DIVERTER FOR A DISHWASHER AND DISHWASHER COMPRISING SUCH DIVERTER

Abstract

The present invention relates to a diverter for a dishwasher comprising a tub, at least one rack placeable in the tub and aimed to accommodate dishes and kitchenware to be cleaned, and at least one rotating spray arm associated to the at least one rack for spraying a plurality of washing/rinsing liquid jets towards the rack. The diverter comprises a deflecting body having a deflecting surface designed to deviate a liquid jet that impinges on it, thus changing its path. The present invention also relates to a dishwasher comprising one or more diverters as above specified.

Description

The present invention relates to a diverter for a dishwasher, in particular a domestic dishwasher, aimed to deviate the path of a washing/rinsing liquid jet and a dishwasher comprising one or more of such diverters. The present invention more particularly relates to a diverter and a dishwasher aimed to ensure an improved distribution of the washing/rinsing liquid inside the tub.

Domestic dishwashers generally comprise a tub, an upper pull-out rack and a lower pull-out rack arranged in the tub and aimed to support the dishes and kitchenware to be washed and an upper rotating spray arm and a lower rotating spray arm which are associated with the upper pull-out rack and the lower pull-out rack respectively.

The upper and the lower racks have generally a square or rectangular base, in order to exploit at best the volume of the tub and to accommodate as much dishes and kitchenware as possible. As a consequence, only a central portion of the base of each of the racks is directly facing the correspondent spray arm during its rotation, as schematically illustrated in FIG. 1, so that the dishes and kitchenware placed on the corner zones of each rack are not reached by a direct jet of washing/rinsing liquid sprayed by the correspondent spray arm and they cannot be cleaned in a satisfactory manner.

In order to solve the above mentioned problem, it is known in the state of the art to provide the spray arms with extremity nozzles outwardly oriented, aimed to spray washing liquid jets toward the corner zones of the racks during the rotation of the spray arm.

The main drawback of this technical solution resides on the fact that, during part of the rotation of the spray arm, the jets sprayed by such nozzles hit the walls and the door of the dishwasher delimiting the tub, causing the formation of undesired noise and not serving for washing the dishes and kitchenware accommodated in the rack.

Another technical solution proposed to solve the above mentioned problem consists in providing the dishwasher with fix nozzles, not movable with respect to a correspondent rack, connected to the hydraulic conduit bringing the washing/rinsing liquid to the spray arm and specifically aimed to spray washing liquid jets toward the corners of the racks.

A dishwasher, comprising such fix nozzles, is for instance described in the patent application n. US 2009/159103A1.

The main drawback of such dishwasher resides on its constructional complexity and, hence, on its higher production costs with respect to the dishwasher simply provided with the rotating spray arms.

A further technical solution is described in the European patent application n. EP 2786691 A2 where a dishwasher is disclosed, which comprises a movable diverter, slidably mounted on guiding members attached to the bottom of the tub, and dedicated fix nozzles aimed to emit washing liquid jets impinging the movable diverter to be deviated toward the rack. Also this dishwasher is however constructionally complex and it requires high production costs.

An objective of the present invention is to provide a diverter for a dishwasher and a dishwasher which overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art in a cost effective way and which enables an improved cleanliness also of the dishes and kitchenware placed on the corner zones of the racks and hence improved cleaning performances of the dishwasher.

This objective has been achieved by the diverter as defined in claim 1, and by the dishwasher as defined in claim 6. Further achievements have been attained by the subject-matters respectively defined in the dependent claims.

The diverter for a dishwasher of the present invention comprises a deflecting body and a connection leg having a first end connected to the deflecting body and a second end aimed to be connected to a rack of a dishwasher, so that the deflecting body of the diverter can be hit by a washing/rinsing liquid jet emitted by the spray arm of the dishwasher and it can deflect such jet toward a selected zone of the tub. Therefore, according to the present invention, for each of the zones into the tub of the dishwasher that could be hardly reached by a direct jet of washing/rinsing liquid emitted by the spray arm, one or more diverter can be provided, which are suitable to be attached to the rack and to be arranged conveniently for their deflecting body to redirect a jet emitted by the spray arm toward the selected zone of the tub.

