DK2492389T3

DK2492389T3 - Tumble dryer with a disposable lint filter device

Info

Publication number: DK2492389T3
Application number: DK12001155.6T
Authority: DK
Inventors: Markus Kerschdorfer
Original assignee: V-Zug Ag
Priority date: 2011-02-25
Filing date: 2012-02-22
Publication date: 2017-02-06
Also published as: EP2492389B1; EP2492389A1; CH702152A2; PL2492389T3; SI2492389T1

Description

Field of the invention

The invention relates to a laundry dryer with a laundry drum, closable by a door, and a fluff filter device .

Background A laundry dryer extracts water from the humid laundry in its laundry drum by letting hot air circulate in an air circuit through the laundry drum. Laundry fluffs from the laundry drum are transported in the outgoing air stream. A fluff filter device serves to keep back these laundry fluffs and is arranged in a channel leading out of the laundry drum and may consist of e.g. a fixed frame component with a tensioned sieve cloth. This fluff filter device should be cleaned by the user after each drying process in order to remove the retained laundry fluffs from the tensioned sieve cloth.

The document JP 03092196 discloses a laundry dryer with a fluff filter device on the rear side of the drum.

The document US 2008/0256821 A1 discloses a cover for a fluff filter device being a frame component with tensioned sieve cloth.

The document DE 295 17 898 U1 describes a filter bag as fluff filter device in the base area of a laundry dryer.

The document DE 33 04 441 A1 describes a fluff filter device for a laundry dryer having a cloth-tensioned frame component on a laundry dryer door.

The described fluff filter devices have the disadvantage that they can only be cleaned with effort by a user.

Description of the invention

In view of the described background it is the objective to provide a laundry dryer with a fluff filter device which can be cleaned in an easy way or disposed of by the user.

This objective is reached by the laundry dryer according to the independent claim.

According to the invention, the laundry dryer is consequently equipped with a fluff filter device in an air channel of an air circuit extending through the laundry drum. The fluff filter device contains at least one filter bag. The filter bag has a bag interior space and a bag opening through which the process air is introduced into the bag interior space. The process air leaves the bag interior space through its walls which have a filter membrane, such that transported laundry fluffs and other objects are kept back at least to a major part and are therefore removed from the air circuit. According to the claim, the filter bag is arranged on the door of the laundry dryer, such that it gets easily accessible by the user.

Preferably, the filter bag serves as fluff storage or retaining container for laundry fluffs, e.g. in such a way that the bag interior space extends towards the bottom as seen from its bag opening. After terminating the drying process laundry fluffs collected in the filter bag can't fall out due to the influence of the gravitational force.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention the filter bag as part of the fluff filter device is arranged in a filter chamber in the door of the laundry dryer, wherein this filter chamber preferably has an air inlet opening and an air outlet opening arranged below it. In this way, the flow direction of the process air can be better controlled.

Preferably, the fluff filter device is formed in such a way that the user can pull at least parts of it, e.g. the filter bag itself, out of a fluff filter support on the door of the laundry dryer, e.g. upwards. In this way, accessibility of the fluff filter device by the user is improved and at the same time an easier way for mounting it is ensured.

In a further preferred embodiment, the filter bag is attached with the bag opening to an air passage opening of a separating wall. This separating wall defines together with a wall of the door, e.g. an outer wall, the filter space in the door, inside which the bag interior space of the filter bag is arranged during operation. This separating wall including the filter bag can preferably be arranged in the fluff filter support on the door of the laundry dryer in such a way that it can be pulled out. Preferably, the filter bag can be removed from the separating wall and replaced in an easy way. Hence, an effortless cleaning or a more comfortable replacement of the filter bag is made possible.

In another preferred embodiment the filter bag has a plurality of individual bags arranged one inside the other. The bag interior space of the innermost individual bag is consequently arranged inside the bag interior space of the next individual bag etc.. The bag openings of the individual bags are connected to one another. The process air thus flows through the bag opening of the filter bag into the bag interior space of the innermost individual bag and leaves it through its walls which have a first filter membrane. A part of the transported fluffs and other objects are kept back. As soon as the process air has arrived inside the bag interior space of the second individual bag, it flows through the walls of this second individual bag containing a second filter membrane. During this process the laundry fluffs left in the process air, which were able to pass the filter membrane of the first individual bag, are kept back. Preferably, the filter membranes of the individual bags have decreasing mesh sizes, thus leading to an improved filtering effect.

