JP2949543B2 - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clothes dryer,
More specifically, the present invention relates to a clothes dryer that determines load characteristics such as the amount, quality, and type of clothes (hereinafter referred to as load) to be dried in a drum of the clothes dryer, and performs drying suitable for the characteristics. It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A rotating drum to which a load is applied, heating means for heating air supplied to the rotating drum, a heat exchanger for sucking and exhausting warm air from the rotating drum, and exhaust from the rotating drum As an example of a clothes dryer having a temperature detecting means for detecting a temperature, there is an invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-55358.

The clothes dryer disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-55358 supplies air heated by a heat source into a drum, and heats the high-temperature and high-humidity air exhausted from the drum through a heat exchanger and heats the air again by the heat source. A dehumidification type clothes dryer having a structure in which a circulation air path is formed in the heat exchanger, and the outside air is orthogonal to the inside of the heat exchanger by the circulation air path and a cooling fan. A temperature detector that detects the temperature of air, an integration circuit that integrates a detection signal from the temperature detector with a predetermined time constant, and a detection signal and an integration circuit that correspond to a finish drying temperature rise rate detected by the temperature detector. And a comparator for comparing the integrated signal with the comparator.

After a lapse of T time from the start of drying, a difference signal between the detection signal from the temperature detector and the integration signal from the integration circuit, and a set signal difference Δt set in accordance with the degree of dryness at the time of finish drying, and When the difference signal coincides with the set signal difference Δt (at the time of detection of Δt), it is determined that the finish drying degree of the clothes has been reached, and after the detection of Δt, the operation of the clothes dryer ends.

[0005]

As described above, the conventional clothes dryer utilizes the fact that the temperature of the circulating air at the time of finishing and the rate of change at that time are correlated with the load, and integrates the temperature detection signal with the temperature detection signal. By comparing the signal difference with the signal and the preset set signal difference Δt, the finish drying degree of the load is detected irrespective of the load amount, and the operation end of the clothes dryer is controlled by detecting the drying degree. Was. However, since the set signal difference Δt does not correspond to the load characteristics such as the quality of the load (thick cloth or thin cloth) and the type of load (a large item such as a blanket or a small item such as a handkerchief), the difference signal is set. At the time of coincidence with the signal difference Δt, that is, at the time of detection of Δt, it is unclear whether the load is completely dried, and since the operation end of the clothes dryer is controlled by the detection of Δt, drying unevenness occurs in the load. For example, drying suitable for load characteristics could not be performed.

Therefore, in order to eliminate uneven drying of the load,
After the detection of Δt, it is conceivable to continue drying for a certain period of time without terminating the operation. However, in this case, the load that has been completely dried will be further dried. This may lead to a low-reliability and uneconomical clothes dryer, for example, as well as waste of time and electricity to lower the drying efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and includes means for detecting vibration and weight to determine the characteristics of a load, and complete and precise the characteristics suitable for the determined characteristics. It is an object of the present invention to provide a highly reliable clothes dryer capable of drying.

[0008]

A clothes dryer according to the present invention comprises a rotating drum, a fan, a heating means, a driving means, a weight detecting means for detecting the weight of a load in the rotating drum, and a rotating drum. Vibration detection means for detecting the vibration of the air, temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of exhaust gas from the rotating drum, a detection signal from the temperature detection means and an integration signal from an integration circuit for integrating the detection signal with a predetermined time constant. And further compares the comparison signal with a setting signal set corresponding to the degree of dryness at the time of finish drying, and when the comparison signal matches the set signal, determines that the load has reached the degree of finish drying. A control unit that controls load drying based on the determination unit, the control unit includes: an amplitude detection unit that detects an amplitude corresponding to the vibration detected by the vibration detection unit; and an amplitude detection unit. To Ri to determine the extent of the detected amplitude,
Amplitude determining means for outputting the result of the determination, a weight determining means for determining the degree of weight detected by the weight detecting means, and outputting the result of the determination; and a load determining means based on the determination results of the amplitude determining means and the weight determining means. Setting means for determining characteristics and setting a final drying time for further drying the load that has reached the final drying degree according to the result of the determination, and further setting the final drying time when the load in the rotating drum has reached the final drying degree. Drying is performed after adding a drying time. Further, instead of the vibration detecting means and the weight detecting means, a load detecting means having both functions of the detecting means is used.

