JP5513572B2 - Drying air supply device for laundry dryer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for supplying dry air (air used for drying) to a commercial laundry dryer, and the energy consumption of a heater provided in the dryer for heating the dry air It is related with the said apparatus which enabled it to reduce.

  Commercial laundry dryers (including laundry dryers that perform washing and drying continuously in the same device, hereinafter simply referred to as “dryers”) are used to remove moisture contained in laundry in the dryer. The laundry is dried by evaporating in the dry air flowing in the dryer. In order to perform this drying operation, the dryer includes a blower for flowing dry air into the machine, a heater for heating dry air sucked from outside the machine, and a filter for removing dust contained in the air. And. The heater and the filter are provided at an intake port for dry air, and the blower is usually provided at an exhaust port for dry air.

  Since the latent heat of vaporization required to evaporate water is large, the heater of the dryer (usually a steam heater using steam as a heat source) consumes a large amount of heat energy. Therefore, in order to reduce the heat energy consumed by commercial laundry facilities including dryers and reduce the operating costs of laundry facilities, the heat energy consumed by dryers (steam consumption for steam heaters) There is a demand to reduce this.

  As a means for reducing the consumption of heat energy, it has been conventionally considered to reuse the heat energy remaining in the dry air discharged from the dryer. One of the means is to install a heat exchanger upstream of the heater at the inlet of the dryer, and preheat the intake air passing through the heat exchanger by the heat remaining in the exhaust of the dryer. The other is that the dryer is divided into a pre-dryer and a main dryer, the exhaust of the main dryer is introduced into the pre-dryer, and the laundry before being introduced into the main dryer. It is intended to pre-dry or pre-heat things.

  As the former means, for example, in Patent Document 1, exhaust including lint discharged from a dryer is supplied to a heat exchanger after passing through a dust collector, and dry air sucked into the dryer is preheated by the heat exchanger. Technology to do is shown. The preheated dry air is further heated by a heater of the dryer. In the embodiment, an example is shown in which a dust collector that collects dust from the exhausts of five dryers at once is provided, and the exhaust gas that has passed through the dust collectors is distributed to heat exchangers provided in the respective dryers.

  In addition, as a means for performing the main drying and the preliminary drying, in Patent Document 2, since the next laundry is waiting in front of the dryer before the main drying, the drying time as a whole becomes longer, and the washing is performed. There is a technique for pre-drying waiting laundry with exhaust heat of a dryer, because the item is cooled. In Embodiment 3 of Patent Document 2, two dryers having the same shape are arranged in parallel and exhaust gas is alternately sent, and includes a duct for discharging the exhaust gas to the atmosphere and a switching damper. A structure similar to that of Embodiment 3 of Patent Document 2 is also proposed in Patent Document 3.

  On the other hand, in laundry facilities for business use, machines such as ironers and finishers (hereinafter referred to as “finishing”) are used as machines for processing the laundry after drying with a dryer. It is called “machine”.) The finisher is a machine that processes the laundry that has passed through the dryer, the ironer is a device that presses the laundry against a heated and smooth surface such as a roll or chest, and the finisher hangs the laundry. It is a device that stretches the cocoon by suspending it in a heated air. The laundry is discharged from the dryer with some moisture remaining in order to allow the finishing machine to stretch the knot. In addition, the finishing machine consumes heat energy necessary for the stretching of the iron such as ironing, and the heated air in the machine is released from these machines.

  For example, many line-type roll ironers for finishing linen products such as sheets, pillowcases, towels, and yukatas used in hotels and hospitals are installed as finishing machines. Heated by steam, the air in the machine is also heated by the heat, and the absolute humidity is also increased by the evaporation of moisture from the laundry. In the ironer having a simple structure, heated air in the machine (hereinafter referred to as “hot air”) is discharged into the factory through an opening at the top of the machine. When exhausting hot air outside the factory, provide a hood that covers the opening at the top of the machine, and install a duct and exhaust fan that guides the hot air inside the hood to the outside of the factory to exhaust the hot air outside the factory. Yes. The hot air discharged from the ironer is larger than the hot air discharged from other finishers such as finishers, but it is still cooler than the dryer exhaust and its volume is low. It is the actual situation.

