EP0882423B1 - Dishwasher - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a device dispensing products for dishwashers.

In current dishwashers, the various washing aids (detergents, rinsing products, deodorants, etc.) are generally arranged in product boxes fixed on the storm door. These boxes are closed by a tilting or sliding flap that opens automatically or mechanically when the corresponding product is to be used. Some products, especially detergent products, are sometimes used in individual pods that are introduced directly into the tank by the user.

The product boxes are relatively bulky and therefore significantly reduce the useful internal volume of the machine, especially as their attachment to the door requires profiling it (especially for aesthetic reasons) such so that its convex profiled part surrounding the product boxes further decreases this interior volume. In addition, the fact of fixing the product boxes in the storm door increases the acoustic leakage of the machine in operation and requires sealing means around these boxes. The product filling of these boxes is done when the door is open, forcing the user to bend almost to ground level, which is not ergonomic. The use of such boxes leads to an increase in the cost of machines (solenoid coil, seal, screws, electrical son, mechanical connection ...).

We know from the patent US 3,333,739 a dishwasher on the basket of which is fixed a tank of products whose tank tilts under the effect of jets of water of the reel, the evacuation of the products contained in this tank requiring the installation of a water pipe specific, fixed on the wall of the machine, which complicates the machine and makes it more expensive. In addition, such an installation is very difficult, if not impossible to achieve with current dishwashers with tilting front door in which is usually attached the product tray.

The present invention relates to a dishwasher which has a product evacuation device of their boxes simple and easy to implement, easy access for the user, and which adapts more easily to different types of detergents and has a reduced cost. Such a dishwasher is defined in claim 1.

The product dispensing device comprises at least one manual or automatic filling product container attached to at least one of the upper baskets of the machine and cooperating with a hydraulic product ejection device. The hydraulic device is one of the reels of the dishwasher and the container is tilting and rocking under the action of at least one of the water jets of the reel. According to another characteristic of the invention, the container (s) is (are) fixed (s) on the (the) basket (s), in front. Advantageously, the containers are fixed inside the basket. Also advantageously, in the case where the containers do not occupy the entire width of the facade of the basket or baskets, one can accommodate in the volume remaining in front of other accessories such as cutlery baskets.

• les figures 1 à 3 sont des vues partielles et schématiques d'un mode de réalisation du distributeur de produits, commandé par le moulinet, à différents instants de son fonctionnement.

The present invention will be better understood on reading the detailed description of several embodiments, taken by way of nonlimiting example and illustrated by the appended drawing, in which:

• the Figures 1 to 3 are partial and schematic views of an embodiment of the product dispenser, controlled by the reel, at different times of its operation.

The invention is described below with reference to the attachment of the product dispensing devices to the upper rack of a front-door dishwasher having an upper rack and a lower rack. However, it is understood that in the case where the machine has more than two baskets, the fixing of the product dispensing devices can be done on one or more of the upper baskets, so that the user has to bend the less possible to recharge these dispensing devices.

The products in question belong to at least one of the following categories: detergents, water softeners, rinses, disinfectants, deodorants or other products that can be used in a dishwasher. These products can be used in all forms: powder, liquids, gels, pellets, pods, ...

The dispensing containers may be connected to tank containers for receiving supplies of certain products when these products are used in relatively small amounts for a wash and / or rinse cycle. In this case, the tank-containers are associated with a device for sampling and dosing products which takes there at a suitable time the necessary amount of products to transfer it into the corresponding dispensing containers. These container-reservoirs are preferably also fixed on at least one of the upper baskets, in accessible locations (front, for example). However, since the user has to access it less often than the dispensing containers, these containers-reservoirs are not necessarily fixed on the upper baskets, but can also be fixed on the lower basket, or even under the tank.

Such container-reservoirs are more particularly suitable for liquid products, and especially for those which are used in small quantities. In fact, liquid products are easy to collect and dose automatically. The sampling device can then be a syringe. This sampling device can be actuated in different ways: for example mechanically when closing the door of the machine or when the upper basket is pushed back after filling with dishes, or by an electromechanical device ( electromagnet, solenoid valve, piezoelectric vibrator, ...).

In order to extract the products from the dispensing containers that contain them, the invention uses hydraulic energy, available in any dishwasher.

The embodiment of the product dispensing device 23 shown in FIG. Figures 1 to 3 comprises a tilting container, whose tilting, to evacuate the contents, is controlled by the water jets of the reel rotating under the basket to which the container is attached. In figure 1 the dispensing device is shown being filled by the user. In figure 2 , the filled dispensing device is shown just before its evacuation, and figure 3 this dispensing device is in the evacuation position by a jet of water from the corresponding reel.

