JP2011101670A - Clothes drying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a washing/drying machine capable of drying clothes with low power consumption, low noise, and few wrinkles. <P>SOLUTION: Air flowing in a casing during drying with both of high air volume at low speed and low air volume at high speed is optimized by switching a plurality of air paths according to the air volumes, changing the rotational frequency of a fan according to the air path, and switching the expansion angle of a casing according to the rotational frequency of the fan. As a result, air can smoothly flow and therefore, noise of the fan can be reduced. Further, as a circulation air path can be closed in a dewatering step, the air loss caused by the high-speed rotation of a drum 1 in the dewatering step can be suppressed, and the power consumption can be further reduced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a clothes dryer for drying clothes and a washing / drying machine having a washing function and a clothes drying function.

  Conventionally, drum-type clothes dryers and washing dryers blow drying air into the drum through the air passage, and the drying air is brought into contact with the clothes put in the drum to remove moisture from the clothes and dry the clothes. At the same time, the drying air that has become humid due to moisture is discharged to the air path outside the drum. In particular, since clothes are dried in a limited space of a narrow drum, there is a problem that the clothes after drying are in a state of strong wrinkles, and various methods have been considered for solving the problems (for example, , See Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 5 shows a conventional drum-type washing and drying machine described in Patent Document 1. In FIG. As shown in the figure, in the conventional drum type washing and drying machine, the air volume is reduced by blowing drying air into the rotary drum 23 from the first air passage 21 and the second air passage 22 during the drying process. This increases the evaporation of moisture from the garment 24 to shorten the drying time. Further, in the second air passage 22, high-pressure air is blown to the clothes 24 in the rotary drum 23 at a high speed from a second blowing port 25 provided at the lower portion of the opening of the rotary drum 23. In this way, by stirring while lifting the garment 24 with the blown air, wrinkles are prevented from being generated in the garment 24, thereby improving the dry finish.

JP 2009-72502 A

  However, in the conventional configuration, high-pressure and high-speed air is blown. In general, however, the power consumption of the blower fan motor increases because the amount of work increases in order to blow high-pressure and high-speed air having the same air volume. Further, the conventional configuration uses two blower fan motors in order to increase the air volume, which further increases the power consumption. Therefore, there has been a problem in terms of energy saving as a method for shortening the drying time and extending wrinkles. In addition, when the drum rotates at high speed during the dehydration process, wind is generated around the drum, and the wind circulates through the circulation air passage for drying. However, in the conventional configuration, there are two air passages. Since there is a blower, the windage loss increases, and as a result, power consumption during the dehydration process also increases.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and to provide a low-noise washing and drying machine that can dry with low power consumption and low wrinkles.

Depending on the progress of drying of clothes and the way of wrinkle fixing during the drying process from the start to the end of drying, the process of drying with less power consumption and the clothes always moving so that wrinkles do not stick The drying process is performed separately from the stretching process.In other words, when the clothes in the early stage of the drying operation contain a lot of moisture, the air passage cross-sectional area is increased and the air flow with a small pressure loss is dried. Air is applied to clothing to evaporate a lot of water, shortening the drying time, and the power consumption of the fan motor is low. And the drying middle where the drying has progressed has a small air passage cross-sectional area, and the clothing is spread and wrinkled by applying high-pressure and high-speed drying air obtained by rotating the blower fan motor at a high rotational speed. It is to reduce. In addition, when the rotational speed of the blower fan is increased, the enlargement angle switching means provided in the vicinity of the discharge outlet of the spiral casing constituting the blower section, which makes the enlargement angle variable, is switched so that the enlargement angle becomes smaller. Even when high wind speed winds flow, the wind flows smoothly and noise is reduced. Furthermore, during the dehydration process, the expansion angle variable means is switched so that the discharge port of the air blower is fully closed, and the wind loss caused by the rotation of the drum is reduced by preventing the wind from circulating in the circulation air passage. To do. As a result, during the drying process, the high-speed and high-speed drying air is always blown out as in the conventional example, and the two blower fan motors are always used to increase the air volume. Power consumption can be reduced and noise during the drying process can be reduced.

  In this way, by switching the air outlet during the drying process, it is possible to reduce the power consumption amount at the same time because the air is dried with a large air volume that consumes less power than the high wind speed in the middle of drying. By switching the expansion angle of the fan, it is possible to eliminate the turbulence of the wind in the vicinity of the casing discharge port caused by the difference in the direction of the wind discharged from the outer periphery of the fan due to the difference in the rotational speed of the fan, thereby reducing the fan noise. And noise during the drying process can be reduced.

  In the above configuration, particularly when the rotation speed of the fan becomes high, the enlargement angle becomes small, and when the rotation speed becomes low, the enlargement angle switching means is switched so that the enlargement angle becomes large. When the fan speed is low, the wind speed is low, and a large amount of wind is flowing, the air passage cross-sectional area of the casing discharge port is increased to convert the dynamic pressure into static pressure more smoothly. When the high fan speed is increased, the wind speed is high and the high wind speed is high, the enlargement angle is reduced, and when the high wind speed wind flows in the casing, the wind is less likely to flow near the outer periphery of the casing. Eliminates disturbances such as wind separation that occur and reduces noise. Thereby, the noise at the time of a drying process can be reduced more effectively.

  In the above configuration, in particular, the enlarged angle switching means enables the discharge port of the air blower to be fully closed, and switches the discharge port to be fully closed during the dehydration process. This is to prevent wind from flowing on the road. As a result, the circulation of the wind during the dehydration process can be stopped, the windage loss due to the wind flowing through the circulation air passage can be almost eliminated, and the power consumption during operation can be reduced.

  The washing / drying machine of the present invention reduces the total power consumption of the blower fan motor, shortens the drying time, enables low power consumption and low wrinkle drying, and reduces noise during the drying process. To do.

Side surface sectional drawing of the drum type washing-drying machine in the 1st Embodiment of this invention The block diagram of the ventilation part in the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the flow of the wind inside the casing in the 1st Embodiment of this invention The block diagram of the ventilation part in the 1st Embodiment of this invention Side sectional view of a conventional drum-type washing and drying machine

  Hereinafter, a drum type washing and drying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, the following embodiment is an example which actualized this invention, Comprising: The thing of the character which limits the technical scope of this invention is not.

  FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a drum-type washing / drying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, a cylindrical drum 1 (accommodating portion) having a bottom surface with a front opening that accommodates laundry is supported in a housing 100 and enclosed in a cylindrical aquarium 2 that stores washing water. A drum drive motor 3 (drum drive unit) is attached to the rear surface of the water tank 2 so as to rotate the drum 1 by tilting the rotating shaft forward.

  The casing 100 is provided with a door body 35 facing the opening end side of the drum 1, and the user opens and closes the laundry body (clothing) with respect to the drum 1 by opening the door body 35. be able to. In addition, a water supply pipe provided with a water supply valve (not shown) and a drain pipe 40 provided with a drain valve 27 are connected to the water tank 2.

  The drying air for drying the clothes is blown to the blower 4 to take moisture from the laundry in the drum 1 to become a humid state, and passes through the discharge port 5 located around the side surface of the drum 1 to the drum. 1 is discharged to the outside. The discharged drying air is dehumidified by the dehumidifying unit 6. The drying air dehumidified by the dehumidifying unit 6 is heated by the heating unit 7. The heated drying air is guided to either the first air passage 9 or the second air passage 11 and blows out into the drum 1 again. Here, the first air passage 9 has a first air outlet 8 opened to the rear of the drum 1. On the other hand, the second air passage 11 has a second air outlet 10 opened on the front peripheral side surface of the drum 1. The first air outlet 8 of the first air passage 9 is formed so as to have an air passage cross-sectional area larger than that of the second air outlet 10, and there is less pressure loss than the second air passage 11, and a large air volume is dried. The working air can be blown into the drum 1. Further, the second air outlet 10 of the second air passage 11 has an air passage cross-sectional area smaller than that of the first air outlet 8, and high-pressure and high-speed drying air in the drum 1 as compared with the first air outlet 8. Can be blown out.