[0009]

When a load is applied to the rotating drum to start drying, the driving means and the heating means are energized to rotate the rotating drum and the fan, and hot air is supplied into the rotating drum to dry the load in the rotating drum. I do. At this time, the temperature detecting means detects the temperature of the exhaust gas exhausted from the rotating drum and outputs it to the control unit, and the control unit performs Δt detection for detecting the finish drying degree of the load based on the detected exhaust gas temperature. While controlling the load drying. The weight detecting means detects the weight of the load until the load is applied and the rotating drum rotates, and outputs a detection signal to the weight determining means, and the vibration detecting means rotates the rotating drum when the rotating drum rotates. After a predetermined time from the detection of the vibration of the rotating drum, the detection signal is output to the amplitude detecting means.

Next, the amplitude detecting means detects an amplitude corresponding to the detected vibration, the amplitude judging means judges the degree of the detected amplitude, and outputs the judgment result to the setting means. On the other hand, the weight determining means determines the degree of the weight of the load detected by the weight detecting means, and outputs a result of the determination to the setting means. The setting means determines the characteristics of the load based on the determination results of the amplitude determining means and the weight detecting means, and sets a final drying time for further drying the load after the detection of Δt based on the determination results. After the detection of Δt, the control unit further energizes the driving unit and the heating unit for the set final drying time, and performs dense drying suitable for the characteristics of the load in the rotating drum.

[0011]

【Example】

Embodiment 1 FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. In the figure,
1 is a housing of the clothes dryer, and 2 is a door provided on the front surface of the housing 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes a rotating drum provided in the housing 1 to which a load is applied, and a drum shaft 4 having one end fixed to the support plate 1a.
Rotatably attached to the other end of the rotating drum 3
The locking piece 3a provided on the front surface of the mounting plate 1b is engaged with the locking portion 1c of the mounting plate 1b screwed to the housing 1, so that the rotating drum 3 rotates stably. Further, when the door 2 is opened, the inside of the rotating drum 3 is opened, and a filter 5 is provided inside the rotating drum 3 facing the back of the rotating drum 3, and fins (not shown) for hooking clothes are provided inside. ) Is provided.

6 is a motor fixed to the housing 1, 7 is a motor shaft, 8 and 9 are a small pulley and a driving pulley fixed to the motor shaft 7, and the rotary drum 3 is between the rotary drum 3 and the small pulley 8. It is rotated by the suspended flat belt 10. Reference numeral 11 denotes a fan formed integrally with the driven pulley 12 and rotatably provided on the drum shaft 4. The fan 11 is rotated at high speed by a round belt 13 suspended between the driving pulley 9 and the driven pulley 12. The fan 11 is a two-wing fan,
It has two functions as a heat exchanger that cools the exhaust gas containing water, which will be described later, and a blower that sends the cooled exhaust gas again into the rotating drum 3 to form a return flow path for air.

14 is a ventilation hole provided on the back of the housing 1;
Reference numeral 15 denotes an outlet provided on the bottom surface of the housing 1, reference numeral 16 denotes an exhaust port provided on the back of the rotary drum 3, reference numeral 17 denotes an intake port provided on the mounting plate 1b, and reference numeral 18 denotes an intake port provided near the intake port 17. The exhaust containing moisture exhausted from the rotary drum 3 through the exhaust port 16 is cooled by the fan 11 and sent toward the heater 18 by the heater, and is heated by the heater 18. It is configured to be fed into the rotating drum 3. At this time, outside air for cooling is taken into the casing 1 from the ventilation hole 14 to cool the exhaust gas, and water condensed by cooling the steam contained in the exhaust gas by the fan 11 flows out from the outlet port 15. . Reference numeral 19 denotes an exhaust gas temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the exhaust gas that is exhausted from the rotating drum 3 and contains moisture, and is provided near the exhaust port 16.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a load sensor for detecting the weight of the load applied to the rotary drum 3 and the vibration of the rotary drum 3, and is disposed below the rear surface inside the housing 1. As shown in FIG. 3, one end of the load sensor 20 has a support plate 1a.
A detection plate 22 held at a holding plate 21 having the other end fixed to the housing 1 and a detection element 23 such as a strain gauge provided on both sides of the detection plate 22 so as to face each other. I have.

