Twin-tub washing machine and spin-drying cap

Abstract

To provide a twin-tub washing machine equipped with a spin-drying cap that makes it easy to attach to the spin-drying basket even when the amount of laundry in the spin-drying basket is large. [Solution] The twin-tub washing machine comprises a rotatable spin-drying basket placed inside the spin-drying tub, a ring-shaped portion provided at the upper end of the spin-drying basket and having an inner diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the spin-drying basket, and a spin-drying cap 60 placed on top of the laundry inside the spin-drying basket. The spin-drying cap 60 comprises a disc-shaped body portion 61 having a diameter L3 larger than the inner diameter of the ring-shaped portion and capable of elastic deformation, and a notch 62 extending linearly from the outer edge of the body portion 61 toward the center.

Description

Technical Field

[0006]

[0001] The present invention relates to a two-tank washing machine. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a dehydration cap that can be mounted in the dehydration basket of a two-tank washing machine.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, in a two-tank washing machine, a dehydration basket is rotatably disposed in a dehydration tank provided adjacent to a washing tank. During dehydration, wet laundry is transferred from the washing tank to the dehydration basket. The dehydration basket rotates at high speed, and the laundry contained in the dehydration basket is dehydrated. As in the two-tank washing machine described in Patent Document 1, a dehydration cap having a disc shape is disposed on top of the laundry in the dehydration basket so that the laundry does not jump upward from the high-speed rotating dehydration basket.

[0003] A ring-shaped portion that functions as a balancer, for example, is provided at the upper end of the dehydration basket. The inner diameter of the ring-shaped portion is smaller than the inner diameter of the dehydration basket. On the other hand, the outer diameter (diameter) of the dehydration cap is smaller than the inner diameter of the dehydration basket and larger than the inner diameter of the ring-shaped portion.

[0004] The dehydration cap is formed of resin so as to be elastically deformable. Therefore, when inserted into the dehydration basket, the dehydration cap is bent so as to warp in the front-back direction, and is tilted in the vertical direction in a direction perpendicular to the warped direction, and is passed through the inside of the ring-shaped portion. The dehydration cap returns to its original state after passing through the ring-shaped portion.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] When a large amount of laundry is placed in the spin-drying basket, the gap between the bottom of the ring-shaped part and the top of the laundry becomes smaller. If the spin-drying cap is bent and tilted, it becomes difficult to fit into this gap, and as a result, it becomes difficult to attach the spin-drying cap to the spin-drying basket.

[0007] This invention was made in view of the above problems, and aims to provide a spin-drying cap that can be easily attached to the spin-drying basket even when the amount of laundry stored in the spin-drying basket is large, and a twin-tub washing machine equipped with said spin-drying cap. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] A first aspect of the present invention relates to a twin-tub washing machine. The twin-tub washing machine according to this aspect comprises a rotatable spin-drying basket disposed in a spin-drying tub, a ring-shaped portion provided at the upper end of the spin-drying basket and having an inner diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the spin-drying basket, and a spin-drying cap disposed on top of the laundry inside the spin-drying basket. The spin-drying cap comprises a disc-shaped main body having a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the ring-shaped portion and being elastically deformable, and a notch extending linearly from the outer edge of the main body toward the center.

[0009] According to the twin-tub washing machine of this embodiment, by elastically deforming the main body so that the two sides of the notch overlap, the diameter of the main body, i.e., the dehydration cap, can be reduced to be smaller than the inner diameter of the ring-shaped part, and the dehydration cap can be passed through the inside of the ring-shaped part and placed inside the dehydration basket. As a result, even if a large amount of laundry is placed in the dehydration basket and the gap between the bottom surface of the ring-shaped part and the top surface of the laundry becomes small, the dehydration cap can be easily attached to the dehydration basket.

[0010] In the twin-tub washing machine according to this embodiment, the depth of the cutout can be approximately equal to the radius of the main body.

[0011] This configuration allows for a significant overlap of the notches on both sides of the main body, making it easy to reduce the diameter of the main body.

[0012] In the twin-tub washing machine according to this embodiment, the width of the cutout can be 0 mm or more and 2 mm or less.

[0013] This configuration makes it less likely for laundry placed in the spin-drying basket to get caught in the slits during the spin-drying process.

[0014] In the twin-tub washing machine according to this embodiment, the spin-drying cap may be configured to further include a circular hole formed at the base of the notch.

[0015] This configuration prevents cracks from forming at the base of the cut by repeatedly undergoing elastic deformation of the main body, which overlaps the sides of the cut.

