KR101341455B1 - control panel assembly for laundry device and laundry device including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a control panel assembly of a laundry machine and a laundry machine including the same, and more particularly, to an improved control panel assembly and a laundry machine including the same, which are easy to manufacture and easy to recognize selected operating conditions. will be.

According to the present invention, in the control panel assembly of the laundry machine comprising a control panel and a button assembly provided in the control panel consisting of a plurality of buttons integrally, the button assembly is exposed on the front of the control panel A plurality of buttons including a display unit on which a driving condition is selected by a user and which the selected driving condition is displayed; And a control panel assembly of the laundry machine is located on the rear of the control panel, including a frame for connecting the plurality of buttons integrally therein.

Washing machine, control panel, button assembly, button, display part, dual injection

Description

Control panel assembly of the laundry machine and a laundry device comprising the same

1 is a perspective view showing a conventional dryer

Figure 2 is a front view showing a control panel of a conventional dryer

Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a control panel assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention

4 is a rear perspective view of the button assembly shown in FIG.

Figure 5 is a side cross-sectional view showing a control panel assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a front view showing a control panel assembly according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART [0002]

100: control panel 110: installation worker

120: display window 200, 500: button assembly

210: Frame 220: Button

230: elastic rib 240: display portion

300: substrate guide 310: tact switch

320: LED lamp 400: lamp supporter

410: lamp guide boss 420: guide part

520 character part

The present invention relates to a control panel assembly of a laundry machine and a laundry machine including the same, and more particularly, to an improved control panel assembly and a laundry machine including the same, which are easy to manufacture and easy to recognize selected operating conditions. will be.

In general, a washing machine is a general name for a washing machine that performs a washing operation and a dehydration stroke, a dryer that performs a drying stroke, and a combined washing machine that performs a washing stroke and a drying stroke simultaneously.

Among these, the dryer is a device configured to heat the dry air by heating means, and then blow the dry air into the drum to evaporate the moisture of the object to be dried.

In general, laundry that is completed washing is transported to a drying machine to perform natural drying. In case of rainy season or irregular weather, natural drying of the laundry is delayed, causing a lot of inconveniences for busy modern people.

Accordingly, an apparatus capable of drying laundry regardless of the weather has been required, and thus the developed apparatus is a dryer.

The dryer is a trend that is increasing in demand for busy modern people.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 attached to a dryer among conventional laundry apparatuses as follows.

As shown in FIG. 1, the dryer includes a main body case 1 forming an external appearance, and a control panel 2 arranged on the front surface of the main body case 1 and configured to operate an operation of the dryer.

The front of the main body case 1 is provided with a door 3, the inside of the main body case 1 is provided with a drum (not shown). Thus, the user puts or removes laundry into the drum through the door (3). The drum receives the laundry and dries the laundry through proper rotation. Of course, in the case of a washing machine, laundry is washed in the drum.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control panel 2 includes a plurality of buttons 21 according to driving conditions, a display window 22 and an LED lamp 23 displaying the selected driving conditions or driving conditions.

At this time, the button is a selection button 21a for selecting an upper item indicating a function of the dryer, for example, drying degree, temperature, drying time (hereinafter, 'higher operating condition'), and a power button 21b for applying power to the dryer. ) And a pause button 21c for temporarily stopping the operation of the dryer.

In addition, as the selector button 21a is pressed, a plurality of LED lamps displaying lower items of the dryer, for example, a time value indicating a degree of the upper item, a numerical value of temperature (hereinafter, 'lower operating conditions') ( 23 is installed subordinate to each selection button 21a, and the character portion of the control panel 2 close to the front of the button 21 or the button 21 and the LED lamp 23 can be identified so as to identify operating conditions. It is printed on the outside.

However, the above-described conventional dryer has the following problems.

First, since the selection button 21a has to be pressed several times in order to select the lower operation condition dependent on each upper operation condition, troublesome operation of the button is caused.

In addition, when an undesired lower operation condition is selected by pressing the selection button 21a incorrectly, in order to select a new lower operation condition to be executed, the selection button 21a is pressed several times to return to the initial position of the lower operation condition. The problem of having to operate the button again occurred.

Second, the letter printed to identify the operating conditions of the dryer is a problem that is erased due to frequent contact with the user's hand.

Of course, in order to prevent this, there has been provided a method of marking the character part using a laser so that the character part is not erased even in physical contact with the user, but this also causes a problem that the number of processes increases and the laser marking cost is added.

