Household appliance having at least one movable door or panel

Abstract

A dishwasher, in particular a domestic dishwasher, includes a dishwasher cavity for receiving an item to be washed. A door or flap is configured to close the dishwasher cavity and movable between an open and a closed position. Associated to the door or flap is a two-stage or multi-stage safety catch for transition between an open and a closed state of the door or flap. A device is provided to capture whether the door or flap is closed or open and to detect a traversal of the two-stage or multi-stage safety catch.

Claims

1. A dishwasher, comprising: a dishwasher cavity for receiving an item to be washed; a door or flap configured to close the dishwasher cavity and movable between an open and a closed position; a multi-stage safety catch associated with the door or flap for transition between an open and a closed state of the door or flap; a device including a sensor configured to capture whether the door or flap is closed or open and to detect a traversal of the multi-stage safety catch; and wherein the multi-stage safety catch includes multiple barrier obstacles which produce movement-limiting effects in a direction of opening and closing the door or flap, such that multiple jerks arise during an opening or a closing of the door or flap due to the movement-limiting effects of the multiple barrier obstacles, wherein the sensor detects the multiple jerks, and wherein said device is configured to electronically evaluate a signal from the sensor and ascertain the traversal of the multi-stage safety catch by multiple peaks in the signal that correspond to the multiple jerks as detected by the sensor.

2. The dishwasher of claim 1, wherein the dishwasher is a household dishwasher.

3. The dishwasher of claim 1, wherein the sensor includes an acceleration sensor to capture the traversal of the multi-stage safety catch.

4. The dishwasher of claim 3, wherein the acceleration sensor is constructed to capture a relative orientation with respect to a vector of a gravitational acceleration in three axes.

5. The dishwasher of claim 1, further comprising a housing, said multi-stage safety catch including a lock which is able to fasten the door or flap on the housing.

6. The dishwasher of claim 1, wherein on condition that the door or flap is opened, an immediate program stop and stop of a water supply into the dishwasher cavity are carried out by the dishwasher.

7. The dishwasher of claim 5, wherein the multi-stage safety catch comprises the lock and a spring bracket which engages the lock, the spring bracket having formed thereon the multiple barrier obstacles.

8. The dishwasher of claim 7, wherein the multiple barrier obstacles of the spring bracket comprise a first dip as a first barrier obstacle and a second dip as a second barrier obstacle.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In the drawing:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view obliquely from the front of an embodiment of a household appliance, here by way of example a dishwasher, in this case having a door on the front side,

(3) FIG. 2 shows a schematic side view of the dishwasher according to FIG. 1 with an opening door,

(4) FIG. 3 shows a signal characteristic of the angular velocity and the angular acceleration of the door, plotted over time,

(5) FIG. 4 shows an exemplary two-stage spring bracket as an engaging member into a lock,

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

(6) The dishwasher 1 schematically represented in FIG. 1 is a household dishwasher. It has, as an element of an appliance body 5 which is partially open or closed to the outside, a dishwasher cavity 2 for receiving items to be washed such as dishware, pots, cutlery, glasses, cooking utensils and the like. Here, the items to be washed can be stackable for example in baskets 11 and/or a cutlery drawer 10 and what is known as washing liquor can be able to be applied thereto. Washing liquor is understood here to mean fresh water or in particular water circulating during operation with or without detergent and/or rinse aid and/or desiccant. The dishwasher cavity 2 can have an at least substantially rectangular floor plan with a front side V facing toward a user in the operating position. Here, this front side V can form a part of a kitchen front comprising kitchen units arranged side by side, or in the case of a free-standing appliance, can also be unrelated to further units.

(7) The dishwasher cavity 2 is able to be closed off by means of a door or flap 3, in particular on this front side V. This door 3 is shown in FIG. 1 in a partially open position, in which it is then slanted with respect to the vertical. In its closed position, on the other hand, it stands upright and is pivotable forward and downward about a lower horizontal axis in the direction of the arrow 4 at an angular velocity co according to the drawing, so that it lies at least almost horizontal in the fully opened position.

(8) On its outer and front side V which is vertical in the closed position and faces toward the user, the door 3 can be provided with a décor panel 6 in order thus to undergo a visual and/or haptic enhancement and/or an adaptation to surrounding kitchen units.

(9) The household appliance 1 is embodied in this case as a free-standing or what is known as a partly integrated or fully integrated appliance. In the latter case, the appliance body 5 can also close substantially with the outer walls of the dishwasher cavity 2. A housing surrounding the latter on the outside can then be dispensed with. A base 12 for receiving in particular functional elements can be disposed in the lower region of the dishwasher.

(10) In the exemplary embodiment according to the drawing, a control panel 8 extending in the transverse direction Q of the dishwasher is associated with the movable door 3 in its upper region, which control panel 8 can comprise an engaging opening 7 accessible from the front side V for manually opening and/or closing the door 3. In the transverse direction Q, the dishwasher often has an extent of 45, 50 or 60 centimeters. Viewed rearward in the depth direction from the front side V, the extent often also amounts to approximately 60 centimeters. The values are not mandatory.

(11) When the door or flap 3 is closed, the dishwasher cavity 2 is delimited circumferentially by three solid vertical walls 13 and two horizontal walls 13 in total, of which one forms a ceiling (above) and a further one forms a floor (below) of the dishwasher cavity 2. In this context, the wall 14 which is arranged towards the front side and the user and is able to move here forms an element of the movable door or flap 3.

