MOTOR ASSEMBLY FOR A WASHING MACHINE APPLIANCE

• Main Author: Roetker, John Joseph
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 09.06.2022
• Subjects: BLASTING; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES; ELECTRICITY; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; GENERATION; HEATING; LAUNDERING; LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILEARTICLES; LIGHTING; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; NON-POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT PUMPS; POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS; TEXTILES; TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; WEAPONS

A washing machine appliance includes a wash basket rotatably mounted within a wash tub for receiving of a load of articles for washing. A motor assembly is operably coupled to the wash basket and an agitation element for selectively rotating the wash basket and the agitation element and includes a drive motor having a motor shaft defining an axial direction, a transmission assembly operably coupled to the wash basket for transmitting torque from the motor shaft to the wash basket and the agitation element and the agitation element, and a cooling fan mechanically coupled to the motor shaft for urging a flow of air as the drive motor rotates the motor shaft, the cooling fan comprising a plurality of blades, wherein the plurality of blades have a geometry that varies along the axial direction to follow a contour of an external surface of the drive motor.