JP2006116324A - Drum washing machine having lower side openable and linearly movable door - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drum washing machine having a lower side openable and linearly movable door which can be utilized as a laundry holder when the door is open, can be easily opened even if the washing machine is installed in a narrow space and can be pushed to the inner side of a cabinet to conveniently take the laundry in and out, thus enhancing convenience for a user. <P>SOLUTION: The drum washing machine having the lower side openable and linearly movable door includes a cabinet having an opening formed at a front surface to take the laundry in and out, the door provided on the front surface of the cabinet to open or close the opening, an opening/closing guide mechanism connected between the cabinet and the door to open the door while moving it downwardly and close it while moving it upwardly such that the front surface of the door faces upwardly when the door is opened, and a linear movement mechanism to linearly move the door movably in the inner side direction of the cabinet when the door is opened. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a door opening / closing structure of a drum washing machine, and more specifically, the door is used as a place for laundry with the door opened downward, and moved to the inside of the cabinet when necessary with the door open. The present invention relates to a drum washing machine provided with a lower open type forward / backward movable door.

  Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 1, a drum washing machine has a tab 1 provided in a substantially horizontal direction on the front surface of a cabinet 1, an opening 3 communicating with the inside of the drum, and a door 5 that can open and close the opening 3. And are provided.

  One side of the door 5 is connected to the opening 3 of the cabinet 1 by a hinge assembly 7. In this state, the door 5 can be opened and closed by pulling or pushing a handle provided on the other side. ing.

  The door 5 is provided with a door glass 5b on a circular door frame 5a. The door glass 5b is generally made of a transparent glass material, and has a convex structure that swells to the inside of the washing machine so as to come into contact with the gasket 9 provided inside the cabinet 1.

  However, since the door of such a conventional drum washing machine is opened in an open / close manner in the lateral direction, the washing machine 1 is installed in close contact with the wall surface W as shown in FIG. There is a problem that the door 5 may not be opened completely. If the door 5 is not fully opened in this manner, the swelled door glass 5b is positioned on the opening 3 side of the washing machine, and when the user puts in or out the laundry, interference occurs, which is inconvenient. There was a problem that there was.

  When the laundry is finished, the user takes out the laundry from the washing machine. At this time, since the laundry is intertwined, the laundry may fall to the bottom in the process of taking out the laundry. In many cases, there was a problem that the clothes had to be washed again.

  In addition, when the laundry is finished, the laundry is taken out from the washing machine, and the laundry is put in another container, and another laundry is taken out again, but at this time, the laundry is put in There is a problem that a container to be placed is further required, and the user feels inconvenience in the process of taking out the laundry.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to allow the door to be opened and closed by moving it up and down, and to be used as a laundry place when the door is opened. If necessary, the opened door can be moved to the inside of the washing machine, which makes it easy to open the door and conveniently put the laundry in a narrow place. It is an object of the present invention to provide a drum washing machine having a lower opening type front / rear door that can be inserted and removed to improve user convenience.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the drum washing machine provided with the lower open type forward / backward movement door according to the present invention, the cabinet provided with an opening on the front side so that the laundry can enter and exit, The door is provided on the front of the cabinet and is connected between the cabinet and the door that opens and closes the opening, and when the door is opened, the door moves downward so that the front of the door faces upward. An opening / closing guide mechanism that is opened while being moved and closed while being moved upward, and a forward / backward movement mechanism that moves the door back and forth so as to be movable inward of the cabinet when the door is open. Features.

  According to the present invention, the door is connected to the cabinet by the door opening / closing mechanism, and can be opened and closed while moving in the vertical direction, and if necessary, the door can be moved to the inside of the cabinet with the door opened. Therefore, when the door is opened, it can be used as a place to store laundry, and even when a washing machine is installed in a narrow space, the door can be easily opened, and the door can be pushed into the cabinet. Thus, the laundry can be conveniently put in and out, and there is an advantage that the convenience of the user is improved.

  In addition, since the door is automatically opened and closed using an electric motor or the like and can be moved back and forth, the door can be automatically opened and closed and moved, thereby further improving user convenience. There is also an advantage.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  3 to 5 are diagrams showing the drum washing machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing an open / closed state of the door, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic side view showing a state in which the door moves back and forth.

