EP2857578B1 - Ironing appliance comprising a steam-generating base and an iron connected to one another by a steam conduit - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an ironing apparatus comprising a steam generating base and an iron connected together by a conduit for the transport of steam, the iron comprising an ironing sole comprising at least one zone of ironing. humidifying the laundry provided with steam outlet holes and at least one drying zone without steam outlet holes, the steam outlet holes being fed by a diffusion chamber arranged in a non-heating body covering the sole at the level of the humidifying zone of the laundry, the drying zone being in thermal contact with a heating body.

It is known, from the request of FR1354961 filed by the Applicant, an ironing apparatus comprising a steam generating base and an iron connected together by a conduit for the transport of steam, the iron comprising a sole having a front portion provided with exit holes of steam and a rear portion without steam outlet holes, the steam outlet holes of the sole being supplied by a diffusion chamber arranged in a non-heating body covering the front portion of the sole, the rear portion being in thermal contact of a heating body.

The document DE 4238502 discloses the features of the preamble of claim 1.

An ironing apparatus equipped with such an iron has the advantage of having a sole provided with a zone of humidification of the laundry, by emission of steam, distinct from a hot zone of drying of the linen, the sole being without heating element in the vicinity of the humidifying zone of the laundry, to obtain a better condensation of the steam on the laundry and greater ironing efficiency.

In this apparatus, the steam is passed through a distribution circuit in the heating body surmounting the rear part of the soleplate to ensure the evaporation of the condensates forming in the connecting pipe. However, when the temperature of the heating body is insufficient, the apparatus can be caused to spew condensate through the outlet holes of the sole. Conversely, when the temperature of the overlying heating body is too high, the steam reaches the outlet holes of the sole with a temperature too high to ensure good condensation of the vapor as soon as it comes into contact with the fabric.

Also, an object of the present invention is to provide an ironing apparatus that overcomes these disadvantages. Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus that is simple and economical to implement.

To this end, the subject of the invention is an ironing apparatus comprising a steam generating base and an iron connected together by a steam duct, the iron comprising an ironing soleplate comprising at least one zone of ironing. humification of the laundry provided with steam outlet holes and at least one drying zone without steam outlet holes, the steam outlet holes being fed by a diffusion chamber arranged in a non-heating body covering the sole at the level of the humification zone of the laundry, the drying zone being in thermal contact with a heating body, characterized in that the steam duct comprises a heating element, the diffusion chamber being supplied directly by the steam coming from the duct, without cross the heating body.

Such a characteristic makes it possible to obtain a stream of vapor with an optimized temperature and humidity level to ensure good humidification of the laundry, by reducing the risk of staining the laundry with steam condensates.

Indeed, the presence of the heating element on the steam duct makes it possible to maintain the steam in the steam duct at a sufficiently high temperature so that it does not occur or very few condensates. In addition, the absence of a heating element on the body comprising the vapor diffusion chamber makes it possible at the same time to simplify the construction of the iron and to not overheat the steam in order to obtain a wet vapor.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the power and the power supply of the heating element are adapted so that the temperature of the steam at the outlet of the steam duct is between 100 ° C. and 110 ° C.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the diffusion chamber is adapted to lower the temperature of the vapor coming from the steam duct and to bring it to a temperature of about 100 ° C. at the level of the steam outlet holes. of the sole.

Such a characteristic makes it possible to have a moist vapor which makes it possible to offer the best ironing performance.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the heating element of the steam duct has a power of between 100W and 400W.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the heating body comprises a screen-printed flat heating element.

Such a heating element has the advantage of having a low thermal inertia and thus makes it possible to obtain a rapid change in the temperature of the sole, especially in the cooling phases.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the surface of the humification zone of the soleplate, covered by the diffusion chamber, represents between 30% and 50% of the total surface of the soleplate.

Such a characteristic makes it possible to offer an optimum surface ratio between the humidification zone and the drying zone of the laundry.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the steam duct is made of elastomeric EPDM material (ethylene-propylene-diene monomer) non-conductive electricity or silicone.

Such materials have the advantage of having a good resistance to steam and good resistance to pressure.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the heating element comprises at least one heating wire which is braided on the steam duct, said heating wire providing only a partial coverage of the steam duct.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the heating wire is constituted by a stainless steel wire of diameter less than 1 mm, advantageously coated with PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene).

According to another characteristic of the invention, the steam duct comprises reinforcing threads, advantageously made of para-aramid fiber, which are braided on the steam duct, the reinforcing threads ensuring only a partial cover of the duct. of steam.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the steam duct comprises an external braiding covering the entire steam duct, the heating wire and any reinforcing son.

