Technical Field

The invention relates to a detergent cartridge for insertion into a household appliance, in particular into a laundry machine or dishwasher.

It also refers to a household appliance de- signed to receive so a cartridge.

In this context, the term "detergent" is to be understood broadly, and it not only includes classic detergents for removing impurities and dirt from the objects to be washed, but it also includes other additives used in a washing and cleaning process, such as bleaching agents, rinse aids, disinfectants, etc.

Background Art

It has been suggested to provide detergent cartridges for laundry machines and dishwashers. These cartridges contain a detergent reservoir of a size sufficient for several washing cycles.

The cartridges are inserted into the appliance and cooperate with a pump arranged in the appliance.

Such systems provide improved user convenience, but they are technically complex and expensive.

Disclosure of the Invention

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a cartridge and an appliance with such a cartridge that are mechanically simple. In a first aspect, the problem is solved by the cartridge for insertion into a household appliance as defined in claim 1. Accordingly, the cartridge comprises:

- A housing.

- A detergent outlet: This is the place where detergent leaves the cartridge.

- A detergent reservoir: This is the reser voir for the detergent. It is arranged in the housing, and it advantageously provides sufficient volume to pro- vide detergent for several washing cycles.

- A pump: The pump is arranged between the reservoir and the outlet, i.e. the detergent passes the pump in its path from the reservoir to the outlet. It can provide the mechanics for conveying the detergent from the reservoir to the outlet, but the drive of the pump may be external to the cartridge.

By making the pump part of the cartridge, a simple pump mechanism can be used. In particular, the pump does not have to have a long lifespan because it can be replaced easily.

Advantageously, the pump comprises a rotatable pump assembly. In particular, this pump assembly can be structured to pump the detergent towards the outlet upon rotation. The pump assembly comprises a coupling that is structured to be connected to an external drive shaft. Advantageously, the coupling is structured to transmit an angular momentum to the pump assembly.

In one embodiment, the pump can be a peristaltic pump. It comprises a deformable tube in deforming contact with the rotatable pump assembly, i.e. the pump assembly is structured to cause peristaltic deformations in the tube while it is rotating.

The pump is advantageously mounted to the cartridge housing. It can be releasably mounted to the cartridge housing such that a user can non-destructively release it from one cartridge housing and mount it to another cartridge housing for reuse. The invention also relates to a household appliance, in particular a washing machine or a dishwasher. The appliance includes at least one cartridge as de ^¬ scribed and a cartridge berth receiving the cartridge.

The appliance can further comprise a pump drive and a drive shaft, with the drive shaft being driven by a pump drive. The drive shaft is releasably connected to the pump of the cartridge. This allows a stationary drive to be mounted to the appliance while the actual pump mechanism is part of the removable cartridge.

As mentioned, the household appliance is ad vantageously a washing machine or a dishwasher.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following de- tailed description thereof. This description makes refer ence to the annexed drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a schematic view of a laundry machine,

Fig. 2 shows a simplified block diagram of some of the components of the machine,

Fig. 3 is a front view of three cartridges in the cartridge port,

Fig. 4 shows a the cartridges and the cartridge port from a different angle,

Fig. 5 shows the cartridge port from its backside,

Fig. 6 shows a detail, partially in sectional view, of Fig. 5,

Fig. 7 shows a single cartridge,

Fig. 8 shows a simplified sectional view of a pump and its drive, and

Fig. 9 shows the pump in its pump housing. Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

Overview:

The appliance shown in Fig. 1 is a laundry machine as seen from its front side, with its front door not shown .

The machine has a housing 1. A cylindrical tub 2 is arranged within housing 1 for containing· the washing liquid. In the embodiment shown, tub 2 has a hor izontal axis 3 of symmetry. A rotatable drum 4 is located coaxially to drum 2 for receiving the laundry.

In the context of the present invention, the appliance comprises one or more detergent cartridges 6.

In the shown embodiment, there are three such cartridges

6.

The cartridges 6 e.g. are located between tub 2 and a top edge 8 of appliance housing 1, with edge 8 extending parallel to axis 3. Thus, the cartridges 6 use the space between tub 2 and a corner of the appliance.

In the shown embodiment, the cartridges 6 are arranged in a common cartridge port 10.

In the shown embodiment, cartridge port 10 is accessible from the front side Of the appliance. It may be closed by a door (not shown) . The insertion direction for the cartridges is perpendicular (e.g. within +/- 10°) to the appliance's front side.

