EP3315649A1

EP3315649A1 - Dashboard for electrical appliances and electrical appliance having such dashboard

Info

Publication number: EP3315649A1
Application number: EP17193753.5A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Aldo Fumagalli
Original assignee: Candy SpA
Current assignee: Candy SpA
Priority date: 2016-10-25
Filing date: 2017-09-28
Publication date: 2018-05-02
Anticipated expiration: 2037-09-28
Also published as: EP3315649B1; TR201906697T4; RU2017135032A; RU2017135032A3; IT201600107154A1; ES2725685T3; CN107990206A; RU2745909C2

Abstract

The present invention relates to a dashboard and an electrical appliance having such control panel. The dashboard (7) has a wall (8) forming a compartment (12) and having a surface (13) facing the interior of the compartment (12) and a front surface (14) exposed to the exterior, having thereon an on-off control (24, 29) for powering said electrical appliance on/off as well as controls (25, 26, 27 and 28) for actuating the operating functions of said electrical appliance (1) after power-up. The dashboard (7) is characterized in that the power on/off controls (24, 29) and the controls for actuation of the operating functions (25, 26, 27 and 28) are in the form of respective illuminated icons symbolically representing the functions performed thereby, said functions being able to be actuated by the user touching the respective icons, said illuminated icons being made visible upon actuation of the machine power-on control (24, 29) and being made invisible upon power-off, said illuminated icons (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29), when formed, being visible from the outside through said wall (8) of the dashboard (7), the thickness of said wall (8) at said illuminated icons (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29) being smaller than the general thickness of said wall (8).

Description

Technical field

The present invention relates to a dashboard for electrical appliances and an electrical appliance having such dashboard, as defined in the preamble of claim 1.
Particularly, but without limitation, the electrical appliance is a laundry washing machine, a dishwasher, a laundry drying machine, a washer-drier combo, a refrigerator or the like, and the dashboard is of the type having a wall defining a surface that faces the interior and an exposed front surface that can be viewed from the outside by a user, and has thereon the on-off control for powering the electrical appliance on/off as well as the controls for actuating the operating functions of the electrical appliance after power-up.

Background of the invention

In the prior art, the on-off controls and the function selecting controls upon power-up are arranged on the front surface of the dashboard of an electrical appliance, i.e. on the outer or exposed surface that can be viewed from the outside by a user during typical operation of the electrical appliance.
The on-off controls of the electrical appliances as mentioned hereinabove typically consist of pushbutton- or toggle-operated mechanical devices. The controls for selecting the functions upon power-up, such as temperature selection, washing program selection, etc. are actuated by mechanical pushbuttons or by rotating knobs, or by means providing physical displacement of a mechanical member.
In other embodiments of the prior art, the controls for selecting the functions upon power-up can be actuated by pressing icons on a liquid crystal display (LCD).
The configurations of the above described controls require access from outside the front wall of the control panel, whereby openings or slots must be formed in the front wall of the control panel. This will also require special molds to be formed for making the dashboard as well as the pushbuttons, the toggles and the knobs that must be associated with the control panel.
This arrangement is disclosed, for example, in EP1970479 .
These technological requirements involve costs both for making the molds and for managing stocks, also considering the increasingly frequent stylistic changes of electrical appliances.
Furthermore, the above discussed configurations restrict the freedom of designing the visible parts of the dashboard and the coordination of its front wall with that of the electrical appliance, e.g. with the loading door.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In this context, the object of the present invention is to obviate the aforementioned drawbacks by providing a technical solution for the provision of the controls on the dashboard of the electrical appliances as mentioned hereinabove, without requiring slots or openings to be formed through the front wall of the control panel.
The aforementioned technical purpose and object are substantially fulfilled by a dashboard for electrical appliance and by an electrical appliance comprising such dashboard that has the technical features as disclosed in one or more of the accompanying claims.

Advantages

The present invention avoids the need of providing control panels with slots or opening extending through its front wall.
Therefore, the present invention eventually avoids the need of providing all the molds required for forming the pushbuttons, the toggles and the knobs.

