Patent Application
20150083557
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water tank, especially to a water tank for household appliances.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
Some household appliances such as dehumidifiers have water tanks to collect water. When the household appliance is operated, the moist air is drawn into the household appliance. Then the moist air is transformed into water and is collected in the water tank. When the water tank collects a certain amount of water, the household appliance stops operating until the user empties the water tank.
With reference to
In a normal status, the float 70 is positioned horizontally and the actuating rod 701 presses against the lever 801 such that the micro switch 80 is switched on and the household appliance is operated. Then water is collected continuously in the container 60.
When the collected water in the container 60 is gradually increased, the water lever raises to pivot the float 70 until the actuating rod 701 leaves the lever 801. The lever 801 is pivoted toward the container 60 and the actuating rod 701 abuts between the bottom of the lever 801 and the sidewall of the container 60. Then an open circuit is formed and the household appliance is stopped from operating and the water stops from flowing into the container 60. The user needs to pull the container 60 out of the shell 50 to empty the water inside so that the float 70 is allowed to pivot back to the horizontal status. Then the container 60 is pushed back into the shell 50 so that the actuating rod 701 presses the lever 801 again. The micro switch 80 is then on and the household appliance is restarted.
However, since the actuating rod 701 abuts between the bottom of the lever 801 and the sidewall of the container 60 when the float 70 is pivoted, if the float 70 is accidentally pivoted because the household appliance is placed upside down or is vibrated, the float 70 cannot self-pivot back to the original position. Even if the container 60 has no water inside, the actuating rod 701 may abut against the bottom of the lever 801 and cannot press the lever 801 to actuate the micro switch 80. Therefore, the user needs to pull out and push back the container 60 to restart the household appliance regardless that the container 60 is full or not.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a water tank with a magnetic reed switch to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide a water tank with a magnetic reed switch. The water tank is mounted in a household appliance and has a shell, a container, a float and a magnetic reed switch. The container is mounted slidably in the shell. The float is mounted pivotally in the container and has an actuating rod. The magnetic reed switch is mounted securely on the outside wall of the shell and corresponds to and separates from the actuating rod. Since the actuating rod utilizes magnetic force to switch the magnetic reed switch on and off, the actuating rod and the magnetic reed switch need no abutting structures. Therefore, when the actuating rod is pivoted by an accidental force, the actuating rod self-pivots back to its original position once the accidental force is removed. Then the magnetic reed switch is switched on again so that the household appliance is restarted without any extra acts by a user.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
With reference to
The container 20 is hollow, is mounted slidably in the opening 11 of the shell 10 and has an opening 21 and a gap 22. The opening 21 of the container 20 is formed through a top of the container 20. The gap 22 of the container 20 is formed through a side of the container 20 and communicates with the gap 12 of the shell 10.
With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
Since on-and-off of the magnetic reed switch 40 is changed by the alignment between the magnet 32 on the actuating rod 31 and the inner ends 422 of the magnetic reeds 42, the magnetic reed switch 40 and the actuating rod 31 do not have to contact or abut against each other. Therefore, if the household appliance is accidentally moved or positioned upside down to pivot the float 30 and the magnet 32 on the actuating rod 31 misaligns with the inner ends 422 of the magnetic reeds 42, the magnet 32 on the actuating rod 31 can always re-align with the inner ends 422 of the magnetic reeds 42 once the household appliance is reinstated to the original position. Therefore, the magnetic reed switch 40 is automatically on again and the household appliance is restarted without any extra acts by the user.
Moreover, since the magnetic reed switch 40 is mounted securely on the outside wall of the shell 10 and needs no other pivoting structures, the structures of the water tank as described are simplified.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only.
Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
