Method of opening an appliance door

• US 7,770,330 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2007
• Issued: 08/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc. DBA GE Appliances (Haier Group Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Henninger, Brian, Neal, Vern Alden, Barber, Philip Ames, Brown, Justin T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mitchell; Katherine W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kelly; Catherine A
• Application Number:
  US11/959,808
• Publication Number:
  US 20090158669A1
• Time in Patent Office: 965 Days
• Field of Search: 495/06, 493/81, 492/40, 492/45, 492/54, 492/57, 492/58, 492/60, 492/59, 126/190, 163/66, 163/68, 163/69, 163/70, 163/71, 162/86, 162/87, 162/88, 162/89, 312/327, 312/328, 312/323
• US Class Current: 49/506
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 15/4257 Details of the loading door
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 15/4259 Arrangements of locking or security/safety devices for doors, e.g. door latches, switch to stop operation when door is open
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 39/14 Doors or covers; Securing means therefor
• CPC Class Codes: E06B 3/5045 specially adapted for furniture E06B3/52 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 23/02 Doors; Covers F25D23/08 takes precedence locks or fastenings E05B65/0042

Abstract

A method of opening an appliance door includes translating the door up and away from a unit so as to clear a lower edge of a physical constraint, thus allowing for gaps to be minimized, further translating the appliance door out so that its handle would not make contact with an adjacent door should the adjacent door be closed or opened while the appliance door is opened, thus allowing the appliance door to be lowered when the same is fully opened in order to increase the usable height and to reduce the gaps below and above the appliance door.

Claims

1. A method of opening a door for an appliance, the door having an inner liner, a front surface, and a lower surface, the method comprising:

while rotating the door about a pivot point in a first direction, translating the door from a closed position to a first intermediate position, the pivot point being translated along an X direction away from the appliance by an amount Δ

x₁ measured by a horizontal change in distance of the pivot point in the closed position and the pivot point in the first intermediate position with respect to a vertical datum line, and upward along a Y direction by an amount Δ

y₁ measured by a vertical change in distance of the pivot point in the closed position and the pivot point in the first intermediate position with respect to a horizontal datum line;

while rotating the door further about the pivot point in the first direction, translating the door from the first intermediate position to a second intermediate position, the pivot point being translated along the X direction away from the appliance by an amount Δ

x₂ measured by the horizontal change in distance of the pivot point in the closed position and the pivot point in the second intermediate position with respect to the vertical datum line, and downward along the Y direction by an amount Δ

y₂ measured by the vertical change in distance of the pivot point in the closed position and the pivot point in the second intermediate position with respect to the horizontal datum line; and

while rotating the door further about the pivot point in the first direction, translating the door from the second intermediate position to an opened position, the pivot point being translated along the X direction away from the appliance by an amount Δ

x₃ measured by the horizontal change in distance of the pivot point in the closed position and the pivot point in the opened position with respect to the vertical datum line, and downward along the Y direction by an amount Δ

y₃ measured by the vertical change in distance of the pivot point in the closed position and the pivot point in the opened position with respect to the horizontal datum line.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein

Δ

x₁=(Gap_x,2+B)−

(Gap_x,1+D) and

Δ

y₁=(Gap_y,2+√

{square root over (x²+y²)})−

(Gap_y,1+y),

where Gap_x,1 is a horizontal gap between the inner liner of the door at the closed position and the vertical datum line, Gap_x,2 is a horizontal gap between the inner liner of the door at the first intermediate position and the vertical datum line, Gap_y,1 is a vertical gap between the lower surface of the door at the closed position and the horizontal datum line, Gap_y,2 is a vertical gap between the lower surface of the door at the first intermediate position and the horizontal datum line, D is a horizontal distance from the pivot point to the inner liner, and B is given by;

$B=\sqrt{D^2+y^2}<br><br>\cos \left[90-{\tan }^{-1}\left(\frac{x}{y}\right)-{\tan }^{-1}\left(\frac{D}{y}\right)\right],$

where x and y are horizontal and vertical distances from the pivot point to the front surface and the lower surface, respectively.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein

Δ

x₂=(Gap_x,3+R)−

(Gap_x,1+D) and

Δ

y₂=(Gap_y,3+S)−

(Gap_y,1+y),

where Gap_x,1 is a horizontal gap between the inner liner of the door at the closed position and the vertical datum line, Gap_x,3 is a horizontal gap between the inner liner of the door at the second intermediate position and the vertical datum line, Gap_y,1 is a vertical gap between the lower surface of the door at the closed position and the horizontal datum line, Gap_y,3 is a vertical gap between the lower surface of the door at the second intermediate position and the horizontal datum line, D is a horizontal distance from the pivot point to the inner liner, R is given by;

R=√

{square root over (D²+y²)}, and

S is given by;

$S=\sqrt{x^2+y^2}<br><br>\cos \left(90-{\tan }^{-1}\left(\frac{x}{y}\right)-{\tan }^{-1}\left(\frac{D}{y}\right)\right)$

where x and y are horizontal and vertical distances from the pivot point to the front surface and the lower surface, respectively.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein

Δ

x₂=(Gap_x,3+R)−

(Gap_x,1+D) and

Δ

y₂=(Gap_y,3+S)−

(Gap_y,1+y),

where Gap_x,3 is a horizontal gap between the inner liner of the door at the second intermediate position and the vertical datum line, Gap_y,3 is a vertical gap between the lower surface of the door at the second intermediate position and the horizontal datum line, R is given by;

R=√

{square root over (D²+y²)}, and

S is given by;

$S=\sqrt{x^2+y^2}<br><br>\cos \left(90-{\tan }^{-1}\left(\frac{x}{y}\right)-{\tan }^{-1}\left(\frac{D}{y}\right)\right).$

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein

Δ

x₃=(Gap_x,4+y)−

(Gap_x,1+D) and

Δ

y₃=(Gap_y,4+x)−

(Gap_y,1+y),

where Gap_x,1 is a horizontal gap between the inner liner of the door at the closed position and the vertical datum line, Gap_x,4 is a horizontal gap between the lower surface of the door at the opened position and the vertical datum line, Gap_y,1 is a vertical gap between the lower surface of the door at the closed position and the horizontal datum line, Gap_y,4 is a vertical gap between the front surface of the door at the opened position and the horizontal datum line, D is a horizontal distance from the pivot point to the inner liner, and x and y are horizontal and vertical distances from the pivot point to the front surface and the lower surface, respectively.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein

Δ

x₃=(Gap_x,4+y)−

(Gap_x,1+D) and

Δ

y₃=(Gap_y,4+x)−

(Gap_y,1+y),

where Gap_x,4 is a horizontal gap between the lower surface of the door at the opened position and the vertical datum line, and Gap_y,4 is a vertical gap between the front surface of the door at the opened position and the horizontal datum line.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the door further has an inner lower corner and outer lower corner, and the door is in the first intermediate position when a line passing through the pivot point and the outer lower corner is vertical.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the door is in the second intermediate position when a line passing through the pivot point and the inner lower corner is horizontal.