[0001] The invention relates to a liquid reservoir for a home appliance, in particular for
a laundry treatment apparatus, like a dryer, a washing machine or a washer-dryer,
or dishes treatment machine, having a liquid level detection unit using a floating
element. Further the invention relates to a home appliance, in particular a laundry
treatment apparatus or dishes treatment machine, having such liquid reservoir.
[0002] The laundry dryer of
DE 88 11 974 U has a condensate collection drawer that can be removed from a drawer housing so that
the user can deposit condensate water. For detecting the water level in the condensate
drawer, a small volume of the drawer is separated by the main volume using a partition
wall. The partition wall has an upper overflow edge such that liquid enters the small
volume when reaching the overflow level. A floater having a magnet is guided in the
small volume. When the floater rises due to overflowing condensate, it passes a Reed
relay. When the Reed relay outputs the switching signal, the operation of the dryer
is stopped.
[0003] Similar the removable condensate container of the laundry dryer in
US 2010/0236091 A1 is equipped with a guiding cage installed in the container for guiding a floater
with a magnet. In one embodiment the cage vertically extends from the bottom to the
top of the container. One Reed relay is installed above the container and one reed
relay is installed below the container at the container compartment such that insertion
of the container after liquid draining and the maximum filling level can be detected,
respectively.
[0004] It is an object of the invention, to provide a liquid reservoir with a cage for a
floating element and a home appliance that has such liquid reservoir, wherein the
liquid reservoir has a design that improves assembling.
[0005] The invention is defined in claims 1 and 13, respectively. Particular embodiments
of the invention are set out in the dependent claims.
[0006] According to claim 1 a liquid reservoir for a home appliance is provided, which is
adapted to store liquid that is used in a treatment process. The domestic home appliance
may be a laundry treatment apparatus (e.g. a dryer, a washing machine, a washer-dryer)
and the liquid stored in the liquid reservoir may be water, condensate water, liquid
detergent, a dry treatment detergent, a fragrance, a sterilizer or any mixture thereof.
Or the home appliance may be a dishwasher and the liquid stored in the liquid reservoir
may be water, a softening or descaling agent, a liquid detergent or any mixture thereof.
[0007] The dryer may be any type of dryer or washing machine having drying function, like
an exhaust type dryer that exhausts the drying air to the outside of the dryer body
after the process air has passed the laundry storing compartment. Preferably the dryer
is a condenser type in which the processing air is (substantially or the most time)
circulated in a closed loop and the humidity from the laundry is condensed at a process
air heat exchanger or condenser and collected in at least one condensate collection
tank. The condenser type dryer may use ambient or outside air for heat exchanging
or may use a heat pump system.
[0008] The liquid reservoir has a floating element (e.g. a floater) arranged within the
reservoir and the floating element is adapted to float on the liquid in the reservoir
and to indicate the liquid level at least over a portion of the liquid level range
in the reservoir. 'Floating' includes swimming of the floating element on the liquid
surface having a portion above the liquid surface and it includes a floating where
the floating element is immersed below the liquid surface, but has a predefined relation
to the liquid surface and is ascending and descending with the rising or falling liquid
surface level in the reservoir.
[0009] The floating element is guided and/or trapped in a guiding device forming a cage
for the floating element within the liquid reservoir. The guiding element defines
the movement path of the floating element during liquid level change in the liquid
reservoir at least along the portion of the liquid level range. So the guiding element
is designed such that floating element may be floating the full range in the reservoir
from the lowest liquid level (here it means liquid surface level) to the highest liquid
level. At least the floating element has a traveling or movement path that includes
a predefined minimum level and a range above the minimum level. Preferably the movement
path includes a maximum position that includes or is close below to the maximum liquid
level or an overflow level of the liquid reservoir. The floating element is provided
such as to be monitored visually by a user of the home appliance and/or to be monitored
using a detector unit that is adapted to detect at least one position of the floating
element along its movement path in the guiding element. The liquid reservoir comprises
a container formed by or essentially formed by a front or first shell part and a rear
or second shell part joined together to form the container or the essential part thereof.
In the following reference to the first shell part includes 'front shell part' and
reference to second shell part includes 'rear shell part', wherein preferably 'rear'
and 'front' refer to the relative location of the respective shell part with respect
to the front and rear of the home appliance. The container may be formed of more than
two shell parts, but preferably exactly two shell parts are used for forming the liquid
receiving volume of the container or the whole container. Basically there are (at
least) two shell parts each having at least one partial element of the guiding device
for guiding the floating element along its movement path during liquid level changes.
I.e. at least one first guiding element of the guiding device is formed at the first
shell part and at least one second guiding element is formed at the second shell part.
[0010] When the shell parts for forming the container are in the assembled state, the first
and second guiding elements together form the complete cage or at least a portion
of the cage for the floating element. Thus when the shell parts are mounted together,
the cage formed thereby prevents an escape of the floating element along the movement
path of the floating element. This has several advantages. On the one hand, providing
the cage in the liquid reservoir and trapping the floating element in the cage is
simply made during assembling the liquid reservoir in that the floating element is
positioned at any position (which is convenient during the assembling steps) of the
movement path in the cage and the shell parts are combined with another - so that
the floating element is trapped in the cage. Preferably the combining of the shell
parts is made by gluing, welding, ultrasonic welding, heat melting, screwing, clamping,
snap-fitting or a combination thereof. On the other hand the advantage is that the
shell parts comprise all elements that are required to form the guiding element (cage)
such that no separate assembling steps for mounting the guiding element in the reservoir
are required. Further, as the floating element cage is arranged within the liquid
reservoir, no separate liquid connection to the outside of the liquid reservoir and
its container is required.
[0011] In an embodiment, the first and/or the second shell part has a wall section or a
laterally protruding wall section comprising a transparent element (the 'transparent
element is also denoted 'liquid reservoir window or is a 'liquid reservoir window')
or comprising a transparent element at an outermost area thereof. The transparent
element is preferably an optically transparent element (window) such that the floating
element can be observed visually by a user and/or using a detector unit from the outside
of the liquid reservoir container. The transparent element is transparent at least
in a specific range of the light spectrum, preferably in at least a portion of the
visual light spectrum. The 'transparent' includes glass transparency or translucency
like frosted glass.
[0012] Preferably the transparent element has (glass-like) transparency which improves the
detectability through the transparent element. The 'transparent element' may refer
to a section of the at least one shell part which is used for user visual monitoring
- e.g. if the shell part is completely transparent or translucent, the 'transparent
element' may be this shell section that is presented or visible for the user. Alternatively
or additionally, the 'transparent element' or a portion thereof may be portion of
the respective shell part or the complete shell part may be formed to be transparent.
Preferably the transparent element section used for monitoring the floating element
is arranged at a protruding wall section or a section of the respective shell part
that represents an outermost surface of the container. This 'offshore' or exposed
position of the transparent element at the container facilitates observability or
detectability and/or positioning the transparent element close to an opening or window
in or at an outer housing element of the home appliance, like a front wall or front
panel.
[0013] At least a portion of the movement path of the floating element may be guided by
the guiding device along the transparent element. Preferably the inner side of the
transparent element forms part of the guiding device, more preferably and if the transparent
element is protruding from the container, the inner side of the protruding transparent
element forms a channel or groove section that preferably guides the floating element
at two or three sides. Then a simple closing element of the guiding device is required
at the other shell part to trap the floating element along its path section of the
transparent element. The transparent element section of the container where the transparent
element is provided may have a cross section that is profiled like a U-, V-, corner-
or angle-profile which accomplishes for example the 'protruding' form of the transparent
element.
[0014] Preferably the transparent element is a monolithic part of or is integrally formed
with or a single molt part with the first and/or second shell part. Thereby the 'transparent
element' has not to be assembled in a separate step to the container to form an outer
wall section thereof. More preferably the first and/or the second shell part is made
of transparent or translucent plastic. Preferably at least substantial portion of
the liquid reservoir outer or container wall is a front shell of the liquid reservoir
made of transparent or translucent plastic. Preferably the at least one shell part
or all shell parts forming the container and comprising the transparent element are
molded, injection molded, extruded or blow-molded.
[0015] In an embodiment the liquid reservoir comprises a liquid level indication unit having
a detector (also denoted as detector unit) adapted to detect at least one position
of the floating element. Preferably the detector is arranged at or close to the or
a transparent element or the detector is arranged at a position of the movement path
of the floating element outside the movement path of the floating element along the
or a transparent element. In case the detector detects the floating element optically,
the detector is preferably arranged at a window position such as to detect the floating
element through the transparent element. Alternatively or additionally (for example
for a second detector unit for detecting a second liquid level) the detector is arranged
at a path section offset to the path along the transparent element. Preferably the
liquid level detectable by the detector is close to or below the lowest liquid level
that is visually observable by a user through the transparent element. For example
for this, preferably, the guiding device is guiding the floating element at its path
along the transparent element and the at least one detection position of the detector.
Preferably the detector unit is completely mounted outside the container such that
there needs not to be a separate encapsulation of the detector unit or parts thereof
which prevents a contact between the detector unit and the liquid in the container.
Then no wiring has to be guided through the container wall to the inside of the container.
[0016] For mounting the detector unit, preferably the first and/or second shell part comprises
or forms a seat for receiving the detector such that the detector is arranged at the
container in a convenient position after mounting. Preferably the liquid reservoir
comprises at its outer surface and close to the movement path of the floating element
one or more of the following mounting elements for fixing the detector at the liquid
reservoir: a fixing socket, a snap fit mount, a latch, a clamping element, a mounting
rip, and a concave receptacle. Preferably the mounting elements are formed at the
first and/or second shell element and more preferably at least a portion of the mounting
elements are made monolithically or integrally as a part of the respective shell part.
[0017] In an embodiment the movement path of the floating element in the guiding device
has a (substantially) vertical component and at least along a portion of the movement
path a component slanted with respect to the vertical direction such as to deflect
the floating element in a horizontal direction. Preferably the movement path of the
floating element along the transparent element is (substantially) horizontal and horizontally
offset relative to the movement path along the liquid level detection path. This has
the advantage that the floating element is shifted along a transparent element section
of the movement path towards the outside (e.g. the transparent element is protruding
as above) such that monitoring by a user from outside the home appliance is improved.
