JP2009022487A - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the finish of drying of clothes by inhibiting the static electricity and fixed creases. <P>SOLUTION: The clothes dryer has a humidifying means 18 for humidifying hot air to be fed into an inner tub 10. The humidifying means has a waterproof moisture-permeable film 20 with steam permeability to humidify drying air flowing in a hot-air channel through the waterproof moisture-permeable film. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a clothes drier that performs drying by suppressing static electricity and wrinkle adhesion of clothes and improving the finish.

  As for the clothes dryer, the structure which provides water vapor | steam to a to-be-dried object during progress of a drying process is proposed, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view which shows the outline (for example, refer patent document 1). Inside the housing 1, a drying chamber 2 for storing an object to be dried is disposed so as to be rotatable with the rotation axis being horizontal. When the operation is started in a state where clothes to be dried are put in the drying chamber 2, the drying chamber 2 is rotated in the forward and reverse rotations by the rotation of a motor (not shown). At the same time, the warm air heated by the heater 4 after passing through the warm air path 3 is blown out by the blower 5 from the warm air outlet 5a to the clothes in the drying chamber 2 for drying.

  The air containing the moisture of the clothes is cooled and dehumidified by the dehumidifying mechanism 6 and then heated again by the heater 4 via the hot air path 3 and sent again to the drying chamber 2 to dry the clothes. To do. Further, when the drying rate becomes close to 95%, the moisture supply means 7 operates, and mist-like moisture is applied to the clothes in the drying chamber 2 from the spraying port 7a, and by proceeding with drying in a state where moisture is applied, Static electricity and wrinkle sticking of clothing are suppressed, and the finished state after drying is improved.

The moisture supply means 7 is a device that vibrates a vibrator using an ultrasonic high-frequency transmitter to generate mist particles, or air is blown to a filter that sucks water to naturally evaporate the water. A device that generates water, a device that causes water diffused by a pump to collide with a wall to generate mist particles, a device that drops water on a heated hot plate, and generates mist particles are considered. These devices are roughly classified into ultrasonic, natural evaporation, water spray, heat transfer, etc. The water vapor diameter of the generated mist is from several tens to 100 μm, and up to several μm if the configuration is specially devised. It is said to reduce.
JP 2003-311098 A

Conventional clothes dryers dry clothes by blowing hot air with increased humidity using moisture supply means on the clothes stored in the drum, thereby reducing the static electricity and wrinkle sticking of the clothes to improve the touch. However, further improvement in the finished characteristics has been demanded. In order to further improve the finishing characteristics of clothes dryers, it is necessary to uniformly disperse a large amount of water vapor in hot air with a large air volume (several m ³ / min), and the running cost is low and calcium carbonate, etc. There is no scattering of fine powder, and the resulting water vapor has a high osmotic power into clothing. A diameter of several microns to a nano size is preferable, and a moisture supply means capable of realizing this is required.

  The conventional moisture supply means is that the ultrasonic method has high initial cost and is easy to disperse germs in the water, the natural evaporation method has a small humidification capacity, the water spray method has a low humidification efficiency and a large size, the heat transfer method There are problems such as increased running costs for electricity bills and scattering of fine powders such as calcium carbonate. In addition, any of these methods has a problem that a large amount of water vapor cannot be uniformly dispersed in the hot air unless a large-scale and complicated apparatus is used. Therefore, there has been a demand for moisture supply means for clothes dryers that solves these problems.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to improve the finish by suppressing static electricity and wrinkle adhesion of clothing by a humidifying means having a simple configuration.

  In order to solve the conventional problem, the clothes dryer of the present invention includes a humidifying means for humidifying the warm air supplied to the inner tub, and the humidifying means has a waterproof moisture-permeable membrane having water vapor permeability. The drying air supplied to the inner tank through the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane is humidified.

  As a result, the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane has a thickness of 0. 0. It is a porous film provided with an infinite number of fine through-holes of several microns to nano-size, and only water vapor moves to the low vapor pressure side via the fine through-holes due to the vapor pressure difference on both sides, so It can contain water vapor of several microns to nano size. For this reason, when this warm air containing water vapor is blown to the clothing, the osmotic force is high. Water vapor of several microns to nano size can penetrate into the inside of the clothing fiber bundle, and can further improve the finishing performance by further suppressing static electricity and wrinkle fixation of the clothing.

  In addition, the humidifying means is a natural evaporation type using a waterproof and moisture permeable membrane, so it can have a simple structure with a wide water contact area. 0 is not required. A large amount of water vapor of several microns to nano size can be easily dispersed uniformly in the warm air, and it is clean and free of running bacteria and calcium carbonate, and the running cost required for humidification is lower than other means.

