Dishwashers are used in many single-family and multi-family residential applications to clean dishes, silverware, cutlery, cups, glasses, pots, pans, etc. (collectively referred to herein as “utensils”). While some dishwashers are designed to be free-standing appliances, most dishwashers are installed under a countertop, typically near a kitchen sink and adjacent to one or more base kitchen cabinets. Many consumers tend to store eating and drinking utensils, however, in wall mounted cabinets positioned above the countertop, so in many cases unloading a dishwasher after a wash cycle is complete involves a substantial amount of bending over to remove utensils from the dishwasher and lifting them up and placing them in wall mounted cabinets for storage.
Furthermore, particularly in space-constrained applications such as small kitchens, bars and entertainment areas, dishwashers often compete for space with cabinets and other appliances, and it can become difficult to justify the inclusion of a seldomly-used dishwasher in a design when it can mean a lack of sufficient storage space for utensils and other items that a consumer may desire to keep on hand. Similarly, dishwashers are rarely used in recreational vehicles because of the criticality of storage space.
The herein-described embodiments address these and other problems associated with the art by providing a wall mounted dishwasher that incorporates storage into an exterior door of the dishwasher to facilitate user access to utensils stored in the dishwasher. In some instances, the exterior door may be hinged and configured to rotate about a substantially vertical axis, and in some instances, one or more spray devices and/or one or more fluid collection pans may be integrated into the exterior door.
Therefore, consistent with one aspect of the invention, a wall mounted dishwasher may include a wall mountable housing defining at least a portion of a wash tub, an exterior door coupled to the wall mountable housing, the exterior door movable between a closed position that restricts external access to the wash tub and an open position that provides external access to the wash tub, at least one spray device configured to spray wash fluid into the wash tub, a pump configured to supply wash fluid to the at least one spray device, a first storage element supported by the exterior door and configured to move with the exterior door, the first storage element configured to store one or more utensils during washing, and a second storage element supported within the wash tub and configured to remain within the wash tub when the exterior door is moved from the closed position to the open position, the second storage element configured to store one or more utensils during washing.
In some embodiments, the exterior door is a hinged door rotatably coupled to the housing through one or more hinges. Also, in some embodiments, the exterior door is configured to rotate about a substantially vertical axis. Further, in some embodiments, the first and second storage elements are disposed at a similar elevation and oppose one another when the exterior door is in the closed position. In some embodiments, the first storage element includes a sidewall configured to face the second storage element when the exterior door is in the closed position to additionally operate as a sidewall for the second storage element during washing. In addition, in some embodiments, the second storage element defines a shelf with an open front facing the exterior door when the exterior door is in the closed position.
In some embodiments, the at least one spray device includes a first spray device supported on the exterior door. In addition, in some embodiments, the exterior door is a hinged door rotatably coupled to the housing through at least one hinge, the at least one hinge includes a first hinge, and the wall mounted dishwasher further includes a supply line extending through the first hinge and in fluid communication between the pump and the first spray device to supply wash fluid from the pump to the first spray device. In addition, some embodiments may further include a docking arrangement in fluid communication with the first spray device, the docking arrangement including first and second docking members configured to dock with one another when the exterior door is in the closed position to place the first spray device in fluid communication with the pump when the exterior door is in the closed position, and to separate from one another when the exterior door is moved from the closed position.
In some embodiments, the exterior door includes a fluid collection pan disposed below the first storage element. Moreover, in some embodiments, the exterior door is a hinged door rotatably coupled to the housing through at least one hinge, the at least one hinge includes a first hinge, and the wall mounted dishwasher further includes a drain line extending through the first hinge and in fluid communication with the fluid collection pan. Some embodiments may also include a docking arrangement in fluid communication with the fluid collection pan, the docking arrangement including first and second docking members configured to dock with one another when the exterior door is in the closed position and to separate from one another when the exterior door is moved from the closed position.
In some embodiments, the housing is sized and configured to mount on a kitchen wall adjacent one or more wall cabinets. In addition, some embodiments may also include an exterior panel mounted on an exterior surface of the exterior door to mimic a wall cabinet door. In some embodiments, the housing is sized and configured to mount in a boat or recreational vehicle.
