Blower for a laundry treating appliance

• US 8,776,394 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2011
• Issued: 07/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Catauro, Michael J., Christensen, Mark J., Lentz, Steven P., Masters, Roy E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gravini, Steve M
• Application Number:
  US13/252,230
• Publication Number:
  US 20130081296A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,015 Days
• Field of Search: 341/30, 346/01, 346/06, 346/10, 218/62, 218/63, 74/93, 743/721, 482/52, 416/60, 416/183, 417/371, 417/423.14, 415/119, 415/204, 415/206, 415/214.1
• US Class Current: 34/601
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2101/20 Operation modes, e.g. delicate laundry washing programs, service modes or refreshment cycles
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/28 Arrangements for program selection, e.g. control panels therefor; Arrangements for indicating program parameters, e.g. the selected program or its progress
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 58/20 General details of domestic laundry dryers D06F59/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 29/281 for fans or blowers
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 29/666 by means of rotor construction or layout, e.g. unequal distribution of blades or vanes

Abstract

A blower for supplying and exiting the air to and from a treating chamber of a clothes dryer.

Claims

1. A blower assembly, comprising:

an electric dryer motor with an output shaft;

a wheel having a central hub and a peripheral rim, with the hub having a through opening receiving the output shaft of the motor, and a centerline of the opening defining an axis of rotation of the wheel;

a plurality of vanes projecting from the rim and spaced radially about the rim; and

an inertial weight mounted to the wheel and circumscribing the hub and having at least a portion radially spaced from the axis of rotation.

2. The blower assembly of claim 1 wherein the wheel comprises opposing first and second sides that extend from the rim to the hub.

3. The blower assembly of claim 2 wherein at least some of the vanes extend along one of the first and second sides.

4. The blower assembly of claim 3 wherein the inertial weight is mounted to the other of the first and second sides.

5. The blower assembly of claim 4 wherein the inertial weight comprises a ring.

6. The blower assembly of claim 5 wherein the wheel comprises spokes emanating from the hub on the other of the first and second sides and the ring circumscribes the spokes to position the inertial weight relative to the wheel when the inertial weight is mounted to the wheel.

7. The blower assembly of claim 6 wherein the wheel comprises pins extending from the other of the first and second side and the ring comprises openings for receiving the pins to mount the inertial weight to the wheel.

8. The blower assembly of claim 4 wherein the inertial weight comprises a hub having a centerline and spokes extending from the hub to a ring, wherein the ring is mounted to the wheel such that the centerline of the inertial weight is coaxial with the centerline of the wheel.

9. The blower assembly of claim 8 wherein the hub of the inertial weight has a portion that is received within the hub of the wheel.

10. The blower assembly of claim 9 wherein the one of the first and second sides is convex and the other of the first and second sides is concave.

11. The blower assembly of claim 10 wherein the inertial weight is integrally formed with the wheel by injection molding.

12. The blower assembly of claim 10 wherein at least some of the vanes project laterally from the peripheral rim.

13. The blower assembly of claim 1 wherein at least some of the vanes project from the rim toward the hub.

14. The blower assembly of claim 13 wherein the wheel comprises a disk extending between the rim and the hub and at least some of the vanes extend along the disk.

15. The blower assembly of claim 14 wherein the disk has a hyperboloidal cross section.

16. The blower assembly of claim 1 wherein the inertial weight comprises a ring circumscribing and spaced from the hub.

17. The blower assembly of claim 16 wherein the inertial weight further comprises a hub having a centerline and spokes extending from the hub to the ring, wherein the inertial ring is mounted to the wheel such that the centerline of the inertial weight is coaxial with the centerline of the wheel.

18. The blower assembly of claim 17 wherein the hub of the inertial weight has a portion that is received within the hub of the wheel.

19. The blower assembly of claim 1 wherein the electric motor is a variable speed motor.

20. The blower assembly of claim 19 wherein the inertia of the inertial weight is set to retard the pulsation of a four-pole, split-phase electric motor that results in sound for a 125 Hz One-third Octave band center frequency for sound power.