JP3257367B2 - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a clothes dryer and clothes drying method, and in particular relates to both the dehumidification drying and exhaust drying possible clothes dryer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the past, rotary drum-type clothes dryers in Japan used to be a tributary of an exhaust drying method which was simple in structure and had a good drying efficiency. Is exhausted into the room as humid air, which has the disadvantages of giving the room a feeling of moist discomfort, and the dampness of the walls.Currently, the humid air is returned to the water with a heat exchanger and drained, and the room is humid. The dehumidification and drying method that does not emit is a tributary.

[0003]

However, although the dehumidifying and drying system eliminates moisture in the room, the heat exchanger mounted on the rotating drum type clothes dryer has a limit in terms of cost and space. There are disadvantages such as lower drying efficiency, longer drying time, and higher drying cost than the exhaust drying method of one generation ago.

[0004] When the clothes are immediately dried in the clothes dryer after washing and dehydration, the clothes contain a lot of moisture,
Although the drying efficiency is inferior to the exhaust drying method, the dehumidifying drying method is better in that moisture is not discharged to the room. In addition, when drying outside clothes that are slightly damp with drying outside, the room does not become damp even if it is exhausted to the room due to the small amount of moisture.In this case, the drying efficiency is good and the drying time is short. A faster exhaust drying method is better. An exhaust drying method is also suitable for drying outdoors (such as a veranda).

It is an object of the present invention to provide a clothes dryer capable of performing both dehumidification drying and exhaust drying according to the condition of a material to be dried such as clothing.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a drum for storing a rotating object containing moisture therein and a heater for heating air fed into the drum. A blower that also serves as a heat exchanger that causes air heated by the heater to flow into the drum and dehumidifies moisture from the object to be dried, and a circulation air passage provided between the heater and the blower. in the clothes dryer, an opening communicating with the outside air in the front portion of the circulating air, wherein the opening comprises an openable and closable lid according to the situation of the material to be dried, to further the opening
Is characterized in that an exhaust port filter is provided .

[0007]

[0008]

According to the present invention, dividing Shimekatachi an opening leading to the dryer outside the frame provided on the front portion of the circulating routes of the rotating drum type clothes dryer, an openable lid provided in the opening, further
In since the Ru configuration having an exhaust outlet filter in the opening, it is possible to perform the dehumidifying and drying by closing the lid, because I open the lid, the pressure in the circulation routes is higher than outside the frame (outside air), circulation The circulating air in the airway is partially exhausted to the outside of the frame (outside air), and the outside air outside the frame is sucked into the circulating airway from that point, the outside air and the circulating air are mixed, and the drying by exhaust drying and dehumidification drying is mixed. it is a child that is responsible for. Therefore, by providing an opening at the front part of the circulation air passage to the outside of the dryer frame and opening and closing the opening and closing cover, it is possible to obtain both dehumidification drying and exhaust drying.

As described above, for drying with a lot of moisture and dampness, drying is carried out by a dehumidifying drying method which suppresses the moisture as much as possible, and the dampness is low and the dampness is not noticeable (dry out, dry clothes, small amount, synthetic fiber). The drying and outdoor installation drying are performed by the exhaust drying method, so that the optimum drying operation with high drying efficiency and less moisture in the room can be performed. Further, the drying temperature is kept low, and delicate drying is also possible.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A clothes dryer and a clothes drying method according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the structure of a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a vertical section of a clothes dryer, and FIG. 2 shows a front view, partially showing an internal structure.

Reference numeral 1 denotes an outer frame. Inside the outer frame 1, a drum 6 serving as a clothes drying chamber is provided with a drum support 13 having a front side attached to a front inner surface of the outer frame 1 and a drum fan support provided at a rear side. 14 rotatably supported and installed. Reference numeral 2 denotes a door which covers the clothing slot 3 and is configured to be openable and closable. Reference numeral 4 denotes a driving operation unit. Reference numeral 5 denotes a control device.

FIG. 3 shows an internal circuit of the control device 5. It is composed of a drive circuit, a microcommuter, a power supply circuit and the like, and drives and controls the AC motor 11, the heater 7, the motor 20 for opening and closing the circulating air path and the like. FIG. 4 shows an AC motor 11, a heater 7, and a motor 20 for automatic opening / closing of a circulating air path.
Is shown. The AC motor 11 and the motor 20 for opening and closing the circulation airway are controlled via a triac, and the heater 7 is controlled via a relay.

Returning to FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 8 denotes a blower (heat exchange fan) for sending hot air generated by the heater 7 into the drum 6. The blower (heat exchange fan) 8 also serves as a heat exchanger. The blower (heat exchange fan) 8 and a drum belt 9 for rotating and driving the drum 6 are connected to an AC motor 11 via a fan belt 10. It is connected.
Reference numeral 12 denotes a fan casing, which is connected to the drum support 13 via a circulation air path 17. Circulation airway 17
Is provided with an opening 17a communicating with outside air. An exhaust port filter 21 is provided in the opening 17a, and an opening / closing lid 19 that can be manually opened / closed is provided outside the exhaust port filter 21.

Next, a procedure for drying the clothes by operating the clothes dryer constructed as described above will be described.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a procedure for drying the clothes by manually selecting the opening and closing of the opening / closing lid 19 of the clothes dryer according to one embodiment of the present invention. Step 1 to get started
At 01, after grasping the moisture contained in the clothes that need to be dried, the door 2 is opened, the clothes are put into the drum 6 through the clothes input port 3, and the door 2 is closed. When the clothes after washing in the washing machine are immediately dried, that is, when the moisture is still high (102),
The lid 19 is manually closed (103), and after confirming that it is closed, the power is turned on by the switch of the operation unit 4 (10).
5). When the power is turned on, the AC motor 11 and the heater 7
(106), the blower (heat exchange fan) 8 having both the drum 6 and the heat exchanger is driven to rotate, starts drying (107), and rotates until the end.

Here, the moisture evaporated from the clothes passes through the lint collecting device 15 together with the circulating air, passes through the drum exhaust port 6a on the rear wall of the drum 6, and flows into the circulation side of the fan casing 12. . Also, the back plate intake port 16a of the back plate 16
Further outside air flows into the cooling side of the fan casing 12 and is exhausted from the back plate exhaust port 16b.

At the outer periphery of the blower (heat exchange fan) 8, circulating air and cooling air are separated by a labyrinth seal portion with a partition plate without entering and exiting. On both sides, fan casing 1
2, heat is exchanged between the circulating side and the cooling side, and the moisture contained in the circulating air is condensed into water to form the fan casing 1
2 flows into the circulation air passage 17 through the casing discharge port 12a and is discharged out of the machine through the drain port 17b. Thus, a series of drying operations as dehumidification drying, that is, a dehumidification drying method is continued.

The moisture contained in the clothes immediately after dehydration in the washing machine is about 45% of the weight of the clothes. As shown in FIG. 5, when the fully automatic washing machine dehydrates 5.0 kg of clothes, that is, when the load of 5.0 kg is dehydrated. When 2.4 kg of moisture is contained and exhausted as humid air into the room, the room becomes moist and gives off discomfort to people and molds on the walls. Reduce humid air. When dried by the dehumidifying drying method, the amount of condensate, that is, about 1.3 kg of water is discharged from the drain port 17b to the outside of the machine as a water, and the release (leakage) from the labyrinth seal and other seal parts to the outside of the machine can be reduced to about 1.1 kg by half. If you ventilate without closing the room,
It will not be at a level that will cause discomfort or mold the walls.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, the dehumidification drying method has a disadvantage that the evaporation rate is slower than the exhaust drying method, so that the drying efficiency is poor, the drying time is long, and the drying cost is high. is there.

Therefore, when the moisture contained in the clothes is small, for example, the air drying is adopted instead of the dehumidifying drying method, for example, for the final drying of a slightly dry (dryness of 90% or more) which is temporarily dried outside. Drying increases the evaporation rate, shortens the drying time, reduces the drying cost, and minimizes the disadvantages of the dehumidifying drying method.

