JP2015016174A - Washing and drying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a washing and drying machine which can prevent increase of an amount of used electricity in a drying operation by removing moisture remaining between an outer tank and an inner tank after dewatering operation of the washing and drying machine in advance.SOLUTION: A washing and drying machine comprises a drying unit 6 with a draft trunk 40 sending air to an inner tank 20 with hot air, a blower 61 and a dehumidification unit 5, and an outer tank 20 containing the inner tank 29 rotatably is supported to a housing. A nozzle 80 of an air blow device 85 blowing air is arranged so that its outlet faces to a space 20c between an inner face of the outer tank 20 and an outside surface of the inner tank 29.

Description

  The present invention relates to a washing and drying machine provided with means for drying clothes.

  As a technique related to this technical field, there is a technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-110135 (Patent Document 1) (refer to the summary below). This technology aims to dry clothes quickly with low power consumption. And a forced drying process and a preheat drying process are performed. In the forced drying process, the blower, the heater, and the dehumidifier are operated with the exhaust duct closed. During the forced drying process, the inside air in the water receiving tank circulates through the circulation path without mixing with the outside air, so that the temperature drop of the inside air circulating through the circulation path is suppressed, and drying of the clothes is promoted. On the other hand, in the residual heat drying process, the exhaust duct is switched to the open state, and the heater is switched from the operation state to the operation stop state. At the time of the residual heat drying process, moisture evaporated from the residual heat from the clothing is discharged to the outside of the water receiving tank by the external air flow, and drying of the clothing is promoted. Accordingly, drying of the clothes is promoted in each of the forced drying process and the remaining heat drying process, and the operation of the heater is stopped during the remaining heat drying process, so that the clothes can be dried with a small amount of power consumption.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-246700 (Patent Document 2) discloses an outer tub having an opening through which laundry is taken in and out, an inner tub installed in the outer tub and driven to rotate, and opening and closing the outer tub opening. And a drying mechanism having a heater, a fan, and a drying air path, the door being formed continuously around the first window plate portion and the first window plate portion protruding toward the opening of the inner tank. A washing / drying machine having a second window plate portion, a drying spraying means for directly blowing the air generated by the drying mechanism during the drying operation and flowing through the drying air passage onto the laundry contained in the inner tub; and a second window There is described a washing and drying machine provided with lint removing means for blowing air from the inside to the plate part (see the summary). This washing / drying machine is intended to suppress lint from adhering to doors and door bellows.

JP 2008-110135 A JP 2010-246700 A

  The technique of Patent Document 1 aims to dry clothes quickly with a small amount of power consumption. However, when drying is performed continuously from washing, moisture removed from the clothes during dehydration is stored in the water receiving tank (outer tank). It is thought that it has shifted to the drying operation while remaining on the inner surface or the back side of the bottom surface of the inner tank. That is, in Patent Document 1, no consideration is given to removing water remaining on the inner surface of the water receiving tank (outer tank) or the back side of the bottom surface of the inner tank after the dehydration operation. For this reason, in the drying process, excess water must be evaporated, resulting in an increase in power consumption.

  In the technique of Patent Document 2, a means for blowing air from the inside to the second window plate portion of the door is provided, but for blowing wind on the inner surface of the water receiving tank (outer tank) and the back side of the bottom surface of the inner tank, Not considered. This is because the technique of Patent Document 2 aims to suppress lint from adhering to a door or a door bellows. That is, in the technique of Patent Document 2, there is no consideration that water remaining on the inner surface of the water receiving tank (outer tank) or the back side of the bottom surface of the inner tank causes an increase in power consumption after the dehydration operation.

  An object of the present invention is to remove moisture remaining between the outer tub and the inner tub in advance after the dehydration operation of the washing / drying machine is completed, and to prevent an increase in power consumption during the drying operation. It is to provide a dryer.

  In order to achieve the above object, a washing and drying machine of the present invention supports an outer tub that rotatably includes an inner tub in a housing, and blows warm air into the inner tub, a blower, and a dehumidifying unit. In a washer / dryer equipped with a drying device, the nozzle of the air blowing device that blows air is arranged so that the outlet faces the space between the inner surface of the outer tub and the outer surface of the inner tub It is.

