Appliance door assembly
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorsWilliam Frantz, Timothy E. Heater, Ndjeka K. Luhahi, Nicholas E. Mawhorr, Jose Aldo Ramirez, Scott T. Thalls
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A laundry appliance door assembly with a wire cover to protect the wire conductor that passes through the door hinge where it has a tendency to get pulled and damaged when the door is in motion. The wire cover includes a wire cover and a wire conduit coaxially connected together allowing the wire cover to rotate relative to the wiring conduit while within alignment of the hinge rotational axis. The wire cover comprises two lateral halves for ease of installation where it is designed to encase the wire conductor that passes through the door hinge.
Claims20
An appliance door assembly comprising:
- a first door frame having a first electrical conductor terminating in a first connector;
- a second door frame having a second electrical conductor terminating in a second connector;
- a hinge having a first hinge plate mounted to the first door frame, and a second hinge plate mounted to the second door frame, wherein the first hinge plate is rotatable relative to the second hinge plate about a hinge rotational axis;
- and
- a wire cover that is rotatable about the hinge rotational axis and holding the second connector;
- wherein:
- when the door assembly is mounted to a laundry treating appliance, the wire cover is rotatable to:
- a first position to expose the second connector for connection with the first connector when the first and second connectors are in a disconnected state;
- and
- a second position to hide the first and second connectors when the first and second connectors are in a connected state.
A method of assembling an appliance door assembly to a cabinet, the door assembly having at least one of first and second door frames hingedly mounted for rotation about a rotational axis, the method comprising:
- mounting the door assembly to the cabinet;
- after mounting the door assembly, mounting a wire cover to the door assembly for rotation about the rotational axis;
- securing a first electrical connector to the wire cover;
- securing a second electrical connector to the first electrical connector;
- rotating the wire cover to a predetermined position relative to the rotational axis to hide the connected first and second connectors;
- and
- securing the wire cover in the predetermined position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.