Before the rotation of the rotary drum 3 (when the rotation is stopped), when a load is applied to the rotary drum 3, the rotary drum 3 and the support plate 1a are lowered as shown in FIG. The detection plate 22 of the load sensor 20 is distorted in accordance with the downward movement of the support plate 1a corresponding to the weight of the load, and the electric characteristics of the detection element 23 are changed by the distortion. Detect. On the other hand, when the rotating drum 3 rotates, the loaded load is lifted and dropped by the rotation of the rotating drum 3, and the rotating drum 3 vibrates due to the drop of the load in the repetition of the ascent and descent. The detection plate 22 of the load sensor 20 is distorted by the vibration of the rotating drum 3, and the electric characteristics of the detecting element 23 change due to the distortion, and the load sensor 20 detects the vibration of the rotating drum 3.

Reference numeral 24 denotes a control unit provided in the housing 1, as shown in FIG. 5, as in the conventional example, the temperature between the exhaust gas temperature T1 detected by the exhaust gas temperature sensor 19 and the temperature T2 via the integration circuit. The difference between the difference and the set signal difference Δt is detected to detect the dryness of the load by performing the Δt detection, and the load characteristics detected by the load sensor 20 and the vibration of the rotating drum 3 are determined by the load sensor 20, and the determination result is obtained. Is used to control the motor 6 and the heater 18 by setting a final drying time A for further drying the load after the detection of Δt.

The control unit 24 includes an amplifier 2 for amplifying a vibration signal of the rotating drum 3 detected by the load sensor 20.
5, a filter unit 26 that selects only a frequency band from which a load characteristic is easily determined from signals from the amplifier 25,
An amplitude detector 27 that detects the amplitude of the signal selected by the filter unit 26, and an amplitude determination unit 28 that determines the degree of the amplitude, for example, large, medium, or small, according to the detected amplitude.
FIG. 6A shows the determination results of the weight determination unit 29 that determines the degree of weight, such as heavy or light, corresponding to the load detected by the load sensor 20, and the determination results of the amplitude determination unit 28 and the weight determination unit 29. Load characteristic rule table shown and FIG.
Final drying time A based on the drying time correspondence table shown in (b)
And a final time setting control unit 30 for controlling the motor 6, the heater 18 and the like.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, the door 2 of the housing 1 is opened, and the load dehydrated in the dehydration tub of the electric washing machine is taken out and put into the rotating drum 3.
Close door 2. At this time, the rotating drum 3 is not rotating, and the load sensor 20 detects the weight of the load in the rotating drum 3. The weight determination unit 29 determines the weight of the load based on the detection signal from the load sensor 20 and outputs the determination signal to the final time setting control unit 30.

Then, when a start key of an operation unit (not shown) provided on the front surface of the housing 1 is pressed, the motor 6 and the heater 18 are energized, and the motor 6 is driven to generate heat. Start. The rotation of the motor 6 is controlled by the flat belt 1
At the same time, the power is transmitted to the rotary drum 3 via the round belt 13 and the driven pulley 12 via the round belt 13 to rotate the rotary drum 3 and the fan 11. When the rotary drum 3 rotates, a part of the load applied to the inside is caught by the fins, lifted up, and falls on the way due to the weight of the load.
In this way, the load in the rotating drum 3 is stirred by repeatedly moving up and down.

On the other hand, when the fan 11 rotates, the heater 1
The warm air heated in 8 and sucked into the rotary drum 3 from the intake port 17 evaporates the moisture contained in the load, and is exhausted from the exhaust port 16 as humid air containing a large amount of moisture. It is cooled by the low-temperature outside air taken in from 14. Water liquefied from water vapor by cooling flows out of the outlet 15. Then, the cooled exhaust gas is sent in the direction of the heater 18, heated again by the heater 18, sucked into the rotating drum 3, and dries the load in the rotating drum 3. At this time,
The exhaust gas temperature sensor 19 constantly detects the temperature T1 of the exhaust gas exhausted from the exhaust port 16, and the control unit 24 performs the load drying while performing the Δt detection for detecting the finish drying degree of the load based on the exhaust gas temperature T1. Control.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the drying time t1 during the preliminary drying period has elapsed since the start of the drying, the load sensor 20 is moved from the time t1 to the time t2 (for example, one minute).
Detects the vibration of the rotating drum 3 due to the impact of the load drop, and outputs it to the amplifier 25. At this time, when the weight of the load is heavy, or when the load is a thick cloth or a large object, the impact applied to the rotating drum 3 increases and the vibration increases, and when the load is light or the load is thin. In the case of fabrics or small articles, the impact applied to the rotating drum 3 is reduced and the vibration is reduced.

