JP2014030473A - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a clothes dryer capable of suppressing an entry of foreign substances from the front face of the casing and ensuring an introduction of outside air even when an introduction port for outside air is blocked.SOLUTION: The clothes dryer includes: a casing 11; a drum for housing clothes to be dried; a hot air generator for generating hot air to be sent into the drum; a blower 14 provided at the front and lower side in the casing 11 and introducing outside air into the casing 11; and an outside air introduction port 26 formed on the bottom face of the casing 11 and in front of the blower 14. The casing 11 has an opening 28 communicating with the blower 14 on the bottom face. According to this structure, a gap on the front face of the casing 11 is eliminated in the clothes dryer and an entry of foreign substances is suppressed. Since the opening 28 communicating with the blower 14 is formed, an introduction of outside air from the opening 28 is ensured even when the outside air introduction port 26 is blocked.

Description

  The present invention relates to a clothes dryer for drying clothes.

  A conventional clothes dryer has a blower that dries clothes using warm air and cools the inside of the housing. The air in the housing of the clothes dryer becomes hot and humid by drying the clothes. The blower introduces outside air from outside the casing, cools the air inside the casing that has become hot and humid, and releases the air to the outside of the casing. Further, in a clothes dryer in which a heat pump device is used to generate hot air, the heat pump device is also cooled by a blower. By cooling the heat pump device, particularly the compressor, the efficiency of the heat pump device is improved.

  The outside air inlet is formed on the bottom surface of the housing. Thereby, the penetration | invasion of the water and a foreign material into a housing | casing is suppressed compared with the case where an external air introduction port is formed in the front surface of a housing | casing. Further, since dust is likely to be generated near the bottom surface of the housing, there is a clothes dryer having a filter that collects dust at the outside air inlet (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2007-301220 A

  However, in the clothes dryer described in Patent Document 1, since dust adheres to the filter, clogging (that is, the gap of the filter is blocked) is likely to occur. When the filter is clogged, the efficiency of introducing outside air decreases. For this reason, the clothes dryer of patent document 1 has the structure which can clean a filter, when a user pulls a filter ahead. However, with this configuration, the front surface of the housing of the clothes dryer has a gap with the filter, and water and foreign matter enter the screen. In addition, a part of the filter is exposed on the front surface of the housing of the clothes dryer, and the appearance of the front surface of the housing of the clothes dryer is impaired.

  In addition, since the clothes dryer is often installed in a place where the side space is narrow, it is difficult to adopt a configuration in which the filter is pulled out to the side of the clothes dryer.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and there is no gap or filter exposure on the front surface of the housing, and the entry of foreign matter is suppressed, and the introduction of outside air is ensured even when the outside air inlet is blocked. An object is to provide a clothes dryer.

  The clothes dryer of the present invention is provided with a casing, a drum for storing clothes to be dried, a hot air generator for generating hot air blown into the drum, a front side and a lower side in the casing. A blower for introducing outside air into the body and an outside air inlet formed at the bottom of the housing and in front of the blower are provided, and an opening communicating with the blower is formed on the bottom of the housing.

  With this configuration, since there is no gap on the front surface of the housing of the clothes dryer and the entry of foreign matter is suppressed, and an opening communicating with the blower is formed, even when the outside air inlet is blocked, the outside air can be introduced from the opening. Secured.

  The clothes dryer of the present invention can suppress the intrusion of foreign matter and can ensure the introduction of outside air.

The block diagram which shows the side cross section of the clothes dryer in embodiment of this invention Perspective view of the vicinity of the outside air inlet in the clothes dryer

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the present embodiment.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a side cross section of a clothes dryer in the present embodiment. The clothes dryer 10 includes a drum 12, a hot air generating device including a heat pump device 13, and a blower 14 inside a housing 11. By opening the door 15 provided in the clothes dryer 10, the clothes to be dried can be accommodated in the drum 12. The drum 12 is rotated by a motor 16 via a pulley 17 and a belt 18.

  The heat pump device 13 disposed below the casing 11 is configured by connecting a compressor 19, a condenser 20, an evaporator 21 and the like through piping, and a refrigerant circulates therein. When the drying fan 22 operates, an air flow as indicated by a broken arrow is generated. The air dehumidified by the evaporator 21 is heated by the condenser 20 and becomes dry hot air. This warm air enters the inside of the drum 12 through the drying duct 23. When the warm air hits the clothes to be dried that is agitated by the rotation of the drum 12, the clothes are dried. The drying fan 22 is rotated by the motor 16 via the pulley 24 and the belt 25.