  According to the present invention, moisture remaining between the inner surface of the outer tub and the outer surface of the inner tub after the dehydration operation of the washing / drying machine is removed in advance, thereby suppressing an increase in power consumption during drying. it can.

  Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be clarified by the following description of embodiments.

1 is a perspective view of a washing / drying machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Sectional drawing of the washing-drying machine which concerns on 1st Example of this invention and is in the middle of a drying process is shown. Sectional drawing of the washing-drying machine which concerns on 1st Example of this invention and is a drying process latter half is shown. Sectional drawing of the washing-drying machine which concerns on 1st Example of this invention at the time of a dehydration process is shown. An example of the washing and drying operation control of the washing and drying machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

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

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a washing / drying machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention. An outer frame 2 configured by combining a steel plate and a resin molded product is placed on the upper portion of the base 1. The front of the outer frame 2 is provided with a door 3 for taking in and out the laundry 30 and a front cover 22, and an operation 55 panel for a user to select a driving process is mounted on the upper part of the front. In the present embodiment, a housing that supports an outer tub 20 (described later) that encloses an inner tub 29 (described later) rotatably includes a base 1 and an outer frame 2.

  A drain hose hook 10 for fixing the drain hose 9 and a handle 71 for transportation are provided on the side surface. A back cover 23 is provided on the back side.

  FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the state of the washing / drying machine in the middle stage from the first half of the drying process in this example. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the state of the washing / drying machine in the latter half of the drying process in this example.

  An outer tank (water receiving tank) 20 serving as a water receiving tank is provided inside the outer frame 2. The outer tub 20 is supported by a lower suspension 21. A rotating drum (inner tub) 29 inside the outer tub 20 has a laundry 30 put in by opening the door 3, and the outer periphery of the opening of the rotating drum 29 is caused by an unbalance of the laundry 30 during dehydration. A fluid balancer 31 for reducing vibration is provided.

  A vibration sensor 70 for detecting vibration due to unbalance is attached to the lower part of the outer tub 20. Inside the rotary drum 29, a plurality of lifters 33 for lifting the laundry 30 are provided.

  The rotary drum 29 is directly connected to a drum drive motor 36 through a shaft 35 connected to a metal drum 34 for the rotary drum. The metal flange 34 is attached to the bottom surface of the rotating drum 29. In the present specification, a plate-like portion of the rotary drum 29 that is located on the back side in the rotation axis direction when viewed from the front side of the washing / drying machine and is substantially circular in outer shape is referred to as a bottom surface 29a, and an outer periphery of the bottom surface 29a. A wall surface portion that is formed in front of the rotation axis direction and forms an annular shape is referred to as a side surface (side wall) 29b. Similarly to the rotary drum 29, the outer tub 20 is also referred to as a bottom surface 20a, which is located on the back side in the axial direction of the shaft 35 when viewed from the front surface side of the washing and drying machine and is called a bottom surface 20a. A wall surface portion formed in the axial direction of the shaft 35 from the outer peripheral portion of 20a and forming an annular shape is referred to as a side surface (side wall) 20b.

  A rubber packing 38 made of an elastic body is attached to the opening of the outer tub 20. The packing 38 serves to maintain the watertightness between the outer tub 20 and the door 3. This prevents water leakage during washing, rinsing and dehydration. The packing 38 is also called a door bellows.

  The rotating drum 29 has a large number of small holes (not shown) for centrifugal dehydration and ventilation on the side wall 29b. The drainage port 37 opened to the lowest position of the side wall 20 b of the outer tub 20 is connected to the drainage hose 9 via the drainage electromagnetic valve 8.

  A drying device 6 is provided to dry the laundry 30 in the rotary drum 29. The drying device 6 includes a dehumidifying duct 5, a blower 61, and a heater 62. Further, the drying device 6 is fixed to the outer frame 2 apart from the outer tub 20 (not shown).

  The dehumidifying duct 5 and the ventilation port 32 are connected substantially horizontally by a bellows 4 having a flexible structure.

  The outlet of the heater 62 is connected to the air blowing path 40 and is connected to the blowing nozzle 11 by the bellows 7.

