CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent appl ication claims priority from Italian patent application no . 102021000001406 filed on January 26 , 2021 , the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference .

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to an article washing system .

In particular, the invention relates to a system comprising a home appliance , in particular a washing machine , for washing articles , in particular clothing, and a hydraulic circuit for the discharge of wastewater produced by the home appliance during the washing of the articles .

BACKGROUND ART

Known article washing systems of the type described above suf fer from some drawbacks , which are mainly due to the fact that the wastewater discharged through the hydraulic circuit contains polluting particles , for example particles of plastic material released by the articles during the washing and/or particles of detergents and/or surfactants released by the washing means during the washing, which are dispersed into the environment .

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION The obj ect of the invention is to provide an article washing system, which is not af fected by the aforementioned drawbacks and can be actuated in a simple and economic fashion .

According to the invention, there is provided an article washing system as claimed in the appended claims .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention wi ll now be described with reference to the accompanying figure , which schematically shows a nonlimiting embodiment thereof .

With reference to the appended figure , number 1 indicates , as a whole , a washing system for articles (which are not shown herein) .

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The system 1 comprises a home appliance 2 , in particular a washing machine , for washing articles (which are not shown herein) , in particular clothing, and a hydraulic circuit 3 to discharge the wastewater 4 produced by the home appliance 2 during the washing of the articles (which are not shown herein) .

The system 1 further comprises a separator assembly 5 , which is mounted along the circuit 3 and is designed to electrostatically charge at least part of the polluting particles (not shown) contained in the wastewater 4 , for example particles of plastic material released by the articles (not shown) during the washing and/or particles of detergents and/or surfactants released by the washing means during the washing, and to separate them from the wastewater 4 .

The assembly 5 comprises a charging device 6 comprising, in turn, a first chamber 7 defining part of the circuit 3 and a plurality of electrodes 8 mounted in the chamber 7 and connected to a voltage generator 9 so as to charge the polluting particles (not shown) contained in the wastewater 4 with an electrical charge with a given sign .

The assembly 5 further comprises a collecting device 10 comprising, in turn, a second chamber 11 defining part of the circuit 3 and a plurality of metal plates 12 mounted in the chamber 11 and connected to the generator 9 so as to be charged with an electrical charge with an opposite sign relative to the one of the polluting particles (not shown) contained in the wastewater 4 .

In use , the wastewater 4 is fed, at first , through the chamber 7 in order to charge the polluting particles (not shown) with an electrical charge with a given sign and, then, through the chamber 11 in order to separate the polluting particles (not shown) from the wastewater 4 and deposit them onto the plates 12 charged with an electrical charge with an opposite sign .

The plates 12 are mounted in the chamber 11 in a removable manner, so as to allow them to be removed and cleaned, and are associated with a control device , for example at least one sensor, which is designed to warn operators about the relative cleaning operation . In the case shown in the appended figure , the separator assembly 5 is mounted on the outside of the home appliance 2 , namely is independent of the home appliance 2 , and is connected to the home appliance 2 through the hydraulic circuit 3 . According to a variant which is not shown herein, the separator assembly 5 is integrated in the home appl iance 2 , namely is mounted inside the home appliance 2 or is coupled to a containing casing of the home appliance 2 .

According to a further variant which is not shown herein, the home appliance 2 is a dishwasher .