Such a characteristic makes it possible to insure thermal insulation of the steam duct and the heating wires relative to the outside.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the external braiding comprises a mixture of meta-aramid fibers and glass fibers.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the humification zone of the laundry is formed in a front portion of the sole and the drying zone is formed in a rear portion of the sole.

• la figure 1 est une vue de côté d'un appareil de repassage selon un mode particulier de réalisation de l'invention ;
• la figure 2 est une vue en perspective du dessous d'un sous-ensemble semelle, chambre de diffusion de vapeur et corps chauffant équipant le fer à repasser de l'appareil de repassage de la figure 1, la semelle étant représentée séparée du corps chauffant et de la chambre de diffusion de vapeur;
• la figure 3 est une vue en perspective du dessus du sous-ensemble de la figure 2 assemblé ;
• la figure 4 est une vue en coupe longitudinale du sous-ensemble de la figure 2 ;
• la figure 5 est une vue d'un tronçon du conduit de vapeur intégré dans le cordon de liaison reliant la base génératrice de vapeur au fer à repasser, le cordon de liaison étant démuni de son tressage externe ;
• la figure 6 est une vue du tronçon du conduit de vapeur de la figure 5 muni de son tressage externe.

The aims, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the following description of a particular embodiment of the invention, presented by way of nonlimiting example, with reference to the appended drawings. wherein :

• the figure 1 is a side view of an ironing apparatus according to a particular embodiment of the invention;
• the figure 2 is a perspective view from below of a sole subassembly, vapor diffusion chamber and heating body equipping the iron of the ironing apparatus of the figure 1 , the soleplate being shown separately from the heating body and the vapor diffusion chamber;
• the figure 3 is a perspective view from above of the subset of the figure 2 assembled;
• the figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the subset of the figure 2 ;
• the figure 5 is a view of a section of the steam duct built into the connecting cord connecting the steam generating base to the iron, the connecting cord being without its external braiding;
• the figure 6 is a view of the section of the steam duct of the figure 5 with its external braiding.

Only the elements necessary for the understanding of the invention have been represented. To facilitate the reading of the drawings, the same elements bear the same references from one figure to another.

The figure 1 represents an ironing apparatus comprising a base 100 generating steam and an iron 1 interconnected by a connecting bead 2, the iron 1 typically comprising a sole 3 ironing, preferably made of stainless steel or in a sheet aluminum covered with enamel, surmounted by a plastic case conventionally incorporating a handle.

The base 100 comprises an inclined plane on which the iron 1 can come to rest during the inactive ironing phases and contains, in a manner known per se, a tank 101 for the production of steam under a pressure of the order of 4 to 6 bars. The tank 101 is supplied with water from a tank 102 by means of a pump 103 and comprises a steam outlet orifice equipped with a solenoid valve 104 controlled by a trigger 10 opened under the iron handle ironing 1, the solenoid valve 104 being connected to a steam duct 4 integrated in the connecting cord 2.

The base 100 is connected to the domestic electrical network by an electric wire 105 which allows both the power supply of the heating means of the tank 101 and the power supply of the iron 1 by means of several electrical wires, not shown. in the figures, integrated in the connecting cord 2.

In accordance with the figure 2 , the sole 3 of the iron has a front portion having a humification zone 30 of the laundry, provided with steam outlet holes 21, surmounted by a non-heating body 5 and has a rear portion comprising a drying zone 32 , lacking steam outlet holes, surmounted by a heating body 6, the humidifying zone 30 of the laundry preferably representing between 30 and 50% of the total surface of sole 3.

The heating body 6 is advantageously constituted by a metal plate comprising a screen-printed flat heating element 60 with a power of between 200 W and 500 W, which comes into contact with the rear part of the drying zone 32 of the sole 3, this screen-printed flat heating element 60 being electrically powered by an electronic card comprising a thermostat allowing regulation of the temperature of the drying zone 32 of the sole 3 around a set temperature, advantageously adjustable by the user, between 115 ° C and 200 ° C.

The non-heating body, covering the humidification zone 30 of the soleplate, is constituted by a cover 5 defining a vapor diffusion chamber 50 above the steam outlet holes 31 of the soleplate 3, the cover 5 advantageously being made by molding in a plastic material or in an aluminum foundry.

