JP7131889B2 - washing machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to washing machines.

In a vertical washing machine, an outer tub for storing water is supported in a housing in a vibration-proof manner, and an inner tub serving as a washing and dehydrating tub is rotatably supported in the outer tub via a motor. During the dehydration process, the laundry contained in the inner tub is dehydrated by rotating the inner tub at high speed. At this time, if the laundry in the inner tub is uneven, the outer tub vibrates due to unbalance, and the vibration is transmitted to the housing, causing the housing to vibrate and generate noise. Therefore, the vibration of the outer tank is detected by a safety switch installed in the housing and a vibration sensor installed in the outer tank, and control is performed to stop the rotation of the inner tank when excessive vibration occurs. In order to suppress vibration, the washing machine is provided with a fluid balancer, which is an annular ring filled with liquid, near the opening of the inner tub. The fluid balancer has the effect of offsetting the imbalance by moving the sealed liquid toward the opposite side of the imbalance during high-speed dehydration. By extending the inner space in which the liquid is enclosed in the axial direction, the effect of canceling out the imbalance can be improved. Even when the vibration is small, a large imbalance canceling effect can be obtained.

In recent years, the washing capacity of washing machines has tended to increase, but consumers are finding it difficult to accept larger household appliances due to the limited floor space available in their homes. However, when increasing the washing capacity by increasing the diameter of the inner tub, the inner tub and the outer tub containing the fluid balancer are increased in size. As a result, when the outer tub vibrates, the outer tub and the housing may interfere with each other, causing noise. Alternatively, if the size of the fluid balancer is reduced in order to increase the volume of the inner tank that can accommodate clothes, the vibration reduction effect will be reduced. Therefore, in order to increase the washing capacity, it is necessary to secure the effect of reducing vibration while preventing the size of the fluid balancer from increasing.

Therefore, in the washing machine described in Patent Document 1, the fluid balancer has a two-layer structure, and the axial length of the inner space of the radially outer layer is made larger than the axial length of the inner space of the radially inner layer. A method is proposed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-28146

In the washing machine described in Patent Document 1, by increasing the axial length of the radially outer layer that is far from the rotation axis, compared to the case where the axial lengths of the inner diameter side and the outer diameter side are the same , can improve the unbalanced effect. However, although the outer diameter side extends downward with respect to the inner diameter side layer, the side surface on the inner diameter side is almost vertical and there are no dewatering holes in that part. There is a problem that the clothes on the inner diameter side of the part have poor drainage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a washing machine capable of increasing washing capacity, reducing vibration, and improving dehydration performance while suppressing an increase in the size of a fluid balancer.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an outer tub for storing water, an inner tub serving as a washing and dehydrating tub rotatably provided in the outer tub, a motor for rotating the inner tub, and the A washing machine comprising a fluid balancer provided in the upper part of an inner tub, wherein the fluid balancer includes a balancing ring case and an annular flow containing a fluid provided in the balancing ring case. A plurality of the annular flow paths are provided in the radial direction, and the axial length of the flow path located on the outer peripheral side in the radial direction is longer than the axial length of the flow path located on the inner peripheral side. The lower end of the flow path (33c), which is long and located on the outer peripheral side in the radial direction, is located below and on the outer peripheral side of the lower end of the flow path (33a) located on the inner peripheral side in the radial direction. A lower outer shell of the balance ring case corresponding to the flow path has a convex shape, and a first inclined portion is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the convex shape, and the first inclined portion has a substantially straight cross section. A second inclined portion is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the balancing ring case corresponding to the flow path located on the inner peripheral side in the radial direction, and the first inclined portion and the second inclined portion are respectively It is inclined such that the inner diameter increases toward the bottom, and the first inclination angle of the first inclination portion is larger than the second inclination angle of the second inclination portion.

According to the present invention, the inner volume of the inner tank is increased by reducing the axial length of the inner diameter side while suppressing an increase in the size of the fluid balancer, and by increasing the axial length of the outer diameter side. By improving the vibration reduction effect of the fluid balancer and slanting the inner peripheral side of the lower convex shape on the outer peripheral side so that the diameter increases downward, it is possible to make it easier for water to drain from the clothes. It is possible to increase, reduce vibration, and improve dehydration performance.

