WO2013080092A1

WO2013080092A1 - Laundry processing apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2013080092A1
Application number: PCT/IB2012/056585
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jingwei GAO; Zhihua Yan; Afang ZHONG
Original assignee: BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH
Priority date: 2011-11-28
Filing date: 2012-11-21
Publication date: 2013-06-06
Also published as: CN103132283A

Abstract

The present invention provides a laundry processing apparatus 100, including a case body 10, a door body 30, and a pivotal assembly 20. The case body 10 has a receiving opening 11 for laundry to enter the case body 10; the door body 30 is disposed on the case body 10, and capable of opening or closing the receiving opening 11 in an actuated manner; the pivotal assembly 20 includes a pivot 21, where the door body 30 rotates about the pivot 21 with respect to the case body 10; and in the process that the door body 30 rotates about the pivot 21 with respect to the case body 30, the pivot 21 moves with respect to the case body 10.

Description

LAUNDRY PROCESSING APPARATUS

The present invention relates to a laundry processing apparatus, and more particularly to a pivotal assembly of a laundry processing apparatus.

A laundry processing apparatus, such as a washing machine, is capable of perform- ing washing, rinsing and rotating processing to clean laundry with a detergent and water. Currently, washing machines are classified into drum-type washing machines, agitator washing machines and pulse washing machines. As for the drum-type washing machine, washing is performed by rotating the drum about a horizontal axis at a low speed after a detergent, washing water and laundry to be washed are put into the drum with the laundry to be washed. The drum has multiple raised ribs formed on the inner wall. During the rotation of the drum, the raised ribs elevate the laundry pieces to a high position, and then the pieces fall down due to the gravity and beat the wall of the drum, thereby removing the dirt. The drum-type washing machine has the advantages that almost no damages are caused to the laundry, and the washed clothes are not twisted, and less water is con- sumed than with other washing machines.

As another example, a drying machine is capable of automatically drying washed laundry. Usually, as for the drying machine, laundry is put in a drum in a case body, the drum is rotated, and hot dry air is blown into the drum to dry the laundry.

Such a drum-type laundry processing apparatus is usually set to be a front-loading apparatus. Through a pivotal assembly, a door body is pivoted to a case body of the laundry processing apparatus. According to the structure, the pivotal assemblies are mainly classified into the following several types: single-rotary-shaft pivotal assemblies, dual-rotary-shaft pivotal assemblies, and four-bar linkage pivotal assemblies. Due to a high cost and having no particularly significant advantage with respect to the other two types of pivotal assemblies, the four-bar linkage pivotal assembly is rarely used. Because the dual-rotary-shaft pivotal assembly has a long cantilever and two parallel rotary shafts, in a laundry processing apparatus using such a pivotal assembly, sink of a door body always occurs due to deformation and gaps. The single-rotary-shaft pivotal assembly is most widely used due to the advantages of a simple and compact structure and a low cost. However, the single-rotary-shaft pivotal assembly has a disadvantage that, when the door body of the laundry processing apparatus is closed, the door body is required to be higher than a front surface of the apparatus, which affects the use experience of a user to a certain extent. The objective of the present invention is to provide a laundry processing apparatus, which ensures that when a door body of the laundry processing apparatus is closed, the door body is not higher than a front surface of the apparatus.

The inventive solution meeting the given objectives is defined in the independent claim attached. Preferred embodiments of the invention are defined in respective dependent claims, the subsequent description and the attached drawing.

To achieve the foregoing objective, the present invention provides a laundry processing apparatus, which includes: a case body, having a receiving opening for laundry to enter the case body; a door body, disposed on the case body, and capable of opening or closing the receiving opening in an actuated manner; and a pivotal assembly, including a pivot; where the door body rotates about the pivot with respect to the case body; and in the process that the door body rotates about the pivot with respect to the case body, the pivot moves with respect to the case body. As a further improvement of the present invention, when the door body rotates with respect to the case body to open the receiving opening, the pivot moves in a direction away from the case body.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the pivotal assembly further includes a sliding link, the pivot is disposed on the sliding link, and the sliding link moves in an axial direction perpendicular to the pivot in an actuated manner.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the pivotal assembly further includes an elastic piece coordinating with the sliding link, and when the door body closes the receiving opening, the elastic piece is compressed by the sliding link to turn into a compressed status.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the pivotal assembly further includes a base fixedly disposed on a sidewall of the case body at the side of the receiv- ing opening, and a receiving cavity located at the sidewall and disposed on a side opposite to the side of the base; the elastic piece is disposed inside the receiving cavity, and when the door body closes the receiving opening, the sliding link is at least partially received in the receiving cavity.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the case body further has a front surface disposed elevated with respect to the sidewall, and when the door body closes the receiving opening, an outer wall of the door body is basically flush with the front surface of the case body.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the base is disposed with a sliding groove for limiting the sliding link to move in a direction perpendicular to a wall surface of the sidewall.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the base is further formed with a guiding surface, and the door body is disposed with a roller wheel capable of rolling on the guiding surface.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the guiding surface is parallel to an axial line of the pivot.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the guiding surface is perpendicular to a movement direction of the sliding link.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the door body rotates with respect to the case body to open the receiving opening, and the roller wheel moves towards the sliding link.

