JP2601025Y2 - Rotary drive mechanism of electric washing machine - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary drive mechanism of an electric washing machine for rotating a dewatering tub and a pulsator of a single-tub electric washing machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A single-tank electric washing machine performs washing and dehydration continuously in a single tub. Usually, only the pulsator provided at the bottom of the dehydration tub rotates at a low speed during washing and rinsing. The clothes are washed and the pulsator and the dewatering tub rotate at high speed during centrifugation to centrifugally dehydrate the clothes.

A rotary drive mechanism of such a one-tub type electric washing machine has a one-way spring clutch 14 attached to a lower end of a main shaft 12 for rotating a dewatering tub 10 and a pulsator 11, as shown in FIG. When the one-way spring clutch 14 is rotated through the pulley 20 in a direction in which the one-way spring clutch 14 is tightened, the outer cylinder 13 externally fitted to the main shaft 12 rotates at a high speed integrally with the main shaft 12. I have. This high-speed rotation is transmitted to a gear case 15 containing a sun gear 5, a planetary gear group 17 and an outer ring gear 22 meshing with the sun gear 5, a planetary gear group 17, and a guide cylinder 16 extending upward from the gear case 15.
Is transmitted to Thereby, a dehydration operation is performed. Reference numeral 18 denotes a holding guide that integrally holds the rotating shafts of the planetary gear group 17 from above and below. And the outer cylinder 1
3 is rotatably supported by a lower bearing cover 25 fixed to the washing machine main body via a first bearing 26. The guide cylinder 16 is provided with a second bearing 21.
, Is rotatably supported by an upper bearing cover 27 also fixed to the main body of the washing machine. On the other hand, when the one-way spring clutch 14 is rotationally driven through the pulley 20 in the loosening direction, the outer cylinder 13 does not rotate, and only the main shaft 12 rotates. This rotation is performed by the gear case 1
The rotation transmitted to the sun gear 5 and the planetary gear group 17 in the transmission 5 and the reduced rotation is transmitted to the pulsator shaft 19.
Thereby, the pulsator 11 attached to the upper end of the pulsator shaft 19 rotates at a low speed, and the washing / rinsing operation is performed. Reference numeral 2 denotes a one-way bearing for preventing the outer cylinder 13 from rotating together with the main shaft 12, and reference numeral 3 denotes its bearing.

However, in the above-mentioned rotary drive mechanism, since the gear case 15 and the outer cylinder 13 are joined by screwing, oil leakage from a gap is inevitably generated,
In order to sufficiently seal the joint, the rubber packing 30 must be interposed, and the assembly is very complicated together with the screwing operation. There are problems such as. Further, the reduction mechanism portion has a complicated configuration of a combination of the sun gear 5, the planetary gear group 17, and the outer ring gear 22, and the gear case 15 must be large, and the backlash is large, and the center of each gear is large. Since it is difficult to put out the sound, there is a problem that the arrangement is loose and the sound is loud. Therefore, the present inventor formed the gear case 15 from a cold forged aluminum product, and as shown in FIG.
And the upper end flange portion 13a of the outer cylinder 13 are caulked and integrated, and a gear portion 15a is formed on the inner peripheral surface to omit the outer ring gear 22, and the outer peripheral portion at the upper end of the main shaft 12 is also a gear portion. By forming the 12a and omitting the sun gear 5, an excellent rotary drive mechanism that overcomes the above-mentioned problems has been developed and has already been filed and patented (Japanese Utility Model 4).
-4714).

[0005]

However, even in the above-mentioned excellent rotary drive mechanism, if this is repeatedly used for a long period of time, the gear portions 12a, 15
The oil used in the meshing portion between the a and the planetary gear group 17 gradually leaks outward from the caulking portion of the gear case 15 and the outer cylinder 13 and flows down the outer cylinder 13 to form a one-way spring clutch. 14 and scattered in the circumferential direction along with the rotation of the pulley 20, and it was found that there was a problem of contaminating peripheral components. For this reason, there is a strong demand for improvement so that the oil leakage can be reliably prevented.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and a gear case and an outer cylinder are caulked and integrated so that oil leakage does not occur from the caulked portion.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an excellent rotary drive mechanism of an electric washing machine.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the rotary drive mechanism of the electric washing machine of the present invention comprises a main shaft which receives a motor drive via a pulley, and a spring clutch which is externally fitted to the main shaft. The rotation of the main shaft is intermittently transmitted by switching, and an outer cylinder with an upper end flange, and a deceleration means for reducing the rotation of the main shaft are built in. A gear case that rotates the pulsator, and a pulsator shaft that transmits the rotation decelerated by the speed reduction means and rotates the pulsator by its rotational force,
The lower end of the gear case is swaged to the outer cylinder flange to integrate the gear case and the outer cylinder,
At least one annular groove is formed in the lower surface of the outer cylinder flange portion which is caulked with the lower end of the gear case, and a part of the lower end of the gear case is cut into this groove.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the lower end of the gear case and the outer cylinder flange are caulked and integrated, and at least one annular groove is formed on the lower surface of the outer cylinder flange at the caulked portion. A part of the lower end of the gear case is made to bite into the groove. Therefore, according to this configuration, in the caulking portion on the lower surface side of the outer cylinder, the lower end portion of the gear case that has digged into the annular groove rises up in an annular shape, so that the oil that wants to seep out from inside the gear case gets over the annular uplifted portion. And cannot go out of the caulking section. Thereby, it is possible to prevent oil from leaking to the outside. By increasing the number of the annular grooves, the effect of preventing oil leakage can be further ensured.

