Abstract:
A configuration system for an appliance such as a dryer or washing machine provides for multiple interchangeable consoles having different user controls and displays that may be attached to standardized appliance housings to change the functionality of the appliance allowing for multiple appliance styles to be offered with reduced inventory stocking requirements

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application 61/389,918 filed Oct. 5, 2010 hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to household appliances such as dishwashers, washing machines and dryers and in particular to an appliance having interchangeable control consoles that may be attached to the appliance body to change the functionality of the appliance. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Many household appliances are offered in a variety of different styles and models to better match the needs and budgets of the consumer. Normally, higher end appliances offer additional features and functions. For example, an entry-level washing machine may provide for only a few different types of wash cycles (e.g. regular, permanent press, delicate, and soak) while a high-end washing machine may provide for many more cycles each providing different control of the agitator, water temperature, and timing of the operation of the appliance. 
         [0004]    The variety of styles and models creates substantial inventory burdens on retailers who must stock many machines to permit immediate sales to customers. While different styles and models may share common components, reconfiguring the appliances on-site to take advantage of this commonality is beyond the capabilities of most retailers. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The present invention provides an appliance that can accept a variety of different consoles within a model to permit different model styles to be created in the retail environment by matching different consoles to particular appliance bodies. This ability to interchange consoles in the retail environment is made possible by a simple, mechanical interconnection between the console and the appliance body in which both power and control data are communicated wirelessly avoiding the need for electrical interconnections that might be susceptible to damage, misconnection or moisture. 
         [0006]    Specifically, the present invention may provide an appliance system having an appliance body providing a cabinet housing with at least one of electrical actuators and electrical sensors for implementing a function of the appliance and a first and second appliance console providing different user accessible controls implementing at least some different appliance functions, the appliance consoles interchangeably attaching to the appliance body. The appliance body supports at least one primary coil attached proximate to a location of an appliance console when an appliance console is attached to the appliance body, the primary coil attached to driving circuitry providing an oscillating magnetic field passing from the appliance body. The first and second appliance console each support at least one secondary coil attached proximate to the primary coil of the appliance body when the appliance console is attached to the appliance body, the secondary coils being electrically connected to receiving circuitry to rectify an alternating current signal induced in the secondary coil by the primary coil to provide the power to the appliance console. 
         [0007]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to eliminate the need for high-power electrical interconnection when attaching different consoles two different appliance bodies, for example at a point of retail. 
         [0008]    The appliance system may further include a wireless transceiver pair positioned one in the console and one in the appliance body for transmitting and receiving the data respectively between at least one of the user accessible control and one of sensors and actuators in the appliance body. 
         [0009]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to allow consoles to be functionally attached to an appliance body with only mechanical interconnection by the worker. 
         [0010]    The user accessible controls may be selected from the group consisting of: manually operated electrical switches and visual displays. 
         [0011]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to permit consoles having both or either of user actuation and user display features. 
         [0012]    The primary and secondary coils may be planar coils having conductors confined substantially each to a single plane. 
         [0013]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide high-efficiency lightweight electrical interconnection by magnetic coupling. 
         [0014]    The primary and secondary coils may be formed at least in part as traces in a printed circuit board. 
         [0015]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a low-cost fabrication technique for planar electrical coils. 
         [0016]    The appliance system may include a sensor controlling power transmitted from the primary coil according to whether a secondary coil is positioned nearby. 
         [0017]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to prevent undue heating of the primary coil in the absence of electrical coupling. By sensing electrical coupling, effectively greater power capacity may be obtained from a given coil size. 
         [0018]    The primary and secondary coils may be separated from user contact by an electrical insulator when the appliance console is attached to the appliance body. 
         [0019]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to shield inexperienced users from electrical hazard. The use of electromagnetic coupling eliminates the need for exposed electrical connectors. 
         [0020]    Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the following detailed description, claims and drawings in which like numerals are used to designate like features. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0021]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an example appliance having an appliance body and multiple consoles which may be connected to the appliance body to produce different styles within a model series, the views showing, in phantom, internal components of the appliance; 
           [0022]      FIG. 2  is a fragmentary elevational cross-section through connecting faces of the appliance body and the console showing mechanical interconnection and wireless power and data connection using communication devices abutting when the appliance body and console are interconnected; and 
           [0023]      FIG. 3  is a schematic block diagram of the appliance of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0024]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of the driving and receiving circuitry used for the efficient transmission of power between the appliance body and a console; 
           [0025]      FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view through a printed circuit board implementing a primary coil or secondary coil and showing an optional reinforcing metal form for increasing current capacity; 
           [0026]      FIG. 6  is a simplified circuit schematic of the driving circuitry of  FIG. 4 ; 
           [0027]      FIG. 7  is a figure similar to that of  FIG. 6  showing the receiving circuitry; and 
           [0028]      FIG. 8  is a fragmentary phantom view of the appliance body and a console, similar to that of  FIG. 1 , showing coils constructed of discrete windings of electrical wire in an alternative bracket attachment of the console. 
