Foot for household appliance, and household appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11143354-B2
Application number	US-201816496070-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 23, 2018
Priority date	Mar 23, 2017
Publication date	Oct 12, 2021
Grant date	Oct 12, 2021

Abstract

A foot for a household appliance includes a hydraulic plate, a sheath connected with the hydraulic plate, an adjustable foot arranged in the sheath and axially moveable relative to the sheath, and a device for communicating the flow of a hydraulic medium between at least two feet of the household appliance. An accommodating chamber is formed by the hydraulic plate, the sheath and the adjustable foot; the hydraulic medium is arranged in the accommodating chamber, and the hydraulic medium is compressed or expanded along with the change of pressure to drive the adjustable foot to move axially in the sheath for leveling. A control device for turning on/off the flow of the hydraulic medium is provided on the communicating device, a better leveling support effect is achieved by controlling the on/off of the communicating device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A base for a household appliance, comprising:
at least two supports, each of the least two supports including;
a hydraulic plate;
a sheath, being fixedly connected with the hydraulic plate;
an adjustable foot, being arranged in the sheath and axially movable relative to the sheath, an accommodating chamber being formed by the hydraulic plate, the sheath and the adjustable foot;
a hydraulic medium, being arranged in the accommodating chamber, and the hydraulic medium being compressable or expandable depending on pressure changes for driving the adjustable foot to move axially in the sheath for leveling;
a communicating device for communicating the at least two supports for the household appliance to allow the hydraulic medium to flow between the at least two supports for the household appliance; and
a control device, for turning a flow of the hydraulic medium on or off, provided on the communicating device,
the communicating device including hydraulic pipes and a communicating piece, and the at least two supports for the household appliance configured to communicate with the communicating piece though the hydraulic pipes respectively, wherein the control device is provided in the communicating piece.

2. The base for the household appliance according to claim 1 , comprising:
at least one liquid flowing passage for circulating the hydraulic medium is provided inside the communicating piece, the control device configured to control the at least one liquid flow passage to be open or closed to turn on or off the flowing of the hydraulic medium.

3. The base for the household appliance according to claim 2 , wherein;
the at least one liquid flowing passage includes at least two liquid flow passages provided inside the communicating piece, a number of control devices provided is set according to a number of the at least two liquid flowing passages provided, each one of the control devices controls to turn on or off one of the at least two liquid flowing passages; or one of the control devices simultaneously controls to turn on or off all the at least two liquid flowing passages.

4. The base for the household appliance according to claim 2 , wherein:
the control device is a manual control valve, the manual control valve includes a sealing portion cooperating with the at least one liquid flowing passage and a connecting portion connected with the sealing portion, the sealing portion is driven by a motion of the connecting portion to turn on or off the at least one liquid flowing passage.

5. The base for the household appliance according to claim 4 , wherein:
the sealing portion is a valve ball arranged in the at least one flowing passage, the valve ball is in sealed contact with an inner wall of the at least one liquid flowing passage to turn off the at least one liquid flowing passage, and the valve ball is provided with a through valve hole;
the connecting portion is a valve rod, one end of the valve rod sticks inside the communicating piece and is connected with the valve ball, and another end of the valve rod sticks outside the communicating piece; and
the valve rod is rotatable to drive the valve ball to rotate until the through valve hole communicates with the at least one liquid flowing passage so as to turn on the at least one flowing passage.

6. The base for the household appliance according to claim 4 , wherein;
the at least one liquid flowing passage includes at least two liquid flow passages provided inside the communicating piece, a number of control devices provided is set according to a number of the at least two liquid flowing passages provided, each one of the control devices controls to turn on or off one of the at least two liquid flowing passages; or one of the control devices simultaneously controls to turn on or off all the at least two liquid flowing passages.

7. The base for the household appliance according to claim 5 , wherein:
the valve rod sticks out from a bottom side of the communicating piece, a mounting hole for allowing the valve rod to go through is provided on the bottom side of the communicating piece.

8. The base for the household appliance according to claim 5 , wherein:
the manual control valve comprises a bearing and a knob, the bearing is provided on the communicating piece, and the valve rod is disposed though the bearing to prevent the valve rod form deflecting, the knob is mounted on one end, sticking outside the communicating piece, of the valve rod.

9. The base for the household appliance according to claim 7 , wherein:
the manual control valve comprises a bearing and a knob, the bearing is provided on the communicating piece, and the valve rod is disposed though the bearing to prevent the valve rod form deflecting, the knob is mounted on one end, sticking outside the communicating piece, of the valve rod.

10. The base for the household appliance according to claim 5 , wherein;
the at least one liquid flowing passage includes at least two liquid flow passages provided inside the communicating piece, a number of control devices provided is set according to a number of the at least two liquid flowing passages provided, each one of the control devices controls to turn on or off one of the at least two liquid flowing passages; or one of the control devices simultaneously controls to turn on or off all the at least two liquid flowing passages.

11. A household appliance having comprising:
the base for the household appliance according to claim 1 ; and
a housing, wherein:
a bottom of the housing is provided with the at least two supports for the household appliance communicated with each other.

12. The household appliance according to claim 11 , comprising:
a door arranged on the housing, the door configured to be opened by a user to operate the control device to control the hydraulic medium to flow or be cut off between the at least two supports for the household appliance.

Assignees

• Qingdao Haier Washing Mach Co
• Qingdao Haier Smart Tech R & D Co Ltd

Inventors

• Zhao Zhiqiang

Classifications

• D06F39/125

  Supporting arrangements for the casing, e.g. rollers or legs · CPC title

• F16M2200/08

  Foot or support base · CPC title

• A47B91/005 Primary

  Support bases · CPC title

• F16M7/00 Primary

  Details of attaching or adjusting engine beds, frames, or supporting-legs on foundation or base; Attaching non-moving engine parts, e.g. cylinder blocks (elastic or equivalent mounting for absorbing vibrations F16F, especially F16F15/04) · CPC title

• D06F23/02

  and rotating or oscillating about a horizontal axis · CPC title