Appliance Door Cam Assembly for Variable Opening Force
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Solution Overview
Problem
Home appliances face challenges in providing a comfortable door opening sensation, as existing designs often result in uneven damping force, leading to potential damage from excessive rotation and difficulty in initial opening.
Innovation Solution
A cam assembly with varying horizontal linear movement distances, guided by cams with different gradients, compresses a coil spring to adjust the moment required for door opening, ensuring easier initial opening and preventing excessive rotation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a door is designed with uniform damping force throughout opening, then the door structure is simple, but the door opening sensation is poor and may cause damage from excessive rotation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the damping force variable rather than uniform. The cam assembly converts rotational movement into linear movement with varying compression distance, creating dynamic damping force that changes with door opening angle. This resolves the contradiction by providing reliable door control through variable damping while using a relatively simple mechanical cam-spring mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of damping force from constant to variable. By designing the cam assembly with specific geometric parameters that vary compression distance based on rotation angle, the damping force parameter changes dynamically during door opening, improving control and preventing excessive rotation.
2Reliability
If a strong spring is used to prevent excessive door rotation, then door control is improved, but initial door opening becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The cam assembly creates dynamic spring compression that is small at initial opening angles and increases as the door opens further. This dynamic behavior allows easy initial opening with minimal force while progressively increasing damping force to prevent excessive rotation, resolving the contradiction between strong control and easy operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by making the damping effect location-dependent on the rotation angle. The cam assembly geometry is designed so that different portions of the rotation range experience different levels of spring compression, providing gentle damping at small angles and strong damping at large angles, thus enabling both easy opening and rotation control.
3Reliability
If the cam assembly has large horizontal linear movement distance, then spring compression is large and door control is improved, but the device size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cam assembly utilizes curved cam surfaces to achieve efficient conversion of rotational movement into linear movement. The curved geometry allows compact design while maintaining effective spring compression, reducing the overall volume of the cam assembly compared to linear or non-optimized curved designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the problem from a linear movement dimension to a rotational-dimension problem. By using rotational movement of the cam to generate linear spring compression, the design achieves effective damping control in a compact space, utilizing the third dimension (rotation) to reduce the footprint in the linear dimension.
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
The solution enhances user convenience by varying the door opening force based on the rotation angle, reducing the risk of damage and improving the door's separation from the cabinet, while maintaining control over the opening process.
Implementation Method 1
a spring configured to be compressed by horizontal linear movement of the cam assembly
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a home appliance. The home appliance includes a cabinet having a chamber configured to receive an object therein, a door configured to open or close the chamber, a cam assembly configured to convert rotation into horizontal linear movement upon rotation of the door, and a spring configured to be compressed by horizontal linear movement of the cam assembly. The cam assembly has a variable horizontal linear movement distance for compression of the spring according to a rotation angle of the door.