Fig. 2 shows the relevant components of the appliance. As can be seen, each cartridge comprises a pump 12, which advantageously is an Integral part of the cartridge 6. Each pump 12 is designed to convey the liq uid from the reservoir of the cartridge to an outlet 14.

The outlets 14 of the cartridges 6 are lo cated in a mixing chamber 16 of the appliance, which is connected to tub 2 by means of a mixing chamber drain 18. Further, a water feed 20 is connected to mixing chamber 16, and a valve 22 is provided for admitting fresh water to water feed 20.

Further, the appliance comprises pump drives 24. In the shown embodiment, there is one pump drive 24 for each cartridge 6.

Each pump drive 24 drives a drive shaft 26, which is located to drive the pump 12 once a cartridge 6 is in its operating position.

A control unit 30 controls the operation of the appliance.

When a detergent from one of the cartridges 6 is required in the washing process, control unit 30 actives the corresponding pump drive 24, which causes detergent to be conveyed to mixing chamber 16. Further, control unit 30 opens valve 22 to feed water to mixing chamber 16 in order to flush the detergent into tub 2.

Cartridge mount:

Figs. 3 and 4 show an embodiment for mounting the cartridges 6 in the appliance.

As can be seen, the cartridges 6 are mounted in a common cartridge port 10. Cartridge port 10 defines a berth 32 for each cartridge 6.

The berths 32 and cartridges are structured such that the cartridges 6 can be inserted into and retrieved from the appliance along an insertion direction X. For this purpose, each cartridge comprises guiding recesses 34 extending along insertion direction X, and each berth 32 comprises mating projections 36 to extend into the guiding recesses 34. Alternatively, the guiding recesses can be formed by the berth 32 and the projections may be formed by the cartridge.

In the embodiment shown, the guiding recesses 34 are formed in the vertical, lateral sides 38 of the cartridges 6. At least some of the guiding recesses could, however, e.g. also be formed along the edges of the cartridges 6 or their top and/or bottom sides.

Further, the cartridges 6 can comprise at least one gripping recess 40 to make it easier to pull them out of their berths 32. Advantageously, gripping re cess 40 is located on a front side 42 of its cartridge 6, with the front side 42 being defined as the side opposite to the cartridge's outlet 14 and/or as the side opposite to insertion direction X.

In the embodiment shown, gripping recess 40 is arranged in an edge 44 connecting front side 42 to the top side 46 or to the bottom side of the cartridge.

In order to efficiently use the space In a corner of the machine, the cartridges 6 advantageously have different sizes, as it is best seen in Fig. 3, with the bottommost cartridge e.g. being the smallest one.

Cartridge design:

Fig. 7 shows a single cartridge 6, and Fig. 8 shows the design of its outlet section.

Cartridge 6 has a housing 48 surrounding a reservoir 54 for receiving the detergent.

The top side 46, bottom side 49, and lateral sides 38 extend advantageously parallel to insertion di rection X, while its front side 42 and/or back side 50 may extend perpendicularly thereto.

Cartridge 6 comprises a reservoir spout 52 (cf. Fig. 8), which is connected to the reservoir 54 and forms its exit.

In order to expedite the flow of liquid from reservoir 54, reservoir spout 52 is advantageously ar ranged at the height of the bottom side 49 of reservoir 54. In other words, the bottom of reservoir spout 52 is flush with or lower than bottom side 49 (with "lower" defined along a vertical direction Y where top site 46 is higher than bottom side 49} . Backside 50 is, by definition, the side of cartridge 6 that faces towards the insertion direction X, i.e. the side by means of which the cartridge 6 is in serted first into the appliance. Advantageously, the backside surface of cartridge housing 48 is perpendicular to insertion direction X.

Backside 50 is also the side of cartridge 6 where its outlet 14 is located.

Cartridge 6 further comprises a pump 54 arranged on backside 50 thereof.

Pump 54 comprises a pump housing 56, which is e.g. mounted to reservoir spout 52, in particular by means of an adapter 58. Adapter 58 and reservoir spout 52 can e.g. be screwed into each other or connected by a snap-in connection, or they may form a non-releasable connection, such as by welding or gluing.

Advantageously, though, pump 54 is releasably mounted to cartridge housing 48 such that pump 54 can be used with several reservoirs before being discarded.

Cartridge 6 further comprises an outlet spout 60, which forms the outlet 14. Advantageously, spout 60 extends parallel to insertion direction X for being smoothly inserted into mixing chamber 16. Advantageously, outlet spout 60 is formed by a straight tube section, in particular of a rigid material .

