudes as a small rib vertically extending at the inner front side ofshell 66. The upper section of the open channel formed in the front shell is closed by the protrudinglevel window 68 which has a top wall section representing the upper limit. The front window section ofwindow 68 forms the front wall restriction and two side walls ofwindow 68 form the side restrictions forfloater 116. Correspondingly, thefloater cam 118 has awindow section 120 which is protruding farther from the inner surface ofrear shell 66 to guide the path of thefloater 116 in its level changing path within the level window inner volume. As thecage 124 is formed of parts of the shells that have to be assembled anyway, there is no need for additional assembling steps for separately assembling the cage for the floater. Before assembling theshells reservoir 62, the floater is for example inserted in the inner volume of window 68 (one cage part) and by combining the shells the cage is simultaneously closed for the floater. - Underneath the
window section 120 there is adetector section 122 ofcam 118 subsequent to a slope or slantedsection 121 from the front side ofwindow section 120 to thedetector section 122 which is recessed from the front side to the back side. According to the invention thedetector unit 126 is arranged completely outside the water storing volume or walls such that no sealing or gasket is required for passing electrical connections to the interior of water volume or for providing an inner sealed volume for thedetector unit 126 or parts thereof. This simplifies the design ofreservoir 62 and reduces costs or assembling effort. -
Fig. 17d shows a cross-section through the reservoir along the section line D-D as indicated inFig. 16a .Fig. 17d shows thefloater 116 in its upper position (116a) and in its lowest position (116b) within thefloater cage 124. The front side with respect toreservoir 62 is shown at the right side, while the rear side is shown at the left side ofFig. 17d . So it can be seen that along thewindow 68 the path offloater 116 is guided parallel towindow 68 and a slope is going to the recessed position within thecage 124 from the pathway going from upside to downside, wherein finally in thelowest position 116b the floater path has again a vertical direction. Thedetector unit 126 is arranged in the region of thelower position 116b. Thus, thefloater 116 can be visually observed by the user in the normal water level range withincontainer 62, while the electronic detection by thedetector unit 126 detects the floater in or close to the lowest position to indicate the critical low water level or the run low of the water inreservoir 62. - Corresponding to the cross section of
Fig. 17d ,Fig. 32 shows an embodiment of thereservoir 62 where thefloater 116 is modified to floater 116'. Also the relative position of the limitations in thefloater cage 124 are slightly modified in that the relative length or position of the cage portion inlevel window 68, thewindow section 120, the slantedsection 121 and thedetector section 122 are changed. In the floater 116' the magnet head 117' is arranged at the bottom side. As compared tofloater 116, the barycenter is shifted to a deeper position within the floater 116'. This has the advantage that the risk of blocking the floater movement during descending and rising of the floater with liquid level change is significantly reduced. Further the depth of the horizontal cross-section within the cage is enlarged in the front-rear direction which allows the floater 116' to move without being tilted when passing theslanted section 121, i.e. in the region at and close to the position 116'c. Again positions 116'a and 116'b indicate the upper and lower position of floater 116' incage 124, respectively. -
Fig. 15a further showscable clips 128 arranged at the front side of thefront shell 64 adapted to receive the electrical wires connecting thedetector unit 126 to the control unit (300 inFig. 28 ) ofdryer 2. The wire path is running from left to right in front ofreservoir 62 and from there further to the right where thecontrol unit 300 is arranged on the right upper side of dryer behind theinput section 16 of the fronttop panel 12. -
Fig. 15b shows thereservoir 62 with the front endrear shells reservoir inlet unit 70 is shown in the non-mounted state.Unit 70 has the vertically downward extendingfilter housing 130 for receiving afilter 190 that is filtering the fluff from the condensate water which is pumped from thecondensate pump unit 92 to thereservoir 62. A filter access oropening 134 is arranged at the top side ofunit 70 wherein thefilter access 134 provides an access to remove thefilter 190 and to actuate afilter switch 192. At the top surface of unit 70 a fillinginlet 136 is arranged neighboring to thefilter access 134, which is used to fill in water manually by a user. In an assembled state of thedryer 2 the fillinginlet 136 overlaps or coincides with the fillingopening 46 shown inFig. 4 and thefilter access 134 overlaps or coincides with thefilter opening 44. - The
condensate plug 132 extends from the rear side of thefilter housing 130 such as to be plugged into thecondensate coupling 106 when mounting theunit 70 on thefront shell 64. The filling plug 138 (Fig. 7 ) extends at the rear side ofunit 70 and is adapted to be plugged into the fillingcoupling 108 at the front side offront shell 64. By providing the twoseparate plugs unit 70 relatively toreservoir 62 is achieved during mountingunit 70 atreservoir 62. As mentioned above, for example the fillinginlet 136 may be formed directly at the front orrear shell separate inlet unit 70 for manually filling. Correspondingly, thefilter access 134 may be formed in the front or rear shell with the filter body at least partially formed therein for receiving thefilter 190. In anembodiment filter access 134 in front or rear shell provides receiving of thefilter switch 192 with the function to switch on and off the condensate water supply into the filter. If thefilter unit 130 is integrated within the front or rear shell, an additional opening for connecting theriser pipe 82 is then arranged at the outside of the front or rear shell (i.e. thefilter inlet 98 is then arranged at the front or rear shell). In the embodiment shown, theunit 70 is screwed to thefront shell 64 using screws; however, it may be fixed in any other way to thefront shell 64, for example by clamping or welding or using a glue. -
