JPH0329437B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a safety device for a washing machine that can automatically turn off the power and stop operation if abnormal vibration occurs during spinning of a washing and washing tub. .

This type of safety device detects the displacement of the tub when it spins in an unbalanced state due to unbalanced clothing, and turns off the power. The user opens the lid above the spin-drying/washing tub, corrects the unevenness of the clothes in the spin-drying/washing tub, and then closes the lid. In this case, by opening and closing the lid, the safety device must be automatically reset and energized again. Further, during normal dehydration operation, it is necessary to stop the dehydration operation when the lid is opened to ensure safety.

The present invention provides a safety device that requires a relatively plurality of operations as described above, with an extremely simple structure that also has the function of turning on and off electricity by opening and closing the lid. Examples will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an outer frame of the washing machine, and inside thereof, a water tank 4 is suspended and supported in a vibration-proof manner by a plurality of support rods 3 via a cushioning material 2 such as a vibration-proof spring. Inside the water tank 4, a dewatering/washing tub 6 having a pulsator 5 for stirring clothes rotatably disposed at the inner bottom thereof is arranged so as to be rotatable for dewatering. Furthermore, a drive motor 7, a bearing box 8, etc. are fixed to the outer bottom of the water tank 4. A substantially doughnut-shaped aquarium cover 9 is arranged on the upper edge of the aquarium 4, and has functions such as reinforcing the upper edge of the aquarium and preventing water droplets from scattering.

Reference numeral 10 designates an upper tank portion disposed above the outer frame 1, and a lid 1 is provided approximately in the center of the tank portion so as to be freely openable and closable via a shaft support portion 11A.
1 is provided. Reference numeral 12 denotes a rear panel section of the upper tank section 10, which includes a time switch (not shown),
Electrical control parts such as a changeover switch 13 and a water supply solenoid valve (not shown) are provided, as well as a safety device 14 according to the present invention.

The safety device 14 has three functions as described above. That is, the first operation is to stop the drive motor 7 when the lid 11 is opened during the dehydration operation. The second problem was that the clothes were extremely uneven in the dehydration/washing tub 6.
In order to prevent the occurrence of abnormal vibrations caused by dewatering operation in a so-called unbalanced state, the shaking of the water tank 4 or the water tank cover 9 is detected and the drive of the drive motor 7 is stopped. It is an action. Furthermore, thirdly, when the user opens the lid 11 when the safety device 14 is activated, corrects the unevenness of the clothes in the spin-drying/washing tub 6, and closes the lid 11. This is an automatic reset operation.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the safety device 14 will be explained in detail based on FIG. 2. A retainer 16 made of an insulating material such as a synthetic resin, which is close to the operation protrusion 15 projecting rearward of the lid 11 and is engaged and released when the lid 11 is opened and closed, is crimped to the tip and rotated to the switch board 17. The freely pivoted switch lever 18 rotates around the pivot supporting protrusion 19 of the switch base plate 17 when the locking element 16 is pressed upward by the closing operation of the lid 11. In the figure, it is designed to rotate clockwise.

The switch lever 18 is made of steel wire, and has a coil portion 20 having a rounded shaft portion loosely fitted into the protrusion portion 19 of the switch base plate 17 described above. The switch board 17 is made of thin steel plate,
In FIG. 2, the cross section in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper is formed into a substantially U-shape. A switch 21 connected to the switch lever 18 and the power source of the drive motor 7 is arranged inside this switch board 17.

The switch 21 has fixed contacts 23 on a switch base 22 made of a synthetic resin material having electrical insulation properties.
a fixed side contact piece 24 fixed to the tip thereof, a button 25 made of a synthetic resin material at the tip portion, and the fixed contact 2
The movable side contact piece 26A to which the movable contact 26 corresponding to No. 3 is fixed is integrally fixed. Button 25
By pressing the movable contact 26 upward, the movable contact 26 comes into contact with the fixed contact 23 and becomes electrically conductive, so that the drive motor 7 can be driven.

