EP1302586A1

EP1302586A1 - Combined clothes washing and drying machine

Info

Publication number: EP1302586A1
Application number: EP02017454A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Luca Bertolin
Original assignee: Electrolux Home Products Corp NV
Current assignee: Electrolux Home Products Corp NV
Priority date: 2001-10-10
Filing date: 2002-08-05
Publication date: 2003-04-16
Anticipated expiration: 2022-08-05
Also published as: ITPN20010070A1; ES2334013T3; ATE450647T1; DE60234564D1; EP1302586B1

Abstract

Combined clothes washing and drying machine, possibly of the recirculating type, comprising a tub, a rotating drum holding the clothes to be washed, and supplied with water from the mains via electromagnetic valves, a detergent/additive dispenser and a conduit provided with a siphon, said tub being connected to a circuit comprising a condenser, air circulating means and means for heating the drying air. The condenser is connected to the tub of the machine through a further circuit comprising a pump, for the water needed to cool the condenser.

Preferably, the circuit for the condenser cooling water is connected downstream of the lint filter of the machine.

The cooling water for the condenser is supplied into the tub via said electromagnetic valves, at least one of which is energized recurrently.

Description

The present invention refers to a combined automatic machine adapted to wash and/or dry clothes.
Such combined machines, which are generally known under the term of washer-driers in the art, are largely known to mainly comprise a tub adapted to contain, usually inside a rotating drum, clothes that can be washed, rinsed, spin-extracted and/or dried thanks to the provision of appropriate water-carrying circuits, as well as a drying circuit by means of which heated air that becomes progressively laden with the moisture subtracted from the clothes contained in the tub is caused to circulate through or in correspondence of condenser means for the condensation of said moisture.
In particular, the above cited water-carrying circuits comprise a dispenser of washing and/or rinsing products, which may for instance be in the form of a pull-out drawer, or the like, and is arranged so as to be able to be supplied from one or more nozzles with water adapted to flush off said washing and/or rinsing products and convey them into the tub through a siphon arrangement.
Residual water collects on the bottom of said siphon so as to cut off the communication existing between the tub and said washing product container, thereby preventing, for instance during the clothes drying phase, the moisture-laden hot air that is present in the tub from leaking into the outside ambient through the same product container.
On the other hand, during the operation of the machine it may quite easily occur that the level of the residual water in the siphon decreases to such an extent as to cause the siphon itself to practically become ineffective against the above cited undesired leakage of moisture-laden hot air, with the various problems and drawbacks that this may imply, as not only those skilled in the art, but also users are well aware of.
Such an undesired occurrence of the siphon emptying out may for instance be brought about by water losses caused by the oscillations of the machine during a spin-extraction phase of the clothes washing cycle and/or by the evaporation of the residual water contained in the siphon owing to the heating which the same water is exposed to during certain operation phases of the machine, in particular during the clothes drying process.
A solution has been recently proposed (Italian patent application no. PN2000A000059 filed by this same Applicant) in view of doing away with the above cited drawbacks. Such a solution consists in making use of the valve means governing the water inflow through the compartments of the washing product dispenser, so as to let them operate temporarily at periodic intervals in order to let into the siphon arrangement a metered amount of water intended to fill up the same siphon, i.e. to ensure that the siphon is constantly in a filled-up condition.
While the above cited solution is certainly most effective in reaching its aim, it still calls for an additional controlled-type electromagnetic valve to be used in order to supply a certain amount of water, as duly taken from the water supply mains, to the condenser equipping the machine. As a matter of fact, such a condenser must be cooled down in order to enable the moisture subtracted from the clothes being dried by the air circulated inside the machine to be properly condensed.
Furthermore, it is a continuous flow of water that is in this case let in to steam condensation purposes and this amount of water that is so let into the machine must of course be continuously let off therefrom by the drain pump of the machine. As a result, such a drain pump must practically operate in a continuous manner and this can be readily understood to entrain obvious disadvantages in terms of both energy usage and overall reliability of the machine.
It therefore is the main purpose of the present invention to provide a combined clothes washing and drying machine, in which one of said electromagnetic valves, in particular the one used to supply the condenser circuit, is eliminated and the overall water usage is reduced, while at the same time improving the operating conditions of the condenser in a combined clothes washing and drying machine provided with a closed-loop condensation circuit.
According to the present invention, these aims, along with further ones that will become apparent from the following description, are reached in a combined clothes washing and drying machine of the above cited kind, in which the electromagnetic water-inlet valve for the condenser is eliminated, while a water recirculation arrangement is provided to recirculate water that is taken from the water supply mains and let into the washing tub of the machine through the other electromagnetic valves provided to supply water to the washing product and aid dispenser, in which this water is delivered to the condenser via a further water-carrying circuit.
Anyway, features and advantages of the combined clothes washing and drying machine according to present invention will be more readily understood from the appended claims and the disclosure in the description that is given below by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1 and 2 are schematical views of the water-carrying circuits of a combined clothes washing and drying machine of the traditional type and of the type arranged to recirculate the washing liquor, respectively;
Figure 3 is a simplified schematical view of the water-carrying circuits of a machine of the type shown in Figure 1, but made according to the present invention; and
Figure 4 is a simplified schematical view of the water-carrying circuits of a machine of the type shown in Figure 2, but made according to the present invention;
Figure 5 is a view of an improved embodiment of the combined clothes washing and drying machine illustrated in Figure 4.

With reference to Figure 3, a combined clothes washing and drying machine mainly comprises a washing tub 10, within which there is rotatably mounted a drum 11 that is adapted to hold the clothes to be washed and dried.
The machine further comprises a container or dispenser 12 provided with compartments for holding and dispensing the washing and rinsing products and aids, which are capable of being selectively supplied with the water flowing in from the mains 13 via electromagnetic valves 14, 15. The water from the mains then flows from the dispenser 12 into the tub 10 via a pipe 16 in which there is included a siphon-shaped portion 17. This siphon-shaped portion 17 collects residual water so as to normally form a hydraulic stoppage which prevents the moisture-laden air that is present in the tub 10, in particular during the clothes washing and drying phases of the operating cycle, from leaking into the outside ambient through the pipe 16 and the dispenser 12.
For carrying out the above mentioned clothes drying process, the machine is provided with a condenser 18 which is connected to the tub 10 within a circuit that also comprises air circulating means 19 and air heating means 20. The moisture-laden hot air is taken from the interior of the tub 10 and is cooled down in the condenser 18 by means of cold water flowing in from the water supply mains 13.
According to the present invention, the cold water used to condense the moisture subtracted from the clothes is delivered to the condenser 18 via an additional water-carrying circuit 21 which reaches the condenser 18 by starting from the lint filter 22 included in the water discharge circuit of the machine, which comprises also a drain pump 25. In the condensation circuit 21 there is included a circulating pump 23. The water needed to condensation purposes is taken from the water supply mains 13 by actuating the electromagnetic valves 14 and/or 15 in a pulsating, i.e. recurrent manner, so as to be able to let into the tub 10, via the conduit 16 and the siphon 17, a minimum amount of water which is then recirculated from the tub to the condenser and vice-versa.
This innovatory solution brings about a number of advantages as compared with prior-art solutions. In the first place, a sensible reduction in the overall water usage is obtained through such a recirculation of the condensation water.
In addition, this enables an electromagnetic valve, i.e. the one that is dedicated solely to condensation purposes, to be eliminated: this valve is actually replaced by an electromagnetic valve 15 which is intended to perform a plurality of functions, that is to first of all let the washing and/or rinsing water into the tub and, then, to supply the cooling water to the condenser for moisture condensation purposes and, by the way, to automatically provide that amount of water which is needed to perform as a "stopper" in the siphon 17, as this has already been described above.
Furthermore, the drain pump 25 turns out to be far less stressed, owing to the fact that condensate water is discharged periodically and not continuously. Such an elimination of the electromagnetic valve to supply water to the condenser, and the replacement of such a valve with a recirculation pump, enables the likelihood of occurrence of failures or breakdowns to be reduced, since an electromagnetic valve is a by far more delicate component part than a small-capacity pump. Finally, thanks to the water being actually recirculated through the lint filter of the machine, the condenser is effectively protected against lint being capable of settling down in the condenser itself, thereby doing away with a major cause of condenser malfunction.
With reference to Figure 4, this can be noticed to illustrate a combined clothes washing and drying machine of a generally more complex kind, namely of the kind that comprises a circuit for recycling both the washing and rinsing water. The recycling circuit 30 includes a recycling pump 31 and, preferably, part of the filter situated in the lower portion of the machine, under the tub, and it reaches up to the upper portion of the tub. It should be noticed that the remaining reference numerals in Figure 4 are the same as those used in Figure 3 to indicate those component parts that are present also in the machine illustrated in said Figure 3.
In an advantageous manner, with reference to Figure 5, use can be made of a common conduit 31A, departing from said filter 22, to supply both the condenser pump 23 and said recirculation or recycling pump 31.
In particular, the pump 23 for the recirculation of the condenser cooling and condensate water and the pump 31 for the recirculation of the washing/rinsing water are mounted in a mutually aligned arrangement on a same conduit 32 extending from the filter 22; in particular, said recirculation pump 31 is provided on a conduit 32A that comes from said condensate and cooling water pump 23.
It can be readily appreciated that the same advantages as those indicated in connection with the afore described first type of machine are obtained also with this second type of machine.

Claims

Combined clothes washing and drying machine comprising a tub (10) adapted to accommodate a rotating clothes-holding drum (11) and to be supplied with water from the mains (13) via valve means (14, 15), a dispenser (12) of washing products/rinsing aids and a conduit (16) provided with a siphon arrangement (17) adapted to normally fill up with residual water, said tub being connected with a circuit comprising a condenser (18), circulation means (19) and heating means (20) fore circulating and heating-up the drying air, respectively, characterized in that the condenser (18) is connected with the tub (10) of the machine via an additional circuit (21) comprising circulation means (23), preferably a pump, for circulating the condenser cooling water.
Combined clothes washing and drying machine according to claim 1, comprising a filter (22) arranged between the tub (10) and the drain pump (25) of the machine, characterized in that said circuit (21) for the circulation of the cooling water of the condenser (18) is connected downstream of the filter (22) of the machine.
Combined clothes washing and drying machine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the cooling water of the condenser (18) is supplied into the tub (10) via the electromagnetic valves (14, 15), at least one of which is operated pulsatingly, i.e. on recurrent pulses.
Clothes drying machine according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is provided with a recirculation circuit (30) and a corresponding recirculation pump (31) arranged along the extension of said recirculation circuit.
Clothes washing machine according to claim 4, characterized in that said pump (23) for recirculating the condensate water and said recirculation pump (31) are provided in a mutually aligned cascade arrangement along a same length of conduit (32) coming from said tub (10).
Clothes washing machine according to claim 5, characterized in that said same length of conduit (32) comes from said filter (22).