JP3636120B2 - Drum washing machine - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an arrangement of elastic holding means for supporting a water tank in a drum type washing machine.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventional drum-type washing machines have problems that it is difficult to put in and take out laundry and that vibration and noise are large. In order to solve this problem in recent years, there is a drum type washing machine that adopts the technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-262796. This makes it easy to put in and out the laundry by inclining the water tank, and suppresses vibration by devising the arrangement of the elastic holding means for supporting the water tank.
[0003]
One drum-type washing machine to which these techniques are applied is shown in FIG. 8, in which a water tank 53 tilted with the front facing upward is provided inside the casing 51, and two elastic holding means are provided below the water tank 53. The suspension 57 is supported by two springs 60 that are regulated in the front-rear direction at the top. Inside the water tank 53, a drum 54 is disposed in parallel with the water tank 53 so as to be rotatable on the horizontal axis. The rotating shaft 59 of the drum 54 penetrates the rear portion of the water tank 53 in a watertight manner, and is fastened to the rotating shaft of the motor 55 fixed to the housing 58 attached to the rear portion of the water tank 53.
[0004]
In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, a water tank 53 arranged substantially horizontally is supported by a suspension 57 which is four elastic holding means. Two of them are arranged in front of the center of gravity G of the supported body composed of the water tank 53, the drum 54, the housing 58, and the motor 55, and the other two are arranged behind.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
When the drum type washing machine is operated, the laundry in the drum 54 rotates with the rotation of the drum 54. At this time, if there is a deviation in the laundry in the drum 54, the water tank 53 is vibrated by the centrifugal force and vibrates up and down, left and right, and back and forth. At this time, the suspension 57 acts to suppress the vibration of the water tank 53. However, as in the drum-type washing machine of FIG. 8, the two suspensions 57 support the position almost directly below the center of gravity G of the supported body composed of the water tank 53, the drum 54, the housing 58, and the motor 55. When an imbalance occurs at a position away from these two suspensions 57, the vibration of the water tank 53 increases at that position, and it is difficult to suppress the vibration with only the two suspensions 57. The drum type washing machine of FIG. 9 requires four suspensions.
[0006]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a drum type washing machine that allows easy loading and unloading of laundry, less vibration and noise, and low cost.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The drum-type washing machine of the present invention is arranged in a washing machine casing provided with a loading port for putting laundry in and out on the front surface and a door for opening and closing the loading port, and a cylindrical water tank having an opening on the loading port side, In a drum-type washing machine that is rotatably provided in the water tub and includes a drum that opens on the same side as the water tub and accommodates laundry, and a motor that rotationally drives the drum, spring action and damping action There are two suspensions, one on the front side of the water tank in the center in the left-right direction and one on the rear side in a symmetrical position. The three tanks elastically support the water tank from below. The front suspension is located at a position that is longer than the center of gravity of the supported portion composed of a water tank, a drum, a motor, and the like in the front-rear direction from the center of gravity to the two rear suspensions. Supporting the water tank is characterized in that arranged in 10 ~ 30 ° inclined from the horizontal to the washing machine housing so the front is high.
Further, these three suspensions are arranged in a state where they are inclined in the front-rear direction, and the inclination angle in the front-rear direction of the rear suspension is preferably smaller than the inclination angle of the front suspension.
Also, the front suspension supports a position that is about twice the distance in the front-rear direction from the center of gravity to the rear suspension with respect to the center of gravity of the supported part composed of a water tank, drum, motor, etc. It is good to do.
The front suspension is tilted in the front-rear direction, and the two rear suspensions are mounted outward at an angle of about 60 ° with respect to the drum rotation axis when viewed from above. The distance in the front-rear direction from the mounting position of the rear suspension to the bottom of the chassis to the mounting position of the bottom of the chassis is determined from the mounting position of the front suspension from the tank to the bottom of the casing. The distance in the front-rear direction to the position may be set to about half.
[0008]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
[0009]
FIG. 1 is a side view of the interior of the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a front view of the interior of the drum type washing machine, showing the positional relationship of the suspension.
[0010]
On the front surface of the casing 1 of the washing machine, there is a laundry inlet and a door 2 is provided. The laundry is put in and out by opening and closing the door 2. In addition, a cylindrical water tank 3 that is inclined 10 to 30 ° above the horizontal with the inlet side facing upward and opened at the inlet side is disposed inside the housing 1. The opening and the opening of the water tank 3 are connected by a bellows-like rubber bellows 6 so that the laundry does not fall into the housing 1 when the laundry is put in and out. A cylindrical drum 4 having a large number of holes and one end opened is rotatably provided inside the water tank 3. A rotating shaft 9 is fastened to the center of the bottom surface of the drum 4, and the rotating shaft 9 passes through the center of the bottom surface of the water tank 3 in a watertight manner and is rotatable. A flange 8 is fixed to the rear bottom surface of the water tank 3, and a motor 5 that rotationally drives the drum 4 is fixed to the flange 8. The rotating shaft 9 of the drum 4 is fastened to the rotating shaft of the motor 5.
