Clothes washing machine
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional drum washing machines have an inconvenient design where the machine door is on the front, making it difficult for users, especially the elderly or pregnant women, to add laundry or remove it without bending or squatting, and they often suffer from dirt remaining inside due to the flow of washing water between the inner and outer drums.
Innovation Solution
A top-openable drum washing machine design with a sealed inner drum lacking dehydration holes, featuring a side wall port for laundry input and a hinged door body that can be opened from the top, supported by rotating shafts to prevent eccentric rotation and ensure cleanliness by containing washing water and rotating for washing purposes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the machine door is arranged on the front side, then the washing machine can maintain a conventional drum structure, but it is inconvenient for users to add or remove laundry without bending or squatting
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional front-opening door design by placing the opening at the top of the drum. The door body is hinged to the drum and opens upward, allowing users to access laundry without bending or squatting. This inversion resolves the contradiction by improving ease of operation while maintaining a relatively simple drum structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the opening direction from the horizontal front plane to the vertical top plane. The door body is arranged at the top of the drum and opens in the vertical dimension, transforming the access geometry. This dimensional change allows users to add and remove laundry in a standing position, improving ergonomics without significantly complicating the drum structure.
2Productivity
If the drum is provided with dehydration holes for water drainage, then washing water can drain effectively, but dirt remains in the drum and requires cleaning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the dehydration function from the drum by providing a separate outer drum with dehydration holes. The inner drum is made sealed without holes, extracting only the necessary drainage function to the outer drum. This allows the inner drum to be cleaned easily while maintaining effective water drainage through the outer drum's holes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the drum structure into an inner drum and an outer drum with distinct functions. The inner drum is sealed for easy cleaning and laundry containment, while the outer drum provides drainage functionality through its dehydration holes. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by separating the drainage function from the inner drum surface that contacts laundry.
3Ease of operation
If the drum is open at the top for easy laundry access, then user convenience is improved, but the drum cannot effectively contain washing water
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a flexible sealing ring made of elastic material to seal the opening between the door body and drum. This flexible sealing element maintains water containment while allowing the door to open and close. The elastic sealing ring deforms to accommodate the door movement while maintaining a tight seal, resolving the contradiction between open access and water containment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a sealing ring as an intermediary element between the door body and drum opening. This sealing ring mediates between the need for open access and the need for water containment, providing a reliable seal when the door is closed while allowing easy opening when needed. The sealing ring transforms the rigid choice between open and sealed into a controllable system.
4Device complexity
If the drum rotates freely without support, then the structure is simple, but the drum operates eccentrically causing vibration and noise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses rotating shafts to support the drum at both ends, providing counterbalancing support that prevents eccentric rotation. The shafts act as support structures that counteract the unbalanced forces during drum rotation, reducing vibration and noise. This adds minimal structural complexity while effectively eliminating the harmful vibrations and noises.
Data Source
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AI summary
A washing machine includes a drum (200) installed in a shell (100); a side wall (1) of the drum (200) is provided with a laundry entrance opening (3), and the laundry entrance opening (3) is provided with an openable door body (300). Through the above arrangement, the purposes that the laundry entrance opening (3) is formed on the side wall (1) of the washing machine drum (200), and the laundry entrance opening (3) formed on the drum (200) is correspondingly sealed and closed by the door body (300) or opened for taking and putting laundry are achieved. Meanwhile, the laundry entrance opening (3) is formed on the side wall (1) of the drum (200), thus a user can open the door body (300) from the upper portion of the washing machine and take laundry from and put laundry into the drum (200). More particularly, the laundry entrance opening (3) of the drum (200) is sealed through the door body (300), therefore the drum (200) can be arranged as a sealed container. During the washing process, the two ends of the drum (200) are supported by rotating shafts (11), and the drum (200) is prevented from eccentrically rotating.