  The blowing nozzle 11 is arranged between the uppermost surface and the center in the radial direction of the outer tub 20 and at a position in front of the center of the outer tub 20 in the axial direction of the shaft 35, and vibrates together with the outer tub 20. Since the air passage 40 is fixed together with the heater 62, the flexible bellows 7 is connected to the outer tub 20 substantially perpendicularly to absorb the vibration of the outer tub 20.

  The drum-type washing / drying machine configured as described above is configured such that, in the washing process, the laundry is put into the rotating drum 29, the water is supplied with the drain electromagnetic valve 8 closed, and the washing water is stored in the outer tub 20 to rotate. The drum 29 is rotated to wash the laundry 30.

  Further, in the dehydration step, the drain electromagnetic valve 8 is opened to drain the washing water in the outer tub 20, and the rotating drum 29 is rotated to dehydrate by centrifugal force.

  Then, in the middle stage from the first half of the drying process, the rotary drum 29 is rotated with the drain electromagnetic valve 8 opened. At this time, the blower 61 is operated to suck out the air in the outer tub 20 from the air vent 32, pass the air through the water-cooled dehumidifying duct 5, and then water-cooled and dehumidified, and then heated by the heater 62 and blown nozzle 11. To the laundry 30 in the rotary drum 29. The air blown onto the laundry is sent from the vent 32 to the water-cooled dehumidifying duct 5 to generate the circulating air 12.

  The dehumidification of the circulating air 12 that has taken moisture away from the laundry 30 in the rotating drum 29 is performed by opening a cooling water valve (not shown) and supplying the cooling water 52 from the cooling water supply pipe 51 to the wall surface in the water-cooling dehumidification duct 5. This is realized by causing the cooling water 52 to come into contact with the circulating air 12.

  The cooling water 52 that has flowed to the wall surface in the water-cooled dehumidifying duct 5 passes through the drain port 37 and is discharged by the drain hose 9.

  In the latter half of the drying process, as shown in FIG. 3, the intake valve 13 is operated to close the circulation path, and the external air 16 is sucked from the gap under the base 1. The sucked external air 16 is heated while receiving exhaust heat from the outer tub 20, the motor 36, and the blower 61 while flowing through the side surface of the outer tub 20. On the other hand, high-temperature housing internal air 15 has accumulated in the space between the upper surface of the outer tub 20 and the outer frame 2 until the middle of drying. The warmed external air 16 is sucked into the blower 61 together with the hot casing internal air 15.

  At this time, the heater 62 is turned off to stop the cooling water 52. The sucked interior air 14 is blown onto the laundry 30 to take moisture from the laundry 30, gets wet, passes through the drain hose 9 from the drain port 37, breaks the water seal of the drain trap 10, and enters the drain port 39. Discharged.

  In the case of a general drain trap, since the water seal height is about 50 to 80 mm, the pressure on the drain hose 9 side is required to be about 1000 Pa or more to break the water seal.

  After the drying process is completed, the rotational speed of the blower 61 is lowered to a pressure level that does not break the water seal while keeping the pressure on the drain hose 9 side higher than the pressure on the drain port 39 side. Then, water is supplied by a water supply electromagnetic valve (not shown), the water sealing of the drain trap 10 is recovered, and the drying is completed.

  Next, an air blowing means for blowing away moisture remaining in the outer tub 10 after the dehydration process will be described.

  The air blowing means (air blowing device) 85 includes a blower 61, a nozzle 80, and a switching valve 81. After the above-described dehydration process, high-speed air 82 is blown to the inner surface of the outer tub 20, the bottom surface of the rotating drum 29, and the inner surface of the door 3 and remains. It blows away the moisture that it does. The blown moisture is drained from the drain port 37 to the drain hose 9 along the inner surface of the outer tub 20.

