Acoustically insulated machine
AssigneeOwens Corning Intellectual Capital, LLC
InventorsAnthony L. Rockwell, Phil Johnson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A home appliance, such as a clothes washing machine, has a source of noise and an acoustic insulator. The source of noise moves between a first position and a second position during operation of the appliance. The acoustic insulator has a movable portion that moves with the source of noise between the first position and the second position during operation of the appliance and an interface that remains substantially stationary as the source of noise moves between the first and second positions.
Claims22
A home appliance comprising:
- a source of noise that moves between a first position and a second position during operation of the appliance;
- and
- an acoustic insulator having movable portion that moves with the source of noise between the first position and the second position during operation of the appliance and an interface that remains substantially stationary as the source of noise moves between the first and second positions.
A method of insulating a home appliance comprising:
- moving a source of noise between a first position and a second position during operation of the appliance;
- moving a movable portion of an acoustic insulator with the source of noise between the first position and the second position during operation of the appliance;
- and
- keeping an interface of the acoustic insulator substantially stationary as the source of noise moves between the first and second positions.
A washing machine comprising:
- a cabinet;
- a tub and basket disposed in the cabinet configured to accept clothes to be washed by the washing machine;
- a motor assembly disposed in said cabinet and coupled to said tub and basket;
- an acoustic insulation member disposed in a bottom opening of said cabinet, wherein the acoustic insulation member includes a single porous, sound absorbing layer and a single dense layer attached to a face of the sound absorbing layer;
- wherein the dense layer has a density that is greater than the density of the sound absorbing layer;
- a damping element disposed between the tub and the cabinet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.