The present invention relates to a laundry washing machine (which may be of the front-loading type or of the top-loading type) comprising a detergent dispensing assembly; the laundry washing machine can have or not also a drying function.
As is known, a front-loading home laundry washing machine generally comprises: a substantially parallelepiped-shaped outer boxlike casing structured for resting on the floor; a substantially bell-shaped washing tub which is usually suspended in floating manner inside the casing, directly facing a laundry loading/ unloading through opening realized in the front wall of the casing; a substantially cylindrical, elastically-deformable bellows which watertight connects the front opening of the washing tub to the laundry loading/unloading opening formed in the front wall of the casing; a porthole door which is hinged to the front wall of the casing to rotate to and from a closing position in which the door closes the laundry loading/unloading opening in the front wall of the casing for watertight sealing the washing tub; a substantially cylindrical, bell-shaped rotatable drum structured for housing the laundry to be washed, and which is fitted inside the washing tub with its concavity facing the laundry loading/unloading opening and is supported by the washing tub in axially rotating manner so as to be able to freely rotate about its substantially horizontally-oriented, longitudinal axis; and an electrically-powered motor assembly which is structured for driving into rotation the rotatable drum about its longitudinal axis inside the washing tub.
The front-loading home laundry washing machine moreover comprises: a detergent dispensing assembly which is located inside the boxlike casing and is structured for selectively feeding into the washing tub, according to the washing cycle selected by the user, a given amount of detergent, softener and/or other washing agent suitably mixed with fresh water arriving from the water mains; and finally a fresh-water supply circuit which is structured for selectively drawing fresh water from the water mains according to the washing cycle selected by the user, and channelling said fresh water to the detergent dispensing assembly or directly to the washing tub.
In most of the front-loading laundry washing machines currently on the market, the detergent dispensing assembly generally comprises a detergent drawer which is fitted/inserted in manually extractable manner into a corresponding drawer housing whose entrance is located on front wall of the casing, above the laundry loading/unloading opening. The detergent drawer is moreover divided into a number of detergent compartments each structured for being manually fillable with an amount of detergent, softener or other washing agent sufficient to perform a single washing cycle, and the detergent dispensing assembly furthermore comprises a drawer flush circuit which is connected to the fresh-water supply circuit for receiving fresh water, and is structured for selectively spilling/pouring, when the detergent drawer is completely fitted/inserted into the drawer housing, a shower of water droplets directly into any one of the detergent compartments of the detergent drawer, so as to selectively flush the detergent, softener or other washing agent out of the same detergent compartment and down onto the bottom of the drawer housing. The mixture of water and detergent, softener or other washing agent afterwards flows into the washing tub via a drain duct that branches off from the basin-shaped bottom of the drawer housing.
More in detail, the drawer flush circuit generally comprises a plate-like water delivery member which is usually incorporated into the upper cover of the drawer housing so as to be located immediately above the detergent drawer when the latter is completely inserted/recessed into the drawer housing. The plate-like water delivery member is provided with a number of shower-making portions/sections each of which is vertically aligned to a corresponding detergent compartment of the detergent drawer, and is structured for feeding a shower of water droplets into the detergent compartment located immediately beneath; and the drawer flush circuit furthermore comprises an electrically-operated valve assembly or flow diverter assembly which is located immediately upstream of the water delivery member, and is structured for channeling the fresh water arriving from the fresh-water supply circuit selectively and alternatively towards any one of the shower-making sections/portions of the water delivery member.
According to
The upper face of the plate-like lower element has a number of perforated portions/sections each vertically aligned to a corresponding detergent compartment of the detergent drawer, and a number of upwards-protruding ribs that delimit in pairs a series of water ducts each of which is shaped to channel the fresh water arriving from the electrically-operated valve assembly or flow diverter assembly to a corresponding perforated portion/section of the plate-like lower element. The lower face of the plate-like upper element, instead, is shaped so as to directly abut against the crest line of the upwards-protruding ribs of the plate-like lower element, and to be vibration welded to the same upwards-protruding ribs so as to watertight close the top of each water duct and complete the water delivery member.
