Washing machine ventilation structure
AssigneeHaier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.
InventorsFikreadam Abebe Damtew, Aaron Lee Welch, S. Neil Malone, James Quentin Pollett, Rushikesh Nandkumar Salvi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A washing machine appliance including a ventilation structure. A vent line is at a wash tub. A vent filter is provided to the vent line that allows air to flow from the wash tub, and through the vent line, the vent filter redirecting cleaning fluids impinging on the vent filter back toward the wash tub. The vent filter may include a plurality of louvers. The louvers may be located adjacent to one another so as to form a plurality of openings for the flow of air from the wash tub.
Claims20
A front load washing machine appliance, the washing machine appliance comprising:
- a cabinet;
- a wash tub positioned within the cabinet;
- a wash basket rotatably mounted within the wash tub and accessible through an opening in the cabinet;
- a door mounted to a front of the cabinet and movable between an open position and a closed position for selectively controlling access to the wash basket;
- a vent line extending from the wash tub, the vent line providing for a flow of air along a flow direction from the wash tub, the vent line having a vent inlet positioned at the wash tub;
- and
- a vent filter disposed at the vent inlet to the vent line, the vent filter comprising a plurality of louvers located adjacent to each other and spaced apart from each other so as to form a plurality of openings for the flow of air from the wash tub, each louver comprising
- an upstream face and a downstream face along the flow direction;
- a bottom portion and a top portion along a vertical direction;
- and
- a top lip extending from the top portion, the top lip having an upstream surface forming an obtuse or right angle with the upstream face,
- wherein the upstream face is positioned so that fluid ejected from the wash basket during rotation of the wash basket impinges upon the upstream face to deter fluid from travelling through the vent line.
A front load washing machine appliance, the washing machine appliance comprising:
- a cabinet;
- a wash tub positioned within the cabinet;
- a wash basket rotatably mounted within the wash tub and accessible through an opening in the cabinet;
- a door mounted to a front of the cabinet and movable between an open position and a closed position for selectively controlling access to the wash basket;
- and
- a vent line extending from the wash tub, the vent line providing for a flow of air along a flow direction from the wash tub, the vent line having a vent inlet positioned at the wash tub;
- a vent filter disposed at the vent inlet to the vent line, the vent filter comprising a plurality of louvers located adjacent to each other and spaced apart from each other so as to form a plurality of openings for the flow of air from the wash tub;
- and
- wherein each louver has an upstream face;
- wherein each louver has a downstream face;
- wherein each louver has a bottom portion and a top portion along a vertical direction;
- wherein along the top portion each louver further comprises a top lip forming a non-zero angle with respect to the upstream face;
- and
- wherein the upstream face is positioned so that fluid ejected from the wash basket during rotation of the wash basket impinges upon the upstream face to block the fluid from travelling through the vent line.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.