JP2000225298A - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance a heat insulating effect and to improve drying efficiency by permitting a box shape case to be a dual structure consisting of an outer member and an inner member and holding an insulating member between the inner and outer members in a clothes dryer where a heating means and a blow means for supplying a warm blow to a drying chamber are stored in the box shape case. SOLUTION: The box shape case 1 of a rotary drum clothes dryer is provided with a door 10 on its front surface, where clothes are put in/out, and a rotatable rotary drum 3 constituting the drying chamber 2 is stored in the case 1. A fan 6 provided with a heat exchange means and the blow means enabling dehumidifying is disposed on the rear surface of the case 1 with a center part as an axial center. In this case, the box shape case 1 is constituted to be the dual structure in a nearly sealed state by the outer and inner members 20 and 21, a thin air layer 22 is formed in a gap between the members 20 and 21 and the air layer 22 is functioned as a heat insulating member. Then the thickness dimension of the layer 22 is set to be the one by which a heat convection does not occur in the air inside the layer 22 so that the excellent heat insulating effect is obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an energy-saving clothes dryer with high drying efficiency.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the prior art, there are few examples in which a heat insulating member is used for a clothes dryer housing.
There is 797 publication.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above prior art is disclosed in
In JP-A-8-196797, the main purpose is to reduce noise, and a cushioning material is attached to the inner surface of the wall of the rotating drum. With this configuration, heat radiation from the warm air inside the drum to the surrounding air of the drum is suppressed, As a result, it leads to energy saving. However,
Since the prior art does not mainly aim at energy saving by heat insulation of the drum and the box-shaped casing, even though a slight heat-insulating effect of the drum can be expected, heat insulation of the outer frame casing cannot be expected. There is a problem that heat radiation from the surface of the frame housing cannot be prevented or suppressed.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an energy-saving and high-drying clothes dryer that prevents and suppresses heat radiation from the box-shaped casing, which is the outer frame of the clothes dryer, to the surrounding air.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a drying chamber for holding clothes, heating means for supplying warm air to the drying chamber, and blowing means are provided inside a box-shaped housing. In the clothes dryer stored in the above, the box-shaped casing had a double structure including an outer member and an inner member, and a heat insulating member was inserted into a gap between the outer member and the inner member. Here, one is that the heat insulating member is an air layer, the thickness of the air layer is suppressed to a gap size that does not cause convection in the air, and the air in the air layer communicates with the surrounding air. It is kept in a substantially sealed state without performing.

The other is that the heat insulating member is a vacuum layer, and the surfaces of the outer member and the inner member have a planar shape with a small heat emissivity. Here, the air layer or the vacuum layer is further divided into a plurality of pieces in an in-plane direction perpendicular to the thickness direction thereof without communicating with each other.

As a typical clothes dryer in which the present invention can be implemented, there is a rotary drum type clothes dryer in which a drying chamber is driven to rotate. Further, the present invention can be applied to a so-called “dryer” other than the clothes dryer.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described by taking a rotary drum type clothes dryer as an example.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of the rotary drum type clothes dryer. At the front of the box-shaped casing 1 is provided a door 10 for taking in and out clothes to be dried, and a rotatable rotary drum 3 constituting a drying chamber 2 inside the box-shaped casing 1.
Is stored. On the other hand, on the rear surface of the box-shaped casing 1, a double-sided fan 6 having both a heat exchange means and a blowing means capable of dehumidifying around a central portion as an axis is provided.
Is rotated by a motor 8 via a belt. The motor 8 is also a driving source for rotating the rotary drum 3. Reference numeral 4 denotes warm air circulating in the rotary drum 3, and reference numeral 9 denotes cooling air. Reference numeral 5 denotes an electric heater as a heating means, and reference numeral 7 denotes a lint filter.

