Household appliance with at least one luminous surface in the treatment area

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10172507-B2
Application number	US-201214349342-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 11, 2012
Priority date	Oct 13, 2011
Publication date	Jan 8, 2019
Grant date	Jan 8, 2019

Abstract

A household appliance includes a plurality of walls which delimit a treatment compartment. At least one of the walls, e.g. a rear wall of the treatment compartment, is configured predominantly or entirely with a luminous surface element. The luminous surface element can be sized to occupy at least 50% of a surface of the at least one wall and formed by a plate-shaped or panel-type element.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A household dishwasher comprising a plurality of walls delimiting a treatment compartment, the household dishwasher comprising a dishwasher housing having a dishwashing compartment formed by the treatment compartment, at least one of the walls being configured predominantly or entirely with a luminous surface element which is operative to illuminate the treatment compartment, at least artificial light source which produces artificial light;
wherein the at least one of the walls is a rear wall of the treatment compartment,
wherein the luminous surface element comprises a plate-shaped luminous surface element which is configured to at least one of conduct or emit the artificial light,
wherein the plate-shaped luminous surface element has an internal wall surface which faces and is exposed to the treatment compartment,
wherein the plate-shaped luminous surface element is provided with at least one protective layer on the internal wall surface exposed to the treatment compartment and configured to protect against conditions prevailing in the treatment compartment including protecting against cleaning chemicals, the at least one protective layer being configured to allow the passage of the artificial light from the plate-shaped luminous surface element into the treatment compartment,
wherein the plate-shaped luminous surface element has an external wall surface which defines a rear external wall surface of the household dishwasher that is exposed to ambient surroundings,
wherein an outer edge region of the plate-shaped luminous surface element is fixed to the other of the plurality of walls, with each of the other plurality of walls having a flange with a mounting surface to which the plate-shaped luminous surface element is fixed, and
wherein each flange is directed inwardly so as to face an interior of the dishwashing compartment in the shape of a rectangular frame that defines a rectangular opening in a rear, vertical face of the dishwasher housing.

2. The household dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the luminous surface element is sized to occupy at least 50% of a surface of the at least one wall.

3. The household dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the luminous surface element is sized to occupy at least 75% of a surface of the at least one wall.

4. The household dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the luminous surface element is sized to occupy between 80% and 100% of a surface of the at least one wall.

5. The household dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the luminous surface element has a substantially flat internal wall surface facing the treatment compartment.

6. The household dishwasher of claim 5 , wherein the internal wall surface is smooth.

7. The household dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the luminous surface element is configured in one of three ways, a first way in which the luminous surface element fills an opening in the rear wall, a second way in which the luminous surface element fills an opening between the rear wall and an adjacent one of the walls of the treatment compartment, a third way in which the luminous surface element covers an opening in such a manner that edges overlap from external wall surfaces which form the mounting surface facing away from the treatment compartment.

8. The household dishwasher of claim 7 , further comprising at least one sealing member provided in a join between the luminous surface element and an edge of the opening.

9. The household dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the luminous surface element has a light-conducting or light-emitting characteristic sufficient to realize a substantially homogenous backlight.

10. A household dishwasher comprising a plurality of walls delimiting a treatment compartment, the household dishwasher comprising a dishwasher housing having a dishwashing compartment formed by the treatment compartment, at least one of the walls being configured predominantly or entirely with a luminous surface element which is operative to illuminate the treatment compartment,
wherein the at least one of the walls is a rear wall of the treatment compartment, the rear wall defining an exposed exterior vertical rear wall surface of the household dishwasher, and the rear wall being configured predominantly or entirely with the luminous surface element,
wherein an outer edge region of the rear wall is fixed to the other of the plurality of walls, with each of the other plurality of walls having a flange with a mounting surface to which the rear wall, which is configured predominantly or entirely with the luminous surface element, is fixed,
wherein each flange is directed inwardly so as to face an interior of the dishwashing compartment in the shape of a rectangular frame that defines a rectangular opening in a rear, vertical face of the dishwasher housing, and
wherein the luminous surface element has a light-conducting or light-emitting characteristic sufficient to enable at least one light beam from at least one light source disposed outside the treatment compartment to be coupled into the luminous surface element at at least one coupling-in point, to enable the coupled in light beam to be propagated in the luminous surface element from the coupling-in point in a propagation direction in parallel relationship to an internal wall surface of the luminous surface element in facing relationship to the treatment compartment, and to enable coupling out of a light beam from the propagated light beam from the internal wall surface of the luminous surface element at a coupling-out point, which is different from the coupling-in point, into the treatment compartment, with the luminous surface element being configured as largely non-transparent when viewed from the treatment compartment.

11. The household dishwasher of claim 10 , wherein the light beam is coupled out perpendicular to the propagation direction.

12. The household dishwasher of claim 10 , wherein the at least one light source is configured and disposed in such a manner that light beams emitted by the light source strike an external wall surface of the luminous surface element facing away from the treatment compartment at at least one point or at least one end face of the luminous surface element.

13. The household dishwasher of claim 10 , further comprising at least one optical transmission element coupled optically at one end to the light source and at another end to the luminous surface element.

14. The household dishwasher of claim 13 , wherein the at least one optical transmission element is an optical waveguide.

15. The household dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the luminous surface element is configured as a light guide with a large surface.

16. The household dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the luminous surface element is configured to emit light beams in a diffuse manner into the treatment compartment.

17. The household dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the luminous surface element has a material layer made of a member selected from the group consisting of glass, transparent plastic, translucent plastic, and a composite thereof.

18. The household dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the luminous surface element has extractors for coupling light out into the treatment compartment.

19. The household dishwasher of claim 17 , wherein the material layer of the luminous surface element contains scattering or reflecting particles.

20. The household dishwasher of claim 19 , wherein the scattering or reflecting particles are colored particles.

21. The household dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein

Assignees

• Bsh Bosch & Siemens Hausgeraete Gmbh
• Bsh Hausgeraete Gmbh

Inventors

• Ott Thomas
• Rehm Karlheinz
• Rosenbauer Michael Georg
• Sachon Robert
• Schüssler Andreas

Classifications

• F21V33/0024

  Household or table equipment · CPC title

• G02B6/0095

  Light guides as housings, housing portions, shelves, doors, tiles, windows, or the like · CPC title

• A47L15/4257

  Details of the loading door · CPC title

• G02B6/0041

  provided in the bulk of the light guide · CPC title

• D06F58/20

  General details of domestic laundry dryers  (D06F59/00 takes precedence) · CPC title