JP2012223407A - Cloth dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cloth dryer capable of removing moisture contained in drying air without using a cooling water.SOLUTION: A cloth dryer comprises: a rotational drum rotating with cloth being contained; an outer tank surrounding the rotational drum; an air feeding unit for feeding drying air from the outside of the outer tank to the inside of the rotational drum; heating means for heating the drying air; a circulation air path for sending the drying air back to the air feeding unit, the drying air removing the moisture from the cloth and then being discharged to the outside of the outer tank; a cyclone mechanism for separating water from air by revolving the drying air; and a condensing device disposed at the circulation air path for condensing the drying air discharged from the rotational drum without using the cooling water prior to the air/water separation at the cyclone mechanism.

Description

  The present invention relates to a clothes dryer or a laundry dryer for drying washed clothes.

  A clothes dryer that dries clothes washed in a washing machine and a washing and drying machine that can continuously perform from washing to drying. A rotating drum that houses and rotates clothes, and a blower that blows dry air to dry clothes in the rotating drum A unit, heating means for heating the dry air, a circulation path for drying the clothes and returning the dry air discharged from the rotating drum to the blower unit, and a dehumidifying means for removing moisture from the dry air are provided.

  In Patent Documents 1 and 2, as the dehumidifying means, the dry air discharged from the rotating drum is cooled with cooling water to separate and remove moisture contained in the dry air. And in patent document 1, in addition to cooling with cooling water, the water | moisture content is centrifuged by the cyclone mechanism.

JP 2006-15118 A JP-A-2005-080946

  Since the washing / drying machine described in Patent Document 1 uses cooling water, the amount of tap water used is increased. Further, a cooling water supply system including a supply water channel for introducing cooling water to the cyclone mechanism, an injection device for injecting cooling water, a water supply valve for supplying and stopping cooling water, and the like is required.

  An object of this invention is to provide the clothes dryer which can remove the water | moisture content contained in dry air, without using cooling water in view of said subject.

  The present invention includes a rotating drum that houses and rotates clothing, an outer tub that is placed so as to wrap the rotating drum, a blower unit that blows dry air into the rotating drum from the outside of the outer tub, and the dried air. Heating means for heating, and a cyclone mechanism that has a circulation path for taking the moisture from the clothes and returning the dried air discharged out of the outer tub to the blower unit, and turns the dried air to separate the air and water And a condenser for condensing the dry air discharged from the rotating drum before use of cooling water before using the cyclone mechanism without using cooling water.

  According to the present invention, a cyclone mechanism that swirls dry air to separate air and water and a condenser that condenses the dry air discharged outside the outer tank before using the cyclone mechanism without using cooling water are circulated. By providing in the road, it is possible to provide a clothes dryer that performs dehumidification drying without using cooling water.

It is an external view which concerns on the Example of this invention and shows a drum type washing-drying machine. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which concerns on the Example of this invention and shows the internal structure of a drum type washing-drying machine. It concerns on the Example of this invention, and is an external view of a cyclone mechanism. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a cyclone mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which concerns on the Example of this invention and shows typically the swirl | vortex flow within a cyclone mechanism. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a swirling flow in a cyclone mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which concerns on the other Example of this invention, and shows the internal structure of a drum type washing-drying machine. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the dry finish in a clothes dryer.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  First, an outline of a drum type washing and drying machine will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

  Reference numeral 1 denotes a housing that forms the outer shell of the washing / drying machine. The housing 1 is attached on the base 2. This housing is composed of left and right side plates 3 (only the left is shown), a front cover 4, a rear cover 5, an upper cover 6, and a lower front cover 7. The left and right side plates 3 are connected to each other by a U-shaped upper reinforcing material (not shown), a front reinforcing material (not shown), and a rear reinforcing material (not shown). The housing 1 is formed and has sufficient strength as the housing.

  8 is a door which closes the insertion port for putting in and out the clothes provided in the approximate center of the front cover 4, and is supported by the hinge provided in the front reinforcing material so that opening and closing is possible. When the door release button 9 is pressed, the lock mechanism (not shown) is released and the door is opened, and when the door 8 is pressed against the front cover 4, it is locked and closed. The front reinforcing member has a circular opening for putting clothes in and out concentrically with an opening of the outer tub described later.

  Reference numeral 10 denotes an operation panel provided at the upper center of the housing 1 and includes a power switch 20, operation switches 21 and 22, and a display 23. The operation panel 10 is electrically connected to a control device 24 provided at the lower part of the housing 1.