  The blower 14 is disposed in front of the housing 11 (left side in FIG. 1) and below. An outside air inlet 26 is formed on the bottom surface of the housing 11 and in front of the blower 14. When the blower 14 is operated, outside air outside the housing is introduced from the outside air inlet 26 and flows into the housing 11 as indicated by solid arrows. Since the outside air inlet 26 is formed in front of the blower 14, that is, on the suction side of the blower 14, the efficiency of the air flow is improved as compared with the case where the outside air inlet 26 is formed on the side or rear of the blower 14. good. Further, the closer the outside air introduction port 26 is to the blower 14 and / or the fewer obstacles between the outside air introduction port 26 and the blower 14, the more efficient the air flow. Since the air flow efficiency is good, an inexpensive axial flow fan can be used as the blower 14.

  The air in the housing 11 of the clothes dryer 10 becomes high temperature due to heat radiation from the drum 12, the drying duct 23, the motor 16, the heat pump device 13, and the like. The outside air that has entered the housing 11 cools the air in the housing 11 that has become high temperature, and releases it to the outside of the housing 11. The outside air that has entered the housing 11 cools the heat pump device 13, particularly the compressor 19. Thereby, the efficiency of the heat pump device 13 is improved. In addition, since the clothes dryer 10 is often installed in a space where the side, rear, and upper spaces are narrow, the temperature and humidity of the outside air are generally reduced due to heat radiation and moisture release from the clothes dryer 10. Compared to the rear of the clothes dryer 10, the front is lower. For this reason, the cooling efficiency improves when the outside air in front of the clothes dryer 10 is introduced. That is, the outside air inlet 26 is preferably formed in front of the clothes dryer. Accordingly, the blower 14 is also preferably disposed in front of the housing 11.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the vicinity of the outside air inlet 26. That is, it is the perspective view which looked at the front of the bottom face of the housing | casing 11 of the clothes dryer 10 from the outside.

  The outside air inlet 26 is configured as a set of a plurality of holes 27. The outside air is introduced into the inside of the housing 11 by the blower 14 from each hole 27 constituting the outside air introduction port 26 as indicated by a solid line arrow. Since the outside air inlet 26 is configured by the relatively small hole 27, no large foreign matter enters the inside of the housing 11.

  The outside air inlet 26 functions as a filter by being composed of relatively small holes 27. On the other hand, since the hole 27 is relatively small, for example, a piece of paper may adhere to the hole 27. When the outside air inlet 26 is blocked due to adhesion of a piece of paper, the outside air is not sufficiently introduced. In the clothes dryer 10 of the present invention, an opening 28 is formed on the bottom surface of the housing 11 and in the vicinity of the outside air inlet 26.

  In FIG. 2, the outside air inlet 26 and the opening 28 are formed in parallel. The opening 28 communicates with the blower 14. For this reason, even if the outside air introduction port 26 is blocked, outside air is introduced from the opening 28 as indicated by a one-dot chain line arrow. Thereby, cooling in the housing | casing 11 and cooling of the heat pump apparatus 13 are ensured. In addition, by providing the duct 29 that allows the opening 28 and the blower 14 to communicate with each other, it is possible to reliably introduce outside air from the opening 28.

  Further, since the outside air introduction port 26 and the opening 28 are formed on the bottom surface of the housing 11, the outside air introduction port 26 and the opening 28 are formed in the housing 11 as compared with the case where the outside air introduction port 26 and the opening 28 are formed on the front surface of the housing 11. Intrusion of water and foreign matter is suppressed. Furthermore, the aesthetic appearance of the front surface of the housing 11 is not impaired.

  Since the clothes dryer according to the present invention can reliably introduce outside air, it can be used for clothes dryers, washing dryers, and the like.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Clothes dryer 11 Case 12 Drum 13 Heat pump apparatus (hot air generator)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 Blower 15 Door 16 Motor 17 Pulley 18 Belt 19 Compressor 20 Condenser 21 Evaporator 22 Drying fan 23 Drying duct 24 Pulley 25 Belt 26 Outside air introduction port 27 Hole 28 Opening 29 Duct

Claims (5)

A housing,
A drum containing the clothes to be dried;
A hot air generator for generating hot air blown into the drum;
A blower that is provided in front of and below the housing and introduces outside air into the housing;
An outside air inlet formed at the bottom of the housing and in front of the blower,
A clothes dryer in which an opening communicating with the blower is formed on a bottom surface of the casing.   The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the opening is formed in parallel with the outside air inlet.   The clothes dryer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the outside air inlet is configured as a set of a plurality of holes.   The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the opening communicates with the blower via a duct.   The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the hot air generating device includes a heat pump device including a compressor.

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