Laundry treating appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10316451-B2
Application number	US-201514809451-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 27, 2015
Priority date	Jul 27, 2015
Publication date	Jun 11, 2019
Grant date	Jun 11, 2019

Abstract

A laundry treating appliance includes a rotatable basket defining a treating chamber for receiving a load of laundry items for treatment, and an annular balance rings defining an annular chamber within, coupled with the basket for rotation therewith. The basket can further comprise a pair of walls comprising a perforated inner wrapper and an outer wall defining a space therebetween. The space fluidly couples to the annular chamber, permitting liquid to flow from the treating chamber, into the space and into the annular chamber to provide a restoring force to the system. The annular balance ring can further comprise a plurality of passages, fluidly coupling the treating chamber to the annular chamber.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laundry treating appliance for treating laundry according to a cycle of operation, comprising:
a basket defining a treating chamber, including a basket base and an annular, imperforate outer wall extending from the basket base and terminating at an upper end and a perforated inner wrapper concentric with and separated from the outer wall to define an annular intervening space, the basket configured to rotate about a generally vertical axis of rotation; and
an annular balance ring circumscribing and located at the upper end of the basket and defining an annular chamber, and having at least one inlet in fluid communication with the intervening space and at least one outlet provided on the balance ring in direct fluid communication with the treating chamber and overlying the basket base, with the annular balance ring provided radially interior of the perforated inner wrapper relative to an axis coincident with the generally vertical axis of rotation;
wherein an out-of-balance condition caused by a skewed axis of rotation of the basket urges a wash liquid from the basket to flow into the annular chamber via the at least one inlet to provide a restoring force to the basket toward a balance condition.

2. A laundry treating appliance according to claim 1 further comprising multiple inlets.

3. A laundry treating appliance according to claim 2 wherein the multiple inlets are spaced from each other at a lower portion of the annular chamber.

4. A laundry treating appliance according to claim 1 further comprising baffles in the annular chamber.

5. A laundry treating appliance according to claim 4 wherein the baffles are arranged in an alternating pattern along a radially inner surface and a radially outer surface of the inside of the annular chamber.

6. A laundry treating appliance according to claim 4 wherein the baffles are arranged in a complementary pattern along a radially inner surface and a radially outer surface inside of the annular chamber.

7. A laundry treating appliance according to claim 4 wherein the baffles are arranged along both an upper surface and a lower surface of the inside of the annular chamber.

8. A laundry treating appliance according to claim 4 wherein at least one of the baffles is at least partially disposed within the space between the outer wall and the inner perforated wrapper.

9. A laundry treating appliance according to claim 1 wherein the at least one outlet is in fluid communication with the treating chamber.

10. A laundry treating appliance according to claim 1 wherein a restoring force increases or decreases relative to an increase or decrease of the degree of the skewed axis of rotation.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Alexander Benjamin E
• Burgess Brent M
• Jones Christopher A
• Linden Aaron A
• Mueller Dale E
• Paustian Michele A
• Sharp Brenner M

Classifications

• D06F37/245 Primary

  Damping vibrations by displacing, supplying or ejecting a material, e.g. liquid, into or from counterbalancing pockets · CPC title

• D06F23/04

  and rotating or oscillating about a vertical axis · CPC title

• D06F33/02

  Textiles & Paper · mapped topic

• D06F25/00

  Washing machines with receptacles, e.g. perforated, having a rotary movement, e.g. oscillatory movement, the receptacle serving both for washing and for centrifugally separating water from the laundry and having further drying means, e.g. using hot air  (control of washing or of washing and drying D06F33/00, D06F34/00; domestic laundry dryers D06F58/00) · CPC title

• D06F34/28

  Arrangements for program selection, e.g. control panels therefor; Arrangements for indicating program parameters, e.g. the selected program or its progress · CPC title