CN112030474B

CN112030474B - Sealing ring of drum washing machine and drum washing machine with sealing ring

Info

Publication number: CN112030474B
Application number: CN201910474612.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 蔡尚文; 杨静虎; 窦川川
Original assignee: BSH Electrical Appliances Jiangsu Co Ltd; BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Current assignee: BSH Electrical Appliances Jiangsu Co Ltd; BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Priority date: 2019-06-03
Filing date: 2019-06-03
Publication date: 2023-10-27
Anticipated expiration: 2039-06-03
Also published as: CN112030474A

Abstract

The invention discloses a sealing ring of a drum washing machine, which is made of rubber and comprises a first flange, a second flange and a connecting wall positioned between the first flange and the second flange, wherein the connecting wall is in a bending state so as to form a groove with the second flange, a drain hole is formed in the second flange, a hydrophobic area is formed in the radial inner surface of an area, close to the drain hole, of the connecting wall, the hydrophobic area has higher surface roughness, a hydrophobic effect is realized under the higher surface roughness, and the rest areas have lower surface roughness. By forming a hydrophobic area on the surface of the sealing ring close to the drain hole, sewage is more easily discharged by the drain hole and is not easy to remain, thereby improving the sanitation problem of the sealing ring. The invention also discloses a drum washing machine with the sealing ring.

Description

Sealing ring of drum washing machine and drum washing machine with sealing ring

[ field of technology ]

The invention relates to a sealing ring of a drum washing machine, which is connected between an outer barrel opening and a box opening of the drum washing machine. And also relates to a drum washing machine with the sealing ring.

[ background Art ]

Drum washing machines generally include a cabinet. The front panel of the box body is provided with a clothes input port for inputting or taking out clothes. An outer barrel is arranged in the box body and is used for containing liquid for washing clothes. The outer barrel is internally provided with a roller which is driven by a motor to rotate. The outer tub has an opening connected to the laundry inlet of the cabinet through a sealing ring made of an elastic material.

The gasket is generally made of rubber, and since rubber materials have an adhesive force and a surface friction coefficient is large, resistance between door glass and the gasket is large when a door operation of opening and closing the washing machine is performed, which results in poor feeling of use by an operator or difficulty in realization of some automatic door opening functions.

In addition, rubber materials have a certain hydrophobicity, but have limited hydrophobicity. The bottom of the sealing ring is easy to remain water, foam dirt and the like, and as the use environment of the sealing ring is warm and moist, mould is easy to breed.

It is currently known to form drag reducing, hydrophobic layers on rubber surfaces by spraying special coatings on the part surfaces or modifying the material by some physical or chemical means. These methods often require additional materials or processes, resulting in increased part costs.

[ invention ]

It is an object of the present invention to ameliorate the disadvantages of the prior art.

The invention provides a sealing ring of a drum washing machine, wherein the drum washing machine comprises a box body and an outer barrel positioned in the box body, the box body and the outer barrel are respectively provided with a first opening and a second opening which are adjacently arranged, the sealing ring is made of rubber and comprises a first flange connected with the first opening of the box body and a second flange connected with the second opening of the outer barrel, a connecting wall positioned between the first flange and the second flange is in a bending state, a groove is formed between the connecting wall and the second flange, a drain hole communicated with the groove and the outer barrel is formed on the second flange, a hydrophobic area is arranged on the radial inner surface of an area, close to the drain hole, of the connecting wall, wherein the hydrophobic area has higher surface roughness, a hydrophobic effect is realized under the higher surface roughness, and the rest areas have lower surface roughness.

By forming a hydrophobic area on the surface of the sealing ring close to the drain hole, sewage is more easily discharged by the drain hole and is not easy to remain, thereby improving the sanitation problem of the sealing ring. In addition, compared with the hydrophobic scheme adopting the surface coating, the hydrophobic performance is more stable, the environment is protected, and the manufacturing cost is lower by controlling the local surface roughness of the sealing ring.

The surface roughness of the hydrophobic region may be set between 3 μm and 15 μm. In this range, the hydrophobic effect is good. For example, the surface roughness of the hydrophobic region may be set to about 6.63 μm. The rubber at this surface roughness has superhydrophobic properties.

The hydrophobic area should be located at the bottom of the sealing ring in the mounted state. The washing water is collected to the bottom of the sealing ring under the action of gravity and is easy to remain at the bottom position.

In a specific embodiment, the hydrophobic region can be axially connected with the first flange and the second flange, so that good hydrophobic effect can be achieved at the bottom of the connecting wall, and local residue of sewage is avoided.

The hydrophobic region comprises a surface of the second flange facing the connecting wall. The surface of the second flange facing the connecting wall tends to lie in the recess formed by the second flange and the connecting wall and thus to contact the sewage. The surface is set as a hydrophobic area to avoid sewage residue on the surface.

The door glass has a radially inwardly projecting lip adjacent the first flange, the lip being positioned such that when the seal is in an installed condition and the door is closed, the door glass urges against the lip, wherein a side of the lip facing the door glass has a contact surface, wherein the contact surface has a surface roughness greater than a surface roughness of a remainder of the first flange. The contact surface with larger surface roughness has smaller friction when contacting with door glass, thereby reducing the resistance when closing the door.

In theory, the greater the surface roughness of the rubber, the less the friction is in contact with the glass, while the surface roughness of the contact surface can be set between 5 μm and 200 μm in view of the effect of ensuring a water seal between the lip and the door glass.

The above embodiments may be arbitrarily combined.

The invention also provides a drum washing machine, which comprises a box body and an outer barrel positioned in the box body, wherein the box body and the outer barrel are respectively provided with a first opening and a second opening which are adjacently arranged, and the sealing ring of any combination of the above various embodiments is arranged between the first opening and the second opening.

Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[ description of the drawings ]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a drum washing machine;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a seal ring;

fig. 3 is a partial axial cross-sectional view of the bottom of the seal ring.

[ detailed description ] of the invention

As shown in fig. 1, the drum washing machine 1 has a cabinet 2. The front part of the case 2 has a first opening 3. A door 4 is hinged to the case 2 to open or close the first opening 3. The door 4 has a concave door glass 41. An outer barrel 6 is suspended in the box body 2 through a vibration device 5. The tub 6 is provided therein with a drum 8 rotatably driven by a motor 7. The outer tub 6 has a second opening 9 provided adjacent to the first opening 3, close to the first opening 3. A sealing ring 10 made of elastic rubber is connected between the first opening 3 and the second opening 9.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the gasket 10 includes a first flange 11 connected to the first opening 3 of the case 2, a second flange 12 connected to the second opening 9 of the tub 6, and a connection wall 13 between the first flange 11 and the second flange 12. The connecting wall 13 has an annular structure as a whole, and has a bent axial cross section. The connecting wall 13 comprises a first wall 141 radially inwards, a second wall 142 radially outwards, and a third wall 143 bent between the first wall 141 and the second wall 142. The second flange 12 has a radially extending fourth wall 124. An annular groove 15 is formed between the second wall 142, the third wall 143 and the fourth wall 124. The fourth wall 124 of the second flange 12 has a drain hole 16 communicating the recess 15 with the inside of the tub 6. When the seal ring 10 is in the mounted state, the drain hole 16 is near the bottom of the groove 15 in the gravity direction. The water in the gasket 10 can then be discharged into the tub 6 through the drain hole 16 in the dehydration stage at the later stage of the washing process.

The bottom of the seal ring 10 in its installed state is provided with a hydrophobic area 18. The extent of the hydrophobic region 18 comprising the cover includes the radially inner surface of the connecting wall 13, the region adjacent to and surrounding the drain hole 16. Specifically, the water-repellent region 18 axially connects the first flange 11 and the second flange 12, and includes a first wall 141, a second wall 142, and a third wall 143 near a bottom portion in the gravity direction. The hydrophobic region 18 also comprises the surface of the second flange 12 facing the connecting wall 13, i.e. the surface of the fourth wall 124 facing in the direction of the connecting wall 13.

Wherein the hydrophobic region 18 is realized by controlling its surface roughness. The hydrophobic region 18 may be provided with a higher surface roughness that may achieve a better hydrophobic effect, while the remaining regions have a generally lower surface roughness. For example, the surface roughness of the hydrophobic region 18 may be between 3 μm and 15 μm, while the surface roughness of the remaining regions is typically about 1.6 μm. Preferably, the surface roughness of the hydrophobic region 18 is about 6.63 μm.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, adjacent the first flange 11 there is a radially inwardly projecting lip 20. The position of the lip 20 is set such that when the seal ring 10 is in the mounted state and the door 4 is closed, the door glass 41 presses the lip 20 and deforms it. The side of the lip 20 facing the door glass has a contact surface 21. When the door is closed, the door glass 41 contacts and presses the contact surface 21. Wherein the surface roughness of the contact surface 21 is greater than the surface roughness of the rest of the first flange 11. Specifically, the surface roughness of the contact surface 21 may take a factor between 5 μm and 200 μm.

Etching may be performed within the abrasive tool of the seal ring 10 to achieve locally different surface roughness.

The various embodiments described above and shown in the figures are only illustrative of the invention. Any modification of the present invention by one of ordinary skill in the related art is within the scope of the basic technical idea of the present invention.

Claims

1. The sealing ring of a drum washing machine, wherein the drum washing machine (1) comprises a box body (2) and an outer barrel (6) positioned in the box body, the box body and the outer barrel are respectively provided with a first opening (3) and a second opening (9) which are arranged adjacently, the sealing ring (10) is made of rubber, comprises a first flange (11) connected with the first opening (3) of the box body and a second flange (12) connected with the second opening (9) of the outer barrel, a connecting wall (13) positioned between the first flange and the second flange is in a bending state, a groove (15) is formed between the connecting wall and the second flange, and a drain hole (16) communicated with the groove and the outer barrel is formed in the second flange, and the sealing ring is characterized in that: the radially inner surface of the area of the connecting wall adjacent to the drain hole has a hydrophobic area (18), wherein the hydrophobic area has a high surface roughness at which a hydrophobic effect is achieved, and the remaining area has a low surface roughness, the surface roughness of the hydrophobic area being arranged between 3 μm and 15 μm.

2. The seal ring of claim 1, wherein: the surface roughness of the hydrophobic region was about 6.63 μm.

3. The seal ring of claim 1, wherein: the hydrophobic region is located at the bottom of the sealing ring in the installed state.

4. The seal ring of claim 1, wherein: the hydrophobic region axially connects the first flange and the second flange.

5. The seal ring of claim 1, wherein: the hydrophobic region comprises a surface of the second flange facing the connecting wall.

6. The seal ring of claim 1, wherein: the door glass has a radially inwardly projecting lip (20) adjacent the first flange, the lip being positioned such that when the sealing ring is in the installed condition and the door is closed, the door glass presses against the lip, wherein a side of the lip facing the door glass has a contact surface (21), wherein the surface roughness of the contact surface is greater than the surface roughness of the remainder of the first flange.

7. The gasket as set forth in claim 6, wherein: the surface roughness of the contact surface is set between 5 μm and 200 μm.

8. The drum washing machine is characterized in that: a sealing ring (10) according to any of claims 1-7 being fitted between the first and second openings.