Midea Group Co., Ltd.

Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.

General Electric Company

Joel Boyer

Robert M Digman

Bassam Fawaz

Russell Dietrich

John Edward Dries

Errin Whitney Gnadinger

Satish Kumar Raju Buddharaju

James Lee Armstrong

Kyle Edward Durham

Eric B Devins

Mark Wayne Wilson

Eric Scalf

Stephen Bernard Froelicher

Matthew David Mersch

Dylan Rowe

Michael Goodman Schroeder

John Kenneth Hooker

Daniel J Trice

Ronald Scott Tarr

Timothy Martin Wetzel

Craig Curtis

Mark Thomas Fryman

Hanping Xu

Daniel Jason Bentley

Nicholas Clancy Schooley

Greg Buth

A rack-mounted tubular spray element assembly is capable of both rotating and supplying fluid to multiple rack-supported tubular spray elements when the rack is in a washing position that couples the rack-mounted tubular spray element assembly to a wall-supported and electrical motor-driven rotatable drive member and a wall-supported fluid port that is physically separated from the rotatable drive member.

Dishwasher with rack-mounted tubular spray element assembly

A dishwasher and method for making and/or using the same utilize one or more walking tubular spray elements that may be used to effectively increase the spray coverage area of the tubular spray elements through rotation and/or movement of the walking tubular spray elements in directions other than about the longitudinal axes thereof.

Dishwasher with walking tubular spray element

A beverage container washing system may utilize a state machine-based control system and/or beverage container type determination to manage washing and/or sanitizing of beverage containers, e.g., for use in a retail environment to wash and/or sanitize customer-provided beverage containers prior to filling the beverage containers with purchased beverages.

State machine and/or container-specific operational control of high speed reusable beverage container washing system

A wall mounted dishwasher incorporates storage into an exterior door of the dishwasher to facilitate user access to utensils stored in the dishwasher. The exterior door may be hinged and configured to rotate about a substantially vertical axis, and one or more spray devices and/or one or more fluid collection pans may be integrated into the exterior door.

Wall mounted dishwasher

A beverage container washing system may utilize a through opening air knife to direct a flow of pressurized fluid through an opening in a concentric housing member of a beverage container washing system and onto a beverage container disposed within a wash chamber thereof.

Through opening air knife for high speed reusable beverage container washing system

A dishwasher and method for operating the same utilize a diverter valve to control via rotation the flow of fluid such as wash fluid or pressurized air to a rotatable conduit supported in the rack of a dishwasher. A valve member may be disposed at a predetermined rotational position about an axis of rotation of the conduit such that a fluid inlet on a rotatable valve body may be rotated to the predetermined rotational position to restrict fluid flow to the conduit.

Dishwasher with rotatable diverter valve

A beverage container washing system, e.g., for use in a retail environment to wash and/or sanitize customer-provided beverage containers prior to filling the beverage containers with purchased beverages, may include a lighting system with a plurality of lights disposed on a housing of the beverage container washing system and configured to be illuminated with various types of animations to convey different types of information to a customer and/or retail establishment employee.

High speed reusable beverage container washing system with themed lighting

A dishwasher includes in part a controllably-movable sprayer and a controller coupled to the controllably-movable sprayer and configured to control the controllably-movable sprayer to spray fluid onto one or more utensils disposed in a wash tub during a wash cycle. The controller is also configured to control the controllably-movable sprayer to spray fluid onto one or more walls of the wash tub by controllably-redirecting the controllably-movable sprayer to reorient one or more apertures of the sprayer away from the one or more utensils and towards the one or more walls.

Dishwasher with image-based diagnostics

A tubular spray element for a dishwasher is rotatably supported and/or supplied with fluid at an intermediate location along the length of the tubular spray element, such that least one aperture that directs fluid into a wash tub is disposed on each side of the intermediate location. In addition, a tubular spray element drive may be positioned externally from the wash tub and mechanically coupled to the tubular spray element through a shaft seal such that the fluid supply to the tubular spray element can be entirely within the wash tub.

Dishwasher including tubular spray element with intermediate support and/or fluid inlet

A single cavity dishwashing appliance with one or more drawers is disclosed. The drawer may be moveable between a closed position and an open position. A drip shield may be provided to prevent washing fluid from dripping onto the floor or onto the inner components of the dishwashing appliance when the drawer is in the open position.

Drawer type single cavity dishwashing appliance with convertible drip shields

A beverage container washing system may be used for rapid washing and/or sanitizing of beverage containers, e.g., for use in a retail environment to wash and/or sanitize customer-provided beverage containers prior to filling the beverage containers with purchased beverages, among other applications. The beverage container washing system may include multiple concentric housing members supported on a base, and an air knife chamber that supply air from a stationary air supply to an air knife opening on a rotatable one of the concentric housing members.

High speed reusable beverage container washing system with air knife chamber for supplying air to a rotatable air knife opening

A beverage container washing system may be used for rapid washing and/or sanitizing of beverage containers, e.g., for use in a retail environment to wash and/or sanitize customer-provided beverage containers prior to filling the beverage containers with purchased beverages, among other applications. The beverage container washing system may include a pop-up ultraviolet sanitizer that may be used to sanitize an interior of a beverage container by extending into an opening of the beverage container and emitting ultraviolet light onto an interior surface of the beverage container.

High speed reusable beverage container washing system with pop-up ultraviolet sanitizer

A beverage container washing system may utilize a heated wash fluid circulation system to circulate wash fluid retained in a line between a tank and a sprayer to enable fluid that is supplied to the sprayer to be maintained at a suitable temperature for washing and/or sanitizing a beverage container, and in many instances regardless of the amount of time between wash cycles.

Heated wash fluid circulation system for high speed reusable beverage container washing system

A dishwasher and method utilize a cam-based position sensor that is configured to sense multiple rotational positions for a discretely directable tubular spray element driven by a tubular spray element drive.

Dishwasher with cam-based position sensor

A beverage container washing system may be used for rapid washing and/or sanitizing of beverage containers, e.g., for use in a retail environment to wash and/or sanitize customer-provided beverage containers prior to filling the beverage containers with purchased beverages, among other applications. The beverage container washing system may include multiple concentric housing members supported on a base, with each having one or more openings that may be selectively aligned through driven movement of at least one of the concentric housing members to provide access to a wash chamber.

Growing community of inventors

Louisville, KY, United States of America

Joel Boyer