  30 is a cylindrical washing and dewatering tub (rotary drum) supported rotatably, having a large number of through holes for water flow and ventilation on its outer peripheral wall and bottom wall, and clothing on the front end face. An opening 31 for taking in and out is provided. A fluid balancer 32 integrated with the washing and dewatering tub 30 is provided outside the opening 31. A plurality of lifters 33 extending in the axial direction are provided inside the outer peripheral wall. When the washing and dewatering tub 30 is rotated during washing and drying, the clothes are lifted along the outer peripheral wall by the lifter 33 and centrifugal force, and repeatedly move so as to fall by gravity. The rotation center axis of the washing and dewatering tub 30 is inclined so that the horizontal or opening 31 side becomes higher.

  Reference numeral 40 denotes a cylindrical outer tub that encloses the washing / dehydrating tub 30 on the same axis, opens on the front surface, and attaches a motor 41 to the outer center of the rear end surface. The rotating shaft of the motor 41 passes through the outer tub 40 and is coupled to the washing and dewatering tub 30. An outer tub cover 42 is provided in the opening on the front surface, and water can be stored in the outer tub. In the center of the front side of the outer tub cover 42, there is an opening 43 for taking clothes in and out. The opening 43 and the opening provided in the front reinforcing member are connected by a rubber bellows 44, and the outer tub 40 is sealed with water by closing the door 8. A drainage port (not shown) is provided at the bottom of the bottom surface of the outer tub 40, and a drainage hose 45 is connected thereto. A drain valve 46 is provided in the middle of the drain hose 45. Water is stored in the outer tub 40 by closing the drain valve and supplying water, and the drain valve is opened to discharge the water in the outer tub 40 to the outside of the machine.

  The outer tub 40 is supported in an anti-vibration manner by a suspension 50 (consisting of a coil spring and a damper) whose lower side is fixed to the base 1h. The upper side of the outer tub 40 is supported by an auxiliary spring (not shown) attached to the upper reinforcing member, and prevents the outer tub 40 from falling in the front-rear direction.

  51 is a detergent container provided on the upper left side in the housing 1, and a drawer-type detergent tray (not shown) is mounted from the front opening. When putting in detergents, pull out the detergent tray as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. The detergent container 51 is fixed to the upper reinforcing material of the housing 1.

  On the back side of the detergent container 51, water-related components such as a water supply electromagnetic valve (not shown), a bath water supply pump (not shown), a water level sensor (not shown) are provided. The top cover 6 is provided with a water supply hose connection port 52 from the water tap and a water absorption hose connection port 53 for remaining hot water in the bath. The detergent container 51 is connected to the outer tub 40 and supplies washing water to the outer tub 40 by opening a water supply electromagnetic valve or operating a bath water supply pump.

  Reference numeral 60 denotes a drying duct installed in the longitudinal direction inside the back surface of the housing 1 and constitutes a circulation ventilation path. The drying duct 60 is connected so that the lower side communicates with a drying air exhaust port 63 provided below the back surface of the outer tub 11 through a cyclone mechanism 61 and a rubber bellows tube 62. The bellows flow path of the bellows tube 21 is included in the circulation ventilation path. The upper side of the drying duct 60 which is a circulation ventilation path is connected so as to communicate with a filter duct (not shown) installed in the front-rear direction on the upper right side in the housing 1.

  An opening is provided on the front surface of the filter duct, and a drawer-type drying filter 64 is inserted into the opening. The air that has entered the filter duct from the drying duct 60 flows into the mesh filter (not shown) of the drying filter 64 and the lint is removed. Cleaning of the dry filter 64 is performed by pulling out the dry filter 64 and taking out a mesh type filter. In addition, an opening is provided on the lower surface of the dry filter insertion portion of the filter duct, and this opening is connected to an intake duct (not shown), and the other end of the intake duct is connected to the intake port of the blower unit 65. Connected. The ventilation unit 65 and the filter duct are also included in the circulation ventilation path.

  The blower unit 65 includes a driving motor 66, a fan impeller (not shown), and a fan case (not shown). A heater 67 is built in the discharge side on the fan case, and heats air sent from the fan impeller. The discharge port of the blower unit 65 is connected to a hot air duct (not shown). The hot air duct is connected to a hot air outlet (not shown) provided in the outer tank cover 42 via a rubber bellows pipe 68 and a bellows pipe joint (not shown). In the present embodiment, since the blower unit 65 is provided on the upper right side in the housing 1, the hot air outlet is provided at a position on the upper right side of the outer tank cover 42, and the distance to the hot air outlet is as short as possible. I have to do it.

  Since the dry air discharged from the dry air exhaust port 63 of the outer tub 11 is discharged from the hot air outlet of the outer tub cover 4 and returns to the rotating drum, circulation ventilation is performed from the dry air outlet 63 to the hot air outlet. It can be a road.

  Temperature sensors (not shown) are provided at the inlet and outlet of the blower unit 65. By this temperature sensor, the heating of the dry air by the heater 67 is adjusted.

  In order to increase the speed of the warm air blown into the clothes in the rotating drum, the air blowing unit 65 may be a pressure type to reduce the nozzle area. When a general turbofan is used as the blower unit 65, there are a method of increasing the diameter of the fan impeller at a low rotational speed and a method of increasing the rotational speed while keeping the diameter of the fan impeller small. High-speed rotation has the advantage that it can be mounted in the same housing (fan case) as in the past. Moreover, a difference in pressure can be made by reducing the area of the air passage and increasing it later.

  Next, dehumidification of the dry air according to the main part of the present invention will be described mainly with reference to FIGS.

  For dehumidification of the dry air, a condensing means for condensing the dry air and a centrifugal separation means are used. A bellows tube 62 is used as a condenser of the condensing means, and a cyclone mechanism 61 is used as a centrifugal separating means.

  The bellows tube 62 of the condenser shown in FIG. 4 is made of rubber and has a diameter D of 80 mm, a tube length L of (60 to 70) mm, 10 to 15 bellows crests, and a rubber thickness of 0.8 mm. The ambient temperature of the bellows tube 62 that is a condenser (the space between the housing 1 and the outer tub 11) is about 40 °. On the other hand, the inner temperature of the outer tub 11 is about 60 °. Therefore, there is a temperature difference of about 20 ° between the inside and outside of the bellows tube 62. Due to this temperature difference, the dry air flowing inside the bellows tube 62, which is a condenser, is cooled and condensed. Further, since the condenser is made of the bellows tube 62 having a large number of peaks, the contact area between the dry air and the outside air increases, and the dry air is cooled well.

  The cyclone mechanism 61 has a cylindrical outer cylinder 70 and a cylindrical inner cylinder 71 provided inside the outer cylinder 70. A swirling flow path 72 in which dry air swirls is formed between the inner periphery of the outer tube 70 and the outer periphery of the inner tube 71. The cyclone mechanism 61 is placed so that the outer cylinder 70 and the inner cylinder 71 are vertical. A dry air inlet 73 communicating with the upper side of the swirl flow path 72 is provided above the outer cylinder 70. On the side surface on the lower end side of the inner cylinder 71, an outlet 74 is provided through which the dry air descending while swirling the swirl passage 72 flows to the inside of the inner cylinder 71. The lower end of the inner cylinder 71 is closed.

  The outer cylinder 70 includes an inclined portion (conical trapezoidal shape) 75 whose bottom is narrowed downward, and a small cylindrical portion 76 that extends downward from the lower end of the inclined portion 75. The sizes of the outer cylinder 70 and the inner cylinder 71 are as follows. The ratio (D2 / D1) between the diameter D1 of the outer cylinder 70 and the diameter D2 of the inner cylinder 71 is 0.526. The ratio (D3 / D1) between the diameter D1 of the outer cylinder 70 and the diameter D3 of the small cylinder portion 76 is 0.395. The length of the inner cylinder 71 is 1. The ratio (1 / L) between the length of the inner cylinder 71 and the length L of the outer cylinder 70 (thick portion excluding the small cylinder portion 76 and the inclined portion 75) is 0.753. The ratio (H / L) between the length H of the inclined portion 75 and the length L of the outer cylinder 70 is 0.320.

  In the cyclone mechanism 61, the lower end of the small cylinder portion 76 is connected to the overflow hose 80. The overflow hose 80 is connected to the drain hose 45. The inner cylinder 71 is connected so that the upper side communicates with the drying duct 60. The drying duct 60 is connected via a connecting pipe 81 that becomes thicker in the downstream direction.

  The drying duct 60 is partitioned by a partition plate 82 on the lower side. A part on the downstream side of the cyclone mechanism 61 and a part on the upstream side of the cyclone mechanism 61 are partitioned by a partition plate 82. The bellows tube 62 is connected so that one end on the upstream side communicates with the dry air exhaust port 63 of the outer tub 11 and the other end on the downstream side communicates with the upstream connection port 83 of the drying duct 60 on the upstream side of the cyclone mechanism 61. Is done. A connecting passage 84 that connects the upstream connection port 83 to the inlet 73 of the cyclone mechanism 61 has a narrow portion 85 where the flow path area is narrowed where it connects to the inlet 73.