In an embodiment the deflecting body of the diverter has an oblong shape with a cross section having at least a curved side defining a deflecting surface along the whole extension of the deflecting body, which deflecting surface is aimed to be hit by the liquid jet and to deviate it.

In a version of this embodiment, the deflecting body is slightly curved along its axis of preferred extension so as to better approximate the circumference defined by the liquid jet sprayed by the spray arm during its roattaion.

In an embodiment the deflecting surface is concave, while in an alternative embodiment the deflecting surface is convex.

The dishwasher according to the invention comprises one or more diverters as above specified suitable to be attached to one of the racks of the dishwasher.

In an embodiment, the base and/or at least one of the walls of the rack of the dishwasher comprises at least a wire element and the diverter, or diverters, is connected to the wire element, either on the base or on one or more of the walls or on both of them.

In a preferred embodiment, one or more of the diverters are connected to the base of the rack extending toward the spray arm, so that they are easily reached by the selected liquid jets emitted by the latter.

In particular, in a further embodiment, the rack has a quadrangular base and the dishwasher comprises at least four diverters connected to the rack, and preferably to its base, so that the deflecting surface of each of them is hittable by a liquid jet emitted by the spray arm and it deviates such liquid jet toward one of the four corner zones of the rack.

In an embodiment, the diverters are connected to the base of the rack and arranged so that the deflecting surface of each of them is hittable by one or more liquid jet emitted by the spray arm substantially perpendicular to the base of the rack and it deviates such liquid jet of an angle α comprised between 100° and 150°.

In an embodiment, the diverter, or the diverters, is fixed to the rack.

In an alternative embodiment, the diverter, or the diverters, is removably connectable to the rack.

In a version of this embodiment, the second end of the connection leg of the diverter comprises attaching means for removably connecting the diverter to the wire element of the rack and the wire element and the attaching means are provided with anti-rotation elements aimed to cooperate in order to prevent the rotation of the diverter with respect to the wire element.

In a further version of the above mentioned embodiment, the rack comprises marking means for indicating the position on the rack where the diverter, or the diverters, has to be attached to the rack.

In an embodiment, the dishwasher comprises a detergent box arranged in the tub and one or more diverters connected to the rack so that the deflecting surface of each of them is hittable by a liquid jet emitted by the spray arm and it deviates such liquid jet toward the detergent box.

Additional advantages of the diverter and of the dishwasher of the present invention will become apparent with the detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1—is a plan view of a rack of a dishwasher and of a spray arm associated to this rack with superposed the circumference drawn by the end nozzles of the spray arm upon rotation of the spray arm.

FIG. 2—is a plan view of a rack of a dishwasher with four diverters according to the present invention attached to it and of a spray arm associated to this rack.

FIG. 3—is a side view of the rack of FIG. 2, with the diverters attached to it and the spray arm associated to it.

FIG. 4—is an enlarged perspective view of a particular of the rack of FIG. 2, with a diverter attached to it, and of a portion of the spray arm associated to it.

FIG. 5—is a perspective view of a diverter according to the invention attached to a portion of a rack.

FIG. 6—is a different perspective view of a diverter according to the invention attached to a portion of a rack.

FIG. 7—is an enlarged view of a detail of the diverter attached to a portion of a rack of FIG. 6.

The reference signs appearing on the drawings relate to the following technical features.

1. Diverter

2. Rack

3. Spray arm

4. Deflecting body

5. Deflecting surface

6. Connection leg

7. First end

8. Second end

9. Corner zone

10. Nozzle

11. Base

12. Walls

13. Wire element

14. Attaching means

15. Anti-rotation elements

16. Marking means

The diverter 1 is suitable for use in a dishwasher comprising a tub (not illustrated), one or more racks 2 placeable in the tub and aimed to accommodate dishes and kitchenware to be cleaned, and one or more rotating spray arm 3 each associated to a rack 2 for spraying a plurality of washing/rinsing liquid jets J (one of which is schematically indicated by an arrow in FIG. 4) towards the rack 2.

The diverter 1 comprises a deflecting body 4 having a deflecting surface 5 designed to deflect a liquid jet that impinges on it, thus changing its path. Advantageously the deflecting surface 5 can be a curved surface as illustrated in the attached figures.

