EP1668178B1

EP1668178B1 - Laundry drying device

Info

Publication number: EP1668178B1
Application number: EP04775395A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Sune Haglund
Original assignee: HAGLUND ANDERS JONATHAN
Current assignee: HAGLUND, ANDERS JONATHAN
Priority date: 2003-09-10
Filing date: 2004-09-09
Publication date: 2008-05-28
Anticipated expiration: 2024-09-09
Also published as: SE0302408D0; WO2005024113A1; EP1668178A1

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a device for drying laundry, comprising a rack on which the laundry can be hung, which rack is arranged to rotate in an essentially horizontal plane, a motor being connected to said rack and arranged to rotate the rack about a centre of rotation that preferably coincides with the centre of the rack.

BACKGROUND

It is known, for indoor laundry drying, to use various devices that in different ways create a drying air stream around the laundry.
Drying cupboards and tumble-driers are common devices, both in private houses and in blocks of flats. The drying cupboards have the disadvantage that the warm, moisturised air often must be let out from the building, whereby its energy is lost.
Tumble-driers of condensing type are considered better from an energy point of view, since the heated air can be blown back into the room, whereby the heat can be used. On the other hand, tumble-driers have other disadvantages associated with unwanted wear of the clothes and shrinking.
In a drying room for conventional laundry-hanging, a fan in the room may bring the air to move in the room, which contributes to the laundry-drying. Often, such fans are also provided with an electric heater, to heat the air. Such an arrangement has the disadvantage that the laundry tends to dry unevenly, depending on its position in relation to the fan, and also in this case the heated and moisturised air has to be vented off. The drying demands a lot of space, since it takes quite some time and the laundry from a first wash in the washing machine most often has not dried before laundry from the next wash is ready to be hung. Yet another reason for large spaces being needed is that the total air volume contributes to increase the drying capacity in such a room.
By use of an air dehumidifier, laundry on lines can be dried comparatively faster than in the conventional way. In this case, no moisturised air has to be vented off.
From DE 199 03 623 A1 is known a device for drying hanging laundry, intended to be mounted in the ceiling of a room. A drying rack (101), in the form of two parallel and mutually connected horizontal bars having lines stretched them between, has been provided with a motor that via a shaft acts to rotate the rack. By the rotation, a relative movement is created between the laundry and the air, but similar to the same type of stationary laundry drying racks, the more centrally positioned laundry will dry more slowly that the laundry positioned further out.
JP 8141285 discloses another drying device provided with a motor and being of the same type as the one described above. This device has a drying rack in the form of radial extending bars on which laundry can be hung to dry. This device too has the disadvantage that the more centrally positioned laundry will dry more slowly.

BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for drying hanging laundry, which dries the laundry more efficiently and evenly than the above mentioned devices. This is achieved by a device for drying laundry according to claim 1.
It is furthermore an object of the invention to provide a device for drying hanging laundry, which does not require any additional energy to heat the air to dry the laundry.
In addition to the advantages mentioned above, the invention also provides:

Shorter drying time
No shrinkage of the laundry
Space savings
An improved environment in the laundry room, thanks to air movements
Lower investment costs
A diminished environmental impact, by decreased energy consumption during operation, decreased costs of transportation, decreased need for repairs including decreased need of spare parts