1 is a perspective view of a washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. It is a right side cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the washing machine of the present invention. 3 is an enlarged view of part A in FIG. 2 showing the internal structure of the fluid balancer of the washing machine of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating dehydration of clothes in a fluid balancer having a conventional structure; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating dehydration of clothes in the fluid balancer of the washing machine of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the internal structure of the fluid balancer of the washing machine of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a right side view showing a partial cross section of the fluid balancer of the washing machine according to the embodiment; (Example 2) FIG. 4 is a right side view showing a partial cross section of the fluid balancer of the washing machine according to the embodiment; (Example 3)

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

1 is an external perspective view of washing machine 100, FIG. 2 is a right side cross-sectional view of washing machine 100, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of part A in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the washing machine 100 has a housing 1 forming an outer shell, a top cover 2 is provided on the top of the housing 1, and a base 3 is provided on the bottom of the housing 1. As shown in FIG. The base 3 has four legs, one of which is an adjustable leg 3a on the front right side facing the washing machine body, and the remaining three legs are adjustable in height. A fixed leg 3b is provided so that it cannot be moved. When installing the washing machine, the inclination and looseness of the main body can be adjusted by adjusting the height of the adjusting leg 3a. Further, the top cover 2 is provided with an outer lid 2b so as to cover the clothes inlet 2a. An operation panel 7 having a power switch 4 , an operation switch 5 and a display 6 is provided on the front side of the top cover 2 . The operation panel 7 is electrically connected to a control device 14 provided on the back of the housing 1 .

Inside the housing 1, an outer tank 10 for storing water is elastically supported by the housing 1 via hanging rods at four corners. An air trap 21a is provided on the back surface of the outer tub 10, and the internal pressure is transmitted to the water level sensor 21 through a tube 21b to detect the water level of the water stored in the outer tub 10. A safety switch 31 is provided at the front corner of the housing 1, and is structured to detect when the vibration displacement of the outer tub 10 exceeds a predetermined value when the outer tub 10 vibrates during dehydration.

Inside the outer tub 10, an inner tub 8 for storing clothes is provided. The inner tank 8 has a large number of small through holes 8a for water and ventilation in its outer peripheral wall, and a plurality of through holes 8b for water and ventilation in its bottom wall. A balancer 9 is provided, and a rotor blade 11 is rotatably supported inside the bottom.

A motor 13 is provided outside the bottom of the outer tub 10, and by controlling the clutch mechanism 12, the rotation of the inner tub 8 and the rotor blades 11 can be operated as follows. One is an operation in which the rotor blade 11 is repeatedly rotated forward and reverse while the inner tub 8 is locked so as to be stationary or released so as to be freely rotatable, and is mainly used when agitating clothes. The other is an operation of rotating the inner tub 8 and the rotor blade 11 as one unit in the same direction, which is mainly used for dehydration.

A tank cover 23 is provided on the upper surface of the outer tank 10, and the tank cover 23 has a clothes inlet 23a, a hot air outlet 23b, and a water supply inlet 25a, which connect the upper surface and the lower surface. Further, the tub cover 23 is provided with an inner lid 24 so as to cover the clothes inlet 23a, which can be opened and closed by means of a hinge 24a. The inner lid 24 is unlocked and opened by lifting the handle 24b upward, and locked by pushing downward.

A drying duct 10c is provided on the rear side of the outer tub 10. - 特許庁The drying duct 10c is connected to the drying unit 19 via the bellows 10d. The drying unit 19 includes a heater 19b as a heat source for the blower fan 19a and a temperature sensor 19c. The drying unit 19 is connected to a hot air outlet 23b provided on the tank cover 23 via a bellows 23c. The air heated by the heater 19b is circulated by the blower fan 19a to dry the clothes. Further, the housing 1 is provided with a water supply electromagnetic valve 25 connected to the water supply port 2c so that water can be supplied to the inner tank 8 and the drying duct 10c. A drain port 10 b for draining water is provided at the bottom of the outer tank 10 , and a drain hose 24 is connected via a drain valve 15 .

A fluid balancer 9 provided in the upper portion of the inner tank 8 is formed in a ring shape from synthetic resin or the like, and has several flow paths inside. A liquid is enclosed in this channel, which has the effect of reducing vibration when it occurs during dehydration. Specifically, when vibration occurs due to unbalanced clothes during dehydration, at a rotation speed higher than the resonance rotation speed, the vibration is 180 degrees out of phase with the unbalance direction. . At this time, the liquid in the fluid balancer 9 is biased in the vibrating direction. That is, since it is biased to a position shifted by 180 degrees with respect to the unbalance, the unbalance can be canceled and the vibration can be reduced.