LIST OF DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the present invention will result more clearly from the illustrative, non-limiting description of a preferred, non-exclusive embodiment of a dashboard for electrical appliances as shown in the annexed drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front schematic view of an electrical appliance, namely a laundry washing machine, having a dashboard of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a diagrammatic side view of the electrical appliance of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a diagrammatic top view of the electrical appliance of Figure 1;
Figure 4 is a front view of the electrical appliance of Figure 1;
Figure 5 is a sectional view as taken along line V/V of Figure 4;
Figure 6 is a diagrammatic exploded perspective view of the dashboard of the electrical appliance of Figure 1 and its parts;
Figure 7 is a front view of the dashboard of the electrical appliance of Figure 1, in the off state of the latter;
Figure 8 is the front view of the dashboard of Figure 7 in the on state of the latter, i.e. when the on/off pushbutton of the electrical appliance has been switched on.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Even when this is not expressly stated, the individual features as described with reference to the particular embodiments shall be intended as auxiliary to and/or interchangeable with other features described with reference to other exemplary embodiments.
Referring to the above figures and particularly to Figures 1, 2 and 3, numeral 1 generally designates an electrical appliance, such as a laundry washing machine, of the type of electrical appliances that fall in the field of application of the present invention.
Other electrical appliances that can fall in the field of application of the present invention may be, for instance, a dishwasher, a laundry drying machine, a washer-drier combo, a refrigerator or similar appliances.
Numeral 2 designates the laundry-loading door, that can be opened and closed by means of a handle, generally referenced 3.
The door of a housing for a conventional filter is generally referenced 4 in Figure 1.
Numerals 5 and 6 designate the bottom and the top of the electrical appliance 1 respectively.
The electrical appliance 1 comprises a dashboard for the operating controls, generally referenced 7, which is located directly above the front door 2 and below the top 6 in the illustrated embodiment.
According to the invention and referring to Figures 4, 5 and 6, the dashboard 7 comprises a wall 8 which, with a top wall 9 and the sides 10 and 11, forms a compartment 12 behind it.
Therefore, the dashboard 7 is embodied with a substantially box-like shape.
Particularly, the wall 8 of the dashboard 7 has a surface 13 that faces the interior of the compartment 12 and a front surface 14.
In other words, the wall 8 defines a surface 13 that faces the interior, e.g. the interior of the electrical appliance 1 when the dashboard 7 is associated with the electrical appliance 1, and the front surface 14 can be viewed by a user from the outside, e.g. from outside the electrical appliance 1, during normal operation of the electrical appliance.
The front surface 14, i.e. the surface exposed to the user, also referring to Figure 8, has thereon the on-off control for powering the electrical appliance 1 on/off as well as controls for actuating the various operating functions 25, 26, 27 and 28 of the electrical appliance 1 once the electrical appliance has been powered on, i.e. upon actuation of the on-off control.
It should be noted that the on-off control 24, 29 for powering the electrical appliance 1 on/off as well as the controls 25, 26, 27 and 28 for actuating the various functions of the electrical appliance 1 are formed or obtained by generating respective illuminated icons, as described in greater detail hereinafter.
Particularly, implementation of the on-off control 24, 29 and the controls 25, 26, 27 and 28 for actuating the various functions of the electrical appliance 1 in the dashboard 7 does not require the dashboard 7 to use pushbutton- or toggle-operated mechanical devices or displays, such as LCD.
In a peculiar aspect, the front surface 14 of the wall 8 of the dashboard 7 and the wall 8 itself are seamlessly formed, that is the wall 8 does not require openings or slots to be formed therein for accommodating the aforementioned pushbutton - or toggle-operated mechanical devices or the displays and cutouts or the like to be formed in said wall 8.
In one embodiment, the dashboard 7, or at least the front wall 8 thereof, is obtained by injection molding of a thermoplastic material having an appropriate light transmittance degree (Tλ).
In a preferred embodiment, the thermoplastic material in use is known with the trade name "STYROLUX" ®.
The general thickness S of the wall 8 of the dashboard is preferably 2.5 mm.
According to a preferred embodiment, also referring to Figure 5, the wall 8, proximate to the side 11 of the dashboard 7, has a recess 15 formed therein by reducing the thickness of the wall 8 to a value S1 ranging from 25 to 50% of the general thickness S of the wall 8, preferably to a thickness S1 that ranges from 0.6 mm to 1.2 mm.
The reduction of the general thickness S of the wall 8 at the recess 15 affords improved light transmission through this area of the wall 8 such that the icons corresponding to the operating controls of the electrical appliance 1 can appear outside the same area, and their functionality can be improved by touch control, as better explained below.
Particularly referring now to Figure 6, numeral 16 designates a support plate for electronic light-emitting devices, such as LED diodes, referenced 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 respectively, which are conventionally designed to form illuminated icons corresponding to respective controls for the electrical appliance 1, or to particular operating functions thereof.
The plate 16, with the electronic light-emitting devices 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 arranged thereon, for instance, in a row, is attached to the smaller-thickness portion S1 of the wall 8 at the recess 15, e.g. by means of a frame 22.
Advantageously, the wall 8 of the dashboard 7 has optical qualities involving a permeability to light that allows the passage of visible light emitted by LED devices without significant degradation of such visible LED light.
A pressure-sensitive film 23, also known as touch-sensitive film, is placed at the front of the electronic light-emitting devices 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 mounted to the plate 16, between such devices and the reduced-thickness portion S of the wall 8.
This film 23 is made of a material that is known per se and will not be further described.
Particularly, the film 23 is configured to be in signal communication with a control and processing unit CPU forming part of the electrical appliance 1.
In one aspect, a touch on the area of the illuminated icon causes the film 23 to electrically interact with the CPU of the electrical appliance 1, thereby actuating the corresponding control or function of the electrical appliance.
According to the invention, the electronic light-emitting devices 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 that form respective illuminated icons, are only actuated by first actuating the on-off control 24, 29 of the electrical appliance 1 whereby, when the electrical appliance is in the off state, no icon is visible on the dashboard 7 through its wall 8.
Access to the on-off function of the machine and to the creation of icons for the operating functions is provided by forming the outer surface 14 of the wall with a sign, a protrusion or a silk-screen print 24 in the relevant point of such surface.
Namely, this sign 24 is placed on the surface 14 at the same location as the electronic device 17 for creating the on-off control icon and as the portion 23a of the film 23.
It shall be understood that the touch on the film 23, even through the thickness of the wall 8, reduced to the value S1, causes the CPU to actuate the on control, resulting in the appearance of all the controls of the electrical appliance, including the on-off control 24.
Figure 7 shows the machine in the off state, with the sign 24 being only visible on the front surface 14. This sign 24 is indicative of the position in which the touch by the operator causes the electrical appliance to be powered on.
Furthermore, still in Figure 7, no control for actuating the various functions 25, 26, 27 and 28 of the electrical appliance 1 is shown.
Conversely, Figure 8 shows the state in which, once the machine has been powered on through the front surface 14 of the wall 8, in its reduced-thickness portion S1, all the illuminated icons 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 formed of the electronic devices 21, 20, 19, 18, and 17 and representing corresponding controls, appear and are visible from the outside by the user.
It shall be noted that, in Figure 8, the icon 29 representative of special functions of the electrical appliance 1 may coincide with the icon 24, which is representative of the on-off control of the electrical appliance 1.
The invention is susceptible of a number of variant embodiments, concerning, for example, the type of electronic devices that form the illuminated icons, the touch actuation of the controls through the film 23, which may be of capacitive or resistive type, as well as the form of the sign that indicates the position in which the on-off control icon will appear, possibly with the same image as the corresponding icon.
Those skilled in the art will obviously appreciate that a number of changes and variants may be made to the arrangements as described hereinbefore to meet incidental and specific needs. All of these variants and changes fall within scope of the invention, as defined in the following claims.

