Patent Application
20190167064
Dishwashers are used in many single-family and multi-family residential applications to clean dishes, silverware, cutlery, cups, glasses, pots, pans, etc. (collectively referred to herein as “utensils”). Many dishwashers rely primarily on rotatable spray arms that are disposed at the bottom and/or top of a tub and/or are mounted to a rack that holds utensils. A spray arm is coupled to a source of wash fluid and includes multiple apertures for spraying wash fluid onto utensils, and generally rotates about a central hub such that each aperture follows a circular path throughout the rotation of the spray arm. The apertures may also be angled such that force of the wash fluid exiting the spray arm causes the spray arm to rotate about the central hub.
While traditional spray arm systems are simple and mostly effective, they have the short coming of that they must spread the wash fluid over all areas equally to achieve a satisfactory result. In doing so resources such as time, energy and water are generally wasted because wash fluid cannot be focused precisely where it is needed. In particular, it may be difficult for traditional spray arms to effectively spread wash fluid to the interior surfaces of some utensils, for example bottles, cups, and the like.
The herein-described embodiments address these and other problems associated with the art by providing a dishwasher utilizing one or more sprayer rings that are coupled to a fluid supply. In some aspects, a dishwasher described herein includes: a wash tub; one or more racks positioned within the wash tub, where the one or more racks further include one or more tines; one or more sprayer rings disposed proximate the one or more tines; and a fluid supply in fluid communication with the one or more sprayer rings and configured to supply a fluid to the one or more sprayer rings to spray the fluid onto utensils disposed within the wash tub.
In some embodiments, the one or more sprayer rings circumscribe the one or more tines. In other embodiments, the one or more sprayer rings include a plurality of tiered sprayer rings circumscribing a same tine among the one or more tines. In still other embodiments, the one or more sprayer rings are positioned under the one or more tines. In some embodiments, the one or more sprayer rings are positioned adjacent the one or more tines.
In some embodiments, the one or more sprayer rings are affixed to the one or more tines. In some embodiments, the one or more one or more sprayer rings are affixed to the one or more tines through one or more fasteners. In other embodiments, the one or more sprayer rings are affixed to the one or more tines though an adhesive. In still other embodiments, the one or more sprayer rings are affixed to the one or more tines through one or more attachment clips.
In some embodiments, each of the one or more sprayer rings includes at least one nozzle. In some embodiments, the at least one nozzle is vertically oriented. In other embodiments, the at least one nozzle is horizontally oriented.
In some embodiments, the dishwasher further includes a controller coupled to the fluid supply. In some embodiments, the controller is configured to control the fluid supply to selectively spray fluid through the one or more sprayer rings.
In some embodiments, the dishwasher further includes a dock and a docking port, where the docking port is positioned on a wall of the wash tub, and where the one or more sprayer rings are in fluid communication with the dock through a supply tube, where the supply tube and the dock are supported by a rack among the one or more racks, and where the dock engages with the docking port when the rack is in an operative position. In other embodiments, the dishwasher further includes a hose extending from a fluid supply to the one or more sprayer rings.
In another aspect, a dishwasher described herein includes: a wash tub; a docking port positioned on a wall of the wash tub; a supply tube, where the supply tube includes a first end and a second end; a dock coupled to the first end of the supply tube and capable of coupling the supply tube to the docking port; one or more sprayer rings in fluid communication with the second end of the fluid supply; and a fluid supply in fluid communication with the one or more sprayer rings through the docking port, the dock and the supply tube and configured to supply a fluid to the one or more sprayer rings to spray the fluid onto utensils disposed within the wash tub.
In another aspect, a dishwasher described herein includes: a wash tub; a supply tube; a sprayer ring, where the sprayer ring comprises a ring-shaped body and one or more nozzles, and where the sprayer ring is in fluid communication with the supply tube; and a fluid supply in fluid communication with the sprayer ring through the supply tube and configured to supply a fluid to sprayer ring to spray the fluid onto utensils disposed within the wash tub.