  The clothes dryer of the present invention can improve the finish by suppressing static electricity and wrinkle sticking of clothes.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a housing, an inner tub disposed in the housing and housing clothing in the interior space, a driving device for rotating the inner tub, dehumidifying means for dehumidifying drying air, Heating means for heating the air dehumidified by the dehumidifying means, humidifying means for humidifying the warm air supplied to the inner tank disposed downstream of the dehumidifying means, the dehumidifying means and the heating means from the inner tank, An air duct that circulates drying air to the inner tank; an air blowing means that blows the air for drying into the air duct; and a control means that controls the humidifying means, the humidifying means having water vapor permeability. A waterproof and moisture permeable membrane is provided, and the drying air supplied to the inner tank through the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane is humidified. The waterproof and breathable membrane is 0. It is a porous film provided with an infinite number of fine through-holes of several microns to nano-size, and only water vapor moves to the low vapor pressure side via the fine through-holes due to the vapor pressure difference on both sides, so It is a material that can contain water vapor of several microns to nano size. For this reason, by sending warm air containing water vapor to clothing, it has a high penetrating power of 0. 0. Water vapor of several microns to nano size can penetrate into the inside of the clothing fiber bundle, and can further improve the finishing performance by further suppressing static electricity and wrinkle fixation of the clothing.

  In the second invention, in particular, the humidifying means of the first invention comprises a waterproof and moisture permeable membrane having water vapor permeability, a hot air flow path provided on one side of the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane and communicating with the air duct, It has a water channel provided on the other side separated by a waterproof and moisture permeable membrane, and humidifies the drying air flowing through the warm air channel through the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane from the water flowing through the water channel. . Since the humidifying means is a natural evaporation type using a waterproof and moisture permeable membrane, it can have a simple configuration with a wide water contact area, which can increase the humidifying capacity and requires a large-scale device. 0. It is easy to uniformly disperse water vapor of several micron to nano size in the hot air, and it is clean and free of running bacteria and calcium carbonate, and the running cost required for humidification is lower than other means.

  According to a third aspect of the invention, in particular, the humidifying means according to the second aspect of the invention is characterized in that the water flowing through the water flow path and the drying air flowing through the hot air flow path flow along the surface of the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane. In addition, it is possible to widen the area where the drying air comes into contact with the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane, and to increase the humidifying ability.

  According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in particular, the humidifying means of the second or third aspect of the invention is for drying by setting the flow direction of the water flowing through the water flow path to a direction opposite to the blowing direction of the drying air flowing through the hot air flow path. The ability to humidify the air can be increased.

  In the fifth invention, in particular, the control means of the first invention reduces the dehumidifying capacity of the dehumidifying means during operation of the humidifying means or stops the operation, so that the amount of water vapor contained in the hot air increases. The amount of water vapor generated from the humidifying means can be reduced. Therefore, the surface area of the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane constituting this can be small, and the humidifying means can be miniaturized.

  In particular, the sixth invention relates to a bypass air duct that connects the upstream and downstream air ducts of the dehumidifying means of the first invention, and a branch portion between the air duct and the bypass air duct on the upstream side of the dehumidifying means. The flow path switching means provided in the control unit is configured to flow the drying air that has been discharged from the inner tank to the bypass air duct when the humidifying means is in operation. Since the air can be supplied to the humidifying means without dehumidifying, the amount of water vapor in the drying air supplied to the inner tank can be increased.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited by the form of this invention.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a clothes dryer according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a humidifying means. In the clothes dryer, an inner tub 10 for storing clothes is disposed in a housing 9 and is supported by a drive device 11 so as to be rotatably driven. Also, the inner tub 10 is provided with a blower duct 12, and from the inlet portion 13, hot air of about 70 ° C. heated by the heating means 14 is supplied by the blower means 15 to dry clothes and the like, Exhaust air containing moisture from the clothes flows out from the outlet portion 16, dehumidifies by the dehumidifying means 17, and reheated air is blown again by the heating means 14 and the blowing means 15 to flow into the inner tank 10. A circulation channel is formed. On the downstream side of the dehumidifying means 17, a humidifying means 18 for humidifying the warm air blown to the clothing is arranged, and the humidifying operation of the humidifying means 18 is controlled by the control means 19.

  Next, the configuration of the humidifying means 18 will be described with reference to FIG. The humidifying means 18 is provided with a warm air flow passage 21 through which the warm air of the blower duct 12 passes on one side thereof through a waterproof and moisture permeable membrane 20 having waterproofness and water vapor permeability, and a water flow in which water flows on the other side. This is a structure in which the paths 22 are arranged. When the water flow path opening / closing means 23 is opened by a command from the control means 19, water flows into the water flow path 22 and the water vapor moves to the warm air flowing through the warm air flow path 21 via the waterproof moisture permeable membrane 20, Humidify. The warm air humidified in this manner humidifies the clothes supplied to and stored in the inner tub 10.

