EP3904583A1

EP3904583A1 - A drum type washing machine

Info

Publication number: EP3904583A1
Application number: EP21166183.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Xuli CUI; Quan Yuan; Zhuo Chen
Original assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Current assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Priority date: 2020-04-30
Filing date: 2021-03-31
Publication date: 2021-11-03
Also published as: CN212800899U

Abstract

The present application discloses a drum washing machine, including a rotatable drum (1) and a tub (2) accommodating the drum (1), wherein the tub (2) is provided with a laundry input opening (22) located at an end in an axial direction, a wrinkled gasket (4) made of an elastic material is disposed around the laundry input opening (22), a bottom of the gasket (4) is provided with a drain hole (41) in communication with an interior of the tub (2), the drain hole (41) is connected to a drain pipe (5), the drain pipe (5) has an inlet (51) and an outlet (52), and the outlet (52) is located downstream of the inlet (51) relative to a spin direction of the drum. When the drum washing machine performs drying at a high speed, an annular air flow circuit is formed between the drum and tub, so that negative pressure is formed in the drain pipe, and water located at the bottom of the gasket is sucked into the drain pipe and drained through the outlet.

Description

The present invention relates to a drum washing machine having a gasket disposed at a laundry input opening of a tub, and further relates to a drain mechanism of the gasket.
After a drum washing machine is used, some water remains at a bottom of a gasket connected to a laundry input opening on a tub. The residual water is prone to bacteria breeding to produce foul odors and causes mold growth on the gasket. The bottom of the gasket is usually provided with a drain hole. However, since a wrinkled part of the gasket is prone to deformation, it is difficult for water to drain naturally through the drain hole.
An objective of the present invention is to provide an improved drum washing machine, so that water entering a gasket can be better drained.
An embodiment of the present invention includes: a drum washing machine, including a rotatable drum and a tub accommodating the drum, where the drum has a first circumferential wall, a plurality of through holes are distributed in the first circumferential wall to allow the circulation of air between the drum and the tub, the tub is provided with a laundry input opening located at an end in an axial direction, a wrinkled gasket made of an elastic material is disposed around the laundry input opening, a bottom of the gasket is provided with a drain hole in communication with an interior of the tub, the drain hole is connected to a drain pipe, an inlet of the drain pipe is connected to the drain hole, an outlet is located at a bottom of the tub, and the outlet is located downstream of the inlet relative to a spin direction of the drum.
When the drum washing machine performs drying at a high speed, air is thrown out at a high speed under the action of a centrifugal force due to a high-speed rotation of the drum, and an annular air flow circuit is formed between the drum and tub. According to the foregoing embodiments of the present invention, the outlet is located downstream of the inlet relative to the spin direction of the drum, the outlet is located at a downwind position of the air flow circuit relative to the inlet, so that negative pressure is formed in the drain pipe, and water located at the bottom of the gasket in a relatively high-pressure area is sucked into the drain pipe and drained through the outlet, to implement high-efficiency drainage.
In some embodiments, the tub has a second circumferential wall around the first circumferential wall, and the outlet is located in a gap between the first circumferential wall and the second circumferential wall.
An advantageous implementation further includes that the outlet is lower than the inlet in the gravity direction.
Preferably, the drain pipe is completely located inside the tub.
Preferably, the drain pipe is fixed in the tub, to prevent a water flow and an air flow from impacting the drain pipe to displace the drain pipe during washing, to avoid reducing a drainage effect of the drain pipe.
Preferably, the drain pipe bends in the spin direction of the drum.
An advantageous implementation further includes that the drain pipe has a first section that is near the outlet and is perpendicular to a rotating shaft of the drum. The drain pipe extends from the gasket to the bottom of the tub, and a pipe body of the drain pipe interferes with an air flow formed by a high-speed rotation in the drum, to generate a turbulence. The first section is perpendicular to the rotating shaft of the drum, so that in a flow direction of the air flow, a turbulence is not likely to form in the first section, and the first section keeps the outlet far away from an area where the turbulence is formed, so that the drainage is smoother.
The structure of the present invention and other inventive objectives and beneficial effects thereof will become more comprehensible from the description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The following accompanying drawings, as a part of the specification and provided to further understand the present invention, describe specific implementations of the present invention and are used to describe the principle of the present invention along with the specification. Where:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a tub and a drain pipe of a drum washing machine;
FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of partial components of the drum washing machine; and
FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of a part A in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, a drum washing machine includes a rotatable drum 1 and a tub 2 accommodating the drum 1. The drum 1 is cylindrical, and is rotatable around a rotating shaft 10. The drum 1 has a first circumferential wall 11. A plurality of through holes 12 are distributed in the first circumferential wall 11, to allow the circulation of air or a liquid between the drum 1 and the tub 2. The tub 2 has a second circumferential wall 21 around the first circumferential wall 11. A gap 3 is provided between the first circumferential wall 11 and the second circumferential wall 21.
The tub 2 is provided with a laundry input opening 22 located at an end in an axial direction. A wrinkled gasket 4 made of an elastic material is disposed around the laundry input opening 22. A bottom of the gasket 4 is provided with a drain hole 41 in communication with an interior of the tub 2 to drain washing water that enters the gasket 4 into the tub 2.
A drain pipe 5 is connected to the drain hole 41. The drain pipe 5 has an inlet 51 and an outlet 52. The inlet 51 is connected to the drain hole 41, and the outlet 52 is located at a bottom of the tub 2. In the embodiments in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the outlet is located at the gap 3 between the first circumferential wall 11 and the second circumferential wall 21, and the outlet 52 is lower than the inlet 51 in the gravity direction.
It is particularly advantageous that the outlet 52 is located downstream of the inlet 51 relative to a spin direction of the drum 1. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, it can be specifically understood that from the laundry input opening 22 in a projection direction along the rotating shaft 10, the outlet 52 and the inlet 51 are not on a straight line in a radiation direction with the rotating shaft 10 as the center of the circle, but instead, the outlet 52 is closer to the front than the inlet 51 relative to the spin direction of the drum.
When the drum washing machine performs drying at a high speed, for example, the drum 1 is disposed to rotate at a high speed in a counterclockwise direction as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. Air is thrown out at a high speed under the action of a centrifugal force due to a high-speed rotation of the drum 1, and an annular air flow circuit 100 is formed between the first circumferential wall 11 of the drum 1 and the second circumferential wall 21 of the tub 2. Because the outlet 52 is located downstream of the inlet 51 relative to the spin direction of the drum 1, the outlet 52 is located at a downwind position of the air flow circuit 100 relative to the inlet 51, so that negative pressure is formed in the drain pipe 5, water located at the bottom of the gasket 4 in a relatively high-pressure area is sucked into the drain pipe 5 and drained through the outlet 52, to implement high-efficiency drainage. As can be seen, the drain pipe 5 may suck water from the bottom of the gasket 4 during the high-speed drying of the washing machine to implement efficient drainage.
To achieve that the outlet 52 of the drain pipe 5 is located downstream of the inlet 51 relative to the spin direction of the drum 1, the drain pipe 5 may bend in the spin direction of the drum 1. This bend can be either curved or folded.
In the embodiment in FIG. 1, the drain pipe 5 has a first section 53 that is near the outlet 52 and is perpendicular to the rotating shaft 10 of the drum 1. The drain pipe 5 extends from the gasket 4 to the bottom of the tub 2, and a pipe body of the drain pipe interferes with an air flow 100 formed by a high-speed rotation in the drum 1, to generate a turbulence. The first section 53 is perpendicular to the rotating shaft 10 of the drum 1, so that in a flow direction of the air flow 100, a turbulence is not likely to form in the first section 53. The first section 53 keeps the outlet 52 far away from an area where the turbulence is formed, so that the drainage is smoother.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the drain pipe 5 is completely located inside the tub 2. An advantageous implementation further includes that the drain pipe 5 is fixed in the tub 2, to prevent a water flow and an air flow from impacting the drain pipe 5 to displace the drain pipe during washing, to avoid reducing a drainage effect of the drain pipe.

