Brush Based Dishwasher

Abstract

A dishwasher that uses the abrasive force of brushes to clean dishes. The dish is held in place from the top by a rack made of parallel bars so the top oscillating brush can pass through the rack and clean the outside of the dish. The dish is held in place below by the axle of the bottom rotating brush so the brush rotates to clean the inside of the dish. The dishwasher also consists of a rotating rack that holds the dish in place at the start and during the rinse cycle. The rotating rack consists of bars that support the dish, water slot to guide rinse water to the rinse chamber, and a moving cover that regulates the flow of the washing fluids to appropriate chambers.

Description

This application claims benefits to U.S. provisional patent application No. 61483743, May 9, 2011.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention pertains to the arts of dishwashers and, more specifically, to a brush based dishwasher.

2. Discussion of the Prior Art

The typical dishwashers consist of at least one dish rack, and at least one spray arm with multiple nozzles to direct fluids towards the dishes in the washing chamber. Due to various shapes of the dishes to be washed, and the proximity of the dishes to be washed, the fluid jets are oftentimes blocked so not to be able to reach the soiled dishes. For instance, a plate in front of another plate often blocks the fluid jets from reaching the second plate; the wall of a cup often blocks the fluid jets from reaching the interior of the cup. Only a fraction of the dish surface is reached directly with pressured fluids. Much of the dish surface is washed only with dripping fluids with no pressure. Even when a dish is washed with pressured fluid jets, it takes a long time to flush the grease and soil away from the dish. As a consequence, it takes a long time to finish a wash cycle. Oftentimes, the dishes are still not completely cleaned after a long wash cycle.

Another problem of the current spray system is that the wash cycle is not correlated with the quantities of the dishes to be washed. Even when consumers need to wash one or a few dishes quickly, it still requires a wash cycle that's same as when a full dishwasher of dishes are washed.

Still another problem is that the current dishwashers require hot water, special detergents and, though not absolutely necessary, special rinse agents because of the way dishes are washed and rinsed.

Overall, the current system is inefficient and ineffective. It consumes a large amount of energy and water. And it imposes higher financial cost associated with special detergents and rinse agents.

A need exists so that the dishes can be washed more effectively.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relies on the abrasive force of brushes to wash dishes, as opposed to the flushing effect of the current spray dishwasher. More specifically, the current invention devises a mechanism to wash dishes with brushes and rinse dishes, all without manual work by the users.

The new dishwasher consists of an oscillating brush on the top to clean the outside of dishes, a rotating brush on the bottom to clean the inside of the dishes, a top rack made of parallel bars to hold the dishes on the top while allowing the top brush to pass and reach the dishes, a bottom rack that rotates with the bottom brush, a mechanism to direct washing fluid and rinse fluid to appropriate chambers, and other supporting devices and mechanisms to facilitate the wash and rinse cycles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the overall structure of the dishwasher;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the main washing components;

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 1, indicating the starting position of the washing components when a wash cycle starts;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the washing mechanism at positions 1 and 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the washing mechanism at position 2;

FIG. 6 is a top view of the rotating rack;

FIG. 7 is a top view of the axle of the rotating brush;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 3 shows Dish (4) placed in the middle of the rotating holder, with the help of the laser beam (8) pointing to the middle of the rotating rack and opposite to the axle of the rotating brush.

FIG. 4 shows Parallel holder (1) lowered to press on dish (4); Top brush (2) runs back and forth to clean outside of dish

FIG. 5 shows Bottom brush (5) raised with its axle to press on the inside of dish (4); dish is raised slightly above rotating holder (3); bottom brush rotates to clean inside of dish; rotating holder (3) rotates along with rotating brush (4).

FIG. 4 also shows the position of parts after the inside of the dish is washed. All parts return to position 1; dish is pre-rinsed with circulating water from bottom tank; then rinsed with fresh water directly from water source or a clean water tank; excess water in bottom tank automatically released from the soiled water exit (7); fluid flows are discussed below.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the rotating holder. The rotating holder is consisted of cross support bars (C), rinse water slot (B), and wash chamber cover (A).

Wash chamber cover (A) is pivotal around the center with starting position on top of water slot (B). When the dishwasher is turned on and engaged in position 1 and 2, (A) covers rinse water slot (B) so washing fluid drops to the wash chamber (9) below. When the dishwasher is in position 3 during the rinse mode, (A) rotates to cover the wash chamber below so rinse water is guided through (B) and flows to rinse chamber (10).

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the axle of the rotating brush. Axle (11) also serves as a shower head. It's connected to three fluid supplies: wash fluid, pre-rinse water, and fresh water. The connection location should be close to the top of the axle so minimal amount of fluid from the previous cycle is retained and mixed with the fluid from the next cycle.

While the forms of apparatus disclosed herein constitute preferred embodiments of the present invention, those knowledgeable in the art understand that the invention is not limited to these precise forms of apparatus, and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A dishwasher consisting:

A top oscillating brush;

A top rack made of parallel bars that holds dishes on the top and allows the top brush to reach the outside of dishes;

A bottom rotating rack that holds dishes at the bottom, but also allows the rotating brush to go through and reach the inside of dishes, and rotates with the rotating brushes to clean the inside of dishes when the dishes are held in place by the brush axle, and regulates the flow of the fluids to appropriate chambers;

A rotating brush that rotates around its axle and cleans the inside of the dishes;

A laser or other light source that points towards the center of the rotating rack to help place the dish in the middle;