  6 to 9 are perspective views showing the door open / close and forward / backward movement states according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 shows the door closed state, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a view showing the door in the open state, and FIG. 9 is a view showing the door in the back-and-forth movement state.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 to 9, the drum washing machine having the lower open type front and rear doors according to the first embodiment of the present invention forms an outline of the washing machine and puts laundry on the front surface. The cabinet 10 is provided with an opening 11 for projecting.

  An apparatus for washing is provided inside the cabinet 10, and as shown in FIG. 3, the main components are supported inside the cabinet 10 by a spring 21 and a damper 22 to wash water. There are provided a tab 23 to be stored, a drum 25 provided inside the tab 23 for washing laundry while rotating, and a drive motor 27 for rotating the drum 25.

  Further, the opening 11 of the cabinet 10 communicates with the opening of the tab 23 and the drum 25 so that the laundry can be put in and out of the drum 25, and the opening of the cabinet 10 and the tab 23 is communicated. A gasket 29 is provided between the sections so that washing water or the like does not enter the cabinet 10 during the washing process.

  The cabinet 10 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. The cabinet body 12 forms a side surface and a rear surface, a base 13 forms a bottom surface, a top cover 14 forms an upper surface, and forms a front surface. The front cover 15 is formed.

  A control panel 17 having various operation switches for operating the washing machine and a display device for displaying the operating state of the washing machine is provided on the upper portion of the front cover 15. The control panel 17 may be provided at another position such as the top cover 14 on the upper surface of the cabinet 10 according to the design conditions of the washing machine.

  A clean door 19 that is opened when a door 30 described later enters the inside of the cabinet 10 is provided at the lower portion of the front cover 15 on the cabinet body 12 or the base 13. The clean door 19 will be described later.

  A door 20 that opens and closes the opening 11 is provided on the front surface of the front cover 15. Here, the front cover 15 has the control panel 17 and the clean door 19 so that the outer surface when the door 30 is closed has the same height as the outer surface of the control panel 17 and the clean door 19. Rather than the cabinet body 12 and the control panel 17, the cabinet 10 is installed at a relatively inner position of the cabinet 10.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, a ring-shaped opening frame 16 that forms the opening 11 is formed at the center of the front cover 15, and the gasket 29 is attached to the opening frame 16.

  The door 30 has a substantially square structure in the same shape as the front cover 15. The door 30 is formed in a square plate shape, and is provided at a door frame 31 that matches the shape of the front surface of the front cover 15 and at the center of the door frame 31, and protrudes inside the opening of the cabinet 10. It is comprised with the container-shaped door glass 35 closely_contact | adhered to the said gasket 29. FIG.

  The door frame 31 is bent into an L shape so that both side portions thereof form the side surface of the door, thereby forming a side surface portion 32. A link opening / closing mechanism 40, which is a door opening / closing mechanism described later, is connected to both the side surfaces 32.

  The door glass 35 abuts on the gasket 29 and is formed in a container shape that can accommodate laundry with the door 30 opened. Such a door glass 35 is composed of a ring-shaped glass frame 36 attached to the door frame 31 and a container-shaped glass 37 which is formed in a container shape which is recessed so as to be able to accommodate laundry and which is coupled to the glass frame 36. Is done.

  Here, the glass frame 36 is preferably formed of a metal material or a synthetic resin material, and the container-shaped glass 37 is preferably formed of a transparent member such as glass so that the inside of the washing machine can be seen.

  The door 30 is provided with a handle 39 that is gripped when the door is opened and closed, and the handle 39 is preferably provided with two upper and lower 39U, 39D.

  Such a door 30 is opened with the front surface of the door 30 facing upward so that the laundry can be temporarily stored when the laundry is opened and the laundry is taken out. Therefore, the door 30 is opened while moving downward in the cabinet 10, and is closed while moving upward.

  A door opening / closing mechanism is provided on both sides of the door 30 between the door 30 and the moving base 61 so that the door 30 can be opened and closed. It consists of links. Here, the moving base 61 is a component that constitutes a back-and-forth movement mechanism 60 that moves the door 30 back and forth so that the door 30 can move toward the inside of the cabinet 10 when the door 30 is open. Will be described later.