In the switch lever 18, the aforementioned retainer 1
A safety lever 27 made of a thin steel plate or the like is engaged near the substantially central portion of the coil portion 20 and the coil portion 20 . This safety lever 27 has two bent parts 28 at its lower part.
It is bent into a substantially L-shape at A and 28B, and the lower end 29 is located outside the upper edge of the aquarium 4 and the aquarium cover 9. The substantially horizontal portion 30 between the bent portions 28A and 28B is slightly inclined and positioned at the upper end periphery of the aquarium cover 9 at a predetermined dimensional interval.

Further, the safety lever 27 has a substantially vertical portion 31 that is formed by bending the lid 11 side of the switch board 17 downward.
A locking portion 32 whose lower end is further bent toward the lid 11 side.
An opening 33 that can be slid up and down while being attached to the
has.

In addition, the upper end of the safety lever 27 is connected to the switch 2.
A long hole 34A through which the switch lever 18 described above is inserted is formed at the bent portion, and a projecting piece 34B that is pressed by the switch lever 18 is formed at the end.

This projecting piece 34B is positioned below the button 25, and as the switch lever 18 is pushed up by the operation protrusion 15, the button 25 is moved upward via the projecting piece 34B, and the contact point 26, 23. Contact comrades.

Between the switch board 17 and the safety lever 27,
A compression spring 35 is interposed as a pressing spring material. This compression spring 35 is inserted between a burring hole-shaped projection 36 integrally formed on the bottom surface of the switch board 17 and a locking cylindrical portion 37 integrally formed upward on the horizontal portion 30 of the safety lever 27. By doing so, the safety lever 27 is biased in the clockwise direction of rotation about the locking portion 32 of the switch board 17, and the switch board 1
It works to press downward against 7.

The upper opening of the switch board 17 is covered with a thin plate-like cover 38 which is fitted and fixed onto a protrusion 39 formed on the side wall of the switch board 17.

The above is an outline of the configuration of the safety device 4, and the operation thereof will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the lid 11 is opened, and the contacts 23 and 26 are separated from each other.

FIG. 3 shows the lid 11 in a closed state. That is,
The operation protrusion 15 on the lid 11 allows the switch lever 1 to be
8 has its retainer 16 pushed upward,
button 2 via the protrusion 34B of the safety lever 27.
5 is pressed upward, and the contacts 23 and 26 are brought into contact with each other by bending and deforming the movable side piece 26A. At this time,
The safety lever 27 includes a protrusion 40 formed on the surface of the substantially vertical portion 31 of the switch board 17 on the lid 11 side.
, and the opening 33 slides upward relative to the locking portion 32 of the switch board 17. This movement is performed against the pressing force of the compression spring 35.

FIG. 4 shows a case where the unbalance of the clothes in the spin-drying/washing tub 6 is extremely large and the whirling of the water tub 4 exceeds a predetermined value. When the lower end 29 of the safety lever 27 is pressed by the aquarium cover 9, the safety lever 27 rotates counterclockwise in FIG.
This is done against the pressing force of the compression spring 35. Therefore, the protrusion 34B at the upper end of the safety lever 27
slides on the upper surface of the switch lever 18 and moves to the left in FIG.
The upper end tongue piece 41 provided at the upper part comes off from the lower surface of the button 25, so that the contacts 23 and 26 are separated from each other, thereby functioning as a safety device.

Next, the state shown in FIG. 5 will be explained. The state shown in FIG. 5 shows the state after the operation shown in FIG. 4 has occurred, that is, after the safety device has been activated. The contacts 23 and 26 are separated from each other, and the lid 11 is in a closed state. Safety lever 2
Since the pressing force no longer acts on the lower end 29 of 7, the safety lever 27 is again pressed against the compression spring 3.
With a pressing force of 5, the switch board 17 is rotated back clockwise around the locking part 32 as the center of rotation. At this time, the button 25 has already moved downward, so the upper tongue piece 41 of the safety lever 27
It falls into the recess 42 formed in 5 and fits loosely. The state after the rotation of the safety lever 17 as described above is described in the fifth section.
The figure shows.

