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-10138587-B2
Application number	US-201615092136-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 6, 2016
Priority date	Jul 1, 2008
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

A household cleaning appliance having 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 method for operating the household cleaning appliance. The household cleaning appliance includes a dispensing system that includes and can be operated as a non-bulk dispensing system or as a bulk dispensing system in a household cleaning appliance.

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 rotatable drum is vertical; and
a dispensing system configurable to operate with either single use dispensing functionality or bulk dispensing functionality based on user selection; wherein
the dispensing system includes:
a single use dispensing chamber located within the cabinet, wherein the single use dispensing chamber is fluidly coupled to the treating chamber, and wherein the single use dispensing chamber stores a single dose of treating chemistry that the dispensing system dispenses to the treating chamber as part of the execution of the cleaning cycle;
a bulk dispensing chamber configured to store multiple doses of a liquid treating chemistry; and
a treating chemistry meter fluidly coupled with the bulk dispensing chamber and the single use dispensing chamber, wherein the treating chemistry meter is configured to control dosing of the treating chemistry from the bulk dispensing chamber to the single use dispensing chamber as part of the execution of the cleaning cycle;
wherein the treating chemistry meter is configured to dispense at least one of the multiple doses of the liquid treating chemistry into the single use dispensing chamber such that the single use dispensing chamber is provided with bulk dispensing functionality to define a bulk dispensing system.

2. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 1 wherein the bulk dispensing chamber is within a bulk dispensing cartridge that is selectively receivable within the cabinet.

3. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 2 wherein the bulk dispensing cartridge is a drawer that is slideably received within a portion of the cabinet.

4. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 2 , further comprising a drawer and where the drawer is configured to be slideably moveable between an opened position and a closed position, where the drawer is within the cabinet.

5. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 1 , further comprising a water supply selectively fluidly coupled to the single use dispensing chamber to dispense the metered treating chemistry from the single use dispensing chamber into the treating chamber.

6. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 1 wherein the single use dispensing chamber includes a siphon or outlet fluidly coupled to the treating chamber.

7. A household cleaning appliance configured to execute an automatic cleaning cycle, 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 rotatable drum is vertical;
a dispensing system, comprising:
a non-bulk dispensing system having a set of dispensing chambers spaced about the rotatable drum and fluidly coupled to the treating chamber, wherein the dispensing chamber stores a single dose of treating chemistry that the dispensing system dispenses to the treating chamber as part of execution of the automatic cleaning cycle;
a bulk dispensing cartridge configured to store multiple doses of a treating chemistry; and
a treating chemistry meter fluidly coupling the bulk dispensing cartridge and the one of the set of dispensing chambers and, wherein the treating chemistry meter is configured to control dosing of the treating chemistry from the bulk dispensing cartridge to the one of the set of dispensing chambers as part of execution of the automatic cleaning cycle;

wherein when the bulk dispensing cartridge is fluidly coupled to the one of the set of dispensing chambers via the treating chemistry meter the non-bulk dispensing system is provided with functionality of a bulk dispensing system.

8. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 7 wherein the bulk dispensing cartridge 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 position and closed position through which the interior treating chemistry chamber may be filled when the closing element is in the opened position.

9. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 7 wherein the bulk dispensing cartridge is integrally formed with a drawer receivable within a portion of the cabinet, defining a closed position, and wherein the treating chemistry meter fluidly couples the bulk dispensing cartridge and the one of the set of dispensing chambers when the drawer is in the closed position.

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

11. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 7 , further comprising a controller configured to implement the automatic cleaning cycle and operably coupled to the treating chemistry meter and configured to control operation of the treating chemistry meter to thereby control the dosing of the treating chemistry from the bulk dispensing cartridge to the one of the set of dispensing chambers.

12. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 7 , further comprising a drawer configured to receive the bulk dispensing cartridge and the drawer is configured to be slideably moveable between an opened position and a closed position, where the drawer is within the cabinet.

13. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 12 wherein the treating chemistry meter operably couples the bulk dispensing cartridge to the dispensing system when the drawer is in the closed position to control the dosing of the treating chemistry from the bulk dispensing cartridge to the dispensing system.

14. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 7 , further comprising a water supply selectively fluidly coupled to each of the set of dispensing chambers including to the one of the set of dispensing chambers to dispense the dosed treating chemistry from the one of the set of dispensing chambers into the treating chamber.

15. The household cleaning appliance according to claim 7 wherein the one of the set of dispensing chambers includes a siphon or outlet fluidly coupled to the treating chamber.

16. 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 rotatable drum is vertical; and
a dispensing system configurable to operate with either single use dispensing functionality or bulk dispensing functionality based on user selection; wherein
the dispensing system includes:
a single use dispensing chamber located within the cabinet, wherein the single use dispensing chamber is fluidly coupled to the treating chamber, and wherein the single use dispensing chamber stores a single dose of treating chemistry that the dispensing system dispenses to the treating chamber as part of execution of the cleaning cycle;
a bulk dispensing chamber configured to store multiple doses of a liquid treating chemistry; and
a treating chemistry meter fluidly coupled with the bulk dispensing chamber and the single use dispensing chamber, wherein the treating chemistry meter is configured to control dosing of the treating chemistry

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Doyle Colleen M
• Hendrickson Michael S
• Luckman Joel A
• Adams Joseph W
• Gallagher Eric A
• Riutta Erik D
• Singhal Ajay
• Stormo Guy

Classifications

• D06F39/022 Primary

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

• D06F39/028

  Arrangements for selectively supplying water to detergent compartments · CPC title

• D06F2202/02

  Textiles & Paper · mapped topic

• D06F33/02

  Textiles & Paper · mapped topic

• D06F39/026

  the powder or tablets being added directly, e.g. without the need of a flushing liquid · CPC title