Short description of the drawings

Further embodiments, advantages and applications of the invention result from the dependent claims and the now following description by means of the figure. It is shown in:

Fig. 1 a perspective view of the entire laundry dryer,

Fig. 2 a perspective view of the door of the laundry dryer,

Fig. 3 a lateral schematic representation of a number of component groups of the laundry dryer,

Fig. 4 a perspective section view through the door of the laundry dryer along the plane A of Fig. 1 and 2,

Fig. 5 a perspective view of the separating wall of the fluff filter device,

Fig. 6 another perspective view of the separating wall and of the filter bag of the fluff filter device .

Ways of carrying out the invention

The laundry dryer shown in Fig. 1 and 3 has, as known, a laundry drum 1 for receiving the laundry 92 to be dried. The laundry drum 1 can be closed by a door 2 (Fig. 1 and 2) after having loaded the humid laundry 92. Thereafter, the drying program is started by the user, e.g. by pressing a button on an operating panel 91 of the laundry dryer. A controller 99 of the laundry dryer then takes over the controlling of the steps of the drying program described in the following. For drying the laundry 92, the laundry drum 1 is rotated by a drive (not shown) in one or in changing directions and loosens and intermixes the laundry 92 located inside the laundry drum 1. During the rotation of the laundry drum 1, process air 12 is blown through the laundry drum 1 and the laundry 92 located therein by the fan 96 in a preferably closed circuit. The process air 12 may be heated up by a heater 95 before entering the laundry drum 1. The hot process air 12 sorbes humidity during its passage through the humid laundry 92, which is extracted from the laundry 92 and transported out of the laundry drum 1. A heat exchanger device may for example serve to remove this humidity from the process air 12, consisting of a first stage 93 for cooling down the process air 12 and a second stage 94 for reheating the process air 12. During cooling down of the process air 12 in the first stage 93, water condenses out of the process air 12, which is consequently not reintroduced into the air circuit and the laundry dryer 1. After reheating the process air 12 in the second stage 94, the process air 12 gets to the fan 96 and the air circuit is consequently closed. The door 2 is kept closed during the entire drying process.

However, not only humidity is extracted or carried in the process air, respectively, during the passage of the process air 12 through the laundry drum 1 with the laundry 92 located therein, but also so-called laundry fluffs 17 and under circumstances also other foreign objects. When talking about "laundry fluffs" in the following, such "foreign objects" are explicitly enclosed. These laundry fluffs 17 have to be removed from the process air 12 before the passage of the process air 12 through the above mentioned component groups 93 to 96 in order to avoid that the efficiency is affected or to avoid even damage, respectively, or other impairment of the component groups . A fluff filter device 4 comprising a filter bag 5 arranged on the door 2 of the laundry dryer serves for this, i.e. the filter bag 5 is attached or supported at or in the door 2. The filter bag 5 has at least a bag opening 6 and at least a bag interior space 70, the wall of which contains a filter membrane 50. The process air 12 flows through the filter bag 5 from the bag opening 6 in direction of the bag interior space 70. Disturbing laundry fluffs 17 are kept back at least to a great extent during the passage of the process air 12 through the filter membrane 50 of the filter bag 5, and are hence removed from the stream of process air 12. Different materials may be used as filter membrane 50, e.g. fleece materials, cotton tissue, filter papers, sieve tissue or other flexible materials which are permeable to air and suitable for a targeted air filtering are conceivable.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention according to Fig. 3 to 6 the filter bag 5 is attached to the door 2 of the laundry dryer in such a way that it extends with its bag interior space 70 towards the bottom as seen from its bag opening 6. Such an arrangement has the advantage that the laundry fluffs 17 are kept inside the bag interior space 70 due to the effect of the gravitational force and can't fall out, even after having switched off the fan 96. The volume of the filter bag 5 may be dimensioned such that the filter bag 5 doesn't have to be cleaned after each drying process but - depending on the fluff concentration of the laundry to be dried and the laundry quantity - e.g. only after a number of drying processes or charges, respectively. Such an embodiment of the present invention saves the user the effort of cleaning the fluff filter device 4 after each drying process, in the way it is necessary in case of laundry dryers with conventional fluff filters. Preferred volumes of the filter bag 5 are in a range of 2200 and 3 2500 cm . Such filter bags 5 allow the reception of laundry fluffs 17 of e.g. 5 to 10 charges (in case of normal fluff concentration of the laundry to be dried).

Preferably, the depth of the bag interior space 70 is at least 100% with respect to the cross section of the bag opening 6 starting with its lower edge, i.e. such a "deep" bag particularly doesn't have to be mistaken for a tensioned sieve cloth on a frame component.