On the other hand the detector unit can be provided back-shifted with respect to the
outer housing or wall elements of the home appliance.
[0018] For protection of the detector unit against liquid contact, preferably the liquid
reservoir comprises a liquid deflection element arranged vertically above the mounting
location of the detector unit. The deflection element is adapted to guide liquid flowing
or dripping towards the detector unit laterally away from the detector. Preferably
the liquid deflection element is monolithically or integrally formed with the liquid
reservoir wall section (the respective shell part) where it is arranged at. The liquid
deflection element may have or form a shield, a housing, a partial housing, a roof
or a porch for the detector or the detector and its wiring connectors. Alternatively
or additionally the liquid deflection element or the at least one mounting element
for the detector are partially formed at the first and/or second shell part of the
liquid container.
[0019] The floating element may comprise a magnetic element and the detector comprises a
magnetic field sensitive element or a REED element or Hall sensor. However, if the
detector unit uses optical (reflection or using an electric eye, a photo bar or the
like), ultrasonic or other non-magnetic detection, no additional element has to be
provided at the floating element.
[0020] According to claim 13, a home appliance is provided. As mentioned above the home
appliance may be a laundry treatment apparatus, a laundry dryer, a washing machine,
a wash-dryer or dish treatment machine. The home appliance comprises a liquid reservoir
as set out in the claims and/or as described above and/or in the detailed embodiment,
wherein the liquid reservoir is mounted within the home appliance at a position to
be arranged behind a front wall. The front wall may be a front wall that has a loading
opening to a storing compartment adapted to receive laundry or dishes to be treated.
Preferably, after assembling the home appliance, the liquid reservoir is permanently
or fixedly installed in the home appliance, i.e. is a non-removable reservoir.
[0021] Preferably the liquid reservoir has a transparent element as described above for
visual user inspection of the liquid level in the reservoir. For the floating element
to be observable by the user standing in front of the front wall, the front wall has
an opening or a window at a position such that the area of the front wall opening
or window at least partially coincides with the area of the transparent element.
[0022] In an embodiment the home appliance has a steam generator for generating steam during
at least one laundry or dishes treatment sequence of the home appliance. The steam
generating unit may be any steam generating unit, like a boiler-type steam generator
or preferably a flow-through steam generator that may transform the supplied liquid
into steam with a rate corresponding to the liquid supply rate. The steam generator
is preferably arranged in the cabinet of the home appliance, more preferably is arranged
at a lower region of the home appliance. In case of a dryer, the steam generation
unit is arranged e.g. below the laundry or dishes storing compartment and/or at a
basement cover shell - for example of a heat pump system dryer.
[0023] Preferably the protruding wall section where the transparent element is arranged
extends close to the opening or a window of the front wall or extends to the plane
of the opening or a short distance through the plane of the opening in the front wall.
Thus the liquid level and the floating element can be better observed by the user.
[0024] The home appliance may comprise a front frame extending from a base region to an
upper region at the front region of the home appliance, wherein the front wall is
at least partially supported by the front frame, and wherein the liquid reservoir
is preferably arranged between the front wall and the front frame.
[0025] Reference is made in detail to a preferred embodiment of the invention, an example
of which is illustrated in the accompanying figures, which show:
- Fig. 1
- a perspective view of a partially disassembled condenser dryer,
- Fig. 2
- the front view of the dryer of Fig. 1,
- Fig. 3
- a perspective view of a front wall, a front frame and portion of a front panel of
the dryer of Fig. 1,
- Fig. 4
- the perspective view with the front wall and the front frame where the front panel
and a lid are shown in exploded illustration,
- Fig. 5
- the front view with the condensate drawer taken out from the drawer compartment of
the dryer,
- Fig. 6
- a cross section perpendicular to the front plane in an upper front area taken along
the line A-A shown in Fig. 5 where the filter/valve unit of a reservoir is arranged,
- Fig. 7
- in top view from left to right the front frame, the reservoir, a filling unit of the
reservoir and the front wall,
- Fig. 8
- an exploded view of the front frame, the reservoir, the filling unit and the front
wall,
- Fig. 9
- a perspective view of the front frame with mounted reservoir and filling unit, and
a fluff filter partially lifted in the process air channel,
- Fig. 10
- the perspective view of Fig. 9 with the fluff filter completely inserted in the process
air channel,
- Fig. 11
- a front view of the front frame with the reservoir and reservoir piping mounted,
- Fig. 12
- a perspective view of the front frame, a rear frame and a steam generator arranged
between on a base section cover shell,
- Fig. 13
- a side view of the front frame, the steam generator and further reservoir piping,
- Fig. 14
- a rear view of the front frame showing conduit passages and an overflow pipe,
- Fig. 15a
- the reservoir in more detail in exploded view,
- Fig. 15b
- the reservoir in assembled state with the filling unit disassembled,
- Fig. 16a to 16c
- a front view, a left side view and a top view of the reservoir,
- Fig. 17a
- the sectional view of the reservoir along line A-A in Fig. 16a,
- Fig. 17b
- the sectional view of the reservoir along line B-B in Fig. 16a,
- Fig. 17c
- the sectional view of the reservoir along line C-C in Fig. 16a,
- Fig. 17d
- the sectional view of the reservoir along line D-D in Fig. 16a,
- Fig. 17e
- the sectional view of the reservoir along horizontal line E-E in Fig. 16a,
- Fig. 17f
- a detail of a level detector and PCB holder as detail A from Fig. 15a,
- Fig. 18a
- a detail view of the filling area in exploded view as detail A from Fig. 4,
- Fig. 18b and 18c
- the detail view of the filling area as enlarged detail A from Fig. 3 with a valve
switch in valve open position (18b) and valve closed position (18c),
- Fig. 19a and 19b
- sectional views through the filling unit of the reservoir with a valve filter open
(19a) and closed (19b),
- Fig. 20a and 20b
- a top view to the front frame and the front wall with (20a) and without (20b) a portion
of the front panel where the drawer opening is arranged,
- Fig. 21
- a detail view of the laundry compartment back wall with a steam inlet cone as a detail
A from Fig. 12,
- Fig. 22
- the front frame, the rear frame and the basement top cover at the battery channel
in cross section along section B-B in Fig. 11,
- Fig. 23
- a steam inlet unit with the steam inlet cone in cross section as detail C from Fig.
22 or cross section similar to the section A-A of Fig. 27,
- Fig. 24
- the steam inlet unit in exploded view,
- Fig. 25
- a rear perspective view of the dryer with the bottom unit and right side wall removed,
- Fig. 26
- the rear view of the steam inlet unit mounted as detail B from Fig. 25,
- Fig. 27
- a front view of the steam inlet unit with the rear frame and back wall shell removed,
- Fig. 28
- a block diagram showing some of the components of the dryer and their functional or
connection relation to each other,
- Fig. 29
- a rear perspective view to the drum, a condensate container housing and the front
frame,
- Fig. 30
- the view of Fig. 29 with the condensate container and a portion of the drum wall removed,
- Fig. 31
- detail view B of Fig. 30 showing the front drum sealing, and
- Fig. 32
- another embodiment of the floater and the floater cage corresponding to Fig. 17d.
[0026] In the following a detailed embodiment of the invention is described using here as
an exemplary home appliance or domestic appliance a dryer 2 of the condenser type.
Implementing the invention or portions of the invention in a condenser type dryer
is preferred, however, the invention can also be implemented in any other type of
dryer or in any other type of domestic appliance. For example the home appliance may
be a washing machine having drying function with or without a heat exchanger or condensing
unit. Preferably the home appliance uses a heat exchanger in which condensate is collected
and preferably supplied to the liquid reservoir (62 below). In the embodiments of
the above examples of home appliances or in a further embodiment of a home appliance
in which the invention may be implemented in a whole or in parts thereof is a laundry
treatment machine in which steam is supplied to the laundry. The steam may be generated
from water, fragrance, a deodorant, a sterilizer, liquid detergent, a waterproofing
agent or any other agent, or any combination of these agents.
[0027] The following groups or sub-units of the domestic appliance can be implemented individually
in the domestic appliance or in any combination of the groups:
- a front frame which has at least one passage or opening therein for guiding at least
one liquid conduit therethrough;
- a front wall of the home appliance having an opening or window for inspection of a
water level in a liquid reservoir arranged behind the opening or window, the reservoir
preferably adapted to supply water to a steam generator;
- an upper front panel in which a panel window is provided to have access to servicing
elements of a liquid reservoir (like a filling inlet for manually filling liquid,
a filter and/or a valve); preferably the panel window is arranged at a frame for a
drawer opening (opening to a drawer compartment, e.g. for condensate drawer); more
preferably the drawer has a handling or grip portion that is arranged at a position
adjacent to the panel window and/or the panel window is not part of a drawer housing
or compartment in which a drawer is received;
- a steam supplying nozzle unit having a nozzle body extending into an interior of a
preferably horizontally rotating laundry chamber, wherein the nozzle unit preferably
provides a detangling function;
- a nozzle unit to supply steam into a laundry storing and treatment chamber having
a nozzle body with a volume inside the laundry treatment chamber, wherein the nozzle
volume provides a steam and droplet separation function in the interior of the laundry
treatment chamber;
- a liquid reservoir storing treatment liquid adapted to treat laundry, wherein the
reservoir is composed of at least two reservoir wall shells, wherein, when the wall
shells are combined to provide the liquid storing container, a floater element is
captured in a cage which is formed of at least a first cage part arranged at a first
of the shells and of a second cage part which is formed at a second of the shells;
- a liquid reservoir for storing a treatment liquid adapted to treat laundry, wherein
the liquid reservoir has a transparent element at an outer area thereof, adapted for
visual inspection of a floater or the liquid level through the transparent element,
and wherein the liquid reservoir further has a detector to detect the liquid level
in the reservoir, preferably by using the floater;
- a condensate water filter element that is adapted to catch debris or fluff in a fluff
trap to avoid insufficient sealing of a valve element; and/or
- a condensate water filter having a filter grid structure that reduces the filter flow
resistance by providing an opening close to a filtered water outlet.
