U.S. patent application number 15/425659 was filed with the patent office on 2018-08-09 for fruit and vegetable washer.
The applicant listed for this patent is CHIEN-HUA CHEN. Invention is credited to CHIEN-HUA CHEN.
Application Number | 20180220692 15/425659 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 63038375 |
Filed Date | 2018-08-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180220692 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
CHEN; CHIEN-HUA |
August 9, 2018 |
FRUIT AND VEGETABLE WASHER
Abstract
A fruit and vegetable washer includes a housing, an upper cover,
a spin-and-turbulence unit, a power unit, a control assembly, a
cleaning basket and a stabilizing shaft. A polygonal accommodating
chamber is formed in the housing. The cleaning basket is
cylindrical and is mounted rotatably in the accommodating chamber.
Because of the polygonal cross section of the accommodating chamber
of the housing and the circular cross section of the cleaning
basket, the space between the accommodating chamber and the
cleaning basket has a circular inner surface and a rectangular
outer surface. When water fills up the space and the power unit
starts to rotate the cleaning basket, the water will flow between
the rectangular outer surface and the circular inner surface and
keep pushing the inner surface of the accommodating chamber,
producing complex turbulent flows and fully cleaning the fruits and
vegetables inside the cleaning basket.
Inventors: |
CHEN; CHIEN-HUA; (Taoyuan
City, TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
CHEN; CHIEN-HUA |
Taoyuan City |
|
TW |
|
|
Family ID: |
63038375 |
Appl. No.: |
15/425659 |
Filed: |
February 6, 2017 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47J 43/24 20130101;
A23N 12/02 20130101; B08B 3/047 20130101 |
International
Class: |
A23N 12/02 20060101
A23N012/02; B08B 3/04 20060101 B08B003/04 |
Claims
1. A fruit and vegetable washer comprising: a housing having: an
accommodating chamber formed in the housing and a cross section of
the accommodating chamber being polygonal from the top view, the
accommodating chamber having: multiple corners formed on an inner
surface of the accommodating chamber; an upper opening formed on a
top surface of the housing and communicating with the accommodating
chamber; an upper cover mounted on the top surface of the housing,
and covering the upper opening; a spin-and-turbulence unit mounted
on the top surface of the housing, mounted between the housing and
the upper cover, and having: a mounting plate mounted between the
top surface of the housing and the upper cover; a
spin-and-turbulence plate rotatably mounted on a bottom surface of
the mounting plate and having multiple first turbulence protrusions
formed on a bottom surface of the spin-and-turbulence plate; a
power unit mounted securely on the mounting plate and having: a
motor mounted on a top surface of the mounting plate; a driving
element rotatably mounted on the bottom surface of the mounting
plate and connected to the motor, the driving element unrotatably
connected to the spin-and-turbulence plate and capable of being
driven by the motor to rotate with the spin-and-turbulence plate
synchronously; a cleaning basket being cylindrical and a cross
section of the cleaning basket being circular from the top view,
the cleaning basket unrotatably mounted on the bottom surface of
the spin-and-turbulence plate and having: an accommodating space
formed in the cleaning basket; multiple turbulence openings formed
through a lateral side of the cleaning basket; and a stabilizing
shaft rotatably mounted on an inner bottom surface of the
accommodating chamber of the housing and unrotatably mounted
securely on a bottom surface of the cleaning basket.
2. The fruit and vegetable washer as claimed in claim 1, wherein
the housing has multiple turbulence fins radially and inwardly
extending from the inner surface of the accommodating chamber of
the housing.
3. The fruit and vegetable washer as claimed in claim 2, wherein
the cleaning basket has multiple second turbulence protrusions
upwardly extending from an inner bottom surface of the
accommodating space of the cleaning basket.
4. The fruit and vegetable washer as claimed in claim 3, wherein
the first turbulence protrusions and the second turbulence
protrusions are both oval-shaped.
5. The fruit and vegetable washer as claimed in claim 4, wherein
the spin-and-turbulence plate has multiple fixing boards formed on
and extending from the bottom surface of the spin-and-turbulence
plate; the cleaning basket has multiple fixing recesses formed near
the top of an inner surface of the cleaning basket and connected to
the multiple fixing boards, respectively.
6. The fruit and vegetable washer as claimed in claim 5, wherein
the spin-and-turbulence unit has: a supporting ring mounted on the
bottom surface of the mounting plate and having multiple supporting
rods extending downwardly from a bottom surface of the supporting
ring and mounted securely on top surfaces of the multiple
turbulence fins respectively; and a retaining ring mounted securely
between the mounting plate and the supporting ring.
7. The fruit and vegetable washer as claimed in claim 6, wherein
the spin-and-turbulence unit has two sealing washers, one of the
two sealing washers mounted on the top surface of the mounting
plate and in airtight contact with the top surface of the housing,
and the other one of the two sealing washers mounted on the bottom
surface of the mounting plate and in airtight contact with a bottom
surface of the upper cover.
8. The fruit and vegetable washer as claimed in claim 7 further
comprising: an annular impurity cleaner mounted on a bottom surface
of the accommodating chamber of the housing, surrounding the
stabilizing shaft, and having a consumables-containing chamber
formed in the annular impurity cleaner; and multiple holes formed
through a surface of the annular impurity cleaner and communicating
with the consumables-containing chamber.
9. The fruit and vegetable washer as claimed in claim 8, wherein
the cleaning basket has multiple perforations formed through the
bottom surface of the cleaning basket and communicating with the
accommodating space.
10. The fruit and vegetable washer as claimed in claim 1, wherein
the mounting plate has a mounting groove formed in the top surface
of the mounting plate; the power unit has a fixing frame mounted on
the top surface of the mounting plate and covering the mounting
groove; the motor mounted on a top surface of the fixing frame and
having a shaft mounted on the motor; a gear holder mounted on a
bottom surface of the fixing frame and having an accommodating
recess formed in the gear holder; an annular gear formed on a
bottom surface of the gear holder; multiple driving gears mounted
between the fixing frame and the gear holder, the multiple driving
gears engaging with each other, and one of the driving gears
mounted securely on the shaft of the motor; a sun gear mounted in
the accommodating recess of the gear holder and engaging with one
of the multiple driving gears; multiple planetary gears mounted on
the bottom surface of the gear holder and engaging with both the
sun gear and the annular gear; the driving element is rotatably
mounted on the bottom surface of the gear holder, is connected
securely to the multiple planetary gears, and has a driving
protrusion extending from a bottom side of the driving element;
when the planetary gears revolve around the sun gear, the planetary
gears rotate the driving element; and the spin-and-turbulence plate
has a connecting recess formed on a top surface of the
spin-and-turbulence plate, the connecting recess unrotatably
mounted with the driving protrusion.
11. The fruit and vegetable washer as claimed in claim 9, wherein
the mounting plate has a mounting groove formed on the top surface
of the mounting plate; the power unit has a fixing frame mounted on
the top surface of the mounting plate and covering the mounting
groove; the motor mounted on a top surface of the fixing frame and
having a shaft mounted on the motor; a gear holder mounted on a
bottom surface of the fixing frame and having an accommodating
recess formed in the gear holder; an annular gear mounted on a
bottom surface of the gear holder; multiple driving gears mounted
between the fixing gear and the gear holder, the multiple driving
gears engaging with each other, and one of the driving gears
mounted securely on the shaft of the motor, a sun gear mounted in
the accommodating recess of the gear holder and engaging with one
of the multiple driving gears; multiple planetary gears mounted on
the bottom surface of the gear holder and engaging with both the un
gear and the annular gear; the driving element has a driving
protrusion extending frons a bottom side of the driving element;
and the spin-and-turbulence plate has a connecting recess formed on
a top surface of the spin-and-turbulence plate, the connecting
recess unrotatably mounted with the driving protrusion, the driving
element is rotatably mounted on the bottom surface of the gear
holder and mounted with the multiple planetary gears; when the
planetary gears revolve around the sun gear, the driving element
rotates with the planetary gear.
12. The fruit and vegetable washer as claimed in claim 10, wherein
a keypad is mounted on the top surface of the upper cover; and a
control assembly is mounted on the bottom surface of the upper
cover, is disposed above the mounting plate, and has a key circuit
board connected to the keypad; and a main circuit board connected
to the motor and the key circuit.
13. The fruit and vegetable washer as claimed in claim 11, wherein
a keypad is mounted on the top surface of the upper cover; and a
control assembly is mounted on the bottom surface of the upper
cover and on top of the mounting plate and has a key circuit; and a
main circuit board connected with the motor and the key circuit.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
[0001] The present invention relates to a washer and, more
particularly, to a fruit and vegetable washer with a housing and a
cleaning basket rotatably mounted in the housing. The space between
the rotatable cleaning basket and the inner surface of the housing
is partially wide and partially narrow, allowing the cleaning
basket to effectively stir the water inside the housing and produce
a huge amount of turbulence, which can clean the fruit and
vegetable from various angles and remove the dirt from the surface
of the fruits and vegetables thoroughly.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
[0002] A conventional fruit and vegetable washer has a housing and
a cylindrical tank inside the housing. Inside the tank is a
cylindrical mesh cleaning basket and a drive motor which connects
with the cleaning basket. To clean the fruits and vegetables, the
users first put the fruits and vegetables into the cleaning basket,
close an upper cover of the housing and turn on the switch to start
the motor, and the cleaning basket will then rotate in the tank,
producing turbulence of water flow to clean the fruits and
vegetables in the cleaning basket.
[0003] However, since the tank and the cleaning basket are both
cylindrical and are equidistant from each other in all radial
directions, the turbulence produced by the spinning of the cleaning
basket is not apparent. In other words, most of the water flows are
circulating within the annular space between the cleaning basket
and the inner surface of the tank rather than passing in and out of
the cleaning basket. This reduces the cleaning efficiency of the
washer.
[0004] To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides
a fruit and vegetable washer to mitigate or obviate the
aforementioned problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The main objective of the present invention is to provide a
fruit and vegetable washer with a housing and a cleaning basket
rotatably mounted in the housing, the space between the cleaning
basket and the inner surface of the housing is partially wide and
partially narrow, allowing the cleaning basket to effectively stir
the water inside the housing and produce a huge amount of
turbulence to clean the fruit and vegetable from various angles and
remove the dirt from the surface of the fruits and vegetables
thoroughly.
[0006] To achieve the foregoing objective, the fruit and vegetable
washer includes a housing, an upper cover, a spin-and-turbulence
unit, a power unit, a cleaning basket and a stabilizing shaft. The
housing has an accommodating chamber and an upper opening. The
accommodating chamber is formed in the housing and a cross section
of the accommodating chamber is polygonal from the top view. The
accommodating chamber has multiple corners formed on an inner
surface of the accommodating chamber. The upper opening is formed
on a top surface of the housing and communicates with the
accommodating chamber. The upper cover is mounted on a top surface
of the housing and covers the upper opening. The
spin-and-turbulence unit is mounted on the top surface of the
housing and is mounted between the housing and the upper cover. The
spin-and-turbulence unit has a mounting plate and a
spin-and-turbulence plate. The mounting plate is mounted between
the top surface of the housing and the upper cover. The
spin-and-turbulence plat rotatably mounted on a bottom surface of
the mounting plate and has multiple first turbulence protrusions
formed on a bottom surface of the spin-and-turbulence plate. The
power unit is mounted securely on the mounting plate and has a
motor and a driving element. The motor is mounted on a top face of
the mounting plate. The driving element is rotatably mounted on the
bottom surface of the mounting plate and is connected to the motor.
The driving element is unrotatably connected to the
spin-and-turbulence plate and is capable of being driven by the
motor to rotate with the spin-and-turbulence plate synchronously.
The cleaning basket is cylindrical and a cross section of the
cleaning basket is circular from the top view. The cleaning basket
is unrotatably mounted on the bottom surface of the
spin-and-turbulence plate and has an accommodating space and
multiple turbulence openings. The accommodating space is formed in
the cleaning basket. The multiple turbulence openings are formed
through a lateral side of the cleaning basket. The stabilizing
shaft is rotatably mounted on an inner bottom surface of the
accommodating chamber of the housing and is unrotatably mounted
securely on a bottom surface of the cleaning basket.
[0007] Given the foregoing structure of the fruit and vegetable
washer, because of the polygonal cross section of the accommodating
chamber of the housing and the circular cross section of the
cleaning basket, the space between the accommodating chamber and
the cleaning basket has a circular inner surface and a rectangular
outer surface. When the water fills up this irregularly-shaped
space and then the power unit starts to rotate the cleaning basket,
the water will flow between the rectangular outer surface and the
circular inner surface and keep pushing the inner surface of the
accommodating chamber and producing complex turbulent flows.
Furthermore, the first turbulence protrusions of the
spin-and-turbulence plate and the turbulence openings of the
cleaning basket intensify the turbulent flows to clean the fruits
and vegetables in the cleaning basket effectively and take away the
dirt from the surface of those fruits and vegetables.
