US 2024/0175191 A1Published application

Inner-facing panel for an operable door of an appliance

AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation

InventorsSripad Kulkarni, Chaitanya Salve

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Abstract

A laundry appliance includes a cabinet having an access aperture positioned within a door-receiving recess to provide access to a processing space within the cabinet. A door is rotationally operable relative to the door-receiving recess to selectively enclose the processing space. The door has an inner-facing panel that defines a plurality of recesses. Hinges are fixedly attached to first and second recesses and to a planar surface of the door-receiving recess that surrounds the access aperture. A magnetic lock is fixedly attached to a third recess and is selectively and magnetically attached to the planar surface to define a closed position of the door panel. The plurality of recesses selectively and alternatively receive one of the hinges and the magnetic lock to define a swing direction of the door panel. The hinges are attached to and the magnetic lock selectively engages the planar surface.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A laundry appliance comprising:

an outer cabinet having an access aperture positioned within a door-receiving recess of the cabinet, the access aperture providing access to a processing space within the cabinet;
a door panel that is rotationally operable relative to the door-receiving recess to selectively enclose the processing space in a closed position of the door panel, the door panel having an inner-facing panel that defines a plurality of recesses;
hinges that are fixedly attached to first and second recesses, respectively, of the plurality of recesses, and to a planar surface of the cabinet within the door-receiving recess, the planar surface surrounding the access aperture;
and
a magnetic lock that is fixedly attached to a third recess of the plurality of recesses, wherein,
the magnetic lock is selectively and magnetically attached to the planar surface to define the closed position;
the plurality of recesses of the inner-facing panel are configured to selectively and alternatively receive one of the hinges and the magnetic lock to define a swing direction of the door panel;
and
the hinges are attached directly to the planar surface and the magnetic lock selectively engages the planar surface in the closed position of the door panel.

6 more elements

A door panel for a laundry appliance, the door panel comprising:

an outer-facing panel;
an inner-facing panel that is attached to the outer-facing panel, the inner-facing panel having a plurality of recesses;
a pair of hinges that are attached to first and second recesses of the plurality of recesses, each hinge of the pair of hinges having a respective cabinet-attaching surface;
and
a magnetic lock that is attached to a third recess of the plurality of recesses, the magnetic lock having a cabinet-engaging surface;
wherein
each recess of the plurality of recesses includes a deep step that is configured to selectively and alternatively receive the magnetic lock and one hinge of the pair of hinges;
the deep step is configured to receive one hinge of the pair of hinges and locate the respective cabinet-attaching surface to be flush with an outer surface of the inner-facing panel when the pair of hinges are in a closed position;
and
a shallow step is configured to receive the magnetic lock and locate the cabinet-engaging surface to be flush with the outer surface of the inner-facing panel.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.