       
    
    
       [0029]    Before the embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including” and “comprising” and variations thereof is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items and equivalents thereof. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0030]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , an appliance  10 , such as a washer, dryer, dishwasher or the like, may provide for an appliance body  12 , for example, having a generally rectangular prismatic body form constructed of enameled steel or molded thermoplastic. The appliance body  12 , for example in the case of a depicted dryer, may provide for a front door  14  openable to expose an internal dryer basket  16  that may be driven by a motor  18  also powering a blower (not shown) providing airflow over electrical heater  20  or the like. 
         [0031]    The appliance body  12  may, for example, present a planar horizontal upper surface  22  for receiving, at its rear edge, the substantially horizontal planar lower surface  24  of a bottom of a first console  26 . A front surface  28  of the console may present various user controls  30 , for example, including a cycle timer control knob  32 , text or graphic display  34 , indicator lights  35 , and electrical switches  36  in the form of pushbuttons, toggle switches, or rotary dial switches of a type known in the art. 
         [0032]    Alternatively, a second console  38  having a similar construction to first console  26  may be received by the planar horizontal upper surface  22  of the appliance body  12 , the second console  38  differing from the first console  26 , however, in that it provides a different set of user controls  30 ′ including, for example, a cycle timer control knob  32 ′ and user selector buttons  36 ′. These user controls  30 ′ will implement different functions and capabilities for the appliance  10  than the user controls  30 . 
         [0033]    Referring now to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the planar horizontal upper surface  22  near the location of attachment of the console  26  or  38  may provide for mechanical interlock elements  44 , for example barb elements  40 , that may be received by corresponding mechanical interlock elements  46 , for example barb sockets  42 , in the horizontal planar lower surface  24  of the console  26  or  38 . These interlock elements  44  and  46  provide mechanical connection between the appliance body  12  and the console  26  or  38  and are designed to be installed simply by unskilled labor at a retail environment. 
         [0034]    The sheet metal of the planar horizontal upper surface  22  of the appliance body  12  may be pierced by an opening  50  position in an area to be covered by the console  26  or  38 . This opening  50  may be covered with a nonferrous or plastic cover  52  that may support a primary coil  54  positioned adjacent to an underside of the cover  52  to provide a substantially vertical magnetic flux  56  passing upward through the planar horizontal upper surface  22 . The primary coil  54  may be implemented on a printed circuit board  57  as a spiral of conductive traces  59  to form a so-called “fingerprint” coil. In the event that the appliance body  12  is a plastic material, the primary coil  54  may be positioned in a similar location without the need to create the opening  50 . Generally the primary coil  54  will be sealed against water ingress and will be separated from user contact at the upper surface  22  by an insulating material being either the a portion of the cover  52  or continuation of a plastic upper surface  22 . 
         [0035]    A corresponding opening  58  may be cut in the horizontal planar lower surface  24  of the console  26  or  38  to align with the opening  50  in the planar horizontal upper surface  22  of the appliance body  12  when the two are mechanically connected. A cover  60  similar to cover  52  may cover the opening  58  to which may be attached a secondary coil  62  of substantially identical configuration as the primary coil  54  to receive the magnetic flux  56  to induce a current within the secondary coil  62 . While primary coil  54  and secondary coil  62  are shown implemented on a printed circuit board, other coil configurations including windings on magnetic cores and the like may be used. Generally the secondary coil  62  will also be protected from the ingress of moisture and will provide an electrically insulating layer between it and the surface  22 . In the event that the appliance body  12  is a plastic material, the opening  58  and cover  60  may be dispensed with. 
         [0036]    Within the primary coil  54  on the lower side of the cover  52  may be positioned a wireless transceiver  64 , for example, an infrared photodetector/photoemitter pair or a radio transceiver such as a Zigbee or Bluetooth radio. A corresponding transceiver  66  may be centered within the secondary coil  62  on the upper side of the cover  60  to intercommunicate with transceiver  64  for the exchange of data therebetween. As will be understood from the description below, when the console  26  or  38  is assembled against the appliance body  12  by engaging interlock elements  44  and  46 , cover  52  will abut cover  60  to provide for power exchange between coils  54  and  62  and data exchange between transceiver  64  and  66  without direct electrical connection, the communicating elements being separated by the insulating material of the covers  52  and  60 . In an alternative embodiment the transceiver  64  and  66  may make use of the coupling between primary and secondary coils  54  and  62  to convey data therebetween in the manner of antennas. 
