JP2000140492A - Clothes drier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently dry clothes by performing operation control for performing drying by a heating means at the time of starting an operation and switching to drying by an air refrigeration cycle means thereafter. SOLUTION: When the clothes are fed from a clothes feeding port 2 into a drum 5 and the operation is started, a control part sets the output of a heater 32 high and the dehumidifying force of an air refrigeration cycle device 18 low and the clothes are dried by heating. Then, at the time of detecting that a temperature inside the drum 5 reaches a prescribed temperature by a temperature sensor 30, the control part sets the output of the heater 32 low and the dehumidifying force of the air refrigeration cycle device 18 high. In such a manner, since the clothes are dried by the heating of the heater at the time of starting the operation and they are dried by the dehumidifying force by the operation of an air refrigeration cycle when the temperature inside the drum reaches the prescribed temperature, the clothes are efficiently dried.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a clothes dryer for drying clothes using an air refrigeration cycle for dehumidifying air.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a clothes dryer, a drum containing clothes is rotated, and air heated by a heater or gas is supplied into the drum to dry the clothes. In such a drum-type clothes dryer, the high-temperature and high-humidity air in the drum is directly discharged, or the air is air-cooled or water-cooled by outside air or tap water to dehumidify the air.
After being heated again by a heater or the like, circulation drying is performed such that the clothes are supplied into a drum and the clothes are dried with high-temperature and low-humidity air.

Regarding such a clothes dryer that circulates air, the present applicant has disclosed a clothes dryer using an air refrigerating cycle utilizing adiabatic compression and expansion of air for dehumidification.
No. 5824 and in the drawings. In this clothes dryer, hot and humid air is exhausted from the drum,
Heat is exchanged by the air refrigeration cycle means to dehumidify, and before returning to the inside of the drum, it is heated by a heater to supply high-temperature, low-humidity air into the drum. In this case, the operation of the air refrigeration cycle means starts at the same time as the operation of the clothes dryer starts.

[0004]

In the air refrigeration cycle means, if the temperature inside the drum is low, low-temperature air is circulated and sufficient heat exchange is not performed, so the temperature inside the drum needs to be high. . Therefore, at the start of operation, the air refrigeration cycle is operated while heating the heater to increase the temperature in the drum. However, the operation of the air refrigeration cycle does not contribute to drying, resulting in useless operation, and in terms of power consumption. There was a problem. Further, as described above, it takes time until the inside of the drum becomes hot and humid, and the heat exchange efficiency by the air refrigeration cycle is deteriorated, and as a result, the operation time is prolonged.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a clothes dryer capable of drying clothes efficiently.

[0006]

The object of the present invention is to provide a storage tank for storing clothes, a heating means for heating air in the storage tank, and dehumidifying air discharged from the storage tank. Air refrigeration cycle means for supplying the storage tank again,
An operation control means for performing drying by the heating means at the start of the operation and thereafter switching to drying by the air refrigeration cycle means is provided. Then, the output of the heating means at the start of the operation is maximized.

Specifically, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature in the storage tank is provided, a heating means is disposed downstream of the air refrigeration cycle means, and the output of the heating means and the air temperature are determined based on the temperature in the storage tank. The dehumidifying power of the refrigeration cycle means is controlled.

According to the above configuration, when operation is started,
The clothes in the storage tank are heated and dried by the heating means having the maximum output. At this time, the evaporation rate of the moisture contained in the clothes is accelerated, and the temperature in the storage tank becomes high and high. Then, when the temperature in the storage tank reaches a predetermined temperature, the clothes are dried mainly by the air refrigeration cycle means. Therefore, the clothes are efficiently dried according to the state in the storage tank by means most suitable for the state at that time.

That is, when the operation is started, the output of the heating means is increased and the dehumidifying power of the air refrigeration cycle means is decreased. When the temperature sensor detects that the temperature has reached a predetermined temperature, the output of the heating means is decreased. Set the dehumidifying power of the refrigeration cycle means high. In this way, when starting operation,
Since the temperature of the air in the storage tank is low and the dehumidifying effect of the air refrigeration cycle means is small, the power consumption is reduced by setting the dehumidification power of the air refrigeration cycle means to be low during this period. be able to. And
When the temperature at which the dehumidifying power of the air refrigeration cycle means can be maximized is reached, drying efficiency can be increased by mainly using this temperature.