Fig. 16a shows a front view of the assembledreservoir 62,Fig. 16b shows a side view andFig. 16c a top view of the reservoir. In the front view thecondensate coupling 106 and the fillingcoupling 108 can be seen, each with one ofseals 104. In the top view, theoverflow outlet 102 can be seen with theseal 104 inserted. -
Fig. 17a shows a section through thereservoir 62 along section line A-A ofFig. 16a . This section intersects the reservoir in the region where the fillingcoupling 108 is arranged.Fig. 17b shows the cross-section along section line B-B inFig. 16a including a section through thecondensate coupling 106.Fig. 17c shows a sectional view throughreservoir 62 along section C-C inFig. 16a intersecting theoverflow outlet 102 formed in therear shell 66 and projecting from its rear side.Fig. 17d is a section throughreservoir 62 along section line D-D inFig. 16a . As described above, this section goes through thefloater cage 124. While the sections inFigs. 17a to 17d are vertical plane sections through reservoir,Fig, 17e shows a horizontal plane section through the reservoir along the section line E-E inFig. 16a . It is taken in a (vertical) height where thefloater 116 has its flow path within thecage 124 that is partially formed by thelevel window 68. At the left side oflevel window 68 the section goes through thedetector unit 126 which has its detector sensitive zone below the travel path offloater 116 in thefloater cage 124 atfloater position 116b shown inFig. 17d . -
Fig. 17f shows an enlarged view of thelevel detector unit 126 taken from the area indicated by A inFig. 15a . The printedcircuit board 160 of thedetector unit 126 is shown in the disassembled state. AREED sensor 162 is arranged at thePCB 160 adapted to detect the magnetic field of themagnet head 117 fromfloater 116 infloater position 116b (low water level). Asocket 164 is provided at the lower end ofPCB 160 adapted to couple with a connector plug arranged at the end of wires for connecting the sensor to thecontrol unit 300 of the dryer for evaluating the signal provided by theREED sensor 162. As mentioned above, the electrical wires connecting thesensor unit 126 to the control unit of the dryer are held bycable clips 128 arranged along the front side of thereservoir 62. When theREED sensor 162 detects the presence of magnetic fields, thecontrol unit 300 recognizes that the water level in the reservoir is low and upon detecting this signal the steam generation bysteam generator 140 is switched off. Additional measures can be taken by the control unit upon detecting the low liquid level, for example an acoustic or visual indication can be activated to inform the user that the water level is low. Further upon detecting the low level, the control unit can stop the steam supply too during the running process and finish the running process without modification except steam supply stopped, or it can stop the running process completely or an alternative process can be run, which does not need steam treatment for the laundry. Also, the control unit can interrupt the running program and wait for replenishing the water inreservoir 62 by the user. - Instead of using a
REED sensor 162, any other sensor can be used that detects the magnetic field from thefloater 116, for example a Hall sensor. Alternatively or additionally, thedetector unit 126 can be provided with another detector detecting another feature offloater 116, for example which is adapted to detect presence or absence of thefloater 116 in the region where the low level is to be detected. For example, an optical sensor could be provided which detects the reflection of light emitted to thefloater 116, such that the presence of the floater and absence of the floater is detected optically from the reflected light. Alternatively or additionally, an ultrasonic reflection can be detected from the floater to sense the low liquid level. In a further embodiment, a light source like an LED, a lamp or something else could be arranged on thedetector unit 126 or itsPCB 160 to illuminate at least a portion of the interior of thereservoir 62 such that the user can more easily visually recognize whether thefloater 116 is in the region of thelevel window 68 or not. - The
seat 168 for thePCB 160 is provided at the side of thefront shell 64. ThePCB 160 haslateral protrusions 166 which are adapted to snap into latches of asecond bracket 172 of theseat 168 while the opposing back side ofPCB 160 is latched byelastic detents 174 provided in afirst bracket 170 ofseat 168. When mountingPCB 160 inseat 168, theprotrusions 166 are fixed in the latches byfurther detents 174 provided at thesecond bracket 172. Theseat 168 thus provides a socket or holder for thePCB 160 to mount it in a fixed position at a side wall ofreservoir 62 to be able to detect thefloater 116 in a reliable manner. - The detail view of
Fig. 17f further shows ashield 176 which is arranged above theseat 168 and thePCB 160 inserted therein and being adapted to shield the PCB against liquid that may drip from above or may run along the outer face ofreservoir 62 towards the PCB. ThePCB shield 176 has aroof section 178 and aside wall 180 to guide water around the PCB. Theside wall 180 has adeflector 182 extending at its lower end, which is inclined away from PCB to further assist in keeping liquid off fromPCB 160. In this embodiment, theshield 176 and theseat 168 are formed as monolithic parts of thefront shell 64, i.e. are injection molded together with the material of thefront shell 64 in one run. Thus, no separate assembling step is required to providePCB seat 168. However, theseat 168 and/or theshield 176 may be mounted at the side wall of thereservoir 62 in a separate assembling step. -
