EP0348649A1

EP0348649A1 - Air exhaust device, particularly for laundry driers

Info

Publication number: EP0348649A1
Application number: EP89108724A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Antonio Dr. Merloni
Original assignee: Antonio Merloni SpA
Current assignee: Antonio Merloni SpA
Priority date: 1988-06-28
Filing date: 1989-05-16
Publication date: 1990-01-03
Also published as: DE68902432T2; EP0348649B1; ES2034488T3; IT1217937B; DE68902432D1; IT8821117A0

Abstract

The air exhaust device, includes an aspirator, adapted to suck air from a rotating drum of a laundry drier, and an air exhaust conduit (1) for the air sucked by the aspirator, said air being conveyed to the outside of said drier; the exhaust conduit comprises a shell (6), adapted to at least partially house the fan wheel of the aspirator, and a substantially cylindrical portion (17) having a first end (8) connected to the outside and a second end connected to the shell; the conduit being provided in one piece.

Description

The present invention relates to an air exhaust device, particularly for laundry driers.
Known domestic laundry driers are usually constituted by a supporting frame for a rotating drum which contains the laundry, to be dried by an air circulation system.
The air circulation system conprises an aspirator which sucks air from the outside and an electric resistance that heats the air.
The heated air flows into the drum and, going through the laundry, adsorbs the humidity; by means of the aspirator, the air flows out of the drum and, crossing a filter, flows to the outside.
In the known machines, the air exhausted by the aspirator is conveyed to the outside by means of a conduit constituted by three or more elements; these elements are: the conduit itself which is connected to a shell, constituting the aspirator envelope, and to a member comprising a safety grid.
This type of construction of the air exhaust conduit is naturally expensive from a production point of view.
The aim of the present invention is to provide an air exhaust device, particularly for domestic laundry driers, having an extremely simplified structure and therefore substantially lower production costs.
Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide an air exhaust device in accordance with the design requirements of this type of machines and absolutely reliable.
A further object of the invention is to provide an exhaust device according to the present law requirements.
The above aim, as well as these and other objects that will be more apparent later, are achieved by an air exhaust device, particularly for laundry driers, comprising an aspirator, adapted to suck air from a rotating drum of a laundry drier, and an air exhaust conduit for the air sucked by said aspirator, said air being conveyed to the outside of said drier, characterized in that said exhaust conduit comprises a shell, adapted to at least partially house the fan wheel of said aspirator, and a substantially cylindrical portion having a first end connected to the outside and a second end connected to said shell, said conduit being provided in one piece.
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will be more apparent by the following description of an embodiment of the invention, illustrated,by way of example,in the enclosed drawings in which

Fig. 1 is a schematic elevated side sectioned view of a domestic laundry drier;
Fig. 2 is a cross section view of the exhaust device according to the invention;
Fig. 3 is a cross section view of the exhaust end of the device.

With reference to the cited drawings, a laundry drier, generally designated by the reference numeral 2, comprises a supporting frame 3 for a rotating drum 4 adapted to contain the laundry to be dried.
The drier further comprises an air circulation system which, among other elements, includes an aspirator 5 which sucks air from the drum and conveys it to the outside by means of the air exhausting system 1.
The air exhausting system 1 comprises a shell 6 and a substantially cylindrical portion 17 having a first end 8, connected to the outside of the machine, and a second end connected to the shell 6.
The shell 6 is adapted to at least partially house the aspirator fan wheel, not illustrated in the figures, and cooperates with a second shell 7.
A safety grid 9, and a threading 10 external and adjacent to the grid 9, are provided on the cylindrical portion 17, at the end 8.
The grid 9 prevents the introduction of, for example, a hand in the exhaust conduit thus preventing accidents caused by the fan wheel.
The threading 10 constitutes a connecting element for a possible hose 11 to be connected to the outlet for conveying the exhausted air in the desired position outside the machine.
With this type of construction the exhaust conduit 1 can be advantageously made of one piece and by means of injection molding.
Furthermore, in this case, the safety grid 9 is located at the end 8 of the air exhaust conduit and before the threading 10, so as to allow the male portion of the injection die to be opened in two parts divided at the grid.
It has been practically seen how the air exhaust device according to the invention reaches the intended aims and objects having extremely lower production costs compared to the known devices.
An advantage of the invention lies in that its operation and reliability have been maintained equal to that of the devices more complicated from a constructive point of view.
The device according to the invention may have numerous modifications and variations, all within the inventive concept; furthermore, all the details may be substituted with technically equivalent elements.
The materials employed, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to the specific needs and the state of the art.
Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the scope of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims

1. Air exhaust device, particularly for laundry driers, comprising an aspirator (5), adapted to suck air from a rotating drum (4) of a laundry drier (2), and an air exhaust conduit (1) for the air sucked by said aspirator, said air being conveyed to the outside of said drier, characterized in that said exhaust conduit comprises a shell (6), adapted to at least partially house the fan wheel of said aspirator, and a substantially cylindrical portion (17) having a first end (8) connected to the outside and a second end connected to said shell, said conduit being provided in one piece.

2. Device, according to claim 1, characterized in that said conduit is provided in one piece by injection molding.

3. Device, according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises a grid (9) provided on said first end (8) of said cylindrical portion (17) of said conduit.

4. Device, according to one or more of the preceeding claims, characterized in that it comprises a threading (10) provided on said first end of said cylindrical portion, said threading beimg adjacent to said grid and in an external position for connecting an air exhaust hose (11).

5. Device, according to one or more of the preceeding claims, characterized in that said exhaust conduit is made of plastics.