Patent Application
20250179715
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0172687, filed on Dec. 1, 2023, which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
The present disclosure relates to a laundry treatment apparatus and a method of controlling the same. More particularly, it relates to a laundry treatment apparatus capable of performing a refresh cycle including sanitization, wrinkle removal, deodorization, and drying of laundry by supplying steam and hot air to the laundry, and a method of controlling the same.
Frequent washing of laundry with water and detergent may damage and deform the laundry. To address this issue, a laundry treatment apparatus has emerged that can perform a process of spraying steam onto the laundry that is not soaked in water and evaporating the steam with high-temperature air to remove wrinkles or odors from the laundry, or to rearrange the fabrics of the laundry, which is called a refresh cycle (See Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2021-0144451).
Such a laundry treatment apparatus may be referred to as a laundry management machine. Such a laundry treatment apparatus may be configured to supply at least one of hot air and steam to the laundry that remains hung without being folded or rolled.
There is a conventional laundry treatment apparatus capable of vibrating the suspended laundry to more actively expose the surface of the laundry to the steam/hot air and to remove dirt and debris from the laundry (Korean Patent No. 10-1285890)
Recently, a laundry treatment apparatus with a steam iron that can be pulled out to the suspended laundry to directly apply heat to the surface of the laundry or to press the laundry has been introduced. Accordingly, a user can place the laundry inside the laundry treatment apparatus and then manage the laundry using the refresh cycle, or can place the laundry inside the laundry treatment apparatus or on a door or wall and then take out the steam iron to supply steam and heat directly to the laundry to remove wrinkles from the laundry.
Since the steam iron is accommodated in the internal machine room of the laundry treatment apparatus, the user is required to open the door that shields the machine room in the laundry treatment apparatus in order to use the steam iron.
In the case where the steam iron does not a separate indicator, the indicator to indicate the status information about the steam iron is generally disposed on the door. As a result, a user who uses the steam iron with the door open cannot check the status information about the steam iron while controlling the steam iron.
Also, in the case where a separate indicator is disposed on the steam iron, there is a risk that the heat and steam generated by the steam iron will damage the indicator, and the steam iron may become unnecessarily large.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a laundry treatment apparatus including an indicator allowing status information about a steam iron to be checked on the outside when laundry is placed and the steam iron provided in the laundry treatment apparatus to supply hot air and steam is used.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a laundry treatment apparatus allowing a user positioned at the rear of a door to check the indicator even when the indicator is disposed on the front surface of the door.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a laundry treatment apparatus capable of communicating with a user by arranging a separate indicator on a front portion of the laundry treatment apparatus that is exposed when the door is opened.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the disclosure. The objectives and other advantages of the disclosure may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the disclosure, as embodied and broadly described herein, a laundry treatment apparatus may include a cabinet, a door rotatably coupled to the cabinet, an inner case disposed inside the cabinet to provide an accommodation space for laundry, the inner case being opened by the door, a circulation duct disposed under the inner case to provide a flow path for circulation of air inside the inner case, a heat supply part configured to heat the air flowing along the circulation duct, an ironing module including a steam iron disposed on one side of the circulation duct, the steam iron being arranged to be pulled out toward the laundry, and a screen part coupled to the door to display at least one of a power supply status or an operation status of the heat supply part and the ironing module.
The screen part may be exposable on a rear surface of the door.
The screen part is coupled to one side of the door and arranged to be withdrawn to an outside of the door.
The screen part may be configured to display at least one of the power supply status or the operation status on opposite sides.
The screen part may be rotatably coupled to one side of the door and exposed to an outside of the door.
A direction of rotation of the door from the cabinet may be different from a direction of rotation of the screen part from the door.
The laundry treatment apparatus may further include a light emitter disposed at an upper end of the cabinet or the inner case to indicate a status of the iron module.
The light emitter may be shieldable by the door.
The laundry treatment apparatus may further include a water supply container removably disposed in front of the circulation duct to store water to be supplied to the ironing module, wherein the light emitter may be configured to indicate a water shortage status of the water supply container.