Fig. 18a shows a detail view of the filling area in exploded view as a detail A fromFig. 4 and as already described above.Fig. 18b again shows the filling area for thereservoir 62 with thecondensate drawer 302 being extracted and thelid 40 being open. It shows the embodiment where thefilter opening 44 is separate from the filling opening separated by a rib and wherein the fillinginlet 136 of theunit 70 is just below the fillingopening 46 and thefilter access 134 ofunit 70 is just below thefilter opening 44. Thefilter switch 192 inFig. 18b is at the left position within the filter access oropening 134, which means that afiler valve 198 is closed, while inFig. 18c thefilter switch 192 is in a middle position of thefilter access 134 such that thefilter valve 198 is open. -
Figs. 19a and 19b are detailed cross-sectional views through thereservoir inlet unit 70 in the mounted state, corresponding toFigs. 18b and c , respectively, wherein inFig. 19a thefilter valve 198 is open, while it is closed inFig. 19b . The cross-sections ofFig. 19a and b are taken in a plane parallel to the front of the dryer through the center ofunit 70, wherein the section plane is a vertical plane. Thefilter housing 130 and thefilter 190 housed therein are shown in cross-section, wherein the filter extends in vertical direction and basically has rotational symmetry in a horizontal section plane. At the upper region thefilter 190 has acoarse filter grid 194 forming a cylindrical basket at the upper end. A fine filter mesh (not shown) is supported by thecoarse filter grid 194, wherein the fine filter mesh is adapted to filter the fluff out of the condensate water passing thefilter 190. The filter has a round passage oropening 196 which is arranged neighboring to the opening for thecondensate coupling 106 which is protruding at the rear side ofunit 70. Thus, no rib of thecoarse filter grid 194 crosses the opening for theconnector 106 and the flow resistance for the condensate water coming from the inside volume of the filter passing towards theconnector 106 into thereservoir 62 is minimized. - At the lower end the
filter housing 130 has a section with a lower diameter over which the upper end of theriser pipe 82 is drawn. Thus, the inner of theriser pipe 82 communicates withpassages 208 formed at the lower end of thefilter 190 between avalve seat 206 and avalve head 200 of thefilter valve 198.Fig. 19a shows thevalve 198 in the open state such that thepassages 208 are open (thefilter switch 192 is in the left position when seen inFig. 19a ). InFig. 19b thepassages 208 are closed as thevalve seat 206 abuts against an O-ring 202 arranged at thevalve head 200. In this position thefilter switch 192 is at the right position (in the middle position within the filter access 134). In the closed valve state no condensate water pumped from thecondensate pump unit 92 enters into the inner volume orspace 214 offilter 190 and no filtered condensate water is flowing intoreservoir 62. In the opened valve state (Fig. 19a ) the condensate water coming from thepump unit 92 enters into thefilter housing 130 and theinterior 214 offilter 190 throughpassages 208 and flows upwards through the fine filter andfilter grid 194 such that filtered condensate water is flowing in thespace 216 between the outside of fine filter andfilter grid 194 and inside offilter housing 130 from where it leaves through thecondensate coupling 106. - During phases in which no condensate water is pumped through
filter 130, fluff filtered by the filter may sink down towards thefilter valve 198 where it may eventually block or prevent a proper closing and sealing between thevalve 206 and the valve head 200 (at the O-ring 202). To avoid such blocking, thevalve head 200 has acollector recess 210 which is arranged lower than thevalve head 200 such that fluff or other debris released from the inside of the fine filter collects there without blocking the valve seats. At the upper end offilter housing 130 an O-ring 212 seals the cylindrical ring gap between the outside of the fine mesh (outer space 216) andfilter grid 194 and the inside offilter housing 130 such that no unfiltered condensate water can pass the filter towards thereservoir 62 or towards thefilter access region 134. - In the lower section of the filter 190 a helix-shaped
spring 204 is arranged between the outside offilter 190 and the inside offilter housing 130. Thespring 204 is biased when the valve is open. Whenfilter switch 192 is shifted to the right side (Fig. 19b ), the compressionforce compressing spring 204 is released and thespring 204 lifts the lower section of the filter (the cylindrical pipe section below the filter grid 194) such that thevalve 198 is closed. - The top end of