Some embodiments may further include a controller configured to operate the pump when performing a wash cycle. In addition, some embodiments may further include a storage element detector configured to detect a storage element type for at least one of the first and second storage elements, and the controller is configured to control at least one operational parameter of a wash cycle based upon the detected storage element type of the at least one of the first and second storage elements.
In some embodiments, the wash tub is a first wash tub, the exterior door is a first exterior door that controls external access to the first wash tub, and the wall mounted dishwasher includes a second wash tub and a second exterior door that controls external access to the second wash tub. In addition, in some embodiments, the controller is configured to perform separate wash cycles in the first and second wash tubs.
Also, in some embodiments, the controller is further configured to activate a beverage container warming system to warm beverage containers stored in the wash tub. Moreover, in some embodiments, the controller is further configured to activate a fan to maintain freshness of utensils stored in one or both of the first and second storage elements during long term storage.
Further, in some embodiments, the wall mountable housing includes a storage compartment configured to store one or more utensils, and the exterior door further controls external access to the storage compartment.
Consistent with another aspect of the invention, a dishwasher may include a housing defining at least a portion of a wash tub and including a side-facing opening, an exterior door coupled to the housing, the exterior door movable between a closed position that restricts external access to the wash tub through the side-facing opening and an open position that provides external access to the wash tub through the side-facing opening, a storage element supported by the exterior door and configured to move with the exterior door, the storage element configured to store one or more utensils during washing, and at least one spray device supported by the exterior door and configured to move with the exterior door, the at least one spray device configured to spray wash fluid into the wash tub and supported by the exterior door.
Consistent with another aspect of the invention, a wall mounted dishwasher may include a wall mountable housing, a hinged exterior door pivotably coupled to the wall mountable housing, the hinged exterior door pivotable about a substantially vertical axis between closed and opened positions, a storage element supported by the exterior door and configured to move with the exterior door, the storage element configured to store one or more utensils during washing, a fluid collection pan supported by the exterior door and disposed below the storage element, the fluid collection pan configured to collect fluid that drips from the storage element and the one or more utensils.
Other embodiments may include various methods for making and/or using any of the aforementioned constructions.
These and other advantages and features, which characterize the invention, are set forth in the claims annexed hereto and forming a further part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, and of the advantages and objectives attained through its use, reference should be made to the Drawings, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is described example embodiments of the invention. This summary is merely provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed description, and is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Turning now to the drawings, wherein like numbers denote like parts throughout the several views,
While not required by the invention, dishwasher 10 may be positioned above counter height, e.g., above a countertop 16 supported by a plurality of base cabinets 18, and in some instances, positioned proximate a sink 20 supplied with water by a faucet 22. In the United States, for example, the countertop may be at a height of approximately 36 inches, although other countertop heights may be used. In some instances, dishwasher 10 may have a height and elevational placement compatible with other wall mounted cabinets in room 14, e.g., wall mount cabinets 24 shown on an adjacent wall 26. In other embodiments, dishwasher 10 may not be positioned over a countertop, and may instead be integrated into a tall cabinet system.
Dishwasher 10 a residential-type built-in dishwasher, and includes a wall mountable housing 28 defining at least a portion of a wash tub 30 having a side-facing opening, along with an exterior door 32 coupled thereto and movable between a closed position (
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Controller 40 may also be coupled to a dispenser 56 to trigger the dispensing of detergent and/or rinse agent into the wash tub at appropriate points during a wash cycle. Additional sensors and actuators may also be used in some embodiments, including a temperature sensor 58 to determine a wash fluid temperature, and a door switch 60 to determine when door 32 is latched. Moreover, controller 40 may be coupled to a user interface 62 including various input/output devices such as knobs, dials, sliders, switches, buttons, lights, textual and/or graphics displays, touch screen displays, speakers, image capture devices, microphones, etc. for receiving input from and communicating with a user (e.g., at least partially disposed on control panel 38 of
Moreover, in some embodiments, at least a portion of controller 40 may be implemented externally from dishwasher 10, e.g., within a mobile device, a cloud computing environment, etc., such that at least a portion of the functionality described herein is implemented within the portion of the controller that is externally implemented. In some embodiments, controller 40 may operate under the control of an operating system and may execute or otherwise rely upon various computer software applications, components, programs, objects, modules, data structures, etc. In addition, controller 40 may also incorporate hardware logic to implement some or all of the functionality disclosed herein. Further, in some embodiments, the sequences of operations performed by controller 40 to implement the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented using program code including one or more instructions that are resident at various times in various memory and storage devices, and that, when read and executed by one or more hardware-based processors, perform the operations embodying desired functionality. Moreover, in some embodiments, such program code may be distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that the invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of computer readable media used to actually carry out the distribution, including, for example, non-transitory computer readable storage media. In addition, it will be appreciated that the various operations described herein may be combined, split, reordered, reversed, varied, omitted, parallelized and/or supplemented with other techniques known in the art, and therefore, the invention is not limited to the particular sequences of operations described herein.