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1: shows a view in perspective of a variant of the device,
Fig. 2: shows the device in a side view,
Fig. 3: shows a principle sketch of the device, in a view from below,
Fig. 4: shows a preferred embodiment of the drying device, in a view from below,
Fig. 5: shows in detail an attachment for a clothes hanger, and
Fig. 6: shows schematically a clothes hanger in an attachment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The laundry drying device according to the invention, principally described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2, is intended to be suspended in the ceiling.
Fig. 1 shows a variant of the device, in a perspective view from below. The device is designed to, by aid of an electric motor (not shown), rotate a rack 1 for laundry-hanging. It is within the scope of the invention to use various methods for laundry-hanging, common clothes hangers and sock hangers being one method. The characterising features of the invention will be explained in connection with the following drawings.
Fig. 2 shows the device in a side view. The device comprises a motor 2, by aid of which a rack 1 on which the laundry can be hung, is brought to rotate in an essentially horizontal plane.
Fig. 3 shows a principle sketch from below, of a quite simple embodiment of the laundry drying device. In this embodiment, the rack comprises an essentially circular frame 3 of some suitable material such as plastics or light metal, on which suspension devices 4 can be fixed in the form of arms or wires. Preferably, the rack is symmetrical about a centre C of rotation, in order to in best possible way enable laundry to be hung in a mutually beneficial way.
By the rack 1 being arranged to position at least one hanging drying object at an angle v, which angle is formed in the direction of rotation, between a tangent of a path of rotation for said drying object and the horizontal extension of said drying object, where the angle v is less than 75°, preferably 60° at the most and most preferred 45° at the most, an air stream is created at the hanging drying objects which contributes to efficient laundry-drying.
It is realised that the distance a, a' between the drying objects, in the direction of rotation, affects the air stream about them. Suitably, the drying device is designed such that the distance a, a' between the hanging drying objects at no occasion is less than a few centimetres, preferably being at least about 5 cm. This means that a device that is adapted for a large amount of laundry beneficially can be provided with several radial layers L1, L2 of suspension devices, at gradually increasing distances from the centre of rotation of the device. Hereby, it is avoided that the drying objects hang unnecessarily much spaced apart at the outer periphery of the drying device.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the rack may be formed such that the drying objects are positioned essentially symmetrically about said centre of rotation, in one or more layers L1, L2. Moreover, all drying objects in the outermost layer can be positioned at said angle in order to render the drying of the drying objects hanging at the more central parts of the rack more efficient. Hereby, the total drying time is shortened and the surface is optimally utilised.
Tests have shown that a normal-sized amount of laundry (3-4 kg) can be dried in about one hour at normal room temperature. The device used in the tests had a diameter of about 65 cm, which was sufficient enough for the amount of laundry. The motor was of 70 W power, which led to an energy consumption of about 0.07 kWh. This can be compared with data for the Electrolux tumble-drier EDC 5330, for which drying of 6 kg laundry requires 4.37 kWh, i.e. about 30 times more energy is required.
In combination with, or as an alternative to, the embodiment above, said essentially circular frame 3 can be provided with attachments 5 for separate suspension devices, most simply having the form of hangers 6, for hanging the drying objects, which is shown in Fig. 4. The attachments are placed at a mutual distance of 5-100 cm, preferably 5-50 cm and even more preferred 5-20 cm, in order to by analogy with the reasoning above enable a beneficial air stream about the drying objects. In yet an alternative embodiment, the circular frame may instead be a disc or be of latticed designed, provided with said attachments for clothes hangers.
When clothes hangers 6 are used, the invention preferably comprises use of a clothes hanger having a suspension hook 7 that is fixed in relation to the clothes hanger's longitudinal direction and that does not allow rotation of the clothes hanger, in order to allow for a suspension of the drying objects at an angle v according to the invention. Such a hanger is shown in Figs. 5a and 5b. The hanger shown in the Figs. comprises attachment devices 8 for straps, in order to allow for a simple suspension of garments provided with straps, such as trousers and skirts.
The attachments 5, shown in detail in Fig. 6, are preferably designed to co-operate with the suspension hook in order to prevent the suspension hook from moving by itself when the drying device rotates, which is shown in detail in Fig. 5. Each attachment comprises a groove 9 into which the suspension hook 7 is inserted, and a hole 10 intended to receive the downwards bent front end of the suspension hook. By arranging the attachment such that the distance between the groove and the hole is successively increasing, the advantage is attained that a suspension hook positioned in the attachment can not move by itself. Another advantage is attained in that hangers with suspension hooks of different sizes can be used.

ALTERNATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The invention is not limited to that described above. It is also conceivable, within the scope of the invention, to give the rack a conical or convex parabolic shape, to arrange several racks on top of each other, and to make the device vertically adjustable in order to facilitate the laundry-hanging or to be able to hoist it to the ceiling when it's not used.
The skilled person realises that several positioning combinations of the drying objects can exist within the scope of the invention, where angles can be varied between different layers but also within one and the same layer.
Furthermore, the suspension devices can be designed to co-operate with several attachments, which may be an advantage if special suspension devices are used that are adapted to hang rugs or sheets e.g. Also, the attachments and suspension devices can be designed differently, without departing from the method according to the invention of positioning laundry. For example, the attachment can consist of a groove, the inner end of which having a recess in its material, which recess fits the "suspension hook" and fixes the hanger.

Claims

A device for drying laundry, comprising a rack (1) on which the laundry can be hung, which rack (1) is arranged to be suspended in the ceiling and to rotate in an essentially horizontal plane, a motor (2) being connected to said rack (1) and arranged to rotate the rack about a centre of rotation that preferably coincides with the centre of the rack, wherein the rack (1) is arranged to position hanging drying objects at an angle (v), which angle is formed, in the direction of rotation, between a tangent of a path of rotation for said drying object and the horizontal extension of said drying object, in one or more layers (L1, L2) at gradually increasing distance from the centre of rotation, characterised in that the rack (1) is arranged to position the respective hung drying objects in at least the outermost layer at said angle (v), the angle (v) being less than 75° in order thereby to create an air stream at each hanging drying object and towards the central part of the rack.
A device according to claim 1, characterised in that the angle (v) preferably is 60° at the most, and most preferred 45° at the most.
A device according to claim 1, characterised in that the rack (1) is arranged to position the laundry essentially symmetrically around said centre of rotation.
A device according to claim 3, characterised in that the respective layers are positioned at a distance from each other of at least 5 cm, preferably at least 10 cm, and even more preferred at least 15 cm.
A device according to claim 4, characterised in that the rack (1) comprises suspension devices (4) in the form of lines and/or arms for drying objects, where the distance (a, a') between the respective suspension devices is at least 2 cm, preferably at least 5 cm.
A device according to claim 4, characterised in that the rack (1) comprises an essentially circular disc comprising attachments (5) for suspension devices (4) in the form of hangers (6) for drying objects, where the attachments are positioned at a distance from each other of 5-100 cm, preferably 5-50 cm, and even more preferred 5-20 cm.
A device according to claim 6, characterised in that the suspension device (4) co-operates with at least one attachment, in order to fix a drying object at said angle (v).
A device according to claim 7, characterised in that the clothes hanger (6) comprises a suspension hook (7) that is fixed in relation to the longitudinal direction of the clothes hanger.
A device according to claim 8, characterised in that said attachments each have a groove (9) and a hole (10) intended to receive the suspension hook (7), where said groove has a successively increasing distance to the hole, such that a suspension hook placed in the attachment can not move by itself.