filter 190 above thefilter grid 194 is formed by thefilter cap 217 which provides a hinge andcam connection 218 to acam 220 which is formed at the lower side offilter switch 192. Thecam 220 has acam curve 222 which interacts with pins arranged at thefilter cap 217. When thefilter 192 is in the left position, a lower section ofcam curve 222 acts on the pins of the filter cap 217 (not shown) and presses thefilter 190 to its lowest position withinfilter housing 130 such that thevalve 198 is open. When thefilter switch 192 is moved to its right position as shown inFig. 19b , the pins at thefilter 217 move upwards along thecam curve 222 due to the bias force ofspring 204. Along this cam curve movement offilter 190 thevalve 198 comes to its closed position such that no condensate water enters throughpassages 208 intofilter 190. In this position and orientation offilter switch 192, thefilter 190 is fixed in its closed position. If starting from the position inFig. 19b , the filter switch is swung upward with the rotation axis at the pins of thefilter cap 217, thefilter switch 192 is released from its position within thefilter access 134 and thefilter switch 192 can be pulled upwards, thereby pullingfilter 190 out of thefilter housing 130 for cleaning the fine mesh andfilter grid 194 from fluff and debris. Thus filterswitch 192 also serves as handle or grip for removing the upper filter part from or insert it into thefilter housing 130. Whenfilter 190 is removed fromfilter housing 130, the lower cylindrical part orpiston 224 that is surrounded by thespring 204 remains within thefilter housing 130 such that the valve portion of the filter is still withinfilter housing 130 such as to close thevalve 198 with the upper portion of filter removed. - When the upper section of the
filter 190 is removed fromfilter housing 130 or when thefilter 192 is in the position ofFig. 19b (valve 198 closed), no filtered condensate water is delivered toreservoir 62 and the user can manually fillreservoir 62 by supplying water or another liquid through the fillinginlet 136. This gives the user the possibility to exclude condensate water from being supplied to thesteam generation unit 140. Instead of filling water or decalcified water into the reservoir, the user may also fill in water with an additive or an additive liquid as such into the reservoir. The additive or additive liquid may be for example a treatment agent for dry cleaning, for waterproofing the laundry, for disinfecting the laundry, for softening the laundry or the like. -
Fig. 6 shows the cross-section throughunit 70 along the section line A-A inFig. 5 . The cross-section is taken through the center offilter 190 and filterhousing 130. The cross-section is in a vertical plane perpendicular to the front of thedryer 2. Here it can be seen that theopening 196 of thefilter grid 194 overlaps or coincides with the opening of thecondensate plug 132. As theother filter grid 194 also theopening 196 in thecoarse filter grid 194 is covered by the fine mesh of the filter. -
Fig. 20a and 20b show top views to thefront frame 30 and the filling area andfilter access 134 of thereservoir inlet unit 70 as described above. - Returning now to
Figs. 12 and 13 , more details ofsteam generator 140 are described now. Thesteam generator 140 is arranged at the upper side of the upper shell or upper cover of thebattery channel 78. Thegenerator 140 has aheater body 142 for heating the liquid supplied fromreservoir 62, wherein theheater body 142 is of the continuous-flow heater type in this embodiment, which only heats small amounts of liquid in a pipe leading through the heater. However, thesteam generator 140 may also be a boiler-type steam generator having a container with a heater inside or outside the container to heat up larger amounts of liquid therein. Aninlet 144 of the heater is connected to apump 148 which in turn is connected to thefeed pipe 84 coming fromreservoir 62.Pump 148 has dosing function in that it pumps an amount of liquid into theheater body 142 in a controlled way (closed loop control or open loop control provided by control unit 300) such as to guarantee that nearly droplet-free steam leaves theheater body 142. Instead of pump 148 a controlled valve could also be provided to dose the liquid amount to be supplied to theheater 142. Theheater body 142 has asteam outlet 146 where the steam generated in theheater body 142 exits towards the laundry storing compartment. - In the embodiment shown, the
steam generator unit 140 uses an inline or flow-through heater in which the water is heated and evaporated to steam while the water is flowing through the heater. However in an embodiment a boiler-type steam generator may be used in which an amount of water is supplied to a boiler container and is heated therein to generate the steam which is drained or exhausted from the liquid surface to the outlet of the boiler chamber. -
Figs. 12 and 13 further show at the rear end of the upper section or upper cover of the base or battery top cover 230 a wheel bearing 232 on which a wheel (not shown) is rotatably mounted atwheel axis 234. Only one of four wheel bearings with wheels is shown on which the cylindrically-shapeddrum 20 is rotatably supported. The rotatable drum is open at the front and rear side, which are closed to form the laundry storing compartment by the compartment backwall 26 and the back side of the front frame and the loading door. At the back side of thefront frame 30 and at the front side of compartmentback wall 26 sealing structures are arranged, to which the front and rear edges of the drum are provided in a mating manner to each other to form a sealing to prevent escape of laundry or process air from the laundry storing compartment.Figs. 29 and 30 show rear perspective views of thedrum 20 and thefront frame 30, wherein thefront edge 21a and therear edge 21b of the cylindrical drum wall are shown. InFig. 30 a portion of the drum cylinder is cut out to have a cross-sectional view to a drum sealing 236 provided at the front side of the drum. The drum sealing 236 is shown in more detail inFig. 31 which is similar to the cross section detail B ofFig. 30 . Thefront edge 21a ofdrum 20 extends into agroove 238 formed at the backside offront frame 30. For sealing between thegroove 238 and thefront edge 21a an O-ring 240 having a rectangular cross-section is inserted into groove and abuts against the front edge. A similar sealing arrangement is provided at the front side of therear frame 31 or the compartment backwall 26. The circular groove for receiving therear edge 21b of drum is arranged at therear frame 31 or theback wall 26 and an O-ring is inserted therein similar to O-ring 240 for sealing against process air or steam escape from the drum to the outside thereof or against invading of outside air into the drum. Additionally the sealing arrangement prevents jamming of laundry in the junction between drum andback wall 26 or loading opening frame and prevents escape of steam from the drum interior. -
