Detergent Drawer Reservoir Layout for Stable Front Refill
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing washing machine designs require the detergent drawer to be pulled out excessively to refill storage containers, leading to instability and a high risk of spills, especially when handling liquid laundry treatment agents.
Innovation Solution
The spatial arrangement of reservoirs extends into the front area of the drawer, allowing storage containers to be positioned partially or fully forward, reducing the distance needed to refill and enhancing stability by distributing the mass of the laundry treatment agent, thus minimizing the risk of spills and improving drawer guidance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the drawer is pulled out far to make the refill opening accessible, then the operator can refill the storage container, but the drawer becomes unstable and spill risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The refill opening is repositioned from a rear location to a front location on the drawer face, changing the spatial dimension of access. This allows refilling to occur while the drawer remains in a stable, partially inserted position rather than requiring full extraction, thereby maintaining both accessibility and stability.
Solution Approach 2:
A front accessible refill opening acts as an intermediary access point between the storage container and the operator. This intermediary location eliminates the need to fully pull out the drawer for refilling, reducing the destabilizing forces while maintaining refill capability.
2Ease of operation
If the drawer is pulled out far to access rear chambers, then manual dosing can be performed, but guidance stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The refill opening is repositioned from a rear location to a front location on the drawer face, changing the spatial dimension of access. This allows refilling to occur while the drawer remains in a stable, partially inserted position rather than requiring full extraction, thereby maintaining both accessibility and stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The drawer is designed to be pulled out only to a limited extent (partial extraction) which is sufficient to access the front refill opening, eliminating the need for full extraction. This preliminary, limited action maintains guidance stability while providing adequate access for refilling.
3Quantity of substance
If storage containers are positioned at the rear of the drawer, then maximum storage capacity is achieved, but refill distance increases and spill risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The refill opening is repositioned from a rear location to a front location on the drawer face, changing the spatial dimension of access. This allows refilling to occur while the drawer remains in a stable, partially inserted position rather than requiring full extraction, thereby maintaining both accessibility and stability.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~6
AI summary
In an automatically controlled washing machine, a detergent dispensing device 8 is arranged in the housing 1, which is equipped with a drawer 9 accessible from the front with at least one chamber 11, 12 arranged in the front area of the drawer 9 for the hand-dosed addition of a washing powder or washing liquid portion. In addition, at least one reservoir 17 for liquid laundry treatment agent is mounted inside the drawer 9, from which portions of laundry treatment agent can be automatically dosed and fed into the washing process. In order to arrange the storage container(s) 17 in such a way that the drawer 9 does not have to be pulled as far out of the housing 1 as before when filling the storage container 17, although at least one chamber 11, 12 is available for the manual addition of individual portions of liquid or powdered laundry treatment agent is present, for which the same premise applies, spatial parts 20 of the storage container(s) 17 should extend so far into the front area of the drawer 9 that the spatial part(s) 20 next to the chamber(s) 11 are located.