ES2441381T3 - Panel equipment for a household appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

Panel equipment for a household appliance, in particular for a dishwasher, with a panel (3) and a control panel (5) supported by it, which undisplay (6) is associated on its rear side (24) in front view , as well as with an electronic circuit casing (8) and a circuit board (7) housed in the electronic circuit casing (8), which supports the display (6), presenting the panel (3) centering elements (11, 12), arranged on the rear side (24) of the panel (3) and that after finishing the assembly are housed in the corresponding protrusions (19) of the electronic circuit housing (8) configured for this, characterized in that the centering elements ( 11, 12) have centering extensions (20) that transfinalize the assembly through recesses (22) configured in the protuberances of the housing (19) corresponding to the electronic circuit housing (8) and are housed in recesses (21) of the circuit board (7) conf These are designed correspondingly, such that the circuit board (7) after the final assembly is oriented directly in relation to the panel (13).

Description

The invention relates to a panel equipment for a household appliance, in particular for a dishwasher, according to the preamble of claim 1.

Panel equipment of the aforementioned type is known per se quite well by the state of the art. They find application in household appliances, in particular in washing machines, dryers, dishwashing machines and the like. They are usually configured on the side of the door and may, depending on the configuration of the domestic appliance, be fixed or swivel configured with the domestic appliance door.

The panel equipment already known in the state of the art has a panel and a control panel supported by it. The panel is typically configured as a housing case. On the front side of this housing box, the control panel, which allows the user of the household appliance, when used as prescribed, to operate it is arranged after finishing the assembly. The control panel typically has the corresponding operating elements, such as pushbuttons, selector switches and / or the like.

The control panel is associated with a display on its back side. This display is used to indicate to the user when information is used, for example about the status of the device, about programs chosen by the user and / or similar ones. For this purpose, the control panel has the corresponding indicator field configured on the display, which allows the user to view the display.

The display is typically supported by a circuit board. The circuit board is housed in an electronic circuit enclosure and contains electronic modules, as well as the electronic circuits that link the electronic components together.

After finishing the assembly, the panel on the front side supports the control panel and houses the electronic circuit housing on the back of the control panel. The circuit board that supports the display is arranged inside the electronic circuit housing. Here the different components are coordinated with respect to their geometric dimensions such that the display supported by the circuit board is oriented in the desired way with respect to the indicator field of the control panel.

The corresponding panel equipment is known for example from EP 2 149 960 A1, WO 2009/068518 A1, EP 1 970 479 A2 or US 6 204 459 B1.

Even though the constructive form described above has been proven in its daily practical use, certain drawbacks persist. Thus, in particular, an inconvenience is considered that a satisfactory centered orientation of the display supported by the circuit board with respect to the control panel or its indicator field is not always possible. This insufficient possibility of orientation is conditioned by the design and results due to inevitable manufacturing tolerances. Since the arrangement of the circuit board with respect to the electronic circuit housing, the arrangement of the electronic circuit housing with respect to the panel and the arrangement of the control panel with respect to the panel are in each case affected by tolerances, it may result in the most unfavorable case a sum of the individual tolerances, which result in an off-center and therefore undesired orientation of the display relative to the control panel. Such incorrect positions must be avoided, so it is the task of the invention to continue developing the design of a panel equipment of the type mentioned at the beginning such that a desired orientation of the display supported by the circuit board with respect to the control panel is always ensured. .

To solve this task, a panel device with the characteristics of the claim is proposed with the invention

one.

With the design corresponding to the invention, a direct centered orientation of the circuit board with respect to the panel is provided. Thus, unlike the prior art, a combined orientation of the circuit board with respect to the electronic circuit housing on one side and the electronic circuit housing with respect to the panel on the other hand is not performed. With this, unlike the prior art, an undesirable sum of unavoidable manufacturing tolerances can be avoided, with the advantageous result that a centered orientation is always ensured, as desired, of the display supported by the circuit board with respect to the control panel. command, that is, the indicator field provided by the control panel.

The configuration corresponding to the invention is thus advantageous in that manufacturing and assembly are simplified. Since, according to the invention, a centered orientation of the circuit board is provided directly with respect to the panel, higher manufacturing tolerances can be accepted, in particular as regards the electronic circuit casing without resulting in the inconvenience of the prior art. the unwanted orientation of the display with respect to the control panel. This allows the design corresponding to the invention to be manufactured

and / or assembly simplified and thus cheaper, although the desired orientation of the display with respect to the control panel is ensured.