Here, the principle of drying the clothes in the rotary drum type clothes dryer is already known, so the description is omitted. However, during the drying operation, the hot air 4 circulating in the rotary drum 3, which is the drying chamber 2, becomes high temperature and the surrounding air becomes high. The temperature level is much higher for air 11. For this reason, in the conventional clothes dryer, the heat of the high-temperature hot air 4 in the rotary drum 3 is reduced by the combination of heat radiation (heat radiation), heat convection, and heat conduction. In many cases, the air escapes to the surrounding air 11 outside the housing 1 through the housing 1, and the heat loss due to the extra heat radiation lengthens the drying time of the clothes, and the drying efficiency of the clothes dryer often deteriorates.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the present invention, the box-shaped casing 1 has a double structure including an outer member 20 and an inner member 21.
A thin air layer 22 is formed in the gap between the inner member 21. Here, the air layer 22 serves as a heat insulating member, and a gap in a thickness direction thereof will be described later. However, the air in the air layer 22 is suppressed to such a size that heat convection does not occur in the air, and the air layer 22 The inside air is in a substantially sealed state without communicating with the housing surrounding air 11 and the drum surrounding air 12.

Here, the substantially closed state does not mean that the air in the air layer 22 does not communicate with the surrounding airs 11 and 12 at all, but means that a slight gap that is unavoidable due to its structure is allowed. That is, no opening is provided. If the thermal expansion of the air in the air layer 22 is expected to be large due to the temperature change, only one small opening may be provided in either the outer member 20 or the inner member 21. In this case, since there is only one opening that can communicate with the surrounding air 11 and 12, air enters and exits slightly due to expansion and contraction of air in the air layer 22 due to temperature change.
It does not reach convection. Of course, if a completely sealed state can be achieved, it is better to ensure completeness.

If the outer member 20 and the inner member 21 can form a completely closed double structure, the fluid forming the air layer 22 is not air at atmospheric pressure (normal pressure), but low-pressure air, and further, a vacuum layer. It may be. In addition, depending on the situation, a gas with very poor heat conductivity may be filled, or a heat insulating material with poor heat conductivity such as urethane or glass wool may be inserted,
Further, the heat insulating material may be composed of hollow fine particles or the like.

In the box-shaped casing 1 of the clothes dryer, the double structural part composed of the outer member 20 and the inner member 21, that is, the heat insulating part, is the upper surface 1a of the casing, the left and right side faces 1b, 1 in FIG.
c and the bottom surface 1d of the housing, and further, the front surface 1e of the housing having the door 10 is desirably provided. When installation on all surfaces is difficult, installation is preferentially performed on the housing upper surface 1a and the left and right side surfaces 1b and 1c of the housing. This is because the three surfaces have a large amount of heat radiation.

Next, the details of the heat insulating air layer 22 will be described with reference to an enlarged view of a portion A in FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of FIG. 3, in which the thickness S23 of the air layer 22 in the double structure constituted by the outer member 20 and the inner member 21 is suppressed to a gap size where convection does not occur in the internal air.

Here, the reason why the thickness of the air layer 22 is suppressed to a gap size where convection does not occur in the air inside the air layer 22 is as follows. One of the two opposing surfaces, for example, the inner member 2
Radiation from one to the other, for example, to the outer member 20 via the air layer 22 is performed by a combination of three forms of radiation (radiation), conduction, and convection. Here, the radiation is in two planes 2
Almost independent of the thickness of the air layer 22 between 0 and 21, conduction and convection depend on the thickness of the air layer 22. In other words, when the layer thickness is small, convection hardly occurs in the air, and heat is transmitted by conduction and radiation. However, when the layer thickness is large, the amount of heat radiation rapidly increases due to the convection of the air that has begun to occur in addition to the radiation and conduction. . For this reason, it is necessary to suppress the amount of heat radiation in order to improve the heat insulation performance for energy saving, and for that purpose, convection is not generated in the air in the air layer 22.

