Midea Group Co., Ltd.

General Electric Company

Midea America Corp.

Other

Mark Wayne Wilson

Timothy Martin Wetzel

Robert M Digman

Eric Scalf

Zhe Zhang

Jing Pan

Feng Wen

Sheena Leigh Ritchie

Chenglong Hong

Alexander Pinkus Rafalovich

Vern Alden Neal

Sanjay Manohar Anikhindi

Anand Ganesh Joshi

Cory Jerome Tafoya

Matthew Keith Sease

Joel Boyer

Richard W Cowan

Paul R Staun

Gautam Subbarao

Garen Gibbs

Hemachandran Umakanthan

Daniel J Trice

Bassam Fawaz

Christopher G Hoppe

John Joseph Roetker

Matthew William Davis

Vinayak Naik

Anil Kumar Tummala

Toby Whitaker

Solomon Muthumani

Sathi Bandaru

Scott A Stinebruner

Tim A Hamel

Kyle Pfeffenberger

Thiruvalan Venkatesan

Arunkumar Pappusamy

Barry Waddilove

Ramnath Vaidyanathan

Sanjay Manohar Anikihindi

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 variable fluid dispenser for a refrigerator utilizes a variable control suitable for varying the rate of fluid dispensing by the dispenser. In some instances, the variable control may include a rotary control actuator that varies the fluid dispensing rate of the variable dispenser, and in some instances, the variable control may include a variable control actuator movable between a range of positions that includes a home position at which the variable dispenser is deactivated. In such instances, movement of the variable control actuator away from the home position both activates the variable dispenser to dispense fluid and increases the fluid dispensing rate of the variable dispenser.

Refrigerator with variable fluid dispenser

A dishwasher may utilize a multi-level dishwasher rack that in some instances may be reconfigurable into different configurations to optimize the rack for different types and/or combinations of utensils. A movable divider may be used in some instances to selectively expose a deep portion of a rack, and a drawer may be used in some instances to provide access utensils stored underneath a divider. A movable portion of a bottom of a rack may also be used in some instances to provide different support surfaces in the rack at different elevations. A tubular spray element or another rotatable spray tube may also be positioned relative to a multi-level dishwasher rack in some instances to facilitate concentrated washing of different facing surfaces of different utensils stored in the rack.

Dishwasher with multi-level dishwasher rack

A method and dishwasher utilize one or more tubular spray elements that are both rotatable about longitudinal axes thereof and discretely directable by one or more tubular spray element drives between a plurality of rotational positions about the longitudinal axes thereof. Thus, through the provision of discretely directable tubular spray elements, fluid such as wash fluid and/or pressurized air may be focused in a wash tub, in many cases providing more efficient resource usage in the dishwasher.

Dishwasher with discretely directable tubular spray elements

A method and a dishwasher utilize a dock detection system to determine when a connector of a spray device is docked to a docking port provided on a manifold of the dishwasher. A dock detector is coupled to the docking port and is electrically coupled to a controller of the dishwasher through electrical conductors that extend along the manifold, thereby enabling a dishwasher controller to detect when spray devices are coupled to the manifold, e.g., to optimize a wash cycle to use a particular spray device docked to the docking port.

Dishwasher with dock detection

A refrigerator includes a cabinet with one or more food compartments and one or more doors closing the food compartments and an ice maker located in the cabinet to produce ice. The ice maker includes a mold body for forming ice, the mold body having multiple cups, where each cup has an opening for receiving water to be frozen within the cup. The mold body is divided into at least a first zone and a second zone and the ice maker including at least a first heater and a second heater configured to provide heat to the first and second zones of the mold body, respectively, and a controller configured to harvest ice from the first zone independently of the second zone by actuating the first heater to provide heat to the first zone of the mold body to facilitate a release of ice from the first zone.

Refrigerator with multi-zone ice maker

A refrigerator and method utilize a pair of tandem evaporators to provide cooling for both a compartment and an ice making system of a refrigerator. An upstream evaporator in the pair of tandem evaporators provides cooling for a compartment such as a freezer, fresh food, flexible cooling, or quick cooling compartment, while a downstream evaporator is in fluid communication with the upstream evaporator to receive a portion of the air cooled by the upstream evaporator and further cool the received portion for use in cooling one or more components of the ice making system.

Refrigerator with tandem evaporators

A venting appliance for use with a cooking appliance including a cooktop with at least one cooking element disposed thereon, where the venting appliance may include: a housing configured to be positioned above the cooktop; a repositionable vent arm coupled to and extending below the housing; and a controller coupled to the repositionable vent arm and configured to determine that a first cooking element among at least one cooking elements is active, and in response thereto, automatically reposition the vent arm to be closer to the first cooking element.

Cooking appliance with repositionable vent arm

A dishwasher utilizes multiple rack-mounted corner sprayers disposed in corners defined between a side wall and front and rear walls of a dishwasher rack to direct fluid inwardly from the corners to wash utensils supported by the rack. The corner sprayers are in fluid communication with one another by a fluid channel that extends along the side wall of the rack, and an inlet port coupled to the first corner sprayer conveys fluid to each of the corner sprayers.

Dishwasher including rack corner sprayers

A method and dishwasher utilize a spray basket that includes a container body that defines a compartment for retaining utensils as well as multiple sets of nozzles, a portion of which are configured to direct a spray of fluid into the compartment, and another portion of which are configured to direct a spray of fluid external from the container body. The spray of fluid directed external from the container body may be used, for example, to provide a power wash zone adjacent to the spray basket to assist in cleaning other utensils in a dishwasher.

Dishwasher including spray basket with integrated external sprayer

A system for measuring and monitoring the closure of a refrigerated compartment of an appliance includes a controller having at least one input and at least one output for receiving and providing electrical signals to a plurality of electrical components of the appliance. The system includes a pressure sensor for monitoring the compartment to detect the presence of a negative pressure pulse indicative of a compartment closure.

Negative pressure sensing for an appliance door closure

A method and apparatus for a gas burner head with one or more rotating burners. The gas burner head may include an outer burner and an inner burner rotating about an axis. Multiple gas burner heads may be rotatably interconnected. Rotating one or more burners within one or more gas burner heads may allow a variety of burner characteristics and/or patterns. One or more gas burner heads may be used in a variety of applications.

Method and apparatus for distributing heat from a burner

Growing community of inventors

Simpsonville, KY, United States of America

Mark Wayne Wilson