JP2007117578A - Washing/drying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately judge a completion of drying of a washing/drying machine using a heat pump. <P>SOLUTION: The washing/drying machine is provided with a blower for circulating air in a water tub through a circulation passage, and has a compressor, an expansion valve, and an evaporator and a condenser arranged in the circulation passage. The heat pump is provided so that refrigerant sequentially circulates through the compressor, the condenser, the expansion valve, and the evaporator. A water discharging tank is provided for storing a remarkable amount of dehumidification water generated when circulating air in the circulation passage contacts the evaporator. When a drying process starts, a control device calculates an amount of dehumidification water per unit hour from a quantity of dehumidification water in the water discharging tank so as to judge the completion of clothes drying from a calculated value (S3-S9). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a washing and drying machine that dries clothing using a heat pump.

  In the washing and drying machine, the clothes are dried by blowing dry hot air into the drum while rotating the drum containing the clothes. While the clothes are moist, the amount of heat of the hot air input into the drum is used for the evaporation of moisture, so the temperature of the air discharged from the drum is relatively low and stable. On the other hand, since the evaporation amount of water decreases as the clothes are dried, the temperature of the exhaust air rises rapidly. Therefore, in a conventional washer-dryer, the end of drying is determined based on the outlet temperature and the inlet temperature of the drum.

By the way, in recent years, from the viewpoint of energy saving, a method of drying clothing using a heat pump has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In a washer / dryer using a heat pump, since air having a relatively low temperature is supplied into the drum, damage to clothing can be reduced as compared with a heater-type washer / dryer.
JP 2003-75065 A

However, when the temperature of the air supplied into the drum is low, the change in the temperature of the air discharged from the drum becomes smaller as the clothes are dried. In addition, the temperature of the air supplied to the drum and the discharged air is likely to fluctuate due to the influence of the ambient temperature. For this reason, there was a problem that it was not possible to accurately determine the end of drying based on the outlet temperature or inlet temperature of the drum.
An object of the present invention is to provide a laundry dryer that can accurately determine the end of drying in a heat pump.

  The washing / drying machine of the present invention includes a water tank having a hot air inlet and a hot air outlet, a drum rotatably disposed inside the water tank and containing clothes, and both ends of the hot air inlet and the hot air outlet. A circulation path, a compressor and an expansion valve, and an evaporator and a condenser arranged in the circulation path, respectively, and the refrigerant is supplied in the order of the compressor, the condenser, the expansion valve, and the evaporator. A heat pump that circulates, a blower that dries clothing in the drum by circulating air in the water tank through the circulation path, and dehumidification that is generated when the circulating air in the circulation path contacts the evaporator And determining means for determining the end of drying of the clothing based on the amount of water.

  While the clothes are wet, the amount of water contained in the air discharged from the drum is large. However, when the clothes are dried and the amount of water contained in the clothes decreases, the amount of water contained in the discharged air decreases. That is, the amount of dehumidified water generated by the contact between the circulating air discharged from the drum and the evaporator changes as the clothing is dried. The present invention has been made paying attention to such a change in the amount of dehumidified water, and has little influence on the outside air temperature as compared with the conventional configuration in which the completion of drying is determined based on the inlet temperature and outlet temperature of the drum. The end of drying can be accurately determined without receiving.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG.1 and FIG.2 has shown the whole structure of the washing-drying machine based on a present Example. The washing / drying machine includes an outer box 1, a cylindrical water tank 2 disposed inside the outer box 1, and a cylindrical drum 3 disposed in the water tank 2. On the front surface of the outer box 1, there are provided an opening 4 for taking in and out laundry and a door 5 for opening and closing the opening 4.

  The water tank 2 is supported by a pair of left and right suspensions 6 in a state where the water tank 2 is inclined upward. A water tank cover 8 having an opening 7 in the center is attached to the front end of the water tank 2. The opening 7 is connected to the opening 4 of the outer box 1 by a bellows 9. A hot air outlet 10 is formed in the upper part of the front end of the water tank 2, and a hot air inlet 11 is formed in the upper part of the rear end. Further, a drain port 12 is formed at the bottom of the bottom of the water tank 2. A drain pipe 13 is connected to the drain port 12.

  Similar to the water tank 2, the drum 3 is disposed in a state of being inclined upward. A hole 14 is formed in the peripheral wall portion (body portion) of the drum 3 over almost the entire region (only a part is shown in FIG. 2). The holes 14 function as water holes and air holes. A reinforcing member 15 is attached to the rear surface of the drum 3, and a shaft 16 is fixed to the center of the rear surface of the drum 3 through the reinforcing member 15. Further, a hot air introduction port 17 composed of a large number of small holes is formed around the mounting portion of the shaft 16 in the rear end plate of the drum 3.