  When stopping the humidification operation, water stops flowing into the water flow path 22 by a command from the control means 19 to close the water flow path opening / closing means 23. As the water flow path 22 runs out of water, the steam does not move to the hot air flow path 21 and humidification stops. In order to smoothly promote this operation, the water channel 22 is preferably a vertical or oblique structure, and the inflowing water is quickly moved out of the water channel 22 to stop humidification.

  Moreover, when the water flowing through the water flow path 22 is heated to heated water, the amount of water vapor that moves to the warm air flow path 21 side through the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane 20 increases, and the amount of humidification can be increased. Moreover, it is good also as a structure which increases the amount of the water vapor | steam moving to the warm air flow path 21 side by combining many structures and increasing the surface area of the waterproof moisture-permeable film 20 side. The waterproof and moisture permeable membrane 20 is housed in the structure of the humidifying means 18 with its periphery sealed with an elastic material 20a such as rubber.

  Further, the humidifying means 18 is configured such that the water flowing through the water flow path 22 and the drying air flowing through the hot air flow path 21 flow along the surface of the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane 20 so that the water and the drying air are waterproof and moisture permeable. The area in contact with the membrane 20 can be widened, and the humidification ability can be increased.

  Further, the humidifying means 18 is set so that the flowing water direction through the water flow path 22 is opposite to the blowing direction of the drying air flowing through the hot air flow path 21, and the flow velocity is accelerated to the drying air. Humidification ability can be increased.

  The waterproof and moisture permeable membrane 20 needs to be a water-impermeable and water-vapor permeable membrane, and does not allow the humidification water to pass through, but can be used as long as it transmits water vapor and humidifies warm air. For example, a nonporous moisture-permeable resin film, a hydrophobic porous film, a polymer porous film impregnated with a nonporous moisture-permeable resin, or a nonporous moisture-permeable resin laminated on a polymer porous film , Fibers and other base materials impregnated or laminated with shape memory polymer, porous polymer skeleton surface of porous polymer membrane is covered with water- and oil-repellent organic polymer, leaving continuous pores Etc. can be used.

In a specific example of such a waterproof moisture-permeable membrane, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is preferable as the material of the hydrophobic porous membrane or the polymer porous membrane. Polyurethane is preferable as the nonporous moisture-permeable resin. Examples of the organic polymer having water repellency and oil repellency include fluoroalkyl acrylate, fluoroalkyl methacrylate, fluoroacrylate / tetrafluoroethylene copolymer, fluoroacrylate / hexafluoropropylene / tetrafluoroethylene copolymer, and 4F polymer (DuPont). ), Cytop (Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.) and the like can be used. The moisture permeability of the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane should be about 2,000 to 150,000 g / m ² · day, more preferably about 5,000 to 15,000 g / m ² · day.

  The effect of the type of humidifying means 18 on wrinkle fixation was examined. The results are shown in (Table 1).

  As in the present invention, the use of a waterproof / breathable membrane 20 to contain water vapor of a small size (diameter of several microns) in hot air is more effective than conventional mist of large size (diameters of several tens of microns). There was less wrinkle sticking than generating particles. In addition, the humidifying means 18 using the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane 20 as in the present invention is a means that is free from scattering of germs and calcium carbonate and is low in running cost, as compared with the prior art.

  The reason is considered as follows. When cellulose-based fibers that make up cotton garments are subjected to water vapor treatment of minute size, water vapor penetrates from the surface to the inside of the cellulosic fibers and is present in the cellulose molecules at the non-crystalline or pseudo-crystalline sites of the cellulosic fibers. Intermolecular and intramolecular interactions such as van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds are temporarily broken, so that intermolecular and intramolecular strains are once relaxed. Simultaneously with the relaxation of these strains, the application of energy by water vapor promotes the crystallization of the non-crystalline or pseudo-crystalline parts of the cellulosic fibers, so that the strains (wrinkles) that the fibers have can be removed and there is no distortion ( It seems to preserve the structure without wrinkles.

  On the other hand, if the size of the water vapor is large, the water vapor does not penetrate from the surface to the inside of the cellulosic fiber, so that distortion between molecules and within the molecule is difficult to relax, and crystals in the non-crystalline part or pseudo-crystal part of the cellulosic fiber. It is difficult to remove the strain (wrinkles) that the fiber had because it was difficult to progress, and it seems to retain the strained (wrinkled) structure as it is.

  The heating means 14 uses an electric heater, the blowing means 15 uses a blowing fan, and the dehumidifying means 17 uses an air cooling fan or a water-cooled heat exchanger. Moreover, you may use the thermal radiation side heat exchanger and the thermal absorption side heat exchanger as the heating means 14 and the dehumidification means 17 using a heat pump.

  The inner tub 10 is dried by rotating in a rotation sequence that repeats forward rotation and reverse rotation at a constant rotation speed, such as 47 rpm, for approximately the same time period. However, even in other rotation modes, the clothes static electricity and wrinkle can be reduced effectively. For example, the clothes are put into the inner tub 10 and the lowermost part of the outer periphery is set as a starting point, and the set starting point is moved forward and backward by 30 to 60 degrees from the lowermost part of the outer periphery to the left and right. Even with a large number of repeated sequences, excellent static electricity and wrinkle reduction effects were obtained.

(Embodiment 2)
In the second embodiment, the dehumidifying capability of the dehumidifying means 17 is reduced or the operation is stopped when the humidifying means 18 is operated. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted. According to this configuration, the amount of dehumidification by the dehumidifying unit 17 is reduced or no dehumidification is performed, so that the amount of water vapor contained in the hot air increases and the amount of water vapor generated from the humidifying unit 18 can be reduced. Therefore, the surface area of the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane 20 constituting this can be small, and the humidifying means can be miniaturized.

(Embodiment 3)
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a clothes dryer according to the third embodiment. A bypass air duct 24 is provided in which the upstream and downstream air ducts 12 of the dehumidifying means 17 are connected to flow non-dehumidified air. A flow path switching means 25 for adjusting the amount of air flow is disposed at a branch portion between the air duct 12 and the bypass air duct 24. When the humidifying means 18 is performing a humidifying operation, the flow path switching means 25 is operated so that the drying air that has flowed out of the inner tub 10 flows into the bypass air duct 24 and is not dehumidified by the dehumidifying means 17. Is sent to the humidifying means 18 so that the humidified warm air is blown to the clothing.

  According to this configuration, since the dehumidifying amount is reduced, the amount of water vapor contained in the warm air is increased, and the amount of water vapor generated from the humidifying means 18 can be reduced. Therefore, the surface area of the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane 20 constituting this can be small, and the humidifying means 18 can be miniaturized.

(Embodiment 4)
FIG. 4 is a time chart showing the operation of the humidifying means in the fourth embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart thereof.

  The cloth amount is detected at the start of operation by the cloth amount detecting means 26 for detecting the cloth amount of the clothes stored in the inner tub 10. The drying arrival time (T1 to T2) corresponding to the clothes drying rate (X1 to X2) is set based on the output of the cloth amount detection means 26, and the control means 19 starts the drying operation and then reaches the drying arrival time. When (T1 to T2) has elapsed, the humidifying means 19 disposed on the downstream side of the dehumidifying means 17 is operated to humidify the drying air circulating in the blower duct 12 and blow it to the inner tank 10. The clothes that have been dried are taken out from the door that can be freely opened and closed. When drying is newly performed, the doors are opened and the clothes are stored in the inner tub 10.

  The humidifying operation of the clothes dryer provided with the cloth amount detecting means 26 in the driving device 11 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When the clothes are stored in the inner tub 10 and the door is closed and the power is turned on, the operation program starts. In the first S1, the cloth amount detecting means 26 is operated, and in S2, the driving device 11 is operated before the drying operation is started to rotate the inner tub 10 for a short time. The amount of clothes is detected from a signal (for example, motor rotation speed, generated torque, rotation angle, motor current, etc.). Next, the process proceeds to S3, and a relational expression between the amount of clothing cloth and the set drying rate arrival time (arrival time T1 of the low drying rate X1, arrival time T2 of the high drying rate X2) obtained in advance by an experiment is called. In S4, the arrival time T1 of the low drying rate X1 and the arrival time T2 of the high drying rate X2 are determined.

  When the arrival times T1 and T2 are determined, the process proceeds to S5 to operate the timepiece for measuring the elapsed drying time T, and simultaneously proceeds to S6 to perform the drying operation. In the drying operation, normally, hot air of about 70 ° C. heated by the heating means 14 and the air blowing means 15 is supplied to the rotating inner tank 10 from the inlet portion 13 of the air duct 12. Then, exhaust air containing moisture from the clothes flows out from the outlet portion 16 of the inner tub 10, dehumidifies by the dehumidifying means 17, is returned to the heating means 14 and the blowing means 15, and blows warm air. Is drying.

  When the clothes are dried, the process proceeds to S7, where the drying elapsed time T and the arrival time T1 of the low drying rate X1 are compared. When the drying elapsed time T is equal to or longer than the arrival time T1 of the low drying rate X1, the process proceeds to S8, the humidifying means 18 operates, and the humidified warm air is blown to the clothing. At the same time, the process proceeds to S9, where the elapsed drying time T and the arrival time T2 of the high drying rate X2 are compared. When the elapsed drying time T is equal to or longer than the arrival time T2 of the high drying rate X2, the process proceeds to S10, the operation of the humidifying means 18 is stopped, and only warm air is blown to the clothing. Finally, the process proceeds to S11, and if it is determined that the drying is completed by the output from the temperature sensor (temperature detection means) 27 disposed in the internal space of the air duct 12, the process further proceeds to S12, and the drying operation is stopped.

  As described above, the control means 19 determines each of the cloth amounts detected by the cloth amount detection means 26 based on the degree of rotation when the inner tub 10 is rotated by the driving device 11 before the drying operation is started. The drying arrival time (drying rate arrival time) corresponding to the clothes drying rate is calculated.

  The details will be described below. The examination was conducted in the case where the clothes drying rate was set to 80% and 98%. FIG. 6 shows effect characteristics obtained by storing 3 kg of cotton clothes in the inner tub 10 and drying. FIG. 6A shows the result of measuring the relationship between the drying time and the clothes drying rate in normal drying (only hot air is blown) in which humidified warm air is not blown to the clothes. It can be seen that the drying rate of clothes increases with time, and the drying is progressing. Further, based on the relationship between the drying elapsed time and the clothing drying rate, a dry arrival time corresponding to a predetermined drying rate was obtained in advance.

  FIG. 6B shows an electric signal (detection signal of the cloth amount detecting means) when the cloth amount detecting means 26 operates the driving device 11 before the drying is started and the inner tub 10 containing the clothes is rotated for a short time. ) And the cloth amount (weight) of clothing. The signal detected by the cloth amount detection means 26 is an electrical signal related to the degree of rotation, such as motor rotation speed, generated torque, rotation angle, motor current, etc., all of which are good with the cloth amount (weight) of clothing. It can be seen that the amount of cloth (weight) of the clothing stored in the inner tub 10 can be determined by using the signals detected by the cloth amount detection means 26 in the correlation characteristics.

  The time required for the clothes drying rate to reach 80% and 98% was measured by changing the amount (weight) of the clothes (1.5 kg, 3 kg, 4.5 kg). FIG. 6C shows the relationship between the amount of cloth (weight) of the garment and the time to reach the drying rates of 80% and 98%. It can be seen that when the amount of cloth (weight) of the garment increases, the time to reach each drying rate becomes longer, but both have good correlation characteristics. FIG. 6D shows the relationship between the detection signal of the cloth amount detection means 26 and the time to reach the 80% and 98% drying rates. When the signal detected from the cloth amount detection means 26 is increased, it takes longer to reach each drying rate, but it can be seen that the two have good correlation characteristics. From this, it can be seen that the time to reach the predetermined drying rate can be estimated from the detection signal of the cloth amount detecting means 26 corresponding to the cloth amount (weight). Moreover, by this, the time to reach the predetermined drying rate can be estimated with good accuracy, and wrinkles of clothing can be further reduced.

  An example in which the cloth amount detection unit 26 rotates the inner tub 10 containing clothes for a short time to obtain an electrical signal related to the cloth amount of the clothes (detection signal of the cloth amount detection unit) will be described using a motor current. When the driving device 11 is operated before the drying is started and the inner tub 10 containing the clothes is rotated for a short time, a motor current (referred to as acceleration current) due to acceleration is generated. Further, when the operation of the drive device 11 is stopped, a motor current (referred to as a deceleration current) resulting from deceleration is generated. Since the total current, which is the sum of the acceleration current and the deceleration current, is proportional to the amount of clothing cloth, the amount of clothing cloth can be determined by detecting this total current. In addition to this, the amount of clothing cloth is determined from both the motor current (or electric power) when the inner tub 10 is rotated forward and backward for a short time and the inertial rotation angle that rotates with the inertia when the rotation of the inner tub 10 is stopped. There is also a method of detecting, and when the amount of clothes is large, the motor current is large and the inertia rotation angle is small, and when the amount of clothes is small, the motor current is small and the inertia rotation angle is large.

  When used as a washing / drying machine having a washing function, the control means 19 is based on the degree of rotation when the driving device 11 rotates the inner tub 10 before starting washing, and the cloth amount detection means 26. The dry arrival time (drying rate arrival time) corresponding to each clothing drying rate is calculated from the amount of clothing cloth detected by.

  If this control sequence is used, the humidified warm air can be blown to the clothing at the drying rate X1 to X2 that has the most wrinkle reducing effect, so that the amount of humidification can be reduced, and the surface area of the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane 20 can be reduced. There is an advantage that it can be downsized. Also, the drying time can be shortened.

(Embodiment 5)
In the fifth embodiment, in the estimation of the time to reach the predetermined drying rate performed in the fourth embodiment, the control means 19 is based on the temperature information of the temperature sensor 27 arranged in the internal space of the air duct 12. The time to reach each clothing drying rate is corrected.

  The details will be described below. The examination was conducted in the case where the clothes drying rate was set to 80% and 98%. FIG. 7A shows the result of measuring the temperature of the temperature sensor 27 arranged in the internal space of the air duct 12 when 3 kg of cotton clothing is stored in the inner tub 10 and drying is performed for each elapsed time of drying. is there. As time passes, it turns out that the temperature in the ventilation duct 12 rises. Next, the air duct 12 when the dryness reaches 80% and 98% using the clothes drying rate progress characteristics of FIG. 6A and the temperature characteristics in the air duct 12 of FIG. 7A. The temperature inside was determined. When the 80% clothes drying rate was reached, the temperature inside the air duct was 45 ° C, and when the 98% clothes drying rate was reached, the temperature inside the air duct was 55 ° C.

  FIG. 7B shows the time for the temperature in the air duct 12 corresponding to the drying rate of 80% to reach 45 ° C. and the time for the temperature in the air duct 12 corresponding to the drying rate of 98% to reach 55 ° C. It is the result of having measured the cloth amount of clothing, changing (1.5 kg, 3 kg, 4.5 kg). It can be seen that as the amount (weight) of clothing increases, the time to reach each temperature increases, but both have good correlation characteristics.

  FIG. 7C shows the detection signal of the cloth amount detection means 26, the time for the temperature in the air duct 12 corresponding to the drying rate of 80% to reach 45 ° C., and the inside of the air duct 12 corresponding to the drying rate of 98%. This is a summary of the relationship of the time required for the temperature to reach 55 ° C. When the signal of the cloth amount detecting means 26 increases, the cloth amount (weight) of the clothes increases, so that it takes a long time to reach each temperature, but it can be seen that both have good correlation characteristics.

  Based on the above, based on the electrical signal relating to the cloth amount of the clothes detected by the cloth amount detecting means 26, the temperature in the air duct 12 when reaching the predetermined clothes drying rate is obtained by experiment in advance and set. If the measured temperature does not reach the set temperature inside the air duct 12 even when the calculated drying time is reached, the calculated drying time is delayed according to the difference between the measured temperature and the set temperature. Therefore, the time accuracy can be improved by resetting and correcting.

  Conversely, when the measured drying time does not reach the calculated drying time even though the measured temperature has reached the set temperature inside the air duct 12, the calculated drying time is reset and corrected earlier. Thus, the time accuracy can be improved. Moreover, the wrinkle of clothing was further reduced by this. In addition, although one temperature sensor 27 is disposed upstream of the heating unit 14 and downstream of the dehumidifying unit 17, one more temperature sensor 27 is disposed upstream of the dehumidifying unit 17 in order to further improve detection accuracy. Thus, a comprehensive determination may be made with the two pieces of temperature information.

(Embodiment 6)
In the sixth embodiment, the drying rates X1 to X2 having the most wrinkle reduction effect were examined. FIG. 8 shows effect characteristics obtained by storing 3 kg of cotton clothes in the inner tub 10 of the dryer and drying. FIG. 8A shows the result of measurement of the relationship between the elapsed drying time and the clothing drying rate in normal drying in which humidified warm air is not blown to clothing (only warm air is blown). It can be seen that the drying rate of clothes increases with time, and the drying is progressing. Further, based on the relationship between the drying elapsed time and the clothing drying rate, a dry arrival time corresponding to a predetermined drying rate was obtained in advance.

  FIG. 8B shows, based on the examination result of FIG. 8A, when the drying arrival time corresponding to the predetermined drying rate is reached, the humidified warm air starts to be blown to the clothing, and the predetermined drying rate is further increased to 2.5. When the dry arrival time corresponding to the% increase in the drying rate is reached, the humidified warm air is stopped, and the other drying rates are normal wrinkles (only hot air is blown). It is a characteristic.

  At a drying rate of 95%, humidified warm air is blown at the corresponding time, and when the drying arrival time corresponding to a drying rate increased by 3.0% (drying rate of 98%) is reached, the humidified warm air is stopped. ing. Accordingly, when the drying rate reaches 98%, the humidified warm air is blown, and when the drying arrival time corresponding to the drying rate increased by 2.0% (drying rate 100%) is reached, the humidified warm air stops blowing. is doing.