These and other advantages and features, which characterize the invention, are set forth in the claims annexed hereto and forming a further part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, and of the advantages and objectives attained through its use, reference should be made to the figures, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is described example embodiments of the invention. This summary is merely provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed description, and is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In some embodiments consistent with the invention, one or more sprayer rings may spray a fluid such as a wash liquid into a wash tub of a dishwasher during a wash cycle. A sprayer ring, in this regard, may be considered to include a main body, which in some instances may generally be circular, and has one or more apertures disposed on an exterior surface thereof and is in fluid communication with a fluid supply, e.g., through one or more internal passageways defined therein. Although the term “sprayer ring” is used throughout, this is not intended to be limited to a circular shape; the sprayer ring may be generally square or any number of other shapes. Furthermore, the sprayer ring may include one or more channels that at least partially circumscribe a void. In some embodiments, the main body of the sprayer ring forms a complete ring, and may have a single open channel that connects with itself. In other embodiments, the sprayer ring may include two channels that may be separated by a wall. In still other embodiments, the sprayer ring may include an opening that may not be fully circumscribed, for example the sprayer ring may be shaped like a “C”. In addition, the one or more apertures on the exterior surface of a sprayer ring may be arranged into nozzles in some embodiments, which may be fixed or movable (e.g., rotating, oscillating, etc.).
Turning now to the drawings, wherein like numbers denote like parts throughout the several views,
In addition, consistent with some embodiments of the invention, dishwasher 10 may include one or more sprayer rings 29 to direct a wash fluid onto utensils disposed in racks 18, 20. As will become more apparent below, sprayer rings 29 may be in fluid communication with a dock and docking port positioned on a wall of the wash tub 16 through one or more supply tubes 26. The sprayer rings may be positioned in a particular zone or area of the dishwasher (e.g. in the upper rack), and may be used in combination with one or more rotating spray arms, e.g., upper spray arm 28 or other sprayers, including various combinations of wall-mounted sprayers, rack-mounted sprayers, oscillating sprayers, fixed sprayers, rotating sprayers, focused sprayers, etc. However, this positioning is not intended to be limiting, and in some embodiments the sprayer rings may be positioned through the dishwasher with, or without, the use of additional sprayers.
The embodiments discussed hereinafter will focus on the implementation of the hereinafter-described techniques within a hinged-door dishwasher. However, it will be appreciated that the herein-described techniques may also be used in connection with other types of dishwashers in some embodiments. For example, the herein-described techniques may be used in commercial applications in some embodiments. Moreover, at least some of the herein-described techniques may be used in connection with other dishwasher configurations, including dishwashers utilizing sliding drawers or dish sink dishwashers, e.g., a dishwasher integrated into a sink.
Now turning to
As shown in
In some embodiments, pump 36 and air supply 38 collectively implement a fluid supply for dishwasher 100, providing both a source of wash fluid and pressurized air for use respectively during wash and drying operations of a wash cycle. A wash fluid may be considered to be a fluid, generally a liquid, incorporating at least water, and in some instances, additional components such as detergent, rinse aid, and other additives. During a rinse operation, for example, the wash fluid may include only water. A wash fluid may also include steam in some instances. Pressurized air is generally used in drying operations, and may or may not be heated and/or dehumidified prior to spraying into a wash tub. It will be appreciated, however, that pressurized air may not be used for drying purposes in some embodiments, so air supply 38 may be omitted in some instances. Moreover, in some instances, sprayer rings may be used solely for spraying wash fluid or spraying pressurized air, with other sprayers or spray arms used for other purposes.
Controller 30 may also be coupled to a dispenser 44 to trigger the dispensing of detergent and/or rinse agent into the wash tub at appropriate points during a wash cycle. Additional sensors and actuators may also be used in some embodiments, including a temperature sensor 46 to determine a wash fluid temperature, a door switch 48 to determine when door 12 is latched, and a door lock 50 to prevent the door from being opened during a wash cycle. Moreover, controller 30 may be coupled to a user interface 52 including various input/output devices such as knobs, dials, sliders, switches, buttons, lights, textual and/or graphics displays, touch screen displays, speakers, image capture devices, microphones, etc. for receiving input from and communicating with a user. In some embodiments, controller 30 may also be coupled to one or more network interfaces 54, e.g., for interfacing with external devices via wired and/or wireless networks such as Ethernet, Bluetooth, NFC, cellular and other suitable networks. Additional components may also be interfaced with controller 30, as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill having the benefit of the instant disclosure. For example, one or more sprayer ring (SR) valves 56 may be provided in some embodiments to discretely control the flow of fluid to one or more sprayer rings 29 disposed in dishwasher 10.
