JPH033517B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a washing machine equipped with a transmission at the bottom of a tub, and more particularly to a washing machine with an improved mounting structure for the transmission.

[Technical background of the invention]

In recent years, washing machines have replaced the conventionally used high-speed rotating pulsator with an agitator that has a larger diameter and rotates at a lower speed, thereby preventing laundry from being damaged. Items that can be washed easily are provided. This device was equipped with a speed reducer (converter) to reduce the rotational power of the motor and transmit it to the agitator in the tank, and its mounting structure was as follows. That is, the bearing case for the output shaft, which protrudes upward from the main body case of the reducer, is inserted into the insertion hole formed at the bottom of the tank from the tank outer bottom side, and in this state, the main body case is fixed to the tank outer bottom surface with screws. In this case, a sealing member is interposed between the periphery of the insertion hole at the bottom of the tank and the upper surface of the main body case to seal the insertion hole.

[Problems with background technology]

However, the above-mentioned decelerator is inherently heavy, and in the above configuration in which such a decelerator is simply fixed to the outer bottom of the tank, there is a concern that the bottom of the tank may be slightly curved and deformed. If deformation occurs at the bottom of the tank, particularly at the peripheral portion of the through hole, there is a risk that the sealing performance for the through hole may be impaired. As a countermeasure to this problem, it is conceivable to provide a structure with a large number of ribs to prevent deformation on the outer bottom part, but this would reduce manufacturability and there is still a risk of deformation occurring over time. has become a problem in this world.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a washing machine that reliably prevents deformation of the bottom of the tank, especially the peripheral portion of the insertion hole, even though the bottom of the tank is equipped with a transmission. We are here to provide you with a machine.

[Summary of the invention]

In the present invention, the outer shell of the transmission is composed of a main body case consisting of an upper case and a lower case, and a bearing case with a flange formed on the outer periphery, and the flange is inserted into an insertion hole formed at the bottom of a tank. The upper case is inserted so as to be directed to the inner bottom surface of the tank and provided at the bottom of the tank, and the upper case is sandwiched between the upper surface of the lower surface of the flange and the peripheral edge of the insertion hole at the bottom of the tank together with the sealing member. The outer periphery of a transmission mechanism connected to a bearing case and having the lower case disposed therein is fitted into the upper case so as to be pressed by the lower end of the upper case and fixed to the bottom of the tank. This is characterized in that deformation of the tank bottom is prevented by the transmission's inherently rigid main body case and bearing case.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is an outer box of, for example, a two-tub washing machine, and a tub body 2 is disposed inside the box, and this tub body 2 includes a washing tub 3 and a dewatering tub (not shown). ). Reference numeral 4 indicates a relatively large-diameter agitator disposed inside the washing tub 3, while 5 indicates a motor disposed at the bottom of the outer box 1. The rotational power of the motor 5 is transferred to a belt transmission mechanism 6 and a speed reducer (transmission ) 7 to transmit the deceleration to the stirring body 4. Now, to explain the transmission 7 in detail, the second
In the figure, 8 is a main body case consisting of an upper case 9 and a lower case 10, and 11 is a bearing case.
It makes up the outer shell of. The bearing case 11 has a cylindrical shape, and a circular flange 12 is formed on the outer periphery near the bottom, and a male threaded portion 13 is formed on the outer periphery of the lower end. This bearing case 11 is provided at the bottom of the washing tub 3 by inserting the flange 12 into an insertion hole 3a formed at the bottom of the washing tub 3 so as to align the flange 12 with the inner bottom surface of the washing tub 3. Reference numeral 14 denotes an output shaft, which is supported in advance within the bearing case 11 via a bearing 15. On the other hand, the upper case 9 is formed in a circular shape with an open lower surface, and a female threaded portion 16 is formed in the center of the upper wall portion 9a. Moreover, case 9
By screwing the female threaded portion 16 into the male threaded portion 13 of the bearing case 11, the upper wall portion 16a
The upper surface of the flange 12 is connected to the bearing case 11 with the lower surface of the flange 12 sandwiching the peripheral edge of the insertion hole 3a. In this case, a sealing member 17 is placed in advance on the upper edge of the insertion hole 3a, and this sealing member 1
7 is inserted between the lower surface of the flange 12 and the upper surface of the upper case 9 together with the insertion hole 3a. Further, the lower case 10 has a circular shape with an open top surface, and the inner diameter of the peripheral wall 10a is set to be approximately the same as the outer diameter of the peripheral wall 9b of the upper case 9. A collar portion 18 is formed. A gear mechanism 19 as a transmission mechanism is housed in the lower case 10, and 20 is a gear mechanism 19 as a transmission mechanism.
An outer ring gear, which is a fixed gear, is arranged in a non-rotating manner on the stepped portion 10b, and constitutes the outer periphery of the transmission mechanism. Reference numeral 21 denotes an inner ring gear rotatably located at the center of the outer ring gear 20, and 22 refers to these outer ring gears. A plurality of planetary gears (only one is shown) are meshed between 20 and the inner ring gear 21, and 23 is a bracket having a shaft portion 24 that pivotally supports the planetary gear 22. It begins to rotate with the Furthermore, a bearing cylinder part 25 is formed in the lower wall of the lower case 10, and an input shaft 26 is inserted and supported within the bearing cylinder part 25, and its upper end is connected to the inner ring gear 21. are doing. The lower case 10 is fitted into the upper case 9 in such a way that the outer gear 20 (fixed gear) disposed therein is pressed against the lower end of the peripheral wall 9b of the upper case 9. , is fixed to the bottom of the washing tub 3 by screwing with a tapping screw 27 passed through the mounting flange 18. In this case, the bracket 24 is fitted and connected to the lower end of the output shaft 14. Note that the rotational power of the motor 5 is transmitted to the input shaft 26, and the stirring body 4 is connected to the output shaft 14.