  Usually, in the case of a drum-type washing / drying machine, the gap between the front of the rotating drum 1 and the water tank 2 is formed as small as possible so that clothing does not bite. Therefore, although it is difficult in terms of space to provide a small opening with a small opening and a small pressure loss in the small gap, the second blowing outlet 10 that blows off high-pressure and high-speed wind with a relatively small air passage cross-sectional area is provided. It can be provided. On the other hand, the bottom of the back of the drum 1 has a space for providing the first air outlet 8 having a relatively large opening. And if the 1st blower outlet 8 is covered with the cover 26 with a large opening ratio which consists of many small diameter holes which can ventilate, clothing will not bite into the said 1st blower outlet 8. FIG. Therefore, the 1st blower outlet 8 with comparatively little pressure loss can be provided in the bottom face of drum 1 back.

  In addition, when the clothes are stirred by rotating the drum 1 so that the rotation axis of the drum 1 is tilted forward, small clothes such as socks, handkerchiefs, and briefs tend to be biased to the back of the drum 1, while long-sleeved underwear, trousers, and long sleeves. The long clothes such as the cutter shirt and the long-sleeved pajamas tend to be biased forward of the drum 1. Accordingly, when drying is performed in a state where small clothes and long clothes are mixed, if a large amount of drying air is blown out from the first air outlet 8 located at the back rear of the drum 1, the small clothes biased toward the back of the drum 1 are used. The drying air comes into contact first. Further, the drying air passes through the small clothes and reaches the long clothes in front of the drum 1. Therefore, both small clothes and long clothes can be efficiently dried. Especially, small clothes can be dried with relatively little wrinkles. On the other hand, long clothes that are likely to be twisted and wrinkle easily due to agitation during drying are liable to be biased to the front of the drum 1, and therefore wind (drying air) is discharged from the second air outlet 10 located in front of the drum 1. ) Is faster to dry. Furthermore, by applying a high-pressure and high-speed wind (drying air) ejected from the second air outlet 10 to the long clothing, the long clothing is easily spread and the long clothing moves well by the wind, so that the effect of reducing wrinkles is great. .

  The air path switching unit 12 is provided at a branch portion between the first air path 9 and the second air path 11 formed on the downstream side of the air blowing unit 4. The air path switching unit 12 switches the passage of drying air to either the first air path 9 or the second air path 11. The air path switching unit 12 includes a valve 12a pivotally supported by a branch portion between the first air path 9 and the second air path 11, and a drive unit (not shown) that rotationally drives the valve 12a. To do. Then, when the valve 12a rotates to the a side in FIG. 1 and closes the second air passage 11, the first air passage 9 side is opened, and the drying air blown by the blower unit 4 is supplied to the first air passage 9. To go through. On the other hand, when the valve 12a rotates to the b side in the figure and closes the first air passage 9, the second air passage 11 side is opened, and the drying air blown by the blower 4 is supplied to the second air passage 11. To go through.

  The circulation air passage 13 is provided with the air blowing section 4 and the air passage switching section 12 in the middle thereof, and passes through the air passage of the drum 1, the discharge port 5, the dehumidifying section 6, and the heating section 7 in this order, and again Drying air is sent from the first air outlet 8 or the second air outlet 10 to the drum 1, and the air for drying is circulated in the drum type laundry dryer.

  The air blowing unit 4 is provided between the heating unit 7 and the air path switching unit 12, and sends the drying air heated by the heating unit 7 to the downstream side of the circulation air path 13. The blower unit 4 includes a blower fan 4a and a blower fan motor 4b. As shown in FIG. 2, the drying air for drying the clothes is blown to the blowing unit 4 including the fan 4a and the spiral casing 4b, deprives the laundry in the drum 1 of moisture, and becomes a humid state. 1 is discharged out of the drum 1 through a discharge port 5 positioned around the side surface of the drum 1. The discharged drying air is dehumidified by the dehumidifying means 6. The drying air dehumidified by the dehumidifying means 6 is heated by the heating means 7. The heated drying air has a first air outlet 8 at the rear of the drum 1 and has a large air passage cross-sectional area and a small pressure loss. The air is guided to any one of the second air passages 11 having the second air outlets 10 for blowing out small, high-pressure, high-speed air, and blows out into the drum 1 again.

  In the air blowing unit 4, when the air path switching unit 12 switches to the first air path 9, the air volume passing through the first air path 9 becomes a predetermined air volume larger than the air volume of the second air path 11. The blower fan 4a is rotated. Further, when the air path switching unit 12 switches to the second air path 11, the wind speed passing through the second air outlet 10 of the second air path 11 becomes a predetermined air speed that is faster than the air speed passing through the first air outlet 8. The fan 4a for ventilation is rotated so that it may become. For example, the wind speed passing through the first air outlet 8 can be set to about 10 m / s, and the wind speed passing through the second air outlet 10 can be set to 50 m / s or more. In addition, the wind speed which passes the 1st blower outlet 8 and the 2nd blower outlet 10 is not limited to this, Arbitrary if the wind speed in the 2nd blower outlet 10 satisfy | fills conditions faster than the wind speed in the 1st blower outlet 8 The wind speed can be set.

  In the drum type washing and drying machine of the present embodiment, the amount of air passing through the first air passage 9 is larger than the amount of air passing through the second air passage 11, and passes through the second air outlet 10 of the second air passage 11. The wind speed is higher than the wind speed passing through the first air outlet 8, and the air path switching unit 12 is operated during the drying process to switch between the first air path 9 and the second air path 11.

  The discharge port 5 is disposed at a position relatively far from the first air outlet 8 than the distance from the second air outlet 10 (in other words, the discharge port 5 is relatively second. It is close to the air outlet 10 and far from the first air outlet 8). Therefore, the discharge port 5 is provided closer to the front than the rear of the drum 1. The outlet 5 may be provided in the vicinity of the second outlet 10 located in front of the drum 1 so that the distance from the first outlet 8 is the longest.

Further, the discharge port 5 is disposed on the upper side of the drum 1 so that the drying air after contacting the clothes can be effectively discharged upward. In a drum-type clothes dryer having no washing function, the discharge port 5 can be provided at a place other than above the drum 1. However, in a drum-type laundry dryer, since it is affected by washing water, It is desirable to provide it above.

  Further, the second air outlet 10 opens at the upper front part of the drum 1. As a result, high-pressure and high-speed drying air can be effectively sprayed on the clothing that is moved by the rotation of the drum 1 and the wrinkle reduction effect can be enhanced.

  Below the aquarium 2 is a damper 14 that supports the aquarium 2 and attenuates the vibration of the aquarium 2 when the drum 1 is rotated in a weight unbalanced state caused by uneven clothing in the drum 1 during dehydration or the like. Is provided. The damper 14 is provided with a cloth amount detector 15 that detects the amount of clothing by detecting the amount of displacement of the shaft of the damper 14 up and down due to the weight change caused by the clothing in the water tank 2 to be supported.

  The drum type washing and drying machine of the present embodiment is configured to perform heat pump type dehumidification and heating, and includes a heat pump device. This heat pump device is decompressed by a compressor 16 that compresses the refrigerant, a radiator 17 that radiates heat of the refrigerant that has been compressed to a high temperature and a high pressure, and a throttle unit 18 that depressurizes the pressure of the high pressure refrigerant. A heat absorber 19 that draws heat from the surroundings by the low-pressure refrigerant and a pipe line 20 that connects these four members and circulates the refrigerant are provided. And the heat absorber 19 in this heat pump apparatus is said dehumidification part 6, and the heat radiator 17 is said heating part 7. FIG.

