Laundry treating apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024417908-A1
Application number	US-202218704778-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 26, 2022
Priority date	Oct 27, 2020
Publication date	Dec 19, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A laundry treating apparatus is disclosed. The laundry treating apparatus according to one embodiment of the present disclosure comprises: a cabinet including a front plate having a laundry opening; a tub which is provided in the cabinet and which includes a tub opening facing the laundry opening; a drum which is rotatably provided in the tub and which accommodates laundry; a tub gasket which is provided between the laundry opening and the tub opening, and which extends along the circumference of the laundry opening so as to seal the gap between the laundry opening and the tub opening; a gasket water supply part which is provided at the tub gasket, and into which water flows from the outside of the tub gasket during a drying operation for drying the laundry; and a water supply guider which is provided at the tub gasket, and which allows the water transferred from the gasket water supply part to flow along the inner peripheral surface of the tub gasket.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A laundry treating apparatus comprising:
a cabinet comprising a front plate having a laundry opening formed therein; a tub provided in the cabinet, the tub comprising a tub opening facing the laundry opening; a drum rotatably provided in the tub, the drum being configured to receive laundry; a tub gasket provided between the front plate and the tub, the tub gasket extending along a circumference of the laundry opening; a gasket water supply portion provided at the tub gasket, the gasket water supply portion being configured to receive water from an outside of the tub gasket during a drying cycle for drying laundry; and a water supply guide provided at an inner circumferential surface of the tub gasket, the water supply guide being in communication with the gasket water supply portion, the water supply guide being configured to discharge water supplied from the gasket water supply portion along the inner circumferential surface of the tub gasket during the drying cycle.

2 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the gasket water supply portion extends through the inner circumferential surface of the tub gasket toward the outside of the tub gasket to receive water.

3 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the tub gasket comprises a protruding support portion protruding toward the outside of the tub gasket, the protruding support portion being configured to allow the gasket water supply portion to extend therethrough, the protruding support portion surrounding at least a part of the gasket water supply portion.

4 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least a part of the water supply guide is located at an upper end of the inner circumferential surface of the tub gasket, and the water supply guide comprises a water discharge port configured to discharge water toward the inner circumferential surface of the tub gasket.

5 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 4 , wherein a discharging direction of water through the water discharge port of the water supply guide is parallel to an inner circumferential direction of the tub gasket.

6 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the water supply guide is connected to the gasket water supply portion, and at least a part of the water supply guide extends in the inner circumferential direction of the tub gasket.

7 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the water discharge port is formed at each end of the water supply guide in an extension direction of the water supply guide.

8 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 6 , wherein an outer circumferential surface of the water supply guide facing the inner circumferential surface of the tub gasket is in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the tub gasket.

9 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 6 , wherein
the tub gasket comprises a leakage prevention protrusion protruding from an outwardly facing end of the inner circumferential surface of the tub gasket facing an outside of the cabinet, the leakage prevention protrusion extending in the inner circumferential direction, and the water supply guide is in contact with the leakage prevention protrusion.

10 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 9 , wherein
the gasket water supply portion comprises a water supply channel configured to allow water introduced from the outside of the tub gasket to flow therethrough, the water supply guide comprises a guide channel configured to connect the water supply channel and the water discharge port to each other, and at least a part of the guide channel is located between the leakage prevention protrusion and the water supply channel.

11 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tub gasket comprises a leakage prevention recess provided at an inwardly facing end of the inner circumferential surface of the tub gasket facing the tub, the leakage prevention recess being depressed away from a center of the tub gasket, the leakage prevention recess being configured to collect water.

12 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the tub gasket further comprises a water discharge portion provided at a lower end of the tub gasket, the water discharge portion being in communication with the leakage prevention recess, the water discharge portion being configured to discharge the water collected in the leakage prevention recess to the outside of the tub gasket.

13 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tub gasket comprises a water diffusion portion protruding from the inner circumferential surface of the tub gasket, the water diffusion portion being configured to guide a flow of water on the inner circumferential surface of the tub gasket.

14 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the water diffusion portion extends across the inner circumferential direction.

15 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 14 , wherein
the water diffusion portion is provided in plural, and the plurality of water diffusion portions is configured to have a larger extension length with increasing distance from the water supply guide.

16 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 14 , wherein
the water diffusion portion is provided in plural, and a distance between neighboring ones of the plurality of water diffusion portions gradually decreases with increasing distance from the water supply guide.

17 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 14 , wherein
the water diffusion portion comprises an inner end facing an inside of the tub and an outer end located opposite the inner end, and the water diffusion portion extends such that the inner end is located farther from the gasket water supply portion than the outer end.

18 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the tub gasket comprises a leakage prevention protrusion protruding from an outwardly facing end of the inner circumferential surface of the tub gasket facing an outside of the cabinet toward a center of the laundry opening, the leakage prevention protrusion extending in the inner circumferential direction.

19 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the gasket water supply portion alternately performs a supply maintenance process in which water is supplied to the water supply guide and a supply interruption process in which a supply of water to the water supply guide is interrupted during the drying cycle.

20 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 19 , further comprising:
a flow valve provided in the cabinet, the flow valve being configured to control a flow of water provided to the gasket water supply portion; and a controller provided in the cabinet, the controller being configured to control the flow valve such that the supply maintenance process and the supply interruption process of the gasket water supply portion are repeated during the drying cycle.

21 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a flow valve provided in the cabinet, the flow valve being configured to control a flow of water provided to the gasket water supply portion, wherein the flow valve is a constant flow valve configured to maintain a constant flow pressure of water discharged from the flow valve.

22 . The laundry treating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a heating unit provided in the cabinet, the heating unit being configured to heat air in the tub during the drying cycle, wherein the tub is heated

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Choi Dongkil
• Kim Hyeonjoong
• Jang Semin
• Kim Woore

Classifications

• D06F58/45

  Cleaning or disinfection of machine parts, e.g. of heat exchangers or filters · CPC title

• D06F33/43

  Control of cleaning or disinfection of washing machine parts, e.g. of tubs · CPC title

• D06F33/69

  Control of cleaning or disinfection of washer-dryer parts, e.g. of tubs · CPC title

• 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

• D06F58/04

  Details  (controlling or regulating devices D06F34/00) · CPC title