Next, a description will be given of a drying operation procedure in which a plus exhaust drying method is incorporated into the dehumidifying drying method.

Returning to FIG. 10, when the clothes are dried outside to dry the raw clothes, that is, when there is little moisture (10
2) Open the manual opening / closing lid 19 by hand (104), and after confirming that it is opened, turn on the power with the switch of the operation unit 4 (105). When the power is turned on, the AC motor 11 and the heater 7 are energized (106), and the blower (heat exchange fan) 8 having both the drum 6 and the heat exchanger is driven to rotate, starts drying (107), and ends. Drive to rotate.

Here, the moisture evaporated from the clothes passes through the lint collecting device 15 together with the circulating air, passes through the drum exhaust port 6a on the rear wall of the drum, and flows into the circulation side of the fan casing 12. In addition, outside air flows into the cooling side of the fan casing 12 from the back plate intake port 16a of the back plate 16, and is exhausted from the back plate exhaust port 16b.

At the outer peripheral portion of the blower (heat exchange fan) 8, circulating air and cooling air are separated by a labyrinth seal portion with a partition plate without entering and exiting. On both sides, fan casing 1
2, heat is exchanged between the circulation side and the cooling side, and part of the moisture contained in the circulating air is condensed to become water, which flows into the circulation air passage 17 from the casing discharge port 12a of the fan casing 12, and drains water. It is discharged out of the machine from the port 17b. Most of the moisture contained in the circulating air passes through the opening 1 of the circulating air passage 17.
The air is exhausted from the device 7a. The outside air is sucked in instead of the exhausted air. When the opening and closing cover 19 is opened and dried in this way, drying having the same characteristics as the exhaust drying method can be obtained.

As described above, one opening 17a which can exhaust moisture to the outside of the machine and can be manually opened and closed is provided with the circulation air passage 17a.
When drying, when the moisture contained in the clothes is large, the opening 17a is closed by giving priority to the humidity to the room, and the drying is performed. When the moisture contained in the clothes is small, the drying efficiency is improved. The opening 17a is opened with priority and dried, and the advantages of the dehumidifying drying method and the exhaust drying method can be fully utilized.

FIG. 8 shows a vertical section of a clothes dryer according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in part A, the opening 17a
The open / close lid motor 20 and the open / close lid drive cam 24 are arranged so that the automatic open / close lid 23
Is attached. FIG. 9 shows the details of the part A in FIG. 8, (a) shows a state in which the automatic opening / closing lid 23 is opened,
(B) shows a closed state.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a procedure for drying clothes by automatically opening and closing the automatic opening / closing lid 23 of the clothes dryer according to another embodiment of the present invention. The automatic opening / closing lid 2 for the opening 17a can be selected from the dehydration course (203) and the exhaust course (204) in the drying course of the operation section 4 depending on the state of moisture (202).
If the dehumidifying course is selected with the operation link 3 linked to the operation section 4, the automatic opening / closing lid 23 of the opening 17a is closed (20).
5) If the exhaust course is selected, the automatic opening / closing lid 23 of the opening 17a is opened (206). If the lid can be automatically opened and closed in this way, it is possible to prevent the operator from forgetting to open or close the lid in the manual opening and closing method, to prevent the user from misunderstanding the opening and closing, and to further improve the reliability.

Further, as can be seen from the relationship between the state of air at the drum outlet at the time of drying and the drying time shown in FIG. 7, both humidity and temperature change from the constant rate drying step to the reduced rate drying step. The humidity or temperature sensor 22 can be used to detect this change in humidity or temperature.
8 is attached to a part of the fan casing 12 between the drum exhaust port 6a on the rear wall of the drum 6 and the blower (heat exchange fan) 8, as shown in FIG.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for drying the clothes by automatically controlling the opening and closing of the opening / closing lid in the drying step of the clothes dryer of FIG. The preheating drying step and the constant rate drying step having a large water content are controlled so that the automatic opening / closing lid 23 of the opening 17a is closed (301 to 304).
Since the water content is already less than 1.0 kg at the time of the constant rate drying step and the rate decreasing drying step, the change in humidity or temperature at this point or thereafter is captured by the sensor 22 (305), and the opening 17a is opened. The automatic opening / closing lid 23 is opened (306), and is controlled to dry. Next, it is confirmed by the temperature or humidity sensor 22 whether or not it has dried (30).
7) When dry, turn off heater 7 and AC motor 11
Then, the automatic open / close lid 23 is closed and the open / close lid motor 20 is turned off (310), and the process is terminated.

As described above, drying in which the clothes immediately after dehydration in the washing machine contains a large amount of water, and finishing drying in which the clothes are dried to the outside and raw dry (in which the degree of drying is 90% or more) in which the moisture contained in the clothes is small, are: There is no need to manually select each time, and all drying is automatically controlled, so drying efficiency is good, drying time is short, drying cost is low, humidity in the room can be reduced, and optimal drying operation is performed. Can be.

[0032]

According to the present invention, drying efficiency is improved, drying time is shortened, drying cost is reduced, and dehumidifying drying and exhaust drying are selectively used depending on the condition of an object to be dried such as clothing. Optimal drying operation with low humidity in the room can be performed. In addition, the characteristics of both dehumidification drying and exhaust drying can be obtained with an inexpensive configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a clothes dryer in which an opening / closing lid according to an embodiment of the present invention is manually operated.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the clothes dryer of FIG. 1, showing a partial internal structure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a circuit configuration of a control unit of the clothes dryer according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a drive circuit diagram of the AC motor, the heater, and the opening / closing motor of FIG. 4;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the amount of moisture condensed and the amount of moisture released to the outside during drying by a dehumidifying drying method.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a drying rate of a dehumidifying and exhaust drying method by a water content.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state change of air (humidity, temperature) at a drum outlet.

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view of a clothes dryer having an automatic opening / closing lid according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing details of a portion A in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a processing procedure for drying clothes by manually selecting the opening and closing of an opening / closing lid of a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a processing procedure for drying clothes by automatically opening and closing a cover of a clothes dryer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a processing procedure for automatically controlling the opening and closing of an opening / closing lid and drying clothes in a drying process of a clothes dryer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Outer frame 4 ... Driving operation section 5 ... Control section 6 ... Drum 7 ... Heater 8 ... Blower 11 ... AC motor 17 ... Circulation air path 17a ... Opening 17b ... Drain 19 …… Manual opening / closing lid 23 …… Automatic opening / closing lid 20 …… Opening / closing lid motor 24 …… Opening / closing lid driving cam 21 …… Exhaust port filter 22 …… Sensor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor: Etsio Niimi 1-1-1, Higashitaga-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Within the Appliance Works, Hitachi, Ltd. 1-1-1, Hitachi, Ltd.Electrical Equipment Division (72) Inventor Keijiro Yagi 1-1-1, Higashitagacho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitachi, Ltd.Electrical Equipment Division (72) Inventor Kenichi Ogoshi 1-1-1 Higashitaga-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Pref. Hitachi, Ltd. Electrical Equipment Division (56) References JP-A-5-317584 (JP, A) JP-A-54-83169 (JP, A) (58 ) Surveyed field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) D06F 58/02

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A drum for storing and rotating an object to be dried containing moisture in a drum, a heater for heating air fed into the drum, and allowing the air heated by the heater to flow into the drum. A blower that also serves as a heat exchanger for dehumidifying moisture from the material to be dried, and a clothes dryer having a circulation air passage provided between the heater and the blower, wherein outside air is provided at a front portion of the circulation air passage. an opening communicating said in the opening with an openable and closable lid according to the situation of the material to be dried, the more the opening outlet Fi
A clothes dryer characterized by being provided with ruta . 2. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the opening and closing lid opens and closes according to the amount of moisture contained in the object to be dried. 3. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the opening / closing lid is configured to be automatically opened / closed by detecting the condition of the object to be dried by a sensor.