Laundry treating apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11414802-B2
Application number	US-202016775702-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 29, 2020
Priority date	Feb 1, 2019
Publication date	Aug 16, 2022
Grant date	Aug 16, 2022

Abstract

A laundry treating apparatus includes: a drum configured to receive laundry and to rotate about a rotation axis that extends in a front-rear direction of the laundry treating apparatus; and a lifter disposed on an inner circumferential surface of the drum and configured to rotate about the rotation axis based on rotation of the drum. The lifter includes: a lifter upper plate portion spaced apart from the inner circumferential surface of the drum, a lifter sidewall portion that is made of metal and that extends from lifter upper plate portion toward the inner circumferential surface of the drum, and a side protrusion that protrudes from an outer surface of the lifter sidewall portion. The lifter sidewall portion has a lower end coupled to the inner circumferential surface of the drum and an upper end connected to the lifter upper plate portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laundry treating apparatus comprising:
a tub configured to receive washing water;
a drum disposed in the tub and configured to receive laundry, the drum being configured to rotate about a rotation axis that extends in a front-rear direction of the laundry treating apparatus; and
a lifter disposed on an inner circumferential surface of the drum and configured to rotate about the rotation axis based on rotation of the drum, the lifter comprising:
a lifter frame installed on the inner circumferential surface of the drum and made of synthetic resin, the lifter frame having a frame sidewall that protrudes toward the rotation axis and extends in the front-rear direction, and
a frame cover that is coupled to a lower portion of the lifter frame and protrudes radially inward from the lower portion of the lifter frame, the frame cover being made of metal,

wherein the frame cover comprises:
a cover upper plate spaced apart from the inner circumferential surface of the drum,
a cover sidewall that extends from the cover upper plate to the lower portion of the lifter frame, the cover sidewall being spaced apart from the frame sidewall by a predetermined separation space configured to commutate the washing water between the cover sidewall and the frame sidewall, and
a side protrusion that protrudes from an outer surface of the cover sidewall and defines a closed curve surrounding an entirety of an outer circumference of the cover sidewall in a plan view toward the inner circumferential surface of the drum.

2. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the side protrusion comprises a plurality of side protrusions that respectively extend along circumferences of the cover sidewall and that are spaced apart from each other.

3. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of side protrusions extend in parallel to one another on the cover sidewall.

4. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of side protrusions comprise:
a first side protrusion that has a first ring shape; and
a second side protrusion that has a second ring shape and that extends in parallel to the first side protrusion.

5. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the second side protrusion is disposed between the cover upper plate and the first side protrusion, and
wherein a circumferential length of the second side protrusion is greater than a circumferential length of the first side protrusion.

6. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the frame cover defines a recess at an inner surface of the cover upper plate facing the lifter frame.

7. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lifter comprises:
a plurality of front lifters disposed at a front portion of the drum and arranged along a circumferential direction of the drum; and
a plurality of rear lifters disposed at rear sides of the plurality of front lifters and arranged along the circumferential direction of the drum,
wherein the plurality of front lifters and the plurality of rear lifters define a plurality of groups of lifters, each group of the plurality of groups comprising a pair of lifters including one of the plurality of front lifters and one of the plurality of rear lifters.

8. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of rear lifters in the plurality of groups defines a phase angle in the circumferential direction of the drum with respect to one of the plurality of front lifters in the pair of lifters.

9. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of rear lifters in the plurality of groups is configured to, based on the drum rotating in a clockwise direction, reach a point on a circumference of the tub before the one of the plurality of front lifters reaches the point on the circumference of the tub.

10. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 8 , wherein a circumferential distance corresponding to the phase angle between a front lifter and a rear lifter in a same group among the plurality of groups is greater than zero and equal to a width of the front lifter in the circumferential direction.

11. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 8 , wherein a circumferential distance corresponding to the phase angle between a front lifter and a rear lifter in a same group among the plurality of groups is larger than zero and less than a width of the front lifter in the circumferential direction.

12. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 8 , wherein a circumferential distance corresponding to the phase angle between a front lifter and a rear lifter in a same group among the plurality of groups is larger than zero and less than two times of a width of the front lifter in the circumferential direction.

13. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 7 , wherein a front lifter and a rear lifter in a same group among the plurality of groups are arranged along the front-rear direction and overlap with each other in a circumferential direction of the drum.

14. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the side protrusion has a ring shape surrounding the outer surface of the cover sidewall.

15. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cover sidewall surrounds the frame sidewall.

16. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lifter frame comprises a frame base that faces the inner circumferential surface of the drum and supports the frame cover, the frame base defining a seating groove that receives an end of the cover sidewall to thereby define the predetermined separation space between the cover sidewall and the frame sidewall.

17. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 16 , wherein at least a portion of the frame base extends into the predetermined separation space.

18. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the frame cover comprises an upper plate protrusion that protrudes from an outer surface of the cover upper plate toward the rotation axis, the frame cover defining a recess that is recessed into the upper plate protrusion from an inner surface of the cover upper plate facing the lifter frame.

19. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the lifter frame comprises:
a frame upper surface that faces the inner surface of the cover upper plate; and
a spacer that protrudes from the frame upper surface and is inserted to the recess of the frame cover.

20. The laundry treating apparatus of claim 2 , wherein lengths of the plurality of side protrusions along the circumferences of the cover sidewall are different from each other.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Lee Hyeonsik
• Kim Junyoung
• Lee Hong Min

Classifications

• D06F37/06 Primary

  Ribs, lifters, or rubbing means forming part of the receptacle · CPC title

• D06F23/02

  and rotating or oscillating about a horizontal axis · CPC title

• D06F21/10

  about an inclined axis · CPC title

• D06F21/02

  about a horizontal axis · CPC title

• D06F37/065

  ribs or lifters having means for circulating the washing liquid · CPC title