As a further improvement of the present invention, when the door body rotates with respect to the case body to a specific angle, the roller wheel leaves the guiding surface. As a further improvement of the present invention, the specific angle is smaller than 100 degrees, and preferably smaller than 90 degrees.

Beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: a laundry processing apparatus is provided, when a door body of the laundry processing apparatus rotates with respect to a case body, a pivot, about which the door body rotates with respect to the case body, is capable of moving with respect to the case body, so that when the door body is closed, the laundry processing apparatus is enabled to ensure that an outer wall of the door body is basically flush with a front surface of the case body, and even the outer wall of the door body is recessed with the front surface of the case body, thereby improving the use experience of the user.

The invention is described in detail below with reference to embodiments illustrated by the accompanying drawing. However, the embodiments shown are not intended to limit the present invention. Any change in structure, method or function made by persons of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments should fall within the protection scope of the present invention. For example, in the following embodiments, the present invention is described by taking a drum-type washing machine as an example, but applications of the present invention are not merely limited to the drum-type washing machine, the present invention can also be applied to a top loading washing machine and an agitator washing machine, or applied to a laundry processing apparatus having a pivotal assembly structure such as a drying machine and a washing and drying machine. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a laundry processing apparatus according to a specific embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a pivotal assembly when a door body is closed according to a specific embodiment of a laundry processing apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a pivotal assembly when a door body rotates with respect to a case body to a specific angle in the laundry processing apparatus in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3, where the door body is opened to a larger angle; and FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of two coordinating pivotal assemblies disposed on the same case body according to another specific embodiment of a laundry processing apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, a specific embodiment of a drum-type washing machine is described. The drum-type washing machine 100 includes a case body 10, a pivotal assembly 20, and a door body 30.

The case body 10 has a receiving opening 1 1 for laundry to go through, so that laundry to be washed can enter the case body 10 through the receiving opening 1 1.

The case body 10 is disposed with a wash drum 50, including an outer drum 51 and an inner drum 52. Usually, the outer drum 51 is supported in the case body 10 in a shock- absorbing manner. In this embodiment, the outer drum 51 is usually supported in the case body 10 of the washing and drying machine 100 in a suspension manner by elastic shock absorption apparatuses 60 and 70.

The inner drum 52 is disposed inside the inner drum 51 in a rotary manner to receive and wash laundry to be washed. The inner drum 52 is provided with multiple through holes (not shown) for gas and/or water to go through; several lifting ribs 53 are usually disposed on an inner sidewall of the inner drum 52 along a circumferential direction.

The drum-type washing machine 100 further has a motor 81 for driving the inner drum to rotate. During the rotation of the inner drum 52, the lifting ribs 53 disposed in the inner drum 52 elevates laundry to a high position, and then the laundry fall down freely and beat a wall of the inner drum, thereby achieving the purpose of cleaning the laundry.

The pivotal assembly 20 includes a pivot 21 , a sliding link 22, an elastic piece 23, a base 24, and a receiving cavity 25.

The base 24 is fixed on a sidewall 40 of the case body 10 at the side of the receiving opening 1 1 , and a sliding groove 241 is disposed in the base 24. A sliding link 22 is sleeved in the sliding groove 241 , so that the sliding link 22 is limited to move in a direction perpendicular to a wall surface of the sidewall 40.

The pivot 21 is disposed on the sliding link 22 of the case body 10 at an end of the side of the receiving opening 1 1 , and the door body 30 is provided with a mounting hole (not shown) capable of coordinating with the pivot 21. Certainly, in other embodiments, as shown in FIG. 5, the pivot 21 may also be disposed on the door body 30, while the mounting hole is formed on the sliding link 22. In this way, the door body 30 is pivoted to a pivotal assembly 20, and rotates about the pivot 21 with respect to the case body 10. Through such arrangement, the door body 30 is capable of opening or closing the receiving opening 1 1 in an actuated manner.