[0016] A second aspect of the present invention relates to a dehydration cap that is placed on top of laundry in the dehydration basket of a twin-tub washing machine. The dehydration cap according to this aspect comprises an elastically deformable disc-shaped main body and a notch that extends linearly from the outer edge of the main body toward the center.

[0017] The dewatering cap according to this embodiment can achieve the same effects as the twin-tub washing machine according to the first embodiment. [Effects of the Invention]

[0018] According to this invention, it is possible to provide a spin-drying cap that can be easily attached to the spin-drying basket even when the amount of laundry stored in the spin-drying basket is large, and a twin-tub washing machine equipped with said spin-drying cap.

[0019] The effects and significance of the present invention will become even clearer from the description of the embodiments shown below. However, the following embodiments are merely examples of how the present invention can be implemented, and the present invention is not limited in any way to those described in the following embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0020] [Figure 1]FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a two-tank washing machine according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] FIGS. 2(a) and (b) are a plan view and a side view, respectively, showing a configuration of a dehydration cap according to an embodiment. [Figure 3] FIGS. 3(a) to (d) are diagrams for explaining an example of a procedure for mounting a dehydration cap in a dehydration basket according to an embodiment. MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0021] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the two-tank washing machine and the dehydration cap of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0022] FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of the two-tank washing machine 1.

[0023] The two-tank washing machine 1 includes a substantially rectangular box-shaped housing 10. Four legs 11 are provided on the bottom surface of the housing 10. Inside the housing 10, a washing tub 20 and a dehydration tub 30 with open upper surfaces are arranged side by side in the left-right direction. The upper opening of the washing tub 20 is covered by a wash lid (not shown) that can be opened and closed, and the upper opening of the dehydration tub 30 is covered by a dehydration lid (not shown) that can be opened and closed.

[0024] Inside the washing tub 20, a pulsator 21 is rotatably arranged on the bottom surface. A plurality of blades 21a are provided radially on the surface of the pulsator 21. Below the washing tub 20, a washing motor 22 for rotationally driving the pulsator 21 is arranged.

[0025] Inside the dehydration tub 30, a dehydration basket 31 is rotatably arranged. A large number of dehydration holes 31a are formed over the entire peripheral wall of the dehydration basket 31.

[0026] A ring-shaped portion 32 is provided at the upper end of the dewatering basket 31. The ring-shaped portion 32 is hollow inside. The inner diameter L1 of the ring-shaped portion 32 is smaller than the inner diameter L2 of the dewatering basket 31. To facilitate its function as a balancer, the ring-shaped portion 32 may be filled with a fluid such as saltwater in its hollow interior, or a component made of a high-density material may be inserted inside it.

[0027] Below the dewatering tub 30, a dewatering motor 33 is positioned to rotate the dewatering basket 31. The dewatering motor 33 is supported on the bottom surface of the housing 10 by a plurality of dampers 34, which include elastic members such as springs.

[0028] A water supply channel 40 is provided in the upper part of the housing 10. The water supply channel 40 is connected to a faucet via a water supply hose (not shown). When the faucet is opened by the user, water is supplied to the water supply channel 40. The water supply channel 40 branches off along its length and extends above the washing tub 20 and above the spin-drying basket 31. A switching member (not shown) is provided at the branching portion of the water supply channel 40. Depending on the switching of the switching member, water is supplied from the water supply channel 40 to either the washing tub 20 or the spin-drying basket 31.

[0029] A drainage device 50 is provided in the lower part of the housing 10. The drainage device 50 has a drain valve 51 and a drainage channel 52, and drains water from inside the washing tub 20 and the spin-drying tub 30. The drainage channel 52 has a configuration in which a main channel 52a connected to the drain port of the washing tub 20 merges with a secondary channel 52b connected to the drain port of the spin-drying tub 30. The drain valve 51 is positioned above the point where the secondary channel 52b merges with the main channel 52a. When the drain valve 51 is opened, the water accumulated in the washing tub 20 is discharged outside the machine through the main channel 52a of the drainage channel 52. Also, during spin-drying, the water discharged from the spin-drying basket 31 is discharged outside the machine through the spin-drying tub 30 and the drainage channel 52.

[0030] In the washing tub 20, the laundry is washed and rinsed, and in the spin-drying tub 30, the laundry is dewatered.

[0031] During washing, water is supplied to the washing tub 20 from the water supply channel 40, and detergent is added to the washing tub 20 by the user. As a result, water containing detergent is filled into the washing tub 20. The washing motor 22 drives the pulsator 21 to repeatedly rotate forward and backward, and the resulting water flow agitates the laundry. In this way, the laundry is washed.