Here, by heating the air in the storage tank at the maximum output, the temperature can be quickly raised to a temperature suitable for the air refrigeration cycle operation, so that the dehumidifying function of the air refrigeration cycle operation can be sufficiently exhibited. Drying operation time can be reduced.

The temperature sensor can accurately detect the temperature in the storage tank if the air discharged from the storage tank is installed on the way to the air refrigeration cycle means.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration of a drum-type clothes dryer according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram thereof. This clothes dryer is for drying clothes wet by washing or the like, and a clothes slot 2 for taking clothes in and out is formed at the front of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped dryer body 1. A door 3 is provided for opening and closing the door. An inner box 4 is provided inside the dryer body 1, and a drum 5 for containing clothes is rotatably provided in the inner box 4.

A rotating shaft 6 is fixed to the rear surface of the drum 5,
The rotating shaft 6 is rotatably supported by the inner box 4 via a bearing 7, and a large pulley 8 is attached to an end thereof. A motor 9 for driving a drum is arranged behind the inner box 4, a small pulley 11 is attached to a motor shaft 10, and a belt 12 is wound between the small pulley 11 and the large pulley 8. . The drum 5 is set to rotate at 50 to 60 rpm by a drum driving motor 9.

An exhaust port 15 is formed in the lower part of the outer peripheral surface of the inner box 4, and an air supply port 16 is formed in the upper part. The air in the drum 5 is circulated by connecting both ports 15, 16 with a hose or the like. Circuit 17 is formed. Circuit 1
In the middle of 7, an air refrigeration cycle device 18 for dehumidifying the circulating air is provided. In this case, the circulation path 17 and the air refrigeration cycle device 18 function as air refrigeration cycle means.

The air refrigeration cycle apparatus 18 includes a compressor 19 for compressing and heating air, an expansion turbine 20 for sucking and expanding air, and steam and water for condensing air containing water and separating it into gas and liquid. It comprises a separator 21 and a heat exchanger 22 for exchanging heat of air. The compressor 19 and the expansion turbine 20 are connected via a belt 24 to a dehumidification motor 23 installed in the vicinity of the compressor 19 and the expansion turbine 20, and are rotationally driven by the dehumidification motor 23. Further, a drainage hose 25 for discharging separated moisture is connected to the steam separator 21, and the drainage hose 25 is led to the outside.

A temperature sensor 30 for detecting the temperature of the air in the drum 5 is provided near the exhaust port 15 of the circulation path 17. By providing the temperature sensor 30 at such a position, the temperature inside the drum 5 can be accurately detected.

A lint filter 31 for removing dust and lint in the circulating air is provided upstream of the compressor 19. In addition, in the vicinity of the intake port 16 of the circulation path 17,
A heater 32 is provided as a heating means including a PTC heater having a maximum electric power of 1000 watts. In addition,
Instead of the temperature sensor 30, an infrared sensor or the like that detects the temperature of the surface of the clothing may be used. In addition, heater 3
Since 2 may be provided on the downstream side of the air refrigeration cycle device 18, it may be provided on the outer peripheral surface of the inner box 4 without being provided in the middle of the circulation path 17.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an electrical configuration of the clothes dryer. The clothes dryer is provided with a control unit 35 as an operation control unit including a microcomputer, and the control unit 35 has a timer 36 for measuring an operation time. The control unit 35 is connected to the drum driving motor 9, the dehumidification motor 23 and the heater 32, and these are on / off controlled by a command from the control unit 35. In particular, the dehumidification motor 23 and the heater 32 output their outputs. Is variable.

The heater 32 normally operates at 200 watts to heat the circulated air, but has a maximum output of 10 watts.
When it is set to 00w, the air in the drum 5 is rapidly heated, and the moisture contained in the clothes is easily evaporated. In addition, the dehumidifying motor 23 operates at 1000 w, so that the rotation of the compressor 19 and the expansion turbine 20 is accelerated, and the dehumidifying power is increased. In particular, when the rotation speed of the expansion turbine 20 is increased, the suction force is increased, and the movement of air in the circulation path 17 is accelerated.

A start switch 37 for starting the operation and the temperature sensor 30 are connected to the control unit 35, and the control unit 35 controls to start the operation when there is an input from the start switch 37. A power supply unit 38 is connected to the dehumidifying motor 23, the drum driving motor 9, the heater 32, and the control unit 35, and is supplied with a predetermined voltage.