Within the framework of the invention, centering elements are provided arranged on the rear side of the panel and that after finishing the assembly are housed in the corresponding protrusions of the electronic circuit housing configured for this purpose. Through these centering elements, an oriented arrangement is achieved with respect to the panel. The centering elements are arranged in the exact position in the panel, which can preferably be achieved by configuring the centering elements and the panel as a single piece of plastic.

The centering elements interact with housing protuberances configured in the electronic circuit housing, which house the centering elements when the assembly is finished. In this way, a desired final orientation of the electronic circuit housing with respect to the panel is achieved after assembly.

The centering elements have according to the invention centering extensions. These centering extensions penetrate the final state after mounting in the recesses configured in the protuberances of the housing of electronic elements and fit in the recesses configured in relation to the circuit board. After finishing the assembly, the recesses configured in the circuit board are therefore fitted with the centering extensions supported at the end of the centering elements.

By means of the extensions of centering of the elements of centering a direct centering of the circuit board is achieved with respect to the panel and with it also a direct centering of the display supported by the circuit board with respect to the control panel. Here it means "direct" centering in the sense of the invention that an orientation of the circuit board is made with respect to the panel regardless of the orientation of the electronic circuit casing with respect to the control panel. In terms of design, this is achieved through the centering extensions supported at the end by the panel centering elements, which interact directly with the circuit board because they fit into the final state after mounting on the correspondingly configured recesses of the circuit board

After finishing the assembly, both the circuit board and the electronic circuit housing are oriented with respect to the control panel. This is achieved by fitting the centering elements supported by the panel into the protuberances of the housing provided by the electronic circuit housing. The centering of the circuit board is carried out by means of the extensions of centering that fit through recesses in the protuberances of the housing corresponding to the housing of electronic circuits in the recesses of the circuit board provided for it.

According to another additional feature of the invention, it is provided that the recesses provided by the protuberances of the housing for the centering extensions are surrounded by an edge that protrudes from the protuberances of the housing. This configuration is particularly useful for fire protection. For optical reasons, the panel is mostly formed by a plastic with an optically pleasing surface. They are usually used to configure such optically pleasing plastic surfaces, which are combustible. Since the centering elements configured on the rear side of the panel preferably form a single piece with the panel, fire in case of fire can spread through the panel and centering elements to the interior space of the apparatus that supports the panel. To avoid this, it is planned to configure the electronic circuit housing from a non-combustible plastic material. The use of non-combustible plastic material is possible without more, since the electronic circuit housing is not visible from the outside and therefore no special requirements are made regarding the optical aspect.

The direction and purpose of the edge that goes around according to the invention is to close in case of fire the grooves provided in the protrusions of the electronic circuit housing to drive the centering protuberances therethrough. This prevents the fire from passing through the centering elements to the interior space of the device. Preferably, therefore, a plastic material proceeds for the electronic circuit housing, which under the action of heat and fire flows pasty and at the same time does not burn. It is thus advantageously achieved that in case of fire the edge surrounding the centering protuberances is deformed in a pasty manner and then closes the recesses of the protuberances of the housing, crossed by the centering extensions. This prevents the fire from passing through the interior of the device.

The centering elements have, according to another additional feature of the invention, a base body, which with reference to a view rotated by 90 ° with respect to the centering direction provides a triangular shaped perimeter. In this way a special stability of the centering elements with respect to the panel is achieved. This ensures a more secure centered fastening of the electronic circuit enclosure or of the circuit board with respect to the panel.

According to another additional feature of the invention, centering elements are provided for centering the circuit board and the electronic circuit housing both in the wide and high directions.

According to another additional feature of the invention, other additional centering elements are provided, precisely those which serve to center the circuit board and the electronic circuit housing in the thickness direction with respect to the panel. These additional centering elements can be threaded protrusions, arranged on the back side of the panel. After finishing the assembly, the circuit board and the electronic circuit enclosure are screwed with the panel, for which screws are provided, which are screwed into the corresponding holes in the circuit board and in the electronic circuit casing through to the others centering elements configured as threaded protuberance.

The centering elements are preferably formed by forming a single piece with the panel, for example in the configuration as a piece of cast iron injected with a single piece.

Together with the invention, a design is proposed which allows, at the same time as simple manufacturing and / or assembly, a desirable orientation of the display supported by the circuit board with respect to the control panel. For this purpose, centering elements configured in one piece with the panel are preferably used, allowing direct orientation of the circuit board with respect to the panel.