According to the invention, the diverter 1 further comprises a connection leg 6 having a first end 7 connected, and in particular preferably fixed, to the deflecting body 4 and a second end 8 aimed to be connected to a rack 2 of the dishwasher. According to the embodiment illustrated in the attached FIGS. 3-7, the diverter 1 comprises only one connection leg 6, but it could comprise two or more connection legs 6 without departing from the scope of the present invention.

The diverter 1 according to the invention is suitable to be connected to a rack 2 of a dishwasher in order to be hit by a washing/rinsing liquid jet J emitted by the spray arm 3 of the dishwasher and to deflect such jet J toward a selected zone of the tub, that otherwise would not be directly impinged by one of the liquid jets emitted by the spray arm 3.

Therefore the diverter 1, when used in a dishwasher, allows to direct part of the washing/rinsing liquid sprayed by the spray arm 3 toward a critical zone of the tub, such as for instance one of the corner zones 9 of a quadrangular rack 2 that do not face directly the spray arm 3 during its rotation as illustrated in FIG. 1, without however entailing the deflection of one or more of the liquid jets J emitted by the spray arm 3 for the whole rotation of the spray arm 3.

More in detail, in one embodiment illustrated in the attached figures, the diverter 1 is aimed to be connected to a rack 2 of a dishwasher comprising a spray arm 3 having a plurality of nozzles 10 for deviating the liquid jet J emitted by one or more selected nozzles 10 of the spray arm 3 when, upon rotation of the spray arm 3, the liquid jet J emitted by this nozzle impinges the diverter 1. In the embodiment illustrated in the attached FIGS. 2-4, in particular, each of the diverter 1 connected to the rack 2 is aimed to be hit by the liquid jet J emitted by each of the end nozzles 10 of the spray arm 3 to deflect it outwardly toward the corner zones 9 of the rack 2.

The use of one or more diverters 1 according to the invention in a dishwasher allows therefore to efficiently exploit the washing/rinsing liquid emitted by the spray arm 3 without wasting it for part of the rotation of the arm 3 and at the same time it allows to ensure an efficient cleaning of the dishes and tableware placed in critical zones of the rack 2 such as the corner zones 9. Moreover, due to the fact that the liquid jets J emitted by the spray arm 3 are directed toward the rack 2 for the whole rotation of the spray arm 3, and simply deviated by the diverters 1 just in correspondence of the latters, the formation of unpleasant noise during the functioning of the dishwasher due to the liquid jets hitting the wall and the door of the dishwasher is avoided.

According to an embodiment, the deflecting body 4 has an oblong shape, extending substantially parallel to an axis X, with a cross section having at least a curved side defining the deflecting surface 5 along the whole extension of the deflecting body 4.

The diverter 1 is in particular aimed to be connected to the rack 2 arranged such that its axis X of preferred extension is tangential to the circumference drawn by the liquid jet J emitted by the selected nozzle or nozzles 10 of the spray arm 3.

In a further embodiment, illustrated in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, the deflecting body 4 has a slightly curved shaped, being curved along the axis X in order to better fits the circumference drawn by the liquid jet J emitted by the preselected nozzle or nozzles 10 of the spray arm 3 associated to the rack 2 to which the diverter 1 is aimed to be connected.

In an embodiment, the deflecting surface 5 of the deflecting body 4 is concave, as for instance illustrated in the attached figures.

In a different embodiment, the deflecting surface 5 of the deflecting body 4 is convex.

It is an object of the present invention also a dishwasher (not illustrated) comprising, as above specified, a tub, one or more racks 2 placeable in the tub, each of which racks 2 having a base 11 and walls 12 extending substantially perpendicular from the base 11, and aimed to accommodate dishes and kitchenware to be cleaned, and one or more rotating spray arm 3 each associated to a rack 2 for spraying a washing/rinsing liquid towards the rack 2, and comprising one or more diverters 1 as above described.

According to an embodiment illustrated in the attached figures, the base 11 and/or at least one of the walls 12 of the rack 2 comprises one or more wire elements 13 and the diverter or the diverters 1 are connected to one or more of such wire elements 13.

