Household appliance with immersible heater
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorsMuhammad Khizar, Ermanno Buzzi, Andrea Cesaroni, Townsley R. Curtis, Massimo Gobbetti, Tolga Gonulluleroglu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A household appliance is configured to implement an automatic cycle of operation for treating an article. The household appliance includes a treating chamber configured to receive the article for treatment according to the automatic cycle of operation. A sump is fluidly coupled to the treating chamber. A liquid circuit is fluidly coupled to at least one of the treating chamber or the sump. An immersible heater is located within the sump.
Claims19
A household appliance configured to implement an automatic cycle of operation for treating an article, the household appliance comprising:
- a treating chamber configured to receive the article for treatment according to the automatic cycle of operation;
- a sump fluidly coupled to the treating chamber;
- a liquid circuit fluidly coupled to at least one of the treating chamber or the sump;
- an immersible heater located within the sump, wherein the immersible heater is an immersible laminate heater having a support layer and a pair of electrodes and a laminate structure provided on the support layer with the laminate structure comprising:
- a thermoresistive nano-coating heater layer electrically connected to the pair of electrodes;
- a first liquid-impermeable and electrically non-conductive barrier layer provided between the support layer and the thermoresistive nano-coating heater layer;
- a second liquid-impermeable and electrically non-conductive barrier layer abutting the thermoresistive nano-coating heater layer;
- and
- a superhydrophobic nano-coating protective layer abutting the second liquid-impermeable and electrically non-conductive barrier layer;
- and
- a mechanical vibrator physically coupled to the immersible heater.
A household appliance configured to implement an automatic cycle of operation for treating an article, the household appliance comprising:
- a treating chamber;
- a sump fluidly coupled to the treating chamber;
- a liquid circuit fluidly coupled to at least one of the treating chamber or the sump;
- and
- an immersible laminate heater located within the sump and having a support layer, a pair of electrodes, and a laminate structure provided on the support layer with the laminate structure comprising:
- a thermoresistive nano-coating heater layer electrically connected to the pair of electrodes;
- a first liquid-impermeable and electrically non-conductive barrier layer provided between the support layer and the thermoresistive nano-coating heater layer;
- a liquid-impermeable and electrically non-conductive second barrier layer abutting the thermoresistive nano-coating heater layer;
- and
- a superhydrophobic nano-coating protective layer abutting the liquid-impermeable and electrically non-conductive second barrier layer.
An immersible heating element assembly, comprising:
- an immersible heating element comprising a support layer and a pair of electrodes;
- a mechanical vibrator coupled to the immersible heating element and configured to mechanically vibrate the immersible heating element;
- and
- a laminate structure provided on the support layer, the laminate structure comprising:
- a thermoresistive nano-coating heater layer electrically connected to the pair of electrodes;
- a first liquid-impermeable and electrically non-conductive barrier layer provided between the support layer and the thermoresistive nano-coating heater layer;
- a liquid-impermeable and electrically non-conductive second barrier layer abutting the thermoresistive nano-coating heater layer;
- and
- a superhydrophobic nano-coating protective layer abutting the liquid-impermeable and electrically non-conductive second barrier layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.