The present invention has been made to solve the above object, the object of the present invention is to simplify the operation of the button, to easily recognize the operated button and to improve the durability of the character portion formed in the button assembly I wanted to.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a control panel assembly and a washing apparatus including the same that can be clearly displayed what operating conditions the user has selected.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention, in the control panel assembly of the laundry machine comprising a control panel, and a button assembly is provided on the control panel consisting of a plurality of buttons integrally, the button assembly, A plurality of buttons including a display unit which is exposed on the front surface of the control panel and is pressed by a user and selects an operating condition and displays the selected operating condition; And it is located on the rear of the control panel, and provides a control panel assembly of the laundry machine including a frame to connect the plurality of buttons integrally therein.

The display unit may be formed to protrude rearward from the front of the button to form a light path, and the display unit may be formed of a transparent material.

The display unit may be integrally formed on the button through double injection. And the material of the display unit is different from the material of the button, or the same as the material of the button, but preferably different from the color of the button.

Preferably, the display unit includes an outer circumferential portion projecting rearward from the front surface of the button and a tip portion for receiving light. Here, the tip portion is preferably formed in a semi-circular shape. This is to maximize the intensity of light received by increasing the surface area where light is received.

In addition, it is preferable that the front surface of the front end portion and the outer circumferential portion have different surface roughnesses so that light is transmitted well and the outer circumference portion does not transmit light. Therefore, since the light incident through the front end portion is not distributed through the outer circumference portion, the user can more clearly recognize the light emitted through the display portion.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention also provides an appearance case forming an appearance; A drum provided inside the outer case and containing laundry; And a button assembly provided in the exterior case and including a button assembly provided in the control panel by integrally forming a control panel and a plurality of buttons, wherein the button assembly is exposed to the front surface of the control panel so that the user A plurality of buttons including a display unit for selecting an operating condition by pressing and displaying the selected operating condition; And located on the rear of the control panel, there is provided a washing apparatus including a frame for connecting the plurality of buttons integrally therein.

Hereinafter, a control panel assembly of a washing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.

The present invention can be applied not only to a dryer that performs drying, but also to a washing machine that performs washing, or a washing and drying machine. However, for convenience of explanation, hereinafter, only an example of the washing machine will be described as a dryer.

The control panel assembly in the present invention includes a control panel 100, a button assembly 200, a substrate guide 300, and a lamp supporter 400.

The control panel 100 forms an appearance of the control panel assembly and is detachably installed on the front of the dryer. In addition, the control panel 100 is provided with a plurality of installation holes 110 in which various input devices, display devices, and the like are inserted and installed.

In this case, a character portion indicating an operating condition may be formed on an outer surface of the control panel 100 close to the installation hole 110. These operating conditions may be classified into higher operating conditions (eg, dryness, drying time, temperature, etc.) and a plurality of lower operating conditions (eg, completely dry, 60 minutes, high, etc.) depending on the upper operating conditions.

For example, when a series of buttons are configured to select a lower operating condition which is a specific degree of dryness, which is an upper operating condition, the dryness, which is an upper operating condition, is displayed on the outer surface of the control panel in the vicinity of the series of buttons. Can be. Of course, the buttons may be displayed on the outer surface of the control panel as buttons for selecting specific sub-operation conditions.

In addition, the character unit is preferably formed by double injection in the control panel 100 so as not to be erased even in frequent contact with the user's hand. In other words, it is preferable that the material constituting the control panel and the material constituting the character portion are double-injected differently, or even the same material is double-extruded with different colors.

One side of the control panel 100 is a display window 120 is installed with a transparent material so that the progress of the dryer can be displayed. In this case, a display device (not shown) for providing a variety of information to the user is installed on the back of the display window 120, it is preferably installed as an LCD device to display a variety of image information.

In addition, the button assembly 200 is configured to allow the user to easily command the operating conditions to the dryer.

The button assembly 200 includes a frame 210, a plurality of buttons 220, an elastic rib 230, and a display unit 240.

The frame 210 forms a circumference of the button assembly 200 and is preferably formed in a quadrangular shape so as to have an aesthetic feeling. In addition, each button 220 forms the appearance of the button assembly 200, and serves to input the driving conditions. In this case, the button 220 is disposed in the frame 210. Here, the appearance of the button 220 is preferably made of a rectangular shape to harmonize with the appearance of the frame 210.

That is, according to the present invention, it is very easy to form a whole control panel assembly by providing a plurality of buttons in one button assembly 200. In addition, according to the present invention, one button corresponds one-to-one with a specific sub-operation condition so that when the user presses a specific button, the specific sub-operation condition is selected and thus the operation condition can be easily selected.