Claims

A dashboard (7) for an electrical appliance (1) such as a laundry washing machine, a dishwasher, a laundry drying machine, a washer-drier combo, a refrigerator or the like, said dashboard (7) comprising a wall (8) forming a compartment (12) and having a surface (13) facing the interior of the compartment (12) and a front surface (14) exposed to the exterior, having thereon an on-off control (24, 29) for powering said electrical appliance on/off as well as controls (25, 26, 27 and 28) for actuating the operating functions of said electrical appliance (1) after power-up, characterized in that said power on/off controls (24, 29) and the controls for actuation of the operating functions (25, 26, 27 and 28) are in the form of respective illuminated icons symbolically representing the functions performed thereby, said functions being able to be actuated by the user touching the respective icons, said illuminated icons being made visible upon actuation of the machine power-on control (24, 29) and being made invisible upon power-off, said illuminated icons (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29), when formed, being visible from the outside through said wall (8) of the dashboard (7) on said front surface (14).
A dashboard as claimed in claim 1 wherein, at said illuminated icons (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29), said wall (8) has a reduced thickness as compared with the general thickness of said wall (8).
A dashboard as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the thickness of said wall (8) at said illuminated icons (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29) falls in a range of values from 25% to 50% of the general thickness of said wall (8).
A dashboard as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least said wall (8) is obtained by injection molding of a thermoplastic material.
A dashboard as claimed in claim 1, wherein said front surface (14) and said wall (8) are formed seamlessly.
A dashboard as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein said general thickness (S) is 2.5 mm and said thickness (S1) at said illuminated icons ranges from 0.6 mm to 1.20 mm.
A dashboard as claimed in any of the preceding claims comprising a sign (24) formed on said front surface (14) of said wall (8) and located proximate to the position of the power on-off icon for such position to be detectable even when the appliance is off.
A dashboard as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein said illuminated icons (25, 26, 27, 28, 29) are formed of respective electronic light-emitting devices (17, 18, 19, 20, 21) placed on a support plate (16), said plate being attached to said wall (8) of the dashboard (7) on a niche portion (15) of the surface (13), which faces the interior of the dashboard (7), said electronic devices (17, 18, 19, 20) forming the icons being switched on and off by switching on and off said on-off control (24, 29).
A dashboard as claimed in claim 8, wherein said niche portion (15) having said plate (16) with the electronic light-emitting devices (17, 18, 19, 20, 21) attached therein, has said smaller thickness as compared with said general thickness of said wall (8).
A dashboard as claimed in claim 8 or 9, wherein a touch-sensitive film (23) is placed between said electronic light-emitting devices (17, 18, 19, 20, 21) and said surface (13) facing the interior of said dashboard (7).
A dashboard as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein said on-off controls (24, 29) and the controls for actuating the operating functions (25, 26, 27 and 28) do not project out of said front surface (14) or said surface (13) of said wall (8).
An electrical appliance (1) such as a laundry washing machine, a dishwasher, a laundry drying machine, a washer-drier combo, a refrigerator or the like, having a dashboard (7) as claimed in any of the preceding claims 1 to 11, said electrical appliance (1) comprising an electronic control and processing unit (CPU), which is configured to manage the operation and the operating steps of said electrical appliance, wherein said touch-sensitive film (23) is configured to interact, as the icon on the front surface (14) of the wall (8) is touched, with the corresponding control symbolized by the icon, said film (23) being in signal communication with said electronic control and processing unit (CPU).