Other particularities and advantages of the invention result from the following description based on the figures. In this regard they show

Figure 1 in schematic front view, a domestic appliance equipped with a panel equipment corresponding to

the invention; Figure 2 in schematic front view a panel device according to the invention; Figure 3 in partially sectioned side view, a panel device of Figure 2, seen from above; Figure 4 in partially sectioned side view, a panel device according to the invention, from the left; Figure 5 in a schematic exploded view, the panel equipment corresponding to the invention according to

a first sight; Figure 6 in a schematic exploded view, the panel equipment corresponding to the invention according to

a second view; Figure 7 in partially sectioned schematic side representation, the centering of the panel equipment

corresponding to the invention.

Figure 1 shows in schematic front view a domestic appliance in the form of a dishwashing machine 1. The dishwashing machine 1 provides a washing chamber not shown in more detail in the figures, to house the dishes to be washed. The washing chamber is accessible through an opening of the washing chamber, which can be closed by means of a rotatable configured door 2.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, the door 2 of the dishwasher 1 supports a panel device configured in a manner corresponding to the invention, which has a panel 3 and a control panel 5 which it supports. The panel 3 also provides a handle 4, which can be held by the user to perform a turning movement of the door 2.

The panel device also has a display 6, which can be seen through the control panel 5.

Figure 2 shows an enlarged representation of the panel equipment corresponding to the invention. You can see in this representation the control panel 5 housed in the panel 3, which provides on the front side buttons 10 to operate the dishwasher 1. The display 6 is arranged on the back of the control field 5. To allow the user of the dishwashing machine 1 see display 6, the control panel 5 is configured in the area of the display 6 in the corresponding way and has, for example, an indicator field, through which it is possible for the user to perceive the display 6. The control panel 5 can be formed, for example, of plastic, which is transparently configured in the overlap area with the display 6.

Figures 5 and 6 show respective exploded representation classes of the panel equipment in detail.

The panel device has a panel 3, configured as a housing box. After finishing the assembly, the panel 3 houses an electronic circuit housing 8. The electronic circuit housing 8 in turn serves to house a circuit board 7, which supports the display 6.

Figure 5 shows, for a better overview, the electronic circuit housing 8 in a front view and on the contrary the panel 3 is shown in rear view. For assembly as prescribed, the electronic circuit housing 8 must be rotated 180º with respect to the drawing plane according to figure 5, whereby the centering elements 11 and 12 provided by the panel 3 at the rear 24 can enter the threaded protuberances 19 of the electronic circuit housing 8 provided for this purpose. Figure 6 shows the electronic circuit housing 8 and the circuit board 7 mounted.

The electronic circuit housing 8 houses after completing the assembly the circuit board 7, as it is in particular the representations of figures 3 and 4. The circuit board 7 supports the display 6, which after completion of the assembly passes through the perforation 9 configured in the electronic circuit housing 8. The circuit board 7 also has push-buttons 10, which after finishing the assembly also pass through the corresponding perforations in the electronic circuit housing 8.

The panel 3 carries on its back 24 centering elements 11, 12 and 13, the centering element 11 serving for centering in the direction of height 15, centering element 12 for centering in the direction of width and the centering element 13 for centering in the direction of the thickness 17, being a centering of both the electronic circuit casing 8 with respect to the panel 3 as well as the circuit board 7 with respect to the panel 3. In this regard the peculiarity of the configuration corresponding to the invention in which a direct centering of the circuit board 7 is carried out with respect to the panel 3, whereby the display 6 supported by the electronic circuit board 7 is always oriented, as desired, centered with respect to the panel of control 5 or to the indicator panel provided by the control panel 5.

The centering elements 11 and 12 have respective base bodies 25, which with reference to a view rotated by 90 ° with respect to the centering direction provides a triangular perimeter. This ensures a secure support of the electronic circuit housing 8 in the direction of the corresponding centering. After finishing the assembly, the centering elements 11 and 12 fit into the protuberances of the housing 19 provided by the electronic circuit housing, as is in particular the sectional representations of Figures 3, 4 and 7. The interaction between the protrusions of the housing 19 and the centering elements 11 and 12 results in a fixing of the electronic circuit housing 8 with respect to the panel 3 in the direction of height 15, as well as in the direction of width 16.

