JP2006320410A - Clothing drier - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To restrain static electricity and creases from occurring in dried clothing. <P>SOLUTION: A water storage vessel 30 is arranged at the bottom of a machine casing 1. A wind guiding opening member 40 having a wind guiding opening 41 is attached to a drum supporting plate 8, and the water storage vessel 30 and the wind guiding opening member 40 are connected by a offtake pipe 45. An offtake member 46 having an outlet 47 is attached to the lower portion of the front of a drying air channel 22 and the water storage vessel 30 and the offtake member 46 are connected by an intake pipe 49. During a drying operation, some of water condensed from hot wind by the action of a fan 20 flows into the water storage vessel 30 through the intake pipe 49 from outlet 47. With water stored in the water storage vessel 30, when some of wind passing through the drying air channel 22 enters the water storage vessel 30, the wind contacts the water in the water storage vessel 30 and evaporates the water. Consequently, humidified wind is introduced into the lower portion of the drum 13 from the wind guiding opening 41 through the offtake pipe 45. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a clothes dryer.

  Conventionally, in a clothes dryer, air that has been humidified in the drying chamber (drum) in the latter half of the drying operation or after the drying operation is performed in order to suppress the generation of static electricity or wrinkles in the dried clothes. Some have introduced (steam) to give moisture to the clothes inside. Such a clothes dryer is described in Patent Document 1, for example.

  In the clothes dryer described in this patent document 1, the humidifier is provided facing the ventilation path to the drum. The humidifier comprises a water storage tank, a heater for water heating provided at the inner bottom of the water storage tank, and a water supply port protruding from the front of the water storage tank and protruding forward of the outer box.

Water is supplied to the water storage tank in advance through a water supply port. Then, when the drying operation is completed and the humidification operation is started, the water heating heater operates, the water in the water storage tank is heated and steam is generated, and the steam is transported to the wind passing through the ventilation path. It is then introduced into the drum and given as moisture to the dry clothing.
JP-A-6-233898

  In the clothes dryer, it is necessary for the user to supply water to the water storage tank. In addition, since the wind containing steam is introduced into the drum through the heater, the air is warmed by the heater when it is hot even when the heater is operating or stopped. Therefore, there is a possibility that the clothes cannot be humidified well.

  If the humidifier is configured to generate steam by heating with a heater for water heating as in the clothes dryer, it is possible to humidify the wind to such an extent that it is not affected by the above-described decrease in humidity. Easy. However, since the heater is provided, the product cost increases and the power consumption increases.

  The present invention relates to a clothes dryer and aims to solve such problems.

The clothes dryer of the present invention includes a drying chamber for storing and drying clothes,
A circulation air passage connecting the intake port and the exhaust port provided in the drying chamber;
A circulation fan for circulating wind between the drying chamber and the circulation air passage;
Dehumidifying means for cooling the wind discharged from the drying chamber and condensing moisture from the wind;
Heating means for heating the air cooled by the dehumidifying means;
The water condensed by the dehumidifying means is stored, and a water storage unit that comes into contact with the water in which a part of the wind flowing through the circulation air path is stored,
A ventilation path for introducing wind humidified by contacting the water stored in the water storage section into the drying chamber without passing through the heating means;
It is characterized by having.

Furthermore, the clothes dryer of the present invention is configured such that the water storage section is formed by a water storage chamber provided outside the circulation air passage and substantially sealed from the outside,
A part of the condensed water generated in the circulating air passage and a part of the wind flowing in the circulating air passage are connected to the water storage chamber and a discharge port provided at a position where the condensed water flows in the circulating air passage. And an introduction path for taking the water into the water storage chamber.

Furthermore, in the clothes dryer of the present invention, the drying chamber is constituted by a drum that rotates around a horizontal axis or an inclined axis to tumbl the inner clothes,
The humidified wind is introduced into the lower part of the drum.

  According to the structure of this invention, the wind which passes a water storage part is comparatively warm, and contacts with the water stored in the water storage part, and heat-exchanges. As a result, water evaporates and is taken into the wind. The air thus humidified is introduced into the drying chamber through the ventilation path without passing through the heater.

  Therefore, since moisture can be given to the clothes dried by the drying operation, generation of static electricity and generation of wrinkles can be suppressed.

  In addition, since the humidification is performed using the condensed water generated by dehumidification, the user does not need to perform the water supply operation and is easy to use.

  Further, since the humidified air is introduced into the drying chamber without passing through the heater, there is no possibility that the humidity is lowered by being heated by the heater. In this case, it is more preferable that the humidified air is introduced into the drying chamber through an air duct provided separately from the air inlet through the ventilation path.

  Furthermore, since humidification is performed with a simple configuration without using a water heating heater, cost and power consumption can be suppressed.

