User interface assembly including individually illuminated icons for an appliance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current domestic appliance user interface assemblies face challenges with indistinct end points due to light bleed and reduced segmentation in illuminated displays, which affect user interface clarity and functionality.
Innovation Solution
A user interface assembly incorporating a circuit board with touch sensors and light sources, a conductive foam filler with apertures, and a light guide plate with a stem and diffusion portion to provide individual illumination points for enhanced clarity and precision in user input detection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If discrete light segments are used for display, then illumination is provided, but light bleed occurs between segments causing indistinct endpoints
Solution Approach 1:
A light guide plate is introduced as an intermediary component between the light source and the display surface. The light guide plate receives light from LED segments and redistributes it through its structure to illuminate icon regions while preventing light bleed into adjacent areas, thereby achieving both illumination and distinct endpoints.
Solution Approach 2:
The light guide plate is divided into multiple light guide portions, each corresponding to a specific icon region. This segmentation allows independent control of light distribution to each icon, ensuring that light from one icon does not bleed into adjacent icons while maintaining clear visual separation.
2Loss of information
If radially or linearly illuminated bar graph display is used, then heating level information is displayed, but the display lacks individual illumination points
Solution Approach 1:
Each icon region is provided with localized illumination through dedicated light guide portions. The light guide plate creates distinct illumination zones where each icon can be individually illuminated with precise control over the illumination area, enabling both information display and precise illumination points.
3Shape
If reduced segmentation appearance is used, then design aesthetic is improved, but endpoint distinctness is lost due to light bleed
Solution Approach 1:
The light guide plate creates optical copies of light sources at different locations. By using optical redistribution rather than direct physical segmentation, the display achieves a continuous appearance aesthetic while maintaining precise endpoint definition through controlled light distribution patterns.
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 ensures distinct and focused illumination of individual icons, preventing light bleed and improving user interface clarity and functionality by confining light to specific touch buttons, enhancing user experience.
Implementation Method 1
a light guide plate provided between the conductive foam filler and the control panel, the light guide plate including a stem portion extending along the longitudinal direction
Implementation Method 2
a diffusion portion positioned at a first end of the stem portion
Data Source
AI summary
A user interface assembly for a domestic appliance includes a circuit board including at least one touch sensor and at least one light source; a control panel spaced apart from the circuit board along a longitudinal direction; at least one conductive foam filler provided between the circuit board and the control panel, the at least one conductive foam filler including an aperture defined therethrough along the longitudinal direction; and a light guide plate provided between the conductive foam filler and the control panel, the light guide plate including a stem portion extending along the longitudinal direction and a diffusion portion positioned at a first end of the stem portion.