Optimum layer thickness S23 that does not cause convection
Is determined by the installation direction (horizontal direction, vertical direction) of the two surfaces 20, 21 and the temperature level. This is because the convection is generated when the internal air is heated by the high-temperature surface (the inner member 21) and rises, and is cooled by the low-temperature surface (the outer member 20) and descends. Here, the optimum layer thickness S23 does not have to be as thin as possible. If the structure permits, it is desirable that the thickness be as thick as possible within a range where convection does not occur. This is because when the layer thickness is reduced, the distance over which heat is transmitted is shortened, and there is a concern that the amount of heat released by conduction is increased.

When the optimum air layer thickness S23 which does not cause convection in the rotary drum type clothes dryer is obtained, it is as large as about 10 to 20 mm from the temperature level and the like. However, due to the structure, if the clothes dryer attempts to secure the air layer thickness S23 of about 10 to 20 mm, the size of the housing 1 increases,
Is reduced in diameter. From this result, the optimum air layer thickness S23 for preventing the casing 1 from becoming larger and the drum 3 from becoming smaller in diameter is:
It is necessary to suppress the thickness to less than that, and about 1 to 5 mm is considered appropriate. In addition, more desirably, S = 2 to 3 mm
It is about.

Next, a description will be given of some examples of the structure of the double structure of the present invention comprising the outer member 20 and the inner member 21. FIG. 4 is an example in which the dual structure of FIG. 3 is embodied. The conventional box-shaped housing 1 is used as the outer member 20 as it is, and the inner member 21 is formed as a separate member. This is an example of attachment. The joint between the outer member 20 and the inner member 21 is attached at a corner 21a of each surface of the housing by means such as caulking, spot welding, screw fastening, and bonding.

If it is difficult to secure the optimum air layer thickness S23 at the center of each surface only by attaching the corners 21a, the protrusions 24 are formed on the inner member 21 at a predetermined pitch as shown in FIG.
May be provided. It is not necessary to join all of the projections 24 to the outer member 20; they may be located at various places, or even only at the corners 21a.

Incidentally, the shape of the projection group 24 may be a grid-shaped projection 24a (well-shaped projection) as shown in a perspective view of FIG. 6, or a parallel rail-shaped projection as shown in a perspective view of FIG. 24
b (parallel rib-shaped projection) may be used. Further, the projection 24 may be provided on the outer member 20 instead of the inner member 21.

In the cross beam-like projection 24a, the air layer 22 is divided into a plurality of small spaces by a large number of intersecting cross beams, and each air in the plurality of small air layers is adjacent to each other. It is substantially sealed so as not to communicate with a small air layer. FIG. 6 shows a small air layer 22 having a square cross section.
The cross-sectional shape of 2 may be a polygon such as a circle or a hexagon. For example, the partition member may be configured using a honeycomb core, and a plurality of small air layers 22 in a honeycomb shape may be provided.

Also, in the embodiment shown in FIGS.
4 may be formed integrally with the inner member 21, but may be formed of another member or another material. For example, the inner member 21 may be formed of a steel plate and the protrusion 24 may be formed of a resin material, or the inner member 21 may be formed of a hard plastic and the protrusion 24 may be formed of a soft resin material. Further, the protrusion 24 may be made of urethane, polypropylene, or the like. Further, the projection 24 may be made of a material having a high heat insulating effect and a low thermal conductivity and a high sound absorbing effect.

Next, another embodiment of the double structure of the present invention comprising an outer member 20 and an inner member 21 will be described. FIG. 8 shows an example in which the conventional box-shaped housing 1 is used as the outer member 20 as it is, and the inner member 21 is formed of a wavy member having a curvature continuing in the longitudinal direction, and is joined to the inner surface of the outer member 20. It is. 8, the outer member 20 may be formed of a wavy member having a curvature that continues in the longitudinal direction and may be joined to the inner member 21.

FIG. 9 shows that both the outer member 20 and the inner member 21 are formed of trapezoidal corrugated members.
This is an example in which No. 1 is stuck in some places. Outer member 20 and inner member 21
May be different. Here, for the purpose of improving the heat insulation performance, the length of the joint portion 21a is set to the length of the air layer portion 21b.
It is desirable to be as short as possible.

