Domestic appliances have a large number of electrical components which are supplied with current via power supply cables or controlled by means of control leads. For this purpose it may be necessary to run cables via one or more housing edges of the electrical component.
In order to simplify power supply cable installation, it is known to use cable holders having at least two guide sections which are angled to one another and matched to the external contour of the electrical component. The cable holder can be fitted with the relevant cables separately from the appliance and then installed in the appliance. By means of the mutually angled guide sections of the cable holder, cables can be easily run round edges of the electrical component's housing.
The cable holder with its two guide sections is usually a pre-profiled, rigid component which is installed with its angled guide sections abutting the electrical component.
Fitting such a cable holder with power supply cables remains a complex assembly operation because of the mutually angled guide sections. In addition, this kind of pre-profiled cable holder is altogether bulky and therefore can only be stored and packaged in a space-intensive manner.
An object of the invention is to provide a cable holder which simplifies cable installation, particularly in a domestic appliance.
The invention proceeds from a cable holder for a cable, in particular for electrical conductors or fiber-optic cables, having one or more guide sections for guiding the cable.
One or more guide sections of the cable holder are not rigid, but pivotally disposed on the cable holder. To enable the power supply cables to be fitted particularly simply during assembly, the one or preferably two guide sections of the cable holder can therefore be disposed aligned to one another in a common assembly plane in which the two guide sections enclose an angle of 180°. During fitting, the cables can therefore be guided round edges without complex assembly. Moreover, the cable holders can be compactly packaged to save storage space. In the packaging position, the two guide sections can lie side by side, for example, i.e. with an angle of zero between the two guide sections. The two guide sections of the cable holder can be placed in their mutually angled installation position only for final assembly.
To facilitate handling of the cable holder, its two guide sections are connected together via an articulated joint such as a hinge region, in particular a living (integral) hinge. In this case, the guide sections can be folded out into an installation position or a cable fitting position, depending on the assembly operation, or alternatively folded together in a packaging position.
In their installation position, the two guide sections of the cable holder can preferably be positioned so that they directly match the outline at the electrical component of the household appliance, it being advantageous in terms of assembly for the guide sections and the electrical component to be snap-fit together without the use of tools.
The two mutually adjustable guide sections of the cable holder can preferably be folded completely together in their packaging position so that the two guide sections lie side by side in the longitudinal direction. In this case, at least one of the above mentioned snap-lock elements can serve the dual function of providing a snap-lock connection with the electrical component and also securing the adjacent guide section and engaging it accordingly in a snap-locked manner.
In a particular embodiment, the cable holder can be adapted for use in a domestic appliance, in particular a water carrying domestic appliance such as a dishwasher or washing machine. A dishwasher usually has, on the inner metal plate of its door, a housing of a dispenser which constitutes an electrical component within the meaning of the invention. The dispenser is known to be provided with electrical actuating elements, such as a magnetic coil and an electrical low rinse aid indicator. The cable holder can be mounted in the installation position on the housing of the dispenser via the abovementioned snap-lock elements.
The door of the dishwasher can be implemented with, facing the dishwasher cavity, an inner metal plate on the outer side of which a door exterior, e.g. an enclosed fascia or a decor panel. For factory assembly of the appliance door, the frontally still open, trough-shaped inner metal plate is hinged to the dishwasher via lateral hinge levers. In order to facilitate hinging actuation of the inner metal plate hinged to the dishwasher at this stage of assembly, one of the guide sections of the cable holder can be implemented with a handle. The handle can be a gripping bar raised up from the guide section.
For safe actuation of the handle formed on the guide section, the snap-fits of the cable holder to the housing of the dispenser must be implemented in a sufficiently stable manner. It is therefore preferable if, in addition to the snap-fits on the dispenser housing, at least one guide section of the cable holder is additionally also coupled directly to the inner plate of the appliance door. Pulling forces exerted on the cable holder when the handle is actuated can therefore be reliably absorbed by the inner plate of the door.
It is preferable in production engineering terms if the guide sections are of the same material and/or of a piece with the hinging region and the snap-lock elements. In this case, the cable holder can be simply manufactured as an injection-molded part. Particularly with an angle of 180° between the two guide sections, the cable holder can be advantageously produced using simple forming dies without additional slider components.
The invention also relates to a domestic appliance having at least one cable holder according to the invention and a method for assembling such a domestic appliance.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be shown with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
As can be seen from
For detergent dosing during a washing cycle, the dispenser 7 is controlled by an electronic control device likewise incorporated in the appliance door 1. The control device is also in signaling connection with an electronic low rinse aid indicator incorporated in the dispenser 7. For problem-free, precisely defined cable routing between the control device and the dispenser 7, the power supply cables 17 are held in a cable guiding element 19 which is shown in its installation position in
The cable holder 19 is here a one-piece plastic injection molded part made of uniform material. The two strip-shaped guide sections 21, 23 are pivoted together via a living hinge 25 and approximately half-enclose the dispenser 7, the vertically installed guide section 23 in
The, in the installation position, horizontally lying guide section 21 of the cable holder 19 grips around the opposite housing edge 28 with its angled free ends 27. At the free end 27 of the horizontal guide section 21 there is provided, as shown in
For lateral shielding of the cables 17, the two guide sections 21, 23 of the cable holder 19 have front delimiting walls 29. On each of the guide sections 21, 23, fastening clips 31 are additionally provided which fix the cables 17 to the floor 32 of the guide sections 21, 23 of the cable holder 19.
The horizontal guide section 21 of the cable holder 19 also has, as shown in
For installing the cable holder 19 on the dispenser 7, the cable holder's horizontal guide section 21 is first pushed onto the upper edge face 13 of the dispenser 7 in the horizontal assembly direction II as shown in
For ease of handling of the appliance door 1 mounted to the dishwasher as shown in
As already mentioned, the cable holder 19 is made by plastic injection molding. The cable holder 19 is produced in an injection molding chamber with folded-apart guide sections 21, 23 aligned lengthwise to one another, as shown in
Pre-assembly of the power supply cables 17 on the cable guiding element 19 as shown in
When pre-assembly is complete, the cable holder 19 with the cables 17 fitted can be moved via the living hinge 25 to a packaging position, as shown in
To make the packaging position secure, the snap-lock pin 37 of the guide section 23 that is vertical in the installation position engages in a corresponding snap-lock receptacle 45 provided in the floor 32 of the guide section 21 that is horizontal in the installation position. The snap-lock pin 37 therefore serves the dual function of laterally locking with the dispenser 7 in the installation position and locking with the guide section 21 in the packaging position.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102008016631.6 | Apr 2008 | DE | national |
This application is a Divisional, under 35 U.S.C. §121, of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/384,152, filed Mar. 31, 2009, which claims the priority, under 35 U.S.C. §119, of German patent application No. 10 2008 016 631.6 filed Apr. 1, 2008; the prior applications are herewith incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12384152 | Mar 2009 | US |
Child | 14270378 | US |