  Furthermore, the water storage part is constituted by a water storage chamber provided outside the circulation air passage, and the condensed water and the wind are taken into the water storage chamber through the introduction passage from the discharge port provided at the position where the condensate in the circulation air passage flows. As a result, the wind and water can be reliably brought into contact with each other in the water storage chamber to humidify the wind, and the clothing can be humidified satisfactorily.

  Further, the drying chamber is configured by a drum that rotates around the horizontal axis or the tilting axis to tumbl the internal clothing, and the humid air is introduced into the lower part of the drum. The garment that has fallen down is reliably struck by the humidified wind, and the garment can be humidified well.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a clothes dryer according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the whole structure of this clothes dryer is demonstrated with reference to FIG.1 and FIG.2. A front plate 2 is fixed to the front surface of the machine casing 1 of the clothes dryer, and a clothing input port 3 is provided at the center of the front plate 2. The clothes insertion port 3 is opened and closed by a door 4. A rear plate 5 is fixed to the rear surface of the machine frame 1, and an air inlet 6 for taking in the outside is formed in the approximate center of the rear plate 5. On the other hand, an air outlet 7 is formed on the lower surface of the machine casing 1. In the machine frame 1, an annular sheet metal drum support plate 8 is attached so as to surround the clothing insertion port 3, and a support plate 9 is installed in the rear side in a lateral direction with a predetermined distance from the rear plate 5. Yes. A fan casing 10 with a part cut away is fixed to the support plate 9, whereby the machine casing 1 is partitioned into a fan chamber 11 and a drum storage chamber 12.

  A horizontal shaft type drum 13 (corresponding to the drying chamber of the present invention) is supported in the drum storage chamber 12 by a felt or the like on the drum support plate 8 with the front opening facing the clothing insertion port 3, The rear surface side is rotatably supported by the main shaft 14. The drum 13 may be pivotally supported so as to incline forward within about 30 degrees from the horizontal axis. An exhaust port 15 covered with a lint filter 16 is formed on the rear surface of the drum 13, while an intake port 17 is formed on the front side of the drum support plate 8 on the front side on the left side and slightly below the center. ing. The support plate 9 is formed with a communication port 18 that connects the drum housing chamber 12 and the fan chamber 11, and the seal member 19 is connected to the drum 13 and the support plate so that the air flow from the exhaust port 15 reaches the communication port 18 reliably. 9 is attached.

  In the fan chamber 11, a disc-shaped synthetic resin double-sided fan 20 (corresponding to the dehumidifying means and the circulation fan of the present invention) is fixed to the main shaft 14, and the circulation fan 20 a located on the drum housing chamber 12 side and the rear The cooling fans 20b positioned on the face plate 5 side are radially formed integrally with the front and back sides. A partition wall 21 is provided in the fan casing 10 so as to surround the double-sided fan 20, and the double-sided fan 20 is accommodated in a circular opening substantially at the center of the partition wall 21. 11 is divided into a drying air passage 22 and a cooling air passage 23. A concentric rotating groove that opens toward the drying air passage 22 is integrally formed on the periphery of the double-sided fan 20, while a concentric fixing groove that opens toward the cooling air passage 23 is formed on the inner periphery of the partition wall 21. The rotating groove of the double-sided fan 20 and the fixed groove of the partition wall 21 are loosely fitted in a non-contact state. That is, the rotation groove of the double-sided fan 20 and the fixing groove of the partition wall 21 form a labyrinth connection. For this reason, the air cannot be exchanged between the drying air passage 22 and the cooling air passage 23.

  The lower portion of the drying air passage 22 and the air inlet 17 formed in the drum support plate 8 are connected by a drying duct 24, and a heater 25 (corresponding to the heating means of the present invention) is provided in the vicinity of the air inlet 17 inside. Is arranged. The heater 25 is constituted by a positive characteristic thermistor, for example. A drain outlet 26 for discharging dehumidified water condensed in the drying duct 24 to the outside of the machine is provided at the lowermost part of the drying duct 24.

  A motor 27 is disposed at the bottom in the machine casing 1. The motor 27 applies a rotational force to the V-belt 32 wound around the outer peripheral surface of the drum 13 via a pulley 31, while a pulley 30 formed at the center of the cooling fan 20 b via a pulley 28 and a fan belt 29. Giving rotational force. In order to prevent the V belt 32 from slipping, the idler pulley 33 applies an appropriate tension to the V belt 32 when the drum rotates.

