JP3138149B2 - Dry cleaner - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dry cleaner having a function of heating and cooling petroleum-based solvents.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a dry cleaner of this type, each step of washing clothes, removing solvent from clothes and drying clothes is sequentially performed in the same drum using a petroleum-based solvent. Then, in order to increase the temperature of the solvent to enhance the cleaning effect, heat it with a heater using 100 ° C steam,
After washing, the solvent is cooled with a cooler using cooling water of about 5 ° C. in order to lower the temperature of the solvent from the viewpoint of safety.

[0003]

For this reason, in the conventional apparatus, a heater and a heater are separately provided for heating and cooling the solvent.
The provision of a cooler has been an obstacle to downsizing. As a countermeasure, when the heater and the cooler are constituted by a single heat exchanger, the steam of about 100 ° C. and the cooling water of about 5 ° C. are selectively passed as in the prior art. Due to the temperature difference between the medium and the refrigerant, thermal stress applied to the heat exchanger is large, so that troubles such as generation of cracks at the joints of the pipes are likely to occur, and there is a fear that reliability may be reduced. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances,
The first purpose is to heat and cool the solvent,
An object of the present invention is to provide a dry cleaner in which a cooler can be used by a single heat exchanger.

A second object is to provide a single heat exchanger.
An object of the present invention is to provide a dry cleaner capable of reducing a thermal stress applied to a heat exchanger due to a rapid change of a heat medium when heating and cooling a solvent.

[0005]

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dry cleaner in which a temperature of a solvent to be supplied to a drum for accommodating clothes and the like is appropriately set in a washing process, and is used for both heating and cooling of the solvent. Between one heat exchanger and a heat medium supplied to the heat exchanger during the transition from the heating process to the cooling process for the solvent by the heat exchanger or from the cooling process to the heating process. And a control unit for setting a period during which only the solvent is allowed to flow through and the heat medium is not allowed to flow.

[0007]

[0008]

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the heat medium is switched, the temperature of the heat exchanger itself is substantially equal to the solvent temperature by setting a period in which only the solvent flows without flowing the heat medium. After the temperature is lowered or raised, the heat medium is switched, so that the heat stress applied to the heat exchanger can be reduced.

[0010]

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings showing the embodiments. FIG. 1 is a piping diagram of a dry cleaner using a petroleum-based solvent (for example, SCL7220) according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 indicates a drum, and 2 indicates an outer tank.
The drum 1 is formed in a cylindrical shape having a large number of holes opened in the peripheral wall, and is rotatably supported in the outer tank 2. The outer tank 2 is provided with a circulation path 3 for air and vaporized solvent and a drain pipe 4 for liquid solvent outside a cylindrical portion covering the outer periphery of the drum 1.

A blower 5, an exhaust port 6, a cooler 7, an intake valve 8, and a heater 9 are installed in this order along the inside of the circulation path 3 or on the pipe wall. After the air and the vaporized solvent in the drum 1 and the outer tank 2 are cooled by the cooler 7 by driving the blower 5 and the solvent is condensed and liquefied and removed, the air is heated by the heater 9 while taking in the outside air from the intake valve 8. Then, it is introduced into the drum 1 again. Further, the bottom of the outer tub 2 button trap 10 having a liquid level sensor SE ₁ for detecting the solvent level with intervening draining conduit 4 drum 1 is connected.

Next, the circulation path of the petroleum solvent will be described. Numeral 11 denotes a petroleum-based solvent tank. The liquid supply port of the solvent tank 11 and the liquid discharge port of the button trap 10 are connected to the suction port side of the pump P via a liquid supply valve 21 and a liquid discharge valve 22, respectively. The discharge port side of the pump P is a filter F
Is connected to the heat exchanger 12. The outlet of the heat exchanger 12 is selectively connected to either the solvent tank 11 or the drum 1 by a three-way switching valve 23. The solvent condensed and liquefied by the cooler 7 is returned to the solvent tank 11 after water is removed by the water separator 13.