Fig. 21 shows a detailed view of asteam inlet unit 250 with thecone 252 corresponding to an enlargement of the circle section A inFig. 12 .Steam outlets 254 are provided at the free-standing end or the front section ofcone 252 at the upper side thereof. It is to be noted that theoutlets 254 do not supply processing air to the laundry storing compartment and that therear wall openings 28 do not supply steam into the laundry storing compartment. -
Fig. 22 shows a cross-section along the section line B-B inFig. 11 such that thefront frame 30 and therear frame 31 are vertically intersected in their respective centers where thesteam inlet unit 250 is mounted at the center of the compartment backwall 26 which is mounted at therear frame 31. Therear frame 31 preferably is formed of a plate-material, like a metal plate, which is structured by pressing. The center region of therear frame 31 forms aback channel wall 256 or back shell of a process airrear channel 258 which extends from the bottom section to a center region of the dryer back side. The process airrear channel 258 is formed between the inner side ofback channel wall 256 and the rear side of the compartment backwall 26 which is mounted to therear frame 31. The process airrear channel 258 guides process air from a blower, which is arranged in a base section of the dryer, upward toward the center of the dryer at the back side where the process air enters the laundry storing chamber through the air inlet openings 28 (compareFig. 2 ).Fig. 22 further shows the inner side of theupper battery channel 78. Thebattery channel 78 is formed between an upper and lower shell forming the basement of the dryer, wherein the figures show only the upper shell asbattery top cover 230. The inner side of the battery channel is here shown by batteryinner wall 260 of the basement upper shell 230 (lower basement shell or lower battery cover is not shown). -
Fig. 23 shows an enlarged view of thesteam inlet unit 250 arranged at the rear frame corresponding to the detail of circle C inFig. 22 . In the vertical cross-section plane from the front to the back side it is seen that thecone 252 has a hollow interior wherein aseparation chamber 264 is arranged at the front or free-standing end section ofcone 252. Theseparation chamber 264 is designed to separate steam, which is supplied into theseparation chamber 264, from droplets that are transported with the steam into the chamber or which are formed at or in theseparation chamber 264. In the shown embodiment the separation chamber is defined at the front end side by the inner wall of thecone 252, while the back side of the chamber is restricted by apartition wall 278. Due to the partition wall the steam does not distribute in all the volume of the cone, but only in theseparation chamber 264 from where it enters into the laundry treatment compartment formed by the drum and the front and rear walls thereof through thesteam outlets 254. By this projected or overhanging construction where thesteam outlets 254 are distant or offset to the walls defining the laundry storing compartment, the steam is introduced closer and more efficient to the inner or center of the storing compartment which results in a more efficient steam distribution in the compartment volume. - Steam is supplied into separation chamber via an
inlet line 266 which has an opening in thepartition wall 278. Anoutlet line 268 is guiding condensed steam or collected droplets to the outside of theseparation chamber 264. At the back side of thepartition wall 278 thelines rear channel 258 to the back side of theback channel wall 256. The feed through 270 guides the twolines chamber 264 through thechannel 258 to the back side of thewall 256, i.e. backside ofrear frame 31. Correspondingly, the feed through 270 has asteam inlet 273 toline 266 connecting to steaminlet 272 atchamber 264. And feed through 270 has acondensate outlet 274 atchamber 264 and arear outlet 275 at the rear end of feed through 270. Preferablyinlet 272 is arranged aboveoutlet 274, however they may also be arranged side by side. Also they need not end at the same plane and can be axially (with respect to the opening plane) offset to each other. I.e.inlet 272 may protrude farther intochamber 264 thanoutlet 274. Additionally a droplet deflector or catcher may be assigned to thesteam inlet 272 which assists in separating droplets from the introduced steam. For example a shield or plate may be arranged between theinlet 272 and theoutlets 254 which the steam on its path from 272 has to bypass before reachingoutlets 254. - In the embodiment shown, a
rear connector 286 is mounted at theback channel wall 256 such that it receives the rear end of the feed through 270. Therear connector 286 has a recess which mates in contour to the outer contour of feed through 270 with O-rings 276 arranged between the outside of feed through 270 and the inside of the recess such to seal thelines rear connector 286 has asteam passage 288 through which steam is supplied to theinlet line 266 and has acondensate passage 290 which receives the condensate from theoutlet line 268. - The bottom of the
separation chamber 264 is defined or restricted by acollector plate 280 which may be formed as part of thecone 252, as part of thepartition wall 278 or may be formed as a separate part which is mounted when assembling thesteam inlet unit 250. Thecollector 280 collects the condensate water and guides it to thecondensate outlet 274 in thepartition wall 278 to guide it out of the cone via theoutlet line 268. Thepartition wall 278 in this embodiment is monolithically formed with the channel feed through 270 (for example in a blow mold or injection mold process), it may be part of thecone 252 or it may be a separate element which is mounted to feed through 270 or tocone 252. - The