The laundry treatment apparatus may further include a drainage container removably disposed in front of the circulation duct to drain water collected from the iron module, wherein the light emitter may be configured to indicate a water fill status of the drainage container. The light emitter may be configured to indicate an inoperative state of the iron module.
The light emitter may include a plurality of light bulbs or light emitting diodes (LEDs), wherein the light emitter may be configured to indicate different information based on a bulb or LED tuned on among the bulbs or LEDs or a number of bulbs or LEDs turned on among the bulbs or LEDs.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present disclosure are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the disclosure as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the disclosure. In the drawings:
Hereinafter, embodiments disclosed herein will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present disclosure, the same or similar reference numerals are assigned to the same or similar elements in different embodiments, and each of them will be described only once. As used herein, the singular forms include plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In addition, in describing the embodiments disclosed herein, when it is determined that the detailed description of the related known technology may obscure the gist of the embodiments, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. In addition, it should be noted that the accompanying drawings are merely intended to provide a further understanding of the embodiments disclosed in the present disclosure and are not to be construed as limiting the technical ideas disclosed herein.
The laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure may include a cabinet 100 defining the exterior, and a door 120 rotatably coupled to the cabinet 100.
The door 120 may include a main body 121 defining a front surface of the cabinet 100, and a mounting body 122 extending from one side of the main body 121 to allow a display to be mounted thereon to display information about the laundry treatment apparatus.
The height of the cabinet 100 may be greater than the side-to-side width and front-to-back depth of the cabinet 100. Thus, the laundry treatment apparatus may allow even long clothing to be placed inside the cabinet 100 without being folded.
The mounting body 122 extending from the main body 121 may form a step rearward with respect to the cabinet 100.
The mounting body 122 may be formed of a different material or a different color than the main body 121.
A handle 123 may be provided in an area where the mounting body 122 and the main body 121 form the step.
The handle 123 may extend from one surface of the main body 121 in parallel with the main body 121 toward the front of the mounting body 122. As a result, the handle 123 may be arranged to at least partially overlap the mounting body 122 in a front-to-back direction, and may form a gripping space for a user.
The cabinet 100 and the door 120 may be formed of a metal material.
The laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure may further include a screen part 140 configured to display status information about the laundry treatment apparatus to the outside.
The screen part 140 may be mounted on a front surface of the door 120 to display the status information on the front side of the door 120.
The screen part 140 may be configured to display power information indicating whether power is supplied to the laundry treatment apparatus, cycle information indicating a state in which the laundry treatment apparatus performs a refresh cycle for the laundry with either hot air or steam, and course information indicating details related to any course in which the laundry treatment apparatus treats the laundry.
Furthermore, the screen part 140 may be configured to display error information indicating whether the laundry treatment apparatus has an error in operation, inspection information indicating that the water supply or drainage of the laundry treatment apparatus is being checked, and guide information conveying details communicated from the server or the laundry treatment apparatus to be shown to the user.
Furthermore, when the laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure is equipped with an ironing module having a steam iron that delivers at least one of steam and heat to the surface of the laundry, the screen part 140 may be configured to display ironing information related to a series of pieces of information such as power supply status, operation status, steam supply status, and notifications of the steam iron or ironing module. Thus, a display device having a separate screen or the like on the steam iron may be omitted or downsized.
The screen part 140 may be provided with a liquid crystal display or the like capable of visually displaying one or more of the aforementioned pieces of information to a user.
The screen part 140 may be disposed close to one of the two side surfaces of the door 120.
For example, in the case where one side of the door 120 is rotatably coupled to the cabinet, the screen part 140 may be disposed on the opposite side of the door 120. The screen part 140 may be disposed on the mounting body 122.
The door 120 may include a support portion 127 in which the screen part 140 is accommodated and secured.
The support portion 127 may be formed in a case shape on the front surface of the door 120 to form an accommodation groove corresponding to the area of the screen part 140.
The depth at which the support portion 127 is recessed in the front surface of the door 120 may correspond to a thickness of the screen part 140. Thereby, the screen part 140 may be seated on the door 120 with the surface thereof arranged in line with the surface of the door 120.
