JP4912179B2 - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a clothes dryer.

  For business use in a cleaning store or the like, for example, a drum-type clothes dryer configured as described in Patent Document 1 is used. That is, in this clothes dryer, air heated by a heat source such as a steam radiator is fed into a drying chamber equipped with a drum that is rotatable about a horizontal axis, and heat is exchanged with wet laundry in the drum, thereby making the clothes damp. Remove the air from the drying chamber and discharge it through the lint filter. The outlet of the heated air into the drying chamber is provided above the rear of the drying chamber, and the outlet of the humid air from the drying chamber is below the front of the drying chamber, which is separated from the outlet in the axial direction of the drum. Is provided. Thereby, the heated air sent into the drying chamber from the blowout port flows into the drum from the air holes perforated on the drum peripheral surface and easily passes through the drum.

  In order to improve the drying efficiency in such a clothes dryer, it is desirable to reduce the heat capacity of the structure so as to suppress as much as possible the amount of heat given by the heat source from being spent on the temperature rise of the structure of the dryer. For these reasons, the casings, drying chambers, drums, etc. of commercial clothes dryers are often formed of relatively thin sheet metal. The housing of the clothes dryer basically has a hermetically sealed structure, but due to the sheet metal structure as described above, there are relatively many gaps such as a sheet metal joint. For this reason, cold outside air enters the housing through this gap, and the drying chamber is cooled from the surroundings, that is, the heat of the heated air filled in the drying chamber is taken away. This contributes to a decrease in drying efficiency and, in turn, prolongs the drying time.

  In addition, when the partition plate forming the drying chamber is also a sheet metal structure, cold outside air that has flowed into the gap between the inner surface of the housing and the outer surface of the drying chamber flows into the drying chamber through a gap such as a seam of the partition plate, and more directly. It can also cause the temperature of the air in the drying chamber to decrease and reduce the drying efficiency.

JP 2002-35491 A

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its main purpose is to reduce the drying efficiency due to the drying chamber being cooled by cold air or the cold air leaking into the drying chamber. An object of the present invention is to provide a clothes dryer capable of preventing and achieving high drying performance.

In order to solve the above problems, a first invention includes a casing having a substantially hermetically sealed structure, a drying chamber formed in the casing and storing laundry therein, and heated air in the drying chamber. A clothes dryer comprising: an air intake passage for feeding in air; and an exhaust passage for exhausting air after heat exchange with laundry in the drying chamber;
In order to supply a part of the exhaust discharged to the outside through the exhaust passage to the gap between the housing and the drying chamber, a communication portion that communicates the inside of the exhaust passage and the gap is provided. It is a feature.

  In order to allow air to flow from the exhaust path into the gap through the communication part, the air pressure on the exhaust path side of the communication part needs to be higher than the air pressure on the gap side. Therefore, as one aspect of the clothes dryer according to the first aspect of the present invention, a fan that sends air sucked in from the front to the side to generate an air flow that flows from the intake passage through the drying chamber to the exhaust passage is exhausted from the exhaust passage. It is possible to adopt a configuration in which a communication port provided in the passage and communicating with the inside of the exhaust passage and the gap is provided as the communication portion on the side of the fan.

  In the clothes dryer according to the first invention, when a part of the exhaust (air after performing heat exchange with the laundry in the drying chamber) is supplied to the gap between the housing and the drying chamber through the communication portion, The air pressure in the gap is slightly higher than the air pressure outside the machine, that is, outside the housing. For this reason, even if there is a gap in the housing, the outside air is prevented from entering the housing by the pressure difference inside and outside. Also, although heat is taken away by heat exchange with the laundry, etc., the temperature of the exhaust is usually higher than the temperature of the outside air, so the amount of heat taken away through the wall of the drying room due to the presence of cold outside air around the drying room And the drying efficiency can be improved.

  In the clothes dryer according to the first aspect of the present invention, the air gap is communicated with the inside of the drying chamber or the air intake passage in order to return the air supplied from the exhaust passage through the communication portion to the air gap. It can be set as the structure further provided with the opening part for circulation, and the opening-closing means which opens and closes this opening part for circulation.