The device 23 consists essentially of a tilting container 24 hooked, for example by clipping, to the upper rack 5, to outside thereof, a tilting lid 25 and a flap 26 hinged to the container 24.

The container 24 has a U-shaped cross-section flaring forward (towards the user), whose opening is directed upwards (in the filling position, Figures 1 and 2 ), and it then tilts about an axis 27 passing substantially through its center of gravity and parallel to the front face of the basket 5. The lid 25 tilts about an axis 28, parallel to the axis 27, and passing through the container 24 near its bottom. This cover 25 is arranged so that in the "closed" position ( Figures 2 and 3 ), it masks the opening of the container 24, without necessarily closing it. This cover 25 has, for example, an inverted "L" -shaped cross-section, and has near the elbow of the "L" a spout 29 allowing it to be maneuvered by the user, to clear the opening of the container 24 ( figure 1 ) and to close it ( Figures 2 and 3 ). A latching device 30, fixed to the basket 5, keeps the lid 25 in the closed position by retaining the rear edge 31 of the lid, shaped to ensure this latching.

The flap 26 is fixed, in an articulated manner, at low clearance to the outside of the container 24. This flap 26 is articulated by one of its ends around an axis 32 parallel to the axes 27 and 28 and fixed under the container 24. The flap 26 has, in cross section, a flared "V" shape. Its travel is limited, on the one hand ( figure 2 ) by the outer lateral surface of the container, and on the other by a spout 33 projecting from this same lateral surface and surrounding the other end of the "V" (that opposite to the articulated end 32). In "rest" position (in the absence of water jets), as shown in Figures 1 and 2 a spring (not shown) applies the flap 26 against the spout 33. The flap 26 comprises, on its underside, near the elbow of the "V", a lug 34 resting on a fixed stop 35 (fixed to the basket 5 for example), so as to block in rotation in a first direction (clockwise in the drawing) the container 24, which is blocked in the other direction of rotation by a nose 36 formed on the device 30, the front edge 37 of the container 24 abuts against this nose 36.

The water jet 38 of the reel 39 (rotating under the basket 5) is directed towards the rear face 40 of the flap 26. This has the effect of pressing the flap 26 against the lower part of the rear face of the container 24 ( figure 2 ), thereby disengaging the lug 34 from the abutment 35. The container 24 can then rotate (clockwise in the drawing) under the effect of gravity and / or a suitable spring (no represent). It rotates until its posterior face 37 abuts the stop 35 ( figure 3 ). In this stop position, the plane of the opening of the container 24, which was previously ( Figures 1 and 2 ) horizontal, is vertical ( figure 3 ). The jet of water of the reel 39 can then enter the container 24 and evacuate the product it contained. After washing the dishes, the user, after having opened the machine, turns (counterclockwise) the container 24 to its rest position, and the lug 34 comes into contact with the stop 35, and thus keeps the container 24 in the latter position.

Of course, if one wanted to distribute several different products during the washing process and / or distribute the same product, but spread over time, several other devices such as the device 23 described above would be placed side by side. above, and we would add to each of these other devices a ratchet remotely controlled by the programmer of the machine or by a timer or a bimetal (if the spread over time can be a function of the temperature of the water jet). This ratchet would be arranged in the same way as the lug 34.

Claims (10)

1. Dishwasher comprising a product dispensing device, comprising at least one product receptacle (24) fixed to at least one of the top baskets (5) of the dishwasher, spinning arms (39) and a hydraulic product ejection device, characterised in that the hydraulic product ejection device is one of the spinning arms (39) of the dishwasher and in that the product receptacle (24) is tilting, and tilts under the action of at least one of the water jets (38) of the said spinning arm.
2. Dishwasher according to claim 1, characterised in that the receptacle is associated with two stops (35, 36) blocking its rotation in both directions, means (34) associated with one of the stops (35) being able to disengage from it under the action of at least one of the water jets of the said spinning arm (39).
3. Dishwasher according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the said product receptacle is of the manual filling type.
4. Dishwasher according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the said product receptacle is of the automatic filling type.
5. Dishwasher according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the said product receptacle is fixed to the front face of the top basket.
6. Dishwasher according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the said product receptacle is fixed inside the top basket.
7. Dishwasher according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the said product receptacle is fixed outside the top basket.
8. Dishwasher according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the said product receptacle is connected to a receptacle/reservoir associated with a product takeoff and apportioning device.
9. Dishwasher according to claim 8, characterised in that the receptacle/reservoir is fixed to at least one of the top baskets.
10. Dishwasher according to claim 8, characterised in that the receptacle/reservoir is fixed under the compartment.

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