Next, a control operation in the clothes dryer will be described. When the user loads clothes into the drum 5 from the clothes input port 2 and starts the operation by pressing the start switch 37, the control unit 35
2 is set high and the dehumidifying power of the air refrigeration cycle device 18 is set low. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the heater 32 is operated at an electric energy of 1000 w, and the dehumidifying motor 23 is operated at an electric energy of 200 w.

As a result, the air in the drum 5 is rapidly heated by the heater 32, and the temperature in the drum 5 rises. Therefore, the temperature of the clothes also becomes high, and the moisture contained in the clothes becomes water vapor and evaporates. That is, the clothes are dried by heating.

On the other hand, the air in the drum 5 is circulated through the circulation path 17, but since the power of the dehumidifying motor 23 is small, the number of revolutions of the expansion turbine 20 is small and the suction force is small. Flows only slightly in the circulation path 17. Therefore, in this state, drying by the air refrigeration cycle device 18 is not performed.

Then, the temperature of the drum 5 is detected by the temperature sensor 30.
When it is detected that the internal temperature has reached the predetermined temperature (60 ° C.), the control unit 35 sets the output of the heater 32 low and sets the dehumidifying power of the air refrigeration cycle device 18 high. Specifically, the heater 32 is operated by switching the power amount from 1000 w to 200 w. At the same time, the dehumidifying motor 23
Is switched from 200 w to an electric energy of 1000 w to operate. It has been experimentally confirmed that when the clothes stored in the drum 5 are about 3 kg, the temperature in the drum 5 reaches 60 ° C. when the clothes are heated by the heater 32 for about 10 minutes.

The original air refrigeration cycle operation is performed by operating the dehumidifying motor 23 with an electric power of 1000 W. That is, the dehumidification motor 23 is rotated at a high speed, the rotation speeds of the compressor 19 and the expansion turbine 20 are increased, the flow of the circulating air is increased, and the air in the drum 5 is sucked from the exhaust port 15 into the circulation path 17. You. At this time, the air in the drum 5 is heated and heated by the heater 32 to evaporate the moisture contained in the clothes to become high temperature and high humidity, and is in a state suitable for the air refrigeration cycle operation. Therefore, the circulating high-humidity air can be efficiently dehumidified.

On the other hand, the electric energy of the heater 32 is controlled to 200 W, and the circulating air dehumidified by the air refrigeration cycle operation is heated and supplied into the drum 5.

Thus, at the start of the operation, the heater 3
If the clothes are dried by the heating of step 2 and the temperature in the drum 5 reaches a predetermined temperature, the clothes are dried by the dehumidifying power by the operation of the air refrigeration cycle, so that the clothes can be efficiently dried.

Until the temperature in the drum 5 reaches a predetermined temperature, the output of the dehumidifying motor 23 is suppressed, that is, the dehumidifying power of the air refrigeration cycle is reduced, so that the air refrigeration cycle is wastefully operated. Is suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the power consumption during the period from the start of the operation until the temperature in the drum 5 reaches the predetermined temperature.

Further, conventionally, when the air refrigeration cycle apparatus 18 is operated while being heated by the heater 32 at the start of the operation, the warmed air is cooled by the air refrigeration cycle apparatus 18 and supplied into the drum 5. It takes time for the temperature inside the drum 3 to reach a temperature suitable for dehumidification by the air refrigeration cycle, and the operation time has been prolonged.
However, as in this embodiment, the operation time can be reduced by quickly raising the temperature in the drum 3 by the heater 32 at the start of the operation to make the temperature suitable for the operation of the air refrigeration cycle. .

When the operation is started, the dehumidifying motor 23 may be stopped so that the operation of the air refrigeration cycle is not performed. The dehumidifying motor 23
The time when the output is switched is not limited to when the temperature sensor 30 detects that the temperature has reached the predetermined temperature, but may be a time before the temperature reaches the predetermined temperature, and the predetermined time is measured by the timer 36. Alternatively, the output of the dehumidifying motor 23 may be switched. In this case, a weight detecting device for detecting the weight of the clothes may be provided, and the predetermined time may be changed according to the weight of the clothes.

Next, the operation of the air refrigeration cycle operation will be specifically described. When the air refrigeration cycle operation starts,
The air in the drum 5 is sucked by the rotation of the expansion turbine 20 and guided to the circulation path 17. As for the circulating air, dust and lint are trapped by the lint filter 31, and clean high-temperature and high-humidity air enters the compressor 19.