Moreover, in some embodiments, at least a portion of controller 30 may be implemented externally from a dishwasher, e.g., within a mobile device, a cloud computing environment, etc., such that at least a portion of the functionality described herein is implemented within the portion of the controller that is externally implemented. In some embodiments, controller 30 may operate under the control of an operating system and may execute or otherwise rely upon various computer software applications, components, programs, objects, modules, data structures, etc. In addition, controller 30 may also incorporate hardware logic to implement some or all of the functionality disclosed herein. Further, in some embodiments, the sequences of operations performed by controller 30 to implement the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented using program code including one or more instructions that are resident at various times in various memory and storage devices, and that, when read and executed by one or more hardware-based processors, perform the operations embodying desired functionality. Moreover, in some embodiments, such program code may be distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that the invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of computer readable media used to actually carry out the distribution, including, for example, non-transitory computer readable storage media. In addition, it will be appreciated that the various operations described herein may be combined, split, reordered, reversed, varied, omitted, parallelized and/or supplemented with other techniques known in the art, and therefore, the invention is not limited to the particular sequences of operations described herein.
Numerous variations and modifications to the dishwasher 10 illustrated in
Now turning to
The sprayer ring 100 may have a generally hollow interior, or at least include one or more internal fluid passages that are in fluid communication with the one or more apertures 1041-n extending through an exterior surface thereof. Each aperture 1041-n may function to direct a spray of fluid into the wash tub, and each aperture may be configured in various manners to provide various types of spray patterns, e.g., streams, fan sprays, concentrated sprays, etc. In some instances it may be desirable for apertures 1041-n to be configured as nozzles, for example fluidic nozzles that may provide oscillating spray patterns. In some embodiments, one or more of these apertures 1041-n may be horizontally oriented; while in other embodiments, one or more of these apertures 1041-n may be vertically oriented. As will be discussed in greater detail herein, in some embodiments, one or more sprayer rings may be positioned proximate, and/or connected to one or more tines of a dishwasher rack.
Now turning to
In some embodiments, such as Illustrated in
In some embodiments, such as illustrated in
In other embodiments, one or more sprayer rings may be positioned adjacent to one or more tines. As used herein adjacent may indicate the entirety of the main body of the sprayer ring is adjacent to the tine; or, as illustrated in
In still other embodiments, such as illustrated in
In the various embodiments described above, the one or more sprayer rings 1001-n may be affixed to the one or more tines 118 and or the dishwasher rack 116. In some embodiments, the one or more sprayer rings 1001-n may be affixed to the one or more tines through one or more fasteners. Fasteners may include, but are not limited to, screws, bolts, clamps, or the like. Fasteners may be constructed of any material suitable in the art, including various metals, plastics, or the like. In other embodiments, the one or more sprayer rings 1001-n may be affixed to the one or more tines 118 through one or more attachment clips, which may allow for the one or more sprayer rings 1001-n to “snap” or lock into place, for example onto or under a tine. Attachment clips may also be constructed of any material suitable in the art, including various metals, plastics, or the like. In still other embodiments, the one or more sprayer rings 1001-n may be affixed to the one or more tines 118 through use of an adhesive. Any type of adhesive known in the art may be used, including, but not limited to epoxies, polyurethane, or the like.
Now turning to
In some embodiments, the fluid supplied to the sprayer rings may be a liquid, a gas, or a combination of the two. For example, in some embodiments, the sprayer rings 1001-n may be used to dispense a liquid wash fluid to clean utensils; while in other embodiments, the sprayer rings may be used to dispense a gas (e.g. heated atmospheric air) in order to dry clean utensils. In some embodiments, liquid and gas may be supplied concurrently, while in some embodiments, liquid and gas may be supplied selectively (e.g., at different phases of a wash cycle). In still other embodiments, a sprayer ring may include two sets of nozzles fed by independent supply tubes in order to provide liquid and gas to the same sprayer ring out of different nozzles.
It will be appreciated that sprayer rings may be disposed at various locations within a dishwasher, including on or proximate dishwasher racks, one or proximate the walls of a wash tub, or in other locations that will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the instant disclosure. Moreover, multiple sprayer rings may be arranged in various configurations and may be placed in fluid communication with a fluid supply using various combinations of supply tubes, manifolds, valves, docking ports, etc. Sprayer rings may be used in some embodiments for primary or general washing operations, while in other embodiments sprayer rings may be used to provide specialized washing operations such as bottle or glass wash operations, pot scrubbing operations, specialized washing zones, etc. In one example and non-limiting embodiment, sprayer rings may be arranged in a linear array on an upper dishwasher rack to provide a specialized bottle or glass washing operation in a dishwasher.
Various additional modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiments consistent with the invention. Therefore, the invention lies in the claims hereinafter appended.
