Patent Grant
11492745
The present invention belongs to the field of household appliances, and specifically provides a lifting device and a washing machine having the lifting device.
At present, most washing machines are difficult to move. For the convenience of transportation, hand buckles are often disposed on both sides of the washing machine, and the washing machine can be moved only by manual lifting; some washing machines are provided with casters on a bottom support plate of the machine body to facilitate the movement of the washing machines; and some washing machines are provided with hydraulic and pneumatic devices on the bottom support plate of the machine body to prevent the casters from directly contacting the ground to bear the weight by realizing the raising/lowering of the washing machines.
However, existing technical solutions still have certain problems, such as time and labor consuming; and wheel bodies of the casters directly contact the ground to bear the weight, so the wheel bodies are easily deformed and damaged during use, and will fail to function, thus causing the machine body of the washing machine to tilt and affecting the normal use; the installation of hydraulic and pneumatic devices not only leads to a complicated structure, but also causes certain noises, which will affect the user's feeling and experience during use.
Accordingly, there is a need for a new washing machine in the art to solve the above problems.
In order to solve the above problems in the related art, that is, to solve the problems that the existing washing machines are difficult to move and the existing mobile devices have a complicated structure, the present invention provides a lifting device, wherein the lifting device includes a driving device, a connecting rod, a first lever having a first length, a second lever having a second length, and a plurality of support feet; the driving device is disposed at the bottom of the supported apparatus, and the support feet are vertically movably disposed at the bottom of the supported apparatus; a first end of the connecting rod is pivotally connected to the driving device, and a second end of the connecting rod is pivotally connected to a first end of the first lever and a first end of the second lever respectively; a second end of the first lever is pivotally connected to one of the support feet, and the first lever is pivotally connected to the supported apparatus between the first end and the second end thereof; a second end of the second lever is pivotally connected to another one of the support feet, and the second lever is pivotally connected to the supported apparatus between the first end and the second end thereof.
In a preferred technical solution of the above lifting device, the lifting device further includes a connector, wherein a first end of the connector is fixedly connected to an output shaft of the driving device, and a second end of the connector is pivotally connected to the first end of the connecting rod.
In a preferred technical solution of the above lifting device, the lifting device further includes a first cylindrical pin, and the second end of the connector is pivotally connected to the first end of the connecting rod through the first cylindrical pin; and/or the lifting device further includes a second cylindrical pin, and the second end of the connecting rod is pivotally connected to the first end of the first lever and the first end of the second lever respectively through the second cylindrical pin.
In a preferred technical solution of the above lifting device, the first end of the first lever is provided with a first sliding groove which is slidingly connected to the second cylindrical pin; and/or the first end of the second lever is provided with a second sliding groove which is slidingly connected to the second cylindrical pin.
In a preferred technical solution of the above lifting device, the second end of the first lever is provided with a third sliding groove, through which the first lever is pivotally connected to the corresponding support foot; and/or the second end of the second lever is provided with a fourth sliding groove, through which the second lever is pivotally connected to the corresponding support foot.
In a preferred technical solution of the above lifting device, the driving device includes a power device and a speed reducer, wherein the speed reducer is connected to the supported apparatus, the power device is connected to the speed reducer, an output shaft of the power device is fixedly connected to an input shaft of the speed reducer, and an output shaft of the speed reducer is fixedly connected to the first end of the connector.
In a preferred technical solution of the above lifting device, the power device is an electric motor.
In a preferred technical solution of the above lifting device, a walking wheel is disposed at the bottom of the support foot.
In a preferred technical solution of the above lifting device, the walking wheel is a universal wheel.
In addition, the present invention also provides a washing machine, which includes a machine body and a lifting device disposed at the bottom of the machine body, wherein the lifting device is the lifting device according to any one of the above preferred technical solutions of the lifting device.
It can be understood by those skilled in the art that in the preferred technical solution of the present invention, the first lever and the second lever are driven by the driving device through the connecting rod, so that the first lever and the second lever drive the support feet to move in the vertical direction, thereby raising or lowering the machine body of the washing machine. Therefore, the raising or lowering of the machine body of the washing machine can be realized by the lifting device of the present invention, and the lifting device of the present invention has a simple structure, which makes the movement of the washing machine more convenient and faster and optimizes the user's experience during use.
Further, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first lever has a first length and the second lever has a second length, wherein the first length is not equal to the second length. When the positions of the support feet are fixed, the installation position of the driving device located between the two levers can be adjusted by adjusting the values of the first length and the second length, so that the driving device can be prevented from interfering with the driving motor and a drain pipe at the bottom of the washing machine. Correspondingly, the distances from the pivotal connection point of the first lever and the second lever with the washing machine to the other ends of the first lever and the second lever are set to match each other such that when the driving device drives the first lever and the second lever to pivot, the support feet connected to the first lever and the second lever have the same maximum strokes of the movement in the vertical direction, thereby preventing the washing machine from being tilted after being raised.