Next, the present invention will be described in detail based on an embodiment.

[0010]

FIG. 1 shows an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention. That is, the rotary drive mechanism of this electric washing machine is basically the same as the configuration in FIG. 4, and the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals.

However, in this rotary drive mechanism, the flange portion 1 of the outer cylinder 13 integrally caulked with the gear case 15 is provided.
As shown in FIG. 2, three concentric annular grooves 40 are formed on the lower surface of the gear 3 a, and a part of the lower end of the caulked gear case 15 bites into each recess of the annular groove 40. It rises in an annular shape (see FIG. 1).

Therefore, according to the above configuration, in the caulked portion of the gear case 15 and the outer cylinder 13, the three annular grooves 40 provided on the lower surface of the outer cylinder flange portion 13a and the gear case 15 raised to bite into this portion. As shown in FIG. 5, the lower end portion is in a state of meshing with the unevenness.
For this reason, it is difficult for the oil that oozes out from inside the gear case 15 to get over the slope P even if it tries to get over the bulge 41 on the gear case 15 side.
Accumulates at the hem. When this portion is rotationally driven, it is pushed back toward the inside of the gear case 15 again by the centrifugal force as shown by the arrow A, so that it is extremely difficult to get out of the caulked portion. In addition, in the above embodiment, since three annular grooves 40 are formed, there are three raised portions 41 to be overcome to allow oil to leak out, and oil leakage is completely prevented.

Although three annular grooves 40 are formed in the above embodiment, the number of grooves is not particularly limited, and one or more grooves may be formed as appropriate. The depth (shown by D in FIG. 5) of the annular groove 40 is 0.1 to 2.0.
It is preferable to set the width to about mm, and it is preferable to set the groove width (indicated by W in FIG. 5) to about 0.1 to 2.0 mm. That is, if the size of the annular groove 40 is smaller than the above range, the oil storage capacity is small and the oil may leak to the outside. Conversely, if the size is larger than the above range, when the lower end portion of the gear case 15 is swaged, ,
The raised portion 41 of the gear case 15 has a sufficient annular groove 40.
This is because they do not penetrate into the inside, and a gap is formed between the two, so that there is also a risk of oil leakage.

Further, in the above embodiment, similarly to the rotation mechanism shown in FIG. 4, a gear portion 15a is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the gear case 15 and the outer ring gear is omitted, and a gear portion 12a is formed on the upper end of the main shaft 12. Although the sun gear is omitted, as shown in FIG. 3, a structure in which the outer ring gear 22 and the sun gear 5 are combined may be used. However, caulking the gear case 15 and the outer cylinder 13 is a prerequisite for this invention.

[0015]

As described above, the rotary drive mechanism of the electric washing machine according to the present invention has a lower end portion of the gear case and an outer cylindrical flange portion which are integrated by caulking, and the lower surface of the outer cylindrical flange portion of the swaged portion. At least one annular groove is formed in the portion, and a part of the lower end of the gear case is configured to bite into the groove. Therefore, according to this configuration, in the caulking portion on the lower surface side of the outer cylinder, the lower end portion of the gear case that bites into the annular groove rises up in an annular shape, so that the oil that tends to seep out from the gear case is blocked by the annular uplifting portion. It is impossible to get out of the caulking part. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the oil from leaking to the outside and contaminating peripheral components. By increasing the number of the annular grooves, the effect of preventing oil leakage can be further ensured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a main part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an outer cylinder used in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an example of a conventional rotary drive mechanism of an electric washing machine.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an example of an improved rotary drive mechanism of a conventional electric washing machine.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a circle A in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Main shaft 13 Outer cylinder 13a Flange part 15 Gear case 17 Planetary gear group 18 Holding guide 19 Pulsator shaft 40 Annular groove 41 Raised part

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] A main shaft which receives a motor drive via a pulley; an outer cylinder having an upper end flange which is externally fitted to the main shaft and whose rotation of the main shaft is intermittently transmitted by switching a spring clutch; A gear case that incorporates a deceleration means for decelerating the rotation of the shaft and rotates integrally with the outer cylinder and rotates the dehydration tub by its rotational force, and the rotation decelerated by the deceleration means is transmitted to rotate the pulsator by the rotational force. A lower end portion of the outer case flange portion, the lower end portion of the outer case flange portion being caulked with the lower end portion of the gear case. , At least one annular groove is formed, and a part of the lower end of the gear case bites into this groove. A rotary drive mechanism for an electric washing machine, characterized in that: