JP2022147069A - Clothing dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a clothing dryer capable of preventing dew condensation in an exhaustion passage.SOLUTION: A clothing dryer comprises a drying chamber 4 that can accommodate clothing 2, a drying air supply unit 5 that can supply drying air K1 to the drying chamber 4, and an exhaustion unit 6 for exhausting air K in the drying chamber 4. The exhaustion unit 6 comprises an exhaust fan 31 and an exhaust passage 32 for conducting air K in the drying chamber 4 to outdoor, and a bypass supply unit 51 for supplying the drying air K1 to the exhaust passage 32 without passing through the drying chamber 4, with the drying chamber 4 being bypassed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a clothes drying apparatus for drying wet clothes.

A clothes drying apparatus comprising a drying chamber capable of freely accommodating clothes, a drying air supply unit capable of freely supplying drying air to the drying chamber, and an exhaust unit for exhausting the air in the drying chamber to the outside. is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In the clothes drying apparatus disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the exhaust section includes an exhaust fan and an exhaust passage that guides the air in the drying chamber to the outside. By operating the exhaust fan, the drying air is supplied to the drying chamber from the drying air supply unit, and the air in the drying chamber is exhausted to the outside through the exhaust passage.

JP 2020-092754 A

In the clothes drying apparatus disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the air in the drying chamber is supplied to the exhaust passage so that the air in the drying chamber is led to the outside through the exhaust passage and the air in the drying chamber is exhausted to the outside. However, since the drying chamber contains wet clothes, moisture-rich air is supplied to the exhaust passage at the beginning of the drying operation. At this time, especially in winter, when the temperature inside the exhaust passage is low, there is a possibility that dew condensation occurs inside the exhaust passage due to the supply of air containing a large amount of moisture.

In view of this situation, a main object of the present invention is to provide a clothes drying apparatus capable of preventing dew condensation from occurring inside the exhaust passage.

A first characteristic configuration of the present invention comprises a drying chamber capable of accommodating clothes, a drying air supply unit capable of supplying drying air to the drying chamber, and an exhaust unit discharging the air in the drying chamber to the outside. be
The exhaust unit includes an exhaust fan and an exhaust passage for guiding the air in the drying chamber to the outside,
A bypass supply section is provided for bypassing the drying chamber and supplying the drying air to the exhaust passage without going through the drying chamber.

According to this configuration, the bypass supply unit bypasses the drying chamber and supplies the drying air to the exhaust passage, so that the supply of the drying air can warm the inside of the exhaust passage. , the occurrence of dew condensation in the exhaust passage can be prevented. Moreover, the bypass supply unit can use the drying air to be supplied to the drying chamber as it is, and there is no need to separately provide a device or the like for generating the air for drying the exhaust passage, and the configuration is simple. can be improved.

A second characteristic configuration of the present invention is provided with a control unit for controlling operating states of the drying air supply unit, the exhaust unit, and the bypass supply unit,
The control unit operates the drying air supply unit and the exhaust unit to perform a drying operation for drying the clothes stored in the drying chamber, and operates the bypass supply unit to supply the drying air to the drying chamber. A preliminary supply operation is performed to bypass the drying chamber and supply air to the exhaust passage without passing through the drying chamber, and a drying operation with a preliminary supply operation is performed following the preliminary supply operation. be.

According to this configuration, since the control unit can freely execute not only the drying operation but also the drying operation with the pre-supply operation, the drying operation can be performed in a state in which the pre-supply operation is performed to warm the exhaust passage. . As a result, even when air containing a large amount of moisture is supplied to the exhaust passage, such as at the beginning of the dry operation, the exhaust passage can be warmed immediately before the supply, preventing condensation in the exhaust passage. Occurrence can be prevented accurately.

In a third characteristic configuration of the present invention, when the temperature in the exhaust passage is lower than the set temperature, the control unit performs the drying operation with the preliminary supply operation, and the temperature in the exhaust passage is higher than the set temperature. If it is high, the controller is configured to perform the drying operation.

According to this configuration, when the temperature in the exhaust passage is equal to or lower than the set temperature and there is a possibility of condensation occurring in the exhaust passage, the control unit performs the drying operation with the preliminary supply operation. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately prevent the occurrence of dew condensation in the exhaust passage. Conversely, when the temperature in the exhaust passage is higher than the set temperature and there is no possibility of condensation occurring in the exhaust passage, the control section performs a dry operation, so that the pre-supply operation is not wasted. Allows clothes to dry properly.

A fourth characteristic configuration of the present invention is that the bypass supply unit includes a bypass passage connected to the exhaust passage by bypassing the drying chamber without passing through the drying chamber,
A connection point between the exhaust passage and the bypass passage is provided with a backflow prevention portion for preventing backflow of air from the exhaust passage to the bypass passage.

According to this configuration, the bypass supply section can bypass the drying chamber and appropriately guide the drying air to the exhaust passage by a simple configuration including the bypass passage connected to the exhaust passage. However, if the exhaust passage and the bypass passage are simply connected, for example, when the air in the drying chamber is circulated outside through the exhaust passage, the air flowing through the exhaust passage may flow back into the bypass passage. have a nature.

Therefore, according to this configuration, the connection point between the exhaust passage and the bypass passage is provided with the backflow prevention portion that prevents the backflow of air from the exhaust passage to the bypass passage. As a result, the drying air can be properly supplied to the exhaust passage using the bypass passage while properly preventing the air flowing through the exhaust passage from flowing back to the bypass passage.

Side view showing a schematic configuration of the clothes drying apparatus Front view showing a rotating drum, hot air supply passage, exhaust passage, and bypass supply section A plan view showing a rotating drum, a high-temperature air supply path, an exhaust path, and a bypass supply section. Flowchart showing operation when performing drying operation

An embodiment of a clothes drying apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
This clothes drying apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 1, dries wet clothes 2 after dehydration or the like with high-temperature air K1 generated by combustion of fuel gas N. As shown in FIG. The clothes drying apparatus 1 is provided with a box-shaped housing 3, the housing 3 has a drying chamber 4 in which the clothes 2 can be freely accommodated, and a high temperature air K1 (drying air) can be supplied to the drying chamber 4. A drying air supply unit 5 and an exhaust unit 6 for exhausting the air K in the drying chamber 4 to the outside are provided.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, a single door 7 is supported on the front side of the housing 3 so that it can be opened and closed. By opening and closing the door 7, as shown in FIG. 1, the clothes inlet 8 provided in the front side portion of the housing 3 can be closed and opened. A user puts the clothes 2 into the drying chamber 4 through the clothes inlet 8 or takes out the clothes 2 from the drying chamber 4 with the door 7 opened.

The drying chamber 4 is formed by a rotating drum 11 that can be driven to rotate. The rotating drum 11 has a cylindrical inner space with a larger diameter than the circular clothes inlet 8 , and the inner space is provided as a drying chamber 4 . The rotating drum 11 has a front opening 11 a that is open on the front side, and the front opening 11 a communicates with the clothes inlet 8 . The rotary drum 11 is rotatably supported around a rotation axis P by a support shaft (not shown) extending in a substantially horizontal direction. A drive motor 12 and a first transmission belt 14 are provided to rotationally drive the rotary drum 11 . The first transmission belt 14 is wound around the first drive pulley 13 of the drive motor 12 and the outer circumference of the rotary drum 11 . By rotating the first drive pulley 13 by the drive motor 12 and winding the first transmission belt 14, the driving force of the drive motor 12 is transmitted to the rotating drum 11, and the rotating drum 11 is rotated. I am letting

The drying air supply unit 5 includes a burner 21 that burns the fuel gas N and a high temperature air supply path 22 that supplies high temperature air K1 (drying air) generated (heated) by combustion of the burner 21 to the drying chamber 4. and are provided. A fuel supply passage 23 for supplying fuel gas N to the burner 21 is provided. are supplying. A fuel supply valve 25 is provided at an intermediate portion of the fuel supply passage 23 to intermittently supply the fuel gas N, thereby making it possible to adjust the supply amount of the fuel gas N. As shown in FIG. Incidentally, although one fuel supply valve 25 is shown in FIG. A valve can be provided.