The back surface of the button 220 is integrally formed with a pressing protrusion 221 that is moved by pressing the front of the button 220. At this time, the pressing protrusion 221 is formed to protrude rearward from the back of the button 220, respectively. That is, when the user presses the button 220, the pressing protrusion 221 is moved backward to press the tact switch 310 to be described later. However, the pressing protrusion 221 may be omitted. In other words, when the button 220 is pressed by further increasing the length of the pressing part 420 of the lamp supporter 400 to be described later, the rear part of the button 220 is configured to press the pressing part 420 directly. It is possible.

The elastic rib 230 connects the frame 210 and each button 220 integrally. Here, the elastic rib 230 serves to move the button 220 back and forth by elastic force while being supported by the frame 210 when a predetermined force or more is applied to each button 220.

At this time, the elastic rib 230 is preferably formed thinner than the thickness of the frame 210 so that the elastic force can be optimized. That is, when any button 220 is pressed, the button 220 is elastically supported by the elastic rib 230 and moved back and forth of the button assembly 200.

The display unit 240 serves to recognize a user by driving light through the driving condition selected by the button 220, and is formed at the front edge of each button 220. That is, in the present invention, it is preferable that the display unit 240 is directly formed on the button 220. This is because when the display unit is formed on the front of the control panel instead of the button, it may be confusing for the user to correspond one-to-one with a specific button. Therefore, when the user presses a button, if the light is emitted from the display unit provided in the button, the confusion may be prevented.

The display unit 240 is made of a transparent material so that light can be transmitted to the outside, it is preferable that the display unit 240 is integrally formed through a double injection to each button 220 to improve durability. In addition, the display unit 240 is preferably formed to protrude rearward from the front of the button.

This is to narrow the distance from the LED lamp to minimize scattering of light emitted from the LED lamp described later.

On the other hand, the shape of the front end 241 facing the LED lamp of the display unit 240 is preferably formed in a hemispherical shape. This is because the light emitted from the LED lamp maximizes the surface area transmitted to the display unit 240. That is, when the shape of the tip 241 is a hemispherical shape than the case of a planar shape, the surface area becomes wider. Therefore, the intensity of light emitted from the LED lamp and transmitted to the display unit 240 becomes greater, so that the user can more clearly recognize the light emitted from the display unit.

The surface roughness of the front end 241 of the display unit and the outer circumferential portion 242 of the display unit may be different from each other so that light transmitted from the LED lamp to the display unit 240 is not scattered.

Of course, it will be possible to coat the outer circumferential portion 242 of the display unit with a material that does not transmit light. However, since the entire display portion is preferably formed of one transparent material for ease of manufacture, it is more preferable to vary the surface roughness.

That is, the front end portion 241 of the display unit may have a very good surface roughness to completely transmit light, and the outer circumferential surface 242 of the display unit may have a large surface roughness to prevent light from being transmitted.

Therefore, since the light of the LED lamp incident through the front end 241 of the display unit is not dispersed or scattered through the outer circumferential unit 242 of the display unit, more prominent light may be recognized by the user.

In addition, the substrate guide 300 is configured to be installed at the rear of the control panel assembly, and a circuit board (not shown) mounted with a circuit component (not shown) for controlling the dryer is installed at a portion adjacent to the control panel assembly.

The substrate guide 300 serves to transfer the operating conditions of the dryer to the circuit board by pressing the button 220.

The board guide 300 is provided with a tact switch 310 electrically connected to the circuit component, and the same number of LED lamps 320 as the number of the tact switches 310 are installed.

In this case, the LED lamp 320 is installed to emit light when the tact switch 310 is pressed, the LED lamp 320 is installed to correspond to the display unit 240 of the button assembly 200.

In addition, a fastening hole 330 for fastening the lamp supporter 400 may be formed at an edge of the substrate guide 300.

In addition, the lamp supporter 400 prevents the light of the LED lamp 320 from being scattered, and transmits the selected operating condition to the tact switch 310 by the pressing of the button 210.

The lamp supporter 400 is interposed between the button assembly 200 and the substrate guide 300 and is configured to be installed in the substrate guide 300. In addition, the lamp supporter 400 has a lamp guide boss 410 and the pressing portion 420 is formed.

The lamp guide boss 410 may be formed to protrude rearward from the rear surface of the lamp supporter 400 to surround the LED lamp 320. Here, the length of the lamp guide boss 410 is more preferably made of a length such that the tip of the LED lamp 320 is slightly protruded when the LED lamp 320 is wrapped.

