JPH03244498A - Clothes drying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sense clogging condition of a lint filter accurately, detecting eventual occurrence of clog immediately, and inform the result from sensing by furnishing a means to sense the wind quantity on the circulating wind path and a means to generate power according to the value of wind quantity sensed and convert the wind quantity. CONSTITUTION:Vanes 26a of an impeller 26 installed within an exhaust cylinder 18 are rotated by the wind power of a circulating wind sent from a rotary drum 4 to a heater 11 through the action of fans 5 on both wings, and by this rotational force of the vanes, electric power is generated by a generator 27 in an amount according to the wind quantity. The amount of lint collected by a lint filter 7 increases, and the circulating wind into the exhaust cylinder 18 decreases if the lint filter 7 clogs to cause decrease of the wind quantity, which drops the wind power rotating the vanes 26a, and consequently the torque of the impeller 26 drops to drop the power generated by the generator 27. Accordingly, change in the value of generated power is sensed by a control device 22, and clog of the filter 7 can be known through this change in the generated poser.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to clothes dryers.

[Conventional technology]

For example, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a conventional clothes dryer is installed on one side of the ceiling inside an outer box (1) that has a door (2) on the front for loading and unloading clothes to be dried. A rotary drum (4) serving as a drying chamber on which a motor (3) is suspended and rotated by the motor (3) is disposed in the center of the outer box (1). Then, connect the rotating shaft of the motor (3) and the rotating shaft of the double-winged fan (5) provided behind the exhaust hole (20) on the back of the rotating drum (4) to the respective pulleys (15) (16).
The drum belt (14) is connected to the outer circumference of the rotating drum (4) and another pulley (13) provided on the rotating shaft of the motor (3). There is.

The exhaust hole (20) on the back surface of the rotary drum (4) is provided with a lint filter (7) that can be attached and removed from the front opening of the rotary drum (4).

The outer periphery of the double-blade fan (5) is sealed with a felt-like sealing material (8) in a state where its rotation is not inhibited, and as a result, there is a gap between the front side and the back side of the double-blade fan (5) where air does not exchange. It becomes a room.

On the back of the outer box (1), there is an intake port (
A drain port (10) for discharging moisture removed from the material to be dried is provided on the bottom surface, and a drain port (10) is provided on the bottom surface of the outer box (1 ) A heater case (21) housing a semiconductor heater (11) such as a PTC heater is disposed at the front lower part of the interior.

In addition, an operation panel (12) is provided below the front door (2) of the outer box (1), which has a control switch for setting the drying operation time and a progress display section for displaying the progress of the drying operation. A control device (22) incorporating a display lamp, a microcomputer, and other electronic products is installed inside the operation panel (12).

On the other hand, a fan case (17) houses the fan (5).
) is connected to an exhaust pipe (18) that communicates with the heater case (21) that houses the heater (11), and the fan case (17) and the exhaust pipe (18) form a circulating air path. , if you forget to attach the lint filter (7) to the back of the rotating drum (4), or even if it is attached, fine dust that passes through the lint filter (7) or rotation of the fan (5) In order to prevent the sealing material (8) from being rubbed and the fine powder generated from this to adhere to the heater (11) and cause clogging, a mesh-like cloth is placed in the shape of a cylindrical bag in the middle of the circulation air path. The formed bag-shaped filter (19) is attached.

As shown in the circuit diagram of Fig. 7, a motor (3) and a semiconductor heater (1) are connected in parallel to a power supply (24).
1) Semiconductor switching elements (2
5), an on/off control signal from the control device (22) was introduced.

Next, to explain the operation, to perform drying operation, the outer box (1
), open the door (2), put the clothes to be dried into the rotating drum (4), and set the drying time and degree of drying with the control switches on the operation panel (12). ) of the motor (3), the switching element (
25) is turned on and the motor (3) is energized, causing it to rotate. As a result, at the same time that the drum belt (14) starts rotating the rotary drum (4), the rotation of the motor (3) is transmitted to the double-winged fan (5) via the belt (-6), causing it to rotate. Also, the heater (11) is energized and generates heat.

