WO2009004045A1

WO2009004045A1 - A washer/dryer

Info

Publication number: WO2009004045A1
Application number: PCT/EP2008/058545
Authority: WO
Inventors: Omer Hakan Okutan; Ersin Donmez; Osman G. Ersoy; Senol Erturk
Original assignee: Arcelik Anonim Sirketi
Priority date: 2007-07-04
Filing date: 2008-07-03
Publication date: 2009-01-08
Also published as: TR200908127T1

Abstract

The present invention relates to washer/dryer (1 ) comprising a tub (3) made of a rigid thermoplastic material, wherein the drum containing the emplaced laundry rotates, a loading port (4) arranged on the body (2) and used for loading, unloading the laundry, a tub entry orifice (5) situated on the tub (3) and positioned in alignment with the loading port (4) and a bellows (6) disposed between the tub (2) and the body (2), with the annular outer end fastened to the rim of the loading port (4) and the annular inner end to the rim of the tub entry orifice (5), produced of TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) material and whereby the bellows (6) is fastened to the tub (3) by a leak-proof and high strength connection method.

Description

A WASHER/DRYER

[0001] The present invention relates to a washer/dryer wherein an elastic bellows is provided between the tub and the body.

[0002] In washer/dryers, the laundry is emplaced from the front or the top in the tub inside the body and the tub is produced of thermoplastic materials like PA (Polyamide) or PP (Polypropylene) having high mechanical and chemical resistance values and low costs. A bellows of resilient structure, produced of TPE (Thermoplastic elastomer) material is provided that encloses all around the rim of the laundry loading port by leak-proof manner and extending from the tub into the body. The annular outer end of the bellows is attached to the rim of the opening in the body, and the annular inner end to the opening in the tub peripherally. The tub-bellows connection is subjected to corrosion by the wash water and to the friction of laundry while loading, unloading and the oscillation movement of the tub during washing tries to weaken this connection. Due to these effects, the precautions taken for the tub-bellows connection to have the intended strength are not sufficient, separations in the connection joint and damages in the bellows can result and the damages in the bellows can cause water leakages between the tub and the bellows.

[0003] In the Patent Document No US5860300, in a washing machine, a bellows mounted between the opening of a door for loading laundry is produced with a material having elastomeric properties and a hardness of about Shore A 20 to 30 and the inner end of the bellows is produced with a hardness of about Shore A 40 to 50, thereby providing attenuation of noise and decrease in adverse effects of greater unbalanced load.

[0004] In the Patent Document No GB2023186, in a front loading washing machine a bellows type gasket is mounted between the tub and the body and in the bellows-tub connection a strap is attached to the outer periphery of the annular connecting part of the bellows for fastening to the tub.

[0005] In the Patent Document No GB1033280, in a front or top loading washing machine or dishwasher, the container and the flange like member disposed between the container and the body are formed integrally as a unit of a thermoplastic material such as polypropylene or polyamide.

[0006] The aim of the present invention is the realization of a washer/dryer comprising a tub- bellows connection having a high mechanical and chemical strength.

[0007] The washer/dryer realized in order to attain the aim of the present invention is explicated in the claims.

[0008] In the washer/dryer, a tub produced of a high strength thermoplastic material is provided and a bellows, produced of thermoplastic elastomer material with a low hardness and elastic properties, is mounted between the tub and the body such that the loading port on the body and the tub entry orifice are joined. In the embodiment of the present invention, the bellows is fastened to the tub by over injection on the tub entry orifice in a plastic injection mould.

[0009] The tub is produced of two pieces, a front piece and a rear piece, for convenience of production and the two tub pieces are joined together afterwards by screwing or similar methods. The tub entry orifice is disposed in the front piece and the bellows is joined with the tub entry orifice situated in the front piece in the plastic injection mold.

[0010] In an embodiment of the present invention, the tub front piece is produced beforehand and placed in the plastic injection mould and while the bellows is formed by injecting the thermoplastic elastomer bellows material into the plastic injection mold, it is joined with the tub front piece at the same time.

[0011] In another embodiment of the present invention, both the thermoplastic elastomer bellows material and thermoplastic tub material are injected into the plastic injection mold to form and join together the tub and the bellows.

