GB2114723A

GB2114723A - Tumble dryer

Info

Publication number: GB2114723A
Application number: GB08303033A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Walter Dunst; Hermann Flik; Manfred Schroppel; Horst Sperling
Original assignee: G Bauknecht GmbH
Current assignee: G Bauknecht GmbH
Priority date: 1982-02-09
Filing date: 1983-02-03
Publication date: 1983-08-24
Also published as: FR2521183A1; NO830207L; GB8303033D0; GB2114723B; BE895577A; DE8203418U1; FR2521183B1

Abstract

A tumble dryer has a front loading port (5), lined between front panel (14) and drum opening (15) with a cylindrical casing (10) having an exhaust air orifice (9) therein, in one injection-moulded piece with an exhaust air duct (12) provided with a hose connection 13. A lower opening in the exhaust air duct (12) is closed during manufacture, by means of a cover (17), after withdrawal of the core of the moulding. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Laundry dryer This invention relates to a laundry dryer.

Such laundry dryers have previously been proposed for example in German Utility Model 80 02 492. In this specification, an exhaust-air duct extending downwards behind the front panel of a housing is attached at the bottom, with sealing strips interposed, to a cylindrical casing which lines a loading orifice and which is designed with corresponding bearing segments directed downwards, and is fastened by tightening suitable connecting means. A disadvantage of such an air-tight connection between the casing and the exhaust-air duct is that it is very expensive in terms of assembly parts and connecting means and as a result an undesirable long time is required for assembly.

An object of the present invention is to provide a laundry dryer in which the cylindrical casing lining of the loading orifice and the exhaust-air duct can be produced with fewer assembly parts and without connecting means.

According to the present invention there is provided a laundry dryer having a front loading orifice which is lined, in the region between a housing front panel and a drum orifice, with a cylindrical casing which has an exhaust-air orifice extending downwards and connected to an exhaust-air duct, said duct extending downwards behind said front panel of the housing and being provided adjacent its lower end with a hose connection piece, characterised in that said cylindrical casing and the exhaust-air duct together with said hose-connection piece are constituted by an integral plastic injection moulding which is open adjacent the lower end of the exhaust-air duct, and cover means are provided for closing said lower opening.

As a result of the integral design, in the form of a plastic injection moulding, of the cylindrical casing and of the exhaust-air duct open in its bottom region, a component requiring no additional gaskets and connecting means of an kind has been provided. The orifice or opening adjacent the lower end of the exhaust-air duct is necessary for removing the core-pull of the injection-mould. This orifice is closed by means of an additional cover, which can likewise be made of synthetic plastics material and is held in place by glueing, welding or the like.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the exhaust-air duct is designed as a rectangular flat channel which widens conically downwards, and the lower opening is provided with a continuous flange round which there is engageable, on the two longitudinal sides, a sliding cover of substantially C-shaped crosssection. The advantage of rapid assembly by simply pushing on the cover is achieved as a result.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a front view of a laundry dryer having a front loading orifice with the door open, in which a cylindrical casing together with an exhaust-air duct injection-moulded thereon is shown in its installed position, and Fig. 2 is a section along the line A-B in Fig. 1 through the plastic injection moulding consisting of a cylindrical casing and exhaust-air duct with a closure cover at the lower end thereof.

A laundry dryer as illustrated in Fig. 1 possesses a front loading orifice 5 which can be closed in an air-tight manner, during the drying operation, by a door 6. The laundry dryer works with heated dry air which, after flowing through the laundry drum (not shown in detail), flows through a preforated ring 8, located on a laundry guard 7 of the door 6, via an exhaust-air orifice 9 of a cylindrical casing 10, in which a fluff filter 1 1 is suspended, into an exhaust-air duct 12 and into the open through a hose-connection piece 13 via an exhaust-air hose (not shown) or alternatively is fed to a condensation device.

