Household appliance

Abstract

A household appliance, in particular a dishwasher, includes at least one packing element disposed on a side face of the household appliance, and at least one load-bearing structural part. The packing element has at least one force transfer region, which has a force action surface in contact with the load-bearing structural part.

Claims

1. A household appliance assembly, comprising: a household appliance having a treatment container which defines a treatment chamber; at least one packing element including a positioning aid and disposed on a side face of the household appliance, wherein the packing element is adapted to prevent damage to the household appliance due to forces occurring during at least one of storage and transportation of the household appliance, and the positioning aid includes one of a projection and a recess; and the household appliance further comprising at least one load-bearing structural part with a cross-sectional profile that includes the other of the projection and the recess, the at least one load-bearing structural part being positioned externally of the treatment chamber, such that the other of the projection and the recess of the at least one load-bearing structural part is exposed so as to be accessible from outside of the household appliance, wherein the packing element has at least one force transfer region, which has a force action surface in direct contact with the load-bearing structural part, the household appliance is configured to be a built-in appliance that does not have external casing walls at least where the packing element is disposed, and the cross-sectional profile is inserted into the positioning aid or the positioning aid is inserted into the cross-sectional profile such that the projection and the recess are in contour-matched contact.

2. The household appliance assembly of claim 1, constructed in the form of a dishwasher.

3. The household appliance assembly of claim 1, wherein the load-bearing structural part is disposed in an uncovered region of the side face.

4. The household appliance assembly of claim 1, wherein the load-bearing structural part is a member selected from the group consisting of the treatment container, and a support element.

5. The household appliance assembly of claim 1, wherein the positioning aid is a molded segment of the packing element.

6. The household appliance assembly of claim 1, wherein the positioning aid is a molded segment of the force transfer region of the packing element.

7. The household appliance assembly of claim 1, wherein the load-bearing structural part is a frame around a loading opening.

8. The household appliance assembly of claim 7, wherein the cross-sectional profile is an outwardly open U-profile and the frame has at least one outer corner, with the force transfer region of the packing element extending around the outer corner of the frame.

9. The household appliance assembly of claim 8, wherein the at least one outer corner is at least two outer corners and the frame has the two of outer corners.

10. The household appliance assembly of claim 1, wherein the positioning aid includes the recess and the load-bearing structural part includes the projection.

11. The household appliance assembly of claim 10, wherein the load-bearing structural part is the treatment container, and the projection is a folded connection point for connecting wall parts of the treatment container.

12. The household appliance assembly of claim 1, wherein the load-bearing structural part is a hinge support for connection of a hinge lever of an appliance door.

13. The household appliance assembly of claim 12, wherein the force transfer region of the packing element with its force action surface is disposed within a pivot path of the hinge lever.

14. The household appliance assembly of claim 1, wherein the packing element and the force transfer region are a same material.

15. The household appliance assembly of claim 1, wherein the packing element and the force transfer region are a single piece.

16. A packing for a household appliance, comprising at least one packing element, which in a packed state envelopes at least one face of the household appliance and has a positioning aid and a force transfer region, which is in direct contact with a load-bearing structural part of the household appliance, the load-bearing structural part being positioned externally of a treatment chamber of a treatment container of the household appliance, such that the load-bearing structural part is exposed so as to be accessible from outside of the household appliance, wherein the packing element is adapted to prevent damage to the household appliance due to forces occurring during at least one of storage and transportation of the household appliance, wherein the positioning aid includes one of a projection and a recess, wherein the positioning aid is adapted to be inserted into an externally exposed cross-sectional profile of the load-bearing structural part or the externally exposed cross-sectional profile is adapted to be inserted into the positioning aid, wherein the externally exposed cross-sectional profile includes the other of the projection and the recess, and wherein the projection and the recess are configured to be in contour-matched contact.

17. The packing of claim 16, wherein the positioning aid is a molded segment of the packing element.

18. The packing of claim 16, wherein the positioning aid is a molded segment of the force transfer region of the packing element.

19. The packing of claim 16, wherein the positioning aid includes the projection and the externally exposed cross-sectional profile is an outwardly open hollow profile of the load-bearing structural part.

20. The packing of claim 16, wherein the positioning aid includes the recess and the load-bearing structural part includes the projection.

21. The packing of claim 16, wherein the force transfer region of the packing element is disposed within a pivot path of a hinge lever for an appliance door of the household appliance.

22. The packing of claim 16, wherein the packing element and the force transfer region are a same material.

23. The packing of claim 16, wherein the packing element and the force transfer region are a single piece.

24. The household appliance assembly according to claim 1, wherein the load bearing structural part is selected from the group consisting of the treatment container, a support frame, a hinge support and a frame-type assembly support.

25. A household appliance assembly, comprising: a household appliance having a treatment container which defines a treatment chamber; at least one packing element including a positioning aid and disposed on a side face of the household appliance, wherein the packing element is adapted to prevent damage to the household appliance due to forces occurring during at least one of storage and transportation of the household appliance, and the positioning aid includes one of a projection and a recess; and the household appliance further comprising at least one load-bearing structural part with a cross-sectional profile that includes the other of the projection and the recess, the at least one load-bearing structural part being positioned externally of the treatment chamber, such that the other of the projection and the recess of the at least one load-bearing structural part is exposed so as to be accessible from outside of the household appliance, the load bearing structural part being selected from the group consisting of the treatment container, a support frame, a hinge support and a frame-type assembly support, wherein the packing element has at least one force transfer region, which has a force action surface in direct contact with the load-bearing structural part, and the cross-sectional profile is inserted into the positioning aid or the positioning aid is inserted into the cross-sectional profile such that the projection and the recess are in contour-matched contact.

