CN107587337B

CN107587337B - Iron comprising a heating body in thermal contact with an ironing plate

Info

Publication number: CN107587337B
Application number: CN201710551262.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 格扎维埃·夏图瓦尔; 让-马克·库尔图瓦
Original assignee: SEB SA
Current assignee: SEB SA
Priority date: 2016-07-07
Filing date: 2017-07-07
Publication date: 2021-01-29
Anticipated expiration: 2037-07-07
Also published as: CN107587337A; CN207793701U; TR201904486T4; FR3053703B1; EP3266927B1; ES2718077T3; FR3053703A1; EP3266927A1

Abstract

Iron comprising a heating body (1) comprising a lower surface in thermal contact with an ironing plate (2) and an upper surface at which an evaporation chamber (12) is provided, the heating body comprising a steam distribution circuit connecting the evaporation chamber (12) and a steam distribution chamber (23) provided at the lower surface of the heating body, the ironing plate (2) comprising, opposite the distribution chamber, at least a first group (21) of steam outlet holes (20) which open into said distribution chamber (23), characterized in that said distribution chamber has the shape of a distribution pipe (23) which is coiled around a convex wall (23A) on the lower surface of the heating body (1) and along which the first group (21) of steam outlet holes (20) are distributed in succession, so that the steam flow circulating in said distribution pipe (23) is continuously supplied to said steam outlet holes (20) .

Description

Iron comprising a heating body in thermal contact with an ironing plate

Technical Field

The invention relates to an iron comprising a heating body, said heating body comprising a lower surface and an upper surface, said lower surface being in thermal contact with an ironing plate, said upper surface being provided with an evaporation chamber. The invention relates more particularly to an iron in which the heating body comprises a steam distribution circuit connecting the evaporation chamber and a steam distribution chamber provided on the lower surface of the heating body, the ironing plate comprising, opposite the distribution chamber, at least one set of steam outlet holes which open directly into the distribution chamber.

Background

An iron comprising a heating body comprising a lower surface in thermal contact with an ironing plate and an upper surface at which an evaporation chamber is provided is known from document WO 2016/066725. In this document, the heating body comprises a steam distribution circuit connecting an evaporation chamber and a steam distribution chamber provided on the lower surface of the heating body, the ironing plate comprising, on the opposite side to the distribution chamber, a set of steam outlet holes which open into the distribution chamber.

However, in this document, the distribution chamber has a larger passage cross-section than the passage cross-section of the distribution circuit upstream of the distribution chamber, so that the steam flow is depressurized in the distribution chamber, which causes a reduction in the velocity of the steam flow before it is discharged through the steam outlet opening.

Document US 2007/000159 also discloses an iron having a steam circuit arranged on the upper surface of the heating body and a distribution chamber arranged on the lower surface of the heating body. However, this document does not show the shape of the dispensing chamber.

Finally, document EP 858525 discloses an iron comprising a heating body having a lower surface comprising a steam distribution chamber and a rectilinear tube arranged upstream of the distribution chamber, said rectilinear tube having a reduced passage section so as to accelerate the discharge flow of the steam. However, the distribution chamber has a passage cross-section which is much larger than the passage cross-section of the tubes, so that the steam flow entering the distribution chamber is depressurized, which causes the steam flow to decrease in velocity before being discharged through the steam outlet aperture.

In addition, the dispensing chambers disclosed in these documents have the disadvantage of being relatively bulky.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is therefore to overcome these drawbacks by providing an iron comprising a distribution chamber, arranged below the heating body, which should be compact and allow to obtain a steam flow which is expelled at high speed through the steam outlet aperture of the ironing plate.

To this end, the object of the present invention is an iron comprising a heating body comprising a lower surface in thermal contact with an ironing plate and an upper surface at which an evaporation chamber is provided, the heating body comprising a steam distribution circuit connecting the evaporation chamber and a steam distribution chamber provided at the lower surface of the heating body, the ironing plate comprising at least a first set of steam outlet holes opposite the distribution chamber, said first set of steam outlet holes opening into the distribution chamber, characterized in that the distribution chamber has the shape of a distribution pipe wound around a convex wall on the lower surface of the heating body and distributed in succession one behind the other along the distribution pipe so that the steam flow circulating in the distribution pipe is continuously supplied to the steam outlet holes.

The steam outlet openings which are arranged one behind the other are openings which are arranged one behind the other in relation to the flow direction of the steam flow in the distribution pipe.

Such a distribution pipe, which extends in length so as to continuously provide steam to the different steam output apertures, has the advantage of being able to be not wide, which allows to obtain a greater circulation speed of the steam flow provided to the apertures of the ironing plate.

