Appliance door assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10612296-B2
Application number	US-201916375211-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2019
Priority date	Nov 14, 2016
Publication date	Apr 7, 2020
Grant date	Apr 7, 2020

Abstract

A laundry appliance door assembly with a wire cover to protect the wire conductor that passes through the door hinge where it has a tendency to get pulled and damaged when the door is in motion. The wire cover includes a wire cover and a wire conduit coaxially connected together allowing the wire cover to rotate relative to the wiring conduit while within alignment of the hinge rotational axis. The wire cover comprises two lateral halves for ease of installation where it is designed to encase the wire conductor that passes through the door hinge.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An appliance door assembly, comprising:
a first door frame;
a second door frame;
a hinge having a first hinge plate mounted to the first door frame, and a second hinge plate mounted to the second door frame, wherein the first hinge plate is rotatable relative to the second hinge plate about a hinge rotational axis; and
a wire cover that is rotatable about the hinge rotational axis and having a first half and a second half defining a wire channel through which an electrical conductor can pass between the first door frame and the second door frame, the wire cover forming a L-shaped configuration with a first leg and a second leg.

2. The appliance door assembly of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first leg or the second legs forms the wire channel.

3. The appliance door assembly of claim 2 wherein an other of the first leg or the second legs rotates about the hinge rotational axis.

4. The appliance door assembly of claim 3 wherein the hinge further comprises a hinge pin rotatably coupling the first hinge plate and the second hinge plates, with the hinge pin defining the rotational axis, and the other of the first leg or the second legs rotates about the hinge pin.

5. The appliance door assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a wiring conduit located within the second door frame.

6. The appliance door assembly of claim 5 , further comprising a rotary coupling rotatably connecting the wiring conduit to the wire cover.

7. An appliance door assembly, comprising:
a first door frame;
a second door frame;
a hinge having a first hinge plate mounted to the first door frame, and a second hinge plate mounted to the second door frame, wherein the first hinge plate is rotatable relative to the second hinge plate about a hinge rotational axis; and
a wire cover that is rotatable about the hinge rotational axis and having a first half and a second half defining a wire channel through which an electrical conductor can pass between the first door frame and the second door frame and at least one of the first half or the second half has a connector seat.

8. The appliance door assembly of claim 7 wherein, in a partially assembled configuration, the wire cover is rotatable relative to one of the first door frame or the second door frames to expose the connector seat relative to the one of the first door frame or the second door frames.

9. The appliance door assembly of claim 8 wherein, in the partially assembled configuration, the wire cover is secured to an other of the first door frame or the second door frames by a fastener securing the wire cover to one of the first door frame or the first hinge plate.

10. The appliance door assembly of claim 7 wherein the first half and the second half comprise a first lateral half and a second lateral half that are releasably secured together.

11. The appliance door assembly of claim 10 , further comprising a snap fit coupling the first lateral half and the second lateral half to releasably secure them together.

12. The appliance door assembly of claim 7 , further comprising a first electrical conductor having a first connector associated with the first door frame and a second electrical conductor having a second connector associated with the second door frame.

13. The appliance door assembly of claim 12 wherein the first connector extends through an opening in one of the first door frame or the first hinge plate.

14. The appliance door assembly of claim 12 wherein the first electrical conductor and the second electrical conductors conduct at least one of electrical power or data.

15. The appliance door assembly of claim 14 , further comprising a user interface provided with one of the first door frame or the second door frames and connected to another end of the corresponding first electrical conductor or the second electrical conductor.

16. The appliance door assembly of claim 15 wherein an other of the first door frame or the second door frames defines a window.

17. The appliance door assembly of claim 7 wherein at least one of the first door frame or the second door frames defines an access opening.

18. An appliance door assembly, comprising:
a first door frame;
a second door frame;
a hinge having a first hinge plate mounted to the first door frame, and a second hinge plate mounted to the second door frame, wherein the first hinge plate is rotatable relative to the second hinge plate about a hinge rotational axis;
a wire cover that is rotatable about the hinge rotational axis and having a first half and a second half defining a wire channel through which an electrical conductor can pass between the first door frame and the second door frame; and
at least one of:
a wiring conduit located within the second door frame and a rotary coupling rotatably connecting the wiring conduit to the wire cover; or
a first electrical conductor having a first connector associated with the first door frame and a second electrical conductor having a second connector associated with the second door frame wherein the first connector extends through an opening in one of the first door frame or the first hinge plate.

19. The appliance door assembly of claim 18 wherein the wiring conduit receives a portion of the wire cover to form the rotary coupling.

20. The appliance door assembly of claim 18 wherein the wire cover overlies the opening in an assembled configuration.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Frantz William
• Heater Timothy E
• Luhahi Ndjeka K
• Mawhorr Nicholas E
• Ramirez Jose Aldo
• Thalls Scott T

Classifications

• E05Y2900/312

  for washing machines or laundry dryers · CPC title

• E05D11/0081

  for transmitting energy, e.g. electrical cable routing · CPC title

• E05Y2900/30

  for domestic appliances · CPC title

• E05D3/08

  for swing-doors, i.e. openable by pushing from either side · CPC title

• D06F58/20

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