Laundry treating apparatus
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional drawer-type laundry treating apparatuses face issues with water supply and drain pipes twisting inside the cabinet during drawer extension and retraction, leading to vibration transmission and reduced durability, and lack an integrated structure for water supply, tub exhaust, and pump exhaust pipes.
Innovation Solution
The proposed laundry treating apparatus includes a cabinet with a drawer that extends to expose a cover through-hole, allowing the door to open the tub inlet even when not fully withdrawn, featuring a door guide system with inclined paths and stoppers to maximize gasket contact area and sealing force, and a flow channel support system to prevent pipe entanglement and vibration transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the drawer is extended and retracted, then the door can open the inlet, but the water supply pipe or drain pipe becomes twisted inside the cabinet
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic support bars that can rotate and adjust their position as the drawer moves between extended and retracted states. The first support bar rotates about a first axis, and the second support bar rotates about a second axis, allowing the pipe support structure to adapt its configuration dynamically during drawer operation, preventing pipe twisting while maintaining operational flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The support mechanism changes the spatial parameters of the pipe support structure during drawer movement. By rotating the support bars about different axes, the system alters the position and orientation parameters of the supported pipes, transforming them from a fixed rigid structure to an adaptable configuration that prevents twisting during drawer extension and retraction.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the support bars are connected via a connection shaft, then the structure is stable, but vibration is transmitted from the drawer to the cabinet
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the connection shaft that directly linked the first and second support bars, extracting the vibration transmission pathway from the system. By eliminating this rigid connection, the support structure maintains stability through independent rotation of each support bar while preventing vibration from being transmitted from the moving drawer to the fixed cabinet.
3Reliability
If the gasket contact area is increased, then the sealing force is improved, but the door structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enhances the gasket contact area by utilizing the vertical dimension between the drawer cover and tub cover. The door slides along the inclined surface in the vertical direction, allowing the gasket to contact the inlet over a larger area along the inclined plane. This dimensional approach increases sealing force without significantly complicating the door structure, as the inclined sliding mechanism is integrated into the existing door guide system.
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed is a laundry treating apparatus including a cabinet having a front face with a drawer hole defined therein, and a rear cover for forming a rear face of the cabinet, a drawer including a drawer body extendable from the cabinet through the drawer hole, a drawer cover for forming a top face of the drawer body, and a cover through-hole defined to penetrate the drawer cover, wherein the cover through-hole is exposed to the outside of the cabinet when the drawer body is extended from the cabinet, a tub including a tub body disposed inside the drawer and storing water therein, a tub cover for forming a top face of the tub body, and an inlet defined to penetrate the tub cover, wherein the inlet is exposed to the outside of the drawer through the cover through-hole, a drum rotatably disposed in the tub, wherein the drum accommodates laundry, a door for closing the inlet, and a door guide for providing a path for the door to reciprocate between a first point where the inlet is closed and a second point where the inlet is opened in a space defined between the tub cover and the drawer cover.