JP-A-7-8687 JP 2000-283651 A JP 2001-276493 A

  A structure that preheats dry air by installing a heat exchanger that uses the exhaust of the dryer as a heat source at the air intake of the dryer, or laundry before the pre-dryer is installed and introduced into the dryer for main drying The structure that preheats or predrys is excellent in terms of reusing a large amount of heat discharged from the dryer, but there is a problem that the structure of the dryer is complicated and the cost of the laundry equipment is increased. .

  That is, in the structure in which the intake air to the dryer is preheated by the heat exchanger, a heat exchanger and a duct for guiding the exhaust of the washing machine to the heat exchanger are newly required, and if heat is to be recovered effectively, The heat exchanger becomes large. Further, an additional blower must be provided to allow the exhaust to pass against the flow resistance of the heat exchanger, or the blower provided in the dryer must be replaced with one having a high discharge pressure. In addition, in order to avoid clogging the flow path of the heat exchanger with lint contained in the exhaust, it is necessary to provide a filter for filtering the exhaust and a dust remover at the inlet to the heat exchanger.

  In addition, in the structure for predrying or preheating the laundry, it is necessary to install a predryer having a structure substantially similar to that of the present dryer except that no heater is provided. And a duct for connecting the air intake to the main dryer, and a device for transferring laundry from the preliminary dryer to the dryer.

  This invention avoids the increase in equipment cost that occurs when the above-described conventional means for reusing the exhaust heat of the dryer itself is avoided, and technical means for reducing the heat energy consumed by the dryer with a simple structure. The issue is to provide.

  A dry air supply device for a laundry dryer according to the present invention includes a laundry dryer 1 and a finisher 2 such as an ironer or finisher for finishing the laundry that has passed through the dryer. The finisher 2 is provided with an intake port 11 for sucking in air (dry air) used for heating and a heater 15 for heating air sucked from the intake port, and the finishing machine 2 discharges heated air (hot air) inside the machine to the outside. This is a dry air supply device for a laundry dryer in a laundry facility having an exhaust duct 22 for performing the above operation.

  The dry air supply device for the laundry dryer of the present invention includes a connecting duct 42 that guides hot air generated in the finishing machine 2 to the air inlet 11 of the dryer, and the flow path of the hot air through the air inlet 11 side and the outdoor discharge side 25. And a control means for controlling the switching valve. In the washing facility in steady operation, the finisher is continuously operated and the dryer is intermittently operated. The switching valve 4 provided in the exhaust duct of the finishing machine is provided for switching the exhaust of the finishing machine to the outdoor discharge side when the dryer or the finishing machine is stopped. That is, the control means switches the switching valve 4 on the basis of each operation signal indicating whether the dryer 1 and the finisher 2 are in an operating state or in a stopped state, and the hot air of the finisher 2 is removed from the dryer. Switch between introduction to 1 and discharge to the outdoors.

  In a single line (one line) of laundry equipment, when the hot air of the finisher is introduced into the dryer of the line on a one-to-one basis, the amount of dry air flowing through the dryer 1 is determined by the blower 13 on the dryer side, Since the amount of hot air sent from the finisher 2 is smaller than the intake amount of the dryer 1, the shortage of outside air is drawn into the intake port 11 of the dryer and mixed with the hot air from the finisher 2 and dried. It passes through the heater 15 of the machine. At this time, since the amount of heat (steam amount) supplied to the heater 15 is controlled by the sensor 17 that detects the air temperature in the dryer, it is supplied to the heater 15 according to the amount and temperature of the introduced hot air. The amount of heat generated is automatically adjusted.

  The absolute humidity of the hot air sent from the finishing machine is higher than that of the outside air, and the amount and temperature also vary depending on the quantity and type of laundry in the finishing machine. Also, the optimum drying conditions of the dryer vary depending on the amount and type of laundry in the dryer. Therefore, as described in claim 2, a flow rate adjusting device (adjustment damper 32 in the embodiment) for adjusting the air volume is provided at the hot air inlet and the outside air inlet of the dryer, and the air volume and hot air of the dry air are adjusted. More preferably, the mixing ratio of the outside air can be adjusted.

  In this case, the controller 6 controls the opening degree of the flow rate adjusting device 32 based on data on the amount or type of the laundry being dried by the dryer 1 and on the operation signals of the dryer and the finisher.

  In a washing facility having a plurality of washing lines, when it is desired to avoid discarding the hot air of the finishing machine without being reused while the dryer is stopped, the hot air distributor 5 is provided and the hot air distributor 5 is provided. A plurality of finishing machines 2 and a plurality of dryers 1 may be connected. In this case, in addition to the switching valve 4 for switching the hot air from each finishing machine 2 between the hot air distributor 5 side and the outdoor exhaust side, the opening / closing for switching the introduction and shutoff of the hot air from the hot air distributor 5 to each dryer 1 A valve (open / close damper of the embodiment) 43 is provided. The on-off valve 43 can be made to function as a flow rate adjusting device that adjusts the mixing ratio of the hot air sucked into each dryer 1 and the outside air by adopting a structure capable of adjusting the flow rate.

  When it is desired to reuse hot air more effectively according to the amount and type of laundry put into the dryer and the type of laundry processed by the finishing machine, the hot air distributor 5 has a temperature sensor. 51 and a humidity sensor 52 are provided, and the detection signal of these sensors and the type and amount of the laundry put in each dryer (recognized by the controller monitoring the entire laundry facility). The flow rate adjusting device 32 or the open / close damper 43 of each dryer may be operated to control the amount of dry air and the mixing ratio of outside air and hot air.

  According to the present invention, the finishing machine that has been disposed of in the past has a simple structure in which the connecting duct 42 that branches from the exhaust duct of the finishing machine and introduces hot air into the intake port of the dryer and the damper type switching valve 4 are provided. It is possible to reduce the energy consumption of the heater of the dryer by using the exhaust heat. The transfer of hot air to the inlet of the dryer is performed by the exhaust fan of the existing finisher, and the transferred hot air is sucked together with the outside air by the blower on the dryer side, and the lint contained in the hot air is also transferred to the dryer. Since it is removed by the existing filter provided, the new cost burden by adopting the invention of the present application is extremely small, and it can be easily adopted in existing laundry facilities.

The figure which shows 1st Example typically 1st figure which shows a driving | running state and the state of a damper Second figure Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Block diagram showing a second embodiment

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings illustrating examples. FIGS. 1 to 6 are views showing a first example, and show an example of an embodiment of the present invention in a single laundry facility. The finishing machine 2 shown in the figure is a roll ironer, and includes a hood 21, an exhaust duct 22, and an exhaust fan 23 for discharging hot air inside the apparatus to the outside of the factory. The roll ironer 2 includes a plurality of cylinders 24 heated by steam, and a large amount of heat is released from these cylinders into the apparatus.

  The dryer 1 includes an intake port 11 and an exhaust port 12 for dry air. The exhaust port 12 is provided with a blower 13 through which dry air passes, and the intake port 11 is provided with a filter 14 and a heater 15. The dryer 1 is provided with a horizontal-type breathable drum 16 that accommodates and rotates the laundry, and the laundry flows through the drum while being agitated by the rotation of the drum 16. Dried by air.

  The laundry flows in a lump of an amount according to the processing capacity of the washing machine (not shown) or the dryer 1 provided in the washing line and flows into the outlet of the dryer (which ironer is dropped before) Is determined). The controller that controls the entire line recognizes the weight and type of each lump (such as the material and color of the fiber) and recognizes which lump is currently being processed by the dryer 1.

