JP2007117228A - Two-stage clothes dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve problems that, in a two-stage clothes dryer having a structure vertically superposing clothes dryers into two stages, a handle of a door of an upper-stage clothes dryer is in a high position, and a short-stature person finds it difficult to open/close the door, while a handle of a door in the lower-stage clothes dryer is in a low position, and a high-stature person finds it difficult to open/close the door. <P>SOLUTION: The handle 14 of the door 12 of the upper-stage clothes dryer is disposed in a position across the door 12 in an opposite side of a shaft 13 and being lower than a horizontal S1 passing through a central point of the door 12. Also, the handle 24 of the door 22 of the lower-stage clothes dryer is disposed in a position across the door 22 in an opposite side of the shaft 23 and being higher than the horizontal S2 passing through the central point of the door 22. This constitution can improve the usability for both users of the high/lower stature. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a two-stage clothes dryer having a structure in which drum-type clothes dryers are stacked in two stages, which are installed in various facilities such as a coin laundry store, a hospital, and a hotel.

  In coin laundry stores and various facilities where laundry machines such as coin-type washing machines and clothes dryers are installed, there is a demand to install as many devices as possible on the same floor area in order to increase management efficiency. In order to meet such a demand, conventionally, a two-stage clothes dryer having a structure in which drum-type clothes dryers are stacked in two upper and lower stages is commercially available (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

  In the clothes dryer of this structure, two clothes dryers can be installed in the installation area for one, and the inside of the store or the indoor space can be used effectively. However, as a matter of course, the external dimensions are high, and the position of the handle for opening and closing the door of the upper clothes dryer is considerably high. For example, in the two-stage clothes dryer described in Non-Patent Document 1, the height of the outer dimensions is about 2000 mm, and the height of the handle of the upper door is about 1500 mm. For this reason, there is a problem in that it is difficult for a short person to open and close the door of the upper clothes dryer. On the other hand, the position of the handle for opening and closing the door of the lower clothes dryer is quite low. For this reason, particularly for a tall person, if the waist is not bent, the handle of the door of the lower garment dryer cannot be touched and the door is difficult to open and close.

“Gas-type clothes dryer SCD-6090GC”, [Online], Sanyo Techno Create Co., Ltd., [October 7, 2005 search], Internet <URL: http://www.sanyo-technocreate.jp/products /coinlaundry/05/scd-6090gc/index.html>

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and in a two-stage upper and lower clothes dryer, it is easy to open and close the door of each clothes dryer regardless of the height of the user's back. Its main purpose is to improve usability. Moreover, even when adopting such a structure with improved usability, the object is to increase the work efficiency of the door installation work at the manufacturing site and the installation site.

  The present invention made to solve the above problems is a two-stage clothes dryer having a structure in which drum-type clothes dryers having clothes inlets on the front surface are stacked in two stages, each of the upper and lower stages. The clothes dryer includes a side-opening door that opens and closes the clothes inlet, and a handle for opening the door of the upper clothes dryer is on the opposite side of the support shaft across the door. It is characterized by being provided at a position below the horizontal line passing through the center point.

  In the conventional two-stage clothes dryer, in both the upper and lower clothes dryers, the handle for opening and closing the door is provided on a horizontal line passing through the center point of the door, whereas in the two-stage clothes dryer according to the present invention, In the upper clothes dryer, the handle is disposed at a position lower than the horizontal line, that is, diagonally below, not directly beside the door. Thereby, the position of this handle becomes lower than before, and even a short person can easily open and close the door.

  In the two-stage clothes dryer according to the present invention, the handle for opening the door of the lower clothes dryer is on the opposite side of the support shaft across the door and has a center point of the door. It is good to set it as the structure provided in the position above the horizontal line which passes.

  That is, in this configuration, in the lower clothes dryer, the handle is arranged at a position higher than the horizontal line, that is, diagonally above, not directly beside the door. Thereby, the position of this handle becomes higher than before, and even a tall person can easily open and close the door.

  By the way, as described in “Non-Patent Document 1” “Layout-free“ Door Left / Right Design ””, in the conventional two-stage clothes dryer, the door can be selected to open right or left. The support shaft can be selectively attached to either the left or right edge of the front of the housing.In such a structure, if the handle is placed directly beside the door as in the past, The same door can be used for all clothes dryers, including the differences, and there is no confusion at the manufacturing or installation site.