Claims

A drum washing machine, comprising a rotatable drum (1) and a tub (2) accommodating the drum (1), wherein the drum (1) has a first circumferential wall (11), a plurality of through holes (12) are distributed in the first circumferential wall (11) to allow the circulation of air between the drum (1) and the tub (2), the tub (2) is provided with a laundry input opening (22) located at an end in an axial direction, a wrinkled gasket (4) made of an elastic material is disposed around the laundry input opening (22), a bottom of the gasket (4) is provided with a drain hole (41) in communication with an interior of the tub (2), the drain hole (41) is connected to a drain pipe (5), an inlet (51) of the drain pipe (5) is connected to the drain hole (41), an outlet (52) is located at a bottom of the tub (2), and the outlet (52) is located downstream of the inlet relative to a spin direction of the drum (1).
The drum washing machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the tub (2) has a second circumferential wall (21) around the first circumferential wall (11), and the outlet (52) is located in a gap (3) between the first circumferential wall (11) and the second circumferential wall (21).
The drum washing machine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the outlet (52) is lower than the inlet (51) in the gravity direction.
The drum washing machine according to any of claim 1 to 3, characterized in that the drain pipe (5) is completely located inside the tub (2).
The drum washing machine according to any of claim 1 to 4, characterized in that the drain pipe (5) is fixed in the tub (2).
The drum washing machine according to any of claim 1 to 5, characterized in that the drain pipe (5) bends in the spin direction of the drum (1).
The drum washing machine according to any of claim 1 to 6, characterized in that the drain pipe (5) has a first section (53) that is near the outlet (52) and is perpendicular to a rotating shaft of the drum (1).