  Now, the dry air that has taken moisture from the clothes by the rotating drum 30 flows from the dry air exhaust port 63 of the outer tub 11 to the cyclone mechanism 61 through the bellows tube 62 (condenser). The dry air flowing through the bellows tube 62 (condenser) is cooled by a temperature difference (about 20 °) between the inside and the outside of the bellows tube 62 to form moisture. The water is centrifuged by the cyclone mechanism 61, and the dry air from which the water has been removed flows through the drying duct 60 by the blower unit 65, is reheated by the heater 67, and circulates so as to reflow into the rotating drum 30. Drying is performed.

  In this drying operation, the dry air (water vapor) is cooled to flow by flowing the dry air through the bellows tube 62 (condenser), so that moisture is generated. Also become. Further, a complicated heat pump for cooling dry air (water vapor) is not required. Furthermore, since the water generated by the cooling is efficiently removed from the dry air by the centrifugal separation of the cyclone mechanism 61, the water contained in the dry air is often taken, resulting in a reduction in power consumption.

  The water separated by the cyclone mechanism 61 travels down along the inner peripheral wall surface of the outer cylinder 70, flows to the drain hose 45 through the overflow hose 80, and is drained.

  Moisture generation in which dry air (water vapor) is converted to moisture before flowing into the cyclone mechanism 61 is performed by making the temperature difference 1 ° C. or more lower than the inside of the outer tub 11. By changing the temperature to 3 ° C. or higher, the moisture change is further promoted and the dehumidifying efficiency is increased.

  Dry air (water vapor) cooled by the bellows tube 62 (condenser) flows to the cyclone mechanism 61 through the connecting passage 84. The dry air (water vapor) is compressed by the narrow passage 85 of the connecting passage 84, and immediately before entering the cyclone mechanism 61, the pressure is increased to about 3000Pa. Thereafter, when the pressure enters the cyclone mechanism 61 and expands, the pressure of the dry air (water vapor) is reduced to about 1000 Pa, and the blower unit 65 is connected to the tip of the upper portion of the dry duct 60, so that the inside of the cyclone mechanism 61. A pressure difference occurs. Due to this pressure difference, the change from water vapor to water droplets is promoted, and the dehumidification efficiency is increased by increasing the temperature difference.

  Further, since the flow passage area is narrowed by the narrow portion 85 of the connecting passage 84, the wind speed is increased. That is, by setting the flow path area to 700 mm 2 with respect to the air volume of 1.3 m 3 / min, the wind speed is increased to 30 m / s, and the efficiency of centrifugation in the cyclone mechanism 61 is increased.

  Further, the cyclone mechanism 61 can be dehumidified by centrifuging in an arc shape. The dry air having a speed of 30 m / s is sent to the cyclone mechanism 61 from the arrow a in FIG. 5, and the dried and dehumidified air in an arc shape is discharged from the arrow b and flows to the drying duct 60. The dehumidification efficiency is enhanced by setting the exit area of the arrow c portion shown in FIG. 6 to about ½ of the area of the arrow a portion.

  The dry air flowing in the cyclone mechanism 61 is separated from the outside air through the wall of the outer cylinder 70. The temperature difference between the inside and outside of the outer cylinder 70 is 0.5 ° C. or more, and dehumidification is performed. By forcing external air to flow, the temperature difference from the dry air flowing in the cyclone mechanism 61 can be widened, and dehumidification can be enhanced.

  The moisture dehumidified in the cyclone mechanism 61 flows down naturally along the inner wall of the outer cylinder 70 because the outer cylinder 70 is vertically placed as shown in FIG. Then, it flows into the overflow hose 80 and is drained. Even if the direction of the outer cylinder 70 is changed, the pressure in the cyclone mechanism 61 can be about 1000 Pa, and drainage can be promoted using the pressure.

The flow of wind during the drying operation is as follows. When the blower unit 23 is operated and the heater 25 is energized, high-speed hot air is blown from the nozzle into the washing and dewatering tub.
When it hits wet clothes, the clothes are warmed and moisture evaporates from the clothes. The wind that has become hot and humid flows from the through hole provided in the washing and dewatering tub to the outer tub, is sucked into the drying duct 19 from the air inlet 20, and flows to the centrifuge 27. After being dehumidified by the centrifuge 27, the wind enters the drying duct 19 and flows from the bottom to the top. The hot and humid wind is dehumidified and becomes dry and enters the filter duct. The lint is removed through the mesh filter provided in the filter duct, enters the intake duct, and is sucked into the blower unit 23. And it heats again with the heater 25 and it circulates so that it may blow into a washing and dewatering tank.