[0011]
Thus, the drum 4 can be rotated in the left and right directions in the water tank 3 by the motor 5 provided at the rear of the water tank 3, and the washing, rinsing, dehydrating and drying processes are performed while the drum 4 is rotated.
[0012]
The water tank 3 to which the drum 4 and the motor 5 are attached is elastically supported by three suspensions 7 provided below the water tank 3. The structure and arrangement method of the suspension 7 will be described in detail later.
[0013]
A water supply unit 11 is provided at the top of the housing 1, and water used for washing and rinsing passes through a water supply port 12, a water supply valve 13, and a detergent case 14 provided at the top of the housing 1 to enter the water tank 3. Poured. Further, water after washing and rinsing and water at the time of dehydration are drained from a drain valve 15 provided at the lower part of the water tank 3.
[0014]
A drying unit 21 is disposed on the upper part of the water tank 3. At the time of drying, the blower fan 22 provided in the upper part of the water tank 3 is operated to blow high-temperature air into the water tank 3 through the heater 24. Moist air in the water tank 3 containing a large amount of water from the laundry after dehydration is guided to the dehumidifying duct 23, dewatered in the dehumidifying duct 23, and then returned to the water tank 3 again.
[0015]
Next, the arrangement of the three suspensions 7, which is the main point of the present invention, will be described. First, the attachment position of the suspension 7 to the water tank 3 will be described.
[0016]
One suspension 7A of the three suspensions 7 is disposed in front (front side) of the center of gravity G of the supported portion including the water tank 3, the drum 4, the motor 5, the flange 8, and the drying unit 21, and the remaining two suspensions. 7B and 7C are arranged behind the center of gravity G (on the rear side).
[0017]
The suspension 7 </ b> A disposed in the front is disposed substantially in the center with respect to the left-right direction when the water tank 3 is viewed from the front surface (opening side). The suspensions 7 </ b> B and 7 </ b> C arranged at the rear are arranged at the left and right target positions on the side surface of the water tank 3. A distance L1 from the center of gravity G to the front suspension 7A is set longer than a distance L2 from the center of gravity G to the rear suspension 7B.
[0018]
Next, the position where these suspensions are attached to the bottom surface of the housing 1 will be described.
[0019]
The suspension 7 </ b> A disposed in front is attached to the bottom surface so as to be perpendicular to the bottom surface of the housing 1.
[0020]
The suspensions 7 </ b> B and 7 </ b> C arranged at the rear are attached to the floor surface of the housing 1 at positions outside the attachment position with respect to the water tank 3, i.e., support the supported parts while being inclined in the left-right direction.
[0021]
These suspensions 7 are devices that provide a spring action and a damping action, and are composed of, for example, a piston 30, a cylinder 31, and a spring 32 as shown in FIG. The spring 32 is disposed outside the cylinder 31 and connects the piston rod 33 and the cylinder 31. By disposing the spring 32 outside the cylinder 31, the suspension can be shortened. A damping action is given by the frictional resistance between the piston 30 and the cylinder 31.
[0022]
Rubber bushes 34 are provided at the upper and lower mounting portions of the suspension 7, and when the water tank 3 or the floor surface of the housing 1 is mounted, these mounting members 35 fixed in advance are sandwiched. FIG. 7 shows an example of a suspension. The spring may be arranged inside the cylinder, and the damping means may be based on fluid resistance.
[0023]
In this way, the supported portion was made independent by arranging the three suspensions 7 so as to surround the center of gravity G of the supported portion including the water tank 3, the drum 4, the motor 5, the flange 8, and the drying unit 21. It can be supported stably in the state, and vibration can be suppressed.
[0024]
In the above description, the drum type washing machine is described in which the cylindrical water tank 3 that is inclined 10 to 30 ° above the horizontal and the opening side is opened is disposed inside the housing 1. This is not a limitation. For example, it is obvious that the water tank 3 may be installed in parallel to the bottom surface of the housing 1. That is, the conventional structure shown in FIG. 9 may be used except for the number of suspensions.
[0025]
This stability leads to shortened manufacturing time and cost. This is because it is possible to assemble the surrounding housing, the water supply unit, the bellows, and the like sequentially in this self-standing state after attaching the suspension after assembling the supported portion.