The cabinet 100 may be provided therein with an inner case 200 having an accommodation space 220 to accommodate laundry and defining an opening 210 at the front to allow laundry to be introduced through the opening 210.
The inner case 200 may have a cuboidal shape with an opening at the front, and the height thereof may be less than the height of the cabinet 100. Thus, an area in which a machine room 300, which will be described later, may be installed may be secured in the lower portion of the cabinet 100.
The inner case 200 may have a height greater than its width and depth. Thus, it may allow laundry to be placed inside the accommodation space 220 without the need to fold or wrinkle the laundry.
The inner case 200 may be formed of a plastic resin. It may be formed of a reinforced plastic material that does not deform when exposed to temperatures higher than room temperature, or to heated air (hereinafter, hot air), steam, or moisture.
An upper portion of the inner surface of the inner case 200 may include a holder arranged to hold the laundry in place within the accommodation space 220. The holder may be in the shape of a coat hanger and be fixed to the upper surface of the inner case 200. It may keep the laundry suspended in an unfolded state inside the accommodation space 220.
Multiple holders may be arranged along the width of the inner case 200, allowing several items of laundry to be placed inside the inner case 200, spaced apart from one another.
The holders may be configured as moving hangers that reciprocates or rotates back and forth in the width direction of the inner case 200. The laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure may shake the laundry inside the inner case due to the holders, helping to remove dirt and dust, as well as wrinkles from the laundry while the laundry is suspended in the accommodation space 220.
The laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure may include a machine room 300, where various devices capable of supplying high-temperature air or heated air (hereinafter referred to as hot air) to the accommodation space 220, supplying steam to the accommodation space 220 once or more, or purifying or dehumidifying external air in the cabinet 100.
The machine room 300 may be disposed separately or compartmentalized from the inner case 200, but it may be connected to the accommodation space 220.
The machine room 300 may be disposed under the inner case 200. As a result, when hot air and steam, which have a low specific gravity, are introduced into the inner case 200, they naturally rise within the accommodation space 220 and is distributed to the laundry placed inside.
The inner case 200 may be compartmentalized and separated from the machine room 300 by a bottom surface 230. However, the bottom surface 230 may be provided with multiple through-holes communicating with the machine room 300.
To this end, the inner case 200 may be provided with multiple through-holes 230 formed through one surface thereof to communicate with the machine room 300.
Through the through-holes 230, air from the accommodation space 220 may be supplied to the machine room 300, and at least one of hot air or steam generated in the machine room 300 may be supplied to the accommodation space 220.
The through-holes 230 may include an inlet hole 232 through which air inside the inner case 200 is discharged or sucked into the machine room 300, and an outlet hole 231 through which hot air generated in the machine room 300 is discharged through the bottom surface of the inner case 200.
The outlet hole 231 may be disposed biased toward the rear of the bottom surface of the inner case 200. Further, the inlet hole 232 may be disposed biased toward the front of the lower surface of the inner case 200. Thus, a sufficient distance may be secured between the inlet hole 231 and the outlet hole 232 in the bottom surface 230 of the inner case 200, and hot air supplied through the outlet hole 232 may be prevented from being discharged directly through the inlet hole 231.
The through-holes 230 may further include a steam hole 233 through which steam generated from a steam supply part in the machine room is supplied. The steam hole 233 may be disposed closer to the outlet hole 231 than to the inlet hole 232. For example, the steam hole 233 may be disposed on one side of the outlet hole 231. Thereby, steam discharged through the steam hole 233 may be prevented from directly entering the inlet hole 232.
The door 120 may be rotatably coupled to the cabinet 100.
The height of the door 120 may be designed to correspond to the height of the cabinet 100. Thus, the door 120 may be arranged to open and close the opening 210 and to shield the machine room 300.
When the door 120 is closed, the opening 210 and the machine room 300 may be prevented from being exposed to the outside at the front.
