JP2016112229A - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make drying of the entire clothes easy and to shorten the drying time of clothes.SOLUTION: A clothes dryer includes: a rotary drum 2 in which clothes are accommodated; a motor 3 for drive for rotationally driving the rotary drum 2; a heat pump device 4 in which a refrigerant circulates in a compressor 41, a condenser 42, throttle means 43 and an evaporator 44; a drying air passage 5 in which the condenser 42 and the evaporator 44 are arranged and which blows drying air into the rotary drum 2; and control equipment 7 for controlling the motor 3 for drive and the compressor 41. The control equipment 7 performs a clothes untangling operation for untangling the clothes in the rotary drum 2 by rotating the rotary drum 2 in a normal direction and a reverse direction alternately by controlling the motor 3 for drive, and in the clothes untangling operation, a preheating operation for the compressor 41 is performed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a clothes dryer.

  As a conventional clothes dryer, there are a rotating drum in which clothes are accommodated, an operating motor for rotating the rotating drum, a heat pump device in which a refrigerant circulates through a compressor, a condenser, a throttle means, and an evaporator, Some have a condenser and the evaporator, and include a drying air passage for blowing drying air into the rotating drum.

  And as this clothes dryer, as shown, for example in patent documents 1, energization to the motor of a compressor is started in a washing process or a dehydration process, and the temperature of a refrigerant is raised. Something that raises the risk is considered.

  However, in the above configuration, although the time until the drying air reaches a predetermined temperature after the transition to the drying process can be shortened, the clothes are stuck to the drum or entangled at the time of the transition to the drying process. There is a problem that unevenness occurs and drying time becomes long in order to dry uniformly.

JP 2004-350825 A

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and has as its main object to make it easy to dry the entire garment and to shorten the drying time of the garment.

  That is, a clothes dryer according to the present invention includes a rotating drum in which clothes are accommodated, an operation motor that rotationally drives the rotating drum, a heat pump device in which a refrigerant circulates through a compressor, a condenser, a throttle means, and an evaporator. The condenser and the evaporator are disposed, and include a drying air passage for blowing the drying air into the rotating drum, and a control device for controlling the operation motor and the compressor. The device controls the operation motor to rotate the rotating drum alternately forward and reverse to perform clothing unwinding operation to loosen the clothing in the rotating drum, and in the clothing unwinding operation, the preheating operation of the compressor is performed. It is characterized by performing.

  According to the clothes dryer configured as described above, since the preheating operation of the compressor is performed in the clothes unwinding operation, it is possible not only to shorten the time until the drying air reaches a predetermined temperature after moving to the drying process. The clothes are loosened at the time of transition to the drying process, so that not only uneven drying can be prevented, but also the drying time for uniform drying can be shortened.

  The clothes dryer further includes a blower fan that is disposed in the drying air passage and blows drying air to the rotary drum, and the blower fan is driven to rotate by the driving motor and interlocks with the rotary drum. In the case where the control device is configured as described above, the control device has a forward operation section in which the blower fan rotates in the forward direction in which the drying air is blown into the rotary drum, and the forward rotation is in a direction opposite to the forward rotation. It is desirable to perform the preheating operation of the compressor in at least one of the reverse operation sections in the reverse rotation.

In the forward operation section, it is preferable that the control device in the previous period performs the preheating operation of the compressor by rotating the compressor.
If it is this, since the ventilation to a rotating drum, an evaporator, and a condenser will become effective and the compressor is operating, it will become the composition which a heat pump cycle operates.

In the reverse operation section, even if the compressor is operating, the heat pump cycle does not operate because the air to the rotating drum, the evaporator and the condenser is invalid. For this reason, it is desirable that the control device performs a preheating operation of the compressor by causing a current to flow through a winding of a motor constituting the compressor in the reverse operation section.
If this is the case, the compressor can be preheated even in the reverse operation section.

The control device heats the compressor by controlling a field current flowing in a winding of a motor constituting the compressor for a predetermined time after the start of a drying operation performed following the clothes unraveling operation. Is desirable.
In this case, the compressor is heated during a predetermined time after the start of the drying operation to promote heating of the entire heat pump cycle, thereby improving the air heating capacity in the condenser.

It is desirable that the control device is configured to allow a user to switch between a short-time drying mode in which the compressor is preheated and a normal drying mode in which the compressor is not preheated.
In this case, the user can select the short time drying mode and the normal drying mode, and the usability of the clothes dryer can be improved.

