Single-Door Drawer Design for Multi-Compartment Laundry Appliances
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-numbered doors in laundry appliance drawers lead to user confusion, premature wear, and aesthetically unpleasant designs, negatively impacting user experience and customer loyalty.
Innovation Solution
A drawer design with a single door for accessing multiple compartments, featuring a recessed area and sealing member, and grip portions for easy actuation, which simplifies user interaction and enhances aesthetics by eliminating the need for multiple doors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If multiple doors are provided for accessing multiple drawer compartments, then each compartment can be accessed independently, but user confusion increases and aesthetics deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple access openings into a single door structure. The door is divided into multiple panels corresponding to different drawer compartments, allowing the user to access any compartment through one unified door rather than multiple separate doors. This merging approach maintains ease of access while eliminating the complexity and aesthetic issues of multiple separate doors.
Solution Approach 2:
The single door is segmented into multiple panels, each corresponding to a specific drawer compartment. This segmentation allows the door to provide access to multiple compartments while maintaining a unified structure. The panels can be opened independently or together, providing flexible access without requiring multiple separate doors.
2Ease of operation
If multiple doors are provided for accessing multiple drawer compartments, then each compartment can be accessed independently, but premature wear increases due to frequent undesired actuations
Solution Approach 1:
By merging multiple access openings into a single door, the patent reduces the total number of door actuations required. Users no longer need to repeatedly open and close multiple separate doors to access different compartments, thereby reducing wear on the door mechanisms and improving reliability.
3Ease of operation
If multiple doors are provided for accessing multiple drawer compartments, then each compartment can be accessed independently, but aesthetic appeal deteriorates due to differences in heights and excessive contour lines
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple access openings into a single unified door structure, eliminating the visual clutter of multiple separate doors with varying heights and contour lines. The single door provides a clean, uniform appearance while still allowing access to multiple compartments through its segmented panels.
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 2A
AI summary
A drawer (115) for a laundry treatment appliance (100) is proposed. The drawer (115) comprises: a drawer body (210) having at least two compartments (2201,2202) each one adapted to contain multiple doses of a respective laundry treatment agent for performing multiple laundry treatment cycles, associated with the at least two compartments (2201,2202), at least two access openings (2301,2302) each one for accessing a respective one said at least two compartments (2201,2202) for laundry treatment agent loading, a single door (245) associated with the at least two access openings (2301,2302), the door (245) being actuatable between open and closed positions for uncovering and covering, respectively, said at least two access openings jointly (2301,2302).