cone 252 is mounted to the front side of therear frame 31 using a mountingflange 282 which is glued, screwed, welded or otherwise mounted to the compartment backwall 26. The mountingflange 282 has abayonet connector 283 such as to mount thecone 252 on theflange 282 in a bayonet lock. However, other ways of mounting cone on the flange may be provided or theflange 282 may be omitted and thecone 252 may be directly mounted, welded, glued or fixed to theback wall 26. -
Fig. 24 shows thesteam inlet unit 250 in an exploded view without showing the back frame 31 (back channel wall 256) and the compartment backwall 26. In this view, the notches of thebayonet connector 283 and alatch 285 for lockingcone 252 in the rotation end position of thebayonet connector 283 are shown. As can be seen in the exploded view ofFig. 24 and from cross-section inFig. 23 , spacer bars 284 extend from the back side of thebayonet connector 283. The length or depth of the spacer bars 284 is selected such that they bridge the depth of the process airrear channel 258 to prevent a narrowing of the rear channel during drying operation where the laundry may press against thecone 252, or to stabilize the rear channel for example when the dryer is placed in position in the user's home. -
Fig. 25 shows a rear perspective view of thedryer 2, where the lower section of the base unit and the right side wall are removed. Therear connector 286 is mounted on the rear side ofback channel wall 256 and asteam pipe 292 is fluidly connected with thesteam passage 288 in therear connector 286. Thesteam pipe 292 in turn is connected to thesteam outlet 146 of thesteam generator 140 shown inFig. 13 . Thus, steam can be supplied from thesteam generator 140 throughsteam pipe 292, throughrear connector 286, throughinlet line 266 andsteam inlet 272 intoseparation chamber 264 and from there to the interior ofdrum 20. Further, acondensate pipe 294 is fluidly connected to thecondensate passage 290 ofrear connector 286 and guides the condensate water down along thepipe 294 into thecondensate container 304 of thecondensate pump unit 92 arranged at the back end of the battery channel (compareFig. 13 ). -
Fig. 26 is an enlarged view of the detail B ofFig. 25 where the mounting ofpipes rear connector 286 can be seen. -
Fig. 27 shows a front view of thesteam inlet unit 250 in the assembled state, but with therear frame 31 with its center portion backchannel wall 256 removed. -
Fig. 28 shows as a block diagram some of the components of thedryer 2 and their mutual functional relation. Thereservoir 62 holds liquid which preferably is water. The liquid level inreservoir 62 can be visually detected by a user through thelevel window 68 arranged at a (front) side wall of the reservoir. For improving visual detection, thefloater 116 is floating at the liquid surface where it is shifted up and down along its moving path within the floater cage. When the level drops below the range or to the lower end of the range which is observable throughwindow 68, the "liquid low" level can be detected bydetector unit 126. The detector unit provides a respective signal to thecontrol unit 300 of thedryer 2. If required, sensor power supply voltage is delivered fromcontrol unit 300 tosensor 126 and/or power for operating an illumination device (e.g. LED or lamp) to illuminate the reservoir such that the liquid level can be more easily detected by the user. In an embodiment thedetector unit 126 has the control line or has an additional control line connected to thesteam generator 140 to have a security switch-off provided toheater body 142 in case of low water level. This serves as security measure at a control level below thecontroller 300. - The user can manually fill the
reservoir 62 through fillinginlet 136. In normal operation, condensate produced by the laundry drying process is sufficient to provide enough liquid toreservoir 62, wherein the condensate is provided fromcondensate pump unit 92 through thevalve 198 and filter 190 to the interior orreservoir 62. Fillinginlet 136,valve 198 and filter 190 are provided in thereservoir inlet unit 70 in this embodiment, however, these elements can all or partially be integrated in the body (e.g. one of theshells 64, 66) ofreservoir 62. The user can manually closevalve 198 to stop condensate supply to the reservoir such that the filling of the reservoir is made through fillinginlet 136 only manually.Valve 198 may be integrated inunit 70 or directly in thereservoir 62 or it may be arranged at another position in the supply line from thecondensate pump unit 92 to thereservoir 62. Valve may for example be a controllable valve, like a solenoid valve which is controlled (closed and opened) under the control ofcontrol unit 300. -
Condensate pump unit 92 is fluidly connected to thebattery channel 78 to collect the condensate water which is formed during the drying process at the heat exchanger where the process air is cooled down to remove air humidity therein. Optionally, thecondensate tank 304 in thecondensate pump unit 92 also collects condensate that has condensed in thesteam inlet unit 250 and/or which comes alongoverflow pipe 88 fromreservoir 62. The liquid fromsteam inlet unit 250 and/or fromreservoir 62 can be supplied directly into thecondensate tank 304 or via thebattery channel 78 where it may be introduced at any arbitrary position. Thepump 306 sucks in condensate fromcondensate tank 304 and pumps it through the branch which has thefirst pump outlet 94 to theriser pipe 82 for supplying condensate intoreservoir 62, and through thesecond pump outlet 96 through adrain pipe 83 into thedrawer 302. As mentioned above, a second maximum level detector may be associated to thetank 304 to detect that condensate rises to or above a maximum level of normal operation where all condensate can be pumped todrawer 302. Thus when the second maximum level is reached, the abnormal state indicated thereby may have its origin in the drawer capacity being full and no condensate can be drained bypump 306 into the drawer (or the reservoir 62). Then at least the drying process is stopped to prevent further formation of condensate and the user is informed that thedrawer 302 has to be emptied. In an alternative embodiment or additionally,drawer 302 has another liquid level indicator which sends a signal to controlunit 300 to indicate to the user that the condensate collected indrawer 302 has to be manually removed. As described before, thebranch 94/96 splits the condensate flow rate such that e.g. about one third is supplied to thereservoir 62 and two thirds are supplied todrawer 302. - Through