Unluckily, during the vibration welding of the plate-like upper element to the upwards-protruding ribs of the plate-like lower element it may happen that drops of welding burr partially obstruct the inside of one or more of water ducts, thus causing a wrong outflow of the water from the plate-like water delivery member with all problems concerned. The clear section (i.e. the section in which the water actually flows) of each water duct, in fact, is suitably sized so to have a specific water flowrate along the water duct, and the presence of welding burrs can locally drastically reduce the clear section of the duct.
Document
Aim of the present invention is to prevent the welding burrs to reduce the clear section of the water ducts of the plate-like water delivery member of the detergent dispensing assembly.
In compliance with the above aim, according to the present invention there is provided a laundry washing machine comprising a detergent dispensing assembly which comprises a detergent drawer structured for receiving a given amount of washing agent and which is fitted in extractable manner into a corresponding drawer housing, and a water delivery member which is associated to the drawer housing so as to be located immediately above the detergent drawer when the latter is completely inserted/recessed into the drawer housing; the water delivery member is provided with at least one shower-making portion structured for feeding a shower of water droplets into the beneath-located detergent drawer, and with at least one internal water supply duct which extends inside the body of the water delivery member and is structured so as to channel the fresh water towards said shower-making portion; the water delivery member comprises a first and a second, reciprocally overlapped, plate-like elements which are made of plastic material and are welded to one another so as to form a monolithic body, and the at least one water supply duct being laterally delimited, in the interspace between the first and the second plate-like elements, by two first partitioning ribs each protruding from the inner face of the first or second plate-like element towards the other plate-like element, and watertight merged via vibration welding to the body of said other plate-like element; at least a segment of the internal water supply duct is additionally laterally delimited by two second partitioning ribs each protruding from the inner face of the first or second plate-like element inside the lane laterally delimited by the first partitioning ribs, and extending towards the other plate-like element up to rest with the crest line of the ribs in abutment against the conjugated inner face of said other plate-like element.
It is underlined that the crest line of the second partitioning ribs lean abuts or leans against with the conjugated inner face of the other plate-like element, but is not welded to this inner face; this ensures that the clear section of the water supply ducts is not reduced/obstructed by welding burrs, since the clear section of the water supply ducts is laterally delimited by a two second partitioning ribs, each protruding from one of the plate-line elements, which, as just underlined, are not welded to the inner face of the other plate-like element, while the first partitioning ribs (which are welded and which can therefore generate welding burrs) are positioned externally to the second partitioning ribs. In other words, potentially welding burrs generated during the vibration welding in the first partitioning ribs are kept external to the clear section of the water supply ducts (this clear section is therefore defined laterally by the second partitioning ribs) by the presence of the second partitioning ribs.
It is underlined that, advantageously, the first partitioning ribs can protrude both from a same plate-line element (for example the first plate-line element), or they can advantageously protrude one from one of the plate-line elements (for example the first plate-line element) and one from the other plate-line element (for example the second plate-line element).
Advantageously, first partitioning ribs are watertight merged via vibration welding to the body of said other plate-like element, without interruption along the whole length of the first partitioning ribs.
It is underlined that, advantageously, also the second partitioning ribs can protrude both from a same plate-line element, or they can advantageously protrude one from one of the plate-line elements and one from the other plate-line element.
Advantageously, the crest lines of the second partitioning ribs rests in abutment against the conjugated inner face of the other plate-like element without interruption along the whole length of said second partitioning ribs.
Preferably, the internal water supply duct is laterally delimited by the couple of second partitioning ribs for its whole length.
Preferably, each second partitioning rib is locally parallel to an adjacent first partitioning rib.
Advantageously, the detergent drawer is divided into a number of detergent compartments each structured for being manually fillable with a given amount of detergent, softener or other washing agent, and in each shower-making portion the plate-like water delivery member is vertically aligned to a respective detergent compartment of the detergent drawer, and is structured for feeding a shower of water droplets solely into the beneath-located detergent compartment.
Preferably, the second partitioning ribs protrude both from the inner face of the first plate-like element, or both from the inner face of the second plate-like element, or one from the inner face of the first plate-like element and the other from the inner face of the second plate-like element.
Advantageously the first plate-like element comprises an outer annular rib which protrudes from the inner face of one between the first plate-like element and second plate-like element while surrounding the partitioning ribs and as a whole, and extends towards the other plate-like element up to reach and watertight merge with the body of said other plate-like element.