In addition, the fact that the dispensing tube has an elbow shape coiled around the wall allows to obtain a compact dispensing chamber.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the wall has a substantially T-shape in a section plane parallel to the ironing board.

This shape allows to optimize the compactness of the dispensing chamber.

According to another feature of the invention, all the first set of steam outlet openings are distributed one behind the other along the distribution pipe.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the wall comprises an upper end which is immediately adjacent to and advantageously in contact with the ironing plate.

This feature allows a substantially sealed separation of the dispensing chamber by means of the wall. In addition, this allows to strengthen the flexing resistance of the ironing board and to improve the heat transfer with the ironing board when the wall is in contact with the ironing board.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the distribution pipe has a portion of at least one third of its length, and preferably of its entire length, where its width is between one and three times the diameter of the outlet holes for the steam arranged opposite said portion of the distribution pipe.

According to another feature of the invention, the distribution pipe comprises at least one channel restriction, the channel cross-section of the distribution pipe at the channel restriction preferably being less than 20mm²。

Such a passage restriction allows increasing the speed of the steam flow in the distribution pipe.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the dispensing circuit comprises at least one channel passing through the heating body and opening at a longitudinal end of the dispensing tube.

According to still another feature of the invention, the distribution pipe comprises at least two turns greater than 90 °.

This feature allows to optimize the compactness of the distribution chamber and to favour the evaporation of possible water droplets transported by the steam.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the ironing board comprises a pointed front end, the first group of steam outlet holes being arranged in the vicinity of the front end of the ironing board.

This feature allows to obtain steam outlet holes that eject high speed steam at the front end of the ironing board for better penetration in the fabric.

According to another feature of the invention, the ironing board comprises a second set of steam outlet holes supplied with steam by the second distribution chamber.

According to yet another feature of the invention, the second group includes more steam outlet holes than the first group.

This feature allows a softer and more surface area distributed steam to be obtained at the second set of steam outlet openings.

Advantageously, the first set of steam output apertures comprises less than 15 steam output apertures.

According to yet another feature of the present invention, the heating body includes an electrical resistance.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the heating body comprises a pervaporation chamber (chambre de survapeur) connected to the distribution circuit.

This feature allows obtaining surplus steam temporarily transported to the distribution circuit to diffuse through the steam output holes of the ironing board.

Drawings

The objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood by studying the detailed description, which is given by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 is a perspective view of an iron according to the present invention;

figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the iron of figure 1;

fig. 3 is a perspective view of the assembly of the heating body of the iron of fig. 1;

fig. 4 is a bottom view of the heating body of fig. 3;

figure 5 is a bottom view of the ironing board on which the heating body is placed;

fig. 6 is a detail, perspective, bottom view of the heating body of fig. 3.

Detailed Description

Only the elements necessary for an understanding of the present invention are shown. To facilitate understanding of the drawings, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures.

In this document, the words "horizontal", "vertical", "lower", "upper", "front" and "rear" used to describe the iron refer to the iron in a condition of use, in which the ironing plate is placed on a horizontal plane.

Figure 1 shows a steam iron comprising a flat ironing board 2 equipped with steam outlet holes 20, on which a shell 3 of plastic material is placed, the shell 3 enclosing in particular a water container, on the upper side of the ironing board 2. The housing 3 comprises a grip handle 30 at its upper end and a foot 31 in its rear part, on which foot 31 the iron can be placed when the ironing phase is not started.

With reference to fig. 2 to 4, the ironing plate 2 of the iron has a pointed front end and is thermally and mechanically connected to a heating body 1 integrated in the base of the casing 3, the heating body 1 being advantageously moulded in a metallic material, such as aluminium, and heated by means of an electric resistance 10, said resistance 10 being hidden and buried in solid and having a substantially U-shape.

As can be seen in fig. 3, the heating body 1 comprises an upper surface on which a peripheral wall 11 is raised, which laterally delimits a space comprising, in particular, a main evaporation chamber 12 and a superevaporation chamber 13 (of the instantaneous evaporation type) and a boss 14 provided for housing a thermostat for the heating body 1.

The heating body 1 is closed in a manner known per se by a closure plate, not shown, which is placed on the upper edge of the peripheral wall 11. The closure plate comprises a drip tap which regularly injects the water of the container in the evaporation chamber 12 so as to generate a continuous steam flow of about 40gr/min to 70gr/min, the evaporation chamber 12 comprising a bottom with a large number of conical joints allowing an increased heat exchange surface.