The heater 9 is connected to a steam supply system, the cooler 7 is connected to a cooling water supply system, and the heat exchanger 12 is connected to the steam supply system and the cooling water supply system by valves 24. To 29 are selectively connected. SE ₂ temperature sensor provided in the heat exchanger 12,
SE ₃ shows a flow sensor arranged in the solvent outlet side in the heat exchanger 12. The flow rate sensor SE ₃ may be disposed on the inlet side of the solvent in the heat exchanger 12.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the control system.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a microcomputer constituting the control unit. The microcomputer 31 is powered by the power supply unit 32, also the command from the operation panel 33 is inputted, further level sensor SE _1, the temperature sensor SE _2, takes in the detected value of each from the flow sensor SE _3, the display panel 3
In addition to the display at 4, the control unit controls valves 21 to 29, and also controls the pump P, blower 5, heater 9, cooler 7, intake valve 8, and drum rotation control device 35. The heater 9 has a valve 24,
By opening 27, steam is passed through this and heats the air. In the heat exchanger 12, steam is opened by opening the valves 24, 25 and 28, and cooling water is passed by opening the valves 26 and 29, so that heating and cooling can be selectively performed. The microcomputer 31 is a heat exchanger 12
During the transition from the heating process to the cooling process for the solvent, or from the cooling process to the heating process, during the switching from the heating medium supplied to the heat exchanger to the refrigerant, or during the switching from the refrigerant to the heating medium, only the solvent A period during which neither the heat medium nor the refrigerant flows through the heat exchanger 12 is set. The period during which the flow is not carried out may be appropriately set according to the temperature of the refrigerant and the heat medium.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the operation panel 33. When the operation panel 33 operates a program key 33a and subsequently designates a program number with a numeric keypad 33b, a plurality of operation programs stored in the microcomputer are displayed. Is called, and the setting data of each step in the program is displayed on the display panel 33. In this state, by designating each step of the operation program in order by operating the call key 33c, a new operation can be performed in each of the designated steps, and a new operation program can be registered.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the display panel. The timing of the solvent temperature in the cleaning process, the temperature of the cooler 7 in the drying process, inspection items, cool down, drum reversal cycle, etc.
The method of circulating the solvent, the method of draining, setting the high, medium, and low drum rotation speeds, the method of supplying the liquid, and the details of the stroke setting at the time of automatic or manual operation are displayed by lighting the corresponding LEDs. It has become.

Next, the operations of the washing step and the drying step will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of controlling the solvent temperature in the cleaning process. First, the counter CNT (functioning as a flag) is reset (step S1), and the counter CN is reset.
It is determined whether T is 0 or not (step S2). If it is 0, the petroleum solvent supply valve 21 is opened, the pump P is driven, and the three-way switching valve 23 is set to the drum 1 side ( Step S3).

[0019] a pipe flow rate measured by the flow rate sensor SE ₃
(Step S4), it is determined whether or not the flow rate is 100 l / min or more (step S5). If the flow rate is 100 l / min or more, the counter CNT is set to 1 and the process returns to step S2. Here, in the case of 100 l / min or more, it means that the solvent is flowing without gas in the pipeline, and
If it is less than 1 / min, it means that the gas flows in a state where the solvent and the gas (bubbles) are mixed. On the other hand, if the counter CNT is not 0 in the determination in step S2, it is determined whether the counter CNT is 1 or not (step S7). The flow control valves 24, 25, and 28 are opened and closed (step S8).

[0020] detecting the liquid level of the button trap 10 at a liquid level sensor SE ₁ (step S9), and determines whether the standard liquid level (step S10), 2 a counter CNT in the case of the standard liquid level (Step S11), and the process returns to Step S2. If the counter CNT is not 1 in the judgment at step S7, heating control of the solvent is performed (step S1).
2), the drain valve 22 is opened (Step S13), and it is determined whether or not the cleaning operation time has ended (Step S14).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the control process of the solvent temperature in the drying process. First, the liquid supply valve 21 is opened, the three-way switching valve 23 is set to the solvent tank 11 side, and the circulation pump P is operated (step S21). The delay counter is reset (step S22), and the delay counter C is reset.
It is determined whether NT has elapsed for 60 seconds (step S2).
3) When 60 seconds have passed, the solvent temperature is 22 to 24 ° C.
The opening degree of the valves 26 and 29 is adjusted so as to fall within the range, and cooling control is performed (step S24).

The valve 24 is opened (step S25), and the valve 24 is opened.
The temperature of the heater 9, in other words, the drum 1
Control the inside temperature and perform drying control (step S2).
6). It is determined whether or not the drying operation time has ended (step S27). If the operation time has ended, the drying process ends.

[0023]

[0024]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a heat medium such as a heat medium or a refrigerant is selectively passed through the heat exchanger, the temperature shock is prevented without flowing the heat medium for a predetermined time. By flowing only the solvent in order to alleviate the heat, the thermal stress applied to the heat exchanger due to the rapid switching of the heat medium can be reduced.

[0025]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a piping diagram showing a configuration of a dry cleaner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control system of the dry cleaner according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an operation panel.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a display panel.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of a cleaning process.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of a drying process.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Drum 2 Outer tank 3 Circulation path 4 Drain line 5 Blower 6 Exhaust port 7 Cooler 8 Intake valve 9 Heater 10 Button trap 11 Solvent tank 12 Heat exchanger 13 Water separator 21 Feed valve 22 Drain valve 23 Three-way switch Valve 24-29 Valve P Pump F Filter SE ₁ Liquid level sensor SE ₂ Temperature sensor SE ₃ Flow rate sensor

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A dry cleaner in which a temperature of a solvent to be supplied to a drum accommodating clothes and the like in a washing step is appropriately set, wherein one heat exchanger used for both heating and cooling of the solvent is provided; At the time of the transition from the heating process to the cooling process for the solvent by the heat exchanger, or the transition from the cooling process to the heating process, only the solvent is allowed to flow during the switching of the heating medium to be supplied to the heat exchanger, A controller for setting a period during which no air flows.