Flange structure at bottom of inner tub of washing machine and a washing machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10113259-B2
Application number	US-201415324113-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2014
Priority date	Jul 7, 2014
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

The present invention discloses a flange structure at a bottom of an inner tub of a washing machine, comprises a shaft joint portion locating at a center of the flange and an annular mounting portion which is fixedly connected with the bottom of the inner tub of the washing machine and is at an outer periphery of the shaft joint portion, and a plurality of connecting portions being provided between the mounting portion and the shaft joint portion. The connecting portions include a main rib extending from the mounting portion to the shaft joint portion, and a plurality of transverse ribs are arranged on both sides of the main rib along an extending direction of a main rib respectively in turn, and a filter portion is formed by the plurality of connecting portions cooperating together, which is a region between the mounting portion and the shaft joint portion.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A flange structure for use at a bottom of an inner tub of a washing machine, comprising
a shaft joint portion located at a center of the flange,
an annular mounting portion configured to be fixedly connected with the bottom of the inner tub of the washing machine and located at an outer periphery of the shaft joint portion,
a plurality of connecting portions provided between the mounting portion and the shaft joint portion, each connecting portion including a main rib extending from the mounting portion to the shaft joint portion, and
a plurality of transverse ribs arranged on both sides of the main rib in an extending direction of the main rib respectively in turn,
wherein the connecting portions descend from the main rib towards both sides in an extending direction of the transverse ribs,
a V-shaped recess is formed between two adjacent connecting portions, and a V-shaped recess bottom end is a breach of the flange formed by a distance between the transverse ribs of the two main ribs for water flow,
and wherein a filter portion is formed in a region between the mounting portion and the shaft joint portion by the plurality of connecting portions.

2. The flange structure according to claim 1 , wherein a backlash is provided between two adjacent transverse ribs on the same side of any one of the main ribs.

3. The flange structure according to claim 1 wherein an upper surface of the main rib is an arc-shaped surface which descends in an arc-shaped transition from a center to both sides, and is smoothly connected with the transverse ribs on both sides.

4. The flange structure according to claim 3 , wherein one end of the transverse ribs is connected with the main rib smoothly and the other end is a curved end,
an upper surface of the transverse ribs is a curved surface which smoothly descends from a high center to both sides, and the transverse ribs incline down from one end connected to the main rib in the extending direction to the other end.

5. The flange structure according to claim 1 , wherein the main rib is arranged in the radial direction of the flange,
and each of the transverse ribs is curved and extends in a lateral direction of the main rib, and a curvature is set in correspondence with the circumferential position of the flange.

6. The flange structure according to claim 5 , wherein the transverse ribs on both sides of each main rib are arranged in intervals and staggered on different circumferences,
or, the transverse ribs on both sides of the same main rib are corresponding one by one, each two in a group is on a same circumference.

7. The flange structure according to claim 5 , wherein the transverse ribs between two adjacent main ribs are corresponding one by one, each two in a group is on a same circumference,
or, arranged in intervals and staggered on different circumferences.

8. The flange structure according to claim 1 , wherein the transverse ribs of the main ribs in each group are sequentially increased in length in the extending direction of the main rib from a connecting end of the shaft joint portion toward a connecting end of the mounting portion, and an inclination angle of the upper surface of the transverse ribs becomes smaller.

9. A washing machine, comprising an inner tub and an outer tub mounted inside the outer tub, wherein the flange structure according to claim 1 is mounted at a bottom of the inner tub, and the filter portion is formed by the plurality of connecting portions between the mounting portion and the shaft joint portion.

10. The flange structure according to claim 1 ,
wherein the connecting portion further comprises:
a reinforcing rib provided between two adjacent main ribs, one end of which is connected to the mounting portion and the other end of which freely extends toward the shaft joint portion,
a plurality of strengthening ribs arranged in order in an extending direction of the reinforcing rib on both sides of the reinforcing rib,
a space between the transverse ribs of the adjacent main ribs and a space between the transverse ribs of the main rib and the strengthening ribs of the reinforcing rib adjacent to each other together form a filter portion between the mounting portion and the shaft joint portion.

11. The flange structure according to claim 10 , wherein the main rib is gradually lowered toward both sides in an extending direction of the transverse ribs,
a V-shaped recess is formed between two columns of transverse ribs of the adjacent main ribs, and a V-shaped recess bottom end is a breach of the flange formed by a distance between the transverse ribs of the two main ribs for water flow,
and/or the reinforcing rib is gradually lowered toward both sides in an extending direction of the strengthening ribs, a gap is formed by a distance between a column of the transverse ribs and a column of the strengthening ribs adjacent to each other.

12. The flange structure according to claim 10 , wherein a backlash is provided between two adjacent transverse ribs on the same side of the main rib,
and/or, a backlash is provided between two adjacent transverse ribs on the same side of the reinforcing rib.

13. The flange structure according to claim 10 , wherein an upper surface of the main rib/the reinforcing rib is an arc-shaped surface which is descended in an arc-shaped transition from a center to both sides, and is smoothly connected with the transverse ribs/the strengthening ribs on both sides.

14. The flange structure according to claim 13 , wherein one end of the transverse ribs/the strengthening ribs is connected with the main rib/the reinforcing rib smoothly and the other end is a curved end,
an upper surface of the transverse ribs/the strengthening ribs is a curved surface which is smoothly descended from a high center to both sides, and the transverse ribs/the strengthening ribs incline down from one end connected to the main rib/reinforcing rib in the extending direction to the other end.

15. The flange structure according to claim 10 , wherein the main rib/reinforcing rib is arranged in a radial direction of the flange, and each of the transverse ribs/strengthening ribs is curved and extends in a lateral direction of the main rib/reinforcing rib, and a curvature is set in correspondence with the circumferential position of the flange.

16. The flange structure according to claim 15 , wherein the transverse ribs/strengthening ribs on both sides of each main rib/reinforcing rib are arranged in intervals and staggered on different circumferences, or,
the transverse ribs/strengthening ribs on both sides of the same main rib/reinforcing rib are corresponding one by one, and each two in a group is on a same circumference.

17. The flange structure according to claim 15 , wherein the transverse ribs of the main rib correspond to the strengthening ribs of the reinforcing rib adjacent to each other one by one, two of them in a group is on a same circumference, or, arranged in intervals and staggered on different circumferences.

18. The flange structure according to claim 10 , wherein a length of the reinforcing rib is smaller than a length of the main rib,
a length of the strengthening ribs changes corresponding to a change of a length of the transverse ribs of the adjacent main rib, the strengthening ribs and adjacent transverse ribs cooperate to form a filtration structure.

19. The flange structure according to claim 18 , wherein the length of the reinforcing rib is less than half the length of the main rib.

Assignees

• Qingdao Haier Washing Mach Co

Inventors

• Lv Peishi
• Yang Lin
• Cheng Baozhen
• Wang Lingchen
• Liu Zunan

Classifications

• D06F37/262

  made of plastic material, e.g. by injection moulding · CPC title

• D06F37/26

  Casings; Tubs · CPC title

• D06F37/12

  adapted for rotation or oscillation about a vertical axis · CPC title

• D06F39/10 Primary

  Filtering arrangements · CPC title

• D06F37/264 Primary

  Tubs provided with reinforcing structures, e.g. ribs, inserts, braces · CPC title