  The link opening / closing mechanism 40 includes two link members 41 and 45 connected to both sides of the door 30 in a four-bar link system.

  The link opening / closing mechanism 40 includes a first link member 41 and a second link member 45 respectively connected to a moving base 61 inside the cabinet 10 in the side surface portion 32 of the door 30. . Here, the first link member 41 is connected to the center portion of the side surface portion 32 of the door 30 and the front portion of the moving base 60, and the second link member 45 is connected to the first link member. The upper part of the side part 32 of the door 30 that is relatively higher than the connecting part 41 and the rear part of the moving base 60 are connected.

  The side surface 32 of the door 30 is provided with connecting shafts 42 and 46 of the door 30 so that the upper ends of the first link member 41 and the second link member 45 are connected to each other. Link brackets 43 and 47 are provided on the moving base 60 so that the lower ends of the first link member 41 and the second link member 45 are connected to each other. Needless to say, the link brackets 43 and 47 are provided with hinge shafts 44 and 48 so that the two link members 41 and 45 are rotatably connected.

  The back-and-forth motion mechanism 60 is provided on the base 13 of the cabinet 10 so as to be able to move back and forth, and is provided between the base 13 and the mobile base 61. Movement guide means for guiding the movement base 61 to be moved back and forth.

  The moving guide means includes guide rails 65 provided on the base 13 on both sides of the moving base 61 and a plurality of rollers provided on both sides of the moving base 61 and moving along the guide rail 65. 63.

  Further, the forward / backward movement mechanism 60 is provided with a movement restricting means for restricting the forward / backward movement of the door. The movement restricting means 67 is configured such that when the door 30 is opened and closed, the movement base 61 is connected to the cabinet. The movement to the inside of 10 is restricted.

  Such movement restricting means 67 is preferably provided so as to protrude from the guide rail 65 so that the roller 63 gets over when a certain level of force is applied to the door 30 or the moving base 61.

  The clean door 19 that forms the lower part of the front surface of the cabinet 10 is opened when the door 30 moves to the inside of the cabinet 10, but the lower ends on both sides thereof are connected to the cabinet 10 side by hinge shafts 20 so as to be rotatable. Being done. Of course, the hinge shaft 20 is preferably provided with an elastic member (not shown) that returns the door 30 to its original position when the door 30 is moved to the outside of the cabinet 10. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 9, when the clean door 19 is pushed into the cabinet 10 with the door 30 in the open state, the pushing force of the upper end of the door 30 causes the hinge shaft 20 to be centered. When the door 30 is opened while rotating and then moves outward from the cabinet 10, the lower portion of the front surface of the cabinet 10 is automatically closed while rotating by the force of the elastic member.

  As shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the front cover 15 and the clean door 19 constituting the front surface of the cabinet 10 are long in the vertical direction so as to form a path for the link members 41 and 45 to move. Slits 15s and 19s are provided, respectively.

  The slits 15s and 19s are provided with a foreign matter inflow preventing member 50 that prevents the inflow of foreign matter and makes the link members 41 and 45 movable. The foreign matter inflow prevention member 50 can be constituted by a soft brush, a bifurcated rubber member (not shown), or the like.

  Further, the clean door 19 is preferably provided with a stopper 55 at the lower end of the slit 19s for stopping the door 30 in an opened state in a substantially horizontal direction. The stopper 55 is variously formed on the connecting portion of the link members 41 and 45 of the door 30, the link brackets 43 and 47 on the cabinet 10 side, or the link members 41 and 45 itself, and the door 30 and the link members 41 and 45 are formed. May be configured not to move downward any further.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the drum washing machine provided with the lower open type front and rear door according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 6, when the door 30 is closed, when the lower handle 39D is taken and pulled downward to open the door, the door 30 goes through the process of FIG. Is moved downward, and the lower end is opened as shown in FIG. 8 while moving in a substantially horizontal direction in front of the washing machine.