FIG. 3 shows a detailed cross-sectional view showing an enlarged portion A of FIG. 2 so that the internal structure of the fluid balancer can be seen. The fluid balancer 9 comprises a balance ring case 9a, a balance ring lid 9b and a fluid 9c. The balance ring case 9a is a resin molded product, for example, injection molded using PP (polypropylene) containing tempered glass. The balance ring case 9a is an annular member with an open top. The balance ring case 9a is provided with partition walls so as to divide the interior into three, and is divided into three annular flow paths 26a, 26b, and 26c by the partition walls. Fluid 9c is put in each of flow paths 26a, 26b, and 26c, and this fluid 9c is made of salt water or the like having a large specific gravity in order to reduce the size of fluid balancer 9. As shown in FIG.

The balance ring case 9a has a structure in which the outer diameter side is elongated in the axial direction, and accordingly the height of the flow path 26c is also higher than those of 26a and 26b. The effect of offsetting the imbalance by the fluid balancer 9 increases as the center of gravity of the liquid is farther from the rotation axis. Therefore, among the three flow paths, the outer flow path 26c has the highest imbalance canceling effect. Moreover, the volume of the inner tank 8 can be suppressed from decreasing by stretching the outer diameter side as compared with the case of stretching the inner diameter side.

There is an inner peripheral surface 27 on the inner diameter side of the balance ring case 9a, and the height of the balance ring case 9a is high only on the outer diameter side and has a downward convex shape. 27a and a second inner peripheral surface 27b. Similarly, the bottom surface 28 of the balance ring case 9a is divided into a first bottom surface 28a and a second bottom surface 28b. The first inner peripheral surface 27a is inclined such that the inner diameter increases toward the lower side.

Next, the state of clothes during dehydration operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. FIG. 4 shows a conventional fluid balancer, and FIG. 5 shows a fluid balancer 9 in an embodiment of the present invention. When the dehydration operation starts, the clothes are in a state of being collected at the bottom due to gravity. When the number of revolutions of the inner tub 8 is gradually increased, the centrifugal force generated in the clothes causes them to gradually move outward and stick to the inner tub 8 . At this time, if the amount of clothes to be dehydrated is small, the clothes stick to the inner tub 8 at a position lower than the fluid balancer 9 . Since the inner tub 8 is provided with a through-hole 8a for passing water, the water discharged from the clothes passes through the through-hole 8a and flows into the outer tub 10, where the clothes are dehydrated.

On the other hand, when the amount of clothes is large, as shown in FIG. 4, the clothes 29a and 29b rise to a position where they contact the first bottom surface 28a and the second bottom surface 28b of the balancing ring case 9a. Since a through hole cannot be provided in the balance ring case 9a, if the first inner peripheral surface 27a is not inclined as shown in FIG. It will be. However, since the direction of the arrow is perpendicular to the centrifugal force, there is no force that promotes movement, making it difficult for the clothes to be dehydrated, leading to a decrease in the dehydration rate. On the other hand, if the fluid balancer 9 of the present invention has a sloped portion like the first inner peripheral surface 27a, the centrifugal force causes the water that has escaped from the clothes to move along the slope of the first inner peripheral surface 27a. It flows in the direction of the arrow, and can pass through the through hole 8a of the inner tank 8 to the outer tank 10. By inclining the first inner peripheral surface 27a in this manner, dehydration of the clothes can be promoted and the dehydration rate can be improved.

Further, in the present embodiment, the first inner peripheral surface 27a is provided with the inclined portion so as to form a straight line, but it may be curved like the first inner peripheral surface 27c shown in FIG. By forming the R shape, it is possible to improve the dehydration performance compared to the conventional structure which does not have an inclined portion. However, having a portion with a small inclination angle causes a portion that is difficult to dewater, so the shape shown in FIG. 3 can improve the dehydration rate more.

