Home appliance structure with integral noise attenuation
First Claim
1. An appliance comprising:
- a panel forming at least one of a tub, drum and housing of the appliance, the panel having two metal layers and a viscoelastic layer therebetween spanning the entirety of both of the two metal layers;
wherein the panel exhibits a composite loss factor of at least 0.05.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A home appliance includes a panel forming one of a tub, drum, and a housing for the appliance. The panel includes a first metal layer, a second metal layer, and a viscoelastic layer between, and spanning the entireties of, the first and second metal layers. The viscoelastic layer is configured such that the panel exhibits a composite loss factor of at least 0.05. The panel therefore forms appliance structure with integral noise attenuation, which improves upon the prior art by reducing the number of parts and manufacturing steps necessary for add-on noise attenuators. Furthermore, since the viscoelastic layer spans the entirety of the metal layers, noise attenuation is continuous across the panel, unlike many prior art noise attenuators which provide only localized noise attenuation.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An appliance comprising:
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a panel forming at least one of a tub, drum and housing of the appliance, the panel having two metal layers and a viscoelastic layer therebetween spanning the entirety of both of the two metal layers;
wherein the panel exhibits a composite loss factor of at least 0.05. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A dishwasher comprising:
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a tub having five sides defining a dishwashing chamber;
a nozzle disposed within the dishwashing chamber;
a pump in fluid communication with the nozzle;
wherein each of the five sides is characterized by a laminated panel structure including a first metal layer, a second metal layer, and a viscoelastic layer between and spanning the entirety of the first and second metal layers; and
wherein the tub is characterized by a composite loss factor of at least 0.05 between the temperatures of 40°
F. and 170°
F. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification