JPH04336024A - Dish dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To dry dishes to be dried steadily, effectively, and efficiently, even if the outdoor temperature and humidity change. CONSTITUTION:In a dish dryer in which dishes 4, 6, 7 to be dried are arranged inside a washing chamber (drying chamber) 3 and are dried by the heat generated by a heater 9 that has been arranged at the bottom of the chamber 3, temperature sensors 19, 20 are provided to the upper and lower parts of the chamber 3 respectively, and also a control unit 24 is provided by which drying operation is carried out until a prescribed condition being determined by the degree of change in the temperatures at the upper and lower parts of the chamber 3 which are detected by the temperature sensors 19, 20 is attained.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[Object of the invention]

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tableware dryer in which tableware to be dried is placed in a drying chamber and dried by heat generated by a heater disposed at the bottom of the drying chamber.

0003

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in this type of dish dryer, the dishes to be dried are placed in the upper and lower parts of a drying chamber, and are dried by the heat generated by a heater arranged at the bottom of the drying chamber. . However, in this case, the drying operation is carried out for a set time while controlling the heat generation of the heater intermittently so that the temperature in the drying chamber does not exceed the safety upper limit.

0004

[Problem to be solved by the invention] However, in the drying operation only by setting the time as described above,
There are problems such as not being able to respond to changes in outside temperature and humidity and not being able to achieve a constant degree of dryness, or conversely, running for an unnecessarily long time after drying out. was.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and therefore, its object is to provide a dish dryer that can efficiently dry dishes to be dried even if the outside temperature and humidity change. There is something to do.

[Configuration of the invention]

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, in the dish dryer of the present invention, the dishes to be dried are placed in a drying chamber and dried by the heat generated by a heater disposed at the bottom of the drying chamber. A pair of temperature sensors are provided in the vertical direction of the drying chamber, and the operation for drying the tableware to be dried is controlled by checking the degree of temperature change in the vertical direction of the drying chamber detected by the temperature sensors. The invention is characterized in that it includes a control means for.

[0008]

[Operation] According to the above means, effective and efficient drying operation can be performed by performing drying operation until a certain condition determined by the temperature change in the vertical direction of the drying chamber is reached. .

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a dishwasher will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 1 shows an outer box 1 of the entire dishwasher (dish dryer), and an inner box 2 is disposed inside to form a washing chamber 3 which also serves as a drying chamber. In the washing chamber 3, dishes to be washed (dishes to be dried) 4 are arranged in an upper dish basket 5, and dishes to be washed (dishes to be dried) 6 and 7 are arranged in a lower part in a lower dish basket 8. . Further, at the bottom of the cleaning chamber 3, a heater 9 made of, for example, a sheathed wire is disposed along the bottom surface, and fountain arms 10, 11 are disposed separately in front and back, and cleaning is performed from the fountain arms 10, 11. A pump 12 is provided to spray water into the entire chamber 3. In this embodiment, the pump 12 also functions as a drainage pump for forcibly discharging wastewater from the cleaning chamber 3 to the outside of the machine. This is done by switching the motor 14, which provides the driving force by the mechanism 13, into the reverse direction.

Outside the cleaning chamber 3, there are also, for example, a float-type water level switch 15 for detecting the water level stored in the cleaning chamber 3, and a blower 16 and a duct 17 for introducing outside air into the cleaning chamber 3.
and a water supply valve 18 for supplying water to the cleaning chamber 3. Further, a first temperature sensor 19 made of, for example, a thermistor detects the temperature of the upper part of the cleaning chamber 3, a second temperature sensor 20 also made of a thermistor detects the temperature of the lower part of the cleaning chamber 3, and Third temperature sensors 21 made of thermistors that detect the temperature near the heater 9 are arranged on the outer surface of the inner box 2, and the first temperature sensor 19 and the second temperature sensor 20 constitute a pair of temperature sensors.

[0012] A control panel 23 is provided below the door 22 having an exhaust port (not shown) at the upper part of the front surface of the outer box 1, and a control device 24 as a control means is disposed inside this. are doing. In detail, this control device 24 is composed of a microcomputer, and as shown in FIG. is input, and furthermore, the temperature detection signal of the upper part of the cleaning chamber 3 from the first temperature sensor 19 is sent to the second temperature sensor 20.
A temperature detection signal for the lower part of the cleaning chamber 3 is input from the third temperature sensor 21, and a temperature detection signal for the portion of the cleaning chamber 3 near the heater 9 is input from the third temperature sensor 21. Based on the control program, the water supply valve 18 and the drive motor 14 of the pump 12 are controlled.
, the heater 9 , and the blower 16 .

[0013] Therefore, the details of the operation control by the control device 24 will be described below with reference to FIG.