A refrigerant temperature detection unit that detects a refrigerant temperature is provided on the discharge side of the compressor, and the control device uses the refrigerant temperature obtained by the refrigerant temperature detection unit to set a condensation pressure limit in the condenser during the preheating operation. It is desirable to have a safety device that does not exceed it.
If it is this, it can improve safely and maximally, without impairing the air heating capability of an evaporator.

  According to the present invention configured as described above, since the preheating operation of the compressor is performed in the clothes unwinding operation, not only can the time until the drying air reaches a predetermined temperature after the transition to the drying process can be shortened, At the time of transition to the drying process, the clothes are loosened, so that the entire clothes can be easily dried and the drying time of the clothes can be shortened.

The schematic diagram which shows the structure of the clothes dryer in this embodiment. The figure which shows the rotation speed and rotation direction of the motor in the clothing loosening process and drying process of short time drying mode. The figure which shows the rotation speed and rotation direction of the motor in the clothing unraveling process and drying process of normal drying mode.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a clothes dryer according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the clothes dryer 100 according to the present embodiment includes a rotary drum 2 in which clothes are stored, an operation motor 3 that rotationally drives the rotary drum 2, a compressor 41, a condenser 42, A heat pump device 4 in which a refrigerant circulates through a throttle means (for example, an expansion valve or a capillary tube) 43 and an evaporator 44, the condenser 42 and the evaporator 44 are arranged, and air for drying is blown into the rotary drum 2. A drying air passage 5 for controlling the operation, a blower fan 6 which is disposed in the drying air passage 5 and blows the air for drying to the rotating drum 2, the motor 3 for operation, the compressor 41, etc. And a control device 7 for controlling the entire machine. The discharge side pipe of the compressor 41 is provided with a refrigerant temperature detection unit 8 such as a thermistor for detecting the temperature of the refrigerant flowing through the discharge side pipe.

  In the present embodiment, the blower fan 6 is configured to be driven to rotate by the operation motor 3 and interlock with the rotary drum 2. That is, when the rotating drum 2 rotates in one direction, the blower fan 6 performs forward rotation in which the drying air is blown into the rotating drum 2, and when the rotating drum 2 rotates in the other direction. The blower fan 6 rotates in the reverse direction opposite to the forward rotation. The rotating drum 2 and the blower fan 6 are configured to be belt driven by the driving motor 3.

  The drying air passage 5 communicates with an opening on one end side in the rotation axis direction of the rotating drum 2 and also communicates with an opening on the other end side in the rotation axis direction of the rotating drum 2 so that the inside of the rotating drum 2 is formed. The drying air is configured to pass through and circulate. When the blower fan 6 is rotated in the forward direction, the drying air path 5 has the condenser 42, the evaporator 44, and the upstream from the upstream along the flow generated by the blower fan rotated in the forward direction. The blower fans 6 are arranged in this order. The drying air passage 5 is formed inside a housing 9 that houses the rotating drum 2, the driving motor 3, the heat pump device 4, the blower fan 6, and the like.

  Therefore, the control device 7 of the present embodiment can perform the short-time drying mode in which the compressor 41 is preheated and the normal drying mode (power saving drying mode) in which the compressor 41 is not preheated. It is configured.

  The control device 7 of the present embodiment includes a user interface 71 such as a patch panel or a button for enabling the user to select the short-time drying mode and the normal drying mode, and a mode selected from the user interface 71. And a control circuit 72 for controlling each part, and inverter circuits INV1 and INV2 provided corresponding to the compressor motor and the driving motor 3 built in the compressor 41, respectively. Each inverter circuit INV1, INV2 is configured to be controlled by the control circuit 72. In particular, the inverter circuit INV1 for rotationally driving the compressor motor is configured so that the control circuit 72 can control the field current and the rotational speed of the compressor motor.

  The control device 7 according to the present embodiment causes the clothes unraveling step to unravel the clothing immediately before the drying step of drying the clothing in both the short-time drying mode and the normal drying mode.

  In the short drying mode, the control device 7 controls the operation motor 3 to rotate the rotating drum 2 alternately in the forward and reverse directions to perform the clothing unwinding operation to loosen the clothing in the rotating drum 2 ( In the clothes unraveling step), the compressor 41 is preheated in the clothes unraveling operation.

  In more detail, as shown in FIG. 2, the control device 7 performs the preheating operation of the compressor 41 by rotating the compressor 41 in the forward operation section A in which the blower fan 6 rotates in the forward direction. At the same time, in the reverse operation section B in which the blower fan 6 rotates in the reverse direction, the compressor 41 is preheated by passing a current through the compressor motor winding. The forward driving section A and the backward driving section B are alternately repeated a plurality of times in conjunction with the clothes unwinding operation.