Preferably the first plate-like element of the water delivery member is directly faced to the detergent drawer and is provided, along one or more segments of the at least one internal water supply duct, with a number of transversal through holes.
Advantageously the cross-section of one or more of these through holes is suitably sized to allow the water flowing inside the water supply duct to trickle out of the plate-like water delivery member and drop into the beneath-located detergent drawer.
Preferably the laundry washing machine comprises an electrically-operated water flow controlling device which is interposed between the plate-like water delivery member and the fresh-water supply circuit, and is structured for controlling the flow of fresh water from the fresh-water supply circuit along the at least one water supply duct of the plate-like water delivery member.
Advantageously the plate-like water delivery member is provided with a number of internal water supply ducts and the electrically-operated water flow controlling device is structured for controlling the flow of fresh water along each water supply duct of the plate-like water delivery member.
Preferably the electrically-operated water flow controlling device is attached to a side of the plate-like water delivery member, or is recessed/incorporated into the water delivery member.
A non-limiting embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
With reference to attached Figures, reference number 100 indicates a laundry washing machine 100 comprising a detergent dispensing assembly numbered 1 as a whole.
In the attached Figures laundry washing machine 100 is a front-loading laundry washing machine; anyway the invention can be applied as well also to a top-loading laundry washing machine. The laundry washing machine according to the invention can be provided or not with a drying function.
Laundry washing machine 100 preferably comprises:
The laundry washing machine 100 furthermore comprises the detergent dispensing assembly 1 which is located inside the casing 101 preferably above the washing tub 102 and preferably, though not necessarily, immediately underneath the upper worktop or top wall 106 of the casing 101, and is structured for selectively feeding into the washing tub 102, according to the washing cycle selected by the user, a given amount of detergent, softener and/or other washing agent suitably mixed with fresh water; and preferably a fresh-water supply circuit (not shown) which is connectable directly to the water mains, and is structured for selectively channelling, according to the washing cycle manually-selected by the user, a flow of fresh water from the water mains to detergent dispensing assembly 1 or directly to washing tub 102.
In the example shown the rotatable drum (not shown) of laundry washing machine 100 is preferably arranged inside the washing tub 102 with the drum rotation axis locally substantially coaxial to the longitudinal axis L of the washing tub 1, and with the circular front opening or mouth of the drum directly aligned and faced to the circular front opening or mouth of washing tub 102, so as to receive the laundry to be washed through the laundry loading/unloading opening realized on front wall 103.
The washing tub 102, in turn, is preferably arranged inside the outer casing 101 with its longitudinal axis L substantially horizontally-oriented, i.e. substantially perpendicular to front wall 103.
Furthermore the washing tub 102 is preferably suspended in floating manner inside the casing 101 via a suspension system that preferably, though not necessarily, comprises at least one, and preferably a couple of upper coil springs 107 connecting the upper portion of washing tub 102 to the top of casing 101, and preferably at least one, and preferably a couple of vibration dampers 108 connecting the bottom portion of washing tub 102 to the bottom of casing 101; and the laundry washing machine 100 is preferably provided with a substantially cylindrical elastically-deformable bellows 109 which watertight connects the front mouth of washing tub 102 to the laundry loading/unloading opening realized on front wall 103 of casing 101.
With reference to
More in detail, the detergent drawer 2 is preferably divided into a number of detergent compartments 5 each structured for being manually fillable with a given amount of detergent, softener or other washing agent sufficient to perform only a single washing cycle.
The detergent dispensing assembly 1 furthermore comprises a drawer flush circuit 6 which is connected to the fresh-water supply circuit (not shown) of the laundry washing machine 100 for receiving the fresh water of the water mains, and is structured for selectively spilling/pouring, when the detergent drawer 2 is completely fitted/inserted into the drawer housing 3, a shower of water droplets directly into the detergent drawer 2 so as to selectively flush the detergent, softener or other washing agent out of the detergent drawer 2 and down onto the substantially basin-shaped bottom 7 of drawer housing 3.
More in detail, in the example shown the drawer flush circuit 6 is preferably structured for selectively and alternatively spilling/pouring, when the detergent drawer 2 is completely fitted/inserted into the drawer housing 3, a shower of water droplets into any one of the detergent compartments 5 of detergent drawer 2, so as to selectively flush the detergent, softener or other washing agent out of the same detergent compartment 5 and down onto the substantially basin-shaped bottom 7 of drawer housing 3.
