Dishwasher Door Latch Layout for Thin Doors and Self-Repositioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing door locking devices for electric household appliances, such as dishwashers, are cumbersome, complex, and unsuitable for appliances with thin doors, limiting their manufacturing and increasing bulk, while lacking self-repositioning functionality.
Innovation Solution
A door locking device with a supporting frame, a rotating latch, and elastic means that allows the latch to move between locked and unlocked positions, enabling self-repositioning without interfering with normal operation, and relocating the most cumbersome part from the door to the appliance's casing, allowing for thinner doors and improved sealing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the latch is mounted rotationally on the door, then the door locking function is achieved, but the door thickness increases due to the bulk of the mounting
Solution Approach 1:
The latch is inverted from being mounted on the door to being mounted on the appliance frame. The latch rotates on an axis fixed to the frame rather than the door, with the tooth engaging a receiving element on the door when closed. This inversion transfers the rotational mounting bulk from the door to the frame, enabling thinner doors while maintaining the locking function.
Solution Approach 2:
The latch axis is positioned in a different spatial dimension relative to the door - instead of being in the door thickness direction, the axis extends transversely across the door opening, with the latch protruding toward the door. This dimensional repositioning removes the bulk from the door thickness dimension.
2Ease of operation
If the latch is positioned in the locked position with the door open, then manual rearmed is required, but the device lacks self-repositioning capability
Solution Approach 1:
The latch is designed to self-reposition automatically when the door closes. If the latch is in the locked position with the door open, the closing door pushes the latch tooth against the frame, forcing the latch to rotate to the unlocked position through the interaction of the tooth with the frame structure, eliminating the need for manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The geometry of the latch tooth and frame interaction is designed to prevent the latch from remaining in the locked position when the door closes. The tooth's shape and the frame's receiving structure create a mechanical constraint that automatically forces the latch into the correct position before closing, preventing the erroneous locked state.
3Volume of moving object
If the latch is carried by the frame rather than the door, then door thickness is reduced, but the frame structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The frame structure serves multiple functions: it provides the structural support for the appliance, serves as the mounting base for the latch mechanism, and acts as the active element that forces the latch into the correct position during door closure. By making the frame multi-functional, additional complexity is avoided despite the latch being frame-mounted.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the manufacture of appliances with thinner doors, increasing inner space and facilitating maintenance, while maintaining reliability and low cost, with enhanced sealing pressure without increasing resistance during closure.
Implementation Method 1
first elastic means for rotating the latch between a first steady position in which, in use, the tooth of the latch engages the receiving means, with the door being closed, and a second steady position in which, with the door being closed, the tooth does not engage the receiving means
Data Source
AI summary
A door locking device includes a supporting frame, a latch rotationally carried about a first axis by the supporting frame, a receiver for a locking tooth of the latch and first elastic element for rotating the latch between a first steady position in which, in use, with the door being closed, the tooth of the latch engages the receiver, and a second steady position, in which the tooth does not engage the receiver. The supporting frame is shaped to be fixed, in use, to one side of an access opening of the electric household appliance, integral with a casing of the latter; and the receiver has at least one seat carried, in use, by an edge of the door facing, in use, the side of the access opening provided with the supporting frame; moreover, the first axis is transversally movable with respect to itself, relatively to the supporting frame.