  Thus, during the drying operation, the drum 13 is rotated at a low speed and the double-sided fan 20 is rotated at a high speed by the rotational driving force of the motor 27, and simultaneously the heater 25 is energized to heat the drying air. As a result, the wind generated by the rotation of the circulation fan 20 a circulates through the drying air path 22, the drying duct 24, and the drum 13, and deprives moisture from the clothing when the hot air passes through the drum 13. On the other hand, the outside air is introduced from the air inlet 6 into the cooling air passage 23 by the rotation of the cooling fan 20 b and discharged from the air outlet 7. At this time, the double-sided fan 20 itself is cooled by cold air. The hot air containing moisture after passing through the drum 13 is cooled by contacting the double-sided fan 20, and the condensed water flows down the inner wall of the drying air passage 22, passes through the drying duct 24, and is discharged from the drain outlet 26.

  In this clothes dryer, in order to suppress the generation of static electricity and wrinkles in the dried clothes, moisture is given to the clothes that have been dried (almost dried) in the drum 13. A humidifying mechanism is provided. Hereinafter, this humidification mechanism will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  A water storage container 30 (corresponding to the water storage section and the water storage chamber of the present invention) is disposed at a position in the bottom of the machine casing 1 that does not interfere with the drying duct 24 and the motor 27. The water storage container 30 is made of resin and has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape in which the left and right dimensions are longer than the front and rear dimensions and the upper and lower thicknesses are smaller (the upper and lower dimensions are smaller than the front and rear and left and right dimensions). The water storage container 30 includes a container main body 31 having a bottom surface, front, rear, left, and right side surfaces and an open upper surface, and a lid body 32 that covers the open upper surface of the container main body 31. The inside of the water storage container 30 is almost sealed with respect to the outside when the container main body 31 is closed by the lid body 32.

  In the container main body 31, a wind outlet 33 from the water storage container 30 is formed at a position near the right side of the front side surface, and condensed water to the water storage container 30 is positioned at a position near the right side of the rear side surface. And a wind inlet 34 is formed. The intake port 33 and the intake port 34 are arranged substantially in a straight line in the front-rear direction. Thereby, the wind that has entered the water storage container 30 from the intake port 34 is smoothly discharged from the intake port 33. A drain port 35 is formed at a position near the left side of the bottom of the container body 31, and a drain pipe 36 extending downward from the drain port 35 is provided. A cap 37 is put on the outlet of the drain pipe 36. The bottom of the container body 31 is formed so as to become lower toward the drain port 35. Thereby, the user can drain the water in the water storage container 30 by removing the cap 37. Furthermore, a leg piece 38 that supports the water storage container 30 and a mounting boss 39 for screwing the water storage container 30 to the bottom surface of the machine frame 1 are provided from the bottom of the container body 31.

  The volume of the water storage container 30 is set such that water is not stored in the water storage container 30 until the outlet 33 and the inlet 34 are completely blocked even when the amount of condensed water generated during the drying operation is large. It is set based on experiments. In this clothes dryer, for example, the volume is about 25000 cubic millimeters.

  A wind guide member 40 is attached with a screw at a position on the right side of the drum support plate 8 and slightly above the bottom. The air guide member 40 includes an air guide port 41 for introducing the wind from the water storage container 30 into the drum 13, an air guide cover 43 having a plurality of slit-like openings 42 corresponding to the air guide ports 41, and a guide. And a connecting pipe portion 44 connected to the air vent 41. The connecting pipe portion 44 has an L shape that extends forward and then bends downward. The take-out port 33 of the water storage container 30 and the connection pipe part 44 of the air guide member 40 are connected by a take-out pipe 45 (corresponding to the ventilation path of the present invention). The extraction tube 45 is, for example, a silicon rubber tube, and its inner diameter is, for example, 6.5 mm.

  A discharge port member 46 is attached to the lower portion of the front surface of the fan casing 10 (dry air passage 22) at a position where water condensed from the hot air flows by the action of the double-sided fan 20 is screwed. The discharge port member 46 includes a discharge port 47 for discharging a part of the condensed water flowing in the lower part of the dry air passage 22 and a part of the air flowing in the dry air passage 22 toward the water storage container 30. And a connecting pipe portion 48 connected to the discharge port 47. The connecting pipe portion 48 has a shape that extends slightly forward from the discharge port 47 and then bends downward. The intake port 34 of the water storage container 30 and the connection pipe portion 48 of the discharge port member 46 are connected by an intake pipe 49 (corresponding to the introduction path of the present invention). The intake tube 49 is, for example, a silicon rubber tube similar to the extraction tube 45, and has an inner diameter of, for example, 6.5 mm.

  Now, when the drying operation is started and moisture is actively taken away from the wet clothing in the drum 13, the water is condensed from the hot air exhausted from the drum 13 by the action of the double-sided fan 20. At this time, part of the condensed water flowing in the lower part of the drying air passage 22 toward the drying duct 24 flows into the water storage container 30 from the discharge port 47 through the intake pipe 49, and as the drying operation proceeds. The water is gradually stored in the water storage container 30.