feed pipe 84 the liquid fromreservoir 62 is supplied to thepump 148 in thesteam generator 140 which supplies controllable amounts of liquid using a control operation of thecontrol unit 300 for thepump 148 operation. The liquid from pump is supplied into theheater body 142. The steam fromheater body 142 is supplied throughsteam pipe 292 into thesteam inlet unit 250 from where the steam is blown throughcone 252 to the interior ofdrum 20. Energizing and de-energizing of theheater 142 is made viacontrol unit 300 which also monitors overheating and/or overpressure in theheater body 142. - User program selections and program option selections are made via the
input section 16 which is connected to controlunit 300, wherein the input section further indicates a status of the dryer, like selected program, remaining drying time, or any malfunction like low liquid level inreservoir 62, over-temperature insteam generator 140 ordrawer 302 full with condensate to be removed.Reference Numeral List: 2 condenser dryer 44 filter opening 4 top cover 46 filling opening 6 left cover 48 hinge 8 front cover 50 front cover top opening 10 loading opening 52 front cover window opening 12 front top panel 13 drawer portion 60 reservoir unit 14 drawer cover 62 reservoir 15a condensate drawer 64 front (first) shell 15b drawer housing 66 rear (second) shell 16 input section 68 level window 18 loading frame 70 reservoir inlet unit 20 drum 72 reservoir mounting bracket 21a front edge 74 riser feed through 21b rear edge 75 supply feed recess 22 window panel 76 base section 24 drawer handle 26 compartment back wall 78 battery channel (upper portion in cover shell) 28 air inlet openings 30 front frame 82 riser pipe 31 rear frame 83 drain pipe 32 filter compartment / 84 feed pipe process air channel 86 overflow feed through 34 fluff filter 88 overflow pipe 36 drawer opening 89 fixing clamps 38 user filling section 90 battery inlet 40 lid 92 condensate pump unit 42 covered section 94 first pump outlet 96 second pump outlet 160 printed circuit board 98 filter inlet 162 REED sensor 100 feed outlet 164 socket 102 overflow outlet 166 protrusion 104 seal 168 seat 106 condensate coupling 170 first bracket 108 filling coupling 172 second bracket 110 inlet unit recess 174 detent 112 pipe recess 176 shield 114 mounting grooves 178 roof 115 front frame rib 180 side wall 116, 116' floater 182 deflector 116a, b, c floater positions 190 filter 117, 117' magnet head 192 filter switch 118 floater cam 194 filter grid 120 window section 196 opening 121 slanted section 198 filter valve 122 detector section 200 valve head 124 floater cage 202 O-ring 126 detector unit 204 spring 128 cable clip 206 valve seat 130 filter housing 208 passage 132 condensate plug 210 collector 134 filter access 212 O-ring 136 filling inlet 214 inner space 138 filling plug 216 outer space 140 steam generator 217 filter cap 142 heater body 218 hinge connection 144 inlet 220 cam 146 steam outlet 222 cam curve 148 pump 224 cylinder piston 230 battery top cover 275 rear outlet 232 wheel bearing 276 O-ring 234 wheel axis 278 partition wall 236 drum sealing 280 collector 238 groove 282 mounting flange 240 O-ring 283 bayonet connector 284 spacer bar 250 steam inlet unit 285 latch 252 cone 286 rear connector 254 steam outlet 288 steam passage 256 back channel wall 290 condensate passage 258 process air rear channel 292 steam pipe 260 battery inner wall 294 condensate pipe 264 separation chamber 266 inlet line 300 control unit 268 outlet line 302 condensate collector/drawer 270 channel feed through 272 steam inlet 304 condensate tank 273 rear inlet 306 pump 274 condensate outlet
Claims (15)
- Liquid reservoir (60, 62) for a domestic home appliance, in particular for a laundry treatment apparatus (2) or dishes treatment apparatus, wherein the liquid reservoir is adapted to store liquid therein and comprises:a floating element (116, 116') adapted to float in the liquid in the reservoir and to indicate the liquid level at least over a portion of the liquid level range in the reservoir, anda guiding device (124) forming a cage for the floating element (116, 116') within the liquid reservoir (60, 62) and adapted to define the movement path of the floating element during liquid level change in the liquid reservoir at least along the portion of the liquid level range,characterized in thatthe liquid reservoir (60, 62) comprises a container (62) formed by or essentially formed by a front or first shell part (64) and a rear or second shell part (66) joined together to form the container or the essential part thereof,the guiding device (124) for guiding the floating element along its movement path during liquid level changes is formed by at least one first guiding element (68) formed at the front or first shell part (64) and by at least one second guiding element (118) formed at the rear or second shell part (66), andthe first and second guiding elements (68, 118) together form the or at least a portion of the cage (124) for the floating element (116, 116') preventing an escape of the floating element from the cage along the movement path of the floating element.