Now turning specifically to
In the illustrated embodiment of
A door-supported storage element 86, within the context of the invention, may include any storage element that is at least in part supported by exterior door 32 (e.g., on an inner surface 90 thereof) and is configured to move with the exterior door when the exterior door is opened. A tub-supported storage element 88, in contrast, is supported within wash tub 30, either by one or more walls 92 of the wash tub (e.g., side and/or rear walls thereof) or by another structure supported by the wash tub, and is configured to remain within the wash tub when exterior door 32 is moved from the closed position to the open position.
In the illustrated embodiment of
Moreover, in the illustrated embodiment of
It may also be desirable to incorporate into exterior door 32 a fluid collection pan 98, which is supported by door 32 and disposed underneath door-supported storage elements 86 to capture any moisture that may drip from the storage elements and/or any utensils stored therein. It will be appreciated, in particular, that as door 32 is moved to an open position, moisture could otherwise drip onto the countertop or the floor absent pan 98, so pan 98 may be used to prevent unwanted dripping from occurring. As will also become more apparent below, pan 98 may also be in fluid communication with a drain line to drain any captured moisture into sump 80.
In addition, by virtue of the use of door-supported storage elements 86, it will be appreciated placement of utensils onto such storage elements and removal of utensils from such storage elements may be facilitated by the fact that door 32 may be moved into a position that is more convenient for the user.
A number of additional features and/or alternate constructions for a wall mounted dishwasher may be used in other embodiments.
As shown in
It will also be appreciated that in some embodiments, it may also be desirable to provide a manner of communicating wash fluid to a door-supported spray device such as a nozzle 114 and/or of communicating fluid collected in pan 116 back to sump 120, and to do so in a manner that accommodates the movable nature of door 106.
Alternatively, as illustrated by dishwasher 100′ of
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In particular,
In addition, dishwasher 150 includes tub mounts 168 and a door mount 170 suitable for attaching and supporting various types of storage elements. Tub mounts 168, for example, may be used to support a shelf-type tub-supported storage element 172 similar to that used in dishwashers 10 and 100 above, as well as other types of storage elements. A sliding rack-type storage element 174, including a silverware basket 176 and slides 178, is illustrated as one example, although it will be appreciated that practically any type of storage element may be supported in different embodiments. Similarly, door mount 170 may be used to support a basket-type door-supported storage element 180, as well as other types of storage elements, such as a wine glass basket 182 that includes a set of stem holders 184 for retaining wine glasses in an inverted position, or practically any other type of storage element that may be desired.
Mounts 168, 170 may incorporate various types of attachment mechanisms, such as hooks, locking tabs, snap fits, etc. Moreover, multiple mounts may be used to support different mounting locations or elevations in some embodiments.
In addition, it may be desirable to utilize storage element detectors, e.g., storage element detectors 186, 188, to detect the presence of and/or the type of storage element currently being used. Various sensing technologies may be used, e.g., RFID, mechanical switches, etc. to detect whether a storage element is mounted and/or what type of storage element is being used. For RFID, as an example, RFID tags 190 may be mounted to each storage element 172, 174, 180, 182 for sensing by detectors 186, 188.