With reference to
With reference to
More in detail, the water delivery member 8 is provided with one or more shower-making portions/sections 9 each of which is faced to the beneath-located detergent drawer 2, and is structured for feeding a shower of water droplets into the detergent drawer 2; and with one or more internal water supply ducts 11 each of which extends inside the body of the plate-like water delivery member 8, and is structured so as to channel the fresh water arriving from the fresh-water supply circuit (not shown) of the laundry washing machine 100 towards a corresponding shower-making section/portion 9 of the water delivery member 8.
In other words, each water supply duct 11 extends inside the body of the plate-like water delivery member 8 so as to put a corresponding shower-making section/portion 9 of the water delivery member 8 in direct communication with the electrically-operated valve assembly 10 or similar water flow controlling device, which in turn is structured for controlling the flow of fresh water along each water supply duct 11 of the plate-like water delivery member 8.
With reference to
In other words, the electrically-operated valve assembly 10 is interposed between the fresh-water supply circuit (not shown) of the laundry washing machine 100 and the various internal water supply ducts 11 of the water delivery member 8, and is preferably structured for independently controlling the flow of fresh water along each water supply duct 11 of the water delivery member 8.
With reference to
The electrically-operated valve assembly 10, in turn, is preferably attached to a side of the water delivery member 8, and each water supply duct 11 extends inside the body of the water delivery member 8 from a corresponding shower-making section/portion 9 of the water delivery member 8 up to the side of the water delivery member 8 where the electrically-operated valve assembly 10 is located.
According to an alternative advantageous embodiment, the electrically-operated valve assembly 10 may be replaced by an electrically-operated flow diverter assembly which is structured for selectively and alternatively channeling the fresh water arriving from the fresh-water supply circuit of the laundry washing machine 100 towards any one of the internal water supply ducts of the water delivery member 8.
In addition to the above, with reference to
In the example shown, the plate-like elements 12 and 13 are preferably suitably shaped so as to form, when vibration welded to one another, a plate-like monolithic body which is shaped/structured so as to form the whole upper lid that covers the top of the substantially basin-shaped drawer housing 3.
Furthermore, the two reciprocally overlapped plate-like elements 12 and 13 are suitably shaped/structured so as to delimit in between themselves at least the one or more water supply ducts 11 of the water delivery member 8.
With particular reference to
In other words, the plate-like element 12 is provided with a number of partitioning ribs 14 which protrude from the preferably substantially flat, inner face 15 of plate-like element 12 towards the overhanging plate-like element 13, so as to reach the preferably substantially flat, opposite inner face 16 of plate-like element 13, and each partitioning rib 14 is watertight merged via vibration welding to the body of the plate-like element 13, preferably substantially without interruption along the whole length of the partitioning rib 14, so that the various partitioning ribs 14 of plate-like element 12 can laterally delimit in pairs the one or more internal water supply ducts 11 of the water delivery member 8.
In the example shown, each couple of partitioning ribs 14 of plate-like element 12 extends towards the overhanging plate-like element 13 while remaining locally substantially perpendicular to the inner faces 15 and 8 of both plate-like elements 12 and 13.
In addition to the above, at least one, and preferably each, internal water supply duct 11 of the water delivery member 8 is additionally laterally delimited, on both sides and preferably for the whole length of the water supply duct 11, by a couple of second partitioning ribs 17 which protrude preferably both from the inner face 15 of plate-like element 12 inside the lane laterally delimited by the couple of first partitioning ribs 14 delimiting the water supply duct 11, preferably while remaining each locally substantially parallel to the adjacent first partitioning rib 14.
However, differently from the first partitioning ribs 14, the second partitioning ribs 17 extend advantageously towards the overhanging plate-like element 13 up to simply rest with the respective crest lines 17a in abutment against the conjugated inner face 16 of plate-like element 13 preferably substantially without interruption for the whole length of the second partitioning ribs 17.
In other words, the crest lines 17a of the second partitioning ribs 17 abuts against the inner face 16 of plate-like element 13, and they are not welded to the plate-like element 13.