An opening 26 is formed in the lower surface of the housing 3 , and air K can freely flow into the interior of the housing 3 through the opening 26 . The burner 21 burns the fuel gas N supplied through the fuel supply path 23 using the inflowing air K as combustion air to generate high-temperature air K1 (drying air). The high temperature air supply path 22 communicates with the inside of the drying chamber 4 through an air supply port 27 formed on the lower front side of the rotary drum 11, and supplies the high temperature air K1 (drying air) generated by the burner 21 to the drying chamber 4. It is freely supplied inside.

The exhaust part 6 is provided with an exhaust fan 31 and an exhaust passage 32 for exhausting the air K in the drying chamber 4 to the outside. A drive motor 12 and a second transmission belt 16 are provided to drive the exhaust fan 31 . The second transmission belt 16 is wound around the second drive pulley 15 of the drive motor 12 and the exhaust fan 31 . By rotating the second drive pulley 15 by the drive motor 12 and winding the second transmission belt 16, the driving force of the drive motor 12 is transmitted to the exhaust fan 31 to operate the exhaust fan 31. ing. In this way, the driving force of one drive motor 12 is transmitted to the rotating drum 11 and the exhaust fan 31, so that the rotating drum 11 and the exhaust fan 31 can be operated freely.

The exhaust fan 31 is arranged on the rear side of the rotating drum 11 so as to suck the air K inside the drying chamber 4 . The exhaust passage 32 has an internal passage portion 33 inside the housing 3 and an external passage portion 34 outside the housing 3. By connecting the internal passage portion 33 to the external passage portion 34 (exhaust pipe), the drying chamber is An exhaust passage 32 is formed for exhausting the air K inside 4 to the outside. By operating the exhaust fan 31, the air K is taken into the inside of the housing 3 from the opening 26 on the bottom surface of the housing 3, and the taken-in air K is supplied into the drying chamber 4 through the burner 21, A flow of air K is generated in which the air K inside the drying chamber 4 is exhausted to the outside through the exhaust passage 32 .

A filter 41 is arranged on the rear side of the rotating drum 11 at a position through which the air K exhausted from the drying chamber 4 passes. The filter 41 is disposed on the downstream side (exhaust side) of the drying chamber 4 and upstream of the exhaust fan 31 in the flow direction of the air K, and removes dust and threads contained in the air K exhausted from the drying chamber 4. Foreign matter such as dust is removed. The filter 41 is disposed so as to block an opening formed in the rear wall portion 11b of the rotating drum 11, and is rotatably provided integrally with the rotating drum 11. As shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, not only is the high-temperature air K1 (drying air) generated by the burner 21 supplied to the drying chamber 4 and the air K in the drying chamber 4 is caused to flow through the exhaust passage 32, but the burner 21 A bypass supply unit 51 is provided to bypass the drying chamber 4 and supply the high-temperature air K<b>1 (drying air) generated by the drying process to the exhaust passage 32 without going through the drying chamber 4 . By supplying the high-temperature air K1 to the exhaust passage 32 in the bypass supply portion 51, the inside of the exhaust passage 32 can be warmed, and the occurrence of dew condensation in the exhaust passage 32 can be prevented. Moreover, since the high-temperature air K1 (drying air) used for drying the clothes 2 is supplied to the exhaust passage 32, even if dew condensation occurs in the exhaust passage 32, the dew condensation can be removed.