[0028] The following figures are not drawn to scale and are provided for illustrative purposes.
[0029] Fig. 1 shows a front perspective view of a partially disassembled condenser dryer
that uses a heat pump system. In the shown state the loading door of the dryer 2,
the right cover, the lower shell of a bottom unit and a bottom panel are removed.
The outer appearance of the depicted dryer 2 is defined by a top cover 4, a left cover
or wall 6, a front cover 8 having a loading opening 10 and a front top panel 12. The
front top panel 12 frames a drawer cover 14, wherein here the drawer has a condensate
container that is completely pushed in a drawer compartment located at the upper part
of the dryer. The right portion of the front top panel 12 forms an input section 16
wherein here the details of the input section 16 are not shown (like indicators, a
display, switches and so on).
[0030] The loading opening 10 is surrounded by a loading frame 18 which is formed in the
front cover 8. In loading direction behind the bottom section of the loading frame
18 a filter compartment/process air channel 32 is arranged which is adapted to receive
a fluff filter 34 and which is formed in a front frame 30 (compare Figs. 9 and 10).
At the back side of the loading opening in the front frame 30 a drum 20 is arranged.
In the embodiment shown the drum 20 is a rotating drum cylinder that is extending
between the back side of the front frame 30 and the front side of a rear frame 31.
The open rear end of cylindrical rotatable drum 20 is closed by a compartment back
wall 26 (Fig. 2) which is mounted at the rear frame 31 (Fig. 12). Back wall 26 is
preferably provided as a separate element to the rear frame 31, formed for example
from a metal plate. In the shown embodiment the rotation axis of the drum is horizontal,
however, the rotation axis may be inclined with respect to the horizontal axis or
may be even vertical with some modifications to the shown embodiment, however without
the requirement to modify other groups of the dryer.
[0031] Fig. 29 shows in perspective back view the drum 20, the front frame 30 and the drawer
housing or compartment 15a in which the condensate drawer 15a is completely inserted.
Below the condensate drawer compartment 15a and adjacent to the left upper corner
of the front cover 8 or left above middle of the loading opening 10, a window panel
22 is inserted into a front cover window opening 52 (Fig. 4). The window opening 52
and the window panel 22 allow visual inspection into the inside of the dryer outer
body where a liquid reservoir 62 is arranged to check the liquid level (see more detail
below).
[0032] As indicated in Fig. 2 showing the dryer of Fig. 1 in front view, the condensate
drawer has a draw handle 24 at the drawer cover 14 to be gripped by the user for pushing
the condensate drawer in or pulling it out of the condensate drawer compartment that
is extending into the interior of the dryer 2. Fig. 2 gives a view onto the compartment
back wall 26 which has a plurality of air inlet openings 28 through which processing
air enters the laundry storing compartment from the back side or rear side of the
drum 20. In the center of the compartment back wall 26 and surrounded by the air inlet
openings 28 a cone 252 is arranged which has in this embodiment laundry detangling
function and further supplies steam into the interior of the laundry compartment formed
by the drum 20, the back wall 26, the loading frames in the front frame 30 and the
loading door (not shown). Fig. 3 shows a perspective front view of the front frame
30 with the front cover 8 mounted thereon. From the front top panel 12 only the drawer
portion 13 with the drawer opening 36 is shown mounted at the upper section of the
front frame 30. The condensate drawer and thus the drawer cover 14 are removed such
that one can see details of the lower frame section of the drawer portion 13 which
is surrounded by circle A. More details of view A can be seen in Figs. 18b and 18c
and are described below. In the meantime it is mentioned that the lower frame section
of the drawer opening 36 is exposed after extracting the condensate drawer, also exposing
a user filling section 38. The user filling section 38 is covered by a lid 40 which
is pivotably mounted at the lower frame of the drawer opening 36 of the drawer portion
13 via hinges 48 arranged at the lower drawer portion 13. The section 42 covered by
lid 40 has a filter opening 44 in which a filter is inserted and has a filling opening
46 used to fill in water into the water reservoir 62 storing the water for steam generation.
A typical value for the water storing volume in reservoir 62 is about 1.9 liters,
preferably the volume is in a range of 1 to 3 liters, more preferably from 1 to 2,
2 to 3, 1.5 to 2.5 or 1.75 to 2.25 liters. Typically 0.7 liters are required for a
steam treatment such that about 3 steam treatment cycles can be executed with the
dryer 2 without manually replenishing liquid into the reservoir when no other liquid
(e.g. condensate water) is supplied thereto.
[0033] It is to be noted that arranging the user filling section 38 in a lower frame portion
of the drawer opening 36 allows a simple modification of standardized dryers for models
that use steam generation and models that do not use steam generation. For models
with steam generation the front top panel 12 with the user filling section 38 is used,
while for models without steam generation there is no user filling section 38 and
instead the lower portion of the frame of the drawer opening 36 is just a flat plate
without any openings and/or lid.
[0034] Fig. 4 shows the arrangement of Fig. 3 partially exploded in that the front top panel
12 is lifted off from the front frame 30 and the lid 40 covering the section 42 of
the user filling section 38 is also taken away. In Fig. 4 the user filling section
38 is a modified embodiment in which there is no separate division bar or rib which
is dividing the filter opening 44 and the filling opening 46 as compared to the embodiment
of Fig. 3. Instead there is a single opening which exposes the openings for filling
in the water for steam generation and for exchanging or servicing the filter of the
reservoir 62. In the exploded view one can see that there is an opening 50 in the
top frame of the front cover 8. The opening 50 overlaps with the opening 44/46 when
the front top panel 12 is mounted on the front frame 30, wherein the lower frame of
the drawer opening 36 is arranged close to or abutting to and parallel to the front
cover top frame. In another embodiment the front top panel 12, more specifically the
drawer portion 13 forming the panel frame around drawer opening 36 just has a recess
or gap over the filling inlet 136 and/or filter access 134 instead of the separate
openings 44 and 46 in the drawer portion 13.
[0035] Further in Fig. 4 the window panel 22 is removed such that one can see the front
cover window opening 52 which allows a view to the interior of the dryer just behind
the front cover 8 where the reservoir 62 is arranged behind the window opening 52.
The dryer models which use mainly the same components (for example the heat pump system,
the base section, the front frame 30, the rear frame 31 and the drum) can be modified
from between steam type by exchanging the front cover 8 having the opening 50 and
52 and the front cover having neither opening 50 nor 52. Also the front top panel
12 having the user filling section 38 or not can be exchanged between the models using
the same standardized dryer (home appliance platform). In a modification the front
cover 8 shown in Fig. 4 can be used always with the opening 50, while for example
the opening 52 is closed by a closed or window-less panel (e.g. the window panel 22
without window) or the opening 52 may be provided by punching it, if the dryer model
is provided with a steam generation unit and the reservoir 62. Fig. 18a shows the
section A indicated in Fig. 4 in more detail.
[0036] Fig. 5 shows a front view of the front frame 30, the front cover 8 and the front
top panel 12 without details of the input section 16 and with the condensate drawer
removed such that the drawer opening 36 to the drawer compartment can be seen. Through
the window panel 22 and the front cover window opening 52 a level window 68 of the
reservoir 62 can be seen. The section A-A of Fig. 5 is shown in Fig. 6 which will
be described in detail below.
[0037] Fig. 7 shows in top view from left to right the front frame 30, the reservoir 62,
a reservoir inlet unit 70, the front cover 8 and the window panel 22. The reservoir
62 and the reservoir inlet unit 70 form together a reservoir unit 60 which has the
function to store water to be supplied to a steam generator, to receive water filled
in by a user manually and to filter condensate water which is pumped from a condensate
collector of a condensate unit 92 to the reservoir 62. The reservoir 62 is forming
a container composed of a front or first shell 64 and a rear or second shell 66 which
are glued, welded, ultrasonic welded or otherwise mounted together. The level window
68 is protruding at the front side of the front shell 64 such that it is arranged
immediately behind the front cover window opening 52 in the front cover 8 in the assembled
state. At least the level window 68, preferably the complete front shell 64 or both
shells 64 and 66 are made of a transparent material, like transparent PP, PE or acrylic
glass.
[0038] The reservoir inlet unit 70 is a pluggable component that can be plugged into the
reservoir 62 and provides the manual filling, condensate filling and filtering function
to the reservoir 62. The reservoir inlet unit 70 has a condensate plug 132 that is
protruding from the (back)surface of the unit 70 and is adapted to be inserted in
a respective coupling or socket 106 (Fig. 15a) at the front side of the front shell
64. Condensate which was pumped from a condensate reservoir to the filter in the unit
70 exits the unit 70 towards the interior of reservoir 62 during a filling process
for filling the reservoir with condensate water. A second plug is a filling plug 138
which protrudes at the back side of unit 70 and is adapted to be inserted in a respective
coupling or socket 108 at the front shell 64. Liquid filled in manually into the unit
70 flows into the reservoir 62 via the filling plug 138.
[0039] It is to be mentioned that the individual elements or groups of elements of the reservoir
inlet unit 70 may be integrated into the front and/or rear shell 64, 66 of the reservoir
62. The reservoir 62 and the reservoir inlet unit 70 are provided as two separate
components in this embodiment for simplifying the manufacturing process of the front
and rear shells 64, 66, as otherwise a more complex molding process would be required
to integrate the functionality of unit 70 into the reservoir 62. However, the reservoir
may be easily modified, for example in providing the shell separation in a horizontal
plane instead of a vertical plane and the filter and filling openings may be arranged
then in the upper shell for example.
[0040] Fig. 8 shows an exploded perspective view of the front frame 30, the reservoir 62,
the filling unit 70, the front cover 8 and the panel 22. The front frame 30 has a
reservoir mounting bracket 72 adapted to receive reservoir 62.