  From this clothing wrinkle characteristic, it can be seen that the clothing wrinkle is reduced in the present invention as compared with the reference example. This is considered that the wrinkle of clothing is reduced by the action of a crosslinked body in which water vapor enters the cotton clothing fiber bundle. Moreover, it turns out that it has the outstanding clothing wrinkle characteristic especially if humidified warm air is ventilated to clothing to the arbitrary clothing drying rate set to the clothing drying rate 80-98% area | region. This is because, in the region where the clothes drying rate is 80 to 98%, the clothes do not have a medium that acts as a cross-linked body. However, when humidified warm air is blown to the garment, it is considered that the wrinkle is further reduced by acting as a cross-linked body in which water vapor enters the cotton garment fiber bundle.

  Here, the wrinkle fixing mechanism in cotton clothing will be described. The wrinkles are strains caused by stresses such as twisting and compression that are received when the clothes stored in the inner tub 10 are repeatedly rotated and dropped as the inner tub 10 rotates. The wrinkles (strain due to stress) are (1) crystallinity (the molecules constituting the fibers are regularly arranged without branching), (2) glass transition temperature (the fibers are constituted) The temperature at which the molecules stop moving and become hard and brittle), and (3) cross-linking (the molecules that make up the fibers are joined together by weak bonds) determine their adhesion. The lower the crystallinity, the closer the clothing temperature is to the glass transition temperature, and the lower the crosslinking, the more likely the wrinkles will stick. In the case of cotton clothing, the crystallinity is almost the same regardless of the drying rate, so that there is no need to consider the crystallinity. The glass transition temperature varies greatly depending on the drying rate, and moves to the higher temperature side as the drying rate increases. For this reason, the higher the clothing temperature, the closer to the glass transition temperature, so that the clothing becomes soft and easily deforms, and the wrinkles tend to stick.

  The cross-linking in cotton clothing will be described. Crosslinking varies greatly depending on the drying rate. Immediately after washing and dewatering the cotton garment (drying rate of about 67% to about 80%), there are cross-linking by the soaked water, and after the dry rate of 98%, there are cross-linking by hydrogen bonds, so that wrinkles are hard to stick. However, the other drying rate region (drying rate of 80 to 98%) is not cross-linked and thus tends to be fixed with wrinkles. Therefore, immediately after washing and dewatering the cotton garment (drying rate of about 67% to about 80%), the water sufficiently soaks into the cotton garment fiber bundle and acts as a cross-linked body that crosslinks the fiber bundle of the garment. Although it does not stick so much, in the region where the drying rate is 80% to 98%, there is no medium that acts as a cross-linked body, so the wrinkle is the most fixed, and the wrinkle that adheres a lot in this region exceeds the clothing drying rate of 98%. Since it is held as it is until the end, the finish is deteriorated.

  Next, the wrinkle reduction mechanism of cotton clothing by humidified warm air will be described. When the humidified warm air is blown onto the cotton garment, the water vapor penetrates into the middle of the cotton garment fiber and acts on the fiber bundle constituting the cotton garment to suppress wrinkle sticking. And this wrinkle sticking suppression has a particularly remarkable effect in the range of the clothes drying rate of 80 to 98%. The reason for this is that, as described above, the moisture that has penetrated when the clothes drying rate is less than 80% acts and the wrinkles are hard to stick, and when the clothes drying rate exceeds 98%, hydrogen bonds that act as a crosslinked product are generated. This is because wrinkle fixation is not performed more than this, and in this drying rate region, the effect of suppressing wrinkle fixation based on the cross-linking action of water vapor does not appear remarkably. On the other hand, in the range of 80 to 98% of the clothes drying rate, there is no medium for crosslinking in cotton clothing, but when humidified warm air is blown onto cotton clothing, water vapor reduces the temperature of the cotton clothing and the clothing. The effect which acts on the fiber bundle of this and suppresses wrinkle sticking is notably acquired.

(Embodiment 7)
In the seventh embodiment, the clothing drying rate with the least amount of clothing is examined in the clothing drying rate set in the fourth embodiment. As can be seen from the results in FIG. 8 (b), the clothing wrinkle rate including 90% had the least amount of clothing wrinkles. The reason for this is that when the clothing has a drying rate of about 90%, when humidified warm air is blown to the clothing, the clothing is wrinkled more by the action of a cross-linked body in which water vapor enters the cotton clothing fiber bundle. It is thought to be reduced.