Next, the vibration signal of the rotating drum 3 amplified by the amplifier 25 is output to the amplitude detector 27 via the filter unit 26. The frequency band selected (passed) by the filter unit 26 is set to a frequency band in which load characteristics can be easily determined. Then, the amplitude detector 27 detects the amplitude of the signal from the filter unit 26 and outputs it to the amplitude determination unit 28. The amplitude determination unit 28 determines the degree of the amplitude and outputs the determination signal to the final time determination control unit 30.
Output to

Here, a description will be given of a frequency band in which load characteristics can be easily determined. When the load in the rotating drum 3 is a thin cloth or a small object, the power of only the specific frequency component B is large as shown in the power spectrum diagram of FIG. The power is small in the frequency component of. On the other hand, when the load is a thick cloth or a large object, the power of each frequency component is large as a whole as shown in FIG. Therefore, the frequency band selected by the filter unit 26 is changed as shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), if the frequency band C is between the specific frequency components B, after passing through the filter unit 26,
The magnitude of the power of each frequency component is significantly different depending on the characteristics of the load, whereby the amplitude of the signal output from the filter unit 26 changes greatly. The characteristic can be easily determined.

Next, when the determination signal from the amplitude determination unit 28 and the determination signal from the weight determination unit 29 are input to the final time setting control unit 30, the determination signals from the determination units 28 and 29 and the determination signal from FIG. The load characteristics are determined according to the load characteristic rule table of FIG. 6), and based on the determination result, the final drying time A after the detection of Δt is set from the drying time correspondence table shown in FIG. That is, for example, when the amplitude determined by the amplitude determination unit 28 is large and the weight determined by the weight determination unit 29 is heavy, the load characteristics (the quality and type of the load) are thick and large, and the final drying Time A is 2 when the load characteristics are thick.
0 minutes is set. When the magnitude of the amplitude determined by the amplitude determining unit 28 is small and the degree of the weight determined by the weight determining unit 29 is small, the load characteristics are thin and small, and the final drying time A is small. Is set for 10 minutes.

When the final drying time A after the detection of .DELTA.t is set, the control unit 24 energizes the motor 6 and the heater 18 even after the detection of .DELTA.t for the set final drying time A to completely dry the load. Then, when the final drying time A has elapsed, the energization of the motor 6 and the heater 18 is stopped, and the drying ends.

Embodiment 2 FIG. FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a main part of the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a schematic view of the second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an acceleration sensor 3 is provided near a drum shaft 4 of a support plate 1a to which the drum shaft 4 is fixed.
And a weight sensor 32 provided at the bottom of the housing 1 such that the tip thereof contacts the upper surface of the shelf plate 33a of the clothes dryer stand 33. The final drying time after the detection of Δt using two types of sensors. A is set and drying is performed. The acceleration sensor 31 detects the vibration of the rotating drum 3 via the drum shaft 4 and the support plate 1a, and the detected vibration is output to the amplifier 25. Also, the weight sensor 32 is
By detecting the overall weight, the weight of the load input into the rotating drum 3 is detected, and the detected signal is output to the weight determination unit 29.

In this embodiment configured as described above, a load is applied to the rotating drum 3 and the door 2 is closed as in the case described in the first embodiment. At this time, the weight sensor 32 detects the weight of the load in the rotating drum 3 and
The weight determination unit 29 determines the degree of the weight of the load based on the detection signal, and outputs the determination signal to the final time setting control unit 30. Next, the motor 6 and the heater 18 are energized to start drying.

When the drying time t1 has passed since the start of the drying, the acceleration sensor 31 detects the vibration of the rotating drum 3 during the drying time t1 to t2, and the amplitude judging section 28 sets the amplifier 25, the filter section 26 and the amplitude. The degree of the amplitude corresponding to the vibration detected via the detector 27 is determined, and the determination signal is output to the final time setting control unit 30. Then, the final time setting controller 30 determines Δt based on the determination signals of both the amplitude determiner 28 and the weight determiner 29, the load characteristic rule table of FIG. 6A and the drying time correspondence table of FIG. 6B. A final drying time A after the detection is set, and the load is completely dried in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be appropriately modified, for example, as described below. (1) In the first embodiment, the load sensor 20 having the functions of both the vibration detecting means and the weight detecting means is constituted by the detecting plate 22 and the detecting element 23 such as a strain gauge, and Although the case where it is provided below is shown, for example, a detecting element such as a piezoelectric element may be used, and in this case, it may be appropriately changed, for example, by providing it near the drum shaft 4 of the support plate 1a.