[0041] Fig. 9 shows the state in which the reservoir 62 is mounted at the front side of
the front frame 30 and the unit 70 is mounted at the front side of reservoir 62. The
reservoir and the unit 70 are dimensioned such that these make use of the hollow space
or dead volume which is present in the dryer between the front side of front frame
30 and the back side of the front cover 8. This means that the structure of the front
frame 30 is optimized for the supporting function of the frame in respect of mounting
the components and cover elements of the dryer and the structure is further optimized
and adapted such as to receive the reservoir unit 60 without compromising the required
mechanical stability and by integrating the reservoir unit 60 under reduction of extra-space
for it. In the embodiment - for further contributing to this optimization - the back
side of reservoir 62 (here the rear shell 66) is adapted in a way to match the front
structure of the front frame 30 and distribute the volume required for containing
the liquid in the reservoir to areas and spaces between the frame 30 and the cover
8 where the respective space is available under preservation of the mechanical function
of the front frame design elements and the front cover 8.
[0042] This means that the front frame 30 can be used in unmodified form as a platform element
for a dryer model that has a reservoir unit (e.g. for the steam generation unit) as
well as for a dryer model that does not make use of the reservoir unit (and the steam
generation and steam treatment of the laundry). In the design optimizing process the
front frame 30 is adapted to receive the reservoir unit (at least partially) such
that no defective mechanical properties for the general purpose function of the front
frame 30 are implemented, for example a riser feed through 74 is provided in a base
area of the front frame without having an effect on its structural stability, while
the feed through 74 provides an important liquid passage and/or pipe supporting function
without requiring additional elements. This correspondingly applies for the overflow
feed through 86 shown in Fig. 14.
[0043] Figs. 9 and 10 further show the arrangement of the fluff filter 34 in the process
air channel section which is formed in the lower region of the front frame 30. The
process air that has crossed the drum 20 is leaving the laundry treatment compartment
at the lower section just in front of the loading frame 18 which is closed by a loading
door through the channel section formed in frame 30 towards a battery channel 78 (Fig
11 shows upper part of battery channel as part of the upper basement shell or battery
top cover 230) which provides another process air channel section formed in the base
unit of the drum. The air in the process air channel section of the frame 30 is passing
the fluff filter 34 to remove the fluff. Fluff filter 34 can be taken out of the process
air channel section by pulling it upward as is indicated by the filter position shown
in Fig. 9 as compared to the one in Fig. 10, where the filter is completely inserted
for proper operation.
[0044] Fig. 11 shows a front view of the dryer with cover 8 and top cover 4 as well as left
cover 6 removed and without a lower portion of the base section. On the bottom an
upper portion or cover shell 230 of the base section 76 is shown which includes the
upper portion 78 of the battery channel where the process air enters which comes through
the process air channel section going through the front frame 30. The fluff filter
34 is also removed in this figure. As in Fig. 9 the reservoir unit 60 is mounted and
the pipes connecting the unit to other elements are shown. A riser pipe 82 comes from
the back side of the front frame 30 and is guided through the riser feed through 74
from where it goes upward to a filter inlet 98 (Fig. 15b) of the reservoir inlet unit
70. A feed pipe 84 is connected to a feed outlet 100 at the lower end of reservoir
62 and goes down at the front side of frame 30 and through a supply feed recess 75
formed at the lower edge of front frame 30. The riser pipe 82 and the feed pipe 84
are clamped by clamps 89 mounted at the front side of frame 30. The cross-sectional
view indicated by section B-B in Fig. 11 is shown in Fig. 22 (similarly in Fig. 13).
[0045] Fig. 14 is a view to the back side of the front frame 30. An overflow pipe 88 is
guided from an overflow feed through 86 in the upper region of the frame 30 to the
lower region of the frame. The pipe 88 is mechanically fixed to the frame by clamps
89 provided at the backside of frame 30. The overflow feed through 86 is a passage
from the front side to the rear side of frame 30 below the drawer opening 36 and is
coinciding or overlapping with a overflow connection at the back side of the reservoir
62 (in front projection - compare overflow outlet 102 shown in Fig. 17c.)
[0046] The outlet of overflow pipe 88 is connected to a battery inlet 90 as can be seen
from Figs. 12 and 13. Fig. 12 shows at 78 the upper shell of the battery channel.
Overflow liquid that is descending in overflow pipe 88 enters the battery channel
at 90 and is guided within the battery channel towards a condensate pump unit 92 where
the condensate water that has condensed from the process air at the evaporator of
the heat pump system is collected together with the liquid coming down the overflow
pipe 88. The condensate pump unit 92 is assigned to the battery channel 78 and collects
the condensate water and the overflow water from reservoir 62 in a condensate container
(304 in Fig. 28). The pump (306 in Fig. 28) of the condensate pump unit 92 pumps the
condensate from the condensate container to a liquid branch which has a first pump
outlet 94, which is connected to the riser pipe 82, and a second pump outlet 96, which
is connected to a pipe which supplies the condensate into the container (302 in Fig.
28) of the condensate drawer.
[0047] The respective flow resistances from the branch 94/96 through the pipes and vertical
height difference to the reservoir inlet unit 70 and the condensate drawer (compare
15a in Fig. 29 or 302 in Fig. 28) are designed such that about 20% to 40% of the condensate
water is supplied to reservoir 62 via unit 70 and the remainder of the condensate
water is pumped to the condensate drawer (unless the filter valve 198 of the filter
190 in the reservoir inlet unit 70 is closed). Under normal operation conditions -
as an average over several laundry treatment processes - the water consumed by steam
generator 140 is less than the condensate water which is pumped from the condensate
pump unit 92 into the reservoir 62. This guarantees that the reservoir 62 is always
filled and normally needs not to be manually filled by the user. Further, as there
is a higher condensate water amount pumped to the reservoir 62 than consumed by the
steam generator 140, there is a steady or periodic overflow of condensate water which
is flowing back through overflow pipe 88 from reservoir 62 into the battery channel
78 and from there back into the condensate pump unit 92. However, the circulation
of this pumped and returned condensate water stops after a while as the higher proportion
of the pumped condensate water finally collects in the condensate drawer until the
condensate water level in the condensate pump unit 92 drops to a level where no condensate
water will be pumped.
[0048] On the other hand, if the maximum level in the reservoir 62 and the maximum level
in the condensate drawer 15a/302 are both reached or exceeded, the condensate pump
unit 92 provides a signal initiated by a second maximum level in the condensate tank
(304 in Fig. 28) to the control unit 300 which then stops operation of the dryer and/or
stops a laundry drying process in which the condensate is formed by the laundry drying.
The control unit 300 waits for the user draining the condensate drawer 15a/302 such
that pump 306 can again pump condensate into the condensate tank of drawer 15a. In
another embodiment a maximum filling level in the condensate drawer 15a/302 can be
monitored instead or in addition to the second maximum level for the condensate tank
304 and the dryer or the drying process may be stopped as beforehand.
[0049] As next the reservoir 62 and inlet unit 70 will be described in more detail, while
the steam generator 140 is described in more detail below. Fig. 15a shows an exploded
view of the reservoir in more detail. The reservoir is composed of a front shell 64
and a rear shell 66 which are to be joined together in a vertical plane. The feed
outlet 100 which supplies the water to the steam generator 140 via pipe 84 is formed
at the bottom end of the front shell 64. The overflow outlet 102 is formed in an upper
region of rear shell 66 and is to be connected to the overflow pipe 88 which is arranged
at the back side of front frame 30. The front shell 64 further has a condensate coupling
106 adapted to couple with the condensate plug 132 protruding at unit 70 (see Fig.
15b), and has a filling coupling 108 adapted to couple with the filling plug 138 of
unit 70 (shown in Fig. 7). In the openings of overflow outlet 102, condensate coupling
106 and filling coupling 108 a seal 104 is inserted which has the form of a cylindrical
sleeve with a collar. After insertion of seal 104 into the respective openings, the
plugs 132 and 138 as well as an adaptor pipe connecting the overflow outlet 102 to
the inlet of the overflow pipe 88 through the overflow feed through 86 are inserted
to provide a sealed coupling.
[0050] On the front side of front shell 64 an inlet unit recess 110 is formed which contour
is adapted to receive a portion of the volume of reservoir inlet unit 70. Preferably,
the inlet unit recess 110 is formed such that when the unit 70 is mounted on the front
shell 64, the unit 70 is received flush or nearly flush with the main front surface
of front shell 64 (in this case without considering the protruding level window 68).
At the lower end of the inlet unit recess 110 a pipe recess 112 is formed which receives
a filter housing 130 of unit 70 and the upper portion of the riser pipe 82 which is
connected to the filter inlet 98.
[0051] The rear shell 66 has mounting grooves 114 formed on its back side which are adapted
to receive ribs 115 which are formed on the front side of front frame 30 (see Fig.
8) and which serve to provide mechanical stability for the front frame structure.
The wall parts of the rear shell 66, which form the grooves 114, partially separate
the internal volume of reservoir 62 such that it can be said that the volume of the
reservoir is split into partial volumes fluidly connected to each other so that the
different portions of the split volume fit into recesses of the front frame for minimizing
the space requirement for the container 62 by using dead volume in the structure of
the front frame 30.
[0052] For determining the liquid level within the reservoir 62, the reservoir provides
the level window 68 through which a floater 116 can be visually observed by the user.
In addition to this human detection, the level is also detected electronically by
using a detector unit 126 which is mounted on a side wall of the front shell 64 close
to the level window 68 and adapted to detect the floater 116. In this embodiment,
the floater 116 is detected magnetically, using a respective sensor of the detector
unit 126 (see below) and a magnet head 117 being part of the floater 116. The floater
116 is received in a cage 124 formed by respective portions of the front and rear
shell 64, 66. On the side of the front shell 64 the cage 124 is formed by a channel
that is open at one side (here the back side) and on the side of the rear shell 66
the cage section is formed by a floater cam 118 which protrudes as a small rib vertically
extending at the inner front side of shell 66. The upper section of the open channel
formed in the front shell is closed by the protruding level window 68 which has a
top wall section representing the upper limit. The front window section of window
68 forms the front wall restriction and two side walls of window 68 form the side
restrictions for floater 116. Correspondingly, the floater cam 118 has a window section
120 which is protruding farther from the inner surface of rear shell 66 to guide the
path of the floater 116 in its level changing path within the level window inner volume.