[0012] In another embodiment of the present invention, the tub front piece and the bellows are produced beforehand and the connection places are put into the plastic injection mold and a third material having adhesive properties is over injected on the connection places for binding them together.

[0013] In another embodiment of the present invention, an adaptor element is used to join the bellows with the tub. The adaptor- bellows group is fastened to the tub after the adaptor and the bellows are joined together in the plastic injection mold. [0014] In this embodiment, the washer/dryer furthermore comprises an extension disposed peripherally all around the bellows, that serves as gasket between the adaptor and the tub for providing leak proofing. [0015] The washer/dryer realized in order to attain the aim of the present invention is illustrated in the attached figures, where: [0016] Figure 1 - is the schematic view of a washer/dryer. [0017] Figure 2 - is the schematic view of a tub front piece produced previously and a bellows fastened to the tub entry orifice by being injected in the plastic injection mold. [0018] Figure 3 - is the schematic view of a tub and a bellows joined together by injecting both of them to the plastic injection mold. [0019] Figure 4 - is the schematic view of a tub and a bellows produced previously and the connection places emplaced in the plastic injection mold to be joined together by injecting a third adhesive material. [0020] Figure 5 - is the detailed cross section view of a tub and a bellows joined together by plastic injection. [0021] Figure 6 - is the perspective view of a tub and a bellows joined together by plastic injection. [0022] Figure 7 - is the perspective view of an adaptor and a bellows joined together by plastic injection. [0023] Figure 8 - is the detailed cross section view of a tub and an adaptor and a bellows joined with plastic injection that are fastened to the tub. [0024] Figure 9 - is the schematic view of detail A in Figure 8. [0025] The elements illustrated in the figures are numbered as follows:

1. Washer/dryer

2. Body

3. 103, 203 Tub

4. Loading port

5. Tub entry orifice

6. Bellows

7. Adaptor

8. Opening 9. Extension

[0026] The washer/dryer (1) comprises a body (2), a drum for emplacing the laundry, a tub (3) wherein the drum rotates, a loading port (4) arranged on the body (2) and used for loading, unloading the laundry, a lid that closes the loading port (4), a tub entry orifice (5) situated on the tub (3) and positioned in alignment with the loading port (4) and a bellows (6) disposed between the tub (2) and the body (2), with the annular outer end fastened to the rim of the loading port (4) and the annular inner end to the rim of the tub entry orifice (5).

[0027] The tub (3) is produced of a rigid thermoplastic (TP) material such as PA (Polyamide) or PP (Polypropylene) and the bellows (6) of a TPE (Thermoplastic elastomer) material having elastic features for example like TPV (Vulcanized) material.

[0028] In the washer/dryer (1) of the present invention, the bellows (6) is fastened to the tub (3) by over molding on the tub entry orifice (5) in a plastic injection mold.

[0029] The thermoplastic (TP) material of which the tub (3) is produced and the thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) materials of which the bellows (6) is produced have different plastic tensile coefficients after the plastic injection process. For example, the tensile coefficient of the thermoplastic (TP) material is about 1 % and the tensile coefficient of the thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) material is about 2 %. In the embodiment of the present invention, the temperature parameters are adjusted in the plastic injection mold (K) according to material properties and shock heating or shock cooling techniques are applied at the necessary places so that the materials of the tub (3) and bellows (6) having different tensile coefficients can be joined without problems.

[0030] The tub (3) is comprised of two pieces, a front piece (103) and a rear piece (203), that are mounted to each other afterwards and the tub entry orifice (5) is disposed in the front piece (103). In the embodiment of the present invention, the bellows (6) and the front piece (103) are joined in the plastic injection mold (K). The front piece (103), after being joined with the bellows (6) by plastic injection process, is mounted to rear piece (203) [0031] In an embodiment of the present invention, the front piece (103) is produced previously and placed in the plastic injection mold (K) and the thermoplastic elastomer bellows (6) material is injected into the plastic injection mold (K) to form the bellows (6) and is fastened with the tub entry orifice (5) in the front piece (103) (Figure 2).

[0032] In another embodiment of the present invention, the front piece (103) material and the bellows (6) material are injected into the plastic injection mold (K) together to form the front piece (103) and the bellows (6) and the bellows (6) is fastened to the tub entry orifice (5) in the front piece (103) (Figure 3).

