Patent Application
20050011233
The present invention relates to an automatic clothes washer and more particularly to a vertical axis washer.
Automatic washers are known which have a direct drive system between the motor and the agitator and wash basket and these washers require a clutch mechanism so that the washer will be able to operate in an agitate mode wherein the agitator is oscillated while the basket is held stationary, and in a water extraction mode wherein the agitator and basket are spun together. Typically the agitation is performed at a relatively low speed, with high torque, and the spinning occurs at high speed with low torque.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,465, a clutch mechanism for an automatic washer is disclosed which permits oscillatory motion of the agitator and results in rotary motion of the wash basket upon about 360° rotation of the agitator. This mechanism is disclosed in connection with a planetary drive wherein a first tang is carried on a planet carrier connected directly to the agitator and a second tang is carried on a ring gear connected directly to the wash basket. Engagement of the two tangs occurs upon sufficient rotary motion of the agitator wherein the basket tang will be picked up by the agitator tang causing the basket to rotate with the agitator. The wash basket is connected, via a spin tube, to co-rotate with the gear housing and when the basket is rotated, it is only in the high speed, low torque mode.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,1 72,573 a clutch mechanism for an automatic washer is disclosed which includes a first clutch member drivingly connected to the motor and a second clutch member drivingly connected to the wash basket and selectively axially actuable for driving engagement with the first clutch member. In this manner, the high speed motor rotation is provided directly to the wash basket for high speed rotation of the wash basket.
Oscillatory agitation by an agitator provides too much flexing force on certain clothes loads that should be washed utilizing a delicate or hand wash method. While it is known to use variable speed motors to provide a less forceful agitation, such motors are typically more expensive than fixed speed motors.
It would therefore be an improvement in the art if there were provided an arrangement for effecting a slow speed and low impact agitation with a fixed speed motor.
The present invention provides an improvement in the art by providing a drive mechanism for an automatic washer which will effect a slow speed and low impact agitation via a slow speed rotation of the wash basket with a fixed speed motor.
In an embodiment of the invention, a drive mechanism is provided for a vertical axis automatic washer, the washer having a rotatable wash basket, a rotatable agitator concentrically mounted in the wash basket and a drive motor. A first drive shaft is connected to and driven by the motor at a first rotational speed and with a first torque. A second drive shaft is connected to the agitator to rotatingly drive the agitator. A gear mechanism is interposed between the first drive shaft and the second drive shaft to convert the first rotational speed and first torque to a second, lower rotational speed and a second, higher torque at the second drive shaft. A first clutch mechanism is arranged between the wash basket and the first drive shaft to allow for selective driving of the wash basket at the first, higher, rotational speed and a second clutch mechanism is arranged between the wash basket and the second drive shaft to allow for selective driving of the wash basket at the second, lower rotational speed.
The present invention provides a mechanism to rotate the wash basket in an automatic washer at a low speed, equivalent to a wash speed as opposed to a spin speed. This allows for the provision of various delicate wash programs for delicate clothes loads, as well as to build an internal centrifugal re-circulation (stain care program) in a low cost non-variable speed drive automatic washer.
In an embodiment, a planetary drive system may be provided incorporating a clutch system permitting oscillatory driving of the agitator or rotary driving of the basket at low speed and high torque.
In an embodiment of the invention, a clutch tang can be carried on the planetary gear support which is rotationally secured to the agitator shaft and which oscillates with the agitator.
A second clutch tang may be secured to the spin tube which directly connects to the wash basket.
In
A drive mechanism for a vertical axis automatic washer is shown schematically in
The mechanism 34 arranged between the first drive shaft 24 and the second drive shaft 30, in this embodiment, comprises a planetary gear system (shown also in
The first clutch 36 is arranged between the wash basket 16 and the first drive shaft 24 and, in the preferred embodiment illustrated, comprises a spline clutch such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,1 72,573, incorporated herein by reference. Other types of clutches could be utilized. In this spline clutch, a clutch slider 66 has clutch teeth which are selectively engageable with clutch teeth carried on the pulley 46 so that the drive from the pulley 36 is selectively transmitted directly to the gear housing 50 through a spline connection 68 between the clutch slider 66 and the gear housing 50. A specific arrangement for actuating this first clutch is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,573 and that disclosure is incorporated herein.
The second clutch 38, in the embodiment illustrated, includes a planetary clutch tang 70 extending upwardly from the planet carrier 58 and a downwardly extending spin tube clutch tang 72 which is secured to co-rotate with the spin tube 40. The two tangs are arranged vertically and radially to interfere with one another so that they are not permitted to rotate past each other but rather will engage each other upon a pre-determined relative rotation between the two tangs, not exceeding 360°. Other types of clutches could also be used for this second clutch 38.
In operation, the motor 20, which has a high speed output, drives the first drive shaft 24 with a relatively high rotational speed and relatively low torque. During the agitate mode, the first clutch 36 is disengaged so that there is no direct drive connection between the pulley 46 and the gear housing 50 and the brake band 64 is tightened to prevent rotation of the gear housing 50. The rotation of the first drive shaft 24 is transmitted through the sun gear 50 to the planet gears 54 which revolve around the sun gear 60 due to the stationary ring gear 52 carried in the gear housing and thus the planet carrier 58 rotates at a much slower speed, but with higher torque than the first drive shaft 24. The second drive shaft 30 is connected to co-rotate with the planet carrier 58 so it rotates at a lower speed and with higher torque than the first drive shaft 24. In the agitate mode, the motor 20 is operated in a reversing manner such that the second drive shaft is rotated in a first direction and then in a second direction without making a full 360° rotation in either direction. Typically the angle of rotation is between 170-240° but may be as much as 300° . The planetary clutch tang 70 therefore is carried through an arc of less than 360° and typically does not repeatedly come into contact with the spin tube clutch tang 72 and therefore the spin tube clutch tang, spin tube 40 and basket 16 remain stationary.
To effect a low impact agitation, the motor 20 is controlled to provide continuous one-way rotation while the first clutch is controlled to hold the gear housing 50 disengaged from the pulley 46 and with the brake band 64 applied to prevent rotation of the gear housing. Once the second drive shaft 30 approaches and completes a full 360° rotation, the planetary clutch tang 70 will pick up the spin tube clutch tang 72 and carry it along, thereby causing the wash basket 16 to co-rotate with the agitator 18 and thus providing a swirling movement of the water within the wash basket. In this construction, the spin tube 40 is not connected to the gear housing 50, and therefore, is free to rotate relative thereto. If desired, this swirling action can be periodically reversed, preferably after at least several rotations of the wash basket in each direction.
To effect a high speed spin of the wash basket, the first clutch 36 is operated to engage the interconnection between the pulley 46 and the gear housing 50 through the clutch slider 66. When this occurs, the ring gears 52, the sun gear 60 and the planet carrier 58 all rotate together at the same rotational speed as the first drive shaft 2 and, within an approximate 360° rotation of the planet carrier 58, the planetary clutch tang 70 will pick up the spin tube clutch tang 72 thereby causing the basket to spin at a high rate of speed equal to the speed of rotation of the first drive shaft 24.
As is apparent from the foregoing specification, the invention is susceptible of being embodied with various alterations and modifications which may differ particularly from those that have been described in the preceding specification and description. It should be understood that we wish to embody within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all such modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of our contribution to the art.