  Therefore, in order to facilitate the door installation work at the manufacturing site and the installation site in the two-stage clothes dryer according to the present invention, in the upper and lower clothes dryers, the handle mounting position and the center of each door It is preferable that the angle formed between the line connecting the points and the horizontal line is equal.

  According to this, for example, in a state where the support shaft is at the right edge of the front surface of the housing, the handle is located below the horizontal line (the handle lower mounting door) and the door located above (the handle upper) If the support shaft comes to the left edge of the front surface of the housing, the handle lower mounting door and the handle upper mounting door can be used upside down.

  However, the handle lower mounting door and the handle upper mounting door should be properly connected, that is, regular so that the handle is not diagonally mounted on the upper clothes dryer and the handle is not diagonally mounted on the lower clothes dryer. It is necessary to install in the state of. So, even if the door is installed in an unauthorized state, if the worker immediately notices it, the non-genuine product will flow to the subsequent production line or be delivered to the customer in the wrong state. You can avoid that.

  In order to cope with such a situation, the support shaft can be selectively attached to the right edge or the left edge of the front surface of the housing so that the door can be opened to the right or left. It is desirable to have a structure provided with blocking means for blocking the door when the door is mounted in an upside down state.

  According to this configuration, as described above, when the door is mistakenly installed so that the position of the handle is not appropriate, the door is not completely closed by the blocking means, so that the operator can quickly recognize the mistake and reinstall it. It can be performed.

  Further, in the above configuration, the blocking means is a convex portion provided on the inner surface side of the door, and an opening through which the convex portion can be inserted when the door is mounted in a proper state on the handle on the front surface of the housing. A door opening detection unit that detects the opening and closing of the door by detecting the insertion of the convex portion into the opening.

  In this configuration, the blocking means for indirectly informing the door mounting error and the structural member for detecting the opening / closing of the door are combined. For this reason, when the door is mounted in an illegal state where the door is turned upside down as described above, it is detected that the door is not completely closed and the door is opened by the door opening detecting means. As a result, even if a door installation error is overlooked during the manufacturing or installation process, the drum is not rotated when the door is open. Can be found in.

  Furthermore, the door opening / closing detection means includes a movable portion that is located inside the opening and moves in contact with the convex portion, and the opening is directly below the door in the upper clothes dryer and in the lower clothes dryer. It may be configured to be provided directly above the door.

  In this configuration, since the separation angle between the handle attachment position and the movable part of the door opening detection means is less than 90 ° on the circumference of the door and the separation distance between the two is small, the door is deformed for some reason. Even in such a case, the amount of lifting of the inner surface of the door at the position of the movable portion can be small, and therefore it is possible to avoid improper pushing of the movable portion due to the convex portion and reduce false detection of door opening and closing.

  As described above, the two-stage clothes dryer according to the present invention can easily open and close the door for both a short person and a tall person, and can improve usability. Further, when manufacturing or installing such a clothes dryer, it is possible to avoid complicated door installation work, and to find it quickly even if an installation error occurs.

  An embodiment of a two-stage clothes dryer according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The two-stage clothes dryer of this embodiment is a coin-type clothes dryer typically installed in a coin laundry store.

  FIG. 1 is a front plan view of a two-stage clothes dryer according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a front plan view showing a state in which the door of the two-stage clothes dryer shown in FIG. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a schematic configuration of the clothes dryer, Fig. 4 is a front view of a front plate for the upper clothes dryer (with no door attached), and Fig. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the left side of the door for the upper clothes dryer. FIG. 6 is a left side view of the vicinity of the door opening / closing detection switch mounting portion in FIG.

  In this two-stage clothes dryer, as shown in FIG. 1, an upper clothes dryer 10 is disposed on a lower clothes dryer 20, and the two are integrated. The front plate, which is a part of the casing of the two-stage clothes dryer, is divided into an upper front plate 11 and a lower front plate 21, and each of the front plates 11, 21 has a large circular clothing inlet ( For example, a clothing insertion slot 111 (see FIG. 4) is formed on the front plate 11. Each clothing input port is opened and closed by circular doors 12 and 22 that are swingable around support shafts 13 and 23 that extend vertically at the right edge of front plates 11 and 21. That is, in FIG. 1, both the doors 12 and 22 can be laterally opened in the right direction.

  In the upper garment dryer 10, as shown in FIG. 3, a circumferential cylindrical drum 40 is installed so as to be rotatable about a substantially horizontal main shaft (not shown). The motor 41 rotates the blower 43 while rotating the drum 40 via the timing belt 42. When the blower 43 rotates, outside air from which dust is removed by the intake filter 44 provided on the rear surface is sucked from the intake port 45. The taken-in outside air is heated by a heater 46 such as a gas heater and sent into the drum 40 from the front. In the drum 40, heat exchange is performed between the heated air and the wet laundry, and the laundry is dried. The moist air containing a large amount of water vapor from the laundry is removed from the waste thread and the like when passing through the exhaust filter 47 at the rear of the drum 40 and discharged upward from the exhaust port 48. The lower garment dryer 20 basically has the same configuration as the upper garment dryer 10.

  In FIG. 1, for example, when the door 12 of the upper garment dryer is opened, a large opening formed in the front end surface of the drum 40 is seen inside the clothing input port 111 at the center of the front plate 11, and through this opening. Put the laundry in and out of the drum 40. Similarly, when the door 22 is opened, the lower garment dryer 20 looks into the opening of the front end surface of the drum, and the laundry is taken into and out of the drum through this opening.

  Main electric circuits such as a control board for independently controlling the operations of the upper and lower clothes dryers 10 and 20 are intensively arranged between the upper door 12 and the lower door 22. On the right edge, an upper operation panel 15 and a lower operation panel 25 each having a coin insertion slot, a remaining operation time indicator, a drawer-type coin storage box, and the like are installed. A coin detector for detecting coins is provided behind the operation panels 15 and 25. When a user inserts a predetermined amount of coins into the coin slot, the coins are identified by the coin detector. When it is confirmed that the amount is regular, a signal is sent to the control circuit to automatically start the drying operation for a predetermined time.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the door 12 (the door 22 is basically the same) has a circular door glass 122 fitted in the central opening of a substantially annular door frame body 121, whereby the interior of the drum is It is possible to see through. A rubber packing 123 is provided around the outer edge portion of the door frame 121, thereby improving the airtightness when the door 12 is closed.

  Handles 14 and 24 having a latch mechanism for holding the doors 12 and 22 in a closed state are provided on the outer periphery of the doors 12 and 22. In the conventional two-stage clothes dryer, upper and lower clothes dryers are provided. In both cases, the handle is disposed on a horizontal line (S1, S2 in FIG. 1) on the opposite side of the support shaft across the door and passing through the center point of the door. On the other hand, as a feature of this two-stage clothes dryer, in the upper clothes dryer 10, the handle 14 is shifted below the horizontal line S 1, that is, obliquely below, and in the lower clothes dryer 20, the handle is provided. 24 is provided so as to be shifted above the horizontal line S2, that is, obliquely above.

  Specifically, the angle θ1 formed between the line connecting the center point of the door 12 and the approximate center of the handle 14 and the horizontal line S1 is 30 °, and the line connecting the center point of the door 22 and the approximate center of the handle 24 is The angle θ2 formed with the horizontal line S2 is also set to 30 °. Conventionally, both θ1 and θ2 are 0 °. In this example, θ1 = θ2 = 30 °, but θ1 and θ2 may be in a range larger than 0 ° and smaller than 90 °. However, about 30 degrees is just right for practical use.

  In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the doors 12 and 22 are both opened to the right, but the left opening may be appropriate depending on the installation location, and the left opening is more convenient for left-handed people. . Therefore, the doors 12 and 22 can be replaced at the manufacturing stage (or installation stage) according to the specifications of the right opening and the left opening. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the upper front plate 11 is provided with a right opening support shaft mounting portion 113 at the right edge and a left opening support shaft mounting portion 114 at the left edge. By opening the door so that the support shaft is mounted on any of the support shaft mounting portions 113 or 114, it is possible to select right opening or left opening. The same applies to the lower clothing dryer 20.

  Of course, in this two-stage clothes dryer, since the handles 14 and 24 are not positioned on the horizontal lines S1 and S2 in the doors 12 and 22, for example, the door 12 of the upper clothes dryer 10 shown in FIG. When the door 12 is turned upside down to change to left opening (that is, when the door 12 is rotated 180 ° around the center point of the door 12), the support shaft 13 can be mounted on the left opening support shaft mounting portion 114. The position is not diagonally downward but diagonally upward. However, since the handle shift angles θ1 and θ2 are the same in the upper and lower stages as described above, when the door 22 of the lower clothes dryer 20 is turned upside down (that is, rotated by 180 °), the support shaft 23 is placed on the left side. Is positioned and the handle 24 is located obliquely downward.