Preferably, at least the filter bag 5 of the fluff filter device 4 may be formed as disposable article, such that it can simply be disposed of via domestic waste after having completely filled its bag interior space 70 with laundry fluffs 17. Thus, no cleaning whatsoever of the filter bag 5 is necessary, consequently saving time and effort for the user of the laundry dryer and making possible a hygienic operation.

In order to easily access the filter bag 5 by the user, the filter bag 5 may preferably be arranged in a filter chamber 8 on the door 2 of the laundry dryer. Particularly, this filter chamber 8 may have an inlet opening 9 and an outlet opening 10 separated therefrom for the process air 12 flowing through it and the filter bag 5. The inlet opening 9 is located preferably above the outlet opening 10, i.e. the process air flows through the filter space 8 from the bottom to the top. Such an arrangement makes it possible to control the flow direction of the process air 12 better than in case of using an openly attached filter bag. By using a large inlet opening 9 towards the laundry drum 1 and a deflection of the flow of process air 12 to the top (before it enters the bag opening 6, (see Fig. 4), the filter bag 5 may occupy a major part of the height of the door 2 or a fluff filter support 3 on the door 2, such that large bag volumes are possible.

In the shown embodiment, the filter chamber 8 is limited to one side by a wall of the door, e.g. towards the front by an outer wall 11 of the door 2. Towards the other side, the filter chamber 8 is limited by a separating wall 13 having a passage opening 14 for the process air 12 flowing into the filter bag 5. In this case the filter bag 5 is attached with its bag opening 6 to this passage opening 14 of the separating wall 13, preferably in a way that it is on the one hand as much as possible connected in an air-tight manner with the separating wall 13 and on the other hand that it can be removed and reattached by the user in an easy way, e.g. without using tools. Different attachment methods are conceivable for this, e.g. a flange on the separating wall 13, onto which the bag opening 6 of the filter bag 5 is pressed by means of an elastic band or of another mechanism.

As shown in Fig. 4, 5 and 6, a part of the fluff filter device 4, e.g. the separating wall 13, can be formed with the filter bag 5 attached thereto in such a way that it is arranged on the door 2 of the laundry dryer in a fluff filter support 3 such that it can be pulled out by the user. Such embodiments have the advantage that a simple cleaning or a simple replacement of the filter bag 5 is made possible for the user due to the good accessibility. Furthermore, it is possible to largely avoid that laundry fluffs 17 are passed on the side of the filter bag 5 due to a detachable attachment of the separating wall 13 in the fluff filter support 3. Such an embodiment is shown in Fig. 1, 2 and 4 where the fluff filter support 3 is attached as cylinder-like projection on the door 2 on the side of the laundry drum. The separating wall 13 has a gripping element 27, the bag opening 6 of the filter bag 5 being attached at its passage opening 14 (see Fig. 5 and 6). For cleaning, this entire component group can be pulled out of the fluff filter support 3 in a comfortable way.

In the already described embodiments of the present invention the wall of the bag interior space 70 of the filter bag 5 contained a filter membrane 50. In a further embodiment of the present invention according to Fig. 4, 5 and 6, two or more filter membranes 50, 51 may be used for forming the bag interior spaces 70, 71 og the filter bags instead of a single-layered filter membrane 50, for improving the filter effect of the filter bag 5. The bag openings of the individual filter membranes 50, 51 are connected to one another such that a filter bag 5 with a bag opening 6 results, which contains individual bags of filter membranes 50, 51 arranged inside one another, as seen from the outside. In other words, the filter bag 5 contains in this case multiple individual bags with a common bag opening 6. The process air 12 flows in case of such a multi-layer filter bag 5 through the common bag opening 6 into the innermost bag interior space 70, flows through the first filter membrane 50, arrives in the second bag interior space 71, flows through the second filter membrane 51 and so on. The filter effect of the filter bag 5 can be improved with such an arrangement, such that less laundry fluffs 17 remain in the process air 12 during the flow through the filter bag 5.

It is particularly advantageous to equip the filter membranes 50, 51 with decreasing mesh widths in direction of the flow of process air 12, i.e. the innermost filter membrane 50 has a larger mesh width than the second filter membrane 51 and so on. Such an arrangement makes it possible to reach on the one hand a good filter effect, as small mesh widths are possible in the filter membrane 51, as discussed above, and on the other hand it is improbable that a fast "clogging" of the inner filter membrane 50 by laundry fluffs 17 happens, because larger mesh widths can be used here (prefiltering) .