The receiving cavity 25 is disposed on the sidewall 40 on a side opposite to the side of the base 24, and the elastic piece 23 is received in the receiving cavity 25 and is capable of coordinating with the sliding link 22. In this embodiment, an end of the sliding link 22 opposite to the pivot 21 is also provided with a limit piece 221 , which is capable of limiting a maximum movement distance of the sliding link 22 in the base 24. The elastic piece 23 is connected on the limit piece 221 in a welding or engaging manner. The elastic piece 23 may be a common elastic component such as a compression spring or an air spring. In other embodiments, the limit piece 221 may not be required, or the elastic piece 23 may not be required to be connected on the sliding link 22. It should be understood that, these can all be considered as modifications of the technical solution of the present embodiments.

In fact, the base 24 and the receiving cavity 25 are respectively fixed on both sides of the sidewall 40 in a manner of coordinating with each other closely and fixedly. Certainly, in alternative embodiments, the base 24 and the receiving cavity 25 may also be fixed on both sides of the sidewall 40 in a manner that is well known to persons of ordinary skill in the art, for example, in a welding manner or through a screw.

As a preferred embodiment, the base 24 is further provided with a guiding piece 242, which is defined with a guiding surface 2421. The guiding surface 2421 is parallel to an axial line (referring to label 21 1 in FIG. 5) of the pivot 21 , and is perpendicular to a movement direction of the sliding link 22. The door body 30 is provided with a roller wheel 31 capable of rolling on the guiding surface 2421 .

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the pivotal assembly 20 when the door body 30 closes the receiving opening 1 1. In this case, the elastic piece 23 is compressed by the sliding link 22 to turn into a compressed status, and the sliding link 22 is partially received in the receiving cavity 25. The case body 10 has a front surface 12 disposed elevated with respect to the sidewall 40 and connected with the sliding link 22 at the position where the pivot 21 is lower than the front surface 12. Preferably, an outer wall 32 of the door body 30 is basically flush with the front surface 12 of the case body 10.

It should be understood that, the outer wall 32 of the door body 30 may basically flush with the front surface 12 of the case body 10 described herein may be that the outer wall 32 of the door body 30 is flush with the front surface 12 within a tolerance range. In other embodiments, the outer wall 32 of the door body 30 may even be depressed lower than the front surface 12 of the case body 10. The present conception is to allow the outer wall 32 not to protrude from the front surface 12 of the case body 10. However, a modified design implemented by utilizing the conception that the outer wall 32 is slightly higher than the front surface should also fall within the scope defined presently.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a pivotal assembly 20 when the door body 30 is opened to a specific angle. After a user removes a locking mechanism (not shown) between the door body 30 and the case body 10, the elastic piece 23 in the compressed status in FIG. 2 applies a force on a guiding link 22 to make the guiding link 22 get away from the case body 10, and further drives the pivot 21 to move in a direction away from the case body 10. At the same time, with the coordination of the roller wheel 31 and the guiding surface 2421 , the door body 30 is limited to rotate about the pivot 21 , so that the door body 30 is capable of automatically popping out and opening to a specific angle without any additional force applied by the user.

When the door body 30 rotates with respect to the case body 10 to open the receiving opening 1 1 , the roller wheel 31 moves towards the sliding link 22. Moreover, when the door body 30 rotates with respect to the case body 10 to a specific angle a, the roller wheel leaves the guiding surface 2421 . In this case, the elastic piece 23 is in a status that the compression force is the minimum or no compression force exists. The benefit is that, the user can apply a force to drive the door body 30 to rotate about the pivot 21 continuously, so that the door body 30 is enabled to open to a larger angle. As a preferred embodiment, the specific angle a is smaller than 100 degrees, and preferably smaller than 90 degrees. Correspondingly, on the pivotal assembly 20, it can also be understood that, an edge of the guiding surface 2421 of a guiding groove 242 can slightly exceed the axial line of the sliding link 22 at most. Certainly, the edge of the guiding surface 2421 may be designed not to exceed the axial line of the sliding link 22 according to a design requirement, which depends on the degree of automatic opening of the door body 30 without utilizing an external force.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the pivotal assembly when the door body 30 is opened to the largest angle. In this case, the pivot 21 is in a status where the pivot 21 is away from the case body 10 at the largest distance, and preferably the pivot 21 is located at a position of the front surface 12 higher than the case body 10. The benefit is that, the door body 30 is capable of being opened to a position of a larger angle with respect to the case body 10, even being opened to a position of 180 degrees, so that the user can conveniently put in laundry to be washed or take out washed laundry.

Continuously, referring to FIG. 5, in another embodiment of the laundry processing apparatus 100, the door body may be installed on the case body through two pivotal assemblies 20 disposed co-ordinately, and the two pivotal assemblies 20 may share one guiding piece 242. In this way, after the door body is unlocked, the elastic pieces 23 of the two pivotal assemblies 20 are capable of providing sufficient force for the sliding link 22 together, so that the door body can overcome friction between the roller wheel and the guiding surface 2421 and further open to a desired angle. The pivotal assembly 20 used in the laundry processing apparatus is a single-rotary- shaft pivotal assembly, and no negative phenomena such as sink of the door body occurs, and at the same time, it is ensured that when the door body 30 is closed, the outer wall 32 of the door body 30 is basically flush with the front surface 12 of the case body 10, and the outer wall 32 of the door body 30 is even depressed lower than the front surface 12 of the case body, thereby improving the use experience of the user.