         [0037]    Referring now to  FIG. 3 , the appliance body  12  may admit an electrical cord  70  which may communicate with control relays or thyristors  72  and  74  to provide power to the motor  18  or electrical heater  20  upon signal from a control board  76  positioned in the appliance body. The control board  76  may likewise receive signals from a sensor  78 , for example, a humidity or temperature sensor or door switch. The control board  76  may in turn communicate with transceiver  64  to provide data from the sensor  78  to transceiver  66  which may communicate with a console control board  80 . The control board  76  may for example include a microcontroller of the type well known in the art executing a stored program to read data from digital or analog input and provide signals from digital or analog outputs. Console control board  80  may also read data from user controls  30  including control knob  32  and controls  36 . Based on the data collected and a stored program  82  executed by a processor on the control board  80 , control board  80  may provide signals to transceiver  66  to be received by transceiver  64  to control the solid-state switches  72  and  74  and hence the operation of motor  18  and heater  20 . 
         [0038]    Power  70  may also be provided to a power supply  84  in the appliance body  12 , for example, producing a source of DC power that is provided to the control board  76  and to wireless power oscillator  86 , the latter which is connected to primary coil  54  to produce an oscillating magnetic field  56  that may induce power in coil  62 . A power control module  88  may optionally connect to primary coil  54  to detect the proximity of coil  62  (for example by the voltage on primary coil  54 ) and control the oscillator  86  to reduce power from the oscillator  86  when coil  62  is not present to prevent overheating of primary coil  54  and the unnecessary use of power. 
         [0039]    The secondary coil  62  may be connected to a rectifier unit  90  converting the induced AC waveform received by secondary coil  62  into direct current power which is provided to a filter  92  and ultimately to a power regulator  94  providing power to control board  80  and possibly to controls  36 ′ and  32 ′, for example, to power lights or the like. It will be understood therefore that electrical power to operate the electronics of the console  38  may thereby be provided without direct electrical connections. 
         [0040]    The transceiver  64  may likewise communicate data from the control unit  76  through transceiver  66  to control unit  80  for example to send information from the humidity sensor  78  or other sensor systems. This information may be used by the control unit  80  to provide user output for example through lamp  35  or to implement control strategies for example feedback control in which the receive signals are used to affect control signals to the appliance. These control signals may be sent through transducer  66  from the controller  83  receipt by transceiver  64  in the control  76  to implement the control of the switches  72  and  74  for example. 
         [0041]    The console  26  may be substantially identical to the console  38  described above with the exception of different user controls  30  and a different program  82  that may implement different functionality for example different drying cycles or washing cycles. The implementation of different functionality may be performed with identical user controls or different user controls reflecting the differences in obtainable functionality. 
         [0042]    Thus it will be appreciated that different consoles  38  or  26  may be applied to the appliance body  12  to implement different functionality. For functionality that requires different actuating elements, for example motor  18  and heater  20 , or different sensing elements, for example humidity sensor  78 , a limited set of different appliance bodies may be stocked to be mixed and matched with the consoles  26  and  38  to provide for a wide variety of different styles and models. 
         [0043]    Referring now to  FIG. 4 , the primary coil  54  may receive an alternating current signal from an oscillator  86  synthesizing that signal from a DC source  84 , for example, of twenty-four volts available in the appliance  10  from a conventional DC power supply of the type well known in the art. Generally, the frequency of oscillation will be substantially above that of line current (i.e. 60 Hz) or rectified line current (e.g. 120 Hz) and may be, for example, 350 to 700 kHz to provide for more efficient transmission. Such higher frequencies also permit filtering with smaller capacitors. 
         [0044]    The output of the oscillator  86  may be provided to a resonant circuit formed by the inductance of the primary coil  54  and a capacitor  100  together tuned to a resonant frequency substantially equal to the fundamental frequency of the oscillator  86 . The circuitry to produce the AC oscillator  86  can be placed on the same printed circuit board holding the primary coil  54 . Higher frequency operation is further enhanced by elimination of a magnet core of ferromagnetic material permitting more efficient high-frequency operation by the elimination of eddy current losses. 
