Dishwasher door with counterbalance assembly
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorZachary J. Saylor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A counterbalance assembly for an appliance has a guide member with a rotatable pulley with a fixed radius and a cam affixed to one side of the pulley and having a varying radius. The cam and the pulley rotate about a pulley axis of rotation as a single unit. The counterbalance has a force applicator that applies a counterbalance force to one of the pulley or cam, and the counterbalance has a connector that couples the other of the pulley or cam to the door. The counterbalance force applies a varying counterbalance torque to the door that is a function of the ratio between the fixed radius and the varying radius over the pivotal range of the door.
Claims18
A counterbalance assembly for an appliance comprising a cabinet defining an access opening and a door having a weight and hingedly mounted to the cabinet and pivotable about a door axis of rotation between a pivotal range between opened and closed positions to selectively open/close the access opening, the counterbalance assembly comprising:
- a guide member having a rotatable pulley rotating about a pulley axis of rotation and having a fixed radius from the pulley axis of rotation and a cam affixed to one side of the pulley and having a varying radius from the pulley;
- wherein the cam and the pulley rotate about the pulley axis of rotation as a single unit,
- a force applicator applying a counterbalance force to one of the pulley or cam, and
- a connector coupling the other of the pulley or cam to the door, wherein the counterbalance force applies a varying counterbalance torque to the door that is a function of a ratio between the fixed radius and the varying radius over the pivotal range of the door.
A method of counterbalancing an appliance door pivotal about a range of rotation between an opened position and a closed position on an appliance cabinet, the method comprising:
- applying a varying counterbalancing force to the appliance door throughout a range of rotation to effect at least two of true-hold, auto-close, or slow-open of the door.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.