Further, the bottom of the support foot is provided with a walking wheel, the first end of the first lever is drivingly connected to the driving device through the connecting rod, the second end of the first lever is pivotally connected to the support foot, and a pivoting end of the first lever is pivotally connected to the machine body of the washing machine. The first end of the second lever is drivingly connected to the driving device through the connecting rod, the second end of the second lever is pivotally connected to the support foot, and a pivoting end of the second lever is pivotally connected to the machine body of the washing machine. When the driving device is operating, it drives the first end of the first lever and the first end of the second lever to move up and down through the connecting rod, thereby driving the second end of the first lever and the second end of the second lever to move up and down, and further driving the walking wheels corresponding to the first lever and the second lever to move in the vertical direction, so that the machine body is raised or lowered. When the machine body is raised, the washing machine can be easily pushed by the user by means of the walking wheels; and when the machine body is lowered, the washing machine can be firmly fixed on the ground by means of the fixed feet. In this way, the user experience is improved.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings and in conjunction with a washing machine. In the drawings:
1: machine body; 11: first support bracket; 12: second support bracket; 13: first sliding sleeve; 14: second sliding sleeve; 2: driving motor; 3: drain pipe; 4: lifting device; 41: lifting motor; 42: speed reducer; 43: connector; 431: first cylindrical pin; 44: first lever; 441: first sliding groove; 442: third sliding groove; 45: second lever; 451: second sliding groove; 452: fourth sliding groove; 46: first support foot; 47: first universal wheel; 48: second support foot; 49: second universal wheel; 410: connecting rod; 4101: second cylindrical pin.
It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments in this section are only used to explain the technical principles of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention. For example, although the lifting device of the present invention is described in conjunction with a washing machine in the following embodiments, the lifting device of the present invention is also applicable to other apparatuses, such as an air conditioner, a refrigerator and a safe, etc. Those skilled in the art may make an adjustment to the lifting device as required so as to be adapted to specific application occasions. The technical solutions after the adjustment will still fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.
It should be noted that in the description of the present invention, directional or positional relationships indicated by terms such as “center”, “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “inner” and “outer” are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the drawings. They are merely used for the convenience of description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element involved must have a specific orientation, or be configured or operated in a specific orientation, and therefore they should not be construed as limiting the present invention. In addition, terms “first”, “second” and “third” are only used for descriptive purposes, and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.
In addition, it should also be noted that in the description of the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and defined, terms “install”, “connect” and “connection” should be understood in a broad sense; for example, the connection may be a fixed connection, or may also be a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it may be a direct connection, or an indirect connection implemented through an intermediate medium, or it may be an internal communication between two elements. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific situations.
As shown in
It should be noted that since the technical means of disposing fixed feet at the bottom of the machine body 1 and making the machine body 1 be in contact with the ground through the fixed feet is conventional technical means for those skilled in the art, and a washing machine having fixed feet is available on the market, no detailed description will be given herein.
As shown in
With continued reference to
Further referring to
Those skilled in the art can understand that during the practical application, the first end of the connecting rod 410 can either be below the second end of the connecting rod 410 (as shown in
In other feasible technical solutions of the present invention, those skilled in the art may also dispense with the speed reducer 42 as required, so that the output shaft of the lifting motor 41 is directly fixedly connected to the first end of the connector 43. However, in this situation, it is necessary to reduce the rotational speed of the lifting motor 41 to reduce the speed of up-and-down movement of the first support foot 46 and the second support foot 48, thereby preventing the washing machine from being raised and lowered too fast and avoiding the occurrence of shaking and noise. In addition, those skilled in the art can also dispense with the connector 43 as required, so that the first end of the connecting rod 410 is fixedly connected to the output shaft of the lifting motor 41 or the speed reducer 42.
As shown in
Those skilled in the art can understand that since the first end of the connecting rod 410 and the connector 43 are pivotally connected through the first cylindrical pin 431, the second end of the connecting rod 410 can swings relative to the first end of connecting rod 410 around the first cylindrical pin 431. Therefore, the first sliding groove 441 and the second sliding groove 451 can be provided in an alternative way. Exemplarily, only the second sliding groove 451 is provided. When the first end of the connecting rod 410 moves up and down with the connector 43, the second end of the connecting rod 410 can move in the horizontal direction adaptively with the first end of the first lever 44 while the second end of the connecting rod 410 drives the first end of the first lever 44 to move vertically. At the same time, while the second end of the connecting rod 410 drives the first end of the second lever 45 to move vertically, by means of the sliding connection between the second cylindrical pin 4101 and the second sliding groove 451, the second cylindrical pin 4101 disposed at the second end of the connecting rod 410 is prevented from interfering with the first end of the second lever 45 in the horizontal direction.
As shown in
As shown in
Further, by adjusting the distance between the first support bracket 11 and the first support foot 46 and adjusting the distance between the second support bracket 12 and the second support foot 48, it can be ensured that when the first cylindrical pin 431 rotates directly above the connector 43, the length by which the first support foot 46 protrudes out of the bottom of the machine body 1 and the length by which the second support foot 48 protrudes out of the bottom of the machine body 1 are the same, that is, it can be ensured that the machine body 1 will not tilt after being raised.
