Dishwasher having interior lighting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10281134-B2
Application number	US-201715461565-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 17, 2017
Priority date	Mar 18, 2016
Publication date	May 7, 2019
Grant date	May 7, 2019

Abstract

A dishwasher, in particular a household dishwasher, includes a dishwasher cavity for cleaning dishes, glasses, cutlery or similar wash items. The dishwasher cavity has a plurality of walls that delimit it, with at least one of the walls including a through-hole. A flat lighting unit is configured for placement in the through-hole such as to be pressed by a mechanical force application element against edge regions surrounding the through-hole.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A dishwasher, comprising:
a dishwasher cavity for cleaning dishes, glasses, cutlery or similar wash items, said dishwasher cavity having a plurality of walls that delimit the dishwasher cavity, at least one of the walls including a through-hole;
a flat lighting unit configured for placement in the through-hole; and
a mechanical force application element configured to press the lighting unit against an edge region surrounding the through-hole without using an adhesive,
wherein the mechanical force application element is configured to penetrate the edge region and is locked on an opposing side of the at least one of the walls.

2. The dishwasher of claim 1 , constructed in the form of a household dishwasher.

3. The dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the force application element is configured to press the lighting unit from outside with a force component in a direction of an interior of the dishwasher cavity against the edge region.

4. The dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the force application element is configured to exert a compressive force on the lighting unit.

5. The dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the force application element is configured to exert a tensile force in a direction of the edge region of the through-hole.

6. The dishwasher of claim 5 , wherein the force application element to exert the tensile force is formed by at least one of a locked screw or other pin-shaped penetration element.

7. The dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the edge region has a plurality of holes encircling the through-hole for receiving corresponding ones of said force application element.

8. The dishwasher of claim 7 , wherein at least one of the holes in the edge region is provided above the through-hole, at least one of the holes in the edge region is provided below the through-hole, at least one of the holes in the edge region is provided to the right of the through-hole, and at least one of the holes in the edge region is provided to the left of the through-hole.

9. The dishwasher of claim 1 , further comprising a masking frame configured to overlap the force application element on an inside of the at least one of the walls in facing relation to an interior of the dishwasher cavity.

10. The dishwasher of claim 8 , wherein the force application element comprises an externally contoured pin or screw which penetrates the at least one of the walls and is an integral component of a modular unit encompassing the masking frame.

11. The dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the lighting unit comprises a transparent surface configured for illumination by LED.

12. The dishwasher of claim 11 , wherein the transparent surface has an edge region, and further comprising a plurality of LED units associated with the edge region of the transparent surface.

13. The dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the lighting unit comprises a rear holding frame.

14. The dishwasher of claim 1 , further comprising a seal associated with the lighting unit, said seal encircling the through-hole of the at least one of the walls and being deformable when subjected to pressing.

15. The dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein another one of the plurality of walls forms a door, said at least one of the walls forming a back wall which is located in opposite relation to the door and associated with the lighting unit.

16. The dishwasher of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of said lighting unit associated with the at least one of the walls and arranged in a pattern side by side and/or one above the other.

17. The dishwasher of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of said lighting unit defines two lighting units provided side by side and three lighting units provided one above the other.

18. The dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the lighting unit forms a rectangular shape having edge lengths between 15 and 20 centimeters.

19. The dishwasher of claim 1 , wherein the through-hole is provided in the at least one of the walls at a location where the at least one of the walls has impressed fields or troughs following its production.

Assignees

• Bsh Hausgeraete Gmbh

Inventors

• Grohmann Florian
• Tremmel Thomas
• Gerstner Norbert

Classifications

• F21V33/0044 Primary

  Household appliances, e.g. washing machines or vacuum cleaners · CPC title

• F21W2131/30

  Lighting for domestic or personal use · CPC title

• F21Y2115/10

  Light-emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• F21V15/04

  Resilient mountings, e.g. shock absorbers  {(shock absorbing devices of vehicle headlamp housings B60Q1/0491; in general F16F15/04)} · CPC title

• A47L15/4274 Primary

  Arrangement of electrical components, e.g. control units or cables (A47L15/4293 takes precedence) · CPC title