Household cleaning appliance with a dispensing system operable between a single use dispensing system and a bulk dispensing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10132023-B2
Application number	US-201615137475-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 25, 2016
Priority date	Jul 1, 2008
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

In a household cleaning appliance configured to execute a cleaning cycle on an article, having a non-bulk dispensing system that stores a single dose of treating chemistry that the dispensing system dispenses to the treating chamber in total as part of the execution of the cleaning cycle, the method includes adding bulk dispensing functionality to the non-bulk dispensing system for operating the dispensing system as a bulk dispensing system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A household cleaning appliance configured to execute a cleaning cycle on an article, comprising:
a cabinet defining an interior;
a rotatable drum located within the interior and defining a treating chamber for receiving an article for treating and wherein a rotational axis of the drum is vertical; and
a dispensing system, comprising:
a non-bulk dispensing system including a housing that is fluidly coupled to the treating chamber;
a drawer storing multiple doses of a liquid treating chemistry, where the drawer is configured to be slideably moveable between an opened position and a closed position, where the drawer is within the cabinet; and
a treating chemistry meter operable to couple the drawer to the housing of the non-bulk dispensing system when the drawer is in the closed position to control dosing of the liquid treating chemistry from the drawer to the housing of the non-bulk dispensing system such that the non-bulk dispensing system is provided with functionality of a bulk dispensing system.

2. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to implement the cleaning cycle and operably coupled to the treating chemistry meter to control dosing of the liquid treating chemistry to the non-bulk dispensing system.

3. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 2 , further comprising a user interface electrically coupled with the controller and enabling a user to input commands to the controller.

4. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 3 wherein the controller is configured to receive at least one cleaning cycle, cycle parameter, or cycle option from the user interface and implement the at least one cleaning cycle, cycle parameter, or cycle option.

5. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 1 wherein the drawer further comprises a bulk dispensing cartridge that defines an interior treating chemistry chamber accessible through an opening configured to be selectively closed by a closing element that is operable between an opened and closed position through which the interior treating chemistry chamber can be filled when the closing element is in the opened position.

6. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 5 wherein the bulk dispensing cartridge is received within the drawer.

7. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 1 wherein the treating chemistry meter is configured to dispense multiple doses of liquid treating chemistry during the cleaning cycle.

8. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 1 wherein the treating chemistry meter comprises a pump.

9. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 1 wherein the treating chemistry meter is mounted to the cabinet.

10. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 9 , further comprising a fluid coupling configured to fluidly couple the multiple doses of the liquid treating chemistry stored in the drawer to the treating chemistry meter.

11. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 10 , further comprising a second fluid coupling configured to fluidly couple the treating chemistry meter to the non-bulk dispensing system.

12. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 11 , further comprising a water supply selectively fluidly coupled to the non-bulk dispensing system to dispense the dosed liquid treating chemistry into the treating chamber.

13. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 1 , further comprising a water supply selectively fluidly coupled to the non-bulk dispensing system to dispense the dosed liquid treating chemistry into the treating chamber.

14. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 1 wherein the non-bulk dispensing system comprises a chamber with a siphon or outlet fluidly coupled to the treating chamber.

15. In the household cleaning appliance according to claim 1 , a method comprising:
adding bulk dispensing functionality to the non-bulk dispensing system by including the drawer, storing multiple doses of the liquid treating chemistry, within the cabinet of the household cleaning appliance wherein the drawer is configured to be slideably moveable between the opened position and the closed position, where the drawer is within the cabinet of the household cleaning appliance;
wherein when the drawer is in the closed position the treating chemistry meter operably couples the drawer to the housing of the non-bulk dispensing system when the drawer is in the closed position to control dosing of the liquid treating chemistry from the drawer to the housing of the non-bulk dispensing system such that the non-bulk dispelling system is provided with functionality of the bulk dispensing system.

16. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising metering the liquid treating chemistry from the drawer to the housing.

17. The method according to claim 16 , further comprising flushing the housing to dispense the metered liquid treating chemistry into the treating chamber.

18. The method according to claim 15 wherein the adding bulk dispensing functionality further comprises metering the liquid treating chemistry from the drawer to the non-bulk dispensing system.

19. The method according to claim 18 , further comprising flushing the non-bulk dispensing system to dispense the metered liquid treating chemistry into the treating chamber.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Doyle Colleen M
• Hendrickson Michael S
• Luckman Joel A

Classifications

• D06F37/12

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

• D06F39/022 Primary

  in a liquid state (D06F39/024 takes precedence) · CPC title

• D06F35/005

  Methods for washing, rinsing or spin-drying · CPC title

• D06F2202/02

  Textiles & Paper · mapped topic

• D06F39/02

  Devices for adding soap or other washing agents · CPC title