Dishwasher with unitary wash module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9572473-B2
Application number	US-201514669498-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 26, 2015
Priority date	Dec 3, 2010
Publication date	Feb 21, 2017
Grant date	Feb 21, 2017

Abstract

An automatic dishwasher having a tub defining a treating chamber and a housing physically separate from the tub and defining a sump to receive liquid sprayed into the tub, the housing having an inlet fluidly connected to a liquid outlet of the tub and an outlet fluidly coupled to a sprayer located within the tub to define a recirculation path for the sprayed liquid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A dishwasher comprising:
a cabinet defining an interior;
a tub located within the cabinet and at least partially defining a treating chamber having a liquid outlet;
a sprayer located in the treating chamber and spraying liquid into the treating chamber; and
a remote sump and filter unit located exteriorly of the tub and comprising:
an enclosed housing defining a sump having a housing inlet fluidly coupled to the liquid outlet of the tub via a first conduit and a housing outlet fluidly coupled to the sprayer to define a liquid recirculation path from the sump to the sprayer;
a filter located within the enclosed housing and fluidly separating the housing inlet from the housing outlet to filter liquid recirculated through the sump; and
a wash pump mounted to the enclosed housing and fluidly coupled to the sump to pump the liquid from the sump to the sprayer; and

wherein the remote sump and filter unit is physically remote from the tub and fluidly coupled thereto via the first conduit.

2. The dishwasher of claim 1 , further comprising a drain pump mounted to the enclosed housing and having an inlet fluidly coupled to the sump and an outlet configured to fluidly couple to a household drain.

3. The dishwasher of claim 2 wherein the enclosed housing further comprises opposing ends and the wash pump is mounted to one of the opposing ends and the drain pump is mounted to the other of the opposing ends.

4. The dishwasher of claim 2 wherein the wash pump has an impeller rotatable about a first axis of rotation, the drain pump has an impeller rotatable about a second axis of rotation, and the enclosed housing has a longitudinal axis, and the wash pump, drain pump, and enclosed housing are arranged such that the first and second axes of rotation are generally parallel with the longitudinal axis to form an overall elongated configuration.

5. The dishwasher of claim 4 wherein the filter is a rotating filter having a third rotational axis, which is parallel to the first and second axes of rotation and the longitudinal axis.

6. The dishwasher of claim 5 wherein the first, second, and third axes of rotation are collinear.

7. The dishwasher of claim 6 wherein the longitudinal axis is collinear with the first, second, and third axes of rotation to define a longitudinal axis for the remote sump and filter unit.

8. The dishwasher of claim 4 wherein the remote sump and filter unit is located in a lower-rear portion of the interior such that the longitudinal axis of the remote sump and filter unit is generally parallel to a rear wall of the cabinet.

9. The dishwasher of claim 1 wherein the cabinet further comprises a moveable element for providing access to the tub.

10. The dishwasher of claim 9 wherein the moveable element is one of a door and a drawer.

11. The dishwasher of claim 10 wherein the drawer defines the tub and the remote sump and filter unit are not carried by the drawer.

12. A dishwasher comprising:
a cabinet;
a tub located within the cabinet and at least partially defining a treating chamber with a bottom wall having a liquid outlet;
a sprayer located in the treating chamber above the bottom wall and having a plurality of spray nozzles through which a liquid is sprayed into the tub;
an enclosed housing physically separate from the tub and defining a sump to receive liquid sprayed into the tub, the enclosed housing having a housing inlet fluidly connected to the liquid outlet of the tub via a first conduit and a housing outlet fluidly coupled to the sprayer to define a recirculation path for the sprayed liquid;
a filter located within the enclosed housing and fluidly separating the housing outlet from the housing inlet to filter liquid passing through the sump; and
a wash pump fluidly coupled to the recirculation path to pump the liquid from the sump to the sprayer; and
wherein the sump is located within the cabinet and remote from the tub such that the filter is not directly exposed to the tub.

13. The dishwasher of claim 12 wherein the pump has an inlet fluidly coupled to the housing outlet and an outlet fluidly coupled to the sprayer.

14. The dishwasher of claim 13 wherein the wash pump is mounted to the enclosed housing.

15. The dishwasher of claim 14 , further comprising a drain pump fluidly coupled to the sump and mounted to the enclosed housing.

16. The dishwasher of claim 15 wherein the enclosed housing comprises opposing ends and the wash pump is mounted to one of the opposing ends and the drain pump is mounted to the other of the opposing ends.

17. The dishwasher of claim 15 wherein the wash pump comprises an impeller having a first rotational axis, the drain pump comprises an impeller having a second rotational axis, and the first and second rotational axes are parallel.

18. The dishwasher of claim 17 wherein the filter is a rotating filter having a third rotational axis, which is parallel to the at least one of the first and second rotational axes.

19. The dishwasher of claim 18 wherein the first, second, and third rotational axes are parallel.

20. The dishwasher of claim 19 wherein the first, second, and third rotational axes are collinear.

21. The dishwasher of claim 12 wherein the cabinet further comprises a door moveably mounted to the cabinet to provide selective access to the tub.

22. The dishwasher of claim 12 wherein the cabinet further comprises a drawer and the drawer defines the tub.

23. A dishwasher comprising:
a cabinet defining an interior;
a tub located within the cabinet and at least partially defining a treating chamber having a liquid outlet;
a sprayer located in the treating chamber and spraying liquid into the treating chamber; and
a pump unit located physically remote from the tub and comprising:
an enclosed housing defining a sump having a housing inlet fluidly coupled to the liquid outlet of the tub via a first conduit;
a wash pump mounted to the enclosed housing and having an inlet fluidly coupled to the sump and an outlet fluidly coupled to the sprayer to recirculate liquid from the sump back to the sprayer; and
a drain pump having an inlet fluidly coupled to the sump and an outlet configured to fluidly couple to a household drain; and
a filter located in the enclosed housing and fluidly separating the housing inlet from the inlet of the wash pump to filter liquid being recirculated from the SUMP to the sprayer;

wherein the wash pump has an impeller rotatable about a first axis of rotation, the drain pump has an impeller rotatable about a second axis of rotation, and the enclosed housing has a longitudinal axis, and the wash pump, drain pump, and enclosed housing are arranged such that the first and second axes of rotation are generally parallel with the longitudinal axis to form an overall elongated configuration.

24. The dishwasher of claim 23 wherein the drain pump is mounted to the enclosed housing.

25. The dishwasher of claim 24 wherein the enclosed housing further comprises opposing ends and the wash pump is mounted to one of the opposing ends and the drain pump is mounted to the other of the opposing ends.

26. The dishwasher of claim 25 wherein the first and second axes are collinear with the longitudinal axis to define a longitudinal axis for the pump unit.

27. The dishwasher of claim 26 wherein the pump unit is located in a lower-rear portion of the interior such that t

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Tuller Barry E
• Welch Rodney M

Classifications

• A47L15/4293

  Arrangements for programme selection, e.g. control panels; Indication of the selected programme, programme progress or other parameters of the programme, e.g. by using display panels · CPC title

• A47L2301/08

  Other manual input · CPC title

• A47L15/0021

  Regulation of operational steps within the washing processes, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending from the detergent nature or from the condition of the crockery · CPC title

• A47L15/4202

  Water filter means or strainers · CPC title

• B08B3/02

  Cleaning by the force of jets or sprays · CPC title