Cutlery basket for a dishwasher and dishwasher
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Solution Overview
Problem
Household dishwashers often struggle to accommodate cutlery items with larger dimensions efficiently, leading to suboptimal space usage and inadequate cleaning and drying results, as conventional cutlery baskets are designed for standard items only.
Innovation Solution
The cutlery basket is designed with two sections arranged at an obtuse angle, creating an arrow-shaped structure that allows for flexible loading of both large and small items, improving space utilization and water drainage, and can be mounted above a crockery basket with a dedicated spray device for efficient washing liquid application.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the cutlery basket is designed with a fixed horizontal base area for standard cutlery, then it provides stable support for conventional items, but it cannot accommodate cutlery items with larger dimensions
Solution Approach 1:
The base area of the cutlery basket is divided into a first section and a second section that can be swiveled relative to each other about a swivel joint. This segmentation allows the basket to accommodate both standard and larger cutlery items by adjusting the configuration of the sections, resolving the contradiction between versatility and structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutlery basket incorporates a swivel joint that enables dynamic reconfiguration of the base area sections. The sections can be rotated between different angular positions (including 180° and 270°), transforming the basket from a static structure to a dynamic one that adapts to different loading requirements, thus achieving versatility without excessive complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the cutlery basket accommodates larger cutlery items, then it improves versatility, but it reduces the space available for the crockery basket underneath
Solution Approach 1:
The swivelable sections allow the cutlery basket to dynamically adjust its footprint. When larger cutlery items need to be accommodated, the sections can be positioned to maximize vertical space utilization without permanently occupying horizontal space that would otherwise be available to the crockery basket below, thus resolving the space conflict.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention utilizes angular positioning of the base area sections (180°-270° angles) to create three-dimensional space efficiency. By arranging sections at obtuse angles rather than flat configurations, the design accommodates large items vertically while minimizing horizontal projection, preserving space for the crockery basket underneath.
3Ease of operation
If cutlery is stored horizontally in a conventional basket, then it is easy to load and unload, but water drainage and drying efficiency are poor
Solution Approach 1:
The base area sections are designed with local inclination features that create downward slopes toward drainage channels. This local quality change allows water to drain efficiently from cutlery items while maintaining the overall horizontal configuration that facilitates easy loading and unloading, thus resolving the contradiction between operational ease and drying efficiency.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
The invention relates to a dishwasher (1), in particular a domestic dishwasher, comprising a washing compartment (2) and at least one cutlery basket (7) situated in the latter (2), said basket being designed to hold cutlery (18) in a horizontal position. The invention is characterised in that at least some sections of said cutlery basket (7) have different clearance heights (a, b).