  In this configuration, when the opening / closing means opens the opening for circulation, a part of the exhaust gas supplied to the gap is returned to the drying chamber as described above and mixed with the high-temperature heated air supplied through the intake passage. Contributes to heat exchange with laundry. In the second half of the drying operation, that is, when the laundry has become very dry, the temperature of the exhaust is high and the humidity is low, so returning the exhaust into the drying chamber can increase the amount of heat that contributes to heat exchange with the laundry. it can. Thereby, drying efficiency can be improved, for example, drying time can be shortened.

  On the other hand, in the first half of the drying operation, that is, in a state where the laundry is still wet, heat exchange with the laundry is actively performed in the drying chamber, so the temperature of the exhaust is low and the humidity is high. For this reason, if the exhaust gas is returned to the drying chamber as described above, the temperature of the air in the drying chamber may be lowered to reduce the drying performance contrary to the original intention.

  Therefore, in the clothes dryer according to the first aspect of the present invention, preferably, the opening for circulation is closed by the opening / closing means in the first half of the drying operation, and the opening for circulation is opened in the second half of the drying operation. It is preferable to further include control means for controlling the means. Accordingly, the exhaust gas is not returned during a period when the exhaust gas is returned to the drying chamber and the drying performance may be lowered, and the exhaust gas can be returned to the drying chamber when it contributes to the improvement of the drying performance.

  In addition, since it is possible to determine the dryness of the laundry based on the temperature of the exhaust, it is more reliable to improve the drying performance by deciding whether or not to return the exhaust to the drying chamber based on this temperature. Can be done. Therefore, as another preferred embodiment of the clothes dryer according to the first invention, temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of air after heat exchange with the laundry in the drying chamber, and at the initial stage of the drying operation, Control means for closing the circulation opening by an opening / closing means, and controlling the opening / closing means to open the circulation opening after the temperature detected by the temperature detection means reaches a predetermined value. It may be configured.

Further, the second invention made to solve the above-described problems includes a casing having a substantially hermetically sealed structure, a drying chamber formed inside the casing in which laundry is accommodated, and heating in the drying chamber. In a clothes dryer comprising: an intake passage for sending air; and an exhaust passage for discharging air after heat exchange with laundry in the drying chamber;
A fan is disposed in the exhaust path to generate an airflow flowing from the intake path through the drying chamber to the exhaust path;
In order to suck the air in the gap between the casing and the drying chamber into the exhaust path, a communication portion that communicates the inside of the exhaust path and the gap is provided in the exhaust path, and the upstream side of the fan It is characterized by having.

  In the clothes dryer according to the second aspect of the present invention, when there is a gap in the casing, cold outside air flows into the gap between the casing and the drying chamber through the gap, but the air present in the gap is exhausted by the operation of the fan. Since the air is actively sucked into the road, even if there is a gap in the wall surface of the drying chamber, the outside air does not leak into the drying chamber through the gap. That is, although there is cold outside air around the drying chamber, it is possible to prevent the outside air from leaking into the drying chamber. Thereby, it can suppress that the temperature of the air in a drying chamber falls, and can improve drying performance.

  According to the clothes dryer according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the drying chamber supplied with heated air from being cooled from the surroundings by cold outside air. Shortening can be achieved.

  Moreover, according to the clothes dryer which concerns on 2nd invention, since it can prevent that cold external air enters into the drying chamber supplied with heated air, it improves drying efficiency compared with the past, for example, shortens drying time. Can be achieved.

[First embodiment]
A drum-type clothes dryer which is an embodiment (first embodiment) of a clothes dryer according to the first invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is a schematic front longitudinal sectional view of a drum type clothes dryer of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view taken along the line AA 'in FIG. 1, and FIG. -B 'It is a side surface schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view in an arrow cutting line.

  A substantially cylindrical drying chamber 3 is formed inside a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box-shaped casing 1 that forms the outer shape of the clothes dryer, and a main shaft 5 that extends substantially horizontally and extends in the front-rear direction inside the drying chamber 3. A drum 4 having a cantilevered circumferential cylindrical surface is disposed. The drum 4 is provided with a large opening as a clothing input port 41 on the front end surface thereof, and the clothing to be dried is input into the drum 4 through the clothing input port 41 with the door 2 on the front surface of the housing 1 being opened. A large number of small air holes 42 are formed in the peripheral surface of the drum 4.

  The main shaft 5 is rotatably supported by a bearing 6 provided on the rear wall of the housing 1 (also the rear wall of the drying chamber 3), and a large pulley 7 is provided at the tip of the main shaft 5 protruding rearward from the bearing 6. It is attached. The rotational driving force of a drum motor 8 as a driving source installed behind the housing 1 is transmitted to the large pulley 7 via the motor pulley 9 and the timing belt 10, whereby the drum 4 is rotationally driven around the main shaft 5. The Of course, it is possible to appropriately change the drive system such as adopting a direct drive system instead of such a belt drive system.

  An air outlet 11 is provided on the upper surface of the rear part of the drying chamber 3, and an air intake passage 12 is provided on the upper portion of the drying chamber 3 with the air inlet 13 opened rearward as an inlet and the air outlet 11 as an outlet. Inside the intake passage 12, a heating source 14 for heating air (outside air) taken from the intake port 13 is installed. In the case of a commercial clothes dryer, the heating source 14 is often a steam radiator through which high-temperature steam is circulated. However, the heating method is not limited to this, and a gas heater using an electric heater, city gas, or LP gas is used. Etc. may be used.

  A discharge port 15 is disposed on the lower surface of the front portion of the drying chamber 3, which is located away from the air outlet 11 in the axial direction of the drum 4 (in this example, the front-rear direction). An exhaust passage 16 is formed with an outlet 15 being an outlet and an outlet 17 opened rearward. In the exhaust path 16, a lint filter 18 for collecting floating matters such as lint from clothes and a fan 19 that is rotationally driven by a fan motor 20 are installed. When the fan 19 is driven to rotate in a predetermined direction, the fan 19 is configured to suck air from the front and discharge the air to the side (entire circumference) (for example, a sirocco fan).

  Thus, when the fan 19 is driven to rotate in a predetermined direction by the fan motor 20, the outside air is sucked into the intake passage 12 from the intake port 13, and the intake passage 12 → the outlet 11 → the drying chamber 3 → the discharge port 15 → An air flow that passes through the exhaust path 16 and is discharged from the exhaust port 17 to the outside of the machine is generated. If the heating source 14 is operating at that time, the air supplied into the drying chamber 3 from the blower outlet 11 becomes high-temperature heated air.

  The casing 1 basically has a sealed structure, but has a relatively large gap because it is a structure in which sheet metal is joined. Therefore, outside air easily enters and exits the gap 21 formed between the inner surface of the housing 1 and the outer surface of the drying chamber 3 through this gap. Usually, since the temperature of the outside air is low, if the air existing in the gap 21 is easily replaced with cold outside air during the drying operation, the drying chamber 3 is cooled from the surroundings, and the heated air supplied into the drying chamber 3 has. It takes heat away and reduces drying efficiency. Therefore, in the drum type clothes dryer of the present embodiment, as a characteristic configuration, the communication port 22 as the communication portion in the present invention is provided on the wall surface 23 separating the exhaust passage 16 and the gap 21. The communication port 22 is located just to the side of the fan 19 and receives an air flow sent out from the fan 19 when the fan 19 is driven.

  When the drying operation is executed in the drum type clothes dryer of the present embodiment, the fan 19 is driven by the fan motor 20, and the air flow flowing through the intake passage 12 → the drying chamber 3 → the exhaust passage 16 as described above. Is born. Further, high-temperature steam is supplied to the steam radiator as the heating source 14 to heat the air supplied to the drying chamber 3. Furthermore, the drum motor 8 is driven, and the drum 4 is rotated at a low speed by the rotational driving force.