The door 120 may include a door body 121 defining a main body and a sealing member 123 coupled to an inner surface of the door body 121 to seal the opening 210.
The sealing member 123 may be disposed in an area of the inner surface of the door body 121 that faces the perimeter of the opening 210 to seal the opening 210.
Further, the door body 121 may include a protective panel 122 disposed below the sealing member 123, which seals the opening 210, to shield and protect the machine room 300.
The sealing member 123 may extend further downward from the opening 210 to seal the front perimeter of the machine room 300.
The door 120 may include a protrusion 125 that protrudes from an inner portion of the door body 121 to be at least partially inserted into the opening 210.
The protrusion 125 may protrude from the door body 121 such that it is positioned in front of the inlet hole 232 when the door 120 closes the opening 210.
The width of the protrusion 125 may correspond to the width of the opening 210. The protrusion 125 may be disposed closer to the bottom of the opening 210 or the bottom surface 230 of the inner case 200 than to the upper end of the door body 121.
Thus, hot air and steam inside the accommodation space 220 of the inner case may be guided into the inlet hole 232 and prevented from leaking out through the opening 210 and being exposed to the machine room 300.
The height of the protrusion 125 may be less than one-third of the height of the inner case 200, and the thickness of the protrusion 125 extending from the door body 121 may be less than the distance from a front edge of the bottom surface 230 to the inlet hole 232.
The door body 120 may further include a curved surface 124 on the inner surface thereof, extending toward the protrusion 125. The curved surface 124 may have a downwardly convex shape. The curved surface 124 may guide the hot air and steam supplied into the accommodation space 220 such that the hot air and steam may circulate within the accommodation space 220.
The laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure may include a pressing part 130 rotatably coupled to the inner surface of the door body 121 to press laundry, and a fixing portion 140 disposed to hold the laundry at a position above the pressing part 130.
The pressing part 130 may be arranged to rotate along the width of the door 120 to press the laundry mounted on the fixing part 140.
Thus, the laundry held on the fixing portion 140 may be pressed by the pressing part 130 to remove wrinkles in the laundry and create desired wrinkles in the laundry.
The curved surface 124 may extend from the bottom of the pressing part 130 to the protrusion 125. Thus, when water condensed from the laundry held on the fixing portion 140 flows along the pressing part 130 or the inner surface of the door body 121, it may be guided to the bottom surface 230 along the curved surface 124 and may be prevented from moving to the opening 210 or the sealing member 123. As a result, the machine room 300 may be prevented from being contaminated with water, steam, hot air, debris, or the like.
The exposed surface of the protrusion 125 may be arranged parallel to the rear surface of the inner case 200, and the bottom surface thereof extending from the bottom of the exposed surface may be arranged parallel to the bottom surface 230 of the inner case.
The exposed surface of the protrusion 125 may be provided with a through hole 126 allowing air to flow in and out. Additionally, the space defined by the protrusion 125, the curved surface 124, and the door body 121 may be provided with a duct that allows air to flow therethrough.
The door body 121 may include a communication hole in the inner surface thereof in an area corresponding to the pressing part 130.
Thus, hot air and steam moving in the inner case 200 may flow into the through hole 126 and be discharged through the communication hole, thereby drying the laundry held on the pressing part 130 or circulating the air inside the inner case 200.
The machine room 300 is configured to supply at least one of hot air or steam to the inner case 200. To this end, the machine room 300 should be supplied with water required to generate the steam and be configured to collect the steam supplied to the inner case 200 or the water condensed from the laundry.
To this end, the machine room 300 may include a water supply container 301 disposed to store water used to generate steam, and a drainage container 302 disposed to collect the condensed water inside the laundry treatment apparatus.
The water supply container 301 and the drainage container 302 may be disposed in the front of the machine room 300. This arrangement may make it easier to fill the water supply container 301 with water or empty the drainage container 302, allowing the laundry treatment apparatus to be positioned without being restricted by the location of the water supply source or drainage.
The machine room 300 may include a circulation duct arranged to circulate air drawn through the inlet hole to the outlet hole, and a heat supply part disposed in the circulation duct and including heat exchangers configured to cool and heat the air.