  That is, after the door 30 connected to the moving base 61 by the two pairs of link members 41 and 45 is moved to the front of the washing machine as shown in FIG. As described above, the door 30 is opened while moving downward until it is substantially horizontal. At this time, the link members 41 and 45 rotate downward along the slits 15 s and 19 s provided on the front surface of the cabinet 10 until the stoppers 55 are engaged.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the roller 63 of the moving base 61 does not move on the movement restricting means 67, so that the door 30 can be opened and closed in a stable state where the door 30 does not move back and forth. It becomes like this.

  In this way, the user can push the opened door 30 into the inside of the cabinet 10 if necessary with the door 30 opened, but the door 30 is opened as shown in FIG. In this state, when the door 30 is pushed to the cabinet 10 side, the moving base 61 connected to the door by the two pairs of link members 41 and 45 moves inward along the guide rail 65. At this time, the door 30 Then, the clean door 19 is pushed and rotated inside the cabinet 10 to move into the cabinet 10.

  Therefore, in the state shown in FIG. 9, the door 30 allows the user to put the laundry into the drum 25 through the opening of the cabinet 10 and take out the laundry from the drum 25. When necessary, the user can store the laundry taken out from the drum 25 in the door glass 35 of the container structure.

  In order to close the door 30 with the door 30 moved to the inside of the cabinet 10 as described above, when the door is pulled forward, the door 30 moves to the outside of the cabinet 10 as shown in FIG. At this time, the clean door 19 is automatically closed by the elastic force of an elastic member (not shown).

  Thereafter, when the handle 39U on the upper side of the door 30 is taken and pulled upward, the door 30 moves upward together with the link members 41 and 45 so as to be tightly closed to the front cover 15 as shown in FIG. become.

  FIG. 10 is a schematic side view showing a drum washing machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. In the description of the second embodiment of the present invention, the same or similar components as those in the first embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the drum washing machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention is provided with an automatic opening / closing mechanism that automatically opens and closes the door 30 and an automatic movement mechanism that automatically moves the door 30 back and forth toward the cabinet 10 side. ing.

  The automatic opening / closing mechanism includes an automatic door opening button 71 and an automatic door closing button 72 provided on the control panel 17 constituting the front surface of the cabinet 10, and an electric motor provided in the cabinet 10 for opening and closing the door. And a motor control mechanism 74 that controls the operation of the opening / closing electric motor 75 by the operation of the two buttons 71 and 72.

  The opening / closing electric motor 75 is coupled to the lower end of the first link member 41 in a state of being provided on the upper side of the moving base 61, and rotates the first link member 41 to thereby open the door 30. It is comprised so that it can open and close. Of course, the opening / closing electric motor 75 may be installed on the second link member 45.

  The automatic movement mechanism includes an automatic door movement button 73 provided on the control panel 17, the motor control mechanism 74 that receives a signal from the automatic door movement button 73 and outputs a control signal, and the motor. In accordance with a signal from the control mechanism 74, the moving electric motor 77 moves the moving base 61 back and forth, a pinion 78 that transmits the driving force of the moving electric motor 77 to the moving base 61, and a rack 62. Yes.

  Here, the electric motor 77 for movement may be provided on the auxiliary base 13A coupled to the lower part of the base 13 when the installation interval between the base 13 and the movable base 61 is narrow.

  In such a drum washing machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention, when the door 30 is automatically opened and closed by operating the door automatic opening button 71 and the door automatic closing button 72, When the first link member 41 is rotated by the drive, the door 30 moves up and down together with the second link member 45, so that the door 30 is automatically opened and closed while moving in the vertical direction.

  Further, when the door automatic movement button 73 is operated, the electric motor 77 for movement is driven, and the door 30 can be moved to the inside or outside of the cabinet 10 by automatically moving the movement base 61. It becomes like this.