  On the other hand, a bearing housing 18 is attached to the center of the rear end of the water tank 2. The shaft 16 is supported by a bearing housing 18 via bearings 19 and 20. A stator 22 of the motor 21 is attached to the outer periphery of the bearing housing 18. A rotor 23 of the motor 21 is attached to the rear end portion of the shaft 17. The motor 21 is an outer rotor type brushless DC motor, and the drum 3 is directly rotated by the motor 21 with the above-described configuration.

  A warm air cover 24 is attached to the front surface of the rear end of the water tank 2. The hot air cover 24 covers the periphery of the shaft 17 and the hot air inlet 11 in the rear end of the water tank 2. An opening 25 is formed around the shaft 17 in the hot air cover 24, and this leads to the opening 25 from the hot air inlet 11 between the hot air cover 24 and the rear end of the water tank 2. A hot air passage 26 is formed. The opening 25 corresponds to an outlet portion of the warm air passage 26.

  A plurality of relatively large holes 27 facing the opening 25 are formed in a peripheral portion of the central portion of the reinforcing member 16 where the shaft 17 is attached. An annular seal member 29 made of an elastic material is mounted around the hole 27 in the reinforcing member 16. The seal member 29 is close to the periphery of the opening 25 in the hot air cover 24. A gap between the hot air cover 24 and the reinforcing member 16 is sealed by the sealing member 29.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a substantially rectangular tube-shaped ventilation duct 32 is placed on a base plate 30 constituting the bottom of the outer box 1 via a plurality of vibration-proof rubbers 31. . Bolts 33 are inserted into the anti-vibration rubbers 31, and the ventilation duct 32 is fixed to the base plate 30 by a plurality of nuts 34 screwed into the upper ends of the plurality of bolts 33.

  An evaporator 35 is disposed at the front of the ventilation duct 32 and a condenser 36 is disposed at the rear. The evaporator 35 and the condenser 36 include refrigerant pipes 37 and 38 and a plurality of heat exchange fins (not shown) attached to the refrigerant pipes 37 and 38. The right side wall of the ventilation duct 32 includes a right end plate 35a of the evaporator 35, a right end plate 36a of the condenser 36, and an auxiliary side plate 39 connecting these end plates 35a and 36a. For this reason, the right end plate 35a of the evaporator 35 protrudes from the inlet portion, the outlet portion and the middle portion of the refrigerant pipe 37, and the right end plate 36a of the condenser 36 protrudes from the inlet portion, the outlet portion and the middle portion of the refrigerant pipe 38. Is protruding.

  Although not shown, the left side wall of the ventilation duct 32 is provided separately from the left end plates of the evaporator 35 and the condenser 36. Therefore, the bent portions of the refrigerant pipes 37 and 38 protruding from the left end plates of the evaporator 35 and the condenser 36 are covered with the left side wall of the ventilation duct 32.

A compressor 40 is disposed on the right front portion of the base plate 30. The compressor 40 is disposed on a compressor placement portion 41 that is integrally formed with the ventilation duct 32.
As shown in FIG. 4, the compressor 40 is connected to the evaporator 35, the condenser 36, and the expansion valve 44 through a connection pipe 43 to constitute a heat pump 45. The expansion valve 44 is an electric expansion valve (electronic expansion valve) that adjusts the opening of the valve by a stepping motor. In the heat pump 45, when the compressor 40 is operated, the refrigerant circulates in the order of the compressor 40, the condenser 36, the electronic expansion valve 44, and the evaporator 35.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a filter case 47 is connected to the front portion of the ventilation duct 32. The filter case 47 communicates with the ventilation duct 32 at the rear part thereof. An opening is provided at the front end of the filter case 47. A filter 49 is accommodated in the filter case 47 so as to be able to be inserted and removed through the opening. A connection port 50 projects from the front upper portion of the filter case 47.

  A bellows-like connection hose 51 is connected to the connection port 50. On the other hand, an exhaust duct 52 connected to the warm air outlet 10 is formed in the water tank cover 8 over the entire circumference. Further, a connection port 53 communicating with the exhaust duct 52 is provided at the lower part of the water tank cover 8, and the upper end portion of the connection hose 51 is connected to the connection port 53.