With reference to
More in detail, in the example shown each internal water supply duct 11 of the water delivery member 8 is preferably laterally delimited, on both sides and substantially along the whole length of the duct, by an internal partitioning rib 17 which protrudes from the inner face 15 of the plate-like element 12 and extend towards the overhanging plate-like element 13 so as to simply rest with the crest line of the rib 17a in abutment against the conjugated inner face 16 of the same plate-like element 13 preferably without interruption for the whole length of the partitioning rib 17; and by an external partitioning rib 14 which protrudes from the inner face 15 of the plate-like element 12 alongside and behind the internal partitioning rib 17, and extends towards the overhanging plate-like element 13 while remaining locally substantially parallel to the adjacent internal partitioning rib 17, up to reach and watertight merge with the body of plate-like element 13, preferably without interruption along the whole length of the external partitioning rib 14.
With reference to
Alike the external partitioning ribs 14, the outer annular rib 18 is watertight merged via vibration welding to the body of the plate-like element 13, preferably substantially without interruption along the whole length of the annular rib 18.
Lastly the plate-like element of the water delivery member 8 directly faced to detergent drawer 2, i.e. plate-like element 12, is preferably also provided, along one or more segments of preferably each internal water supply duct 11 - i.e. along one or more segments of each lane delimited by a couple of external partitioning ribs 14 and, if present, also by a couple of internal partitioning ribs 17 -, with a number of transversal through holes 19. The cross-section of preferably each through hole 19 is preferably suitably sized to allow the water flowing inside the water supply duct 11 to trickle out of the water delivery member 8 and slowly drop into the beneath-located detergent drawer 2, preferably inside the perimeter of a single detergent compartment 5 of the beneath-located detergent drawer 2.
The one or more sectors of plate-like element 12 which are provided with the calibrated through holes 19 form the shower-making portions/sections 9 of the water delivery member 8 of drawer flush circuit 6.
General operation of detergent dispensing assembly 1 and of laundry washing machine 100 are identical to that of today's detergent dispensing assemblies and of today's laundry washing machines, thus no further explanation are necessary.
With reference to
The advantages resulting from the particular structure of the water delivery member 8 are remarkable.
The clear section of the various water supply ducts 11 of the water delivery member 8 is laterally delimited by the plate-like elements 12 and 13 and by the two internal partitioning ribs 17 which are not involved in the vibration welding process. The crest lines 17a of partitioning ribs 17, in fact, simply abuts against the internal face 16 of plate-like element 13. Therefore there is no risk that the vibration welding of the two plate-like elements 12 and 13 to one another can accidentally reduce the area of the clear section of one or more of the internal water supply ducts 11, thus jeopardising the correct outflow of the fresh water along the various water supply ducts 11.
In fact, during vibration welding of plate-like element 13 to the partitioning ribs 14 of plate-like element 12, any drop of welding burr remains entrapped inside the cavity between the external partitioning rib 14 and the flanked internal partitioning rib 17, and is therefore unable to locally reduce the clear section of the water supply duct 11.
Clearly, changes may be made to the detergent dispensing assembly 1 and/or to the laundry washing machine 100 without, however, departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.
For example, one or more internal water supply ducts 11 of the water delivery member 8 may be additionally laterally delimited by a couple of internal partitioning ribs 17 only for a short segment of their overall length, and this short segment of the water supply duct 11 preferably may have the clear section with the shortest area.
According to an alternative embodiment, the couple of internal partitioning rib 17 delimiting at least one and preferably each internal water supply duct 11 of the water delivery member 8, may advantageously protrude from the inner face 16 of the plate-like element 13 and extend towards the beneath-located plate-like element 12 in between the couple of external partitioning ribs 14, so as to simply rest with the crest line of the rib 17a in abutment against the conjugated inner face 15 of the same plate-like element 12 preferably without interruption along the whole length of the partitioning rib 17.
In other words, the external partitioning ribs 14 delimiting in pairs the one or more water supply ducts 11 of the water delivery member 8, protrude from the inner face 15 of the plate-like element 12 towards the overhanging plate-like element 13; whereas the internal partitioning ribs 17 delimiting in pairs the one or more water supply ducts 11 of the water delivery member 8, protrude from the inner face 16 of plate-like element 13 towards the beneath-located plate-like element 12.
This list of references cited by the applicant is for the reader's convenience only. It does not form part of the European patent document. Even though great care has been taken in compiling the references, errors or omissions cannot be excluded and the EPO disclaims all liability in this regard.