In FIG. 8, a long wavy air layer 22 is formed using a corrugated member which is continuous in the longitudinal direction as the inner member 21. However, the inner member 21 is provided with a number of small hemispherical depressions. A discontinuous hemispherical air layer 22 may be formed. Its sectional shape is the same as that of FIG.

With the above configuration, the outer member 20 and the inner member 2
The heat insulation effect is improved by securing the air layer 22 in which convection between the two does not occur. In addition, in order to suppress or prevent heat radiation due to heat radiation, the outer member 20 and the inner member 21 may be subjected to the following processing.

One method is to use the outer member 20 and the inner member 2.
1 is to apply a heat insulating paint or a heat reflective paint to each surface. The heat-insulating paint or heat-reflective paint having a low emissivity and increasing the heat reflection efficiency may be applied to both surfaces of the outer member 20 and the inner member 21, or may be specified only on one of the surfaces in some cases. It may just be applied. It is most desirable to apply the coating to the opposing surfaces of the outer member 20 and the inner member 21. The paint is preferably a material that is thin, has low emissivity, and has a high heat reflection effect and a high heat insulation effect. One of the paints having such characteristics can be obtained by making semiconductor oxides or the like into fine particles and dispersing them in a paint binder.

Further, as another method, a low emissivity material having a high heat reflection effect and having an adhesive instead of the heat insulation paint and the heat reflection paint is attached to the surfaces of the outer member 20 and the inner member 21. Is also good. For example, an aluminum foil tape having a low emissivity and having an adhesive may be attached to one side. In this case, since the emissivity is small, the reflection effect can be expected more than the heat insulation effect. Of course, the low-emissivity material does not need to include an adhesive, and may be the adhesive itself. Furthermore, the low-emissivity material is
0 and the surface of the inner member 21 may be coated directly by plating or the like.

FIG. 10 shows another embodiment in which the double structure is provided only on the three surfaces of the upper surface 1a and the left and right side surfaces 1b and 1c of the box-shaped housing 1. A conventional outer frame is used as the inner member 21, and a predetermined interval, that is, a heat insulating air layer 22 is secured outside the inner member 21, and the outer member 20 is provided. Here, the outer member 20 provided on the three surfaces is an integral structure, has a U-shape with an open bottom, and covers the box-shaped housing 1 from above the box-shaped housing 1 (inner member 21). And install it. Here, as shown in FIG.
A large number of thin fin-like projections 28 standing on the inner surface of the box-shaped housing 1 are provided at a predetermined pitch, and the box-shaped housing 1 is covered from above the box-shaped housing 1 as in FIG. Lumber 2
The air layer 22 between 1) and the outer member 20 may be divided into many small air layers 22 (small rooms).

As described above, the rotating drum 3 of the clothes dryer
The heat radiation of the warm air 4 inside the drum 3 ⇒ drum ambient air 12 ⇒
The operation is performed in a route from the box-shaped housing 1 to the surrounding air 11. For this reason, it is desirable to perform heat insulation of the rotating drum in addition to heat insulation of the box-shaped housing 1.

FIG. 12 shows an embodiment in which the same method as the heat insulation by the air layer 22 of the box-shaped casing 1 is applied to the rotating drum 3. FIG. 13 is an enlarged view of a portion B in FIG. 12, in which the rotating drum 3 has a double structure including an outer member 25 and an inner member 26, and the space is an air layer 27. The optimum thickness L of the air layer 27 is also a thickness that does not cause convection in the air, similarly to the heat insulating air layer thickness S22 of the box-shaped casing 1.

In an actual rotating drum type clothes dryer, the optimum thickness of the air layer L27 is considered to be 1 to 5 mm in terms of structure. It is more preferable that L = about 2 to 3 mm.
The air layer 27 provided on the rotating drum 3 may have the same configuration as the air layer 22 provided on the box-shaped casing 1 shown in FIGS.