As the cage 124 is formed of parts of the shells that have to be assembled anyway,
there is no need for additional assembling steps for separately assembling the cage
for the floater. Before assembling the shells 64, 66 for reservoir 62, the floater
is for example inserted in the inner volume of window 68 (one cage part) and by combining
the shells the cage is simultaneously closed for the floater.
[0053] Underneath the window section 120 there is a detector section 122 of cam 118 subsequent
to a slope or slanted section 121 from the front side of window section 120 to the
detector section 122 which is recessed from the front side to the back side. According
to the invention the detector unit 126 is arranged completely outside the water storing
volume or walls such that no sealing or gasket is required for passing electrical
connections to the interior of water volume or for providing an inner sealed volume
for the detector unit 126 or parts thereof. This simplifies the design of reservoir
62 and reduces costs or assembling effort.
[0054] Fig. 17d shows a cross-section through the reservoir along the section line D-D as
indicated in Fig. 16a. Fig. 17d shows the floater 116 in its upper position (116a)
and in its lowest position (116b) within the floater cage 124. The front side with
respect to reservoir 62 is shown at the right side, while the rear side is shown at
the left side of Fig. 17d. So it can be seen that along the window 68 the path of
floater 116 is guided parallel to window 68 and a slope is going to the recessed position
within the cage 124 from the pathway going from upside to downside, wherein finally
in the lowest position 116b the floater path has again a vertical direction. The detector
unit 126 is arranged in the region of the lower position 116b. Thus, the floater 116
can be visually observed by the user in the normal water level range within container
62, while the electronic detection by the detector unit 126 detects the floater in
or close to the lowest position to indicate the critical low water level or the run
low of the water in reservoir 62.
[0055] Corresponding to the cross section of Fig. 17d, Fig. 32 shows an embodiment of the
reservoir 62 where the floater 116 is modified to floater 116'. Also the relative
position of the limitations in the floater cage 124 are slightly modified in that
the relative length or position of the cage portion in level window 68, the window
section 120, the slanted section 121 and the detector section 122 are changed. In
the floater 116' the magnet head 117' is arranged at the bottom side. As compared
to floater 116, the barycenter is shifted to a deeper position within the floater
116'. This has the advantage that the risk of blocking the floater movement during
descending and rising of the floater with liquid level change is significantly reduced.
Further the depth of the horizontal cross-section within the cage is enlarged in the
front-rear direction which allows the floater 116' to move without being tilted when
passing the slanted section 121, i.e. in the region at and close to the position 116'c.
Again positions 116'a and 116'b indicate the upper and lower position of floater 116'
in cage 124, respectively.
[0056] Fig. 15a further shows cable clips 128 arranged at the front side of the front shell
64 adapted to receive the electrical wires connecting the detector unit 126 to the
control unit (300 in Fig. 28) of dryer 2. The wire path is running from left to right
in front of reservoir 62 and from there further to the right where the control unit
300 is arranged on the right upper side of dryer behind the input section 16 of the
front top panel 12.
[0057] Fig. 15b shows the reservoir 62 with the front end rear shells 64, 66 welded together,
while the reservoir inlet unit 70 is shown in the non-mounted state. Unit 70 has the
vertically downward extending filter housing 130 for receiving a filter 190 that is
filtering the fluff from the condensate water which is pumped from the condensate
pump unit 92 to the reservoir 62. A filter access or opening 134 is arranged at the
top side of unit 70 wherein the filter access 134 provides an access to remove the
filter 190 and to actuate a filter switch 192. At the top surface of unit 70 a filling
inlet 136 is arranged neighboring to the filter access 134, which is used to fill
in water manually by a user. In an assembled state of the dryer 2 the filling inlet
136 overlaps or coincides with the filling opening 46 shown in Fig. 4 and the filter
access 134 overlaps or coincides with the filter opening 44.
[0058] The condensate plug 132 extends from the rear side of the filter housing 130 such
as to be plugged into the condensate coupling 106 when mounting the unit 70 on the
front shell 64. The filling plug 138 (Fig. 7) extends at the rear side of unit 70
and is adapted to be plugged into the filling coupling 108 at the front side of front
shell 64. By providing the two separate plugs 132, 138 alignment of unit 70 relatively
to reservoir 62 is achieved during mounting unit 70 at reservoir 62. As mentioned
above, for example the filling inlet 136 may be formed directly at the front or rear
shell 64, 66 such that it is not necessary to provide a separate inlet unit 70 for
manually filling. Correspondingly, the filter access 134 may be formed in the front
or rear shell with the filter body at least partially formed therein for receiving
the filter 190. In an embodiment filter access 134 in front or rear shell provides
receiving of the filter switch 192 with the function to switch on and off the condensate
water supply into the filter. If the filter unit 130 is integrated within the front
or rear shell, an additional opening for connecting the riser pipe 82 is then arranged
at the outside of the front or rear shell (i.e. the filter inlet 98 is then arranged
at the front or rear shell). In the embodiment shown, the unit 70 is screwed to the
front shell 64 using screws; however, it may be fixed in any other way to the front
shell 64, for example by clamping or welding or using a glue.
[0059] Fig. 16a shows a front view of the assembled reservoir 62, Fig. 16b shows a side
view and Fig. 16c a top view of the reservoir. In the front view the condensate coupling
106 and the filling coupling 108 can be seen, each with one of seals 104. In the top
view, the overflow outlet 102 can be seen with the seal 104 inserted.
[0060] Fig. 17a shows a section through the reservoir 62 along section line A-A of Fig.
16a. This section intersects the reservoir in the region where the filling coupling
108 is arranged. Fig. 17b shows the cross-section along section line B-B in Fig. 16a
including a section through the condensate coupling 106. Fig. 17c shows a sectional
view through reservoir 62 along section C-C in Fig. 16a intersecting the overflow
outlet 102 formed in the rear shell 66 and projecting from its rear side. Fig. 17d
is a section through reservoir 62 along section line D-D in Fig. 16a. As described
above, this section goes through the floater cage 124. While the sections in Figs.
17a to 17d are vertical plane sections through reservoir, Fig, 17e shows a horizontal
plane section through the reservoir along the section line E-E in Fig. 16a. It is
taken in a (vertical) height where the floater 116 has its flow path within the cage
124 that is partially formed by the level window 68. At the left side of level window
68 the section goes through the detector unit 126 which has its detector sensitive
zone below the travel path of floater 116 in the floater cage 124 at floater position
116b shown in Fig. 17d.
[0061] Fig. 17f shows an enlarged view of the level detector unit 126 taken from the area
indicated by A in Fig. 15a. The printed circuit board 160 of the detector unit 126
is shown in the disassembled state. A REED sensor 162 is arranged at the PCB 160 adapted
to detect the magnetic field of the magnet head 117 from floater 116 in floater position
116b (low water level). A socket 164 is provided at the lower end of PCB 160 adapted
to couple with a connector plug arranged at the end of wires for connecting the sensor
to the control unit 300 of the dryer for evaluating the signal provided by the REED
sensor 162. As mentioned above, the electrical wires connecting the sensor unit 126
to the control unit of the dryer are held by cable clips 128 arranged along the front
side of the reservoir 62. When the REED sensor 162 detects the presence of magnetic
fields, the control unit 300 recognizes that the water level in the reservoir is low
and upon detecting this signal the steam generation by steam generator 140 is switched
off. Additional measures can be taken by the control unit upon detecting the low liquid
level, for example an acoustic or visual indication can be activated to inform the
user that the water level is low. Further upon detecting the low level, the control
unit can stop the steam supply too during the running process and finish the running
process without modification except steam supply stopped, or it can stop the running
process completely or an alternative process can be run, which does not need steam
treatment for the laundry. Also, the control unit can interrupt the running program
and wait for replenishing the water in reservoir 62 by the user.
[0062] Instead of using a REED sensor 162, any other sensor can be used that detects the
magnetic field from the floater 116, for example a Hall sensor. Alternatively or additionally,
the detector unit 126 can be provided with another detector detecting another feature
of floater 116, for example which is adapted to detect presence or absence of the
floater 116 in the region where the low level is to be detected. For example, an optical
sensor could be provided which detects the reflection of light emitted to the floater
116, such that the presence of the floater and absence of the floater is detected
optically from the reflected light. Alternatively or additionally, an ultrasonic reflection
can be detected from the floater to sense the low liquid level. In a further embodiment,
a light source like an LED, a lamp or something else could be arranged on the detector
unit 126 or its PCB 160 to illuminate at least a portion of the interior of the reservoir
62 such that the user can more easily visually recognize whether the floater 116 is
in the region of the level window 68 or not.
[0063] The seat 168 for the PCB 160 is provided at the side of the front shell 64. The PCB
160 has lateral protrusions 166 which are adapted to snap into latches of a second
bracket 172 of the seat 168 while the opposing back side of PCB 160 is latched by
elastic detents 174 provided in a first bracket 170 of seat 168. When mounting PCB
160 in seat 168, the protrusions 166 are fixed in the latches by further detents 174
provided at the second bracket 172. The seat 168 thus provides a socket or holder
for the PCB 160 to mount it in a fixed position at a side wall of reservoir 62 to
be able to detect the floater 116 in a reliable manner.
[0064] The detail view of Fig. 17f further shows a shield 176 which is arranged above the
seat 168 and the PCB 160 inserted therein and being adapted to shield the PCB against
liquid that may drip from above or may run along the outer face of reservoir 62 towards
the PCB. The PCB shield 176 has a roof section 178 and a side wall 180 to guide water
around the PCB. The side wall 180 has a deflector 182 extending at its lower end,
which is inclined away from PCB to further assist in keeping liquid off from PCB 160.
In this embodiment, the shield 176 and the seat 168 are formed as monolithic parts
of the front shell 64, i.e. are injection molded together with the material of the
front shell 64 in one run. Thus, no separate assembling step is required to provide
PCB seat 168. However, the seat 168 and/or the shield 176 may be mounted at the side
wall of the reservoir 62 in a separate assembling step.
[0065] Fig. 18a shows a detail view of the filling area in exploded view as a detail A from
Fig. 4 and as already described above. Fig. 18b again shows the filling area for the
reservoir 62 with the condensate drawer 302 being extracted and the lid 40 being open.