For example, the heat supply part may include a heat pump system.
The machine room 300 may further include a steam generator capable of discharging steam through the steam hole 233.
The laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure may perform a refresh cycle, including deodorization, wrinkle, sanitization, and the like of the laundry, using the heat pump system and the steam generator.
The laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure may further include an ironing module S that supplies at least one of heat or steam generated in the machine room to the laundry. The ironing module S may include a steam iron 1300 extending up to the laundry placed on the inner surface of the inner case 200 or the door 120 to provide the heat and steam to the surface of the laundry, and a housing 1200 arranged to house the steam iron 1300 inside the machine room 300.
The housing 1200 may include a housing body 1210 mounted in the machine room 300 to provide a space to store the steam iron 1300, and an opening 1220 provided on the front of the housing body 1210 to allow the steam iron 1300 to be placed in and drawn out.
The housing 1200 may be disposed on one side of the circulation duct.
The steam iron 1300 may be pulled out forward from the housing body 1210 in the machine room 300. The steam iron 1300 may be arranged to reach the surface of the laundry held on the fixing portion 140 or the holder when pulled out forward from the machine room 300.
The steam iron 1300 may be configured to transfer heat and steam to a position higher than half the height of the inner case 200, up to the upper end of the pressing part 130 of the door 120. The steam iron 1300 may be disposed in contact with or close to the surface of the laundry, allowing heat and steam to be directly transferred to the surface of the laundry.
For example, the steam iron 1300 may be moved up to the top surface of the accommodation space 220 or the upper end of the inner surface of the door 120 when withdrawn from the housing 1200.
The steam iron 1300 may be configured to supply heat to the surface of the laundry, or it may be configured to spray steam onto the surface of the laundry. The steam iron 1300 may be a regular steam iron or a regular steamer. The steam iron 1300 may be configured in any form, as long as it is capable of removing wrinkles from the laundry.
The laundry L fixed to the holder or the fixing portion 140 may be supported against the inner surface of the door 120 or the inner surface of the inner case 200 and exposed to one or more of the heat and steam supplied from the steam iron 1300. In this process, the laundry L may be refreshed and/or wrinkles may be removed from the laundry.
The ironing module S may be exposed on the front surface of the machine room 300 as the steam iron 1300 needs to be pulled out from the machine room 300 to reach the laundry held in the inner case 200 or on the door 120.
For example, the front surface of the ironing module S may be disposed on one side of the water supply container 301 or the drainage container 302, and the two side surfaces thereof may be disposed inside the machine room 300.
When the steam iron 1300 is in operation, the laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure may display various kinds of information on the screen part 140, including error status of the steam iron 1300, use alarms, usage reminders, and recommendations.
Further, the screen part 140 may display status information such as whether the steam iron 1300 is powered on, whether the steam iron 1300 is heating water to generate steam, whether the steam iron 1300 is being preheated to heat water, whether steam is being sprayed, and the like. Thus, the user may check the information displayed on the screen part 140 to use the steam iron 1300 optimally.
However, since the steam iron 1300 is mainly used with the door 120 open to the point where the rear surface of the door 120 is exposed at the front side, it may be difficult for the user to check the information displayed on the screen 140.
The user may find it inconvenient to repeatedly move to the screen part 140 disposed at the front of the door 120 or to repeatedly open and close the door 120 to check the information on the screen part 140.
To address this issue, the laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure may be configured such that the screen part 140 is selectively exposed on the same side as the rear surface of the door 120.
The screen part 140 may be configured to be drawn out of the door 120 by a certain distance.
That is, the screen part 140 may be configured to be withdrawn from the support portion 127 by sliding in the width direction of the door 120.
The screen part 140 may be withdrawn to a side of the door 120, exposing an accommodation groove 128 formed inside the support portion 127.
Since the screen part 140 is disposed on one side surface of the door 120, a slight withdrawal may be enough to expose the screen part 140 to the outside of the door 120.