As for persons skilled in the art, apparently, the present invention is not limited to details of the foregoing exemplary embodiments, and the present invention can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or basic features of the present invention. Therefore, no matter from which perspective, the embodiments should be regarded as exemplary rather than restrictive, and the scope of the present invention is limited by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description, so it is aimed to include all changes falling within the meaning and the scope of equivalent important elements of the claims in the present invention. Any accompanying drawing mark in the claims should not be construed as a limit to a related claim.

Moreover, it should be understood that, although the present specification is described according to various embodiments, it does not indicate that each embodiment only includes an independent technical solution. Such expressions in the specification are merely for clarity. Persons skilled in the art should regard the specification as a whole, and technical solutions in the embodiments can form other embodiments that can be understood by persons skilled in the art through suitable combinations.

Claims

201 103332 WO 2013/080092 PCT/IB2012/056585 10 CLAIMS

1. A laundry processing apparatus (100), comprising: a case body (10), having a receiving opening (11 ) for laundry to enter the case body

(10); a door body (30), disposed on the case body (10), and capable of opening or closing the receiving opening (11 ) in an actuated manner; a pivotal assembly (20), comprising a pivot (21 ), where the door body (30) rotates about the pivot (21 ) with respect to the case body (10); characterized in that: in the process that the door body (30) rotates about the pivot (21 ) with respect to the case body (10), the pivot (21 ) moves with respect to the case body (10).

2. The laundry processing apparatus (100) according to claim 1 , characterized in that: when the door body (30) rotates with respect to the case body (10) to open the receiving opening (11 ), the pivot (21 ) moves in a direction away from the case body (10).

3. The laundry processing apparatus (100) according to claim 1 , characterized in that: the pivotal assembly (20) further comprises a sliding link (22), the pivot (21 ) is disposed on the sliding link (22), and the sliding link (22) moves in an axial direction perpen- dicular to the pivot (21 ) in an actuated manner.

4. The laundry processing apparatus (100) according to claim 3, characterized in that: the pivotal assembly (20) further comprises an elastic piece (23) coordinating with the sliding link (22), and when the door body (30) closes the receiving opening (11 ), the elastic piece (23) is compressed by the sliding link (22) to turn into a compressed status. 201 103332

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1 1

5. The laundry processing apparatus (100) according to claim 4, characterized in that: the pivotal assembly (20) further comprises a base (24) fixedly disposed on a side- wall (40) of the case body (10) at the side of the receiving opening (11 ), and a receiving cavity (25) located at the sidewall (40) and disposed on a side opposite to the side of the base (24); the elastic piece (23) is disposed inside the receiving cavity (25), and when the door body (30) closes the receiving opening (11 ), the sliding link (22) is at least partially received in the receiving cavity (25).

6. The laundry processing apparatus (100) according to claim 5, characterized in that: the case body (10) further has a front surface (12) disposed elevated with respect to the sidewall (40), and when the door body (30) closes the receiving opening (11 ), an outer wall (32) of the door body (30) is basically flush with the front surface (12) of the case body (10).

7. The laundry processing apparatus (100) according to claim 5, characterized in that: the base (24) is disposed with a sliding groove (241 ) for limiting the sliding link (22) to move in a direction perpendicular to a wall surface of the sidewall (40).

8. The laundry processing apparatus (100) according to claim 5, characterized in that: the base (24) is further formed with a guiding surface (2421 ), and the door body (30) is disposed with roller wheels (31 ) capable of rolling on the guiding surface (2421 ).

9. The laundry processing apparatus (100) according to claim 8, characterized in that: the guiding surface (2421 ) is parallel to an axial line (211 ) of the pivot (21 ).

10. The laundry processing apparatus (100) according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: the guiding surface (2421 ) is perpendicular to a movement direction of the sliding link (22).

11. The laundry processing apparatus (100) according to claim 8, characterized in that: the door body (30) rotates with respect to the case body (10) to open the receiving opening (11 ), and the roller wheel (31 ) moves towards the sliding link (22).

12. The laundry processing apparatus (100) according to claim 8, characterized in that: when the door body (30) rotates with respect to the case body (10) to a specific angle (a), the roller wheel (31 ) leaves the guiding surface (2421 ). 201 103332

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13. The laundry processing apparatus (100) according to claim 12, characterized in that: the specific angle (a) is smaller than 100 degrees, and preferably smaller than 90 degrees.