More in detail, in a further embodiment the rack 2 comprises several wire elements 13 welded together and advantageously covered with a rubber or plastic coating which define together the base 11 and the walls 12 of the rack 2 and each of the diverters 1 is connected to one or more selected wire elements 13 either of the base 11 or of the walls 12. Each of the diverters 1 can in fact in this case be easily attached to the rack 2.

In a preferred embodiment illustrated in the attached FIGS. 2-4, the diverter 1 (or the diverters 1) is connected to the base 11 of the rack 2, in particular projecting downwardly toward the exterior of the rack 2, i.e. toward the spray arm 3. The diverter 1 such attached to the rack 2, in fact, does not hinder the arrangement of the dishes and tableware on the rack 2 and it is directly reached by the liquid jets J of the selected nozzles 10, so that such jets J can be redirected by the diverter 1 in the preselected zone of the tub.

According to an embodiment, the rack 2 bearing attached the diverters 1 has a quadrangular base 11 and the dishwasher comprises four or more diverters 1 connected to the rack 2 such that the deflecting surface 5 of each of them is hittable by a liquid jet J emitted by the spray arm 3 and it is arranged to deviate such liquid jet J toward one of the four corner zones 9 of the rack 2, as illustrated in FIG. 2. More in detail, the four or more diverters 1 are connected to the rack 2 in correspondence of the circumference drawn by the liquid jets J to be deflected emitted by the selected nozzles 10 of the spray arm 3, such as for instance the end nozzles 10.

In a version of this embodiment, each of the diverters 1 is connected to the base 11 of the rack 2, in particular projecting downwardly of the base 11 toward the spray arm 3, and arranged so that its deflecting surface 5 is hittable by a liquid jet J emitted by the spray arm 3 substantially perpendicular to the base 11 of the rack 2 in order to deviate such liquid jet J of an angle α comprised between 100° and 150°, as illustrated in FIG. 4. This allows to redirect the selected liquid jets J toward the dishes and tableware accommodated on the corner zones 9 of the rack 2.

In an embodiment, the diverter (or diverters) 1 is fixed to the rack 2. For instance each of the diverters 1 can be welded to the rack 2 and in particular to one of the wire element 13 of the rack 2.

In an alternative embodiment, the diverter (or diverters) 1 is removably connectable to the rack 2. In this case the user can remove the diverters 1 whenever desired.

According to a version of this last embodiment, the second end 8 of the connection leg 6 of the diverter 1 comprises attaching means 14 for connecting the diverter 1 to the rack 2.

In particular, when the base 11 and/or at least one of the walls 12 of the rack 2 comprises one or more wire elements 13, the second end 8 of the connection leg 6 of the diverter 1 comprises attaching means 14 for connecting the diverter 1 to the wire element 13 and the wire element 13 and the attaching means 14 are provided with anti-rotation elements 15 aimed to cooperate in order to prevent the rotation of the diverter 1 with respect to the wire element 13. The attaching means 14 can be defined for instance by semi-flexible arms which can be elastically deformed to enclose a portion of the wire element 13, snapping into place on it, as illustrated in the attached FIGS. 4-7. The anti-rotation elements 15 can be defined for instance by the shape of the cross section of the wire element 13 and of the attaching means 14. Differently, the anti-rotation elements 15 can be defined for instance by indentations and protrusions provided on the attaching means 14 and on the portion of the wire element 13 aimed to receive the attaching means 14, as illustrated for instance in FIGS. 6 and 7, which indentations and protrusions are mutually engaged thus hindering the rotation of the diverter 1 with respect to the wire element 13. This ensures that the diverter 1 remains in the correct position and maintains its correct orientation also when it is hit by a pressurized liquid jet J, thus continuing to redirect such liquid jet J toward the desired zone of the tub.

According to a further embodiment, the rack 2 comprises marking means 16 for indicating the position on the rack 2 where the diverter or the diverters 1 has to be attached to the rack 2. The marking means 16 can be defined by the same anti-rotation elements 15. The marking means 16 can be also differently defined, as for instance by a portion of the wire element 13 or of the rack 2 of a different color with respect to the remaining part of the wire element 13 or of the rack 2. This allows the user to easily understand where exactly on the rack 2 the diverter or diverters 1 should be attached.