The screen part 140 may be configured to slide back and forth from the support portion 127 along the width direction of the door 120, parallel to the door 120.
The screen part 140 may have a first liquid crystal part 141 provide on the front surface thereof to display the aforementioned information, and may include a cable 144 connecting the first liquid crystal part 141 to a controller and a power supply part disposed on the door 120 or in machine room 300.
The cable 144 may be pulled out from the door 120 along with the screen part 140 when the screen part 140 is pulled out. Thus, even when the screen part 140 is pulled out from the door 120, the cable 144 may allow the content displayed on the screen part 140 to be maintained.
The screen part 140 may be pulled out only by a distance less than or equal to the width of the screen part 140 to prevent the screen part 140 from falling off the support portion 127.
Further, the screen part 140 may be designed to be pulled out to a longer distance than the length supported by the support portion 127 such that the rear surface of the screen part 140 is sufficient to display the information to be identified by the user.
The screen part 140 may also include a second liquid crystal part 142 disposed on the rear surface thereof to display the same content as displayed on the first liquid crystal part 141. In other words, the screen part 140 may have screens capable of visually displaying the aforementioned information on both sides.
Referring to
The user may use the steam iron 1300 to remove wrinkles or deodorize the laundry placed inside. To allow the steam iron 1300 to make easier contact with the laundry, the user may open the door 120 to an angle of 90 degrees or more.
The user may pull out or open the housing 1200 to retrieve the steam iron 1300 from the machine room 300. Then, at least one of heat or steam may be controlled to be emitted from the steam iron 1300 by operating the buttons arranged on the steam iron 1300. The screen part 140 may display information related to the steam iron 1300 on the first liquid crystal part 141.
Referring to
When the screen part 140 is pulled out from one surface of the door, the second liquid crystal part 142 positioned on the rear surface of the screen part 140 may be activated, allowing the content displayed on the first liquid crystal part 141 to be displayed on the second liquid crystal part 142.
Thus, the user can operate the steam iron 1300 while checking the information displayed on the second liquid part 142. Thus, even though the screen part 140 is disposed on the front surface of the door 120, the user can pull out the screen part 140 to check the information displayed on the screen part 140.
The screen part 140 may be rotatably coupled to one side of the door 120.
In other words, the screen part 140 may be arranged on one side surface of the door 120 to be pulled out forward and rotated outward from the door 120 around an axis extending in the height direction.
The screen part 140 may include a first liquid crystal part 141 configured to display images on the front surface thereof, and a support panel 145 disposed on the rear surface thereof to support the first liquid crystal part 141. The support panel 145 may include a printed circuit board (PCB) panel configured to control the first liquid crystal part 141.
The screen part 140 may further include a hinge 143 provided at the top and bottom of one side surface of the support panel 145 and rotatably disposed on the support portion 128 of the door 120.
Through the hinge 143, the cable 144 may connect the first liquid crystal part 141 to the controller and power supply part provided on the door 120 or in the machine room 300.
The screen part 140 may rotate 90 degrees or more around the hinge 143.
For example, the screen part 140 may rotate 180 degrees around the hinge 143.
The screen part 140 may be configured to rotate to any angle around the hinge 143 as long as the first liquid crystal part 141 of the screen part 140 can be exposed on the rear surface of the cabinet 100.
Thus, when the screen part 140 rotates away from the support portion 128 with the cabinet 100 closed by the door 120, the first liquid crystal part 141 may be exposed on the same side as the rear surface of the cabinet 100.
The screen part 140 may be configured to rotate from one side of the door 120 outward, and the door 120 may be configured to rotate from the cabinet 100 outward around the door hinge or the like on the opposite side of the door 120. Accordingly, the direction in which the screen part 140 rotates from the door 120 may be different from the direction in which the door 120 rotates from the cabinet 100.
Referring to
The user may use the steam iron 1300 to remove wrinkles or deodorize the laundry placed inside. To allow the steam iron 1300 to make easier contact with the laundry, the user may open the door 120 to an angle of 90 degrees or more around the opposite side of the door 120.