  At this time, the switching valve 81 is switched to the state shown in FIG. 4 with respect to the state when the normal drying operation shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is performed. Thereby, the air sent out by the blower 61 does not flow into the blowing nozzle 11 but flows into the space between the outer tub 20 and the rotating drum 29. That is, the air from the nozzle 80 is blown between the inner surface of the outer tub 20 and the outer surface of the rotating drum (inner tub) 29 and flows between the inner surface of the outer tub 20 and the outer surface of the rotating drum 29. For this purpose, the nozzle 80 of the air blowing device 85 that blows air is arranged so that the outlet port faces the space 20 c between the inner surface of the outer tub 20 and the outer surface of the inner tub 29. FIG. 4 shows a configuration in which air is blown to the inner surface of the outer tub 20 and the rear surface of the bottom surface of the rotating drum 29. By appropriately arranging the duct and the switching valve, air can be blown onto the inner surface of the door 3. Further, the nozzle 80 may be arranged so that the blowing nozzle faces the space 20c so that air is directly blown into the space 20c between the bottom surface of the outer tub 20 and the bottom surface of the rotary drum 29. In addition, the nozzle 80 may be arranged so as to face the joint 34a between the metal flange 34 and the outer tub 20 where water is likely to remain.

  After the dehydration process, if the process proceeds to the drying process with moisture adhering to the inner surface of the outer tub 20, the bottom surface of the rotary drum 29, and the inner surface of the door 3, it must be heated and evaporated to the moisture already removed from the clothing. In other words, the amount of power consumed for drying increases.

  It is possible to reduce the power consumption in the drying process by removing residual moisture by the air blowing means 85 after the dehydration process. For this reason, in this residual moisture removal step (removal operation), the heater 62 is turned off to blow air. Further, the blowing in the residual moisture removing process may be started before the rotation of the rotating drum 29 in the dehydrating process is stopped. Thereby, the operation time from washing or washing to drying can be shortened. In the present embodiment, the air blow from the nozzle 80 of the air blowing device 85 is performed in a state in which the heater 62 is stopped and the rotation of the inner tank 29 in the dehydration process is stopped before heating by the heater 62 in the drying process is started. Run. In addition, it is desirable that the blowing from the nozzle 80 is finished before the heating by the heater 62 is started. At this time, after the rotation of the inner tub 29 is stopped, the energization of the motor 36 that is the driving device of the inner tub 29 is stopped. That is, after the drive energization of the motor 36 is stopped, the inner tank 29 may be rotating at this time.

  The reason why the air blowing means 85 acts on the inner surface of the outer tub 20, the back surface of the bottom surface of the rotating drum 29, and the inner surface of the door 3 is as follows.

  This is because the moisture blown off by centrifugal force during dehydration adheres to the inner surface of the outer tub 20.

  The back surface of the bottom surface of the rotating drum 29 is the surface opposite to the surface containing the laundry and the surface facing the inner surface of the outer tub 20. A flange 34 is attached to this surface, and moisture may remain in the structural gap.

  The inner surface of the door 3 means the inner surface of the rotating drum 29, and wet laundry and washing water come into contact with the door 3 during operation. In general, the door 3 is often made of glass, and moisture that has been blown off during dehydration remains attached.

  A plurality of nozzles 80 are provided (not shown), and high-speed air is used in places where moisture remains after dehydration due to the construction of the washing machine other than the inner surface of the outer tub 20, the bottom surface of the rotating drum 29, and the inner surface of the door 3. It is desirable to arrange so that 82 can be sprayed. The flow rate of air blown onto the laundry in a normal drying process is about 10 to 20 m / s. On the other hand, the flow rate of the high-speed air 82 is set higher than that in the drying process in order to blow off the remaining water. Preferably, the flow velocity of the high-speed air 82 is set to 30 m / s or more. More preferably, the flow rate of the high-speed air 82 is 50 m / s or more.

  The blower 61 can use the thing of the drying apparatus 6, and does not need to prepare newly. However, depending on the performance of the blower used during the drying operation, there is a case where the high-speed air 82 cannot be generated, so that it may be newly provided.

  FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. Since the configuration of the washing and drying machine is the same as that of the first embodiment, a description thereof will be omitted.

  FIG. 5 (a) illustrates the flow of operation when washing and drying are performed automatically. Although the number of times of rinsing is two times, depending on the type of detergent, there is a case where it is operated once.

  FIG. 5B shows control for operating the air blowing means 85 before shifting from the dehydration process to the drying process. Since the rotary drum 29 is driven at a high speed at the end of the dehydration process, this deceleration is performed by a regenerative brake.