In this embodiment with the above configuration, when the motor 5 is driven to rotate in forward and reverse directions at predetermined time intervals in order to perform detergent washing and rinsing, the rotational power is decelerated and transmitted to the input shaft 26 via the belt transmission mechanism 6. The speed is then reduced through the gear mechanism 19 of the reducer 7 and transmitted from the output shaft 14 to the agitator 4. As a result, the agitator 4 is driven to rotate forward and backward at a low speed, and based on this, the washing inside the washing tub 3 is Washing is performed by stirring water and laundry.

According to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

() The outer shell of the speed reducer 7, which is a transmission, is composed of a main case 8 consisting of an upper case 9 and a lower case 10, and a separate bearing case 11, and a flange 12 is further formed on the outer periphery of the bearing case 11. The bearing case 11 and the upper case 9 are connected by sandwiching the peripheral edge of the insertion hole 3a of the washing tub 3 together with the seal member 17 between the lower surface of the flange 12 and the upper surface of the upper case 9. , deformation of the bottom of the washing tub 3, especially the peripheral portion of the insertion hole 3a, can be reliably prevented, and the sealing performance of the sealing member 17 can be reliably maintained without providing a large number of ribs or the like.

() Moreover, since the decelerator 7 is installed both by the above-mentioned clamping structure and by fixing the lower case 10 to the bottom of the washing tub 3 with screws, the entire decelerator can be fixed to the outer bottom of the tub only by screwing. Unlike the case where the
Combined with the rib reduction effect described above, the structure can be simplified.

() Furthermore, since the lower case 10 is fitted to the upper case 9 and the lower case 10 is fixed to the bottom of the washing tub 3, it is possible to center the lower case 10 with respect to the upper case 9 when installing the lower case 10. The center alignment between the output shaft 14 and the input shaft 26 can be performed naturally, which improves the ease of assembly.Moreover, in this case, the lower end of the upper case 9 is connected to the outer periphery of the transmission mechanism inside the lower case 10. barrel outer gear 20
Since it is configured to hold down the outer gear 20, it is possible to stop the outer gear 20 from moving in the thrust direction without using a separate stopper member, and the number of parts can also be reduced.

In the above embodiments, the present invention has been explained by applying it to a two-tub type washing machine, but the present invention can also be applied to a washing machine with both a dehydrating function and the like, and the speed change mechanism may be a torque converter mechanism, for example, instead of a gear mechanism. etc. is also fine.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, the present invention has an internal speed change mechanism at the bottom of the tank, and transmits the rotational power from the motor to the stirring body in the tank by changing the speed. In a washing machine equipped with a transmission, the outer shell of the transmission is composed of a main case consisting of an upper case and a lower case, and a bearing case having a flange formed on the outer periphery, and the bearing case is formed at the bottom of the tub. The flange is inserted into the insertion hole so as to be directed to the inner bottom surface of the tank, and is provided at the bottom of the tank, and the upper case is attached so that the upper surface thereof is the lower surface of the flange, and the peripheral edge of the insertion hole at the bottom of the tank is sealed by a sealing member. The transmission mechanism is connected to the bearing case in a sandwiching manner, and the lower case is disposed inside the transmission mechanism. It is characterized by being fixed to the bottom of the tank, which reliably prevents deformation of the bottom of the tank, especially the periphery of the insertion hole, maintains a reliable seal, and reduces the need for ribs, etc. The structure can be simplified, and the centering of the lower case with respect to the upper case of the transmission can be easily performed together with their installation, making it possible to improve the ease of assembling the transmission. This provides excellent effects such as being able to stop movement in the direction without using any separate member and reducing the number of parts.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a two-tub type washing machine. Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the washing tub side portion of the washing machine, and Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional front view of the main part with a part cut away. It is a diagram. In the figure, 3 and 3a are washing tubs and insertion holes, 4 is an agitator, 5 is a motor, 7 is a speed reducer, 8 is a main body case, 9 is an upper case, 10 is a lower case, 1
1 is a bearing case, 12 is a flange, 14 is an output shaft, 17 is a seal member, 19 is a gear mechanism (transmission mechanism), 20 is an outer gear (outer periphery of the transmission mechanism), 26
is the input shaft part.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a tank equipped with a transmission at the bottom of the tank that has a transmission mechanism inside and transmits rotational power from the motor to the stirring body in the tank by changing the speed by the transmission mechanism,
The outer shell of the transmission is composed of a main body case consisting of an upper case and a lower case, and a bearing case with a flange formed on the outer periphery, and the bearing case is inserted into the insertion hole formed at the bottom of the tank, and the flange is inserted into the tank. The bearing case is inserted into the bottom of the tank so as to be directed to the inner bottom surface, and the upper case is arranged so that the upper surface thereof is sandwiched between the lower surface of the flange and the peripheral edge of the insertion hole at the bottom of the tank together with the sealing member. The transmission mechanism is connected to the upper case and fixed to the tank bottom by fitting into the upper case so that the outer peripheral part of the transmission mechanism having the lower case disposed therein is pressed by the lower end of the upper case. washing machine.