[0026]
Further, the inclination angle of the water tank 3 can be adjusted only by the length of the suspension 7A.
[0027]
Further, even if the laundry is unbalanced in the actual laundry at a position away from the center of gravity G in the front-rear direction and the water tank 3 vibrates greatly at that position, a large damping action can be given and the vibration can be suppressed.
[0028]
Further, by supporting with three suspensions, the two springs disposed on the upper part of the water tank 3 that are necessary when the two suspensions are conventionally supported (see FIG. 8) become unnecessary. For this reason, a space is created in the space between the upper part of the water tank 3 and the ceiling of the housing 1 and the upper surface of the water tank 3. And arrangement of water supply unit 11 and drying unit 21 can be made free.
[0029]
In addition, compared with the conventional drum type washing machine having four suspensions shown in FIG. 9, there is an effect that one suspension can be reduced while maintaining stability.
[0030]
In the case where the water tub 3 is inclined and arranged so that the laundry can be easily taken in and out as in the present embodiment, the inclination makes it easier for the laundry to collect behind the drum 4 in the washing and rinsing process. Misalignment of the laundry tends to occur at the rear. As a result, the probability that the vibration will increase behind the water tank 3 increases. In other words, the back of the water tank 3 often sways greatly. The arrangement of the suspension 7 in this embodiment is particularly effective in this case.
[0031]
This is because by disposing a large number of suspensions behind the front of the water tank 3, the above-described vibration can be suppressed by this damping action and can be held more stably.
[0032]
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a side view of the inside of the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment. In the figure, the same numbers as those in FIGS.
[0033]
In the present embodiment, like the first embodiment, the three suspensions 7 support the supported portion including the water tank 3, the drum 4, the motor 5, the flange 8, and the drying unit 21.
[0034]
The difference from the first embodiment is that the suspension 7 </ b> A in front of the water tank 3 is not attached vertically, but is attached to the bottom surface of the housing 1 in front of the position attached to the water tank 3. That is, the suspension 7A supports the supported portion in a state of being inclined in the front-rear direction.
[0035]
Further, the rear suspensions 7 </ b> B and 7 </ b> C are attached to the bottom surface of the housing 1 behind the position where they are attached to the water tank 3. That is, the suspensions 7B and 7C support the supported portions in a state where they are inclined in the front-rear direction. Further, as described in the first embodiment, these are supported in a state inclined in the left-right direction.
[0036]
At this time, in order to stably support the supported portion, the front-rear direction force of the front suspension 7A and the front-rear direction force of the two rear suspensions 7B, 7C must be balanced. Therefore, the front-rear direction inclination θ1 of the suspension 7A is set larger than the front-rear direction inclination θ2 of the suspensions 7B and 7C.
[0037]
If it does in this way, a suspension will act also in the direction of order, and it can stand up more stably and can support water tank 3. Further, it is possible to give a larger damping action to the vibration in the front-rear direction than in the first embodiment, and to suppress the vibration more.
[0038]
A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a side view of the interior of the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment. In the figure, the same numbers as those in FIGS.
[0039]
In this embodiment, the positions at which the three suspensions 7 in the first and second embodiments are attached are shown.
The drum type washing machine of this embodiment is set so that the distance L1 from the center of gravity G to the front suspension 7A is about twice the distance L2 from the center of gravity G to the rear suspensions 7B and 7C when viewed from the side. To do. Further, each suspension 7 supports the water tank 3 at substantially the same height H from the floor surface.
[0040]
In this way, the forces acting on the suspensions 7 are almost equal, and all three can be made of the same component.
At this time, it is preferable to attach the rear two suspensions 7B and 7C to the back surface which is harder than the side surface of the water tank 3.
[0041]
However, depending on the angle at which the front and rear suspensions 7 are attached, the required suspension length may differ slightly. Therefore, on the bottom surface of the housing 1, the surface to which the front suspension 7A is attached and the surface to which the rear suspensions 7B and 7C are attached are not set to the same height. Alternatively, the rubber bush 34 sandwiched between the attachment portions of the suspension 7 is not used with the same thickness at the front and rear. By doing in this way, the suspension of the same component can be used for all three.
[0042]
Next, FIGS. 5 and 6 show a fourth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a side view of the interior of the drum type washing machine of the present embodiment. In the figure, the same numbers as those in FIGS. FIG. 6 is a view of the attachment position relationship of the three suspensions 7 in the drum type washing machine of this embodiment as viewed from above.