A superevaporation chamber 13 is arranged in front of the evaporation chamber 12 so as to extend below the front end of the resistance 10, and is connected with two ducts 15 so that the diffused steam travels on both sides of the evaporation chamber 12 and opens near the rear end of the evaporation chamber. The super-evaporation chamber 13 is supplied with the water of the container, typically by means of a manual pump, not shown, which is activated by a pin 32 visible in fig. 1, which is arranged under the handle 30.

The evaporation chamber 12 is arranged in the centre of the heating body 1, between the branches of the resistance 10, and comprises an open rear end communicating with the steam outlet hole 20 of the ironing plate 2 through a steam distribution circuit comprising a V-shaped peripheral distribution duct 16 with two branches extending outside the duct 15 so as to diffuse the steam that exceeds the evaporation chamber 13, joined at the front end of the heating body 1 and comprising a rear end communicating with the open rear end of the evaporation chamber 12.

With reference to fig. 2 to 5, the peripheral distribution duct 16 comprises a first channel 17, which is provided in the proximity of the front end of the heating body 1, this first channel 17 passing through the heating body 1 and opening into a steam distribution chamber, called front distribution chamber 23, which is provided at the lower surface of the heating body 1, the front distribution chamber 23 supplying steam to a first group 21 of steam output holes 20 provided at the front end of the ironing plate 2.

The peripheral distribution duct 16 also comprises a plurality of additional channels 18 arranged alongside the central portion of the heating body 1, these additional channels 18 passing through the heating body 1 and opening into a second distribution chamber, called central distribution chamber 24, which is arranged at the lower surface of the heating body 1, the central distribution chamber 24 supplying the steam to a second group 22 of steam output holes 20 arranged at the central portion of the heating body 1.

As can be seen in fig. 4, the central distribution chamber 24 and the front distribution chamber 23 are formed by a cavity provided at the lower surface of the heating body 1 and are located on the edge of an outer wall 25 in contact with the ironing plate 2, this outer wall 25 advantageously comprising a recess 26 in which is provided a joint of silicone which simultaneously ensures steam tightness and facilitates the fixing of the ironing plate 2 on the heating body 1.

Preferably, the heating body 1 comprises an embossing 27, which protrudes in the bottom of the central distribution chamber 24 so as to come into contact with the ironing plate 2 and ensure heat transfer with said ironing plate, this embossing 27 defining a peripheral groove 28 to which the additional channel 18 opens, and which comprises a central network groove 29 running in the embossing 27.

With reference to figure 5, the second group 22 of steam outlet holes 20 of the ironing board 2 comprises: steam outlet holes 20 along the trajectory of the peripheral groove 28, these steam outlet holes 20 advantageously having a diameter of about 3.5 mm; and steam outlet holes 20 along the trajectory of the central network groove 29, advantageously having a diameter of about 2 mm.

As can be seen in fig. 6, the front distribution chamber 23 is arranged inside a capsule having an oval profile conforming to the shape of the pointed front end of the heating body 1, the front distribution chamber having the shape of a distribution pipe 23 wound around a partition wall 23A extending from the bottom of the cavity and in contact with the ironing board 2 when the ironing board 2 is assembled to the heating body 1. Preferably, the wall 23A has a substantially T-shape in a section plane parallel to the ironing plate 2, the distribution pipe 23 having, at each of its longitudinal ends, a curved portion turned through more than 90 °.

As can be seen in fig. 5, the first group 21 of steam outlet apertures 20 of the ironing board 2 is distributed one after the other along the distribution pipe 23, so that the steam flow circulating in the distribution pipe 23 is continuously provided to the first group 21 of steam outlet apertures 20.

In the particular embodiment shown, the first group 21 comprises a total of nine steam outlet holes 20 distributed along the distribution pipe 23, having a diameter of about 3 mm.

Preferably, the steam distribution pipe 23 locally comprises two passage restrictions S1, S2 allowing increasing the steam flow velocity, the distribution pipe 23 advantageously having less than 20mm at these passage restrictions S1, S2²Cross-section of (a).

In the particular embodiment shown, the steam distribution pipe 23 comprises a middle portion of about 50% of its length, where the distribution pipe 23 has a width of less than 7mm and locally a minimum width of about 4.5mm at the channel restrictions S1, S2.

The operation of the iron thus realized will now be described.

When the user wishes to perform a single ironing, the appliance is connected to the mains, so that the resistor 10 is energized. The temperature of the heating body 1 thus rises rapidly until a constant temperature defined by the thermostat is reached. The water of the container passes through the drip tap to the evaporation chamber 12 and is thus converted into steam, the steam flow thus generated being expelled through the open rear end of the evaporation chamber 12 and subsequently flowing in the peripheral distribution conduit 16. A part of this steam flow thus passes through the additional channel 18 and opens into the central distribution chamber 24, where it is depressurized at the central distribution chamber 24 and then diffused through the holes of the second set of steam outlet holes by travelling along the peripheral grooves 28 and then along the central network groove 29.

