Laundry treating appliance door assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11466396-B2
Application number	US-202017036548-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2020
Priority date	Jun 30, 2016
Publication date	Oct 11, 2022
Grant date	Oct 11, 2022

Abstract

A laundry treating appliance having a door assembly with an inner door frame. One or more mechanical fasteners extending the inner door frame so secure one of a hinge or handle to the door frame. Hinge and handle covers are adhesively bonded to the inner door frame to cover the one or more mechanical fasteners. A user interface controller is affixed to the door frame through an aperture in an inner door subassembly. A touch film having an integrated flexible printed circuit board with touch buttons is in communication with and configured to control the user interface controller. The touch film is adhered to the interior surface of the outer screen door.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laundry treating appliance comprising:
an inner door subassembly comprising an inner door frame, an intermediate door frame attached to the inner door frame, an outer door screen attached to the intermediate door frame, the intermediate door frame being adhered to a front of the inner door frame;
one or more mechanical fasteners extending from a front to a back of the inner door frame; a hinge cover adhesively bonded to the inner door frame to cover the one or more mechanical fasteners on the back of the inner door frame;
a user interface controller being affixed to the intermediate door frame through an aperture in the inner door subassembly; and
a touch film having an integrated flexible printed circuit board with touch buttons in communication with and configured to control the user interface controller; and wherein the touch film is adhered to an interior surface of the outer door screen.

2. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 , wherein the inner door frame further comprises a hinge seat.

3. The laundry treating appliance of claim 2 , further comprising a hinge in the hinge seat and covered by the hinge cover.

4. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 , wherein the outer door screen further comprises an interior surface and an outer surface and having a compound curvature, a section thereof configured to enable viewing of the touch film positioned on the interior surface of the outer door screen.

5. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 , wherein the inner door frame further comprises one or more mechanical fasteners for securing a handle to the inner door frame.

6. The laundry treating appliance of claim 5 , further comprising a handle cover to hide the one or more mechanical fasteners securing the handle.

7. The laundry treating appliance of claim 6 , wherein the handle cover is adhesively bonded to the inner door subassembly.

8. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 , further comprising a peripheral flange adhered to the intermediate door frame.

9. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 , wherein the adhesive used to apply the touch film to the outer door screen is a pressure sensitive adhesive.

10. The laundry treating appliance of claim 9 , wherein the pressure sensitive adhesive is applied to the touch film before the touch film is adhered to the interior surface of the outer door screen.

11. A laundry treating appliance comprising:
an inner door subassembly comprising an inner door frame, an intermediate door frame attached to the inner door frame, an outer door screen attached to the intermediate door frame;
one or more mechanical fasteners extending from a front to a back of the inner door frame for mounting a handle;
a handle cover adhesively bonded to the inner door frame to cover the one or more mechanical fasteners on the back of the inner door frame; wherein the intermediate door frame is adhered to the front of the inner door frame and covers the one or more mechanical fasteners on the front of the door frame;
a user interface controller being affixed to the intermediate door frame through an aperture in the inner door frame; and
a touch film having an integrated flexible printed circuit board with touch buttons in communication with and configured to control the user interface controller; wherein the touch film is adhered to an interior surface of the outer door screen.

12. The laundry treating appliance of claim 11 , wherein the inner door frame further comprises a handle seat.

13. The laundry treating appliance of claim 12 , further comprising a handle secured in the handle seat and covered by the handle cover.

14. The laundry treating appliance of claim 11 , wherein the outer door screen further comprises an interior surface and an outer surface and having a compound curvature, a section thereof configured to enable viewing of the touch film positioned on the interior surface of the outer door screen.

15. The laundry treating appliance of claim 11 , wherein the inner door frame further comprises one or more mechanical fasteners for securing a hinge.

16. The laundry treating appliance of claim 15 , further comprising a hinge cover to hide the one or more mechanical fasteners securing the hinge.

17. The laundry treating appliance of claim 16 , wherein the hinge cover is adhesively bonded to the inner door subassembly.

18. The laundry treating appliance of claim 11 , further comprising a peripheral flange adhered to the intermediate door frame.

19. The laundry treating appliance of claim 11 , wherein the adhesive used to apply the touch film to the outer door screen is a pressure sensitive adhesive.

20. The laundry treating appliance of claim 19 , wherein the pressure sensitive adhesive is applied to the touch film before the touch film is adhered to the interior surface of the outer door screen.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Anand Prabhjee
• Heater Timothy E

Classifications

• B32B2307/412

  Transparent · CPC title

• B32B2457/08

  PCBs, i.e. printed circuit boards · CPC title

• B29C65/4825

  Pressure sensitive adhesives · CPC title

• B29C66/861

  Hand-held tools · CPC title

• B29C66/45

  Joining of substantially the whole surface of the articles (methods or apparatus for laminating B32B37/00) · CPC title