  Next, another embodiment shown in FIG. 7 will be described.

  The embodiment shown in FIG. 7 is the same as the embodiment described above except for the following points. That is, a configuration is adopted in which a spiral rib is provided inside the drying duct 60 (A) without using a cyclone mechanism, and dehumidification is performed in a spiral flow path when the rib is formed.

  The dry air (water vapor) cooled by the bellows tube 62 (condenser) flows from the bottom to the top in the drying duct 60 (A). When dry air (water vapor) flows up the spiral channel, it comes into contact with moisture that has been dehumidified. The spiral flow path increases the chance of contact with moisture and increases dehumidification efficiency.

  Still another embodiment will be described. In the other examples, a configuration in which dehumidification is performed by combining a cyclone mechanism and a spiral flow path is adopted.

  The dry air flowing into the cyclone mechanism 61 from the bellows tube 62 (condenser) hits the arc-shaped wall surface at a speed of 30 m / s or more, and the centrifuged water moves downward due to gravity. The cyclone mechanism 61 has a ratio (0.753) to l / L as shown in FIG. That is, l is smaller than L. Thereby, the centrifuged water is suppressed from being sucked into the outlet 74 provided below the inner cylinder 71. Since only the dry air from which moisture has been removed flows down spirally and is sucked into the outlet 74, the dehumidification efficiency is improved.

  The dry finish wrinkle of clothing will be described with reference to FIG.

  Even if there is no entanglement or twisting, if the amount of clothing increases with respect to the drying volume of the dryer, the clothing cannot spread sufficiently, and thus the clothing is dried while being bent and wrinkles are generated. FIG. 8 shows the dry finish of clothing (cotton pajamas trousers) when 2 kg of clothing is dried by a clothing dryer (three types of drum drying volumes 62L (a), 77L (b), 99L (c)). It is a photograph shown. It can be seen that the wrinkle decreases as the drum volume increases.

  In this way, it has been known that wrinkles can be reduced as the volume increases. However, in home-use washer / dryers, washing / drying is limited due to the size of the installation location and restrictions on the delivery path (corridor and door) to the installation location. There was a limit to the size of the machine, and it was difficult to ensure a sufficient volume.

  For this reason, clothing that cares about the finish of drying is separated from other general clothing, and there is only a method of drying by reducing the amount of clothing. However, it is not realistic to perform time-consuming drying several times, and many people do not use a dryer because such clothes are dried by hanging.

  Since the clothes dryer and the washing dryer according to the present invention have high dehumidification efficiency and quick drying time, it is possible to meet the demand for drying a plurality of times.

30 ... Washing and dewatering tank (rotary drum)
40 ... Outer tank 60 ... Dry duct (circulation path)
61 ... Cyclone mechanism 62 ... Bellows tube (condenser)
63 ... Dry air exhaust port 65 ... Blower unit 73 ... Dry air inflow port

Claims (4)

A rotating drum that accommodates and rotates around clothes, an outer tub that is placed so as to wrap the rotating drum, a blower unit that blows dry air from the outside of the outer tub into the rotating drum, and a heating unit that heats the dried air And having a circulation path for taking back moisture from the clothes and returning the dry air discharged outside the outer tub to the blower unit,
A cyclone mechanism that swirls the dry air to separate air and water, and a condenser that condenses the dry air discharged from the outer tank before using the cyclone mechanism without using cooling water to the circulation ventilation path. A clothes dryer characterized by comprising. In the clothes dryer according to claim 1,
The cyclone mechanism includes a cylindrical outer cylinder, a cylindrical inner cylinder provided inside the outer cylinder, and a swirl in which the dry air swirls between an inner circumference of the outer cylinder and an outer circumference of the inner cylinder. A flow path, an inflow port through which the dry air flows into the swirl flow path, and an outflow port through which the swirl flow of the dry air that has flowed through the swirl flow path flows to the inside of the inner cylinder, Clothes dryer. In the clothes dryer according to claim 2,
The inner cylinder / outer cylinder standing up with the inflow port up and the outflow port down has an outer cylinder extending downward longer than the inner cylinder, and the outflow port is provided on the lower side surface of the inner cylinder. Features a clothes dryer. In the clothes dryer according to claim 1,
The clothes drier according to claim 1, wherein the condenser is a bellows channel that communicates a dry air outlet side provided in the outer tub with an upstream side of the cyclone mechanism.

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