[0008] Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the
invention will become more apparent from the following detailed
description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a fruit and vegetable washer
in accordance with the present invention;
[0010] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the fruit and
vegetable washer in FIG. 1;
[0011] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the fruit and vegetable
washer in FIG. 1, shown without a housing and an upper cover;
[0012] FIG. 4 is a partially exploded perspective view of the fruit
and vegetable washer in FIG. 1, shown without the housing and the
upper cover;
[0013] FIG. 5 is another partially exploded perspective view of the
fruit and vegetable washer in FIG. 1, shown without the housing and
the upper cover;
[0014] FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the fruit and
vegetable washer in FIG. 1, shown without the housing and the upper
cover;
[0015] FIG. 7 is another exploded perspective view of the fruit and
vegetable washer in FIG. 1, shown without the housing and the upper
cover;
[0016] FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of the power unit of
the fruit and vegetable washer in FIG. 1;
[0017] FIG. 9 is another exploded perspective view of the power
unit of the fruit and vegetable washer in FIG. 1;
[0018] FIG. 10 is a cross sectional side view of the fruit and
vegetable washer in FIG. 1; and
[0019] FIG. 11 is a cross sectional top view of the fruit and
vegetable washer in FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0020] With reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, a fruit and vegetable
washer in accordance with the present invention comprises a housing
10, an upper cover 20, a spin-and-turbulence unit 30, a power unit
40, a control assembly 50, a cleaning basket 60, a stabilizing
shaft 70 and an annular impurity cleaner 80.
[0021] With reference to FIG. 2, an accommodating chamber 100 is
formed on the housing 10 and a cross section of the accommodating
chamber 100 is polygonal from the top view. The accommodating
chamber 100 has multiple corners formed on an inner surface of the
accommodating 100. An upper opening is formed on a top surface of
the housing 10 and communicates with the accommodating chamber 100.
Multiple turbulence fins 15 radially and inwardly extend from the
inner surface of the accommodating chamber 100.
[0022] The upper cover 20 is mounted on the top surface of the
housing 10 and covers the upper opening. A keypad 21 is mounted on
a top surface of the upper cover 20.
[0023] With reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, the spin-and-turbulence
unit 30 is mounted on the top surface of the housing 10. More
precisely, the spin-and-turbulence 30 is mounted between the
accommodating chamber 100 of the housing 10 and the upper cover 20.
The spin-and-turbulence unit 30 has a mounting plate 31, a
spin-and-turbulence plate 35, a supporting ring 32 and a retaining
ring 33.
[0024] The mounting plate 31 is mounted between the top surface of
the housing 10 and the upper cover 20. Two sealing washers 37, 38
are mounted on the mounting plate 31. The sealing washer 37 is
mounted on a top surface of the mounting plate 31 and is in
airtight contact with the top surface of the housing 10. The
sealing washer 38 is mounted on a bottom surface of the mounting
plate 31 and is in airtight contact with a bottom surface of the
upper cover 20. Furthermore, a mounting groove 310 is formed on the
top surface of the mounting plate 31.
[0025] The spin-and-turbulence plate 35 is rotatably mounted on the
bottom surface of the mounting plate 31 and has multiple first
turbulence protrusions 355 formed on a bottom surface of the
spin-and-turbulence plate 35. The first turbulence protrusions 355
may be oval-shaped protrusions. Multiple fixing boards 351 are
formed on and extend from the bottom surface of the
spin-and-turbulence plate 35. Moreover, a connecting recess 350 is
formed on a top surface of the spin-and-turbulence plate 35.
[0026] The supporting ring 32 is mounted on the bottom surface of
the mounting plate 31 and has multiple supporting rods 321
extending downwardly from a bottom surface of the supporting ring
32 and contacting top surfaces of the multiple turbulence fins 15
respectively.
[0027] The retaining ring 33 is mounted securely between the
mounting plate 31 and the supporting ring 32.
[0028] With reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, the power unit 40 is
mounted securely on the mounting plate 31 and has a motor 41, a
fixing frame 42, a gear holder 43, multiple driving gears 44, a sun
gear 46, multiple planetary gears 45 and a driving element 47.
[0029] The motor 41 is mounted on the top surface of the mounting
plate 31 and has a shaft 411 mounted on the motor 41.
[0030] The fixing frame 42 is mounted on the top surface of the
mounting plate 31 and covers the mounting groove 310. In addition,
the motor 41 is mounted on top of the fixing frame 42.