In the shown embodiment, outlet spout 60 is mounted to pump 54 at the backside of cartridge 6.

The. design of pump 54 is best seen from Figs. 8 and 9. It comprises a rotatable pump assembly 62 having a coupling 64 to be connected to the drive shaft 26 of the appliance. Rotatable pump assembly 62 can be rotated about an axis of rotation 63, which is also the axis of rotation of drive shaft 26.

Coupling 64 is arranged within pump housing 56. A coupling opening 66 is provided in pump housing 56, and coupling 64 is located at this coupling opening, such that drive shaft 26 can be inserted through coupling opening 66 into coupling 64.

Coupling 64 is arranged at the backside of the cartridge, such that it can be easily coupled with drive shaft 26 upon insertion of cartridge 6 along insertion direction X.

Coupling 64 and drive shaft 26 both advantageously have engaging members having non-round cross sec tions .

In the embodiment shown, pump 54 is a peristaltic pump comprising a deformable tube 66, which is deformed for peristaltically conveying the liquid from reservoir 54 by rotating the rotatable pump assembly 62.

For this purpose, rotatable pump assembly 62 comprises a plurality of rollers 68, which are mounted to a rotator 70, Rotator 70 is fixedly connected to coupling 64 and rotatably mounted in pump housing 56.

Tube 66 has an inlet end 72 extending into reservoir spout 52. Advantageously, inlet end 72 is arranged at the bottom of reservoir spout 52 to suck up any residual liquid.

Tube 66 has an outlet end 74 connected to outlet spout 60.

For easy insertion into the appliance, the axis 63 of rotatable pump assembly 62 as well as outlet spout 60 extend parallel to each other. However, in order to make it easy to couple cartridge 6 to drive shaft 26, axis 63 and outlet spout 60 are advantageously offset, in particular by at least 1 cm.

The insertion direction X is advantageously horizontal, i.e. its angle from the direction of gravity of a properly mounted appliance, is at least 80°.

Cartridge appliance interface:

The interface between the cartridge and the appliance is now described by refering to Figs. 5, 6, and As can be seen, mixing chamber 16 is arranged "behind" the cartridges 6 and their berths 32, with the direction "front"-"back" (and "in front of"-"behind") being defined as the insertion direction X, i.e. when being inserted, a cartridge 6 is moving from the front to the back.

When a cartridge 6 is fully inserted, its outlet spout 60 reaches into mixing chamber 16, i.e. the cartridge's outlet 14 is located in mixing chamber 16.

Mixing chamber 16 is e.g, formed by a channel having a sloped bottom side 76 in order to avoid liquid stagnating therein. It extends from an inlet port 78 to an outlet port 80. Inlet port 78 is arranged higher than outlet port 80.

Inlet port 78 is connected to water feed 20 (Fig. 2) , and outlet port 80 is connected to water drain 18.

Mixing chamber 16 is advantageously mounted to cartridge port 10 in order to ensure an accurate alignment of the outlet spouts 60 with the mixing cham ^¬ ber.

Further, when a cartridge 6 is fully inserted, drive shaft 26 is fully inserted in coupling 64.

The drive shafts 26 are also advantageously mounted to cartridge port 10 in order to ensure an accurate alignment of the drive shafts 26 with the couplings 64.

The pump drives 24 are advantageously connected to the drive shafts 26 by means of transmissions 82, 84 (cf. Fig. 8), each of which can e.g. consist of two intermeshing cogwheels. This allows to locate the pump drives 24 radially outwards from the drive shafts 26 (i.e. the pump drives 24 are located in a direction perpendicular to the drive shafts 26) . This allows a compact design along the insertion direction X. :o

Notes :

In the embodiment above, the invention has been shown in a laundry machine. As mentioned, though, .it can also be used in other household appliances, such as dishwashers ,

In the embodiments shown above, drive shaft 26 is inserted into coupling 64 of rotational pump assembly 62. Alternatively, though, drive shaft 26 may engage structures on the backside of rotational pump assembly 62.

Advantageously, the reservoir of the cartridge is of a size sufficient for several washing cycles. In particular, the reservoir has a volume of at least 200 ml. In particular, the following volumes may e.g. be used:

- 300 ml (at least 200 ml) for the smallest cartridge; and/or

- 450 ml (at least 300 ml) for the medium cartridge; and/or

- 900 ml (at least 600 ml) for the largest cartridge.

While there are shown and described presently preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be dis- tinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto but may.be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims.