Side access panel for an appliance
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorsKoteswara Rao Gochika, Narendra A. Kapure, Manjunathraddi Navalgund, Manoj T. Sambrekar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An appliance cabinet includes first and second sidewalls. A rear wall is disposed between the first and second sidewalls. A machine compartment is defined by a lower portion of the rear wall. An attachment feature defines openings and is coupled to at least one of the first and second sidewalls. A side access panel is selectively coupled to at least one of the first and second sidewalls via fasteners extending through the openings defined by the attachment feature.
Claims17
An appliance, comprising:
- a base;
- a wrapper coupled to the base, the wrapper having a rear planar surface, sidewalls, and a curved surface;
- a machine compartment defined by the base and the curved surface of the wrapper;
- an attachment feature operably coupled to the curved surface of the wrapper;
- a selectively removable side access panel operably coupled to the sidewalls of the wrapper via the attachment feature to define a single access point to the machine compartment, the side access panel including:
- a brim extending toward the machine compartment;
- a base edge proximate to the base;
- an arcuate portion defining apertures and operably coupled to the attachment feature;
- and
- a central body having an interior surface and an exterior surface, the interior surface defining support ribs;
- and
- a controller operably coupled to the interior surface of the side access panel.
An appliance cabinet, comprising:
- a body having a rear planar surface, sidewalls, and a curved surface that at least partially defines a machine compartment;
- a base coupled to the body;
- an attachment feature coupled to the curved surface of the body, the attachment feature defining a retention slot;
- and
- a selectively removable side access panel removably coupled to the sidewalls via the attachment feature to define at least one access point to the machine compartment, the side access panel including:
- a central body;
- and
- a retention tab selectively coupled to the attachment feature via the retention slot;
- and further comprising a controller coupled to an interior surface of the side access panel.
An appliance cabinet, comprising:
- first and second sidewalls;
- a rear wall disposed between the first and second sidewalls;
- a machine compartment defined by a lower portion of the rear wall;
- an attachment feature defining openings and coupled to at least one of the first and second sidewalls, wherein the attachment feature is a frame that defines an arcuate edge and a reinforcement segment, and wherein the frame has flanges extending toward the machine compartment, the frame including supports extending from a top of the frame to a bottom of the frame and from the arcuate edge to the reinforcement segment to define a lattice structure;
- and
- a side access panel selectively coupled to at least one of the first and second sidewalls via fasteners extending through the openings defined by the attachment feature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.