[0043]
A longitudinal distance L1 from the center of gravity G of the supported portion consisting of the water tank 3, drum 4, motor 5, flange 8, and drying unit 21 to the front suspension 7A is defined as the front-rear direction from the center of gravity G to the rear suspensions 7B and 7C. Is set to approximately twice the distance L2. Further, each suspension 7 supports the water tank 3 at substantially the same height H from the floor surface. Further, the suspension 7A in front of the water tank 3 supports the supported portion in a state where it is tilted in the front-rear direction. Further, the rear suspensions 7B and 7C are supported in an inclined state in the front-rear and left-right directions, and the angle θ with respect to the rotation axis of the water tank 3 as viewed from above is set to about 60 ° as shown in FIG. It is attached toward.
[0044]
At this time, the distance in the front-rear direction from the attachment position of the suspension 7A with the water tank 3 to the attachment position with the bottom surface of the housing 1 is defined as D1. On the other hand, the distance D2 in the front-rear direction from the attachment position of the suspensions 7B and 7C behind the water tank 3 to the water tank 3 to the attachment position to the bottom surface of the housing 1 is set to about half of D1.
With such a configuration, the suspension 7 is damped with respect to vibrations in the front-rear and left-right directions as well as in the vertical direction, so that the vibrations can be suppressed. In addition, since the lengths of the suspensions 7 are the same and the load acts evenly, the suspensions of the three components are configured by the same component without adjusting the height of the mounting surface and the rubber bush 34 in the housing 1. be able to.
[0045]
【The invention's effect】
If the aquarium is placed at an angle to make it easier to put in and take out the laundry, the inclination makes it easier for the laundry to collect behind the drum during the washing and rinsing process, causing the laundry to be offset behind the drum. It is easy to increase the probability that vibration will increase behind the water tank. In the present invention, the supported portion composed of a water tank, a drum, a motor, and the like is supported by one suspension on the front side of the center of gravity and two suspensions on the rear side so that it can be stably supported independently. By arranging many suspensions behind the front of the water tank, vibration can be suppressed by the damping action of the suspension and can be held more stably. Further, by attaching the three suspensions so as to be inclined forward and backward, vibrations in the front-rear direction can be suppressed more effectively.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side view of the inside of a drum-type washing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a front view of the inside of the drum type washing machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a side view of the inside of a drum-type washing machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a side view showing the inside of a drum type washing machine according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a side view of the inside of a drum type washing machine according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a mounting position of a suspension according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a suspension used in an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a side view of the inside of a drum-type washing machine incorporating a conventional inclined water tank.
FIG. 9 is a side view of the inside of a drum type washing machine in which a conventional water tank is horizontally supported.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Washing machine housing, 3 ... Water tank, 4 ... Drum, 5 ... Motor, 7 ... Suspension.

Claims (4)

A cylindrical water tub that is disposed in a washing machine housing provided with a loading port for putting in and out laundry on the front and a door for opening and closing the loading port, and is provided rotatably in the water tub. In a drum-type washing machine including a drum that opens on the same side as the water tank and stores laundry, and a motor that rotationally drives the drum,
A total of two suspensions for providing a spring action and a damping action are provided at the front side of the water tank, one at the center in the left-right direction, and one at the rear side in a symmetrical position. The three suspensions provide the water tank. elastically supporting from below,
The suspension on the front side is located at a position that is longer than the distance in the front-rear direction from the center of gravity to the two suspensions on the rear side with respect to the center of gravity of the supported part composed of a water tank, drum, motor, etc. Support,
The drum-type washing machine, wherein the water tank is disposed at an angle of 10 to 30 degrees with respect to the washing machine casing so that the front side is elevated . 2. The drum type washing machine according to claim 1 , wherein the three suspensions are disposed in a state of being inclined in the front-rear direction, and an inclination angle of the rear suspension in the front-rear direction is made smaller than an inclination angle of the front suspension. A drum-type washing machine characterized by that. The drum-type washing machine according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the front suspension has a distance in the front-rear direction from the center of gravity to the rear suspension with respect to the center of gravity of the supported portion configured by a water tank, a drum, a motor, and the like. On the other hand, the drum type washing machine is characterized in that it is supported at a position where the distance is about twice. 4. The drum type washing machine according to claim 3 , wherein the front suspension is disposed in a state of being inclined in the front-rear direction, and the two rear suspensions are approximately 60 degrees with respect to the rotation axis of the drum as viewed from above. along with affixed Installing outward at an angle, of the rear suspension, the front-rear direction of the distance from the mounting position of the water tank to the mounting position of the bottom surface of the housing, the front suspension, with water tank A drum-type washing machine, characterized in that it is set to about half of the distance in the front-rear direction from the mounting position to the mounting position with the bottom surface of the housing.

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