The front loading orifice 5 in the machine housing is lined, in the clearance region between housing front panel 14 and laundry-drum orifice 15, by a cylindrical casing 10 which has an exhaust-air orifice 9 extending vertically downwards and opening into the exhaust-air duct 12 which is made of synthetic plastics material and is integral with the cylindrical casing 10. The exhaust duct 12 is open at the bottom over its entire cross-section to allow the core-pull of the injection-mould to be removed. This bottom orifice 16 is closed by means of a cover 17 which can be glued or welded in place.It is advantageous, however, to design the exhaust-air duct 12 as a flat channel of rectangular crosssection and to provide the bottom orifice 16 with a continuous flange 18 round which there engages with a press fit, on the two longitudinal sides, a sliding cover 17 of generally C-shaped cross-section. As a result of this arrangement, an air-tight connection, which does not need a gasket to be interposed, is provided between the cover 1 7 and the longitudinal sides of the exhaust-air duct 12. Similarly, in order to obtain a labyrinth gasket on the narrower transverse sides, the cover 17 can be designed, on its side to be - inserted, with a web (not shown) arranged to project into the exhaust-air duct 12 and taking the form of a sealing lip, whilst on the sliding side the cover 17 is advantageously designed to be of generally C-shape in cross-section.The sliding cover 1 7 is provided, on the inside of the cover on its transverse sides, with engagement projections 20 which engage behind the inner wall 19 of the channel and which ensure that the cover 17 does not detach itself.

The exhaust-air duct 9 commencing from the inside of the cylindrical casing 10 preferably has a stepped widened portion 21 which extends over the complete duct cross-section and in which is received the continuous edge region of a fluff filter (not shown) which can be suspended in the exhaust-air duct 9, 12. The cylindrical casing 10 of the plastic injection moulding is located in an orifice 22 in the housing front panel 14 and is connected to the front panel 14 by means of fastening screws 23. For this purpose, the plastic injection moulding has fastening lugs 24 injection-moulded correspondingly on the outside of the cylindrical casing 10.

In a laundry dryer in which the front loading orifice and the drum orifice are arranged so as to be off-set eccentrically in relation to one another and have different orifice diameters, it is of particular advantage, in a modification of the invention, that a cylindrical casing portion 25 which projects into the drum orifice 15 should be provided with an additional cylindrical casing having a larger outside diameter corresponding to the drum orifice 15 by means of connecting webs injection-moulded thereon, and offset eccentrically by the amount of the eccentric offset between the front loading orifice 5 and the drum orifice 15. Such an arrangement makes it possible, for example, to use the same housing front panel in laundry dryers and washing machines.

The cylindrical casing portion 25 projecting into the drum orifice 15 is provided on its outer periphery with a continuous collar 26 and webs 27 for an axial retention of the sliding sealing ring 28 supporting the drum-edge orifice region 15.

Claims

1. A laundry dryer having a front loading orifice which is lined, in the region between a housing front panel and a drum orifice, with a cylindrical casing which has an exhaust-air orifice extending downwards and connected to an exhaust-air duct, said duct extending downwards behind said front panel of the housing and being provided adjacent its lower end with a hose-connection piece.

characterised in that said cylindrical casing and the exhaust-air duct together with said hoseconnection piece are constituted by an integral plastic injection moulding which is open adjacent the lower end of the exhaust-air duct, and cover means are provided for closing said lower opening.

2. A laundry dryer according to Claim 1, in which the exhaust-air duct is designed as a flat channel of rectangular cross-section, and the lower opening is provided with a continuous flange round which there is engageable, on the two longitudinal sides, a sliding cover of substantially C-shaped cross-section.

3. A laundry dryer according to Claim 2, in which the sliding cover is provided, on the inside of the cover on its transverse sides, with engagement projections adapted to engage the inner wall of the duct.

4. A laundry dryer according to any preceding claim, in which the exhaust-air duct commencing from the inside of the cylindrical casing has a widened stepped portion extending over the cross-section of the duct.

5. A laundry dryer according to any preceding claim, in which the cylindrical casing of the plastic injection moulding is fixed in an orifice in the front panel and is connected to the front panel by means of fastening screws.

6. A laundry dryer according to any preceding claim, in which an additional casing having an outside diameter corresponding to the larger drum orifice is integrally moulded to a casing portion having the diameter of the loading orifice and projecting into the drum orifice, said additional casing being connected to the casing portion by means of connecting webs injectionmoulded thereon, and offset eccentrically by the amount of eccentric offset between the front loading orifice and the drum orifice.

7. A laundry dryer according to claim 6, characterised in that the cylindrical casing portion projecting into the drum orifice is provided on its outer periphery with a continuous collar and webs for the axial retention of a sliding sealing ring adapted to support the drum-edge orifice region.

8. A laundry dryer substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.