  The air blowing means 85 is driven using regenerative energy obtained by performing regenerative braking. Thus, moisture remaining on the inner surface of the outer tub 20, the bottom surface of the rotating drum 29, and the inner surface of the door 3 can be removed without increasing the amount of electric power.

  Furthermore, compared with the case where the rotating drum 29 rotating at a high speed stops due to inertia, if the rotating drum 29 is stopped by the regenerative brake, the stopping time can be shortened, so that the operation time can be shortened. . Further, the removal process of the remaining water is performed within the execution time of the high-speed dehydration process, so that the entire operation time is not affected. Alternatively, the time required for the residual moisture removal process can be shortened by the amount of time that the residual moisture removal process and the high-speed dehydration process overlap. The same applies to Example 1 to stop the reduction of the time required for the residual water removal step.

  Further, since the residual moisture can be reduced by the air blowing means 85, the operation time of the drying process can be shortened.

  Whether or not to operate the air blowing means 85 can be set in advance by the user and can be set on the operation panel 55. This enables the operation of removing the residual moisture by the air blowing device 85 to be selectively operated by a user operation.

  Moreover, although the above-mentioned Example 1 and Example 2 demonstrated in the heater-heating-type washing dryer using a heater as a heating means, it implements similarly also in the heat-pump-type washing dryer using a heat pump as a heating means. I can do it.

  According to each of the above-described embodiments, by removing moisture remaining between the inner surface of the outer tub 20 and the outer surface of the rotating drum 29, the dirt is removed and the outer tub 20 and the rotating drum 29 are kept clean. It becomes easy.

  In addition, the above-described residual water removal step is performed not only when the washing, dehydration, and drying steps are continuously performed, but, for example, when the drying step is not performed after the dehydration operation. Also good. Thereby, drying of the inner surface of the outer tub 20 and the outer surface of the rotating drum 29 is accelerated, and it becomes easy to keep the outer tub 20 and the rotating drum 29 clean.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to each above-mentioned Example, Various modifications are included. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations. Further, a part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Further, it is possible to add, delete, and replace other configurations for a part of the configuration of each embodiment.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Base, 2 ... Outer frame, 3 ... Door, 4,7 ... Bellows, 5 ... Dehumidification duct, 6 ... Drying device, 8 ... Drain solenoid valve, 9 ... Drain hose, 10 ... Drain hose hook, 11 ... Blow Nozzle, 12 ... circulating air, 13 ... intake valve, 14, 15 ... casing internal air, 16 ... external air, 17 ... overflow pipe, 18 ... exhaust hose, 20 ... outer tank, 21 ... suspension, 22 ... front cover, 23 ... Back cover, 29 ... Rotary drum, 30 ... Laundry, 31 ... Fluid balancer, 32 ... Ventilation port, 33 ... Lifter, 34 ... Flange, 35 ... Shaft, 36 ... Drum drive motor, 37, 39 ... Drainage port , 38 ... packing, 40 ... air passage, 50 ... exhaust air, 51 ... cooling water supply pipe, 52 ... cooling water, 55 ... operation panel, 61 ... blower, 62 ... heater, 70 ... vibration sensor, 71 ... handle, 80 ... Le, 81 ... switching valve, 82 ... high velocity air, 85 ... air blow means.

Claims (5)

In the washer / dryer provided with a drying device that includes a blower passage, a blower, and a dehumidifying unit that supports the outer tub that rotatably includes the inner tub in the housing and blows warm air to the inner tub.
A washing and drying machine, wherein the nozzle of an air blowing device that blows air is arranged so that a blowing port faces a space between the inner surface of the outer tub and the outer surface of the inner tub. In the washing and drying machine according to claim 1,
The air blowing from the nozzle of the air blowing device is performed after stopping the rotation of the inner tank in the dehydration step and before starting the heating in the drying step with the heating means stopped. Washing and drying machine. In the washing and drying machine according to claim 2,
The air blower is driven by using regenerative energy of the inner tub after completion of the dehydration operation. In the washing and drying machine according to claim 3,
The air blower uses the blower that blows warm air in a drying process. The washing / drying machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The air blower can be selectively operated by a user's operation.

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