(12) In order to capture the door status, a device 15 is provided, which uses one or more sensor(s) to determine whether the door or flap 3 is closed or open or is in the phase of closing or opening movement.

(13) This device 15 may comprise one or more sensor(s), in particular acceleration sensor(s), via which the relative orientation of the door or flap 3 can be determined. In particular, this involves inclination/acceleration sensors.

(14) Example “identify door open”:

(15) With the door 3 closed, the acceleration sensor is situated in an idle position, the integral inclination sensor reports, for example, a 90° angle (or due to tolerances or with a slightly slanted position an angle close to said value). If the door 3 is opened by the user, then a jerk (change in acceleration), here a dual jerk, arises during the opening due to the movement-limiting element, as explained in more detail below. This dual jerk is sensed and interpreted as “door open”. This door status identification is supported by a capturing of the angular position of the door 3, which has removed itself sufficiently far from the 90° (or approximately 90°) position.

(16) Example “identify door closed”:

(17) When closing the door, the angular position of the door 3 approaches a 90° angle. This angle sensing and the jerk (dual or multiple jerk) when engaging the door 3 into the lock 17 are to be interpreted as an unambiguous signal for “door closed”.

(18) As can be identified in FIG. 4, during the door movement a two-stage or multi-stage safety catch 18 is to be traversed as a movement-limiting element for the transition between open and closed state. The traversal of the dual or multiple safety catch 18 is able to be detected by the device 15. The door status is determined by a sensing of whether or not the movement-limiting element has been overcome. The companion piece for the sensor is thus the movement-limiting element itself—and not an uncoupled other technical part of the dishwasher. The specific technical embodiment may be different. By way of example, in FIG. 4 a spring bracket 16 is shown as an engaging member into a lock 17, so that, for example when opening the door 3, it first engages the lock 17 into a first dip as barrier obstacle 16a and subsequently engages into a second dip as barrier obstacle 16b of the spring bracket 16. A wave profile, a sawtooth profile or the like may also be provided in the lock 17 for the sliding off of an engaging member.

(19) The two-part or multi-part safety catch 18—here spring bracket 16 and lock 17 with two resilient retaining fingers 17a—may be associated with a lock 17 which is able to fasten the door or flap 3 on a carcass 5 of the dishwasher 1.

(20) The traversal of the two-stage or multi-stage safety catch 18 is able to be seen by a dual or multiple peak 19, 20 in an electronic evaluation, wherein after capturing the dual or multiple peak 19, 20 a signal for changing the closed state of the door or flap 3 is emitted to the operating software.

(21) With such a solution, there is thus a dual or multiple barrier obstacle 16a, 16b in the movement when opening the door or flap 3, which can be identified and evaluated when overcoming a dual or multiple jerk.

(22) The traversal of the two-stage or multi-stage safety catch 18 is therefore able to be captured via at least one acceleration sensor of the device 15. The acceleration sensor can capture a relative orientation with respect to the vector of the gravitational acceleration g in three axes and thus simultaneously indicate the orientation of the constructional unit provided with the sensor, here the door 3. Thus, when opening the door, initially a vertical axis is parallel to the vector of the gravitational acceleration, while at the end the door 3 lies horizontally and therefore the axis offset by 90° lies parallel to the gravitational acceleration g.

(23) The curves of the angular velocity co and the derivation dω/dt, i.e. the angular acceleration a, measured by the device 15 when opening the door 3 are illustrated in FIG. 3.

(24) This makes it clear that when pulling on the door 3 in the opening direction, on the time axis t between the markings t0 and t1, the angular velocity initially increases until it remains constant between t1 and t2. The acceleration a is zero here. When the first barrier obstacle 16a is reached at t2, the angular velocity initially drops, with the acceleration a becoming negative in the first peak 19. After overcoming the barrier obstacle at point t4 on the time axis, the angular velocity increases again and then becomes constantly at t5 until the second barrier obstacle 16b at point t6 on the time axis. At this point, the angular velocity drops again between the markings t6 and t7, with the angular acceleration a becoming negative again in the second peak 20. Accordingly appearing in the curve is the traversal of two negative regions, which map the dual jerk as a double peak 19, 20. As of t8, the second barrier obstacle 16b is overcome; from here on the angular velocity co is able to increase again up to the constant forward movement of the door 3 as of marking t9 on the time axis; just before reaching the complete open position at t10 by way of the user, the braking is initiated until t11.

(25) In this context, various mechanical implementations of the dual or multiple safety catch 18 are possible. For example, the two-stage or multi-stage safety catch 18 may also be ensured via a connecting member and/or a wave profile on the lock 17 for the sliding off of a hook part.

(26) If the door or flap 3 is opened during the program sequence, then when the signal is emitted during opening, an immediate program stop and stop of the water supply into the dishwasher cavity 2 is carried out. Conversely, when capturing the closing, the program sequence is restarted again.

(27) The real door status, which is defined via the movement-limiting element, is no longer uncoupled from the sensing. The absolute installation position of sensor and companion piece has thus not only become less critical, but even completely irrelevant. In the invention, for example, this means that there is absolutely no danger of a cycle interruption (accidental program termination due to an incorrectly identified door opening due to excessive pressure in the dishwasher cavity during the washing cycle). This means that the process reliability of the dishwasher 1 and thus also the customer satisfaction (no incorrect error messages) increase considerably.