[0033] In another embodiment of the present invention, the front piece (103) and the bellows (6) are produced previously and placed in the plastic injection mold (K) and the bellows (6) is fastened to the tub entry orifice (5) in the front piece (103) by a third binder material with adhesive properties like thermoplastic (TP) or thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) that is injected between the front piece (103) and the bellows (6) in the plastic injection mold (K) (Figure 4).

[0034] In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the washer/dryer (1) comprises an adaptor (7) for attaching the bellows (6) to the tub entry orifice (5), produced of a rigid material like thermoplastic as that of the tub (3), that is mounted to the front of the tub entry orifice (5) in the front piece (103) after being joined with the bellows (6) in the plastic injection mold (K). The adaptor (7) comprises an opening (8) at the center for loading, unloading of laundry that corresponds to the tub entry orifice (5) (Figures 7, 8) and the bellows (6) material is injected all around on the periphery of the opening (8).

[0035] In this embodiment, the front piece (103) having a bigger volume is not required to be placed in the plastic injection mold (K) or to be injected, only the joining process of the adaptor (7) and the bellows (6) is performed in the plastic injection mold (K) and a smaller sized hence lower cost plastic injection mold (K) is used for this process.

[0036] In this embodiment, the washer/dryer (1) furthermore comprises a gap (G) that remains between the adaptor (7) and the front piece (103) when the adaptor (7) is mounted to the front piece (103) and an extension (9) disposed on the periphery of the bellows (6), projecting inwards to the gap (G) that provides leak-proofing by serving as a gasket between the adaptor (7) and the front piece (103) (Figure 7). By means of the embodiment of the present invention, the tub (3) produced of plastic material and the bellows (6) produced of elastomer material are joined by leak-proof manner and a high mechanical and chemical strength is provided under heavy work conditions. The strengthening of the bellows (6) - tub (3) connection provides a better result when compared with the adhesive chemical substances.

Claims

1. A washer/dryer (1) comprising body (2), a tub (3) wherein the drum containing the emplaced laundry rotates, produced of TP (thermoplastic) material, a loading port (4) arranged on the body (2) and used for loading, unloading the laundry, a tub entry orifice (5) situated on the tub (3) and positioned in alignment with the loading port (4) and characterized by a bellows (6) disposed between the tub (2) and the body (2), with the annular outer end fastened to the rim of the loading port (4) and the annular inner end to the rim of the tub entry orifice (5), produced of TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) material and fastened to the tub (3) by over-molding on the tub entry orifice (5) in a plastic injection mold (K).

2. 2 - A washer/dryer (1) as in Claim 1 , characterized by the tub (3) that is formed by a front piece (103) and a rear piece (203) mounted to each other and the bellows (6) joined with the front piece (103) in the plastic injection mold (K).

3. 3 - A washer/dryer (1) as in Claim 2, characterized by the front piece (103) produced previously and placed in the plastic injection mold (K) and the bellows (6) formed by injecting the thermoplastic elastomer bellows (6) material into the plastic injection mold (K) and fastened with the tub entry orifice (5) in the front piece (103).

4. 4 - A washer/dryer (1) as in Claim 2, characterized by the front piece (103) and the bellows (6) both formed and fastened together by injecting simultaneously in the plastic injection mold (K).

5. 5 - A washer/dryer (1) as in Claim 2, characterized by a binder material (M) with adhesive properties like thermoplastic (TP) or thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) that is injected between the front piece (103) and the bellows (6) in the plastic injection mold (K) providing the bellows (6) to be fastened to tub entry orifice (5).

6. 6 - A washer/dryer (1) as in Claim 1 , characterized by an adaptor (7) for attaching the bellows (6) to the tub (3) that is mounted to the front of the tub entry orifice (5) in the front piece (103) after being joined with the bellows (6) in the plastic injection mold (K), having an opening (8) at the center for loading, unloading the laundry.

7. 7 - A washer/dryer (1) as in Claim 6, characterized by a gap (G) between the adaptor (7) and the front piece (103) and an extension (9) disposed on the periphery of the bellows (6), projecting inwards to the gap (G) that serves as a gasket between the adaptor (7) and the front piece (103).