In order to center the circuit board 7, the centering elements 11 and 12 have respective centering extensions 20. They cross after finishing the assembly of recesses 21 configured on the side of the circuit board in the protrusions of the housing 19 and fit into recesses. 14 of the circuit board 7 configured corresponding to the centering extensions 20. In this way a direct centering of the circuit board 7 with respect to the panel 3 is achieved, both in the direction of the height 15 and also in the direction of the width 16.

To achieve the centering in the thickness direction 17, the panel 3 has other centering elements 13. These are configured as threaded protrusions and interact with screws not shown in more detail in the figures. After finishing the assembly, the circuit board 7 and the electronic circuit housing 8 are screwed with the panel 3, the screws passing through the corresponding recess in the circuit board 7 and the electronic circuit housing 8 and screwing in the corresponding centering elements 13 configured as threaded protuberances.

In particular, the representation of Figure 7 shows that each protuberance of the housing 19 is configured on the side of the circuit board with an edge 23 around it. In this regard, the electronic circuit housing 8 is composed and with it also the protuberances of the housing 19 constituted therein forming a single piece preferably by a non-combustible plastic material, which under the action of heat flows pasty. This ensures in case of fire that the plastic material of the electronic circuit housing 8 that forms the edge 23 softens and as a result of its pasty creep characteristics, closes the recesses 21 configured in each case in the threaded protrusions 19, thereby preventing the passage of fire through the centering elements 11 and 12 to the inner chamber of the appliance of the dishwasher 1.

As can also be seen in the representations of Figures 3 and 4, a distance configuration of the circuit board 7 is achieved by means of the centering elements 11 with respect to the panel 3, resulting in a sufficient constructive space for the electrical components 18 and 22 supported by the panel side by the circuit board 7.

References

one

dishwasher machine

2

door

3

panel

4

handle

5

control panel

6

display

7

electronic circuit board

8

electronic circuit casing

9

drilling

10

button

eleven

centering element (Z direction)

5

12

centering element (Y direction)

13

centering element (X direction)

14

recess

5

15 16 height direction (Z direction) width direction (Y direction)

17

thickness direction (X direction)

18

Electronic components

19

shell extrusion

10

20 21 extension of centered recess

22

Electronic components

2. 3

edge

24

back side

fifteen

25 base body

Claims (10)

1. Panel equipment for a household appliance, in particular for a dishwasher, with a panel (3) and a control panel (5) supported by it, which on its rear side (24) in front view has an associated display (6), as well as with an electronic circuit housing (8) and a circuit board (7) housed in the electronic circuit housing (8), which supports the display (6), presenting the panel (3) elements centering (11, 12), arranged on the rear side (24) of the panel (3) and that after finishing the assembly are housed in the corresponding protrusions (19) of the electronic circuit housing (8) configured for it, characterized because the centering elements (11, 12) have centering extensions (20) that, after finishing the assembly, pass through recesses (22) configured in the protuberances of the housing (19) corresponding to the electronic circuit housing (8) and are housed in recesses (21) of the circ plate uitos (7) configured correspondingly, such that the circuit board (7) after final assembly is oriented directly centered with respect to the panel (13).

2.

Panel equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that of the recesses (21) provided by the protrusions of the housing (9) for centering extensions (20) an edge protrudes around (23) of the protuberances of the housing ( 19).

3.

Panel equipment according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the centering elements (11, 12) have a base body (25), which with reference to a view rotated by 90 ° with respect to the centering direction provides a shaped perimeter of triangle.

Four.

Panel equipment according to claim 3, characterized in that the base bodies (25) support respective centering extensions (20) away from the panel.

5.

Panel equipment according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the centering elements (11, 12) are provided for centering the circuit board

(7) and of the electronic circuit housing (8) both in the width direction and also in the height direction (15, 16).

6.

Panel equipment according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that other centering elements (13) are provided for centering the circuit board

(7) and of the electronic circuit housing (8) in the thickness direction (17).

7.

Panel equipment according to claim 6, characterized in that the other centering elements are threaded protrusions, arranged on the rear side (24) of the panel (3).

8.

Panel equipment according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that after completing the assembly the circuit board (7) and the electronic circuit housing (8) are screwed with the panel (3), for which screws are provided, which are screwed into the other centering elements (13) configured as threaded protrusions through the corresponding holes in the circuit board (7) and in the electronic circuit housing (8).

9.

Panel equipment according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the centering elements (11, 12, 13) are configured in one piece with the panel (3).

10.

 Panel equipment according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the electronic circuit housing (8) is formed by a non-combustible plastic.