  Exhaust after heat exchange with the laundry in the drum 4 flows from the drying chamber 3 to the exhaust path 16, and the exhaust is pushed out to the side by the fan 19. Since the discharge pressure is higher than the atmospheric pressure outside the machine, most of the exhaust flows out of the machine through the exhaust port 17, but part of the exhaust flows into the gap 21 through the communication port 22. Although the casing 1 has a gap as described above, it basically has a sealed structure. Therefore, when exhaust is sent into the gap 21, the air pressure in the gap 21 becomes slightly higher than the atmospheric pressure outside the machine. Therefore, if there is a gap in the housing 1, the exhaust gas leaks from the gap 21 to the outside of the machine through this gap. That is, it is possible to prevent outside air having a temperature lower than that of the exhaust from flowing into the housing 1, that is, the gap 21 through the gap. As a result, the heat of the heated air in the drying chamber 3 is not easily deprived, so that the drying performance can be improved.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a drum type clothes dryer which is another embodiment (second embodiment) of the clothes dryer according to the first invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 is a schematic front longitudinal sectional view of the drum-type clothes dryer of the present embodiment, FIG. 5 is an electrical block diagram of the drum-type clothes dryer of the present embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a characteristic operation during the drying operation. It is a figure for demonstrating.

  In FIG. 4, the same components as those in the drum-type clothes dryer according to the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. The difference between the clothes dryer of the second embodiment and the clothes dryer of the first embodiment is that the air dryer 12 communicates with the air intake passage 12 downstream of the heating source 14 through the air intake passage 12 and the air gap 21. While providing the opening part 24, it is the point provided with the damper 25 which opens and closes the opening part 24 for circulation as an opening-and-closing means in this invention. Although the circulation opening 24 is provided on the wall surface of the intake passage 12 here, the circulation opening 24 may be provided on the wall surface of the drying chamber 3.

  When the damper 25 is closed, the operation is exactly the same as that of the drum-type clothes dryer of the first embodiment because the circulation opening 24 is not provided. That is, part of the exhaust is supplied to the gap 21 by the operation of the fan 19, and the outside air outside the housing 1 is prevented from entering the gap 21.

  On the other hand, when the damper 25 is opened, the air gap 21 and the inside of the intake passage 12 communicate with each other through the circulation opening 24. When the damper 25 is opened while the fan 19 is rotationally driven and the air flow flowing through the intake passage 12 → the drying chamber 3 → the exhaust passage 16 is generated as described above, the air pressure is slightly reduced by the suction by the fan 19. Since the air pressure in the air gap 21 is higher than that in the air intake passage 12, the exhaust flows from the air gap 21 into the air intake passage 12 through the circulation opening 24, and is sent from the exhaust and the upstream side of the air intake passage 12. The coming heated air merges and enters the drying chamber 3. That is, a part of the exhaust after heat exchange with the laundry in the drying chamber 3 (drum 4) is circulated to the drying chamber 3.

  The configuration of the electrical system of the drum type clothes dryer of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 5. A control unit 30 including a CPU and the like is installed at the center of control, and a key input signal from the operation unit 32 and a door by a door switch 34 are provided. Two open / close detection signals, for example, a temperature detection signal of an exhaust temperature sensor 35 that detects an exhaust temperature installed at the inlet of the exhaust passage 16 are input to the control unit 30. A control program is stored in the control unit 30 in advance, and the drum motor 8, the fan motor 20, and the heating are performed via the load driving unit 31 by executing the control program by the CPU while receiving each input signal as described above. The source 14 and the damper 25 are controlled. When the heating source 14 is a steam radiator, the heating capacity can be controlled by adjusting the opening of a valve that supplies high-temperature steam to the radiator.

  Next, in the drum-type clothes dryer of the present embodiment, a characteristic operation in operation executed under the control of the control unit 30 will be described.

  For example, the worker puts washed clothes into the drum 4 from the clothes insertion port 41, closes the door 2, and performs a predetermined operation using the operation unit 32. The control unit 30 receives this operation and starts the drying operation after confirming that the door 2 is closed by the door switch 34. As the operation starts, the drum motor 8 and the fan motor 20 are driven, and high-temperature steam is supplied to the steam radiator that is the heating source 14. The fan 19 is rotationally driven by the fan motor 20 and the heating source 14 heats the air, whereby the heating air is supplied to the drying chamber 3 as described above. Further, since the drum motor 8 is driven and the drum 4 is rotated at a low speed, the clothes in the drum 4 are slowly stirred.

  The damper 25 is closed at the start of the drying operation. Therefore, as in the conventional drying operation, heat exchange between the heated air supplied through the intake passage 12 and the laundry is performed in the drum 4, and the temperature decreases, while the moisture including water vapor discharged from the laundry is wet. Exhaust gas is discharged to the outside through the exhaust passage 16. Further, a part of the exhaust gas is supplied to the gap 21 through the communication port 22, and the air pressure in the gap 21 is increased so that the outside air flowing into the gap 21 from the gap of the housing 1 can be shut off as in the first embodiment. It is.

  During the execution of the drying operation, the control unit 30 monitors the temperature detected by the exhaust temperature sensor 35. While the laundry is wet, the exhaust temperature detected by the exhaust temperature sensor 35 only rises gently as shown in FIG. This is because the amount of heat of the heated air is mostly used to evaporate the water vapor contained in the clothing. When the drying of the clothing proceeds to some extent, the amount of heat used for heat exchange with the clothing in the drum 4 decreases, so that the exhaust temperature rises rapidly. Further, when the exhaust gas temperature rises, the water vapor contained in the exhaust gas also decreases.

  Under such circumstances, when the exhaust temperature detected by the exhaust temperature sensor 35 reaches the preset upper limit temperature T1, the control unit 30 controls the heating source 14 to suppress heating. Specifically, the opening degree of the valve is adjusted so as to reduce the flow rate of high-temperature steam supplied to the steam radiator. Thereafter, the control unit 30 adjusts the heating capability of the heating source 14 so that the exhaust temperature does not greatly exceed the upper limit temperature T1 and falls within a predetermined temperature range. At the same time, the control unit 30 opens the damper 25 via the load driving unit 31 when the exhaust gas temperature reaches the upper limit temperature T1.

  As described above, when the damper 25 is opened, the exhaust gas filled in the gap 21 flows into the intake passage 12 through the circulation opening 24 and circulates in the drying chamber 3 together with the heated air. At this time, since the temperature of the exhaust is high and the humidity is low, the amount of heat of the exhaust in addition to the amount of heat of the heated air contributes to heat exchange with the laundry. Thereby, the drying performance can be increased. That is, conventionally, the drying performance of the laundry can be improved by effectively using the waste heat that was exhausted outside the machine and wasted.

  In the above-described embodiment, the timing at which the damper 25 is switched from closing to opening is determined according to the exhaust gas temperature. However, for example, the timing can be determined based on the elapsed time from the start of the drying operation. Further, the amount of exhaust gas circulated into the drying chamber 3, that is, the ratio of the amount of heated air supplied through the intake passage 12 and the amount of exhaust gas to be circulated can be adjusted by the opening amount of the damper 25. Accordingly, the drying performance may be further improved by finely adjusting the opening amount of the damper 25.

[Third embodiment]
A drum-type clothes dryer which is an embodiment (third embodiment) of a clothes dryer according to the second invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a schematic front longitudinal sectional view of the drum type clothes dryer of this embodiment. In FIG. 7, the same components as those in the drum-type clothes dryer according to the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  In the drum-type clothes dryer of the first embodiment, a communication port 22 is provided in the exhaust passage 16 and communicates the inside of the exhaust passage 16 and the gap 21 on the downstream side of the fan 19 (on the side of the fan 19). On the other hand, in the drum type clothes dryer of the third embodiment, a communication port 26 is provided in the exhaust passage 16 so as to communicate the inside of the exhaust passage 16 and the gap 21 on the upstream side of the fan 19. When the fan 19 is driven, the air pressure decreases (becomes negative pressure) on the inlet side of the fan 19, so that not only the air in the drying chamber 3 but also the air in the gap 21 through the communication port 26 is also in the exhaust path 16. Sucked into.

  As a result, the air pressure in the gap 21 decreases, so that outside air flows into the gap 21 through the gap in the housing 1, but the cold outside air that has flowed in is sucked into the exhaust path 16 through the communication port 26. Therefore, even when there is a gap in the wall surface of the drying chamber 3, it is possible to reduce the leakage of cold air into the drying chamber 3 through the gap. Thereby, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the temperature of the air in the drying chamber 3 and achieve high drying performance.

  Each of the above embodiments is merely an example, and it is obvious that modifications, corrections, and additions may be made as appropriate within the scope of the present invention, and included in the scope of the claims of the present application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The schematic front longitudinal cross-sectional view of the drum-type clothes dryer which is one Example (1st Example) of this invention. The side surface schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view in the A-A 'arrow cutting line in FIG. The side surface schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view in the B-B 'arrow cutting line in FIG. The schematic front longitudinal cross-sectional view of the drum-type clothes dryer of 2nd Example. The electric system block block diagram of the drum-type clothes dryer of 2nd Example. The figure for demonstrating the characteristic operation | movement at the time of drying operation in the drum type clothes dryer of 2nd Example. The schematic front longitudinal cross-sectional view of the drum-type clothes dryer of 3rd Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Housing 2 ... Door 3 ... Drying chamber 4 ... Drum 5 ... Main shaft 6 ... Bearing 7 ... Large pulley 8 ... Drum motor 9 ... Motor pulley 10 ... Timing belt 11 ... Outlet 12 ... Intake passage 13 ... Intake port 14 ... Heating Source 15 ... Discharge port 16 ... Exhaust passage 17 ... Exhaust port 18 ... Lint filter 19 ... Fan 20 ... Fan motor 21 ... Void 22, 26 ... Communication port 23 ... Wall 24 ... Circulation opening 25 ... Damper 30 ... Control unit 31 ... Load drive unit 35 ... Exhaust temperature sensor

Claims (6)

A housing having a substantially hermetically sealed structure; a drying chamber formed inside the housing in which the laundry is housed; an intake passage for feeding heated air into the drying chamber; and the laundry in the drying chamber; In a clothes dryer having an exhaust path for exhausting air after performing heat exchange of
In order to supply a part of the exhaust discharged to the outside through the exhaust passage to the gap between the housing and the drying chamber, a communication portion that communicates the inside of the exhaust passage and the gap is provided. Features a clothes dryer.   In order to generate an air flow that flows from the intake passage through the drying chamber to the exhaust passage, a fan is provided in the exhaust passage to send air sucked from the front to the side, and the exhaust passage is disposed on the side of the fan. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, further comprising a communication port that communicates the inside and the gap as the communication part.   A circulation opening that communicates between the gap and the drying chamber or the intake passage in order to return the air supplied from the exhaust passage through the communication portion to the gap into the drying chamber; and the circulation opening. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, further comprising opening / closing means for opening / closing.   It further comprises control means for controlling the opening and closing means so that the opening for circulation is closed by the opening and closing means in the first half of the drying operation and the opening for circulation is opened in the second half of the drying operation. The clothes dryer according to claim 3.   Temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of air after heat exchange with the laundry in the drying chamber; and at the initial stage of the drying operation, the opening for circulation is closed by the opening / closing means, and the temperature detecting means The clothes dryer according to claim 3, further comprising a control means for controlling the opening / closing means to open the circulation opening after the detected temperature reaches a predetermined value. A housing having a substantially hermetically sealed structure; a drying chamber formed inside the housing in which the laundry is housed; an intake passage for feeding heated air into the drying chamber; and the laundry in the drying chamber; In a clothes dryer having an exhaust path for exhausting air after performing heat exchange of
A fan is disposed in the exhaust path to generate an airflow flowing from the intake path through the drying chamber to the exhaust path;
In order to suck the air in the gap between the casing and the drying chamber into the exhaust path, a communication portion that communicates the inside of the exhaust path and the gap is provided in the exhaust path, and the upstream side of the fan A clothes dryer comprising:

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