The bypass supply unit 51 will be described below.
As shown in FIG. 1, the bypass supply unit 51 supplies the high-temperature air K1 (drying air) to the exhaust passage 32, so that the burner 21 and the like that generate the high-temperature air K1 are used in the same manner as the drying air supply unit 5. , and the device for generating this high-temperature air K1 is also used as the drying air supply unit 5 . In addition to the burner 21 and the like for generating the high-temperature air K1, the bypass supply unit 51 bypasses the drying chamber 4 without going through the drying chamber 4, and has a bypass passage 52 connected to the exhaust passage 32, The bypass passage 52 is provided with a ventilation fan 53 for supplying the high-temperature air K1 to the exhaust passage 32 .

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the bypass passage 52 has its upstream end branched and connected to the upstream end of the high temperature air supply passage 22, and can freely receive the high temperature air K1 generated by the combustion of the burner 21. is configured to The bypass passage 52 is connected at its downstream end to the downstream end of the internal passage portion 33 in the exhaust passage 32 so that the high-temperature air K1 flowing through the bypass passage 52 can be freely supplied to the exhaust passage 32. .

FIG. 2 is a front view of the rotating drum 11, the high-temperature air supply path 22, the exhaust path 32, and the bypass path 52 in the bypass supply section 51, and schematically shows each path. FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the rotating drum 11, the high-temperature air supply path 22, the exhaust path 32, and the bypass path 52 in the bypass supply section 51, and schematically shows each path. 2 and 3, the high-temperature air supply passage 22 and the exhaust passage 32 are indicated by solid lines, while the bypass passage 52 is indicated by dotted lines. 2 and 3, the high-temperature air K1 when supplied to the drying chamber 4 is indicated by solid lines, and the high-temperature air K1 when bypassing the drying chamber 4 is indicated by dotted lines.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the burner 21 is arranged in the lower right front portion of the housing 3, and the high-temperature air supply path 22 extends leftward in the left-right direction from the burner 21 to the rotary drum. It extends to the central part of 11. An internal passage portion 33 of the exhaust passage 32 extends upward from the exhaust fan 31 , bends leftward in the left-right direction, and extends to an upper left rear portion of the housing 3 . Incidentally, the locations where the burner 21, the high-temperature air supply path 22, and the exhaust passage 32 are arranged are merely an example, and are not limited to this arrangement.

The bypass passage 52 includes a first passage portion 52a (see FIGS. 2 and 3) extending in the width direction of the housing 3 and a second passage portion 52a extending in the vertical direction of the housing 3 from the upstream side in the flow direction of the high-temperature air K1. A passage portion 52b (see FIGS. 1 and 2) and a third passage portion 52c (see FIGS. 1 and 3) extending from the front side to the rear side in the longitudinal direction of the housing 3 are provided.

The first passage portion 52a is branch-connected at its upstream end to the upstream end of the high-temperature air supply passage 22, and is provided so as to receive the high-temperature air K1 generated by the burner 21. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the first passage portion 52a allows the high-temperature air K1 to flow to the left end of the housing 3 toward the left in the left-right direction. The second passage portion 52b is disposed at the left front side portion of the housing 3, and follows the first passage portion 52a and serves as a passage through which the high-temperature air K1 flows from the lower side to the upper side of the housing 3. there is The third passage portion 52c, following the second passage portion 52b, is a passage through which the high-temperature air K1 flows from the front side to the rear side of the housing 3, and is downstream of the internal passage portion 33 in the exhaust passage 32. connected to the side ends.

In the bypass passage 52, a ventilation fan 53 is provided at the upstream end of the first passage portion 52a. By operating the ventilation fan 53 , the high-temperature air K<b>1 generated by the combustion of the burner 21 can be drawn into the bypass passage 52 and the high-temperature air K<b>1 can be made to flow through the bypass passage 52 .

A backflow preventing portion 54 that prevents backflow of air from the exhaust passage 32 to the bypass passage 52 is provided at the downstream end of the third passage portion 52c. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent the air flowing through the exhaust passage 32 from flowing back to the bypass passage 52 .

