Home appliances are increasingly equipped with a greater number of user-selectable parameters. A typical appliance may have a controller that implements a number of pre-programmed cycles of operation having one or more user-selectable parameters. A user interface or control panel may be provided on the appliance for selecting or setting one or more of the user-selectable parameters, and may be coupled to the controller. The user-selectable parameters of the appliance may be represented by indicia on or near the user interface. The user interface may have a selector for selecting one or more of the indicia.
The invention, in one aspect, relates to a parameter selector having a housing at least partially defining an interior; an illumination device that may be configured to emit light; a first transmission area that may transmit light to an exterior of the housing; and an optical element arranged with the first transmission area such that light emitted from the illumination device and passing through the first transmission area may form a discrete projection of light on a panel.
In the drawings:
The appliance 10 may have a cabinet 14 defined by a front wall 16, a rear wall 18, and a pair of side walls 20 supporting a top wall 22. A door 24 may be hingedly mounted to the front wall 16 and may be selectively movable between opened and closed positions to close an opening in the front wall 16, which provides access to the interior of the cabinet 14. A treating chamber 26 may be disposed within the interior of the cabinet 14. The top wall 22 may support or be formed with a backsplash 28.
The appliance 10 may further have a controller 30 provided in the cabinet 14 or the backsplash 28 that implements a number of pre-programmed cycles of operation having one or more user-selectable parameters. The user interface 12 may be operably coupled with the controller 30 for selecting and/or setting one or more of the user-selectable parameters. The particular user-selectable parameters will vary depending on the appliance 10. For the washing machine illustrated in
The user interface 12 may be provided on an exterior portion of the appliance 10, such as on the front wall 16 of the cabinet 14 or, as illustrated, on the backsplash 28. The user interface 12 may include a panel 32 and a parameter selector 34 that may be movable relative to the panel 32. As illustrated, the panel 32 may be integral with the backsplash 28. Alternately, the panel 32 may be a separate piece coupled with the backsplash 28.
As illustrated, the parameter selector 34 is shown as a knob which rotates relative to the panel 32. The knob 34 may include a housing 46 which may be mounted to the panel 32 in any manner suitable for rotatable movement of the knob 34. The parameter selector is not limited to a rotatable knob. Other selectors may be used.
The light projector 42 may include an illumination device 74 that emits light forming a beam of light and an optical element 48 coupled with the illumination device 74 to form the light emitted from the illumination device 74 into a beam of light, which may be focused or not. The beam of light may also be collimated, converging, or diverging. When the beam is focused, the focal point of the beam may lie just in front of or behind the upper surface of the panel 32. The location of the focal point may be selected to control the size of the projection of light.
The optical element 48 may be an element that alters the path of light rays passing through a portion of the element. Exemplary optical elements 48 may include a lens or a collimator, or may be a combination of both as a collimating lens. The optical element 48 may be at least partially formed of a translucent material and/or a transparent material. For example, the optical element 48 may be formed of glass or a plastic material.
As illustrated, the optical element 48 may include a lens 76 having a first transmission area 78 and a second transmission area 80. Both transmission areas permit the transmission of light from the illumination device 74 exteriorly of the housing 46. As such, the first and second transmission areas 78, 80 may be formed from a translucent or transparent material. The first transmission area 78 may include at least one curved portion 81. When the optical element 48 is assembled to the housing 46, the first and second transmission areas 78, 80 are generally aligned with the slit 72, with the first transmission area 78 aligned along the side wall 68 and the second transmission area aligned along the top wall 66. The optical element 48 may further include at least one branch 83 having the shape of a cylinder that may be received by the cylindrical hole 61 formed on the body 60 of the projector support housing 54. While the optical element 48 is shown as being a separate piece from the housing 46, in another embodiment, the optical element 48 could be integrated with the housing 46.
The illumination device 74 may include a light source 82. The light source 82 may be a source of the beam of light that spatially propagates, and may include a light emitting diode (hereafter referred to as “LED”), a laser or a lamp. The light source 82 may be located within the interior 50 of the housing 46. As illustrated, the light source 82 may be coupled with the stem 62 of the projector support housing 54 and may emit light toward the lens 76 of the optical element 48. The light source 82 may be configured to selectively emit light having at least one visible color. The light source 82 may be operably coupled with a spring 84 by an electrical conductor 86. The spring 84 may comprise an electrically conducting material such as metal or metallic alloy. The electrical conductor 86 may include one of an electrical wire, connectors, and switches.
When the user rotates the knob 34 to select one of the multiple indicia 36 formed on the surface of the panel 32, the illumination device 74 and the optical element 48 are also rotated. The light source 82 may emit the beam of light 89. The beam of light 89 emitted from the light source 82 may propagate spatially and a portion of the beam of light may pass through the optical element 48. As illustrated, a first portion 90 of the beam of light may pass through the first transmission area 78 of the lens 76 and a second portion 92 of the beam of light may pass though the second transmission area 80 of the lens 76. The first portion 90 of the beam of light may form the projection of light 44 on the surface of the panel 32 adjacent to the knob 34. The lens 76 may have a predetermined focal point that is adjacent the panel 32. More specifically, the focal point of the lens 76 may be one the panel 32, or may be beyond the panel 32 or in front of the panel 32. Therefore, the projection of light 44 may have varying dimension, size or edge sharpness. Rotation of the knob 34 will change the position of the projection of light 44 on the panel 32. The second portion 92 of the beam of light may pass to the exterior of the knob 34 without alternation of the path of light by the second transmission area 80. As a result, the second transmission area 80 may be luminous from the beam of light emitted from the light source 82 and may create a glowing effect on the knob 34 to further provide the user with information about the location of the knob 34 and the user-selectable parameters, even in the absence of an ambient light.
The light source 82 may be controlled to be triggered on when the knob 34 is rotated. Thereafter, the light source 82 may be kept on for a predetermined period of time, such as the length of a cycle of operation. When the cycle of operation is completed, the light source 82 may be turned off to preserve service life and save energy.
The beam of light 89 emitted from the light source 82 may travel in the light conduit 94 prior to reaching to the reflective element 96. The reflective element 96 may optically guide and spatially propagate the beam of light 89 emitted from the light conduit 94. Once the beam of light 89 is guided out of the light conduit 94 by the reflective element 96, it may be received by the first transmission area 78 and the second transmission area 80 of the optical element 48 in a manner similar to that described above for
It is possible to combine the sliding and rotating movement of the first and third embodiments into a single selector.
While the invention has been specifically described in connection with certain specific embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that this is by way of illustration and not of limitation. Reasonable variation and modification are possible within the scope of the forgoing disclosure and drawings without departing from the spirit of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.
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