Textiles: fluid treating apparatus – Machines – Combined
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-30
2001-01-23
Coe, Philip R. (Department: 1746)
Textiles: fluid treating apparatus
Machines
Combined
Reexamination Certificate
active
06176108
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This application claims priority under 35 U.S. C. §§119 and/or 365 Patent Application No. 98-2727 filed in Korea on Jan. 31, 1998; the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a washing machine of a type wherein a motor drive shaft is coaxial with a pulsator rotation axis and whose motor and a clutch assembly are directly engaged with each other, and more particularly to a motor-clutch assembly of such a washing machine.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
A washing machine is an appliance for making a water stream in a washing and dehydrating tub (hereinafter, referred to as a dehydrating tub) by means of a mechanical force. The washing machine thereby stimulates a chemical operation of a detergent as well as applies physical operation, such as a friction, impact and the like to clothes to be washed so as to enhance washing effect in a short time. Recently, a full-automatic washing machine performs a rinsing and a dehydrating process as well as a washing process.
Such a full-automatic washing machine has a pulsator and driving apparatus for driving the dehydrating tub. The pulsator operates to form the water stream in the dehydrating tub, and the dehydrating tub is driven to apply centrifugal force to clothes to be washed during a washing operation. The driving apparatus of the dehydrating tube includes a motor for generating a driving force, and a clutch assembly for reducing the driving force of the motor to a predetermined degree and then selectively transmitting the adjusted driving force to the pulsator and the dehydrating tub.
In the conventional washing machine, the motor and the clutch assembly are connected with each other through a belt. In recent, however, a washing machine is widely used, in which the motor drive shaft is coaxial with a pulsator rotation axis (hereinafter referred to as a direct engagement type washing machine), and wherein the motor drive shaft and the clutch assembly are disposed along a common axis thereof, because of the problems of vibration and noise.
Such a motor-clutch assembly is described with reference to the accompanying drawings as follows.
FIGS. 7 and 8
show a motor-clutch assembly of the direct engagement type washing machine.
As shown in the drawings, the motor-clutch assembly is installed at a lower side of a dehydrating tub
2
. The motor-clutch assembly is comprised of a motor
20
, a pulsator driving force transmission section
30
, a dehydrating tub driving force transmission section
40
and a clutch section
50
.
The motor
20
is comprised of a stator
21
, a rotor
22
, and a driving shaft
23
. The pulsator driving force transmission section
30
is comprised of a planet gear assembly
31
for reducing a rotational force of the driving shaft
23
, and a pulsator shaft
33
for receiving a rotational force from the planet gear assembly
31
and then transmitting the rotational force to the pulsator
3
. The planet gear assembly
31
is comprised of a sun gear
31
a
installed at an upper portion of the driving shaft
23
, planet gears
31
b
engaged with the sun gear
31
a
and a ring gear
31
c
. The planet gear assembly
31
is engaged with the pulsator shaft
33
through a carrier
35
.
In addition, the dehydrating tub driving force transmission section
40
is formed with the sun gear
31
a
, a gear case
41
rotatably installed at a circumference of the driving shaft
23
, a drum
43
installed at an outer surface of the ring gear
31
c
in a state of being engaged with the gear case
41
, a dehydrating tub shaft
45
of which bottom portion is engaged with the drum
43
, and a flange member
47
engaged between the upper portion of the dehydrating tub shaft
45
and the dehydrating tub
2
. The gear case
41
is rotatably supported on a bottom portion of a lower housing
14
by bearings
42
, and the drum
43
is rotatably supported on an upper portion of an upper housing
13
by another bearings
44
.
A clutch section
50
is comprised of an upper clutch
51
, a lower clutch
53
, and a clutch lever
55
.
The upper clutch
51
is engaged at a lower circumference of the gear case
41
by a spline to be capable of moving up and down. A coil spring
57
is disposed between the upper clutch
51
and the bearings
42
which rotatably support the gear case
41
. The coil spring
57
elastically pushes the upper clutch
51
downward.
The lower clutch
53
is fixed on the driving shaft
13
at the upper portion of an upper motor housing
12
.
The clutch lever
55
is a Y-shaped member as shown in
FIG. 8
, and it is capable of pivoting about a pivot shaft
55
a
. The clutch lever
55
is elastically and upwardly supported by a clutch spring
59
which is installed on the pivot shaft
55
a
. Accordingly, the clutch lever
55
supports the upper clutch
51
upwardly to maintain the upper clutch
51
and the lower clutch
53
to be separate from each other. The clutch lever
55
has a pin
55
b
at the rear side thereof which is extended upwardly. Also, the clutch lever
55
has a pair of rollers
55
c
at both front sides thereof which are contacted with a lower surface of the upper clutch
51
so as to prevent the clutch lever
55
from being worn out or generating noise which may occur by the contact with the upper clutch
51
.
Meanwhile, a brake band
61
is engaged with a brake spring
63
and a brake lever
65
. The brake lever
65
is disposed near the pin
55
b.
The reference numeral
11
in the drawing denotes a lower housing of the motor, and
15
and
16
denote bearings for supporting the driving shaft to be capable of rotating.
The motor-clutch assembly constructed as above operates as follows.
First, during a washing operation, the motor-clutch assembly keeps the state shown in
FIGS. 7 and 8
. That is, the clutch lever
55
is elastically supported upwardly by the clutch spring
59
, and thereby the upper clutch
51
is separated from the lower clutch
53
. Accordingly, the driving force of the motor
20
is not transmitted to the gear case
41
which is rotatably installed at the circumference of the driving shaft
23
, but to the sun gear
31
a
. The rotational velocity of the sun gear
31
a
is reduced by the planet gear assembly
31
to be transmitted to the pulsator shaft
33
, and then the pulsator
3
engaged with the pulsator shaft
33
is rotated.
Second, during the dehydrating operation, a brake lever
65
is pulled by a drain motor (not shown) for opening/closing a drain valve, whereby the brake lever
65
pivots about a brake supporting pin
65
a
. At this instance, a rotation block
65
b
formed at one side of the brake lever
65
pushes the pin
55
b
, so that the clutch lever
55
pivots downwardly about the pivot shaft
55
a
as shown in
FIGS. 9 and 10
. Thus, rollers
55
c
of the clutch lever
55
are separated from the lower surface of the upper clutch
51
. When the clutch lever
55
is separated from the upper clutch
51
, the upper clutch
51
is no longer supported upwardly. Consequently, the upper clutch
51
is moved downwardly by its own weight and elastic force of the coil spring
57
, and then is engaged with the lower clutch
53
.
As the upper clutch
51
and the lower clutch
53
are engaged with each other, the driving force of the motor
20
is now transmitted to the upper clutch
51
through the lower clutch
53
which is rotated along with the driving shaft
23
. As the upper clutch
51
is rotated, the gear case
41
engaged therewith by spline is also rotated, and the rotational force generated from the rotational movement thereof is transmitted to the dehydrating tub
2
through the drum
43
engaged with the gear case
41
, the dehydrating tub shaft
45
engaged with the drum
43
, and the flange members
47
. Consequently, the dehydrating tub
2
is rotated to perform the dehydrating process.
However, in the conventional washing machine, the clutch lever
55
supports the upper clutch
51
only by a pair of rollers
55
c
installed at both front sides thereof. Accordi
Bae Sang-Chul
Park Choul-Woo
Burns Doane Swecker & Mathis L.L.P.
Coe Philip R.
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
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