FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present subject matter relates generally to door assemblies for appliances, and more particularly to lighting assemblies and status indicators mounted within doors of appliances.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Appliances frequently include doors for closing, insulating, concealing, or otherwise providing selective access to cavities or chambers of the appliance. These doors typically include an inner and outer door that are separated by an air gap which may be filled with fiberglass or insulating foam, e.g., for thermal insulation, sound dampening, etc. In order to provide a user with information regarding the appliance operation, e.g., such as a status of an operating cycle or an indication that a cycle is complete, status indicators are often positioned on the outer door of the appliance such that they are visible to a user of the appliance.

The status indicators are often light diffusers or light pipes that simply diffuse or transmit light generated by a separate light source. Such light sources are commonly mounted on a light board or a control panel as part of a discrete attachment or assembly mounted to the appliance door, e.g., to reduce wiring complexity of such light sources and to simplify the assembly of the door. Door assembly may be particularly complex if the light sources are mounted to a control board which is provided along a top portion of the door (e.g., perpendicular to the status indicators at a front portion of the door). When mounted in this manner, the door assembly must include features for transmitting light to the status indicators on the front of the door. However, conventional lighting assemblies and features for transmitting light may suffer from a lack of brightness, intensity, uniformity, and versatility of illumination.

Accordingly, an appliance having features for simplified assembly and improved illumination of status indicators would be useful. More specifically, a lighting assembly for an appliance having improved visual indicators, simplified assembly, and minimal space requirements would be particularly beneficial.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.

In one exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, a door assembly for an appliance is provided. The door assembly includes an outer door panel defining an indicator aperture and an inner door panel spaced apart from the outer door panel to define an interior chamber. A first light source selectively emits a first portion of light energy, a second light source selectively emits a second portion of light energy, and an indicator lens extends from a projection surface proximate the indicator aperture and a split receiving surface, the split receiving surface having a first surface facing the first light source and a second surface facing the second light source. An opaque partition is positioned between the first light source and the second light source for at least partially blocking the first portion of light energy from reaching the second surface and the second portion of light energy from reaching the first surface.

In another exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, a dishwasher appliance defining a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction is provided. The dishwasher appliance includes a wash tub positioned within the cabinet and defining a wash chamber and a door assembly pivotally mounted to the cabinet to provide selective access to the wash chamber. The door assembly includes an outer door panel defining an indicator aperture, an inner door panel spaced apart from the outer door panel to define an interior chamber, a first light source selectively emitting a first portion of light energy, and a second light source selectively emitting a second portion of light energy. The door assembly further includes an indicator lens extending from a projection surface proximate the indicator aperture and a split receiving surface, the split receiving surface having a first surface facing the first light source and a second surface facing the second light source and an opaque partition positioned between the first light source and the second light source for at least partially blocking the first portion of light energy from reaching the second surface and the second portion of light energy from reaching the first surface.

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