  Note that the drum type washing and drying machine is not limited to a structure that performs heat pump type clothes drying. For example, the dehumidifying unit 6 may be a water-cooling type in which water is sprayed directly on the drying air, and the heating unit 7 may be a heater.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the drum type washing and drying machine has a control unit 70. The control unit 70 controls a series of operation operations including washing, rinsing, dehydration, and drying based on setting information input from the user via the input setting unit 32 and operation state monitoring of each unit. For example, in the drying process, the control unit 70 controls the rotation of the drum drive motor 3 via the motor drive circuit 22, controls the operations of the blower unit 4 and the heat pump device 50, and further controls the air path switching unit 12. The first air path 9 and the second air path 11 are switched by control. The control unit 70 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores programs, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that stores programs and data when various processes are executed, an input / output interface, and these Can be configured by a bus connecting the two. Further, the control unit 70 has a timer 71 that measures a first predetermined time and a second predetermined time, which will be described later. As the timer 71, an internal timer incorporated as an internal function in the operation of the control unit 70 can be used. As the timer 71, a timer device independent from the control unit 70 can be used.

  In the present embodiment, only one first air outlet 8 of the first air passage 9 is provided, but a plurality of first air outlets 8 may be provided. Similarly, although the example which provided only the 2nd blower outlet 10 of the 2nd air path 11 is shown, the 2nd blower outlet 10 can also be made into two or more.

  Hereinafter, the operation and effect of the drum type washing and drying machine configured as described above will be described in detail.

First, the generation of wrinkles during clothing drying will be considered. When clothes are dried in a narrow drum, wrinkles are generated and remain in the clothes, which is unsatisfactory for the user. This is because, in a narrow drum, the clothes cannot be dried with the neatly stretched state. In particular, a lot of wrinkles are generated in clothing using a lot of cotton, and the finish after drying tends to be poor.

  In the case of cotton fibers, the fibers can move freely when moisture is present in the fibers, so even if the clothes are stirred and bent by mechanical force by the rotation of the drum, the direction in which they are stretched next When force is applied, the bent part will not stretch and remain as wrinkles. However, when drying progresses and the moisture in the fibers decreases, the bonding strength between the cotton fibers becomes stronger and the movement of the fibers becomes worse. At this time, when the fiber is bent by a mechanical force, the state is easily maintained. If the drying further proceeds and the moisture in the fiber is further reduced, the fiber remains bent and does not stretch even if a force is applied in the next stretching direction. This state is called wrinkle fixation. In order to dry clothes, moisture must be evaporated, but when moisture decreases, a conflicting phenomenon occurs in which wrinkles stick. The more wrinkles stick, the less dry the finish.

  In a narrow drum, it is inevitable that the fibers are bent. Therefore, in order to reduce wrinkles, it is important to reduce the number of wrinkles and to avoid that the fiber bends sharply and is strongly fixed. Accordingly, it is desirable that drying progresses while the position of the bending is frequently changed and the fiber is stretched or bent, such that a portion where the fiber is bent is extended and another portion is bent. On the other hand, in the state where the drying has progressed with the fibers stretched and the moisture has almost disappeared, even if a mechanical force is applied in the next bending direction, the fibers are strongly bonded to each other. It ’s hard to be.

  From the above, in the drying process, there are areas where wrinkles are likely to adhere depending on the dry state of the clothing, and areas where it is not. In terms of the drying rate based on the clothing made of cotton fibers that are most prone to wrinkles, the area from about 85% (around 85%) to about 100% (around 100%) is an area where wrinkles are likely to adhere to the clothes. It is. In particular, wrinkles are most likely to adhere to the garment in the region where the drying rate based on the garment made of cotton fibers is approximately 90% (around 90%) to approximately 100% (around 100%). Here, the drying rate (%) is expressed by the following equation.

Drying rate = (weight of standard clothes / weight of clothes including moisture) × 100
Here, the mass of the standard garment is the mass of the garment that is balanced under the conditions of an air temperature of 20 ° C. and a humidity of 65%.

  In addition, even if it sees the dry state of one piece of clothing, it does not dry uniformly and a drying nonuniformity generate | occur | produces partially. For example, in the case of a long-sleeved shirt, the armpit is the slowest to dry. For this reason, the drying process is normally not completed with a drying rate at the end of drying of 100%, but the drying process is completed with a drying rate exceeding 100% (for example, a drying rate of 102% to 105%). Designed to do. Therefore, when the drying process is divided into regions based on the drying rate, wrinkles from the beginning of the drying in which the wrinkles from the immediately after dehydration to the drying rate of about 90% are difficult to be fixed, and wrinkles from the drying rate of about 90% to about 100% are generated and fixed. In the middle part of the drying, where the amount of water is likely to increase, and in the final stage of the drying, where the drying rate exceeds 100% and wrinkles are unlikely to occur.

  In the present embodiment, in the region of the middle drying area, a high-pressure and high-speed wind that is effective in reducing wrinkles by increasing the clothes is blown out from the second air outlet 10 of the second air passage 11 and applied to the clothes. Yes. A large amount of air is blown from the first air outlet 8 of the first air passage 9 in at least one region of the early drying stage and the final drying stage. In this way, by switching between the first air path 9 and the second air path 11 in the drying process, the generation of wrinkles is reduced and power saving is also achieved.

The timing of the beginning of drying, the middle of drying, and the end of drying in the drying process can be estimated from the time from the start of the drying process. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the control unit 70 determines the timing of the beginning of drying, the middle of drying, and the end of drying in the drying process based on the time from the start of the drying process, and controls the air path switching unit 12 to The first air passage 9 and the second air passage 11 are switched with good timing. More specifically, the control unit 70 determines that the period from the start of the drying process until the first predetermined time elapses is the early stage of drying. Further, the control unit 70 determines that the period from the start of the first predetermined time until the second predetermined time, which is longer than the first predetermined time, elapses from the start of the drying process is the middle drying stage. In addition, the control unit 70 determines that the period until the drying process ends after the elapse of the second predetermined time is the end of drying.

  As described above, by switching the first air passage 9 and the second air passage 11 in the middle of the drying process with good timing, the generation of wrinkles can be effectively reduced with one air blowing unit 4. Furthermore, in the middle of the drying process, an area for drying with a large air volume that consumes less power than the high air speed is provided, so high pressure and high speed drying air is always blown into the drum as in the conventional example, and the air volume is further increased. The total power consumption can be reduced rather than always driving the two blower fan motors in order to increase. As described above, the drum type washing and drying machine of the present embodiment can achieve a good dry finish with less generation of wrinkles of clothes while saving power.

  Further, the discharge port 5 is disposed at a position close to the second air outlet 10 in front of the drum 1 and far from the first air outlet 8. Thus, since the exhaust port 5 is disposed on the front side of the drum 1, the distance between the first air outlet 8 and the exhaust port 5 becomes long, and air is being blown from the first air outlet 8 behind the drum 1. The drying air blown out from the first air outlet 8 spreads widely in the drum 1. Accordingly, the clothes and the drying air are efficiently in contact with each other in the drum 1, and the clothes can be dried with a small amount of power consumption.

  Further, even when the exhaust port 5 is disposed in the vicinity of the second air outlet 10, during the blowing from the second air outlet 10 in front of the drum 1, the second air outlet 10 is used for drying at high pressure and high wind speed. Since the air is blown out, the drying air can reach from the front of the drum 1 to the rear. Thereby, the contact between the drying air and the clothes does not deteriorate, and the effect of stretching the wrinkles with the high-pressure and high-winding drying air can be maintained.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the blower unit 4 has an enlarged angle switching means 4c that switches the size of the enlarged angle near the discharge port of the spiral casing 4b in accordance with the rotational speed of the blower fan 4a, the spiral casing 4b, and the fan 4a. When the rotation speed of the fan 4a is small, the expansion angle switching means 4c is switched to the position A in FIG. 2 so that the expansion angle of the casing 4b is large, and when the rotation speed is large, the expansion angle is small. Switch to position B. Next, the reason for this configuration will be described with reference to FIG. In the blower configured as in the present invention, the direction of the wind coming out of the fan outer peripheral outlet varies depending on the rotational speed of the fan 4a. That is, when the rotational speed of the fan is low, the peripheral speed component of the wind coming out of the fan outlet is small and the wind flows relatively along the outer wall of the casing 4b as shown in the figure. However, when the rotational speed of the fan is high, Since the peripheral velocity component of the air increases and the wind flows so as to be wound around the outer periphery of the fan, the wind does not flow along the outer wall of the casing 4b, and the turbulence or separation region occurs in the region where the wind does not flow. And noise increases. Therefore, in the present invention, by switching the expansion angle switching means 4c, when the rotation speed of the fan is small and the wind is likely to flow along the outer peripheral wall surface of the casing, the expansion angle is increased and the dynamic pressure is changed to the static pressure. When the fan speed is high and the wind is difficult to flow along the outer peripheral wall surface of the casing, the air passage in the area where the wind does not flow is blocked and peeled off. Etc. should not occur. By doing so, it is possible to reduce noise particularly at high wind speeds where the rotational speed of the fan is high.

Further, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, the enlarged angle switching means 4c can be switched to the position C, the air passage can be fully closed, and the enlarged angle switching means is placed at the position C during the dehydration process. 4c is switched so that the wind does not flow through the circulation air passage. In the drum type washer / dryer configured as in the present invention, the drum 1 rotates at a high speed during the dehydration process, and wind is generated around the drum 1, and the generated wind circulates in the water tank 2 and the circulation air passage 13. However, it becomes a windage loss and the power consumption during the dehydration process increases. Therefore, if there are two air passages and a blower as in the conventional example, the amount of air flowing through the circulation air passage is increased, and the amount of power consumption is further increased. Therefore, in the present invention, the operation during the dehydration process is performed by reducing the air volume and suppressing the windage loss by operating the enlarged angle switching means 4c so that the wind flowing through the circulation air path is reduced during the dehydration process. The amount of power can be reduced.

  The clothes dryer and the washing dryer according to the present invention can be suitably used for various clothes dryers and washing dryers such as a drum type, a hanging drying type, and a pulsator type.

1 drum (container)
2 Water tank 3 Drum drive motor (drum drive unit)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 4 Air blower 5 Discharge port 6 Dehumidification part 7 Heating part 8 1st blower outlet 9 1st air path 10 2nd blower outlet 11 2nd air path 12 Air path switch part 13 Circulation air path 15 Cloth amount detection part 50 Heat pump apparatus 70 Control unit

Claims (3)

A storage section for storing clothes to be dried;
A first air passage having a first outlet opening in the accommodating portion;
A second air passage having a second air outlet opening in the housing portion and having an air passage cross-sectional area smaller than that of the first air outlet;
An air path switching unit that selectively switches between the first air path and the second air path;
When the first air path is selected, a larger amount of drying air is blown out from the first air outlet into the accommodating portion than when the second air path is selected, while the second air path A blowing unit that blows the drying air so that high-pressure and high-speed drying air is blown out from the second blow-out port into the housing unit when the first air path is selected;
A control unit that controls the air path switching unit so that the first air path and the second air path are selectively switched during the drying process, and the air blowing unit dries clothing in the storage unit. A fan for blowing air for drying, a vortex casing, and an expansion angle switching means provided in the vicinity of the discharge port that makes the expansion angle of the vortex casing variable. The clothes dryer which changes the rotation speed of the said ventilation part, and switches the said expansion angle switching means according to the rotation speed while switching 2 air paths. 2. The expansion angle varying means according to claim 1, wherein the expansion angle is switched so that the expansion angle becomes small when the rotational speed of the blower section becomes high and the expansion angle becomes large when the rotational speed becomes low. Clothes dryer. The clothes dryer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the enlargement angle switching means enables the discharge port of the blower to be fully closed, and switches the discharge port to be fully closed during the dehydration process.