The user may pull out or open the housing 1200 to retrieve the steam iron 1300 from the machine room 300. Then, at least one of heat or steam may be controlled to be emitted from the steam iron 1300 by operating the buttons arranged on the steam iron 1300. The screen part 140 may display information related to the steam iron 1300 on the first liquid crystal part 141.
Referring to
When the screen part 140 is rotated from the front surface of the door, the first liquid crystal part 141 of the screen part 140 may be exposed to the rear outside of the door 120.
Thus, the user may operate the steam iron 1300 while directly checking the content displayed on the first liquid crystal part 141. Accordingly, even though the screen part 140 is disposed on the front surface of the door 120, the user can check the content displayed on the screen part 140 by rotating the screen part 140 as needed.
In addition to the screen part, the laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure may further include a light emitter 150 configured to visually provide information.
While the screen part 140 is equipped with screens to variably display various kinds of information, the light emitter 150 may be configured as a light bulb, a light-emitting diode (LED), or the like configured to be repeatedly turned on and off.
In other words, the light emitter 150 may be configured to indicate predetermined information through its ON/OFF state, which may allow the user to intuitively recognize the predetermined information by checking the light emitter 150, without pulling out or rotating the screen part 140.
The light emitter 150 may be disposed at the upper front of the cabinet 100 or the upper front of the inner case 200 so as to be readily identifiable to a user.
The light emitter 150 may be positioned such that it may be selectively shielded by the door 120. In other words, when the door 120 closes the accommodation space 220 of the inner case 200, the door 120 may shield the light emitter 150. When the door 120 opens the accommodation space 220, the door 120 may expose the light emitter 150.
When turned on, the light emitter 150 may be configured to indicate corresponding information.
The light emitter 150 may be designated to indicate emergency states or error states of the laundry treatment apparatus or the steam iron 1300.
For example, it may be predefined that when the light emitter is turned on, it indicates one of the following: the water supply container 301 needs to be refilled with water, the drainage container 302 needs to be emptied, or the steam iron 1300 has a malfunction.
Such predefined indications may be communicated to the user in advance through a manual or similar guide.
Thus, the user may intuitively recognize that there is an issue with the use of the laundry treatment apparatus 1 or the steam iron 1300 by the ON state of the light emitter 150, and may immediately take necessary measures.
The light emitter 150 may include multiple light emitters to indicate more information.
In other words, a case where the multiple light emitters 150 are all turned on, a case where one of the light emitters 150 is turned on, and a case where another one of the light emitters 150 is turned on may correspond to indications of different information.
Further, the light emitters 150 may be configured to display different colors. This allows different information to be indicated based on which light emitter among the light emitters 150 is turned on and how many are turned on.
Thus, the laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure may intuitively indicate multiple pieces of information through the multiple light emitters 150.
For example, the light emitters may include a first light emitter 151 and a second light emitter 152 spaced apart from the first light emitter 151. In this case, the ON state of the first light emitter 151 may correspond to information indicating that there is no water in the water supply container 301, and the ON state of the second light emitter 152 may correspond to information indicating that the drainage container 302 is full of water. The ON state of both the first light emitter 151 and the second light emitter 152 may correspond to information indicating that the steam generator 1300 is in an inoperative state.
As a result, the screen part 140 and the light emitting portion 150 in the laundry treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure may display the necessary information to the user facing the rear surface of the door 120 even when the door 120 is open.
As apparent from the above description, the present disclosure has the following effects.
According to the present disclosure, a laundry treatment apparatus may allow status information about a steam iron to be checked on the outside when laundry is placed and the steam iron provided in the laundry treatment apparatus to supply hot air and steam is used.
According to the present disclosure, when the indicator is disposed on the front surface of the door, a user positioned at the rear of the door may be allowed to check the indicator.
According to the present disclosure, a separate indicator may be arranged on a front portion of the laundry treatment apparatus, which is exposed when the door is opened, and thus the laundry treatment apparatus may communicate with a user.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure cover the modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2023-0172687 | Dec 2023 | KR | national |