  Similarly, when the door of the lower garment dryer 20 shown in FIG. 1 is changed to the left opening, when the door 12 of the upper garment dryer 10 is removed and turned upside down (that is, rotated 180 °), 13 is positioned and the handle 14 is just diagonally upward. That is, when the right opening door specification as shown in FIG. 1 is changed to the left opening door specification, the doors to be attached to the upper and lower tiers at the time of the right opening may be replaced and installed by being inverted. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 2, the door 22 of the upper garment dryer 10 has a handle 24 positioned obliquely below, and the door 12 of the lower garment dryer 20 has a handle 14 positioned diagonally upward, that is, in a normal state. It becomes.

  However, it is possible to mount the respective support shafts on the support shaft mounting portions 113 and 114 even when the position of the handle is not appropriate as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, that is, the door is not in a normal state but is turned upside down. Therefore, there is a possibility that the operator mistakenly attaches the doors 12 and 22. Therefore, in this two-stage clothes dryer, when the doors 12 and 22 are attached in a state different from the normal state (the state shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2) as described above, the doors 12 and 22 are completely Has a structure that does not close.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the upper door 12 in the right-opening specification has an inner surface on the outer periphery side of the door that contacts the annular door receiving frame 112 on the front plate 11 side, and the center point of the door 12. A projection 124 as a blocking means in the present invention is provided immediately below the door receiving frame 112 of the front plate 11 and a receiving opening 115 into which the projection 124 is inserted is formed directly below the center point. Has been. On the other hand, although not shown, the lower door 22 in the right-opening specification has the same convexity on the inner surface of the outer periphery of the door that contacts the door receiving frame on the front plate 21 side, just above the center point of the door 22. A receiving opening is formed in the door receiving frame of the front plate 21 and the convex portion is inserted directly above the center point.

  Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, if the door 12 is mounted on the front plate 11 with the handle 14 being obliquely downward in the upper garment dryer 10, the positions of the convex portion 124 and the receiving opening 115 coincide with each other and the convex portion Since the part 124 is inserted into the receiving opening 115, the door 12 can be completely closed. On the other hand, when the door 12 is mounted on the front plate 11 while being turned upside down, the convex portion 124 comes directly above the center point of the door and does not coincide with the position of the receiving opening 115, so that the door 12 may be closed. The protrusion 124 contacts the door receiving frame 112 and the door 12 is not completely closed. As a result, the operator can notice that the door 12 is mounted upside down during the manufacturing process or installation, and can quickly correct it. Since the same applies to the clothes dryer 20 at the lower stage, the work can be immediately noticed.

  Further, the convex portion 124 provided on the door 12 constitutes a part of a mechanism for operating a switch for detecting the opening / closing of the door 12. That is, inside the receiving opening 115, the receiving plate 31 pushed by the convex part 124 is arrange | positioned as a movable part which concerns on this invention, and this receiving plate 31 was pivotally supported by the rotating shaft 32 extended perpendicularly | vertically. The lower bar is fixed to the end of the upper bar of the substantially U-shaped switch lever 30 that extends long. A micro switch 33 serving as a door opening / closing detection switch is disposed near the end of the lower bar-shaped body of the switch lever 30. When the lower bar-shaped body moves rearward, the hinge lever 34 of the micro switch 33 is pushed in to make a micro switch. The contact of the switch 33 is closed.

  That is, the switch lever 30 is urged by the spring provided on the rotating shaft 32 in the direction in which the receiving plate 31 rotates forward. At this time, the end of the lower rod-shaped body of the switch lever 30 is also shown in FIG. As shown by reference numeral 30B of FIG. Therefore, at this time, the switch lever 30 does not push the hinge lever 34 of the micro switch 33, the hinge lever 34 is in the position shown by reference numeral 34B, and the contact of the micro switch 33 is opened. As described above, when the door 12 attached in the normal state is completely closed, the convex portion 124 is inserted into the receiving opening 115, and the tip of the convex portion 124 abuts against the receiving plate 31 to push it in. Then, the switch lever 30 rotates rearward against the urging force of the spring, and the end of the lower rod-shaped body of the switch lever 30 also moves from the position 30B to 30A in FIG. Thereby, the switch lever 30 pushes the hinge lever 34, and the contact of the micro switch 33 is closed.

  The on / off of the micro switch 33 is input to a microcomputer or the like of the control circuit, and the microcomputer recognizes that the door 12 is closed when it detects that the micro switch 33 is in the on state. Since the microcomputer does not start unless it recognizes that the door is closed even when the operation start command is given, for example, even if the wrong door installation is overlooked, for example, the assembly inspection process Alternatively, it is possible to detect a door installation error by recognizing that the operation is not started during the test operation after the installation work.

  In the above configuration, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, in the state of the right-opening specification, the handle 14 of the door 12 is positioned obliquely below, so the position of the handle 14, the convex portion 124, and the receiving opening 115 The separation angle with the insertion position is close to about 60 °. When the door 12 is deformed and distorted due to heat or the like, the adhesion of the door 12 to the door receiving frame 112 is high at the position of the handle 14, but the adhesion becomes worse as the distance from the position of the handle 14 increases, and the amount of lifting is increased. It can grow. Therefore, if the position of the convex portion 124 and the receiving opening 115 is far from the handle 14, even if the door 12 is closed because the door 12 is lifted, the convex portion 124 cannot push the receiving plate 31, and the contact of the micro switch 33 is closed. There is a risk of false detection that the door is open. On the other hand, in the above configuration, since the positions of the convex portion 124 and the receiving opening 115 are close to the handle 14, even if the door 12 is deformed, the convex portion 124 may push the receiving plate 31 when the door 12 is closed. There is an advantage that the malfunction of the door opening / closing detection can be reduced.

  It should be noted that the above embodiment is merely an example, and it is obvious that the scope of the claims of the present application is encompassed even if appropriate modifications, corrections, or additions are made within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the door has a front circular shape, but can be modified into various forms such as a front oval shape and a front square shape with rounded corners.

1 is a front plan view of one embodiment of a two-stage clothes dryer according to the present invention. The front top view which shows the state which changed the door of the two-stage clothes dryer of FIG. 1 for left opening, The longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows schematic structure of an upper stage clothes dryer. The front view of the front plate (state which does not mount | wear with a door) for upper clothes dryers. The left side longitudinal cross-sectional view of the door for upper clothes dryers. FIG. 6 is a left side view of the vicinity of a door opening / closing detection switch mounting portion in FIG. 5.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Upper-stage clothes dryer 20 ... Lower-stage clothes dryer 11, 21 ... Front plate 111 ... Clothes input slot 112 ... Door receiving frame 113 ... Right opening spindle mounting part 114 ... Left opening spindle mounting part 115 ... Accepting opening DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12, 22 ... Door 121 ... Door frame 122 ... Door glass 123 ... Packing 124 ... Convex part 13, 23 ... Support shaft 14, 24 ... Handle 15, 25 ... Operation panel 30, 30A, 30B ... Switch lever 31 ... Back plate 32 ... Rotating shaft 33 ... Micro switch 34 ... Hinge lever

Claims (6)

  It is a two-stage type clothes dryer having a structure in which drum-type clothes dryers having clothes input ports on the front are stacked in two stages, and each of the upper and lower clothes dryers is a side-opening type that opens and closes the clothes input ports. And a handle for opening the door of the upper clothes dryer is provided at a position on the opposite side of the supporting shaft across the door and below the horizontal line passing through the center point of the door. A two-stage clothes dryer.   The handle for opening the door of the lower clothes dryer is provided at a position on the opposite side of the support shaft across the door and above the horizontal line passing through the center point of the door. The two-stage clothes dryer according to claim 1.   3. The two-stage clothes dryer according to claim 2, wherein an angle formed between a line connecting the handle attachment position and a center point of each door and the horizontal line is equal in the upper and lower clothes dryer. 4. .   The support shaft can be selectively attached to the right or left edge of the front of the housing so that the door can be opened to the right or left, and the door is mounted with the handle upside down. 4. The two-stage clothes dryer according to claim 3, further comprising blocking means for preventing the door from closing when the door is closed.   The blocking means is a convex portion provided on the inner surface side of the door, and an opening is formed on the front surface of the housing so that the convex portion can be inserted when the handle is attached in a regular state. 5. The two-stage clothes dryer according to claim 4, further comprising door opening / closing detection means for detecting opening / closing of the door by detecting insertion of the convex portion into the door. The door opening / closing detection means includes a movable portion that is located inside the opening and moves in contact with the convex portion. The opening is located directly under the door in the upper clothes dryer and in the door in the lower clothes dryer. The two-stage clothes dryer according to claim 5, wherein the clothes dryer is provided on the top.

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