Next, the operation of resetting the state shown in FIG. 5 to the normal usage state shown in FIG. 2 will be explained.

When the lid 11 is in the open state in FIG. 5, that is, in the state shown by the dotted line, the safety lever 27 slides downward through the opening 33 relative to the locking portion 32 due to the pressing force of the compression spring 35. Safety lever 2
The upper end tongue piece 41 of 7 moves downward and presses the button 25.
While sliding on the inclined surface 43 formed on the lower surface of the recess 42, the button 25 is returned to the lower part of the button 25 again with a slight counterclockwise rotation and reset. The reset state is as shown in FIG. 2, and when the lid 11 is closed from the state shown in FIG. 2, the contacts 23 and 26 come into contact again as shown in FIG. 3, allowing operation.

FIG. 6 shows an exploded view of the safety device 14, and the configuration of the safety device 14 will be explained in more detail with reference to FIG. 2.

At one end of the switch lever 18, a retainer 16 that engages and disengages from the lid 11 is press-fitted and fixed, and at the other end, a substantially circular coil section 20 is formed. It's fitted. After the coil part 20 is loosely fitted, this protrusion part 19 is bent to prevent it from coming off.

In addition, the switch lever 18 is connected to the safety lever 27.
Insert the projecting piece 3 into the elongated hole 34A formed at the upper end of the
4A to push up the protruding piece 34B. In addition, in order to prevent the switch lever 18 from shifting to the left or right when operating, resulting in unstable operation, a substantially U-shaped bent portion 44 is cut and raised from the bottom surface of the switch board 17. The width of the U-shape is kept slightly wider than the wire diameter of the switch lever 18 so that it can be set at the correct position.

The retainer 16 is used to prevent wear of the lid 11, which is made of synthetic resin, etc., when sliding on the operation protrusion 15 of the lid 11, and to prevent the user from opening the lid 11 and manually opening the lid 11 from below. This is to prevent the tip of the switch lever 18 from directly touching the tip of the switch lever 18 when the switch is inserted, and depending on the material of the lid 11 or the structure of the lower part of the lid 11, the retainer 16 may be omitted. is possible.

As described above, according to the present invention, in this type of safety device, the switch lever, which was conventionally manufactured by press working from thin steel plate, etc., can be manufactured by relatively simple processing using steel wire. This makes it possible to provide the switch at a low cost, and during assembly, the installation of the switch lever is completed with a simple process of loosely fitting the coil part into the protrusion of the switch board, so there is no need for any complicated process. In addition, unnecessary movement of the switch lever can be easily controlled, and accurate operation can be expected.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a general dehydrating and washing machine.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the safety device according to the embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 3 is a sectional view for explaining the operation of the safety device when the lid is closed, and Fig. 4 is the operation when unbalance of clothing is detected. 5 is a sectional view showing the reset state, and FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the safety device. 1... Outer frame, 4... Water tank, 6... Dehydration/washing tub, 7... Drive motor, 11... Lid, 15...
Operation projection, 17...Switch board, 18...Switch lever, 19...Protrusion piece, 20...Coil part, 21...Switch, 26A...Movable side contact piece,
27...Safety lever, 35...Compression spring (spring material), 44...Bending portion.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A water tank with a hanging anti-vibration support in an outer frame and a dehydration/washing tub rotatably arranged inside, a lid that can open and close the upper opening of this water tank, and a drive motor linked to the opening and closing of this lid. A switch that connects and disconnects power to the switch, a switch board to which the switch is attached, a switch lever that is rotatably supported on the switch board and rotates in conjunction with opening and closing of the lid, and a switch lever that rotates in conjunction with opening and closing of the lid. a safety lever that is displaced by the switch to operate a movable side contact piece of the switch; and a spring material interposed between the switch board and the safety lever, the switch lever being constructed of a steel wire, and having one end thereof can be freely engaged and detached from the lid according to its open/closed state, and a coil portion is formed at the other end to be rotatably inserted loosely into a projecting piece provided on the switch board, and the coil portion is provided on the switch board. A safety device for a washing and dehydrating machine in which the position of the switch lever is regulated by a bending part.