26. A household appliance assembly, comprising: at least one packing element including a positioning aid and disposed on a side face of the household appliance, wherein the packing element is adapted to prevent damage to the household appliance due to forces occurring during at least one of storage and transportation of the household appliance, and the positioning aid includes one of a projection and a recess; and at least one load-bearing structural part with a cross-sectional profile that includes the other of the projection and the recess, wherein the packing element has at least one force transfer region, which has a force action surface in direct contact with the load-bearing structural part, wherein the household appliance does not have housing outer walls where the packing element is disposed, wherein the cross-sectional profile is inserted into the positioning aid or the positioning aid is inserted into the cross-sectional profile such that the projection and the recess are in contour-matched contact, and wherein the load-bearing structural part is a hinge support for connection of a hinge lever of an appliance door.

27. A packing for a household appliance, comprising at least one packing element, which in a packed state envelopes at least one face of the household appliance and has a positioning aid and a force transfer region, which is in direct contact with a load-bearing structural part of the household appliance, wherein the packing element is adapted to prevent damage to the household appliance due to forces occurring during at least one of storage and transportation of the household appliance, wherein the positioning aid includes one of a projection and a recess, wherein the positioning aid is adapted to be inserted into a cross-sectional profile of the load-bearing structural part or the cross-sectional profile is adapted to be inserted into the positioning aid, wherein the cross-sectional profile includes the other of the projection and the recess, wherein the projection and the recess are configured to be in contour-matched contact, and wherein the force transfer region of the packing element is disposed within a pivot path of a hinge lever for an appliance door of the household appliance.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) An exemplary embodiment of the invention is described below with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a dishwasher indicating the appliance packing;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a sectional view in the sectional plane I-I from FIG. 1; and

(4) FIG. 3 shows a sectional view along the sectional plane II-II from FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

(5) FIG. 1 shows a schematic spatial view of an exemplary embodiment of a household appliance in the form of a dishwasher, which has a wash container 1 with a front loading opening 3. The front loading opening 3 is enclosed by a support frame 5, which has an outwardly open U-profile in cross section. The support frame 5 here is fitted with its lateral vertical strips on lateral hinge supports 7. The two lateral hinge supports 7 are in turn inserted by way of arms that project vertically downwards in a bottom assembly support 9.

(6) In the appliance side direction x outside the two hinge supports 7 hinge levers 13 of an appliance door (not shown here for the purposes of clarity) are connected respectively to hinge points 11. The appliance door is used to close the loading opening 3. The wash container 1 is also supported in the depthwise direction y at the back at its lower corner regions within the frame-type assembly support 9.

(7) The dishwasher shown in FIG. 1 is embodied as a fully integrated appliance in the present exemplary embodiment. In the illustrated dishwasher therefore there are no housing side walls covering the side faces, which would otherwise conceal the load-bearing structural parts, specifically the support frame 5, hinge supports 7 and/or the wash container with the associated appliance assemblies, such as the water inlet or other appliance components. Such appliance assemblies are not shown in FIG. 1 for reasons of clarity.

(8) The thus outwardly exposed structural parts 1, 5, 7, 9 in the present exemplary embodiment are in direct contact with packing elements 15 to 18 of the appliance packing, which overall consist of eight separate packing elements. These are provided respectively at the corner regions of the dishwasher with an outlined shrink wrap 37 wrapped tightly around them.

(9) For correct positioning on the household appliance the two packing elements 15 provided at the top at the front have a projection 19 as a positioning aid, this being inserted into the outwardly open U-profile of the support frame 5. Also integrated in the projection 19 of the packing element 15 according to FIG. 2 is the force transfer region 20 of the packing element 15. The projection 19 is a component of the packing element 15 made from the same material and as a single piece, as shown in FIG. 2. The projection 19 is also pressed into contact with its end face 21 configured as a force action surface against a base segment 23 of the support frame 5.

(10) In order to achieve simple pre-positioning of the packing element 15, the edge faces 25 of the projection 19 can be spaced apart from one another so that the packing element 15 is in a clamped connection between the two rising edges 27 of the U-profile-shaped support frame 5.

(11) The two packing elements 16 shown in FIG. 1 each cover the outer corners of the wash container 1 at the top at the rear. To this end the two rear top packing elements 16 are configured as roughly shell-shaped. Each of the two packing elements 16 encloses a rear top outer corner of the wash container 1 with a form fit. A recess 31 is provided as a positioning aid according to FIG. 3 on an arm 29 of the packing element 16 engaging across the top wall 35 of the wash container 1. Projecting into the recess 31 is a folded connection point 33 to connect the rear wall 34 to the top wall 35. The recess 31 is enclosed by the force action surface 21, which is in contour-matched contact with the wash container 1.

(12) On both front bottom corner regions of the dishwasher according to FIG. 1 further packing elements 17 are provided, with their force action surfaces 21 in contact with the hinge supports 7. The roughly L-shaped packing elements 17 here are in contact over a large area with the hinge supports 7. The horizontal arm of the illustrated packing element 17 is brought directly up to the hinge lever 13, so that it is located within an outlined pivot path I of the hinge lever 13.

(13) In the two rear bottom corner regions the household appliance according to FIG. 1 has further packing elements 18, which are brought into contact with the bottom assembly support 9.

(14) The two rear top packing elements 16 can optionally by connected to one another by way of an additional wood or plastic strip 39. The strip 39 serves, when lateral clamping forces are introduced, to provide a force path, which bridges the rear top edge region of the wash container 1.