(2) In the second embodiment, an example in which the weight of the load is detected by detecting the weight of the entire housing 1 with the weight sensor 32 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the weight of the load may be detected by the strain of the detection element 23 of the load sensor 20, or the weight may be detected by the starting current of the motor 6, and may be implemented by various means. .

(3) The load characteristic rule table and the drying time correspondence table for determining the load characteristics and setting the final drying time A after the detection of Δt are not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the determination criteria are made finer. Drying time A corresponding to load characteristics
May be set wider and finer. In the process from the determination of the amplitude and the degree of the weight to the setting of the final drying time A, the setting of the final drying time A may be performed using fuzzy logic or the like.

[0032]

As described above, the present invention provides a rotating drum,
A fan, a heating unit, a driving unit, a weight detecting unit, a vibration detecting unit, a temperature detecting unit, and a control unit. The control unit includes an amplitude detecting unit that detects an amplitude corresponding to the vibration detected by the vibration detecting unit, Amplitude judging means for judging the degree of the amplitude detected by the detecting means and outputting the judgment result; weight judging means for judging the degree of the weight detected by the weight detecting means and outputting the judgment result; and amplitude judging means. And setting means for determining the characteristics of the load based on the determination result of the weight determining means, and setting the final drying time for further drying the load that has reached the finish drying degree based on the determined result. When the load reaches the final drying degree, drying is performed by adding a final drying time, so that detailed characteristics of the load put into the rotating drum can be easily determined, and the determination can be made. It is possible to perform a complete and dense dry suitable for the characteristics of the load that, without damaging the fabric of the load, it is possible to obtain a highly unreliable, such as uneven drying clothes dryer.

Further, since the load detecting means having the functions of both the detecting means is used instead of the vibration detecting means and the weight detecting means, it is possible to configure the apparatus with a simple structure and to reduce the cost. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view of the load sensor according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing exhaust temperature characteristics of a standard load.

FIG. 6A is a load characteristic rule table. (B) is a drying time correspondence table.

FIG. 7A is a power spectrum diagram showing characteristics of vibration under a light load. (B) is a power spectrum diagram showing vibration characteristics under a heavy load.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a main part of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 housing 3 rotating drum 6 motor 11 fan 18 heater 19 exhaust temperature sensor 20 load sensor 24 control unit 27 amplitude detection unit 28 amplitude determination unit 29 weight determination unit 30 final time setting control unit 31 acceleration sensor 32 weight sensor

Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Masaki Komatsu 2-14-40 Ofuna, Kamakura City Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Living System Laboratory (72) Inventor Katsunori Ishii 1-1-1, Yamate, Funabashi-shi, Chiba Japan Inside Funabashi Works Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takashi Koyama 1-1-1, Yamate, Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture Japan Inside Funabashi Works Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-4-12800 (JP, A) JP 1984-1994 (JP, A) JP-A-2-22098 (JP, A) JP-B-63-55358 (JP, B2) JP-B-1-1318 (JP, Y2) (58) Fields investigated (Int) .Cl. ⁶ , DB name) D06F 58/28

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A rotating drum for stirring the loaded load, a fan for cooling the exhaust from the rotating drum and supplying it to the rotating drum again, heating means for heating air supplied to the rotating drum, Driving means for driving a fan and a rotating drum; weight detecting means for detecting the weight of a load in the rotating drum; vibration detecting means for detecting vibration of the rotating drum; and detecting the temperature of exhaust gas from the rotating drum. Temperature detection means, comparing a detection signal from the temperature detection means with an integration signal from an integration circuit for integrating the detection signal with a predetermined time constant, and further corresponding to the comparison signal and the degree of dryness in finish drying And compare with the set signal
A control unit that determines that the load has reached the finish drying degree when the comparison signal matches the setting signal, and a control unit that controls load drying based on the determination unit. Amplitude detecting means for detecting an amplitude corresponding to the vibration detected by the vibration detecting means, amplitude determining means for determining the degree of the amplitude detected by the amplitude detecting means, and outputting a result of the determination, and the weight detecting means Determining the degree of the weight detected by the weight determination means for outputting the determination result, and determines the characteristics of the load based on the determination results of the amplitude determination means and the weight determination means, the final drying degree by the determination result Setting means for setting a final drying time for further drying the reached load, wherein the final drying time is further added when the load in the rotary drum reaches a finish drying degree. Clothes Dryer, characterized in that the drying Te. 2. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein a load detecting means having both functions of the vibration detecting means and the weight detecting means is used instead of the vibration detecting means and the weight detecting means.