As can be seen on the Figures 2 to 4 , the vapor diffusion chamber 50 is constituted by a cavity whose underside is delimited by the front portion of the sole 3 and whose upper and peripheral walls are delimited by the cover 5, the cover 5 having projecting walls extending inside the diffusion chamber 50 to form a circular diffusion channel 51 provided with lateral slots 51A ensuring a homogeneous distribution of the vapor above the front part of the sole 3.

In accordance with the figure 4 , the steam diffusion chamber 50 is supplied with steam by an inlet orifice 52 formed on the lid 5, the inlet orifice 52 opening into the diffusion channel 51 and being connected directly to the steam duct 4 integrated in the the connecting cord 2 connecting the iron 1 to the steam generating base 100.

More particularly according to the invention, the steam duct 4 comprises a heating element 40 making it possible to limit the cooling of the steam contained in the steam duct 4 and to prevent the appearance of condensates.

For this purpose, the steam duct 4 is advantageously made of a material elastomer EPDM type (ethylene-propylene-diene monomer), preferably electrically non-conductive, and the heating element is constituted by one or more electric heating son 40 which are braided on the steam duct 4, as shown schematically on the figure 5 .

For example, the heating son 40 consist of stainless steel son with a diameter of less than 1 mm, coated with PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene), having an electrical resistance of the order of 13 ohm / m. The heating son can be powered with a 220V AC voltage by an electronic card carried by the steam generating base 100, the electrical power of the heating son 40 can be regulated by a thermostat or be carried out continuously or periodically, with an alternation of supply phase and cut-off phases.

Depending on the length of the bead 2, the total power released by the heating son 40 equipping the steam duct 4 is advantageously between 100W and 400W.

A thermal fuse, not shown in the figures, is preferably affixed to the steam duct 4 to cut the supply current of the heating wires 40 when the temperature of the steam duct 4 exceeds a predetermined threshold, for example of the order of 130 ° C, in order to avoid overheating during a possible failure of the heating wire supply system 40.

In accordance with the figure 5 the resistance of the electrical heating wires 40 to the steam duct is advantageously reinforced by a braiding of reinforcing threads 41 which intersect the heating threads 40 partially covering them, the reinforcement thread 41 being preferably constituted by synthetic threads of para- aramid, such as son made from Twaron® fibers marketed by the company Teijin or Kevlar® fibers marketed by the company Du Pont de Nemours.

The whole of the steam duct 4, heating threads 40 and reinforcement threads 41 thus produced is covered with an external braiding 42 illustrated on FIG. figure 6 whose function is to thermally protect and insulate heating wires 40 from the outside, the external braiding 42 being preferably constituted by a mixture of synthetic meta-aramid yarns and glass fibers covering the whole of the bead 4. For example, the synthetic meta-aramid yarns are made from from Nomex® fibers marketed by the company Du Pont de Nemours.

The operation of such an ironing apparatus will now be described.

At the start of the apparatus, the tank 101 is heated by its heating means so that the water it contains is brought to boiling, the heating son 40 of the vapor cord 4 being electrically powered as soon as it is put into operation. voltage of the apparatus so that the interior of the steam duct 4 is brought to a temperature of at least 100 ° C and preferably at a temperature between 100 ° C and 110 ° C.

When the water in the tank 101 comes to a boil, a light indicates to the user that the device is ready for use and the user can perform a steam ironing session by pressing the trigger 10 of the iron to iron 1 to open the solenoid valve 104 and release the steam through the steam duct 4.

The steam is then transmitted to the iron 1 by passing through the steam duct 4 heated to a temperature greater than or equal to 100 ° C, so that the steam reaches the iron 1 without having been cooled sufficiently to allow the appearance of condensate.

In particular, the steam contained in the steam duct 4 is maintained at a temperature above 100 ° C. even during the ironing phases during which the steam remains stagnant in the steam duct 4, that is to say when user does not pull the trigger 10.

When the steam reaches the iron 1, it enters directly into the steam diffusion chamber 50 through the inlet orifice 52 formed in the cover 5 covering the humidification zone 30 of the sole 3. The passage of vapor flow in the diffusion chamber 50 is accompanied by a decrease in the temperature of the steam, due to the absence of heating element on the lid 5, the temperature of the vapor then falling to to reach a temperature of the order of 100 ° C at the steam outlet holes 31 of the sole, such a lowering of the steam temperature resulting in increasing the moisture content of the steam by increasing the number of small water droplets, less than 10 μm in diameter, contained in the vapor stream.