Furthermore it is advantageous to form the bag interior space 70, 71 with increasing volumes in direction of the flow of the process air 12, i.e. the innermost bag interior space 70 has a smaller volume than the second bag interior space 71 and so on. Such an arrangement allows on the one hand that enough space for receiving the laundry fluffs 17 is provided in each bag interior space, and on the other hand a too heavy hindrance of the air flow of the process air 12 is avoided in combination with the above mentioned decreasing mesh widths of the filter membranes 50, 51 due to the filter surfaces which increase towards the exterior. In this way, energy can be saved because the fan 96 has to overcome less flow resistance.

Notes : - "top", "bottom", "front", "rear", "right" and "left" denote each a direction or orientation. The base surface 97 of the laundry dryer, on which the device stands, e.g. on the floor, is arranged on the underside of the device ("at the bottom") , the cover plate 98 of the device on the top side ("top") and the door 2 of the device on the front side ("front"). All terms relating to a coordinate system like e.g. "above", "below", "over", "under", "above something", "below something", "left of", "right of", "behind", "in front of" and so on shall be interpreted in this sense. - The terms "filter bag", "bag", "bag-shaped" and so on relate to a deformable hollow object, wherein * it has a bag opening 6 and a bag interior space 70, the walls of which contains a filter membrane 50 permeable to air. * it is suitable for receiving other objects, e.g. laundry fluffs 17. - According to the claims, the fluff filter device 4 comprises according to the invention a filter bag 5 in the door 2 of the laundry dryer. The fluff filter device 4 may have on the side of the filter bag 5 further filter membranes, e.g. arranged downstream of the filter bag 5 in air channels of the laundry dryer, e.g. a fine filter 15 in the housing-sided frame of the door 2 and/or a fine filter 16 in the base of the laundry dryer (see Fig. 3).

The different steps of the described drying program are controlled via a controller 99. It contains e.g. a microprocessor which is programmed in such a way that it carries out the described steps autonomously. If it is mentioned in the claims that the laundry dryer "is adapted" for carrying out certain steps, this is to be understood in a way that the controller of the device is structured such that it carries out the steps autonomously.

While in present application preferred embodiments of the invention are described, it is clearly noted that the invention is not limited thereto and may also be executed in other ways within the scope of the now following claims.

Claims

A tumble dryer with a washing drum (1), a door (2) with which the washing drum (1) can be closed, a lint filter device (4) in an air duct of an air circuit passing through the washing drum (1) for retaining at least one a portion of the cloth liner (17) carried into the process air (12), wherein the lint filter device (4) contains at least one filter bag (5) with a bag opening (6) and an inner bag compartment (70) where the dryer is designed in such a way The process air (12) can be introduced into the inner bag space (70) through the bag opening (6), characterized in that the filter bag (5) is arranged at the door (2) of the dryer.

The dryer according to claim 1, wherein the filter bag (5) extends downwardly from the bag opening (6) with its inner bag space (70).

Dryer according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the filter bag (5) is arranged in a filter compartment (8) in the door (2).

The dryer according to claim 3, wherein the filter compartment (8) has an inlet opening (9) and a separate outlet opening (10) for the process air (12) flowing through it, and wherein the inlet opening (9) is arranged above the outlet opening (10).

Dryer according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the lint filter device (4) is designed in such a way that it can be removed at least in parts from a lint filter holder (3) at the dryer (2) door by the user.

A dryer according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the lint filter device (4) comprises, in addition to the filter bag (5), a partition (13), wherein the bag opening (6) of the filter bag (5) is fixed to a passage opening (14) in the partition (13), and wherein the inner bag space (70) of the filter bag (5), when the dryer is in operation, is arranged in a filter space (8) between the partition wall (13) and a wall (11) of the door (2).

A dryer according to claims 5 and 6, wherein the partition (13) is removably held in the lint filter holder (3) on the door (2) of the dryer.

A dryer according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the filter bag (5) can be releasably attached to the separator wall (13) of the user by the puff filter device (4).

A tumble dryer according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the inlet opening (9) of the filter compartment (8) is at least partially located below the passage opening (14) of the partition (13).

A tumble dryer according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the filter bag (5) has a bag opening (6) and a plurality of inner bag spaces (70, 71) disposed within one another and the walls of which contain several filter membranes (50, 51).

The dryer according to claim 10, wherein the individual inner bag compartments (70, 71) seen in the direction of the flow of the process air (12) have increasing volumes.

Dryer according to one of claims 10 or 11, wherein the individual filter membranes (50, 51) seen in the direction of the flow of the process air (12) have decreasing mesh widths.

Dryer according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the volume of the filter bag (5) is dimensioned such that the filter bag (5) can accommodate cloth fluff (17) from more than one filling of the dryer, in particular 5 to 10 fillings.

The dryer according to claim 13, wherein the filter bag (5) has a volume in a range from 2200 to 2500 cm 3.