In the rotary drum 3, the material of the outer member 25 and the inner member 26 may be a steel plate, a stainless steel plate, or a resin plate (sheet) of polypropylene or the like.
In particular, one of the outer member 25 and the inner member 26 may be made of a low thermal conductivity material such as resin.

The main purpose of the air layer 22 and the heat insulating member of the present invention described above is to increase the heat insulating effect in order to suppress the amount of heat radiation, but at the same time, it is also effective in reducing noise. In the clothes dryer, a sound source such as a rotating drum 3, a drive motor 8, and a belt is provided in the box-shaped housing 1, and the noise is reduced by the double-shaped box-shaped housing 1 having the air layer 22 and the like. This also leads to lower noise of the clothes dryer.

In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the rotating drum type clothes dryer is described.
The present invention may be applied to another type of clothes dryer having a drying chamber inside. For example, a locker-type clothes dryer that hangs clothes on a hanger or the like and hangs and dries it may be used, or a clothes dryer that spreads clothes on a drying shelf and air-drys them.

Further, a dryer other than the clothes dryer may be used. For example, a dishwasher, a dish dryer, a powder dryer, a wood dryer, and the like. In a dishwasher or a dishwasher, the lid, the door, and the container may have a double structure including two members, an outer member and an inner member.

[0038]

According to the present invention, heat is prevented from being transmitted from the inside of the clothes dryer to the surrounding air by the heat insulating member in the double box-shaped housing, for example, the air layer that does not generate convection. -It is possible to provide an energy-saving clothes dryer that is suppressed, has a short drying time, and has high drying efficiency.
Further, it is also effective for silencing the air layer by a soundproof effect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a rotary drum type clothes dryer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the clothes dryer in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion A showing attachment of an inner member.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion A of an inner member having a projection.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a girder-shaped protrusion.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a parallel rail-shaped projection.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion A of the wave-shaped inner member.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion A including a corrugated outer member and an inner member.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a housing in which an outer member is an integral body.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of an outer member having fin-shaped protrusions on an inner surface.

FIG. 12 is a side sectional view of a clothes dryer in which a drum is also insulated.

FIG. 13 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion B in FIG. 12;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Box-shaped housing, 2 ... Drying room, 3 ... Drum, 4 ... Hot air, 5
... electric heater, 6 ... double-sided fan, 7 ... lint filter, 8
... Motor, 9 ... Cooling air, 10 ... Doors, 20, 25 ... Outer member, 21,26 ... Inner member, 22, 27 ... Air layer, 23
... air layer thickness, 24 ... girders, 28 ... fin-like projections.

Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Keijiro Yagi 1-1-1, Higashitaga-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside the Taga Headquarters, Hitachi, Ltd.Electrical Equipment Division (72) Inventor Hideaki Sogata 1-chome, Higashi Taga-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture No. 1-1 F-term (reference) in Taga headquarters, Hitachi, Ltd., Electrical Equipment Division 3L113 AA06 AB02 AC07 AC68 AC84 BA14 DA02 DA10 DA30

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A clothes dryer in which a drying chamber for containing clothes and heating for supplying hot air to the drying chamber and a blowing means are housed in a box-shaped casing. A clothes dryer having a double structure including an inner member, and a heat insulating member inserted in a gap between the outer member and the inner member. 2. The heat insulating member is an air layer, the thickness of the air layer is reduced to a size that does not cause convection of the air, and the air in the air layer does not communicate with the surrounding air. 2. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the clothes dryer is substantially closed. 3. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the heat insulating member is a vacuum layer, and the surfaces of the outer member and the inner member have a surface property having a small emissivity. 4. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the drying chamber is a rotating drum. 5. A drier in which a drying chamber for containing an object to be dried and means for supplying warm air to the drying chamber are housed in a housing.
A clothes dryer, wherein the housing has a double structure including an outer member and an inner member, and an air layer in which heat convection hardly occurs is formed in a gap between the outer member and the inner member.