In another embodiment, the dishwasher comprises a detergent box arranged in the tub, like for instance attached to one of the internal walls of the dishwasher delimiting the tub or attached to the door that closes the opening to the tub through which the user can remove and reinsert the racks 2 from/into the tub, for removing the cleaned dishes and tableware or to place the dirty ones on the racks 2. According to this embodiment, the dishwasher further comprises one or more diverters 1, and preferably one diverter 1, connected to the rack 2 so that its deflecting surface 5 is hittable by a liquid jet J emitted by the spray arm 3, and in particular by the selected nozzle/nozzles 10 of the spray arm 3, for deviating it toward the detergent box. This allows to properly extract all the detergent introduced by the user in the detergent box and to rinse the detergent box after the removal of the detergent from it, thus ensuring that all the detergent provided by the user is actually mixed with the water circulating through the tub and avoiding that residual detergent could remain in the box.

With the present invention, the dishwasher has been enabled to properly clean all the dishes and tableware placed on its racks 2, also on the zones of the racks that are not directly facing the spray arm during its rotation, in a simple and cost effective manner, while allowing an efficient exploitation of the washing/rinsing liquid distributed by the spray arm 3.

Claims

1. A diverter for a dishwasher comprising a tub, at least one rack placeable in the tub and aimed to accommodate dishes and kitchenware to be cleaned, and at least one rotating spray arm associated to the at least one rack for spraying a plurality of washing/rinsing liquid jets towards the rack, the diverter comprising a deflecting body having a deflecting surface designed to deviate a liquid jet that impinges on it, thus changing its path, characterized in that the diverter further comprises a connection leg having a first end connected to the deflecting body and a second end aimed to be connected to a rack of the dishwasher;the diverter being suitable to be connected to a rack of the dishwasher in order to be hit by a washing/rinsing liquid jet emitted by the spray arm of the dishwasher and to deflect such jet toward a selected zone of the tub.

2. The diverter according to claim 1, characterized in that the deflecting body has an oblong shape, extending substantially parallel to an axis X, with a cross section having at least a curved side defining the deflecting surface along the whole extension of the deflecting body.

3. The diverter according to claim 2, characterized in that the deflecting body is curved along the axis X.

4. The diverter according to claim 1, characterized in that the deflecting surface is concave.

5. The diverter according to claim 1, characterized in that the deflecting surface is convex.

6. A dishwasher comprising a tub, at least one rack placeable in the tub, having a base and walls extending substantially perpendicular from the base, and aimed to accommodate dishes and kitchenware to be cleaned, and at least one rotating spray arm associated to the at least one rack for spraying a washing/rinsing liquid towards the rack, characterized in that it further comprises at least one diverter according to claim 1.

7. The dishwasher according to claim 6, characterized in that the base and/or at least one of the walls of the rack comprises at least a wire element and the at least one diverter is connected to the at least a wire element.

8. The dishwasher according to claim 6, characterized in that the at least one diverter is connected to the base of the rack.

9. The dishwasher according to claim 6, characterized in that the at least one rack has a quadrangular base and the dishwasher comprises at least four diverters connected to the rack so that the deflecting surface of each of them is hittable by a liquid jet emitted by the spray arm for deviating it toward one of the four corner zones of the rack.

10. The dishwasher according to claim 8, characterized in that each of the diverters is connected to the base of the rack and arranged so that its deflecting surface is hittable by a liquid jet emitted by the spray arm substantially perpendicular to the base of the rack in order to deviate such liquid jet of an angle α comprised between 100° and 150°.

11. The dishwasher according to claim 6, characterized in that the at least one diverter is fixed to the rack.

12. The dishwasher according to claim 6, characterized in that the at least one diverter is removably connectable to the rack.

13. The diverter according to claim 7, characterized in that the second end of the connection leg of the diverter comprises attaching means for removably connecting the diverter to the wire element of the rack and the wire element and the attaching means are provided with anti-rotation elements aimed to cooperate in order to prevent the rotation of the diverter with respect to the wire element.

14. The dishwasher according to claim 12, characterized in that the rack comprises marking means for indicating the position on the rack where the at least one diverter has to be attached to the rack.

15. The dishwasher according to claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a detergent box arranged in the tub and at least one diverter connected to the rack so that its deflecting surface is hittable by a liquid jet emitted by the spray arm for deviating it toward the detergent box.