This is to prevent scattering of light emitted from the LED lamp 320 and to allow the light to be guided to the display unit 240.

In addition, the pressing unit 420 is configured to be pressed by the pressing protrusion 221 formed on the button assembly 200 so that the rear surface of the pressing unit 420 can press the tact switch 310. At this time, the pressing unit 420 is preferably formed to protrude forward from the front of the lamp supporter 400. This is to ensure that the plurality of pressing protrusions 221 correspond exactly to the respective pressing portions 420.

In addition, a portion of the portion adjacent to the pressing portion 420 is preferably made of a cut form. This is to allow the front and rear movement while having a more elastic force by the cut portion 420 is cut.

A plurality of hooks 430 are formed at the edge of the lamp supporter 400 to be fastened to the fastening holes 330 of the substrate guide 300. Of course, as the fastening means of the lamp supporter 400 and the substrate guide 300, a fastening means other than hook fastening may be provided.

As described above, in the present invention, the lamp supporter 430 supporting the plurality of lamps 320 is integrally formed. Thus, it becomes very easy to assemble the control panel assembly.

Hereinafter, a state in which the control panel assembly is coupled by the above components will be described.

First, the button assembly 200 is installed inside the control panel 100.

At this time, each button 220 is inserted into the installation hole 110 of the control panel 100, although not shown, the frame 210 by the fastening means such as hooks formed on the frame 210, the control panel 100 It is fixed to the inner side of the).

In this case, the front surface of the button 220 is exposed to the outside of the control panel 100, it is preferable that the tubular control panel 100 is made of the same color as the color.

In addition, since the button assembly 200 forms a single button assembly 200 by the frame 210, the button assembly 200 may be coupled to the installation hole 110 of the control panel 100 at one time without going through several times.

Next, the lamp supporter 400 is installed in the substrate guide 300 while the hook 430 formed in the lamp supporter 400 is fastened to the fastening hole 320 formed in the substrate guide 300.

At this time, the LED lamp 320 installed in the substrate guide 300 is inserted into the lamp guide boss 410 formed in the lamp supporter 400.

In addition, the tact switch 310 of the substrate guide 300 is installed in close proximity to the back of the pressing portion 420 of the lamp supporter 400, respectively.

Next, the substrate guide 300 is installed at the rear side of the control panel 100.

At this time, the lamp guide boss 410 surrounding the LED lamp 320 is installed in the horizontal direction from the rear of the display unit 240.

Thus, the coupling of the control panel assembly of the laundry machine according to the embodiment of the present invention is completed.

Hereinafter, the operation of the control panel assembly coupled as described above is as follows.

First, when any button 220 corresponding to the driving condition is pressed, the button 220 is moved to the rear of the button assembly 200 while being elastically supported by the elastic ribs 230.

At this time, since the frame 210 is fixed inside the control panel 100, the button assembly 200 is not removed when the button 220 is pressed.

Thereafter, the pressing protrusion 221 formed on the rear surface of the button 220 presses the front surface of the pressing part 420 of the lamp supporter 400.

Thereafter, the pressing part 420 pressed by the pressing protrusion 221 is moved to the rear of the lamp supporter 400 to press the tact switch 310.

At this time, since the portion of the portion close to the pressing portion 420 is cut, the pressing portion 420 is moved to the rear of the lamp supporter 400 while having elastic force by the cut portion.

At this time, the tact switch 310 pressed by the pressing unit 420 transmits an operation signal to the circuit board, and at the same time, the light of the LED lamp 320 is emitted.

At this time, the light of the LED lamp 320 emits light to the outside of the button assembly 200 through the display unit 240, the user can recognize whether the correct operation command to the dryer.

Up to now, one embodiment of the present invention has been described that the character portion is formed on the outer surface of the control panel 100 in close proximity to the button assembly 200 to display the selected operating conditions of the dryer.

This will be described as another embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIG. 6.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a control panel assembly of a dryer includes a control panel (100, FIG. 3), a button assembly 500, a substrate guide (300, FIG. 3), and a lamp supporter (400, FIG. 4). Reference).

At this time, all components except the button assembly 500 are the same as the components of the above-described embodiment.

The button assembly 500 includes a button 510 and a character portion 520 provided on the front of the button 510 to indicate a specific driving condition, and the character portion 520 may be improved in durability. It is preferable that the double insert is formed on the front surface of the button 510 so as to be formed.