The washing machine of this embodiment differs from that of the washing machine of the first embodiment in the inner peripheral surface of the fluid balancer 30, and the rest of the configuration is the same, so the description will be omitted. FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the fluid balancer 30 of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7, the fluid balancer 30 is composed of a balance ring case 30a, a balance ring lid 30b, and a balancer liquid 30c as in the first embodiment. The inner peripheral surface 31 of the balance ring case 30a is divided into a first inner peripheral surface 31a and a second inner peripheral surface 31b. have a part. If there is a large amount of clothes during the dehydration operation, the clothes may be positioned at the same height as the fluid balancer 30 . When dehydration is performed in this state, the centrifugal force causes the clothes to gradually move toward the outer diameter as the rotation speed increases. Here, if the second inner peripheral surface 27b is not inclined as shown in FIG. 3, the garment that has moved to the outer diameter side will move upward or downward. Clothes that have moved upward may enter between the tank cover 23 and the fluid balancer 9 .

Therefore, like the fluid balancer 30 of the washing machine of the present embodiment, the second inner peripheral surface 31b is also provided with an inclined portion such that the inner diameter increases in the downward direction. Since the clothes move downward along the inclined surface, it is possible to effectively prevent the clothes from entering between the tank cover 23 and the fluid balancer 30 . Further, the clothes that have moved downward along the inclined surface are lowered to the height of the first inner peripheral surface 31a and dehydrated at that position. Since the first inner peripheral surface 31a has an inclined portion, dehydration can be performed more efficiently than in the case of not having an inclined portion.

The larger the first inclination angle 32a, which is the inclination angle of the first inner peripheral surface 31a, the more the dehydration is promoted. On the other hand, since the purpose of the second inclination angle 32b, which is the inclination angle of the second inner peripheral surface 31b, is to draw the clothes stuck to the inside of the inner peripheral surface 31b into the inner tub 8, the inner peripheral surface Although it is important that the lower portion of 31b is wider than the upper portion, it is not always necessary to increase the second inclination angle 32b. Furthermore, the larger the second inclination angle 32b, the smaller the flow paths 33a and 33b, which is undesirable because the vibration reduction effect, which is the purpose of the fluid balancer 30, is reduced. Therefore, by making the first inclination angle 31a larger than the second inclination angle 32b, it is possible to suppress the vibration while preventing the clothes from entering between the fluid balancer 30 and the tank cover 23, and efficiently move the clothes. Dehydration can be performed.

The washing machine of this embodiment differs from that of the washing machine of the second embodiment in the flow path on the outer diameter side of the fluid balancer 40, and the rest of the configuration is the same, so the description is omitted. FIG. 8 shows a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the fluid balancer 40 of this embodiment. In the fluid balancer 40 of this embodiment, among the flow paths 41a, 41b, and 41c of the balance ring case 40a, an inclined portion 41d that is inclined in the same manner as the first inner peripheral surface 42a is formed on the lower inner peripheral side of the outer flow path 41c. It has a structure with

By adopting such a structure, it is possible to make the plate thickness of the outer wall on the inner peripheral side of the lower portion of the flow path 41c uniform, and it is possible to suppress the decrease in strength due to the plate thickness being partially reduced. . Furthermore, it is possible to prevent an unnecessary increase in plate thickness for ensuring strength and increase the volume of the inner tank 8 .

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 housing 3 base 8 inner tank 9 fluid balancer 10 outer tank 11 rotor blade 12 clutch mechanism 13 motor 27a first inner peripheral surface 27b second inner peripheral surface 32a first inclination angle 32b second inclination angle

Claims (1)

an outer tank for storing water, an inner tank as a washing and dewatering tank rotatably provided in the outer tank, a motor for rotating the inner tank, and a fluid balancer provided at the top of the inner tank ; In a washing machine with
The fluid balancer has a balancing ring case and an annular flow path in which a fluid is filled, provided in the balancing ring case,
The annular channel is
Multiple are provided in the radial direction,
the axial length of the channel located on the outer peripheral side in the radial direction is longer than the axial length of the channel located on the inner peripheral side;
the position of the lower end of the flow path positioned on the outer peripheral side in the radial direction is positioned below the lower end of the flow path positioned on the inner peripheral side in the radial direction;
a lower outer shell of the balance ring case corresponding to the flow path located on the outer peripheral side has a convex shape, and a first inclined portion is provided on an inner peripheral surface of the convex shape;
The first inclined portion has a substantially straight cross section,
A second inclined portion is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the balance ring case corresponding to the flow path located on the inner peripheral side in the radial direction,
The first slanted portion and the second slanted portion are slanted so that the inner diameter increases toward the bottom,
A washing machine, wherein the first inclination angle of the first inclination portion is larger than the second inclination angle of the second inclination portion.

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