  On the other hand, the dryer 1 is provided with a sensor 17 that detects the temperature of the dry air after passing through the heater 15. The controller of the dryer controls the amount of steam supplied to the heater 15 based on the detection signal of the sensor 17 and the weight and type of the laundry processed by the dryer. The ironer 2 is stopped when the passage of the laundry is not detected for the set fixed time, and the blower 13 of the dryer 1 is stopped when the laundry is taken in and out of the machine. Since the ironer 2 processes the laundry after passing through the dryer 1, the dryer 1 starts operation first at the start of the laundry facility, and the dryer 1 ends operation first at the end of the operation.

  A damper-type switching valve 4 is provided in the middle of the exhaust duct 22 of the ironer, and a flow path branched by the switching valve 4 is connected to an intake box 3 provided in an intake port 11 of the dryer by a connecting duct 42. . An opening / closing damper 43 that opens and closes the flow path is provided at the outlet of the connecting duct 42. The intake box 3 is provided so as to cover the entire intake port 11 of the dryer, and an opening 31 for sucking outside air is provided in a part of the intake box, and the amount of outside air sucked into the opening is adjusted. An adjustment damper 32 is provided.

  2 to 6 are views showing the operation of the damper (switching damper) 41 of the switching valve 4 and the operations of the intake box opening / closing damper 43 and the adjustment damper 32 in the above-described apparatus. FIG. 2 is a diagram when both the dryer and the ironer are in steady operation. The switching damper 41 closes the flow path 25 to the outdoor exhaust, and the open / close damper 43 opens, so that the hot air from the ironer is sucked into the dryer. Introduced in box 3. The adjustment damper 32 is half-opened, and introduces the outside air that is insufficient for the amount of hot air introduced into the intake box 3.

  FIG. 3 is a view when the dryer 1 is operated and the ironer 2 is stopped. The switching damper 41 closes the flow path to the connecting duct 42 and the open / close damper 43 is closed. Are discharged outside the factory. In this state, hot air is not introduced into the intake port 11 of the dryer, and the adjustment damper 32 is largely opened to introduce all necessary dry air from the outside air.

  FIG. 4 is a view when the ironer is operated and the dryer is shaking the laundry. The switching damper 41 closes the flow path 25 to the outdoor exhaust, the open / close damper 43 opens, and the adjustment damper 32. Is closed, and only the hot air of the ironer is introduced into the intake box 3 of the dryer.

  Laundry that is finished with a roll ironer, such as sheets, wrapping, and pillowcases, may not be completely dried with a dryer, and may finish drying with some moisture left. This is called “shaking”, and is a process of loosening the cake-like product with a press dehydrator and adjusting the residual water rate of the laundry by heating and stirring. At this time, in the case of laundry having a low residual water ratio after dewatering with a dehydrator, almost no steam is required for shaking, so steam is supplied to the heater of the dryer as shown in FIG. Without shaking, it is possible to perform shaking using only the exhaust of the roll ironer.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which the dryer 1 is stopped and the ironer 2 is operated. The switching damper 41 closes the flow path to the connecting duct 42 and the open / close damper 43 is closed. Hot air is discharged outside the factory. Since the stopped dryer does not require dry air, the blower 13 of the dryer is stopped and the adjustment damper 32 is also closed.

  The same applies to the case of FIG. 6 in which both the dryer and the ironer are stopped. FIG. 6 schematically shows an operation for cleaning the filter 14 of the dryer while both the dryer and the ironer are stopped. The filter 14 is washed by being pulled laterally from the air inlet and flowing air from the opposite direction.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a second embodiment of the present invention, in which a plurality of connecting ducts 42 each provided with a hot air distributor 5 between a plurality of dryers 1... And a plurality of ironers 2. The example which connected is shown. Each exhaust duct 22 of the plurality of ironers 2 is provided with a switching valve 4... Having the same structure as in FIG. 1, and a connecting duct (ironer side duct) 42 a connected to the switching valve is a hot air distributor 5. It is connected to. Further, each of the plurality of dryers 1 is provided with an intake box 3, an open / close damper 43, and an adjustment damper 32 similar to those shown in FIG. 1, and each intake box 3 is heated by a connection duct (dryer side duct) 42b. It is connected to the distributor 5. The hot air distributor 5 is a simple sealed container, and a temperature sensor 51 and a humidity sensor 52 are provided inside.

  The controller 6 that controls the switching damper 41, the open / close damper 43, and the adjustment damper 32 is input with a signal a such as the operation signal of each dryer 1, the amount and type of laundry being processed, the temperature inside the machine, and the like. The same signal b is input from 2. Further, detection signals c of the temperature sensor 51 and the humidity sensor 52 provided in the hot air distributor 5 are input to the controller 6.

  The open / close damper 43 is configured such that the flow rate of hot air when fully opened is less than the amount of dry air in the dryer 1 connected thereto. When each dryer 1 is in an operating state and the temperature and humidity of the hot air distributor 5 are within a set range, the controller 6 opens the opening / closing damper 43 of the dryer and is processed by the dryer. The opening degree of the adjustment damper 32 that adjusts the mixing ratio of outside air and hot air is adjusted according to the amount and type of the laundry being washed, the degree of drying (elapsed time from the start of operation of the dryer), and the like. Further, the controller 6 switches the ironer switching valve 4 to the ironer-side duct 42a when the ironer is in operation and the temperature in the machine exceeds the set temperature, and the hot air is distributed to the hot air distributor. 5 is introduced. The hot air of the ironer that is stopped or the ironer having a low internal temperature is exhausted outdoors by switching the switching valve 4 of the ironer to the outdoor exhaust side.

  In this way, the hot air distributor 5 is provided, and the plurality of ironers 2 and the dryer 1 (one may be one) are connected via the switching valve 4, the open / close damper 43, and the adjustment damper 32, respectively. By controlling these switching dampers and adjusting dampers according to the operating state of the ironer and dryer, the amount of hot air discharged to the outside can be minimized, and the heat consumption of the entire dryer can be reduced. .

1 Dryer 2 Finisher 4 Switching valve
11 Inlet
15 Heater
22 Exhaust duct
25 Outdoor discharge side
42 Connecting duct

Claims (6)

A laundry dryer and a finisher that finishes the laundry that has passed through the dryer are provided. The dryer heats the air that is used for drying and the air that is sucked from the air intake. And the finishing machine, in the drying air supply device of the dryer in the laundry facility having an exhaust duct for discharging the hot air inside the machine to the outside,
A connection duct that guides hot air generated in the finisher to the intake port of the dryer, a switching valve that switches a flow path of the hot air between the intake port side and the outdoor discharge side, and the dryer and the finisher are operated. A drying air supply device for a laundry dryer, comprising: a control unit that controls the switching valve based on each operation signal indicating whether it is in a stopped state or in a stopped state.   The dry air supply device according to claim 1, further comprising a flow rate adjusting device that adjusts a ratio between outside air and hot air introduced from the connection duct at the intake port.   Control means for controlling the flow rate adjusting device based on data relating to the amount or type of laundry being dried in the dryer and data relating to the amount or type of laundry being finished in the finishing machine The dry air supply device according to claim 2 provided.   The said connection duct is provided with a hot air distributor, and the said connection duct has connected the dryer and finishing machine which at least one is plural through the said hot air distributor. Dry air supply device.   The hot air distributor includes a sensor for detecting the temperature and humidity of the in-machine air, and the dryers based on the detection signals of the sensors and the operation signals of the dryers connected to the hot air distributor. The dry air supply device according to claim 4, comprising control means for controlling opening and closing of the flow rate adjusting device.   The hot air distributor includes a sensor for detecting the temperature and humidity of the air in the machine, and each finishing machine is based on a detection signal of the sensor and an operation signal of each finishing machine connected to the hot air distributor. The dry air supply apparatus of Claim 4 provided with the control means which controls the switching valve of the exhaust duct of this.

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