[0032] During rinsing, water is supplied from the water supply channel 40 into the washing tub 20. This fills the washing tub 20 with water. The washing motor 22 drives the pulsator 21 to repeatedly rotate forward and backward, and the resulting water flow agitates the laundry. This rinses the laundry. During rinsing, fabric softener can be added to the washing tub 20 by the user as needed.

[0033] During the dewatering process, the dewatering basket 31 rotates at high speed, driven by the dewatering motor 33. The centrifugal force generated in the dewatering basket 31 dewaters the laundry placed inside it. After the laundry is placed inside the dewatering basket 31, a dewatering cap 60 is installed. The dewatering cap 60 is disc-shaped and is placed on top of the laundry, holding it down from above. This prevents the laundry from flying out of the rapidly rotating dewatering basket 31.

[0034] Furthermore, a spin-drying rinse can be performed after the initial spin-drying in the spin-drying basket 31. During the spin-drying rinse, water is supplied to the spin-drying basket 31 from the water supply channel 40. The laundry in the spin-drying basket 31 absorbs the water. After the water supply from the water supply channel 40 ends, the spin-drying basket 31 rotates at high speed driven by the spin-drying motor 33. Detergent is discharged from the laundry along with the water.

[0035] Figures 2(a) and 2(b) are a plan view and a side view, respectively, showing the configuration of the dewatering cap 60.

[0036] The dewatering cap 60 comprises a disc-shaped main body 61. The main body 61 is made of a soft resin, such as polyethylene (PE), so that it can be elastically deformed. The diameter (outer diameter) L3 of the main body 61 is larger than the inner diameter L1 of the ring-shaped part 32 and smaller than the inner diameter L2 of the dewatering basket 31. For example, the inner diameter L1 of the ring-shaped part 32 is 215 mm, and the inner diameter L2 of the dewatering basket 31 is 252 mm. In this case, for example, the diameter L3 of the main body 61 is 242 mm. Note that the diameter L3 of the main body 61 can be said to be the diameter L3 of the dewatering cap 60.

[0037] A notch 62 is formed in the main body 61. The notch 62 extends linearly from the outer edge of the main body 61 toward the center. The depth (length) D of the notch 62 is approximately equal to the radius of the main body 61. The width W of the notch 62 is, for example, 1 mm. If the width W of the notch 62 is too wide, laundry is more likely to get caught in the notch 62 during dewatering, so it is desirable to set it to 0 mm or more and 2 mm or less. Furthermore, considering the strength of the part of the mold for forming the notch 62 in the mold for forming the dewatering cap 60, it is desirable to set the width W of the notch 62 to 1 mm or more and 2 mm or less.

[0038] A circular hole 63 is formed at the center of the main body 61, at the base of the notch 62. The diameter of the hole 63 is, for example, about 1 mm to 4 mm.

[0039] The main body 61 has a plurality of elongated holes 64 extending in the radial direction, a plurality of round holes 65 located closer to the center than the elongated holes 64, and a plurality of semicircular holes 66 located closer to the center than the round holes 65. When water from the water supply channel 40 is supplied to the dewatering basket 31 from above, the water passes through these elongated holes 64, round holes 65, and semicircular holes 66.

[0040] Furthermore, the main body portion 61 is formed with a plurality of annular ribs 67 and a plurality of ribs 68 that extend radially in the radial direction. These ribs 67 and 68 reinforce the main body portion 61.

[0041] Figures 3(a) to 3(d) illustrate an example of the procedure for installing the dewatering cap 60 inside the dewatering basket 31. In Figure 3(d), the dewatering basket 31 is shown cut off below the ring-shaped portion 32.

[0042] As shown in Figures 3(a) and (b), in the dehydration cap 60, the main body 61 is moved horizontally by shifting the sides of the notch 62 vertically, causing elastic deformation so that the sides overlap. This reduces the diameter L3 of the main body 61, i.e., the dehydration cap 60, to be smaller than the inner diameter L1 of the ring-shaped part 32. Next, as shown in Figure 3(c), the dehydration cap 60 with its reduced diameter L3 is passed through the inside of the ring-shaped part 32 and placed in the gap (space) between the lower surface of the ring-shaped part 32 and the upper surface of the laundry inside the dehydration basket 31. After that, as shown in Figure 3(d), the main body 61 of the dehydration cap 60 is returned to its original state. In this way, the dehydration cap 60 is installed inside the dehydration basket 31.