It should be noted that the first lever 44 and the second lever 45 of the present invention are not limited to the bar-shaped connecting rods shown in
The operational principle of the lifting device 4 of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to
When the washing machine needs to move, the lifting motor 41 drives the connecting rod 410 to move upward through the speed reducer 42, and further drives the first end of the first lever 44 and the first end of the second lever 45 to move upward, so the second end of the first lever 44 and the second end of the second lever 45 move downward respectively under the action of the principle of leverage, thereby driving the first support foot 46 and the second support foot 48 to move downward. When the connecting rod 410 drives the first end of the first lever 44 and the first end of the second lever 45 to rotate to the uppermost positions, the first support foot 46 and the second support foot 48 are extended to the maximum stroke. At this point, the first universal wheel 47 and the second universal wheel 49 are in contact with the ground, the machine body 1 is jacked up, and the fixed feet at the bottom of the machine body 1 are separated from the ground. With the washing machine being supported by the first universal wheel 47 and the second universal wheel 49, the user can easily push the washing machine.
When the washing machine moves into position and needs to be lowered, the lifting motor 41 drives the connecting rod 410 to move downward through the speed reducer 42, and further drives the first end of the first lever 44 and the first end of the second lever 45 to move downward, so the second end of the first lever 44 and the second end of the second lever 45 move upward respectively under the action of the principle of leverage, thereby driving the first support foot 46 and the second support foot 48 to move upward. When the connecting rod 410 drives the first end of the first lever 44 and the first end of the second lever 45 to rotate to the lowermost positions, the first support foot 46 and the second support foot 48 are completely retracted. At this point, the first universal wheel 47 and the second universal wheel 49 are out of contact with the ground, and the machine body 1 is in contact with the ground through the fixed feet at the bottom.
It should be noted that in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the lifting motor 41 preferably has a power-off self-locking device (such as a motor-holding brake device). When the lifting motor 41 is powered off, the lifting motor 41 can also be maintained at the current angle, so that the first universal wheel 47 and the second universal wheel 49 can be maintained at the current positions. Therefore, the first universal wheel 47 and the second universal wheel 49 can be ejected by the user when the washing machine is powered on. After the washing machine is powered off, the washing machine can still be pushed, thereby ensuring that the washing machine can be pushed to any place without power supply by means of the first universal wheel 47 and the second universal wheel 49.
Although not shown in the figures, in another embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art may also dispense with the first universal wheel 47 and the second universal wheel 49 as required, so that the machine body 1 can be moved by other devices (for example, a small forklift truck) after being raised by the lifting device 4.
In summary, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first lever 44 and the second lever 45 are driven by the lifting motor 41, so that the first lever 44 and the second lever 45 drive the support feet 46 and 48 to move in the vertical direction to cause the machine body 1 of the washing machine to be raised or lowered. Therefore, the lifting device 4 of the present invention can realize the raising or lowering of the machine body 1 of the washing machine, and has a simple structure, which makes the movement of the washing machine more convenient and faster, and optimizes the user's experience during use.
Further, by adjusting the lengths of the first lever 44 and the second lever 45, the installation positions of the lifting motor 41 and the speed reducer 42 on the machine body 1 can be adjusted, so that the lifting motor 41 and the speed reducer 42 can be prevented from interfering with the driving motor 2 and the drain pipe 3 at the bottom of the washing machine. Therefore, the lifting device 4 of the present invention can be applied to any model of washing machine by adjusting the length of the first lever 44 and the length of the second lever 45 without re-planning the positions of the driving motor 2 and the drain pipe 3 on the machine body 1.
Hitherto, the technical solutions of the present invention have been described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings, but it is easily understood by those skilled in the art that the scope of protection of the present invention is obviously not limited to these specific embodiments. Without departing from the principle of the present invention, those skilled in the art can make equivalent changes or replacements to relevant technical features, and the technical solutions after these changes or replacements will fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201711472343.8 | Dec 2017 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2018/114291 | 11/7/2018 | WO |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2019/128480 | 7/4/2019 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2783055 | Michaud | Feb 1957 | A |
| 2812189 | Geldhof | Nov 1957 | A |
| 4124187 | Webb | Nov 1978 | A |
| 20070145229 | Johnson | Jun 2007 | A1 |
| 20120025050 | Ma | Feb 2012 | A1 |
| 20120305866 | Kraus | Dec 2012 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 104032543 | Sep 2014 | CN |
| 104975468 | Oct 2015 | CN |
| 207295257 | May 2018 | CN |
| 719750 | Dec 1954 | GB |
| Entry |
|---|
| International Search Report dated Feb. 14, 2019 in corresponding International application No. PCT/CN2018/114291; 6 pages. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20210079583 A1 | Mar 2021 | US |
