BLDC Motor Sealer Structure to Prevent Water Ingress in Drain Pumps
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Solution Overview
Problem
Drain pumps in household appliances, such as laundry treating apparatuses and dishwashers, fail due to accumulation of foreign substances like sediment and detergent, which interfere with rotor rotation, leading to malfunction and increased user inconvenience.
Innovation Solution
A brushless direct current (BLDC) motor-driven drain pump with a sealer structure that prevents water inflow into the rotor side, featuring a sealer with a gasket and cover that supports the rotor's movement and axial follow-up, reducing water ingress and enhancing motor durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the drain pump operates for extended periods, then the pumping function is maintained, but foreign substances accumulate in the pump and fluid penetrates into the rotor side, causing rotation restriction and pump failure
Solution Approach 1:
The pump housing is divided into a motor housing and a pump housing by a partition wall, creating separate sealed compartments. The motor housing contains the rotor and stator, while the pump housing contains the impeller and fluid passage. This segmentation prevents fluid containing foreign substances from the pump side from penetrating into the motor side, eliminating the harmful effect of water ingress that causes rotor rotation restriction and pump failure during extended operation.
Solution Approach 2:
A seal member is introduced as an intermediary component between the motor housing and pump housing at the partition wall. This seal member actively prevents fluid penetration across the boundary, serving as a barrier that blocks the harmful factor (fluid with foreign substances) from reaching the rotor, thereby maintaining reliable operation during extended use.
2Duration of action of moving object
If foreign substances accumulate in the drain pump, then the pump continues to operate, but the accumulated substances interfere with rotor rotation, leading to malfunction
Solution Approach 1:
The partition wall creates distinct sealed compartments separating the motor housing from the pump housing. This segmentation ensures that foreign substances such as sediment and detergent accumulating in the pump housing during extended operation cannot reach the rotor in the motor housing. The seal member reinforces this separation, preventing contamination that would interfere with rotor rotation and maintain motor durability throughout the extended operating period.
Data Source
AI summary
A motor includes a first housing having a groove, a rotor inserted into the groove and rotatably provided outside the first housing, a second housing coupled to the first housing to form a space together with an outer circumferential surface of the groove, a stator provided in the space, a rotation shaft coupled to the rotor and extended in one direction, and a sealer coupled to the first housing to surround the rotation shaft. The sealer includes a base rotatably coupled to the rotation shaft, a gasket brought into contact with an outer circumferential surface of the rotation shaft, and a cover coupled to the base to fix the gasket to the base. The base includes a first annular protruding portion spaced apart from the rotation shaft to support the gasket, and a second annular protruding portion spaced apart from the first annular protruding portion to support the gasket.