The diffusion of this wet vapor flow makes it possible to guarantee very good ironing performance, the humification zone 30 of the soleplate, covered by the diffusion chamber 50, having the advantage of being heated only by heat conduction. the heating rear portion through the thickness of the sole 3 so that the sole 3 has a low temperature at the steam outlet holes 31, preferably less than 110 ° C, which contributes to an excellent condensation of steam in the ironing board.

The ironing apparatus thus produced thus has a sole 3 provided with an unheated front part provided with steam outlet holes 31 which makes it possible to obtain an excellent moistening of the laundry while the rear part 32 of the soleplate, which is heated and deprived of steam outlet holes, allows to quickly evaporate all the moisture contained in the laundry when moving the iron 1 forward.

In addition, the use of a screen-printed flat heating element 60 for heating the heating zone of the soleplate 3 makes it possible to obtain a very large reactivation of the drying zone at the temperature setpoint changes of the thermostat thanks to the very low thermal inertia of the flat screened heating element 60.

Finally, the iron thus produced has the advantage of being lighter and can be smaller since it does not include the foundry usually necessary to heat the steam at the outlet of the steam duct. This gives an iron with greater maneuverability, which therefore helps to reduce the difficulty of the ironing operation.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiment described and illustrated which has been given by way of example. Modifications remain possible, particularly from the point of view of the constitution of the various elements or by substitution of technical equivalents, without departing from the scope of protection of the invention.

Thus, in an embodiment variant not shown, the soleplate may have a humification zone, provided with steam outlet holes, formed in the center of the soleplate and a drying zone without steam outlet holes disposed on the periphery of the soleplate. the sole, the drying zone surrounding the humidification zone.

Thus, in an alternative embodiment, the steam duct may be made of silicone or any other non-electrically conductive material but resistant to pressure.

Thus, in another variant embodiment; the steam duct may be made of an electrically conductive EPDM material, the heating wires being then covered with an insulating material, for example being coated with silicone.

Thus, in an alternative embodiment not shown, the heating body may be constituted by a foundry closing a shielded electrical resistance.

Claims (13)

1. Ironing appliance comprising a steam generating base (100) and an iron (1) which are interconnected by a vapour duct (4), the iron (1) comprising an iron sole plate (3) including at least a humidification area (30) fitted with steam outlets for smoothing fabrics (31) and at least a drying area (32) fitted with steam outlet openings, the steam outlet openings (31) being fed by a diffusion chamber (50) fitted in a non-heating body covering the sole plate (3) at the level of the fabric humidification area (30), the drying area (32) being in thermal contact with a heating element (6), characterised in that the vapour duct (4) has a heating element (40), the diffusion chamber (50) being directly fed by the steam released from the duct (4) without passing through the heating body (6).
2. Ironing appliance according to claim 1, characterised in that the power and supply of the heating element (40) are adapted so that the steam temperature when released from the vapour duct is between 100 °C and 110 °C.
3. Ironing appliance according to one of the claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the diffusion chamber (50) is adapted to lower the steam temperature released from the vapour duct (4) and bring the temperature to around 100 °C at the steam outlet level (31) of the sole plate.
4. Ironing appliance according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the heating element (40) of the vapour duct has a power level between 100 W and 400 W.
5. Ironing appliance according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that said heating body (6) has a printed heating element plate (60).
6. Ironing appliance according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the humidification area (30) of the sole plate (3), covered by the diffusion chamber (50), represents between 30% and 50% of the overall sole plate (3) surface.
7. Ironing appliance according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the vapour duct (4) is made of electrically non-conductive elastomeric material EPDM (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer) or silicone.
8. Ironing appliance according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the heating element includes at least a heating wire (40) which is braided with the vapour duct (4), such heating wire (40) only ensuring partial cover of the vapour duct (4).
9. Ironing appliance according to claim 8, characterised in that the heating wire (40) comprises a stainless steel wire less than 1 mm in diameter, preferably coated with PTFE.
10. Ironing appliance according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterised in that the vapour duct (4) includes reinforcing wires (41), preferably made of para-aramid fibre, which are braided with the vapour duct (4), such reinforcing wires (41) only ensuring partial cover of the vapour duct (4).
11. Ironing appliance according to one of claims 8 to 10, characterised in that the vapour duct (4) has outer braiding (42) covering the vapour duct (4), the heating wires (40) and the reinforcing wires (41).
12. Ironing appliance according to claim 11, characterised in that the outer braiding (42) has a mix of meta-aramid fibres and glass fibres.
13. Ironing appliance according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterised in that the fabric humidification area (30) is fitted in a part before the sole plate (3) and the drying area (32) is fitted in a part behind the sole plate (3).

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