[0043] Furthermore, if there is not much laundry in the drying basket 31 and the gap is large, the drying cap 60 can be placed inside the drying basket 31 with the cap bent in the front-to-back direction and tilted in the up-and-down direction.

[0044] <Effects of the Embodiment> As described above, according to this embodiment, the twin-tub washing machine 1 includes a rotatable spin-drying basket 31 disposed inside the spin-drying tub 30, a ring-shaped portion 32 provided at the upper end of the spin-drying basket 31 and having an inner diameter L1 smaller than the inner diameter L2 of the spin-drying basket 31, and a spin-drying cap 60 placed on top of the laundry inside the spin-drying basket 31. The spin-drying cap 60 has a disc-shaped main body portion 61 with a diameter L3 larger than the inner diameter L1 of the ring-shaped portion 32 and is elastically deformable, and a notch 62 extending linearly from the outer edge of the main body portion 61 toward the center.

[0045] With this configuration, by elastically deforming the main body 61 so that the two sides of the notch 62 overlap, the diameter L3 of the main body 61, i.e., the dehydration cap 60, can be reduced to be smaller than the inner diameter L1 of the ring-shaped part 32, and the dehydration cap 60 can be passed through the inside of the ring-shaped part 32 and placed inside the dehydration basket 31. As a result, even if the gap between the bottom surface of the ring-shaped part 32 and the top surface of the laundry becomes small when a large amount of laundry is placed inside the dehydration basket 31, the dehydration cap 60 can be easily attached inside the dehydration basket 31.

[0046] Furthermore, in the dewatering cap 60, the depth D of the notch 62 is approximately equal to the radius of the main body 61.

[0047] With this configuration, the portions on both sides of the notch 62 in the main body 61 can be overlapped significantly, making it easy to reduce the diameter L3 of the main body 61.

[0048] Furthermore, in the dewatering cap 60, the width W of the notch 62 is set to be between 0 mm and 2 mm.

[0049] With this configuration, during the spin-drying process, laundry placed in the spin-drying basket 31 is less likely to get caught in the notches 62.

[0050] Furthermore, the dewatering cap 60 is provided with a circular hole 63 formed at the base of the notch 62.

[0051] This configuration prevents cracks from forming at the base of the notch 62 due to repeated elastic deformation of the main body 61, which overlaps the two sides of the notch 62.

[0052] Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited in any way by the above embodiments, and various modifications are possible to the embodiments of the present invention other than those described above.

[0053] For example, in the above embodiment, the main body 61 of the dewatering cap 60 is flat when viewed from the side. However, the central part of the main body 61 of the dewatering cap 60 may be shaped to bulge upward or downward when viewed from the side.

[0054] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the depth D of the notch 62 in the dewatering cap 60 is approximately equal to the radius of the main body 61. However, the depth D of the notch 62 may be shorter than the radius of the main body 61.

[0055] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, a circular hole 63 is formed at the base of the notch 62 in the main body 61. However, a circular hole 63 does not necessarily have to be formed at the base of the notch 62.

[0056] In addition, the embodiments of this invention can be modified in various ways as appropriate within the scope of the technical idea set forth in the claims for utility model registration. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0057] 1. Twin-tub washing machine 30 Dehydration tank 31. Dehydration basket 32 Ring-shaped part 60 Dehydration Cap 61 Main body 62 cuts 63 holes

Claims

1. A rotating dewatering basket is placed inside the dewatering tub, A ring-shaped portion is provided at the upper end of the dewatering basket and has an inner diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the dewatering basket, The basket includes a dehydrating cap that is placed on top of the laundry inside the dehydrating basket, The aforementioned dehydration cap is A disc-shaped main body having a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the ring-shaped portion and capable of elastic deformation, The main body portion comprises a notch that extends linearly from the outer edge toward the center, A twin-tub washing machine characterized by the following features.

2. In the twin-tub washing machine according to claim 1, The depth of the cut is made to be approximately equal to the radius of the main body. A twin-tub washing machine characterized by the following features.

3. In the twin-tub washing machine according to claim 1 or 2, The width of the aforementioned cut is set to be between 0 mm and 2 mm. A twin-tub washing machine characterized by the following features.

4. In the twin-tub washing machine according to claim 1, The dewatering cap further comprises a circular hole formed at the base of the notch. A twin-tub washing machine characterized by the following features.

5. A spin-drying cap that is placed on top of the laundry in the spin-drying basket of a twin-tub washing machine, A disc-shaped main body that can be elastically deformed, A notch extending linearly from the outer edge of the main body toward the center, A dehydration cap characterized by having the following features.

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