The remaining steam flow follows its path until it reaches the first passage 17, where the steam flow leads to the distribution pipe 23. The steam flow thus follows the path shown by the arrows in fig. 6, a part of the steam flow being discharged through the first group 21 of steam outlets 20 upstream of the restriction S1, another part of the steam flow being accelerated when passing through the restriction S1 and then being discharged through the first group 21 of steam outlets 20 downstream of the distribution pipe 23.

The iron thus obtained has the advantage of allowing the steam flow at the first set 21 of steam output apertures 20 located near the front end of the ironing board 2 to spread at a higher speed than through the second set 22 of steam output apertures 20.

In addition, this phenomenon is more pronounced when using the pin 32 to obtain excess steam. In fact, the volume of water injected in the superevaporation chamber 13 evaporates suddenly and generates an additional flow of steam that flows rapidly on both sides of the evaporation chamber 12, which then enters the peripheral distribution pipe 16 to be mostly discharged through the first channels 17. This additional steam flow thus flows in the distribution pipe 23, where its diffusion speed is maintained or even accelerated, while being continuously supplied to the first group 21 of steam outlet holes 20.

Hereby is obtained an iron with an optimized efficiency for performing ironing jobs requiring a stronger steam penetration, such as ironing of shirt collars, wrinkles of trousers, jeans. In fact, the maximum speed of the steam flow exiting from the first set of holes allows to obtain a better steam penetration in thicker fabrics.

Finally, the device thus realized has the advantage of having a particularly compact front distribution chamber, freeing up space for the central distribution chamber.

The invention is of course not limited to the embodiments shown and described, which are given by way of example. Various modifications are possible, particularly in the context of combinations of different elements or by technical equivalents, without exceeding the scope of protection of the invention.

Thus, in an embodiment variant of the invention that is not shown, the ironing board can have only a single set of steam output holes, all provided with steam by the steam distribution chamber.

Thus, in an embodiment variant of the invention that is not shown, the partition wall of the front evaporation chamber can have a substantially V-shape.

Claims

1. Iron comprising a heating body (1) comprising a lower surface in thermal contact with an ironing plate (2) and an upper surface at which an evaporation chamber (12) is provided, said heating body comprising a steam distribution circuit connecting said evaporation chamber (12) and a steam distribution chamber (23) provided at the lower surface of the heating body, said ironing plate (2) comprising, opposite said steam distribution chamber, at least a first group (21) of steam outlet holes (20) leading to said steam distribution chamber (23), characterized in that said steam distribution chamber has the shape of a distribution pipe coiled around a wall (23A) raised on the lower surface of said heating body (1), said wall (23A) extending from the bottom of a cavity provided at the lower surface of said heating body (1) and when said ironing plate (2) is assembled to said heating plate (2) The body (1) is in contact with the ironing plate (2) and the steam outlets (20) of the first group (21) are distributed one after the other along the distribution pipe, so that the steam flow circulating in the distribution pipe is continuously supplied to the steam outlets (20).

2. Iron as in claim 1, characterized in that said wall (23A) has a substantially T-shape in a section plane parallel to said ironing plate (2).

3. Iron as in any claim from 1 to 2, characterized in that said wall (23A) comprises an upper end in close proximity to said ironing plate (2).

4. Iron as in claim 3, characterized in that said wall (23A) comprises an upper end in contact with said ironing plate (2).

5. Iron as in any claim from 1 to 2, characterized in that said dispensing tube comprises at least one passage restriction (S1, S2), the passage section of the dispensing tube at said passage restriction (S1, S2) being less than 20mm²。

6. Iron as in any claim from 1 to 2, characterized in that said steam distribution circuit comprises at least one channel (17) passing through said heating body (1) and opening at a longitudinal end of said distribution pipe.

7. Iron as claimed in any of the claims 1-2, characterized in that the distribution pipe comprises at least two turns of more than 90 °.

8. Iron as in any claim from 1 to 2, characterized in that said ironing plate (2) comprises a pointed front end and in that said first group (21) of steam outlet holes (20) is provided in proximity of said front end of said ironing plate (2).

9. Iron as in any claim from 1 to 2, characterized in that said ironing plate comprises a second group (22) of steam outlets (20) supplied with steam by a second distribution chamber (24).

10. Iron as in claim 9, characterized in that said second set (22) comprises more steam outlet holes (20) than said first set (21).

11. Iron as in any claim from 1 to 2, characterized in that said heating body comprises an electric resistance (10).