Washing machine or dryer with a front bottom panel
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing laundry treatment appliances with removable front panels often require excessive force for detachment due to manufacturing tolerances and lack clear grasping points, leading to user confusion and reliance on user manuals.
Innovation Solution
Integration of push buttons and latching mechanisms within the panel, utilizing the plastic material's flexibility to allow easy unclipping, with two push buttons on side walls and cantilevered pieces that rotate to release the panel from the housing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the panel is made rigid for structural stability, then the panel maintains its shape and appearance, but excessive force is required to remove the panel due to manufacturing tolerances
Solution Approach 1:
The panel is segmented into a rigid main body and flexible integral pieces (cantilevered pieces with push buttons) that are formed as one piece during injection molding. The rigid panel maintains structural stability and appearance, while the flexible integral pieces provide the necessary compliance for easy attachment and detachment, resolving the contradiction between rigidity and ease of operation.
2Reliability
If a complex mechanical latching system with multiple springs is used, then the panel can be securely attached, but the device complexity increases and manufacturing cost rises
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple functional elements (latching mechanism, pushing button, and spring) are merged into a single integral piece formed during injection molding of the panel. This eliminates the need for separate components and assembly steps, reducing device complexity while maintaining secure attachment reliability through the flexibility of the integral piece.
3Shape
If no grasping points are provided on the panel, then the panel appearance remains clean and uninterrupted, but users cannot easily locate where to grasp the panel for removal
Solution Approach 1:
The panel has different local qualities: the main panel body maintains a clean, continuous appearance without interruptions, while localized flexible integral pieces with push buttons are added at specific locations (side walls) to serve as grasping points. This allows users to easily locate and operate the panel for removal without compromising the overall aesthetic continuity of the panel design.
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 easy and reliable removal of the front panel without complex mechanical systems, providing a user-friendly experience while maintaining aesthetic continuity and simplifying the manufacturing process.
Implementation Method 1
By pressing the push-button 20 (horizontal arrow shown in figure 1A, 4, 5 and 6) the elongated piece 22 substantially rotates, thanks to intrinsic flexibility of the plastic material, around an horizontal axis X-X.
Implementation Method 2
The operating end 22b of the piece 22, in the idle configuration of the latching mechanism shown in the drawings, is very close to the inclined surface 26 of the related piece 24. By pressing the push-button 20, the operating end 22b of the piece 22 acts by friction on the inclined surface 26 of the piece 24, therefore substantially prompting a rotation of the piece 24 around an horizontal axis Y-Y
Implementation Method 3
Once the action by the user on the push buttons 20 (one for each side) is terminated, the same elasticity of the material allows the latching mechanism to assume again the idle position shown in the drawings.
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 1A~3A
Figure 4~5
AI summary
A washing machine, dryer or washer dryer (10) comprises an housing (12, P) with a front face (12a) having a front plastic panel (16) which can be detached from said front face (12a) and covers technical component of the appliance, as a filter or the like. The removable panel (16) comprises a latching mechanism including a first element (22) which is configured to be elastically actuated by the user and a second element (24) which cooperates elastically with the first element (22) and presents a catch (28) configured to cooperate with a corresponding portion (30) of the housing (12) , said first and second element being integral with the panel.