Corner-Entry Horizontal Drum Layout for Compact Laundry Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional automatic laundry treatment machines are inconvenient and space-inefficient, particularly in small living spaces, due to their design requiring users to bend and reach to load and unload laundry, and they occupy too much space for urban environments.
Innovation Solution
A top corner loading laundry treatment machine with a horizontal axis drum and a circumferential entry section that spans between 30 to 60 degrees, allowing for convenient access and compact storage, along with a door sealingly engaged with the entry section, enabling corner placement and efficient use of space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a traditional top loading or front loading machine is used, then the machine can perform laundry treatment, but the user must bend over and reach deeply into the drum which causes ergonomic inconvenience and user strain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a corner entry section that provides access to the drum from a corner position rather than from the top or front. This dimensional change in access location allows the user to load and unload laundry from a corner of the machine, eliminating the need to bend over or reach deeply into the drum, thus resolving the ergonomic inconvenience while maintaining laundry treatment functionality
2Productivity
If a traditional top loading or front loading machine is used, then the machine can perform laundry treatment, but the machine occupies too much space for small living spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs an asymmetric drum configuration where the drum diameter (orthogonal to the horizontal axis) is greater than the drum width (in line with the horizontal axis), with a specific ratio range of 1.5:1 to 3.25:1. This asymmetric geometry allows the machine to be positioned in a corner of a room, utilizing vertical and lateral space more efficiently, thereby reducing the machine's footprint in small living spaces while maintaining adequate laundry treatment capability
3Volume of moving object
If the drum has a deep design to maintain volume, then sufficient laundry treatment capacity is achieved, but users must reach deeply into the drum which causes ergonomic inconvenience
Solution Approach 1:
The corner entry section provides a direct access path from the corner of the machine to the drum interior, allowing users to load and unload laundry without reaching deeply into the drum. This dimensional change in access location resolves the conflict between maintaining drum volume and ensuring ease of operation, as users can access the drum from a corner position rather than from the front or top
Data Source
AI summary
A laundry treatment machine including: a cabinet; a tub within the cabinet; a horizontal axis fluid pervious drum within the tub rotatable about a horizontal axis, wherein the drum has a diameter orthogonal to the horizontal axis and an average width in line with the horizontal axis and a ratio of diameter to average width from 1.5:1 to 3.25:1; a circumferential entry section into the tub that spans at least across an intermediate range of from 30 degrees to 60 degrees above and rotationally about the horizontal axis and is bounded within a front position of more than 2 degrees above and rotationally about the horizontal axis and a top position less than 90 degrees above and rotationally about the horizontal axis; and a door in the cabinet, the door sealingly engaged with the entry section.