JPH0135678B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a clothes dryer equipped with a heat exchange fan having an air blowing function and a heat exchange function.

Conventional technology Conventional clothes dryers heat external air with a heating element, introduce hot air into the clothes storage compartment for drying, and discharge hot and humid exhaust air outside the clothes dryer. Equipped with dehumidifier and circulating air path,
There is a method that condenses hot and humid air and discharges it outside the main body as water droplets.

The latter dehumidifying device for clothes dryers is preferable to the former because it prevents moisture from filling the outside of the machine, but in addition to being equipped with a heat exchanger, a fan for circulating air, a fan for blowing cooling air, etc.,
In order to improve the efficiency of heat exchange, it is necessary to separately control the appropriate amounts of dry air and cooling air flowing into the heat exchanger.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the dehumidifying type clothes dryer, the circulating air blowing fan and the cooling air blowing fan are controlled separately, so a drive source for driving each fan separately is required. Furthermore, in addition to the fan for circulating and cooling air, a heat exchanger is also required, resulting in a complicated structure and large size of the device.

In addition, a clothes dryer (Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-56518) has been proposed that uses a heat exchange type blower that has a circulating and cooling air blowing function and a heat exchange function. are not set optimally, and in order to obtain the dehumidifying capacity required for a clothes dryer, the heat exchange type blower must be enlarged, making it difficult to store it within the limited space of the clothes dryer. It was hot.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to improve the dehumidification performance of a heat exchange fan having an air blowing function and a heat exchange function, and to enable the heat exchange fan to be stored even within the limited space of a clothes dryer. .

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a circulating air path that is equipped with a heating element and circulates dry air in a clothing storage, and a system that cools the dry air in this circulating air path. The heat exchange fan includes an inner main plate to which a rotating shaft is attached, and an inner main plate to which a rotating shaft is attached, and a heat exchange fan that blows the dry air and the cooling air respectively and has a heat exchange function between the air. Consisting of a corrugated thin plate located on the outer periphery of the main plate and having grooves arranged approximately radially around the rotation axis, and an outer main plate located on the outer periphery of the corrugated thin plate, the inner and outer peripheral edges of the corrugated thin plate are A portion extending from both main plates to the bottom of the groove with the two main plates as a boundary is closed, and a protruding height from the main plate to the bottom of the groove is set higher on the cooling air path side than on the circulating air path side. This is the configuration.

Effect With the above configuration, the protrusion height from the main plate to the bottom of the groove is made higher on the cooling air path side than on the circulating air path side, and the flow path area at the outlet of the heat exchange fan is widened. The volume of cooling air is greater than the volume of drying air to improve heat exchange efficiency and increase dehumidification capacity without increasing the size of the heat exchange fan, providing sufficient dehumidification capacity even within the limited space of a clothes dryer. A heat exchange fan can be provided.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a clothing storage for storing clothing, which is rotatably supported. The front wall of the clothes storage 1 is equipped with an input port 2 and a dry air intake port 3, and the rear wall is equipped with a filter 4 and a filter cover 5.

6 is a circulation side fan casing provided at the rear of the clothes storage 1, which connects the clothes storage 1 and the circulation duct 7.
It communicates with. 8 is a heater cover equipped with a heating element 9, which communicates with the clothes storage 1 and the circulation duct 7. The clothes storage 1, circulation side fan casing 6, circulation duct 7, and heater cover 8 constitute a dry air path through which dry air circulates.

10 is a cooling side fan casing, which has a cooling air intake port 13 and an exhaust port 1 on the back plate 12 of the main body 11.
4 constitutes a cooling air path.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a heat exchange fan disposed in a limited rear space inside the main body 11 of the clothes dryer, and the inner main plate 1 has a boss portion for fixing to the rotating shaft 16.
7, and the rotating shaft 1 on the outer periphery of this inner main plate 17.
The corrugated thin plate 18 has grooves 18a and 18b arranged approximately radially around the center of the corrugated thin plate 18, and the inner main plate 17 provided on the outer periphery of the corrugated thin plate 18.
8 and an outer main plate 19 for separating different air flows on both sides of the heat exchange fan 15. A sealing material 20 is provided on the outer main plate 19 of the heat exchange fan 15 to separate the dry air path and the cooling air path.