  A casing 55 of the blower 54 is connected to the rear part of the ventilation duct 32. The casing 55 communicates with the ventilation duct 32 at the front portion thereof. The blower 54 includes a blower blade housed inside the casing 55 and a motor (none of which is shown) that rotates the blower blade. An outlet portion 56 projects from the upper portion of the casing 55. An air supply duct 58 is connected to the outlet portion 56 via a bellows-like connection hose 57. The air supply duct 58 extends upward along the left side surface of the motor 21, and its upper end is connected to the hot air inlet 11 of the water tank 2.

With the above configuration, the circulation path extends from the hot air outlet 10 of the water tank 2 to the hot air inlet 11 through the exhaust duct 52, the connection hose 51, the filter case 47, the ventilation duct 32, the casing 55, the connection hose 57, and the air supply duct 58. 60 is formed.
A drainage tank 62 (corresponding to a dehumidified water container) is provided below the evaporator 35 in the ventilation duct 32. The drainage tank 62 is formed integrally with the bottom plate of the ventilation duct 32 and communicates with the inside of the ventilation duct 32 through a drain discharge port (not shown) provided in the bottom plate.

  The drainage tank 62 has a flat container shape, and its bottom portion is inclined slightly downward toward the right. A drainage pump 63 is arranged on the right side of the blower 54 on the base plate 30. The drainage pump 63 is configured to pump water in the drainage tank 62 at the lowermost part of the bottom of the drainage tank 62.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a filter case 77 is connected to the drain pipe 13. The filter case 77 houses a drainage filter (not shown) that captures lint from the water discharged from the water tank 2 through the drainage pipe 13. Further, a drain hose (not shown) is connected to the filter case 77 via a drain valve (not shown) and a drain joint 78. Further, a connection hose 81 is connected to the drainage joint 78 via a check valve 80. The connection hose 81 is connected to the discharge port of the drainage pump 63.

  The check valve 80 allows the flow of water from the connection hose 81 to the drain hose 79 and blocks the flow of water opposite to that (from the drain valve 76 to the connection hose 81). Thereby, the water discharged from the water tank 2 is configured not to reach the ventilation duct 32 through the drainage pump 63.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic electrical configuration of the washing / drying machine. The control device 70 has a function of controlling the overall operation of the washing / drying machine, and includes a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc. mainly using a microcomputer. An operation unit 71, a display device 72, a motor 21, a compressor 40, an expansion valve 44, a blower 54, a water level detection device 73, and the like are connected to the control device 70. The operation unit 71 is for setting washing and drying conditions. The display device 72 is for displaying setting conditions, operating conditions, and the like.

  The water level detection device 73 detects the water level in the drainage tank 62. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the water level detection device 73 includes an electrode A disposed at the bottom of the drainage tank 62 and four electrodes B1 to B4 disposed on the side. Has been. When the height dimension of the electrode B1 from the bottom surface of the drainage tank 62 is H, the height dimensions of the electrodes B2 to B4 are 2H, 3H, and 4H, respectively.

  FIG. 7 is an electric circuit of the water level detection device 73. The electrode A is connected to the electric wire 86 connected to the DC power source 85, and the electrodes B1 to B4 are connected via resistors 87 to 90, respectively. The voltage between the electrode A and the electrodes B1 to B4 is input to the operational amplifiers 91 to 94, respectively. Output terminals of the operational amplifiers 91 to 94 are connected to the control device 70.

  Next, the operation of the clothes drying process by the washing / drying machine having the above-described configuration will be described focusing on the operation for determining the end of drying. FIG. 8 shows a control flow of the drying process. When the drying process is started, the control device 70 starts rotating the drum 3 and starts driving the blower 54 (step S1). Thereby, the air in the water tank 2 circulates through the circulation path 60. Moreover, the control apparatus 70 starts the drive of the compressor 40, and adjusts the opening degree of the expansion valve 44 (step S2).

  For example, the controller 70 starts driving the compressor 40 by setting the frequency of the compressor motor to 90 Hz. Thereafter, when the outlet temperature of the drum 3 becomes 110 ° C. or higher, the controller 70 every 30 seconds until the lower limit frequency (25 Hz) is reached. The control is performed to decrease the frequency by 1 Hz. Further, the control device 70 fully opens the expansion valve 44 at the start of driving of the compressor 40, and then adjusts the opening of the expansion valve 44 so that the inlet temperature of the evaporator 35 becomes 5 ° C.