In the compressor 19, atmospheric pressure, 60 ° C., RH 9
About 0% high-temperature, high-humidity air is compressed and heated to about 1.1 atm and about 69 ° C. Thereafter, the high-temperature and high-humidity air is sent to the heat exchanger 22 to perform heat exchange, and the temperature is reduced to about 64 ° C. And the high-temperature, high-humidity air whose temperature has dropped
It expands in the expansion turbine 20, and the temperature decreases to around 55 ° C. Here, the absolute humidity difference between the high-temperature and high-humidity air in the drum 5 and the air near the outlet of the expansion turbine 20 is:
0.022 kg / kg '.

55 ° C. delivered from the expansion turbine 20;
The low-temperature, high-humidity air with 100% RH is sent to the steam separator 21. In the steam separator 21, water is condensed due to the absolute humidity difference and is separated into gas and liquid. Steam separator 21
Is drained to the outside through a drain hose 25.

On the other hand, the low-temperature, low-humidity air from which the liquid has been removed, that is, dehumidified, undergoes heat exchange in the heat exchanger 22. The heat exchange is performed by contacting the compressed and heated high-temperature and high-humidity air with the pipe in the heat exchanger 22 through which the air passes. Thereby, the circulating air reaches the heater 32 after being slightly heated. The low-temperature, low-humidity air is supplied to the heater 3
Assuming that the circulating air flow rate is 1 m ³ / min, the air is heated to 70 ° C. and becomes high-temperature and low-humidity air, which is blown out into the drum 5 and used for drying clothes. Thus, the circulating air circulates through the air refrigeration cycle device 18. And
After a lapse of a predetermined time measured by the timer 36, the drying operation of the clothes is ended.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and many modifications and changes can be made to the above embodiment within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, when the temperature in the drum 5 reaches a predetermined temperature, the electric power of the heater 32 and the dehumidifying motor 23 is switched, but the electric power is set to gradually increase or decrease. Is also good. Further, a humidity sensor may be provided in place of the temperature sensor 30, and when a predetermined humidity is measured by the humidity sensor, the electric energy of the heater 32 and the dehumidifying motor 23 may be switched.

The above-described control may be applied to a washing machine with a dryer. The drum is not limited to the horizontal type, may be the vertical type, and is not limited to the drum type. Further, the values of the predetermined temperature and the electric energy are not limited to the above values.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, the clothes in the storage tank are heated and dried at the start of operation, and then dried by dehumidified air, so that the clothes can be dried efficiently. It is possible to provide a clothes dryer capable of performing the following.

At the start of the operation, the heating output is increased to quickly bring the temperature to a temperature suitable for the air refrigeration cycle, so that the operation of the air refrigeration cycle can be performed efficiently and the operation time can be reduced. it can. In addition, since the dehumidifying power of the air refrigeration cycle is reduced at the start of operation, power consumption during this period can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing the operation of a clothes dryer according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the inside of a clothes dryer.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a clothes dryer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an electrical configuration of the clothes dryer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Drum 18 Air refrigerating cycle device 23 Dehumidification motor 30 Temperature sensor 32 Heater 35 Control unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3L113 AA06 AC08 AC16 AC22 AC25 AC48 AC49 AC54 AC57 AC63 AC67 AC75 AC78 AC83 AC90 BA14 CA03 CA08 CA15 CB17 CB28 DA02 DA10 4L019 AA02 AA05 EA04 EB04 EC02 EC07

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A storage tank for storing clothes, a heating means for heating air in the storage tank, and an air refrigeration cycle for dehumidifying air discharged from the storage tank and supplying the dehumidified air to the storage tank again. Means for drying by means of said heating means at the start of operation, and thereafter switching to drying by means of said air refrigeration cycle means. 2. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the output of the heating means is maximized at the start of operation. 3. A temperature sensor for detecting a temperature in the storage tank, a heating means disposed downstream of the air refrigeration cycle means, and an output of the heating means and the air based on the temperature in the storage tank. 3. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the dehumidifying power of the refrigeration cycle unit is controlled. 4. The operation control means increases the output of the heating means at the start of operation, reduces the dehumidifying power of the air refrigeration cycle means, and reduces the output of the heating means when the temperature in the storage tank reaches a predetermined temperature. The clothes dryer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the dehumidifying power of the air refrigeration cycle unit is set low. 5. The clothes dryer according to claim 3, wherein the temperature sensor is provided on the way of the air discharged from the storage tank to the air refrigeration cycle means.