It shows the embodiment where the filter opening 44 is separate from the filling opening
separated by a rib and wherein the filling inlet 136 of the unit 70 is just below
the filling opening 46 and the filter access 134 of unit 70 is just below the filter
opening 44. The filter switch 192 in Fig. 18b is at the left position within the filter
access or opening 134, which means that a filer valve 198 is closed, while in Fig.
18c the filter switch 192 is in a middle position of the filter access 134 such that
the filter valve 198 is open.
[0066] Figs. 19a and 19b are detailed cross-sectional views through the reservoir inlet
unit 70 in the mounted state, corresponding to Figs. 18b and c, respectively, wherein
in Fig. 19a the filter valve 198 is open, while it is closed in Fig. 19b. The cross-sections
of Fig. 19a and b are taken in a plane parallel to the front of the dryer through
the center of unit 70, wherein the section plane is a vertical plane. The filter housing
130 and the filter 190 housed therein are shown in cross-section, wherein the filter
extends in vertical direction and basically has rotational symmetry in a horizontal
section plane. At the upper region the filter 190 has a coarse filter grid 194 forming
a cylindrical basket at the upper end. A fine filter mesh (not shown) is supported
by the coarse filter grid 194, wherein the fine filter mesh is adapted to filter the
fluff out of the condensate water passing the filter 190. The filter has a round passage
or opening 196 which is arranged neighboring to the opening for the condensate coupling
106 which is protruding at the rear side of unit 70. Thus, no rib of the coarse filter
grid 194 crosses the opening for the connector 106 and the flow resistance for the
condensate water coming from the inside volume of the filter passing towards the connector
106 into the reservoir 62 is minimized.
[0067] At the lower end the filter housing 130 has a section with a lower diameter over
which the upper end of the riser pipe 82 is drawn. Thus, the inner of the riser pipe
82 communicates with passages 208 formed at the lower end of the filter 190 between
a valve seat 206 and a valve head 200 of the filter valve 198. Fig. 19a shows the
valve 198 in the open state such that the passages 208 are open (the filter switch
192 is in the left position when seen in Fig. 19a). In Fig. 19b the passages 208 are
closed as the valve seat 206 abuts against an O-ring 202 arranged at the valve head
200. In this position the filter switch 192 is at the right position (in the middle
position within the filter access 134). In the closed valve state no condensate water
pumped from the condensate pump unit 92 enters into the inner volume or space 214
of filter 190 and no filtered condensate water is flowing into reservoir 62. In the
opened valve state (Fig. 19a) the condensate water coming from the pump unit 92 enters
into the filter housing 130 and the interior 214 of filter 190 through passages 208
and flows upwards through the fine filter and filter grid 194 such that filtered condensate
water is flowing in the space 216 between the outside of fine filter and filter grid
194 and inside of filter housing 130 from where it leaves through the condensate coupling
106.
[0068] During phases in which no condensate water is pumped through filter 130, fluff filtered
by the filter may sink down towards the filter valve 198 where it may eventually block
or prevent a proper closing and sealing between the valve 206 and the valve head 200
(at the O-ring 202). To avoid such blocking, the valve head 200 has a collector recess
210 which is arranged lower than the valve head 200 such that fluff or other debris
released from the inside of the fine filter collects there without blocking the valve
seats. At the upper end of filter housing 130 an O-ring 212 seals the cylindrical
ring gap between the outside of the fine mesh (outer space 216) and filter grid 194
and the inside of filter housing 130 such that no unfiltered condensate water can
pass the filter towards the reservoir 62 or towards the filter access region 134.
[0069] In the lower section of the filter 190 a helix-shaped spring 204 is arranged between
the outside of filter 190 and the inside of filter housing 130. The spring 204 is
biased when the valve is open. When filter switch 192 is shifted to the right side
(Fig. 19b), the compression force compressing spring 204 is released and the spring
204 lifts the lower section of the filter (the cylindrical pipe section below the
filter grid 194) such that the valve 198 is closed.
[0070] The top end of filter 190 above the filter grid 194 is formed by the filter cap 217
which provides a hinge and cam connection 218 to a cam 220 which is formed at the
lower side of filter switch 192. The cam 220 has a cam curve 222 which interacts with
pins arranged at the filter cap 217. When the filter 192 is in the left position,
a lower section of cam curve 222 acts on the pins of the filter cap 217 (not shown)
and presses the filter 190 to its lowest position within filter housing 130 such that
the valve 198 is open. When the filter switch 192 is moved to its right position as
shown in Fig. 19b, the pins at the filter 217 move upwards along the cam curve 222
due to the bias force of spring 204. Along this cam curve movement of filter 190 the
valve 198 comes to its closed position such that no condensate water enters through
passages 208 into filter 190. In this position and orientation of filter switch 192,
the filter 190 is fixed in its closed position. If starting from the position in Fig.
19b, the filter switch is swung upward with the rotation axis at the pins of the filter
cap 217, the filter switch 192 is released from its position within the filter access
134 and the filter switch 192 can be pulled upwards, thereby pulling filter 190 out
of the filter housing 130 for cleaning the fine mesh and filter grid 194 from fluff
and debris. Thus filter switch 192 also serves as handle or grip for removing the
upper filter part from or insert it into the filter housing 130. When filter 190 is
removed from filter housing 130, the lower cylindrical part or piston 224 that is
surrounded by the spring 204 remains within the filter housing 130 such that the valve
portion of the filter is still within filter housing 130 such as to close the valve
198 with the upper portion of filter removed.
[0071] When the upper section of the filter 190 is removed from filter housing 130 or when
the filter 192 is in the position of Fig. 19b (valve 198 closed), no filtered condensate
water is delivered to reservoir 62 and the user can manually fill reservoir 62 by
supplying water or another liquid through the filling inlet 136. This gives the user
the possibility to exclude condensate water from being supplied to the steam generation
unit 140. Instead of filling water or decalcified water into the reservoir, the user
may also fill in water with an additive or an additive liquid as such into the reservoir.
The additive or additive liquid may be for example a treatment agent for dry cleaning,
for waterproofing the laundry, for disinfecting the laundry, for softening the laundry
or the like.
[0072] Fig. 6 shows the cross-section through unit 70 along the section line A-A in Fig.
5. The cross-section is taken through the center of filter 190 and filter housing
130. The cross-section is in a vertical plane perpendicular to the front of the dryer
2. Here it can be seen that the opening 196 of the filter grid 194 overlaps or coincides
with the opening of the condensate plug 132. As the other filter grid 194 also the
opening 196 in the coarse filter grid 194 is covered by the fine mesh of the filter.
[0073] Fig. 20a and 20b show top views to the front frame 30 and the filling area and filter
access 134 of the reservoir inlet unit 70 as described above.
[0074] Returning now to Figs. 12 and 13, more details of steam generator 140 are described
now. The steam generator 140 is arranged at the upper side of the upper shell or upper
cover of the battery channel 78. The generator 140 has a heater body 142 for heating
the liquid supplied from reservoir 62, wherein the heater body 142 is of the continuous-flow
heater type in this embodiment, which only heats small amounts of liquid in a pipe
leading through the heater. However, the steam generator 140 may also be a boiler-type
steam generator having a container with a heater inside or outside the container to
heat up larger amounts of liquid therein. An inlet 144 of the heater is connected
to a pump 148 which in turn is connected to the feed pipe 84 coming from reservoir
62. Pump 148 has dosing function in that it pumps an amount of liquid into the heater
body 142 in a controlled way (closed loop control or open loop control provided by
control unit 300) such as to guarantee that nearly droplet-free steam leaves the heater
body 142. Instead of pump 148 a controlled valve could also be provided to dose the
liquid amount to be supplied to the heater 142. The heater body 142 has a steam outlet
146 where the steam generated in the heater body 142 exits towards the laundry storing
compartment.
[0075] In the embodiment shown, the steam generator unit 140 uses an inline or flow-through
heater in which the water is heated and evaporated to steam while the water is flowing
through the heater. However in an embodiment a boiler-type steam generator may be
used in which an amount of water is supplied to a boiler container and is heated therein
to generate the steam which is drained or exhausted from the liquid surface to the
outlet of the boiler chamber.
[0076] Figs. 12 and 13 further show at the rear end of the upper section or upper cover
of the base or battery top cover 230 a wheel bearing 232 on which a wheel (not shown)
is rotatably mounted at wheel axis 234. Only one of four wheel bearings with wheels
is shown on which the cylindrically-shaped drum 20 is rotatably supported. The rotatable
drum is open at the front and rear side, which are closed to form the laundry storing
compartment by the compartment back wall 26 and the back side of the front frame and
the loading door. At the back side of the front frame 30 and at the front side of
compartment back wall 26 sealing structures are arranged, to which the front and rear
edges of the drum are provided in a mating manner to each other to form a sealing
to prevent escape of laundry or process air from the laundry storing compartment.
Figs. 29 and 30 show rear perspective views of the drum 20 and the front frame 30,
wherein the front edge 21a and the rear edge 21b of the cylindrical drum wall are
shown. In Fig. 30 a portion of the drum cylinder is cut out to have a cross-sectional
view to a drum sealing 236 provided at the front side of the drum. The drum sealing
236 is shown in more detail in Fig. 31 which is similar to the cross section detail
B of Fig. 30. The front edge 21a of drum 20 extends into a groove 238 formed at the
backside of front frame 30. For sealing between the groove 238 and the front edge
21a an O-ring 240 having a rectangular cross-section is inserted into groove and abuts
against the front edge. A similar sealing arrangement is provided at the front side
of the rear frame 31 or the compartment back wall 26. The circular groove for receiving
the rear edge 21b of drum is arranged at the rear frame 31 or the back wall 26 and
an O-ring is inserted therein similar to O-ring 240 for sealing against process air
or steam escape from the drum to the outside thereof or against invading of outside
air into the drum. Additionally the sealing arrangement prevents jamming of laundry
in the junction between drum and back wall 26 or loading opening frame and prevents
escape of steam from the drum interior.
[0077] Fig. 21 shows a detailed view of a steam inlet unit 250 with the cone 252 corresponding
to an enlargement of the circle section A in Fig. 12. Steam outlets 254 are provided
at the free-standing end or the front section of cone 252 at the upper side thereof.