The bypass supply unit 51 performs combustion with the burner 21 and operates the ventilation fan 53 in a state where the exhaust fan 31 is not operated. As a result, the high-temperature air K1 generated by the combustion of the burner 21 is drawn into the first passage portion 52a of the bypass passage 52 and flows through the bypass passage 52, as indicated by the dotted line arrows in FIGS. reaches the downstream end of the third passage portion 52c, and is supplied to the internal passage portion 33 of the exhaust passage 32 from the downstream end of the third passage portion 52c. In this way, the high-temperature air K1 is supplied to the internal passage portion 33 and flows through the exhaust passage 32 through the internal passage portion 33 and the external passage portion 34, thereby warming the exhaust passage 32.

Control of the clothes drying apparatus 1 will be described below.
As shown in FIG. 1, a controller 9 is provided at the lower front portion of the housing 3 to control the operating state of each device. The control unit 9 can execute a plurality of types of operations by controlling the operating state of each device. The drying operation for drying the clothes 2 is configured to be executable.

Although illustration is omitted, the front part of the housing 3 is provided with an operation part and a display part. The operation unit includes various switches such as a power switch, a selection switch for selecting the operation and operation course, a switch for starting and pausing the drying operation, and a setting switch for setting the drying time of the drying operation. ing. The display unit includes, for example, various display units such as a display unit that displays the operating state and a digital display unit that displays an estimate of the remaining drying time.

In the drying operation, as shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 9 controls the fuel supply valve 25 and the like in the drying air supply unit 5 so that the burner 21 performs combustion, and operates the exhaust fan 31 in the exhaust unit 6. The operating state of the drive motor 12 is controlled so that the In this drying operation, the control unit 9 operates the drive motor 12 to operate the exhaust fan 31 and rotate the rotary drum 11 to stop the clothes 2 in the drying chamber 4 at a fixed position. The clothes 2 are dried efficiently.

The control unit 9 controls the fuel supply valve 25 and the like in the drying air supply unit 5 so as to stop combustion in the burner 21 when a set time has elapsed from the start of the drying operation, and the exhaust fan in the exhaust unit 6 The operating state of the drive motor 12 is controlled to stop the operation of 31, and the drying operation is completed.

The set time can be, for example, a preset initial set time, or the preset initial set time can be changed according to the amount or weight of the clothes 2 thrown into the drying chamber 4 . Moreover, the condition for ending the drying operation is not limited to the condition that the set time has passed. is detected, the drying operation can be terminated.

Regarding the drying operation, the control unit 9 is configured not only to perform the drying operation described above, but also to perform a drying operation with a preliminary supply operation in which a preliminary supply operation is performed immediately before the drying operation. In the drying operation with the pre-supply operation, the control unit 9 first operates the bypass supply unit 51 to bypass the drying chamber 4 and supply the high-temperature air K1 to the exhaust passage 32 without passing through the drying chamber 4. A feed operation is performed, followed by the pre-feed operation, followed by the drying operation described above.

In the pre-supply operation, the control unit 9 performs combustion by the burner 21 and operates the ventilation fan 53 to generate the high-temperature air K1 by combustion of the burner 21, as indicated by the dotted line arrows in FIGS. In addition, the high-temperature air K1 is passed through the bypass passage 52 to bypass the drying chamber 4 and is supplied to the exhaust passage 32 . For example, the control unit 9 continues the pre-supply operation until the set time elapses, and when the set time elapses, the pre-supply operation is stopped and the drying operation is started. At this time, the set time can be set in advance through experiments or the like so that the exhaust passage 32 can be sufficiently warmed by the supply of the high-temperature air K1.