- Liquid reservoir according to claim 1, wherein the first or front shell part (64) or the second or rear shell part (66) has a wall section or a laterally protruding wall section comprising a transparent element (68) or comprising a transparent element at an outermost area thereof,
wherein the floating element (116, 116') is assigned to the transparent element (68), and
wherein at least a portion of the movement path of the floating element is guided by the guiding device (68, 118) along the transparent element (68). - Liquid reservoir according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transparent element (68) is a monolithic part of or is integrally formed with or a single molt part with the first or front shell part (64) or the second or rear shell part (66).
- Liquid reservoir according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the first or front shell part (64) or the second or rear shell part (66) is made of transparent plastic or wherein the at least substantial portion of the liquid reservoir outer wall is a front shell of the liquid reservoir made of transparent plastic.
- Liquid reservoir according to any of the previous claims, wherein the liquid reservoir (60, 62) comprises a liquid level indication unit (126) having a detector (162) adapted to detect at least one position of the floating element (116, 116').
- Liquid reservoir according to claim 5, wherein the detector (162) is arranged at or close to the or a transparent element (68) or the detector is arranged at a position of the movement path of the floating element (116, 116') outside the movement path of the floating element along the or a transparent element (68).
- Liquid reservoir according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the detector (162) is arranged at the first or second shell part (64, 66) and the first or second shell part comprises or forms a seat (168) for receiving the detector.
- Liquid reservoir according to claim 5, 6 or 7, wherein the guiding device (124) is guiding the floating element (116, 116') along the transparent element (68) and along at least one detection position of the detector (162).
- Liquid reservoir according to any of the previous claims, wherein the movement path for the floating element (116, 116') in the guiding device (124) has a vertical component and at least along a portion of the movement path a component slanted with respect to the vertical direction such as to deflect the floating element (116, 116') in a horizontal direction.
- Liquid reservoir according to any of the previous claims, wherein in the guiding device (124) the movement path along the transparent element (68) is horizontally offset to the movement path along the liquid level detection path.
- Liquid reservoir according to any of the previous claims, wherein the floating element (116, 116') comprises a magnetic element (117, 117') and a or the detector (126) comprises a magnetic field sensitive element or a REED element or a Hall sensor.
- Liquid reservoir according to any of the previous claims, wherein the liquid reservoir (60, 62) comprises at its outer surface and close to the movement path of the floating element (116, 116') one or more of the following mounting elements for fixing a or the detector (126) at the liquid reservoir: a fixing socket (168), a snap fit mount (166, 174), a latch (174), a clamping element, a mounting rip, and a concave receptacle.
- Home appliance, in particular laundry treatment apparatus (2) or dish treatment machine, comprising:a storing compartment (20) adapted to receive laundry or dishes to be treated,a front wall (8) of the home appliance having or providing a loading opening (10) for loading laundry or dishes into the storing compartment (20), anda liquid reservoir (60, 62) according to any of the previous claims, which is mounted within the home appliance.
- Home appliance according to claim 13, wherein
the liquid reservoir (60, 62) has a or the transparent element (68) for visual user inspection of the liquid level in the reservoir,
the liquid reservoir is arranged at a position behind the front wall (8), and
the front wall (8) has an opening (52) or a window at a position such that the area of the front wall opening (52) or window at least partially coincides with the area of the transparent element (68). - Home appliance according to claim 13 or 14, comprising a steam generator unit (140) for generating steam during at least one laundry or dishes treatment sequence of the home appliance.
Priority Applications (1)
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EP11195949.0A EP2610398B1 (en) | 2011-12-28 | 2011-12-28 | Liquid reservoir for a home appliance having a liquid level floating element |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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EP11195949.0A EP2610398B1 (en) | 2011-12-28 | 2011-12-28 | Liquid reservoir for a home appliance having a liquid level floating element |
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EP2610398A1 EP2610398A1 (en) | 2013-07-03 |
EP2610398B1 true EP2610398B1 (en) | 2016-03-23 |
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EP11195949.0A Active EP2610398B1 (en) | 2011-12-28 | 2011-12-28 | Liquid reservoir for a home appliance having a liquid level floating element |
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Family Cites Families (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
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DE3708516A1 (en) * | 1987-03-16 | 1988-09-29 | Bosch Siemens Hausgeraete | Overflow protection on a container, preferably in a laundry drier |
DE8811974U1 (en) | 1988-09-22 | 1989-05-11 | Licentia Patent-Verwaltungs-Gmbh, 6000 Frankfurt, De | |
DE102006004589B4 (en) | 2006-02-01 | 2018-11-22 | BSH Hausgeräte GmbH | Drawer and boundary level control device of a household tumble dryer and household tumble dryer |
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2011
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