Dishwasher appliance with a sidefire LED lightguide
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Solution Overview
Problem
Top control dishwasher appliances present challenges in viewing the operational status when the door is closed, as the control panel is hidden, making it difficult for users to determine the current operational status, and wiring and mounting front indications can be complex.
Innovation Solution
A dishwasher design featuring a user interface panel on the door with a circuit board and side-fire light emitting diodes that utilize a lightguide to reflect light and illuminate an indicator, allowing for easy status monitoring without exposing the control panel, thus maintaining a sleek appearance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If the control panel is positioned on top of the door, then the appliance achieves a sleek appearance, but the user cannot easily view the operational status when the door is closed
Solution Approach 1:
A lightguide acts as an intermediary component that transfers light from the LED positioned behind the control panel to the front surface of the door. The lightguide enables the indicator to be visible on the front of the door without requiring the control panel itself to be visible, thus maintaining the sleek appearance while solving the visibility issue.
2Loss of information
If front indication is added to display operational status, then the user can easily view the status, but the wiring and mounting becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The lightguide serves as a mediator that simplifies the overall system integration. By positioning the LED behind the control panel and using the lightguide to transport light to the front indicator, the design avoids complex wiring arrangements that would be required if the indicator were directly integrated into the front panel assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution moves the light source to a different spatial dimension (behind the control panel) rather than integrating it directly in the front panel plane. This dimensional relocation simplifies the wiring and mounting requirements while achieving the same functional result of front-visible status indication.
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 users to easily view the operational status of the dishwasher while maintaining a sleek design by using a side-fire LED and lightguide system to illuminate indicators on the door, simplifying the integration of user inputs and indicators within the door structure.
Implementation Method 1
the lightguide is configured such that the light from the side-fire light emitting diode is reflected within the lightguide from the inlet of the lightguide to the outlet of the lightguide
Data Source
AI summary
A dishwasher appliance includes a user interface panel positioned on a door at a top edge of the door. A circuit board is positioned within the door. A user touch input and a side-fire light emitting diode are mounted to the circuit board. A lightguide is positioned within the door. An inlet of the lightguide is positioned proximate the side-fire light emitting diode, and an outlet of the lightguide positioned below the circuit board. The side-fire light emitting diode is operable to emit light, and the lightguide is configured such that the light from the side-fire light emitting diode is reflected within the lightguide from the inlet of the lightguide to the outlet of the lightguide in order to illuminate an indicator at the outlet of the lightguide with the light from the side-fire light emitting diode.