Based upon whether a storage element is mounted at a particular location and/or the type of storage element mounted, a controller (e.g., controller 40 of
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While in this embodiment, additional housing-supported storage elements and/or spray devices may be used, it may be desirable in some instances to omit such housing-supported components, and instead use a back wall 218 of housing 202 to seal wash tub 208 such that all storage elements and spray devices are supported on the door. Furthermore, while mechanical station 216 in the illustrated embodiment is supported by housing 202, in other embodiments, some or all of the mechanical and/or electro-mechanical components housed in mechanical station 216 may be supported by door 204, including a configuration where all of the functional components of the dishwasher are essentially built into the door.
Housing 202 is supported on a wall 220, which in this embodiment may be the wall of a recreational vehicle or boat, or in the alternative, a commercial or residential structure, such that housing 202 is appropriately sized and configured to mount therein. In a recreational vehicle or boat, for example, housing 202 may be sized and configured to install into a wall unit along with other cabinets and/or appliances.
It will be appreciated that some embodiments of the invention may also support the use of multiple wash tubs and/or storage compartments to facilitate long term storage of utensils. For example,
In addition to the volume defined by wash tub 254, dishwasher 250 further includes a volume 268, which in some embodiments may be a storage compartment for longer-term storage of utensils, and in other embodiments may be a second wash tub for use in washing utensils stored therein. External access to wash tub 254 and to volume 268 is controlled by the same exterior door 256, so it will be appreciated that an exterior door in some embodiments may be capable of providing external access to multiple volumes within a dishwasher.
Various storage elements may be supported on or within wash tub 254, volume 268 or exterior door 256 for use in storing and/or washing various types of utensils. In some embodiments, for example, volume 268 may be configured as a storage compartment, with clean utensils maintained in volume 268 for long term storage and dirty utensils placed after use in wash tub 254 (or in storage element 266). After running a wash cycle, the utensils in wash tub 254 may be moved easily from wash tub 254 to volume 268.
In other embodiments, volume 268 may be configured as a second wash tub, enabling dirty utensils to be placed after use into one of the wash tubs, while clean utensils may still be accessed from the other wash tub until all of the clean utensils have been used. Once all clean utensils have been removed from the other wash tub, a wash cycle may be run to wash the dirty utensils, with the roles of the two wash tubs essentially reversed, and without requiring utensils to be removed from a wash tub after the wash cycle is complete. It will also be appreciated that, rather than having a single exterior door 256, separate exterior doors may be used to access wash tub 254 and volume 268 in some embodiments.
In this embodiment, any of volumes 284, 286, 288 may be configured as a wash tub and may include suitable components for washing utensils stored therein, or any of volumes 284, 286, 288 may be configured as a storage compartment used for longer term storage of utensils. Thus, it will be appreciated that different embodiments may utilize different combinations of door types, wash tubs, storage compartments and storage elements suitable for different applications. Moreover, spray devices may be supported in various volumes and/or on various exterior doors in different embodiments, and it may be desirable for any exterior doors that provide external access to a wash tub include fluid collection pans to minimize dripping from any storage elements or utensils supported by the doors.
It will be appreciated that in different embodiments, wall mounted dishwashers as described herein may be used for longer term storage of utensils, e.g., for daily use by consumers in a similar manner to a kitchen cabinet. Through placement of a wall mounted dishwasher in a location that is at eye level and/or adjacent other kitchen cabinets, a consumer may, in many instances, simply leave utensils within the dishwasher between wash cycles. In such circumstances, it may also be desirable for a wall mounted dishwasher to include functionality, e.g., as programmed into controller 40 for automatic operation and/or manual selection by a consumer, to periodically treat utensils stored in the dishwasher. For example, it may be desirable to periodically or on-demand activate fan 54 (
It will be appreciated that the various features discussed above in connection with different embodiments may be used together in some embodiments, so the fact that a particular feature is discussed in the context of one embodiment and is illustrated in only some figures does not mean that the feature is exclusive to that embodiment and could not be combined with features discussed in the context of other embodiments and/or figures.
Various other modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the invention lies in the claims hereinafter appended.