  In a state where water is stored in the water storage container 30, when a part of the wind passing through the drying air path 22 enters the water storage container 30 through the intake pipe 49, the water contacts the water in the water storage container 30. . Since the wind introduced at this time is relatively warm, the water is evaporated by exchanging heat with water. Thus, the wind passing through the water storage container 30 is humidified. The humidified wind is discharged from the take-out port 33, passes through the take-out pipe 45, and is introduced into the lower portion of the drum 13 from the air guide port 41.

  The clothing that has almost dried as the end of the drying operation comes close to the humidified air introduced into the drum 13 when tumbled by the rotation of the drum 13 and falls to the bottom. This imparts moisture to the clothing.

  As mentioned above, according to the structure of this clothes dryer, since moisture can be given to the clothes dried by drying operation, generation | occurrence | production of static electricity and generation | occurrence | production of a wrinkle can be suppressed. In addition, since the humidification is performed using the condensed water generated by dehumidification from the hot air, the user does not need to perform the water supply operation and is convenient.

  Further, since the humidified air is introduced into the drum 13 from the air guide port 41 provided separately from the air inlet 17 through the extraction pipe 45 without passing through the heater 25, the heater 25 operates. Even if the humidified wind is introduced during the drying operation (near the end of the drying operation), there is no possibility that the heater 25 is heated and the humidity is lowered. Furthermore, since humidification is performed with a simple configuration without using a heater for heating the water in the water storage container 30, cost and power consumption can be suppressed.

  Further, the water storage container 30 is disposed outside the circulation air path, and condensed water and wind are taken into the water storage container 30 from the discharge port 47 of the dry air path 22 through the intake pipe 49. The wind and water can be reliably brought into contact with each other to humidify the wind, and the clothes can be humidified well.

  Furthermore, since the air guide port 41 is arranged so as to introduce the humidified wind into the lower part of the drum 13, the garment that has fallen to the bottom of the drum 13 by the tumbling reliably hits the garment and the garment can be humidified satisfactorily. .

  The present invention is not limited to the contents of the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims.

  For example, the clothes dryer of the present invention is not limited to the drum-type clothes dryer in which the drying chamber is configured by a drum, and may be a stationary clothes dryer that hangs clothes in the drying chamber.

  Further, for example, the water storage part of the present invention may be provided in the circulation air passage instead of the water storage container provided outside the circulation air passage. In this case, the circulation air passage is preferably provided as a partitioned water storage chamber. In such a case, there is no need for an introduction passage, and it is only necessary to have an intake port for the water storage chamber.

  Further, for example, the air passage of the present invention may be connected to the downstream of the heater of the circulation air passage so that the air humidified from the air inlet is introduced into the drum. In this case, it is necessary to introduce the wind with the heater stopped. Moreover, it is preferable to arrange | position a heater in the position moderately separated from the connection part of a ventilation path.

It is a front view which shows the external appearance structure of the clothes dryer which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a side longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the internal structure of a clothes dryer. It is a side longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the outline | summary of a humidification mechanism. It is the front view which removed the front board which shows the outline | summary of a humidification mechanism. It is a side surface longitudinal cross-sectional view of the principal part which shows the structure of a water storage container. It is a front view of the principal part which shows the attachment structure to the drum support plate of a baffle member. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG. It is a front view of the principal part which shows the attachment structure to the fan casing of a discharge port member. It is BB sectional drawing of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

13 drums (drying room)
15 Exhaust port 17 Intake port 20 Double-sided fan (circulation fan, dehumidifying means)
25 Heater (heating means)
30 Water storage container (water storage section, water storage room)
45 Extraction pipe (ventilation passage)
47 outlet 49 intake pipe (introduction path)

Claims (3)

A drying chamber for storing and drying clothes;
A circulation air passage connecting the intake port and the exhaust port provided in the drying chamber;
A circulation fan for circulating wind between the drying chamber and the circulation air passage;
Dehumidifying means for cooling the wind discharged from the drying chamber and condensing moisture from the wind;
Heating means for heating the air cooled by the dehumidifying means;
The water condensed by the dehumidifying means is stored, and a water storage unit that comes into contact with the water in which a part of the wind flowing through the circulation air path is stored,
A ventilation path for introducing wind humidified by contacting the water stored in the water storage section into the drying chamber without passing through the heating means;
A clothes dryer comprising: The water storage part is provided outside the circulation air passage and is constituted by a water storage chamber that is substantially sealed from the outside,
A part of the condensed water generated in the circulating air passage and a part of the wind flowing in the circulating air passage are connected to the water storage chamber and a discharge port provided at a position where the condensed water flows in the circulating air passage. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, further comprising an introduction path for taking the water into the water storage chamber. The drying chamber is constituted by a drum that rotates around a horizontal axis or an inclined axis to tumbl the internal clothing,
The clothes dryer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the humidified air is introduced into a lower portion of the drum.

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