As shown in FIG. 6, in the button assembly 500 according to the present embodiment, a plurality of buttons may be arranged in four vertical lines. That is, the four leftmost buttons may be configured to select a lower driving condition that is a specific degree of drying with respect to a drying degree that is an upper driving condition. These sub-operation conditions are indicated by the character portion 520 on each button. The upper driving condition may be displayed on the front of the control panel that is above or below the series of buttons. Therefore, the user can select these operating conditions by pressing only a specific button to select the complete drying.

At this time, in the front corner of the button 510, the display unit 240 is formed by double injection so as to display the selected operating conditions as in the embodiment. As a result, the button assembly 500 according to the present embodiment makes it easier for a user to recognize driving conditions.

The control panel assembly of the dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention is formed by double-injecting the display unit and the character unit displaying the operating conditions to each button, so that the user can easily recognize the operating conditions through the button and the display unit and Improve the durability of the character.

On the other hand, the above embodiments have been described taking a dryer as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to the dryer. For example, it can be applied to washing machines.

The above-mentioned high operating conditions and low operating conditions in the dryer may be similarly applied in the washing machine. For example, when the upper driving condition is the washing time, the lower driving condition may be specifically set. In addition, even when the upper operation condition is a dehydration RPM, specifically, a specific dehydration RPM may be selected as the lower operation condition.

According to the present invention, by configuring a plurality of buttons made up of the same number as the plurality of operating conditions, the user's button operation is facilitated because the corresponding button only needs to be pressed once.

In addition, by configuring the plurality of buttons into a single button assembly formed integrally with each other by a frame, the operation of attaching and detaching the button assembly to the control panel becomes easy.

In addition, by forming the character portion by double injection in the front of the button or the control panel outer surface of the position close to the button, the durability of the character portion is improved and the character portion is not erased even in frequent contact with the user's hand.

According to the present invention, the display unit made of a transparent material is formed by double injection so that the driving conditions of the washing machine are recognized at each corner of the button, so that the user can easily recognize the driving conditions and the durability of the display unit is improved.

In addition, the display unit is protruded rearward from the front of the button to narrow the gap with the LED lamp, thereby minimizing scattering of light emitted from the LED lamp and exposed to the outside through the display unit.

In addition, the shape of the tip of the display unit may be formed in a semicircle to increase the intensity of transmitted light, and to increase the surface roughness of the outer peripheral portion of the display unit, thereby minimizing light scattered from the outer peripheral portion. Therefore, the user can recognize the light more certainly.

Claims (12)

Control panel; And A plurality of buttons including a display unit which is exposed to the front surface of the control panel and is pressed by a user to select a driving condition and the selected driving condition is displayed, and located at the rear of the control panel to connect the plurality of buttons integrally A button assembly comprising a frame to make; / RTI > The display unit includes a control panel assembly of the laundry machine, characterized in that the front surface of the front button protruding from the front and the front end receiving the light. The method of claim 1, And the display unit is formed to protrude rearward from the front of the button to form a light path. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The control panel assembly of the laundry machine, characterized in that the display portion is formed of a transparent material. The method of claim 3, wherein And the display unit is integrally formed on the button by double injection. The method of claim 3, wherein The material of the display unit is different from the material of the button, or the same as the material of the button, the control panel assembly of the laundry machine, characterized in that different from the color of the button. The method of claim 1, The driving condition includes an upper driving condition and a plurality of lower driving conditions dependent on the upper driving condition. And the plurality of buttons correspond one-to-one with the plurality of sub-operation conditions so that a sub-operation condition is selected by a user pressing the button. The method of claim 1, The front end portion is formed in a semi-circular shape control panel assembly of the washing apparatus. The method of claim 1, And the surface roughness of the front end portion and the outer circumference portion are different from each other so that the tip portion transmits light well and the outer circumference portion does not transmit light. Control panel; And A button assembly including a plurality of buttons exposed on a front surface of the control panel, the display unit displaying a driving condition selected by a user, and a frame positioned at a rear surface of the control panel to integrally connect the plurality of buttons; / RTI > And the display unit is integrally formed on the button by double injection. The method of claim 9, The driving condition includes an upper driving condition and a plurality of lower driving conditions dependent on the upper driving condition. And the plurality of buttons correspond one-to-one with the plurality of sub-operation conditions so that a sub-operation condition is selected by a user pressing the button. 11. The method of claim 10, And said operating conditions comprise a plurality of upper operating conditions. The method of claim 11, The control panel assembly of the laundry machine, characterized in that any one of the plurality of upper operating conditions are dryness.

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