It is to be noted that the outlets 254 do not supply processing air to the laundry
storing compartment and that the rear wall openings 28 do not supply steam into the
laundry storing compartment.
[0078] Fig. 22 shows a cross-section along the section line B-B in Fig. 11 such that the
front frame 30 and the rear frame 31 are vertically intersected in their respective
centers where the steam inlet unit 250 is mounted at the center of the compartment
back wall 26 which is mounted at the rear frame 31. The rear frame 31 preferably is
formed of a plate-material, like a metal plate, which is structured by pressing. The
center region of the rear frame 31 forms a back channel wall 256 or back shell of
a process air rear channel 258 which extends from the bottom section to a center region
of the dryer back side. The process air rear channel 258 is formed between the inner
side of back channel wall 256 and the rear side of the compartment back wall 26 which
is mounted to the rear frame 31. The process air rear channel 258 guides process air
from a blower, which is arranged in a base section of the dryer, upward toward the
center of the dryer at the back side where the process air enters the laundry storing
chamber through the air inlet openings 28 (compare Fig. 2). Fig. 22 further shows
the inner side of the upper battery channel 78. The battery channel 78 is formed between
an upper and lower shell forming the basement of the dryer, wherein the figures show
only the upper shell as battery top cover 230. The inner side of the battery channel
is here shown by battery inner wall 260 of the basement upper shell 230 (lower basement
shell or lower battery cover is not shown).
[0079] Fig. 23 shows an enlarged view of the steam inlet unit 250 arranged at the rear frame
corresponding to the detail of circle C in Fig. 22. In the vertical cross-section
plane from the front to the back side it is seen that the cone 252 has a hollow interior
wherein a separation chamber 264 is arranged at the front or free-standing end section
of cone 252. The separation chamber 264 is designed to separate steam, which is supplied
into the separation chamber 264, from droplets that are transported with the steam
into the chamber or which are formed at or in the separation chamber 264. In the shown
embodiment the separation chamber is defined at the front end side by the inner wall
of the cone 252, while the back side of the chamber is restricted by a partition wall
278. Due to the partition wall the steam does not distribute in all the volume of
the cone, but only in the separation chamber 264 from where it enters into the laundry
treatment compartment formed by the drum and the front and rear walls thereof through
the steam outlets 254. By this projected or overhanging construction where the steam
outlets 254 are distant or offset to the walls defining the laundry storing compartment,
the steam is introduced closer and more efficient to the inner or center of the storing
compartment which results in a more efficient steam distribution in the compartment
volume.
[0080] Steam is supplied into separation chamber via an inlet line 266 which has an opening
in the partition wall 278. An outlet line 268 is guiding condensed steam or collected
droplets to the outside of the separation chamber 264. At the back side of the partition
wall 278 the lines 266 and 268 are formed as a channel feed through 270 which are
guided through the process air rear channel 258 to the back side of the back channel
wall 256. The feed through 270 guides the two lines 266, 268 separately to the back
side such that steam can flow from the back side of wall or shell 256 to the inside
of chamber 246 and condensate water is guided out from chamber 264 through the channel
258 to the back side of the wall 256, i.e. backside of rear frame 31. Correspondingly,
the feed through 270 has a steam inlet 273 to line 266 connecting to steam inlet 272
at chamber 264. And feed through 270 has a condensate outlet 274 at chamber 264 and
a rear outlet 275 at the rear end of feed through 270. Preferably inlet 272 is arranged
above outlet 274, however they may also be arranged side by side. Also they need not
end at the same plane and can be axially (with respect to the opening plane) offset
to each other. I.e. inlet 272 may protrude farther into chamber 264 than outlet 274.
Additionally a droplet deflector or catcher may be assigned to the steam inlet 272
which assists in separating droplets from the introduced steam. For example a shield
or plate may be arranged between the inlet 272 and the outlets 254 which the steam
on its path from 272 has to bypass before reaching outlets 254.
[0081] In the embodiment shown, a rear connector 286 is mounted at the back channel wall
256 such that it receives the rear end of the feed through 270. The rear connector
286 has a recess which mates in contour to the outer contour of feed through 270 with
O-rings 276 arranged between the outside of feed through 270 and the inside of the
recess such to seal the lines 266 and 268 at the rear end. The rear connector 286
has a steam passage 288 through which steam is supplied to the inlet line 266 and
has a condensate passage 290 which receives the condensate from the outlet line 268.
[0082] The bottom of the separation chamber 264 is defined or restricted by a collector
plate 280 which may be formed as part of the cone 252, as part of the partition wall
278 or may be formed as a separate part which is mounted when assembling the steam
inlet unit 250. The collector 280 collects the condensate water and guides it to the
condensate outlet 274 in the partition wall 278 to guide it out of the cone via the
outlet line 268. The partition wall 278 in this embodiment is monolithically formed
with the channel feed through 270 (for example in a blow mold or injection mold process),
it may be part of the cone 252 or it may be a separate element which is mounted to
feed through 270 or to cone 252.
[0083] The cone 252 is mounted to the front side of the rear frame 31 using a mounting flange
282 which is glued, screwed, welded or otherwise mounted to the compartment back wall
26. The mounting flange 282 has a bayonet connector 283 such as to mount the cone
252 on the flange 282 in a bayonet lock. However, other ways of mounting cone on the
flange may be provided or the flange 282 may be omitted and the cone 252 may be directly
mounted, welded, glued or fixed to the back wall 26.
[0084] Fig. 24 shows the steam inlet unit 250 in an exploded view without showing the back
frame 31 (back channel wall 256) and the compartment back wall 26. In this view, the
notches of the bayonet connector 283 and a latch 285 for locking cone 252 in the rotation
end position of the bayonet connector 283 are shown. As can be seen in the exploded
view of Fig. 24 and from cross-section in Fig. 23, spacer bars 284 extend from the
back side of the bayonet connector 283. The length or depth of the spacer bars 284
is selected such that they bridge the depth of the process air rear channel 258 to
prevent a narrowing of the rear channel during drying operation where the laundry
may press against the cone 252, or to stabilize the rear channel for example when
the dryer is placed in position in the user's home.
[0085] Fig. 25 shows a rear perspective view of the dryer 2, where the lower section of
the base unit and the right side wall are removed. The rear connector 286 is mounted
on the rear side of back channel wall 256 and a steam pipe 292 is fluidly connected
with the steam passage 288 in the rear connector 286. The steam pipe 292 in turn is
connected to the steam outlet 146 of the steam generator 140 shown in Fig. 13. Thus,
steam can be supplied from the steam generator 140 through steam pipe 292, through
rear connector 286, through inlet line 266 and steam inlet 272 into separation chamber
264 and from there to the interior of drum 20. Further, a condensate pipe 294 is fluidly
connected to the condensate passage 290 of rear connector 286 and guides the condensate
water down along the pipe 294 into the condensate container 304 of the condensate
pump unit 92 arranged at the back end of the battery channel (compare Fig. 13).
[0086] Fig. 26 is an enlarged view of the detail B of Fig. 25 where the mounting of pipes
286 and 294 to respective stubs of the rear connector 286 can be seen.
[0087] Fig. 27 shows a front view of the steam inlet unit 250 in the assembled state, but
with the rear frame 31 with its center portion back channel wall 256 removed.
[0088] Fig. 28 shows as a block diagram some of the components of the dryer 2 and their
mutual functional relation. The reservoir 62 holds liquid which preferably is water.
The liquid level in reservoir 62 can be visually detected by a user through the level
window 68 arranged at a (front) side wall of the reservoir. For improving visual detection,
the floater 116 is floating at the liquid surface where it is shifted up and down
along its moving path within the floater cage. When the level drops below the range
or to the lower end of the range which is observable through window 68, the "liquid
low" level can be detected by detector unit 126. The detector unit provides a respective
signal to the control unit 300 of the dryer 2. If required, sensor power supply voltage
is delivered from control unit 300 to sensor 126 and/or power for operating an illumination
device (e.g. LED or lamp) to illuminate the reservoir such that the liquid level can
be more easily detected by the user. In an embodiment the detector unit 126 has the
control line or has an additional control line connected to the steam generator 140
to have a security switch-off provided to heater body 142 in case of low water level.
This serves as security measure at a control level below the controller 300.
[0089] The user can manually fill the reservoir 62 through filling inlet 136. In normal
operation, condensate produced by the laundry drying process is sufficient to provide
enough liquid to reservoir 62, wherein the condensate is provided from condensate
pump unit 92 through the valve 198 and filter 190 to the interior or reservoir 62.
Filling inlet 136, valve 198 and filter 190 are provided in the reservoir inlet unit
70 in this embodiment, however, these elements can all or partially be integrated
in the body (e.g. one of the shells 64, 66) of reservoir 62. The user can manually
close valve 198 to stop condensate supply to the reservoir such that the filling of
the reservoir is made through filling inlet 136 only manually. Valve 198 may be integrated
in unit 70 or directly in the reservoir 62 or it may be arranged at another position
in the supply line from the condensate pump unit 92 to the reservoir 62. Valve may
for example be a controllable valve, like a solenoid valve which is controlled (closed
and opened) under the control of control unit 300.
[0090] Condensate pump unit 92 is fluidly connected to the battery channel 78 to collect
the condensate water which is formed during the drying process at the heat exchanger
where the process air is cooled down to remove air humidity therein. Optionally, the
condensate tank 304 in the condensate pump unit 92 also collects condensate that has
condensed in the steam inlet unit 250 and/or which comes along overflow pipe 88 from
reservoir 62. The liquid from steam inlet unit 250 and/or from reservoir 62 can be
supplied directly into the condensate tank 304 or via the battery channel 78 where
it may be introduced at any arbitrary position. The pump 306 sucks in condensate from
condensate tank 304 and pumps it through the branch which has the first pump outlet
94 to the riser pipe 82 for supplying condensate into reservoir 62, and through the
second pump outlet 96 through a drain pipe 83 into the drawer 302. As mentioned above,
a second maximum level detector may be associated to the tank 304 to detect that condensate
rises to or above a maximum level of normal operation where all condensate can be
pumped to drawer 302. Thus when the second maximum level is reached, the abnormal
state indicated thereby may have its origin in the drawer capacity being full and
no condensate can be drained by pump 306 into the drawer (or the reservoir 62). Then
at least the drying process is stopped to prevent further formation of condensate
and the user is informed that the drawer 302 has to be emptied. In an alternative
embodiment or additionally, drawer 302 has another liquid level indicator which sends
a signal to control unit 300 to indicate to the user that the condensate collected
in drawer 302 has to be manually removed. As described before, the branch 94/96 splits
the condensate flow rate such that e.g. about one third is supplied to the reservoir
62 and two thirds are supplied to drawer 302.