The rotational operation of the heat exchange fan 15 is caused by a rotating shaft 16,
This is done by transmitting the rotational force of the motor 24 via the pulleys 21, 22 and the belt 23. When the heat exchange fan 15 is rotated, the grooves 18a, 18
The corrugated thin plate 18 having the shape b acts as a blade and can blow dry air and cooling air, respectively, and at the same time, since the two airs come into contact with each other through the corrugated thin plate 18, it also has a heat exchange effect. In FIG. 3, A indicates the flow of dry air, and B indicates the flow of cooling air.

The air passing through the heat exchange fan 15 is hot and humid dry air on the circulation air path side, and cooling air on one cooling air path side is at room temperature and normal humidity. In order to improve the heat exchange efficiency in both air, since the heat transfer area of the heat exchange fan 15 on the circulating air path side and the cooling air path side is constant, it is necessary to It is necessary to increase the air volume.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the height of the protrusion from the outer main plate 19 to the bottom of the grooves 18a, 18b of the corrugated thin plate 18 is changed without increasing the height from the top of the corrugated thin plate 18 to the bottom. Without increasing the height of the heat exchange fan 15, the cooling air path side is made higher than the circulating air path side, the area of the flow path outlet of the heat exchange fan 15 is widened, and the air volume on the cooling air path side is increased. The number is set to increase. That is, in FIG. 3, the dimensions are set so that Hh<Hc. Note that 25 is a drain port, 26 is a drain hose, and 27 is a door.

In the above configuration, the operation will be explained next.

When clothes (not shown) are placed in the clothes storage 1 and the power is turned on, the rotation of the motor 24 causes the heat exchange fan 15 to rotate, blowing cooling air and dry air. At the same time, the heating element 9 is energized to accelerate the drying of the clothes, and the dry air becomes hot and humid and circulates through the circulating air path. The dry air in the circulating air path is condensed by the heat exchange fan 15 and released as moisture through the drain port 25 and the drain hose 26 to the main body 1.
1 Drained outside.

Since the heat exchange fan 15 is configured to have a larger air volume on the cooling air path side than on the circulating air path side, the heat exchange efficiency on the corrugated thin plate serving as the heat exchange surface is improved. As a result, the condensation speed of the dry air in the circulating air path becomes faster, the drying time for clothes becomes shorter, and the dehumidification performance is also significantly improved.

Effects of the Invention As described above, in the present invention, a heat exchange fan is constituted by corrugated thin plates and a main plate that are arranged substantially radially around a rotating shaft, and the protruding height from the main plate to the bottom of the groove is determined by the circulation air path. By making the side of the cooling air path higher than the other side and increasing the amount of cooling air, it is possible to improve the heat exchange efficiency, and as a result, it is possible to improve the dehumidifying ability and shorten the drying time. In addition, heat exchange fans can provide the dehumidifying ability required by clothes dryers without increasing their diameter or height, and can be stored in clothes dryers with limited space, especially in thin and small designs. Clothes dryers can also be equipped with heat exchange fans.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of a heat exchange fan thereof, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the same in the circumferential direction. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Clothes storage, 9... Heating body, 15... Heat exchange fan, 18... Corrugated thin plate, 17... Inner main plate, 19... Outer main plate.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A circulating air path that is equipped with a heating element and circulates dry air in the clothing storage, a cooling air path that cools the dry air in this circulating air path, and a cooling air path that blows the dry air and cooling air, respectively, and a heat exchange fan having a function of exchanging heat between air; the heat exchange fan includes an inner main plate to which a rotating shaft is attached; and a heat exchange fan located on the outer periphery of the inner main plate and extending substantially radially around the rotating shaft. It is composed of a corrugated thin plate with grooves arranged thereon, and an outer main plate located on the outer periphery of the corrugated thin plate, and the inner and outer circumferential ends of the corrugated thin plate close off the portion extending from both main plates to the bottom of the groove, with the two main plates as a border. In this clothes dryer, the protruding height from the main plate to the bottom of the groove is set higher on the cooling air path side than on the circulating air path side.