Integrated console display assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9933131-B2
Application number	US-201615058755-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 2, 2016
Priority date	Oct 29, 2013
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

In one aspect, a device has a controller and a fascia assembly, with a fascia, and a printed circuit board (PCB) mounted to the fascia. The PCB has a plurality of holes, and a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs), wherein one LED is mounted adjacent to each hole. The device also includes a wiring harness coupling the controller to the PCB wherein the LEDs may be energized according to signals received from the controller; and a console adjacent the PCB. The console has a plurality of light reflecting cups arranged therein so that each light reflecting cup covers an LED and the adjacent hole to reflect light from the LEDs through the holes so that the light is visible through the fascia assembly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A display assembly, comprising:
a controller;
a fascia assembly having a fascia having a front surface and a rear surface and where the fascia is configured to be light transmissive, a printed circuit board (PCB) mounted to the rear surface of the fascia and the PCB including a plurality of holes extending through a surface thereof between a front side and a rear side of the surface, and a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted to the rear side, wherein at least one LED is mounted adjacent to each of the plurality of holes;
a wiring harness coupling the controller to the PCB wherein the LEDs may be energized according to signals received from the controller; and
a console adjacent the PCB and having a body having a length extending along the fascia and defining a front surface with a plurality of integrated light reflecting cups, where the light reflecting cups are integrated on a front surface of the body and each of the plurality of light reflecting cups are configured to cover at least one of the plurality of LEDs and at least one of the adjacent holes, and is spaced from the at least one LED and the at least one of the adjacent holes to reflect light from the at least one of the plurality of LEDs through the at least one of the adjacent holes so that the light is visible through the fascia assembly;
wherein the fascia is configured to be mounted to the console and the console is configured to provide support for the fascia assembly.

2. The display assembly according to claim 1 , further comprising a light reflector in each light reflecting cup.

3. The display assembly according to claim 2 wherein the console is a molded thermoplastic.

4. The display assembly according to claim 3 wherein the holes and LEDs are arranged as alphanumeric indicia.

5. The display assembly according to claim 4 wherein the alphanumeric indicia is formed of seven holes arranged for a seven segment display.

6. The display assembly according to claim 5 , further comprising at least three seven segment alphanumeric indicia.

7. The display assembly according to claim 1 wherein the console is formed of one of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polypropylene (PP) or polycarbonate (PC).

8. The display assembly according to claim 1 wherein the console is formed of one of flame retardant acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (FR ABS), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), or flame retardant polycarbonate/ acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (FR PC-ABS).

9. A console assembly for an appliance, the console assembly comprising:
a fascia assembly, comprising;
a fascia having a front surface and a rear surface and where the fascia is configured to be light transmissive and where the fascia includes at least one tab; and
a PCB operably coupled to the rear surface of the fascia;

a console body having a length and defining a front surface with a plurality of light reflecting cups integrally formed in the front surface and arranged as indicia along at least a portion of the length; and
a wiring connector adapted to couple the PCB to a controller in the appliance;
wherein the tab of the fascia is configured to be mounted to the console body and the console body is configured to provide support for the fascia assembly, wherein when the fascia is mounted to the console body each light reflecting cup is positioned to cover an LED and an adjacent hole in the PCB of the fascia assembly when the fascia assembly is mounted adjacent the console.

10. The console assembly according to claim 9 , further comprising a light reflector in each light reflecting cup.

11. The console assembly according to claim 9 wherein the console is a molded thermoplastic.

12. The console assembly according to claim 9 wherein the indicia is alphanumeric.

13. The console assembly according to claim 12 wherein the alphanumeric indicia is formed of seven holes arranged for a seven segment display.

14. The console assembly according to claim 13 , further comprising at least three seven segment alphanumeric indicia.

15. The console assembly according to claim 9 wherein the console is formed of one of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polypropylene (PP) or polycarbonate (PC).

16. The console assembly according to claim 9 wherein the console is formed of one of flame retardant acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (FR ABS), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), or flame retardant polycarbonate/ acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (FR PC-ABS).

17. A display assembly, comprising:
a fascia assembly, comprising:
a fascia having a front surface and a rear surface and where the fascia is configured to be light transmissive and where the fascia includes at least one mounting projection; and
a printed circuit board operably coupled to the rear surface of the fascia, the printed circuit board including a substrate with a plurality of holes extending there through between a front side and a rear side of the substrate, and a plurality of light emitting diodes mounted to the rear side, wherein at least one of the plurality of the light emitting diodes is mounted adjacent to each of the plurality of holes; and

a console having a body having a length, and defining a front surface with a plurality of integrated light reflecting cups and where the at least one mounting projection is operably coupled to the body and wherein the light reflecting cups are integrated on the front surface of the body so that each of the plurality of light reflecting cups covers at least one of the plurality of the light emitting diodes and one of the plurality of holes, and is spaced from the at least one of the plurality of the light emitting diodes and the one of the plurality of holes to reflect light from the at least one of the plurality of the light emitting diodes through the one of the plurality of holes so that the light is visible through the fascia assembly.

18. The display assembly of claim 17 wherein the console is configured to receive the at least one mounting projection.

19. The display assembly of claim 18 wherein the fascia comprises a set of mounting projections and the console is configured to receive the set of mounting projections.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Ebrom Matthew P
• Schuh Eric J
• Subramaniyam Sithaarth T
• Venkataraman Sugosh
• Annigeri Shivayogi
• Gatt Michael E
• Narayana Pillai Ajay Ram
• Ponkshe Mihir

Classifications

• H05K2201/10128

  Display · CPC title

• H05K2201/10106

  Light emitting diode [LED] · CPC title

• H05K2201/09072

  Hole or recess under component or special relationship between hole and component · CPC title

• H05K1/0274 Primary

  Optical details, e.g. printed circuits comprising integral optical means (H05K1/0269 takes precedence; coupling light guides with opto-electronic components G02B6/42) · CPC title

• F24C7/082

  on ranges, e.g. control panels, illumination · CPC title