The operation when performing the drying operation will be described based on the flowchart of FIG.
When the user puts the clothes 2 into the drying chamber 4 and operates the operation unit or the like to issue a command to start the drying operation, the control unit 9 first causes the temperature inside the exhaust passage 32 to reach the set temperature. It is determined whether or not (step #1). As shown in FIG. 1, the internal passage portion 33 of the exhaust passage 32 is provided with an exhaust temperature detection sensor 55 for detecting the temperature inside the exhaust passage 32. Based on the detected temperature, it is determined whether or not the temperature inside the exhaust passage 32 is equal to or lower than the set temperature.

When the temperature in the exhaust passage 32 is equal to or lower than the set temperature, the temperature in the exhaust passage 32 is low, and dew condensation may occur, so the control unit 9 executes the drying operation with pre-supply operation. (if Yes in step #1, step #2). The set temperature can be set in advance based on experiments such as whether dew condensation occurs in the exhaust passage 32 . In the dry operation with the pre-supply operation, the control unit 9 first performs combustion by the burner 21 and operates the ventilation fan 53 to operate the bypass supply unit 51 to perform the pre-supply operation (step #2). , followed by a drying operation (step #3).

When the temperature inside the exhaust passage 32 is higher than the set temperature, the control unit 9 assumes that the temperature inside the exhaust passage 32 has not decreased and that there is no possibility of condensation ( If No in step #1, step #3).

[Another embodiment]
Another embodiment of the present invention will be described. It should be noted that the configuration of each embodiment described below is not limited to being applied alone, and can be applied in combination with the configurations of other embodiments.

(1) In the above embodiment, the high-temperature air K1 (drying air) is generated by combustion of the burner 21. However, for example, the high-temperature air (drying air) can be generated by heating with an electric heater. The heating unit for generating the air K1 is not limited to the burner, and other heating units can be applied.

(2) In the above embodiment, the rotary drum 11 is driven to rotate about the rotation axis P along the substantially horizontal direction. It is possible to appropriately change how the rotational axis of the rotating drum is set.

(3) In the above embodiment, the inner space of the rotating drum 11 that can be freely driven is provided as the drying chamber 4, but the drying chamber 4 may be provided in a fixed state.

1 Clothes drying device 2 Clothes 4 Drying chamber 5 Drying air supply unit 6 Exhaust unit 9 Control unit 31 Exhaust fan 32 Exhaust passage 51 Bypass supply unit 52 Bypass passage 54 Backflow prevention unit K1 High temperature air (drying air)

Claims (4)

A drying chamber that can freely accommodate clothes, a drying air supply unit that can freely supply drying air to the drying chamber, and an exhaust unit that exhausts the air in the drying chamber to the outside are provided,
The exhaust unit includes an exhaust fan and an exhaust passage for guiding the air in the drying chamber to the outside,
A clothes drying apparatus comprising a bypass supply section for bypassing the drying chamber and supplying drying air to an exhaust passage without going through the drying chamber. A control unit for controlling operating states of the drying air supply unit, the exhaust unit, and the bypass supply unit is provided,
The control unit operates the drying air supply unit and the exhaust unit to perform a drying operation for drying the clothes stored in the drying chamber, and operates the bypass supply unit to supply the drying air to the drying chamber. A pre-supplying operation of bypassing the drying chamber and supplying the air to the exhaust passage without passing through the drying chamber, and a drying operation with a pre-supplying operation of performing the drying operation subsequent to the pre-supplying operation. 2. The clothes drying apparatus according to 1. When the temperature in the exhaust passage is equal to or lower than the set temperature, the control unit performs the drying operation with preliminary supply operation, and when the temperature in the exhaust passage is higher than the set temperature, the control unit 3. The clothes drying apparatus according to claim 2, configured to perform the drying operation. The bypass supply unit includes a bypass passage that bypasses the drying chamber without passing through the drying chamber and is connected to the exhaust passage,
4. The clothes drying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a connection point between the exhaust passage and the bypass passage is provided with a backflow prevention portion for preventing backflow of air from the exhaust passage to the bypass passage. .

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