Dishwasher with sprayer

• US 9,693,672 B2
• Filed: 08/09/2012
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Original Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
• Inventors: Feddema, Mark S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kornakov, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lorenzi, Marc
• Application Number:
  US13/570,577
• Publication Number:
  US 20130074887A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,790 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 15/23 moved by means of the sprays
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 15/4282 Arrangements to change or modify spray pattern or direction

Abstract

A dishwasher includes a tub at least partially defining a treating chamber and a sprayer for spraying liquid to the treating chamber. The sprayer may include a liquid passage and at least one outlet extending from an interior to an exterior of the sprayer and in fluid communication with the liquid passage. A membrane may have at least one opening and may be in fluid communication with the liquid passage to control the flow of liquid through the at least one outlet.

Claims

1. A dishwasher for treating utensils according to an automatic cycle of operation, comprising:

a tub at least partially defining a treating chamber for receiving utensils for treatment according to the automatic cycle of operation;

a sprayer for spraying liquid into the treating chamber and defining an interior having at least one liquid passage, and at least one outlet extending from the interior to an exterior of the sprayer and in fluid communication with the liquid passage;

at least one sealing ring provided along the interior of the sprayer and including a raised O-ring surrounding the at least one outlet; and

a flexible film having at least one opening, and in fluid communication with the liquid passage;

wherein the flexible film and the sprayer are operably coupled wherein, during use, the flexible film conforms to and moves relative to the raised O-ring provided on the sprayer to form a liquid seal between the at least one sealing ring and the flexible film, and such that rotation of the sprayer causes reciprocating movement of the flexible film relative to the sprayer such that the at least one opening passes over at least a portion of the at least one outlet to fluidly couple the liquid passage to the outlet and provide for a flow of liquid from the liquid passage, through the at least one opening, and through the outlet to emit a spray of liquid from the sprayer into the treating chamber.

2. The dishwasher of claim 1, further comprising a driver operably coupled to at least one of the flexible film and the sprayer to relatively move the flexible film and sprayer.

3. The dishwasher of claim 2 wherein the driver comprises a reciprocating driver that relatively reciprocates the flexible film and the sprayer.

4. The dishwasher of claim 3 wherein the reciprocating driver reciprocates the flexible film relative to the driver.

5. The dishwasher of claim 2 wherein the driver comprises a rotating driver that relatively rotates the flexible film and the sprayer.

6. The dishwasher of claim 5 wherein the sprayer comprises a disk and the rotating driver relatively rotates the flexible film and disk.

7. The dishwasher of claim 6 wherein the rotating driver rotates the flexible film relative to the disk.

8. A dishwasher for treating utensils according to an automatic cycle of operation, comprising:

a tub at least partially defining a treating chamber for receiving utensils for treatment according to the automatic cycle of operation;

a rotating spray arm for spraying liquid into the treating chamber and defining an interior having at least one liquid passage, and at least one outlet extending from the interior to an exterior of the spray arm and in fluid communication with the liquid passage;

a flexible membrane located within the interior and having at least one opening, and in fluid communication with the liquid passage; and

a driver including a gear train operably coupled to the flexible membrane and the rotating spray arm to laterally reciprocate the flexible membrane laterally within the rotating spray arm based on rotation of the rotating spray arm to define a relative movement;

wherein, during use, the flexible membrane conforms to a shape of a portion of the spray arm, and as the flexible membrane is laterally reciprocated the at least one opening passes over at least a portion of the at least one outlet to fluidly couple the liquid passage to the outlet and provide for a flow of liquid from the liquid passage, through the at least one opening, and through the outlet to emit a spray of liquid from the spray arm into the treating chamber.

9. The dishwasher of claim 8 wherein the flexible membrane abuts the spray arm.

10. The dishwasher of claim 9 wherein the flexible membrane is located between the liquid passage and the at least one outlet.

11. The dishwasher of claim 10 wherein the flexible membrane forms a portion of the liquid passage.

12. The dishwasher of claim 10 wherein the flexible membrane abuts the portion of the spray arm to form a liquid seal between the portion of the spray arm and the liquid passage.

13. The dishwasher of claim 12 wherein the at least one outlet comprises a plurality of outlets.

14. The dishwasher of claim 13, further comprising a seal surrounding each of the outlets.

15. The dishwasher of claim 8 wherein the spray arm comprises multiple outlets and the relative movement of the flexible membrane and spray arm selectively aligns the at least one opening between at least two of the multiple outlets.

16. The dishwasher of claim 15 wherein the flexible membrane has multiple openings, which are fewer in number than the multiple outlets, wherein relative movement of the flexible membrane and the spray arm selectively aligns the multiple openings with a subset of the multiple outlets.

17. The dishwasher of claim 16 wherein a subset of the multiple openings are spatially complementary with multiple subsets of the multiple outlets, wherein relative movement of the flexible membrane and the spray arm selectively aligns the subset of the multiple openings with one of the multiple subsets of the multiple outlets.