[0031] The gear holder 43 is mounted on a bottom surface of the
fixing frame 42 and has an accommodating recess 430 and an annular
gear 431. The accommodating recess 430 is formed in the gear holder
43. The annular gear 431 is mounted on a bottom surface of the gear
holder 43.
[0032] The multiple driving gears 44 are mounted between the fixing
frame 42 and the gear holder 43. The multiple driving gears 44
engage with each other, wherein one of the driving gears 44 is
mounted securely on the shaft 411 of the motor 41.
[0033] The multiple planetary gears 45 are mounted on the bottom
surface of the gear holder 43 and engage with both the sun gear 46
and the annular gear 431. The multiple planetary gears 45 can
revolve around the sun gear 46.
[0034] The driving element 47 is rotatably mounted on the bottom
surface of the gear holder 43 and is mounted with the multiple
planetary gears 45. When the motor 41 drives the sun gear 46, the
planetary gears 45 revolve around the sun gear 46, thereby driving
the driving element 47. The driving element 47 is rotatably mounted
on the bottom surface of the mounting plate 31 and connects with
the motor 41. Meanwhile, the driving element 47 is also unrotatably
connected with the spin-and-turbulence plate 35 and can be driven
by the motor 41 to rotate with the spin-and-turbulence plate 35
synchronously. A driving protrusion 473 extends from a bottom
surface of the driving element 47 and the driving protrusion 473 is
unrotatably mounted in the connecting recess 350.
[0035] The control assembly 50 is mounted on the bottom surface of
the upper cover 20 and is disposed above the mounting plate 31. The
control assembly 50 has a key circuit board 51 and a main circuit
board 52. The key circuit board 51 connects to the keypad 21. The
main circuit board 52 is connected with the motor 41 and the key
circuit 51.
[0036] With reference to FIGS. 10 and 11, the cleaning basket 60 is
cylindrical and the cross section of the cleaning basket 60 is
circular from the top view. The cleaning basket 60 is unrotatably
mounted on the bottom surface of the spin-and-turbulence plate 35.
An accommodating space 600 is formed in the cleaning basket 60.
Multiple turbulence openings 601 are formed through a lateral side
of the cleaning basket 60. Multiple second turbulence protrusions
65 upwardly extend from an inner bottom surface of the
accommodating space 600 of the cleaning basket 60. The second
turbulence protrusions 65 may be oval-shaped protrusions.
Furthermore, multiple fixing recesses 61 are formed near the top of
an inner surface of the cleaning basket 60 and are connected with
the multiple fixing boards 351 respectively. Multiple perforations
602 are formed through the bottom surface of the cleaning basket 60
and communicate with the accommodating space 600. The perforations
602 increase the amount of water flow that flows into and out of
the cleaning basket 60.
[0037] The stabilizing shaft 70 is mounted rotatably on an inner
bottom surface of the accommodating chamber 100 of the housing 10
and is mounted unrotatably and securely with the bottom surface of
the cleaning basket 60.
[0038] The annular impurity cleaner 80 is mounted on the bottom
surface of the accommodating chamber 100 of the housing 10 and
surrounds the stabilizing shift 70. A consumables-containing
chamber 800 is formed in the annular impurity cleaner 80 for the
storage of the consumables such as activated carbon or sodium-free
ion exchange resin. The consumables can percolate the impurities
within the water. Multiple holes 801 are formed through the surface
of the annular impurity cleaner 80 and communicate with the
consumables-containing chamber 800.
[0039] Given the foregoing structure of the fruit and vegetable
washer, due to the polygonal cross section of the accommodating
chamber 100 of the housing 10 and the circular cross section of the
cleaning basket 60, the space between the accommodating chamber 100
and the cleaning basket 60 has a circular inner surface and a
rectangular outer surface. When water fills up the
irregularly-shaped space and the power unit 40 starts to rotate the
cleaning basket 60, the water will flow between the rectangular
outer surface and the circular inner surface and keep pushing the
inner surface of the accommodating chamber 100, producing complex
turbulent flows. Furthermore, the first turbulence protrusions 355
of the spin-and-turbulence plate 35 and the turbulence openings 601
of the cleaning basket 60 will intensify the turbulent flows to
clean the fruits and vegetables in the cleaning basket 60
effectively and will take away the dirt from the surfaces of the
fruits and vegetables.
[0040] Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the
present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description,
together with details of the structure and features of the
invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made
in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and
arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the
full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in
which the appended claims are expressed.
* * * * *