  Subsequently, the control device 70 starts detecting the amount of dehumidified water (step S3), and calculates the amount of dehumidified water W1 per unit time (step S4). The amount of dehumidified water when the water level in the drainage tank 62 is the electrodes B1 to B4 is known in advance. Accordingly, the control device 70 determines that the time t1 until the water level in the drainage tank 62 reaches “B1” from the electrode “0”, the time “t2” until it reaches the electrode B1 from the electrode B1, the time “t3” until it reaches the electrode B2 from the electrode B2, The amount of dehumidified water per unit time is calculated by dividing the time t4 from B3 to B4 and the amount of dehumidified water at that time. That is, the control device 70 calculates the dehumidified water amount W1 per unit time each time the water level in the drain tank 62 reaches any one of the electrodes B1 to B4.

In this embodiment, when the amount of dehumidified water in the drainage tank 62 reaches the electrode B4, the control device 70 drives the drainage pump 63 to draw out the dehumidified water in the drainage tank 62 and discharge it.
In step S5, it is determined whether or not the dehumidified water amount W1 has reached the maximum. Here, it is determined that the dehumidified water amount has reached the maximum when the dehumidified water amount W1 has decreased more than n times (for example, n = 3) from the previous dehumidified water amount W1, and the dehumidified water amount W1 at that time is set to the maximum value Wmax. (Step S6).

  In the subsequent step S7, the dehumidified water amount W2 per unit time is continuously calculated. When the amount of dehumidified water W2 becomes equal to or less than one third of the maximum value Wmax (step S8), the control device 70 performs a delay operation for a predetermined time (step S9), and then ends the drying process. The delay operation is performed, for example, in a state where the driving of the compressor 40 is stopped and the blower 54 is driven. The execution time of the delayed operation is set to 15 to 25 minutes, for example, according to the amount of laundry accommodated in the drum 3.

Thus, according to the present embodiment, since the end of drying is determined based on the amount of dehumidified water per unit time, it is possible to accurately determine the end of drying without being substantially affected by the outside air temperature. it can.
Incidentally, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a change in the amount of dehumidified water per unit time. As shown in FIG. 9, when the drying process is started, the amount of dehumidified water increases rapidly, and reaches a maximum value when the drying process has elapsed for 50 to 100 minutes. Thereafter, the amount of dehumidified water rapidly decreases and finally becomes “0”. Therefore, the progress of drying can be determined by the change in the amount of dehumidified water.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and for example, the following modifications are possible.
Instead of the water level detection device 73 described above, a means for detecting the weight of the drainage tank 62 may be provided, and the end of drying may be determined based on a change in the weight of the drainage tank.
It is also possible to configure so as to determine the end of drying based on the operation frequency of the drainage pump, that is, the change in time until the drainage tank 62 becomes full.

The front view of the drum type washing-drying machine which shows one Embodiment of this invention and shows the state which removed the outer case Longitudinal side view Figure showing enlarged ventilation duct Diagram showing schematic configuration of heat pump Block diagram showing electrical configuration The figure which shows the position of the electrode installed in the drainage tank The figure which shows the structure of the electric circuit of a water level detection apparatus Flow chart of drying operation Diagram showing the amount of dehumidified water that changes with the progress of drying

Explanation of symbols

  In the drawings, 2 is a water tank, 3 is a drum, 10 is a hot air outlet, 11 is a hot air inlet, 35 is an evaporator, 36 is a condenser, 40 is a compressor, 44 is an expansion valve, 45 is a heat pump, and 54 is a blower. , 60 is a circulation path, 62 is a drainage tank (dehumidified water container), 63 is a drainage pump, 70 is a control device (determination means), and 73 is a water level detection device.

Claims (3)

A water tank having a hot air inlet and a hot air outlet;
A drum that is rotatably arranged inside the aquarium and houses clothing;
Circulation paths having both ends connected to the hot air inlet and the hot air outlet,
A heat pump that includes a compressor, an expansion valve, and an evaporator and a condenser disposed in the circulation path, and circulates refrigerant in the order of the compressor, the condenser, the expansion valve, and the evaporator;
A blower that dries clothes in the drum by circulating air in the water tank through the circulation path;
A washing / drying machine comprising: a determination unit that determines the end of drying of clothes based on the amount of dehumidified water generated when the circulating air in the circulation path comes into contact with the evaporator. A dehumidifying water container for receiving dehumidified water
The washing / drying machine according to claim 1, wherein the determining means determines the end of drying based on a change in the amount of dehumidified water in the dehumidified water container. It has a drainage pump that pumps out the water in the dehumidified water container,
The washing / drying machine according to claim 2, wherein the determination means determines the end of drying based on the operation of the drainage pump.

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