[0091] Through feed pipe 84 the liquid from reservoir 62 is supplied to the pump 148 in
the steam generator 140 which supplies controllable amounts of liquid using a control
operation of the control unit 300 for the pump 148 operation. The liquid from pump
is supplied into the heater body 142. The steam from heater body 142 is supplied through
steam pipe 292 into the steam inlet unit 250 from where the steam is blown through
cone 252 to the interior of drum 20. Energizing and de-energizing of the heater 142
is made via control unit 300 which also monitors overheating and/or overpressure in
the heater body 142.
[0092] User program selections and program option selections are made via the input section
16 which is connected to control unit 300, wherein the input section further indicates
a status of the dryer, like selected program, remaining drying time, or any malfunction
like low liquid level in reservoir 62, over-temperature in steam generator 140 or
drawer 302 full with condensate to be removed.
[0093]
Reference Numeral List:
2 |
condenser dryer |
44 |
filter opening |
4 |
top cover |
46 |
filling opening |
6 |
left cover |
48 |
hinge |
8 |
front cover |
50 |
front cover top opening |
10 |
loading opening |
52 |
front cover window opening |
12 |
front top panel |
|
|
13 |
drawer portion |
60 |
reservoir unit |
14 |
drawer cover |
62 |
reservoir |
15a |
condensate drawer |
64 |
front (first) shell |
15b |
drawer housing |
66 |
rear (second) shell |
16 |
input section |
68 |
level window |
18 |
loading frame |
70 |
reservoir inlet unit |
20 |
drum |
72 |
reservoir mounting bracket |
21a |
front edge |
74 |
riser feed through |
21b |
rear edge |
75 |
supply feed recess |
22 |
window panel |
76 |
base section |
24 |
drawer handle |
|
|
26 |
compartment back wall |
78 |
battery channel (upper |
28 |
air inlet openings |
|
portion in cover shell) |
30 |
front frame |
82 |
riser pipe |
31 |
rear frame |
83 |
drain pipe |
32 |
filter compartment / |
84 |
feed pipe |
process air channel |
86 |
overflow feed through |
34 |
fluff filter |
88 |
overflow pipe |
36 |
drawer opening |
89 |
fixing clamps |
38 |
user filling section |
90 |
battery inlet |
40 |
lid |
92 |
condensate pump unit |
42 |
covered section |
94 |
first pump outlet |
96 |
second pump outlet |
160 |
printed circuit board |
98 |
filter inlet |
162 |
REED sensor |
100 |
feed outlet |
164 |
socket |
102 |
overflow outlet |
166 |
protrusion |
104 |
seal |
168 |
seat |
106 |
condensate coupling |
170 |
first bracket |
108 |
filling coupling |
172 |
second bracket |
110 |
inlet unit recess |
174 |
detent |
112 |
pipe recess |
176 |
shield |
114 |
mounting grooves |
178 |
roof |
115 |
front frame rib |
180 |
side wall |
116, 116' |
floater |
182 |
deflector |
116a, b, c |
floater positions |
190 |
filter |
117, 117' |
magnet head |
192 |
filter switch |
118 |
floater cam |
194 |
filter grid |
120 |
window section |
196 |
opening |
121 |
slanted section |
198 |
filter valve |
122 |
detector section |
200 |
valve head |
124 |
floater cage |
202 |
O-ring |
126 |
detector unit |
204 |
spring |
128 |
cable clip |
206 |
valve seat |
130 |
filter housing |
208 |
passage |
132 |
condensate plug |
210 |
collector |
134 |
filter access |
212 |
O-ring |
136 |
filling inlet |
214 |
inner space |
138 |
filling plug |
216 |
outer space |
140 |
steam generator |
217 |
filter cap |
142 |
heater body |
218 |
hinge connection |
144 |
inlet |
220 |
cam |
146 |
steam outlet |
222 |
cam curve |
148 |
pump |
224 |
cylinder piston |
230 |
battery top cover |
275 |
rear outlet |
232 |
wheel bearing |
276 |
O-ring |
234 |
wheel axis |
278 |
partition wall |
236 |
drum sealing |
280 |
collector |
238 |
groove |
282 |
mounting flange |
240 |
O-ring |
283 |
bayonet connector |
|
|
284 |
spacer bar |
250 |
steam inlet unit |
285 |
latch |
252 |
cone |
286 |
rear connector |
254 |
steam outlet |
288 |
steam passage |
256 |
back channel wall |
290 |
condensate passage |
258 |
process air rear channel |
292 |
steam pipe |
260 |
battery inner wall |
294 |
condensate pipe |
264 |
separation chamber |
|
|
266 |
inlet line |
300 |
control unit |
268 |
outlet line |
302 |
condensate |
270 |
channel feed through |
|
collector/drawer |
272 |
steam inlet |
304 |
condensate tank |
273 |
rear inlet |
306 |
pump |
274 |
condensate outlet |
|
|
1. Liquid reservoir (60, 62) for a domestic home appliance, in particular for a laundry
treatment apparatus (2) or dishes treatment apparatus, wherein the liquid reservoir
is adapted to store liquid therein and comprises:
a floating element (116, 116') adapted to float in the liquid in the reservoir and
to indicate the liquid level at least over a portion of the liquid level range in
the reservoir, and
a guiding device (124) forming a cage for the floating element (116, 116') within
the liquid reservoir (60, 62) and adapted to define the movement path of the floating
element during liquid level change in the liquid reservoir at least along the portion
of the liquid level range,
characterized in that
the liquid reservoir (60, 62) comprises a container (62) formed by or essentially
formed by a front or first shell part (64) and a rear or second shell part (66) joined
together to form the container or the essential part thereof,
the guiding device (124) for guiding the floating element along its movement path
during liquid level changes is formed by at least one first guiding element (68) formed
at the front or first shell part (64) and by at least one second guiding element (118)
formed at the rear or second shell part (66), and
the first and second guiding elements (68, 118) together form the or at least a portion
of the cage (124) for the floating element (116, 116') preventing an escape of the
floating element from the cage along the movement path of the floating element.
2. Liquid reservoir according to claim 1, wherein the first or front shell part (64)
or the second or rear shell part (66) has a wall section or a laterally protruding
wall section comprising a transparent element (68) or comprising a transparent element
at an outermost area thereof,
wherein the floating element (116, 116') is assigned to the transparent element (68),
and
wherein at least a portion of the movement path of the floating element is guided
by the guiding device (68, 118) along the transparent element (68).
3. Liquid reservoir according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transparent element (68) is
a monolithic part of or is integrally formed with or a single molt part with the first
or front shell part (64) or the second or rear shell part (66).
4. Liquid reservoir according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the first or front shell part
(64) or the second or rear shell part (66) is made of transparent plastic or wherein
the at least substantial portion of the liquid reservoir outer wall is a front shell
of the liquid reservoir made of transparent plastic.
5. Liquid reservoir according to any of the previous claims, wherein the liquid reservoir
(60, 62) comprises a liquid level indication unit (126) having a detector (162) adapted
to detect at least one position of the floating element (116, 116').
6. Liquid reservoir according to claim 5, wherein the detector (162) is arranged at or
close to the or a transparent element (68) or the detector is arranged at a position
of the movement path of the floating element (116, 116') outside the movement path
of the floating element along the or a transparent element (68).
7. Liquid reservoir according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the detector (162) is arranged
at the first or second shell part (64, 66) and the first or second shell part comprises
or forms a seat (168) for receiving the detector.
8. Liquid reservoir according to claim 5, 6 or 7, wherein the guiding device (124) is
guiding the floating element (116, 116') along the transparent element (68) and along
at least one detection position of the detector (162).
9. Liquid reservoir according to any of the previous claims, wherein the movement path
for the floating element (116, 116') in the guiding device (124) has a vertical component
and at least along a portion of the movement path a component slanted with respect
to the vertical direction such as to deflect the floating element (116, 116') in a
horizontal direction.
10. Liquid reservoir according to any of the previous claims, wherein in the guiding device
(124) the movement path along the transparent element (68) is horizontally offset
to the movement path along the liquid level detection path.
11. Liquid reservoir according to any of the previous claims, wherein the floating element
(116, 116') comprises a magnetic element (117, 117') and a or the detector (126) comprises
a magnetic field sensitive element or a REED element or a Hall sensor.
12. Liquid reservoir according to any of the previous claims, wherein the liquid reservoir
(60, 62) comprises at its outer surface and close to the movement path of the floating
element (116, 116') one or more of the following mounting elements for fixing a or
the detector (126) at the liquid reservoir: a fixing socket (168), a snap fit mount
(166, 174), a latch (174), a clamping element, a mounting rip, and a concave receptacle.
13. Home appliance, in particular laundry treatment apparatus (2) or dish treatment machine,
comprising:
a storing compartment (20) adapted to receive laundry or dishes to be treated,
a front wall (8) of the home appliance having or providing a loading opening (10)
for loading laundry or dishes into the storing compartment (20), and
a liquid reservoir (60, 62) according to any of the previous claims, which is mounted
within the home appliance.
14. Home appliance according to claim 13, wherein
the liquid reservoir (60, 62) has a or the transparent element (68) for visual user
inspection of the liquid level in the reservoir,
the liquid reservoir is arranged at a position behind the front wall (8), and
the front wall (8) has an opening (52) or a window at a position such that the area
of the front wall opening (52) or window at least partially coincides with the area
of the transparent element (68).
15. Home appliance according to claim 13 or 14, comprising a steam generator unit (140)
for generating steam during at least one laundry or dishes treatment sequence of the
home appliance.