  Here, the preheating operation of the compressor 41 in each forward operation section A is performed by operating at a higher frequency than during the steady operation of the compressor 41 in the drying process. In addition, the preheating operation of the compressor 41 in each reverse operation section B is performed by causing a DC current to flow through the windings of the compressor motor and causing the windings to generate Joule heat.

  Then, after the clothes unraveling operation is completed, the control device 7 causes the compressor windings to flow for a predetermined time after the start of the drying operation following the clothes unraveling operation (section C in FIG. 2). The compressor 41 is heated by controlling the field current (current phase) and supplying a larger current than that during the steady operation of the compressor 41 in the drying process.

  Here, in each of the sections A to C, the inverter circuit INV1 is controlled using the refrigerant temperature obtained by the refrigerant temperature detection unit 8 so as not to exceed the condensation pressure limit in the condenser 42 during the preheating operation. The preheating operation or heating operation is performed. The control device 7 may include a safety device so as not to exceed the condensation pressure limit in the condenser 42.

  FIG. 3 shows the number of rotations and the direction of rotation of the motor in the clothes drying process and drying process in the normal drying mode. In this mode, the operating motor 3 is controlled and the rotating drum 2 rotates alternately forward and reverse in the clothes unraveling process, but the compressor motor is not energized. Thereafter, in the drying process, the compressor motor is energized to start the compressor.

  According to the clothes dryer 100 configured as described above, since the preheating operation of the compressor 41 is performed in the clothes unraveling operation, it is possible to shorten the time until the drying air reaches a predetermined temperature after shifting to the drying process. In addition, the clothes are loosened at the time of transition to the drying process, so that not only drying unevenness can be prevented, but also the drying time for drying uniformly can be shortened.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.
For example, the control device is heating the compressor by the field current control in the section C. However, when sufficient air heating capability is obtained in the section A and the section B, the control apparatus performs the field current control in the section C. It is not always necessary to heat the compressor.

  Further, the control device may perform a preheating operation of the compressor in one of the forward operation section A and the forward operation section B.

  Furthermore, in the said embodiment, although the rotating drum and the ventilation fan were rotationally driven by the common driving motor, even if an operating motor is provided independently in each of the rotating drum and the ventilation fan, good.

  In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Clothes dryer 2 ... Rotary drum 3 ... Motor 4 ... Heat pump apparatus 41 ... Compressor 42 ... Condenser 43 ... Squeezing means 44 ... Evaporator 5 ... Dry air passage 6 ... Blower fan 7 ... Control device 8 ... Temperature detection part

Claims (7)

A rotating drum in which clothing is housed;
An operation motor for rotating the rotary drum;
A heat pump device in which a refrigerant circulates through a compressor, a condenser, a throttle means, and an evaporator;
The condenser and the evaporator are disposed, and a drying air path for blowing drying air into the rotating drum;
A control device for controlling the motor for driving and the compressor;
The control device controls the driving motor to rotate the rotating drum alternately and forward and reverse to perform clothing unwinding operation for loosening the clothing in the rotating drum, and in the clothing unwinding operation, the preheating of the compressor is performed. A clothes dryer characterized by performing driving. Further comprising a blower fan disposed in the drying air passage and for blowing drying air to the rotating drum;
The blower fan is configured to be driven to rotate by the driving motor and interlock with the rotating drum,
The control device includes a forward operation section in which the air blower fan performs forward rotation in which the drying air is blown into the rotary drum, and a reverse operation section in which the forward rotation is reverse to the forward rotation. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the compressor is preheated in at least one of the above.   The clothes dryer according to claim 2, wherein the control device performs a preheating operation of the compressor by rotating the compressor in the forward operation section.   The clothes drying according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the control device performs a preheating operation of the compressor by passing a current through a winding of a motor constituting the compressor in the reverse operation section. Machine.   The control device heats the compressor by controlling a field current flowing in a winding of a motor constituting the compressor for a predetermined time after the start of a drying operation performed following the clothes unraveling operation. The clothes dryer as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4 characterized by these.   The control device is configured to allow a user to switch between a short-time drying mode in which the compressor is preheated and a normal drying mode in which the compressor is not preheated. The clothes dryer as described in any one of thru | or 5. A refrigerant temperature detector for detecting the refrigerant temperature on the discharge side of the compressor;
The said control apparatus is equipped with the safety device which prevents the condensation pressure limit in the said condenser from being exceeded during the said preheating driving | operation using the refrigerant | coolant temperature obtained by the said refrigerant | coolant temperature detection part. The clothes dryer as described in any one of.