         [0045]    The secondary coil  62  may also be tuned to the resonant frequency of the primary coil  54 , for example, by a tuning capacitor  102  to efficiently inductively couple to the primary coil  54  thereby providing an AC signal to a rectifier  90  and filter  92  to provide DC power to a regulator  94 . The regulator  94  may be, for example, a boost or buck converter that may provide a controlled voltage or current to the console circuitry. 
         [0046]    The primary coil  54  may also be attached to power control circuitry  88  sensing the presence of a console  26  or  38  and its corresponding coil  62  near the primary coil  54  by sensing the load of secondary coil  62 , for example, as a decrease in voltage on primary coil  54 , and may communicate with the oscillator  86  to turn the oscillator  86  off when there is no console present, thus conserving power. The power control circuitry  88  may periodically turn the oscillator  86  on to check for a console  26  or  38 , in a place adjacent to that primary coil  54 . 
         [0047]    Referring now to  FIG. 9 , in either embodiment, the primary coil  54  and a secondary coil  64  may be fabricated on a printed circuit board using traces  59  on a printed circuit board substrate  57 , for example a glass epoxy substrate material. The traces  59  may be formed in a spiral pattern to eliminate cross over in a single dimension of the trace or may be concentric circles connected by vias and other layers of the circuit board or the like. The primary coil  54  may be provided with increased current capacity by soldering a metal wire form  45  (for example a copper wire) to the trace to be supported and constrained thereby. Other components (to be described below) with respect to each of the coils may be soldered on similar traces on the opposite side of the printed circuit board substrate  57  to provide a compact, robust and integrated assembly. The primary coil  54  or secondary coil  64  may be, for example, planar in configuration passing in a rectangular helix to form a so-called “fingerprint” coil substantially within a plane of the printed circuit board. The primary coil  54  or power-receiving coil  63  may be covered from user contact or water ingress by non-ferromagnetic thermoplastic material of the surface  22  of the appliance or the cover  52 . 
         [0048]    Referring now to  FIG. 6 , circuitry associated with the primary coil  54  may include a bi-stable multi-vibrator  107  (for example a  555  timer) using a capacitive/resistive network and comparators to provide a substantially 50% duty cycle waveform  114  at the desired resonant frequency to a half bridge driver  106 . The half bridge driver  106  may drive transistors  104   a  and  104   b  connected at a common point to primary coil  54  and have their other leads connected to power and ground respectively. For this purpose, the half bridge driver  106  may provide two modified waveforms  116  (only one shown for clarity) at 180° phase difference providing a switching of the transistors  104   a  and  104   b  alternately on and off while ensuring no overlap. The resulting switched signal may be applied to a resonant circuit formed from the primary coil  54  and capacitor  100  connected in series to ground to provide a substantially sinusoidal current flow  79  at the desired frequency. A junction between the primary coil  54  and capacitor  100  may be monitored by a threshold-detecting amplifier  110  that may activate the reset line of the oscillator  107  turning the oscillator  107  off when voltage rises beyond a certain point indicating the absence of an adjacent console  26  and  38 . 
         [0049]    Referring now to  FIG. 7 , the receiving circuitry may attach to the secondary coil  64  to also provide for a parallel resonant tuned circuit by means of capacitor  102  connected across secondary coil  64  and providing, with the inductance of secondary coil  64 , a center resonant frequency substantially equal to the center resonant frequency of the circuit of primary coil  54 . The resulting sinusoidal received waveform  85  may be rectified by a full wave rectifier  90  and filtered by a filter  92  comprising a shunting capacitor to provide unregulated direct current to the voltage regulator  94 . A subsequent filter capacitor  112  may be provided to further filter the output of the regulator  94 . 
         [0050]    Referring now to  FIG. 8  in an alternative embodiment, the primary coil  54  and secondary coil  62  may be constructed of discrete windings of electrical wire  96  having a center conductor and outer insulating coating, the electrical wire  96  formed in rectangular loops to provide for a higher winding density and greater area than may be practical with the printed circuit board design. In addition or alternatively, the barb elements  40  used to attach the consoles  26  or  38  to the appliance body  12 , may be replaced with metal plates  98  attached to the consoles  26  or  38  and the appliance body  12  at their rear surfaces by machines screws (not shown) or the like. 
         [0051]    Various features of the invention are set forth in the following claims. It should be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangements of the components set forth herein. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Variations and modifications of the foregoing are within the scope of the present invention. It also being understood that the invention disclosed and defined herein extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text and/or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the present invention. The embodiments described herein explain the best modes known for practicing the invention and will enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention.