Ball Balancer Housing Structure for Washer Vibration Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional washing machines with ball balancers face issues of reduced lifespan due to deformation under centrifugal force, assembly challenges, and generation of fusion scraps that cause noise and vibration, leading to misalignment and reduced durability.
Innovation Solution
The washing machine incorporates a balancer with annular-shaped first and second housings fused together, featuring protruding supports for enhanced strength and guides for precise installation, along with fusion ridges and grooves to collect and prevent fusion scraps, ensuring smooth operation and reduced noise and vibration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If ball balancers with fused upper and lower plates are used, then the balancer structure is formed, but the walls deform under centrifugal force reducing lifespan
Solution Approach 1:
The balancer is divided into multiple independent ribs that are fused together, rather than using solid plates. This segmentation allows the structure to better distribute and resist centrifugal forces without deforming, thereby maintaining structural strength while preventing the deformation that reduces lifespan.
Solution Approach 2:
The balancer uses a composite structure combining multiple materials: the housing is made of a fusible material that can be molded, while the ribs provide structural reinforcement. This composite approach creates a structure that is both formable and resistant to centrifugal deformation, solving the strength-lifespan contradiction.
2Reliability
If conventional ball balancers are used, then dynamic balance is maintained, but assembly time is increased due to lack of guiding means
Solution Approach 1:
The balancer is pre-formed with integrated guiding ribs and positioning features during the molding process. These guiding structures are built in advance, allowing the balancer to be quickly and accurately installed on the spin tub without requiring separate alignment operations, thus reducing assembly time while maintaining dynamic balance.
3Ease of manufacture
If fusion process is used to create balancer, then housing is formed, but fusion scraps fall inward causing noise and vibration
Solution Approach 1:
The design extracts and removes potential fusion scraps from the internal space where balls move. By positioning the fusion zone and ribs strategically, and creating an open structure that prevents scraps from falling inward, the harmful factor of fusion scraps causing noise and vibration is eliminated while maintaining the ease of fusion manufacturing process.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enhances the durability and lifespan of the balancer by preventing deformation and noise, allowing for rapid and precise assembly, and maintaining dynamic balance during high-speed spinning, thus reducing vibration and noise.
Implementation Method 1
the ball balancers are continuously supplied with centrifugal force that is generated when the steel balls make a circular motion
Data Source
AI summary
A drum type washing machine including a housing, a rotating spin tub to hold laundry to be washed and a ball balancer coupled to the spin tub to compensate for a dynamic imbalance during rotation thereof. The ball balancer includes a first plastic member and a second plastic member joined to each other to form a closed internal space in which a plurality of balls and viscous fluid are accommodated, the first plastic member includes a first side wall, a second side wall and a connecting wall to form a three-sided annular-shaped structure having an open side, and the second plastic member is adapted to cover the open side of the first plastic member. A diameter of each of the balls is smaller than a depth of the three-sided annular-shaped structure measured from the connecting wall to a top of the first side wall.