The air inside the outer box (1) is heated by the heater (11) by the rotation of the double-winged fan (5), becomes dry hot air, and is sent into the rotating drum (4) through the intake hole (23) to cover the air. As a result, the object to be dried is heated, and the hot air becomes humid warm air containing moisture evaporated from the object to be dried, which is passed from the exhaust hole (20) to the fan case (17).
), where it comes into indirect contact with cold outside air taken in through the intake port (9) and exited through the exhaust port (24) via the double-winged fan (5).

In this way, the double-winged fan (5) functions as a heat exchanger, and the warm air is cooled by the cold outside air, moisture is removed, and then passes through the circulation air path formed by the exhaust pipe (18) and returns to the heater ( 11) and the removed water is sent to the drain (
10) to the outside of the outer box (1), and this circulation is repeated to perform a drying operation.

By the way, the fan case (17) can be seen from inside the rotating drum (4).
) The air sent to the exhaust port (20) passes through a lint filter (7) provided in the exhaust hole (20), and at this time, lint (28) such as fine dust generated from clothing etc. is collected here. As shown in FIG. 8, the lint (28) gradually becomes a thick layer and adheres to the surface of the lint filter (7).

As a result, the lint filter (7) becomes clogged, and the amount of air supplied into the circulation air path decreases.

On the other hand, the characteristic of semiconductor heaters (11) such as PTC heaters is that the air volume and input are proportional, and the blowout temperature and air volume are inversely proportional. If the amount of air sent to (11) decreases, the temperature of the jet from the semiconductor heater (11) will rise, creating a dangerous situation.

Therefore, as a means for detecting clogging of the lint filter (7), conventionally, for example, a heat sensitive element such as a bimetal is used to detect the ejection temperature, Compare the temperature-corrected maximum drying time with the actual operating time.
If the actual operating time is longer than the temperature-compensated maximum drying time, it is determined that the amount of filter clogging is large and a clogging notification is issued.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the method using a bimetal or the like, the detection results vary considerably due to variations in the performance of the elements themselves and the mounting position, making it difficult to accurately detect clogging.

Furthermore, since the method of JP-A No. 62-144695 counts the actual operating time, the detection results are not known until the end of the operation, and the operation may be performed in a clogged state, making it unsafe. No, no.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional example, and to provide clothing that can accurately detect the clogging state of a lint filter, and can also immediately detect clogging when it occurs, and notify the detection result. Our goal is to provide dryers.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention connects the exhaust hole on the back side of the rotating drum and the intake hole on the front side of the rotating drum through a circulation air path,
The clothes dryer is equipped with a lint filter in the back exhaust hole and a heater in the front air intake hole, and includes a means for detecting the air volume in the circulation air path and generating electricity according to the detected air volume value. The gist of the invention is to provide a means for converting the energy into electric power.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, when the air volume in the circulation air passage decreases due to clogging of the lint filter, the air volume detected by the air volume detection means provided in the circulation air passage decreases, and as a result, the detected air volume The amount of electricity generated also decreases depending on the value of . Therefore, it is possible to immediately know the change in the air volume based on the change in the generated power value, and the clogging can be detected.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal side view showing an embodiment of the clothes dryer of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a side view of the impeller, which is the main part of the same, and the structure is the same as the conventional example shown in Fig. 5. Elements are given the same reference numerals, and the overall structure of the clothes dryer is the same as that of the conventional example, so a detailed explanation will be omitted here.

Similarly to the conventional clothes dryer of the present invention, a lint filter (7) is attached to an exhaust hole (20) formed on the back surface of the rotating drum, and a double-wing fan (5) is housed in communication with the exhaust hole (20). A fan case (17) is provided, an exhaust pipe (18) is connected to the fan case (17), and the exhaust pipe (18) is connected to the fan case (17).
) is further connected to a heater case (21) containing a semiconductor heater (11), and the heater case (21) is made to face the intake hole (23) on the front surface of the rotating drum (4). And the fan case (17) and the exhaust pipe (18)
and form a circulation air path.

In the clothes dryer having such a configuration, an impeller (26) is disposed within the exhaust pipe (18) forming a circulating air path as a means for detecting the amount of air sent from the fan case (17).

This impeller (26) has blades (2
6a) and a generator (27) as a means for generating electricity by the rotational force of the blade (26a) and converting the air volume into electric power.

Then, as shown in the circuit diagram of FIG. 3, the output from the impeller (26) is introduced into the control device (22).
The on/off control signal from 2) was introduced into a switching element (25) connected in parallel to the motor (3) and heater (11), respectively.