It is a perspective view which shows the conventional drum washing machine. It is the schematic which shows the open state of the door in the conventional drum washing machine. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing the drum washing machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and is a view showing an open / closed state of the door. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 3. It is a schematic side view showing the drum washing machine concerning the 1st embodiment of the present invention, and is a figure showing the back-and-forth movement state of a door. It is a perspective view which shows the closed state of the door in the drum washing machine which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the middle of the door opening in the drum washing machine which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the open state of the door in the drum washing machine which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the back-and-forth movement state of the door in the drum washing machine which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic side view which shows the drum washing machine which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the BB sectional view taken on the line of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Cabinet 11 Opening part 12 Cabinet body 13 Base 14 Top cover 15 Front cover 15s Slit 19 Clean door 19s Slit 20 Hinge shaft 30 Door 31 Door frame 32 Side part 35 Door glass 36 Glass frame 37 Container-shaped glass 39, 39U, 39D Handle 40 Opening / Closing Link Mechanism 41 First Link Member 42 Connection Shaft 43 Link Bracket 44 Hinge Shaft 45 Second Link Member 46 Connection Shaft 47 Link Bracket 48 Hinge Shaft 50 Foreign Object Inflow Prevention Member 55 Stopper 60 Backward Moving Mechanism 61 Moving Base 63 Roller 65 Guide rail 67 Movement restriction means 71 Door automatic open button 72 Door automatic close button 73 Door automatic movement button 74 Motor control mechanism 75 Electric motor for opening and closing 77 Electric motor for movement Over data 78 pinion

Claims (12)

On the front side, a cabinet with an opening so that laundry can enter and exit,
A door provided on the front surface of the cabinet, for opening and closing the opening;
Open / close connected between the cabinet and the door so that when the door is opened, the door is opened while moving downward and closed while moving upward so that the front of the door faces upward A guide mechanism;
A drum washing machine having a lower open type front / rear door that includes a front / rear movement mechanism that moves the door back and forth so as to be movable inward of the cabinet with the door open. .   2. The drum washing machine having a lower open front and rear door according to claim 1, wherein a part of the door has a container structure capable of accommodating laundry in a state where the door is opened. .   2. The drum having a lower open front-rear door according to claim 1, wherein the door opening / closing mechanism includes a link opening / closing mechanism in which two link members are respectively connected to both sides of the door. Washing machine. The back and forth mechanism is
A movable base provided on the bottom surface of the cabinet so as to be movable back and forth, to which the door opening and closing mechanism is connected
The lower open front-rear movement door according to claim 1, further comprising movement guide means provided between the cabinet and the movement base for guiding the movement base to be moved back and forth. Drum washing machine equipped. The door opening / closing mechanism is composed of a link opening / closing mechanism in which two link members are connected to both sides of the door,
The drum washing machine having a lower open type front and rear door according to claim 4, wherein the moving base is provided with a link bracket so that the link opening and closing mechanism is connected thereto.   The drum washing machine having a lower open type front / rear door according to claim 4, wherein the front / rear mechanism is provided with a movement restricting means for restricting the front / rear movement of the door.   The lower open type longitudinal movement according to claim 6, wherein the movement restricting means restricts movement of the moving base to the inside of the cabinet when the door is opened and closed. Drum washing machine with door.   The lower open front-rear movable door according to claim 1, wherein a clean door that is opened when the door enters the inside of the cabinet is provided below the front surface of the cabinet. Drum washing machine. The door opening / closing mechanism is composed of a link opening / closing mechanism in which two link members are connected to both sides of the door,
The said back-and-forth movement mechanism is provided with an automatic opening / closing mechanism capable of automatically raising and lowering a door by rotating the link opening / closing mechanism. A drum washing machine with a lower open type front and rear door.   The drum washing machine according to claim 9, wherein the automatic opening / closing mechanism includes an electric motor that rotates the link opening / closing mechanism.   The said cabinet is provided with the automatic movement mechanism which can move the said back-and-forth movement mechanism and can move a door to the front-back direction automatically, The one of Claims 1 thru | or 8 characterized by the above-mentioned. Drum washing machine with a lower open front and rear door. The forward / backward movement mechanism is provided on the bottom surface of the cabinet so as to be movable back and forth, and has a moving base to which the door opening / closing mechanism is connected,
[12] The drum washing machine having a lower open front and rear door according to claim 11, wherein the automatic moving mechanism includes an electric motor that moves the moving base by a power transmission system of a rack and a pinion.

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