The present invention falls within the field of automatic cloth washing machines, in particular vertical axis washing machines having a propeller as a means to transmit energy to the liquid or washing liquor and articles within the basket.
The vertical axis washing machines having a propeller have a peculiar construction. In said washing machines, a tub housing a basket is present, wherein in the bottom of the basket a propeller is disposed, which receives its impulse from a shaft which is mechanically coupled to a motor. The impeller task is transmitting energy to the washing liquor and to the articles within the basket. The task of the propeller is not only the transmission of energy to the washing liquor, but also creating a water current in vortex, that allows making that liquid currents pass through the deposited articles in the washing basket. This also causes the textiles or objects which are deposited for washing in the washing basket, to be dragged through the vortex, making the articles to be washed change position with regards to the washing basket, and making the articles emerge to the surface to later be sucked, repeating this phenomena during the whole washing stage.
This phenomena allows that when a determined object to wash is sucked, the vortex will direct this object towards the propeller. The scrubbers in the propeller will have direct contact with the object to wash, helping thus remove the filth in the objects to wash. On the other hand, the propeller in its lower part has a set of fins, which will function in a similar manner to the curved blades of a pump. The lower part of the propeller, along with the basket bottom forms a liquid pump, which generates a current that is directed through a water tower toward the upper part of the basket, in this manner, in the upper end of said water tower, a window is found, which allows washing liquor flow coming from the water tower to be sent to be deposited again to the inner part of the washing basket. In diverse occasions, this system is taken advantage of to trap lint generated in the washing process or diverse particles contained in the objects to wash, by means of a filter or mesh in a similar manner to a sock. This filter assembly may be removed to extract the lint or particles trapped therein.
Therefore, in view of the above, the need for more energetically efficient systems may be seen, that is, that with less energy the task of washing cloth is done, without mistreatment. Adding to this the simplification of the mechanical systems that require to provide speed and torque to the propeller; aspects that the present invention covers in a satisfactory manner, among others.
A vertical axis top load washing machine with propeller, comprises a cabinet, to which shock absorbers are hanged from which the tub is held. Within said tub, a rotational basket is placed in a concentrical manner which has in the center of its lower base a hole through which a shaft passes, which in its upper end is coupled to the propeller. The free end of the shaft is traditionally coupled to a gear box, typically a planetary box, and this, is mated to a pulley system or directly to an electric motor.
When the impeller by means of creating a vortex is agitating the objects immersed in the washing liquor contained in the wash tub, the need for a high torque is foreseeable, taking into account that the impeller has to overcome the wash liquor inertia held by the objects to be washed. This is the reason why most of the solutions found in the state of the art lead to having in its mechanical system, a gear box, privileging the torque and dismissing the propeller rotation speed, thus the propeller for these systems has to be of greater dimensions in its components, specifically bigger geometry and number of fins, as well as bigger geometry and number of scrubbers to ensure good performance. This engineering contradiction is not desirable, specifically higher propeller speed could cause better currents or speeds of the fluid particles, which allows a better vortex with higher turbulent currents. This leads to redefining the geometry of the propeller in such a manner that it allows us to operate with a low torque and a high rotation speed. On the other hand, the propellers in their lower part along with the basket bottom simulate the functioning of a liquid pump sending washing liquor current towards the intake or lower part of the water tower. These components should also be taken into account to reduce the necessary propeller torque, specifically to move certain water flow through the tower is necessary to determine the torque which in many cases is high. Thus considering the water tower as a waterway and the lower part of the propeller along with the basket bottom as a pump, a design was conceived that allows moving a determined flow through the water tower with a low torque and high propeller speed.
Therefore, a high efficiency system for washing cloth is obtained, which has a propeller designed to operate with a low torque, at a high speed, as well as with a tower with softened curves, smooth inner surfaces, with a minimal friction loss, along with efficient fins or curved blades placed in the lower face of the propeller (which allows removing the gear box). This allows that the mechanical system does not require a gear box to achieve the desired washing performance of the washer, coupled then directly to the driving shaft in one end the propeller, and the free end being coupled with a driven pulley, which at its time is moved by a belt which obtains its kinetic energy from a driving pulley coupled to an electric motor. This efficient system allows operating with less parts, reducing the production cost of the system, making it more dependent when having less parts that may fail, and thus energetically more efficient when not having to transmit and transform the energy through a long chain of mechanisms.
It is thus that the propeller 30 settled within the basket bottom 26 when rotated behaves as a liquid pump, given that in its lower face it has fins 31 which work as curved blades of a liquid centrifugal pump, which along with the basket bottom 26 generate a washing liquor current which is directed to the lower part of the water tower 16. The fins 31 lead the washing liquor to the upper part of the basket 14, wherein a window 28 allows the output of the washing liquor flow so that it returns to the rest of the washing liquor mass in the basket 14 in a similar manner to a fountain. It is in this window 28 in which a filter 15 may be disposed, which is made from a plastic textile in the manner of a mesh, commonly adopting the form of a sock. Thus when passing the washing liquor through the filter 15, this will trap the lint or large particles suspended in the washing liquor avoiding the re-disposition of lint or large particles over the objects to wash, thus assuring a good flow through the window 28 is important to be able to recollect the greatest quantity of suspended particles in the washing liquor.
As may be appreciated in
From Table I it may be perceived that the last two columns evaluate only subjective parameters, when granting a grade to the movement perception of the cloth as well as the liquor flow that emanates from the water tower 16. Therefore, according to the parameters used for the washing machine of the present invention, it is seen that the number of three or six scrubbers 32 functions satisfactory manner. Future evolutions showed that the number of scrubbers with the proposed geometry may oscillate between three to twelve scrubbers, taking into account that the greater number of scrubbers, the greater the required torque, as well as speed to generate the vortex diminishes, having also the inconvenience of having to evaluate the fin 31 dimensions disposed in the lower face of the propeller 30, in charge of generating water currents which will be led through the water tower 16. Said fins should be adequately dimensioned, since these also have repercussions over the torque and low speed which should operate the propeller 30. Thus, a high number of fins 31 causes using a high torque and low rpm's.
Thus
The propeller may also be provided by smaller propellers called mini-propellers 38. These are adapted over the cavities 39 as may be appreciated in
Such as is shown in
The mini-propellers may comprise hair or scrubbers that emulate the function of a soft brush, so as to scrub the textiles in the basket being washed. The scrubbers may be integrally formed as offsprings, in cylindrical or parabolic shapes or as a bullet having its tip rounded in all cases, to avoid that the textiles get stuck or are damaged with said scrubbers.
Having disclosed the invention with sufficient detail as well as the best manner to carry out the invention, it is found with a high grade of inventive activity as well as with sufficient novelty, and thus, a technician in the field may reproduce it, and could foresee improvements or variations of the present invention which should fall within the spirit of following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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MX/a/2009/002334 | Feb 2009 | MX | national |
This application is a Division of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/712,293 filed on Feb. 25, 2010 which in turn claims priority from Mexican Patent Application No. MX/a/2009/002334 filed on filed Feb. 27, 2009, each of which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12712293 | Feb 2010 | US |
Child | 14057162 | US |