Next, the operation will be explained.

To perform the drying operation, open the door (2) of the outer box (1) and put the clothes to be dried into the rotating drum (4).
When the drying time and degree of drying are set using the control switch on the operation panel (12), the motor (3) is energized by the control device (22) and rotates. As a result, at the same time that the drum belt (14) starts rotating the rotating drum (4), the rotation of the motor (3) is transmitted to the double-winged fan (5) via the belt (6), causing it to rotate. Also, the semiconductor heater (11) is energized and generates heat.

Then, as the double-winged fan (5) rotates, the air inside the outer box (1) is heated by the semiconductor heater (11), becomes dry hot air, and is sent into the rotating drum (4) through the intake hole (23). The object to be dried is heated by this, and the hot air turns into moist warm air containing moisture evaporated from the object to be dried, and the hot air flows from the exhaust hole (20) on the back side of the rotating drum (4) into the fan case (17). sent to.

Here, the cold outside air taken in from the intake port (9) and exited from the exhaust port (24) comes into indirect contact via the double-wing fan (5), and due to the heat exchange function of the double-wing fan (5), the rotating drum (4) ) is cooled by cold outside air to remove moisture, passes through the exhaust stack (18), and returns to the heater (18).
1). The removed moisture is discharged to the outside of the outer box (1) through the exhaust port (10).

By the way, when the moist hot air from inside the rotating drum (4) is sent from the exhaust hole (20) to the fan case (17), this hot air passes through the lint filter (7), where the inside of the warm air is lint such as fine dust contained in the water is collected.

On the other hand, the impeller (26) arranged inside the exhaust pipe (18) is
The blades (26a) are rotated by the wind force of the circulating air sent from the rotating drum (4) to the heater (11) by the action of the double-blade fan (5), and this rotational force causes the generator (27
), electricity is generated according to the amount of wind.

When the amount of lint collected by the lint filter (7) increases and the lint filter (7) becomes clogged, the circulating air into the exhaust pipe (18) decreases and the air volume decreases, causing the impeller The wind power that rotates the blades (26a) of (26) decreases, and as a result, the rotational force of the impeller (26) decreases, and the power generated by the generator (27) also decreases.

Such a change in the generated power value is detected by the control device (22), and clogging of the lint filter (7) can be detected from this change in the generated power. FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between air volume and generated power, and between blowout temperature and airflow rate. It can be seen that as the airflow rate decreases, the generated power decreases, and as the airflow rate increases, the blowout temperature increases.

Although not shown as an example, clogging can be immediately notified by connecting a notification device that notifies the controller to the control device.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the clothes dryer of the present invention can immediately and accurately detect the clogging state of the lint filter, so it can reliably prevent the temperature of the hot air blown into the rotating drum from rising abnormally, making it safe. It is possible to improve sexual performance.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal side view showing an embodiment of the clothes dryer of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side view of the impeller, which is the main part of the same, Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram of operation control, and Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the air flow rate. Graph showing the relationship between generated power and outlet temperature, Fig. 5 is a longitudinal side view showing a conventional example, Fig. 6 is an overall perspective view of the above, Fig. 7 is a circuit diagram of the same operation control, and Fig. 8 is the same as above. FIG. ... Outer box ... Door for loading and unloading clothes to be dried ... Motor (4) ... Rotating drum ...
Double wing fan (6)...Belt...Lint filter (8)...Seal material...Intake port (
10)...Drain port (11) (13) (15) (18) (20) (22) (24) (26) (27)...Semiconductor heater...Pulley (16)...Pulley ... Exhaust pipe ... Exhaust hole ... Control device ... Power supply ... Impeller ... Generator (12) ... Operation panel (14) ... Drum belt (17) ...・Fan case (19)...Bag filter (21)...Heater case (23)...Intake hole (25)...Switching element (26a)...Blade (28)...Lint

Claims (1)

[Claims] A clothes dryer in which an exhaust hole on the back side of the rotating drum and an intake hole on the front side of the rotating drum are connected by a circulating air path, a lint filter is provided in the exhaust hole on the back side, and a heater is provided in the intake hole on the front side. A clothes dryer characterized by being provided with means for detecting the air volume in a road, and means for generating electricity according to the value of the detected air volume and converting the air volume into electric power.