(Embodiment 8)
In the eighth embodiment, the influence of the rotation axis direction of the inner tub 10 on wrinkle fixation was examined under non-humidified hot air. The effect characteristics are shown in Table 2. The dryer that was rotated with the rotation axis of the inner tank 10 tilted slightly upward from the horizontal was less wrinkled and fixed than the dryer that was rotated with the rotation axis of the inner tank 10 vertical. This is presumably because the dryer with the rotating shaft rotated slightly obliquely from the horizontal has less stress load on the clothes. Furthermore, when humidified hot air is supplied at a drying rate of 95%, both of them are reduced in wrinkles as compared to non-humidified hot air, but in particular, the dryer with the rotating shaft rotated slightly obliquely from the horizontal is better. There was less wrinkle sticking than the dryer rotated vertically.

  In addition, even if the inner tank 10 was rotated with the rotation axis being horizontal, an excellent wrinkle reduction effect was obtained as in the case where the inner tank 10 was slightly inclined. In addition, when humidified warm air is blown to clothing at any clothing drying rate set in the region of clothing drying rate of 80 to 98%, an even better wrinkle reduction effect can be obtained as compared with a clothing drying rate of 95%. It was. In addition, the range in which the effect of reducing excellent clothes static electricity and wrinkles is obtained is a range in which the rotation axis of the inner tub 10 is inclined 0 to 30 ° upward from the horizontal.

  As described above, the clothes dryer according to the present invention can improve the finishing performance by suppressing static electricity and wrinkle adhesion of the clothes, and thus is useful as a clothes dryer or a laundry clothes dryer for drying clothes. is there.

Sectional drawing of the clothes dryer in Embodiment 1 of this invention Sectional view of humidifying means of the clothes dryer Sectional drawing of the clothes dryer in Embodiment 3 of this invention Time chart of humidifying means of clothes dryer in embodiment 4 of the present invention Flow chart showing the operation of the humidifying means (A) Relationship diagram between the elapsed time of drying of the clothes dryer and the drying rate of clothing (b) Relationship diagram between the amount of clothing cloth and the detection signal of the clothing detection means (c) The amount of clothing cloth and the arrival time of the predetermined drying rate Relationship diagram (d) Relationship diagram between the detection signal of the clothing detection means and the predetermined drying rate arrival time (A) Relationship diagram between drying time of clothes dryer and temperature in air duct in embodiment 5 of the present invention (b) Relationship diagram between amount of clothing cloth and predetermined temperature in air duct (c) Relationship diagram between the detection signal of the volume detection means and the temperature arrival time in the predetermined air duct (A) Relationship diagram between drying elapsed time and clothing drying rate of clothing dryer in Embodiment 6 of the present invention (b) Relationship diagram between clothing drying rate and wrinkle evaluation score A perspective view of a conventional clothes dryer

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 9 Housing | casing 10 Inner tank 11 Drive apparatus 12 Blower duct 13 Inlet part 14 Heating means 15 Blower means 16 Outlet part 17 Dehumidifying means 18 Humidifying means 19 Control means 20 Waterproof moisture-permeable film 21 Hot air flow path 22 Water flow path 23 Water flow path opening / closing means 24 bypass air duct 25 flow path switching means 26 cloth amount detection means 27 temperature sensor (temperature detection means)

Claims (6)

A housing, an inner tub disposed in the housing and containing clothing, a driving device for rotating the inner tub, dehumidifying means for dehumidifying drying air, and air dehumidified by the dehumidifying means Heating means for heating the humidifying means, humidifying means for humidifying the warm air supplied to the inner tank disposed downstream of the dehumidifying means, and drying air from the inner tank to the inner tank through the dehumidifying means and the heating means A ventilation duct that circulates the air, a blowing means that blows drying air into the ventilation duct, and a control means that controls the humidifying means, and the humidifying means has a waterproof moisture-permeable membrane having water vapor permeability. And a clothes dryer for humidifying the drying air supplied to the inner tank through the waterproof and moisture-permeable membrane. The humidifying means is provided on the other surface side separated by the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane, the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane having water vapor permeability, the warm air flow path provided on one side of the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane and communicating with the air duct. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, further comprising a water channel, wherein drying air flowing through the warm air channel through the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane is humidified from water flowing through the water channel. The clothes dryer according to claim 2, wherein the humidifying means allows water flowing through the water flow path and drying air flowing through the warm air flow path to flow along the surface of the waterproof and moisture permeable membrane. The clothes dryer according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the humidifying means sets the direction of flowing water flowing through the water flow path to a direction opposite to the blowing direction of drying air flowing through the hot air flow path. 2. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the control means reduces the dehumidifying capacity of the dehumidifying means or stops the operation when the humidifying means is in operation. A bypass air duct that connects the upstream and downstream air ducts of the dehumidifying means, and a flow path switching means provided at a branching portion of the air duct and the bypass air duct on the upstream side of the dehumidifying means, The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein drying air that has come out of the inner tub during operation of the humidifying means is caused to flow to the bypass air duct.

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