[0014] The operation typically begins with a "wash". In this "washing", water is supplied to the washing chamber 3 by the water supply valve 18 until the water level switch 15 detects the set water level, and then the heater 9 is made to generate heat, the pump 12 is driven at the same time, and the water is washed from the fountain arms 10 and 11. Spout hot water into chamber 3. In this case, the temperature detected by the first temperature sensor 19 and the second temperature sensor 20 is the temperature of hot water, which is 60 [°C]
reach close.

Next, the pump 12 is operated as a drain pump to forcibly discharge the waste water in the washing chamber 3 to the outside of the machine, and then "rinsing" is performed. This "rinsing" is basically performed in the same way as "washing" except that the heater 9 does not generate heat, and in this case, the temperature detected by the first and second temperature sensors 19, 20 is This is the temperature of the water that contains the residual heat of ``, and it is much lower than in the case of ``washing''. In addition, "rinsing" that does not cause the heater 9 to generate heat is
This is done multiple times with drainage in between, and the first and second
The temperature detected by the temperature sensors 19 and 20 gradually decreases. However, since the final "rinsing" causes the heater 9 to generate heat, the temperatures detected by the first and second temperature sensors 19, 20 become high as in the "washing".

[0016] After that, "drying" is performed. this"
In "drying", the heater 9 is made to generate heat and the blower 16 is
Activate. In this case, the "
At the beginning of "drying", the inner surface of the cleaning chamber 3 is still wet with water, so the heat generated by the heater 9 is used to vaporize it, and therefore the first and second temperature sensors 19
, 20 does not increase, but on the contrary decreases. Also, in this case, since the high temperature air rises higher, the temperature at the upper part of the cleaning chamber 3 detected by the first temperature sensor 19 is higher than the temperature at the lower part of the cleaning chamber 3 detected by the second temperature sensor 20. higher than the temperature. However, since the rising air at this time contains a lot of moisture due to evaporation of water from the inner surface of the washing chamber 3 and the dishes 4, 6, and 7 to be washed, the difference in temperature is small.

As described above, when moisture begins to evaporate from the inner surface of the cleaning chamber 3 and the dishes 4, 6, and 7 to be cleaned, the air containing moisture starts to evaporate from the upper part, where the air tends to stagnate even though the temperature is high. The lower part of the cleaning chamber 3 dries faster than the upper part on the inner surface of the cleaning chamber 3. Then, in the lower part of the cleaning chamber 3, heat is no longer used to vaporize the water that had wetted the inner surface of the cleaning chamber 3, so that the time T1 in FIG.
As shown below, the temperature rises rapidly.

Thereafter, as the drying progresses and the inner surface of the upper part of the cleaning chamber 3 also dries, the temperature in this area also rises rapidly, as shown from time T2 onward in FIG. Then, because the earlier high-temperature air rises higher, the temperature at the top continues to be higher than the temperature at the bottom.

Under these conditions, when the steam in the cleaning chamber 3 gradually disappears and reaches the point where it completely disappears, the temperature in the lower part near the heater 9 increases more, so as shown from time T3 onward in FIG. is higher than the temperature at the top and reverses.

[0020] When this happens, all of the dishes 4, 6, and 7 to be washed in the washing room 3 are dry except for those that are difficult to dry, such as those made of plastic. The blower 16 is turned on until time T4 to
When time T4 is reached, the operation of the blower 16 is also stopped and the operation is ended.

[0021] Although it is difficult to dry, it is only a slight difference, and therefore, the time from time T3 to time T4 described above may be short. Also, without providing it,
The operation may be ended at time T3. Furthermore,
The operation may be ended a certain period of time after time T1 or T2.

[0022] Furthermore, the reason why the temperature pulsates minutely in the above-mentioned temperature change is that the heater 9 is energized in a pattern of, for example, 60 seconds on and 40 seconds off, and the temperature further increases. What is pulsating louder than that is
This is because the power supply to the heater 9 is controlled intermittently so that the temperature in the cleaning chamber 3 does not exceed the safety upper limit based on the temperature detected by the third temperature sensor 21. It may be omitted if it is not required.

[0023] As described above, in this configuration, the cleaning chamber (
Temperature sensors 19 and 20 are installed in the upper and lower parts of the drying chamber (3), and the drying operation is performed until a certain condition is reached, which is determined by the actual temperature changes in the upper and lower parts. Unlike those that only perform drying operation after setting, this device can dry the dishes 4, 6, and 7 to be washed consistently and effectively even if the outside temperature or humidity changes. A constant level of dryness can be achieved. In addition, since it is possible to always dry the dryer efficiently, it is possible to prevent problems such as unnecessary long operation.

Note that the present invention is not the above-mentioned dishwasher;
Of course, it can be similarly applied to those having only a drying function.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings; for example, the first or second temperature sensor may be used to prevent the temperature of the cleaning chamber from exceeding a safety upper limit. If you make it act as a third temperature sensor, you only need two temperature sensors,
In addition, the present invention may be implemented with appropriate changes, especially in terms of specific numerical values, etc., without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[0026]

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, the dish dryer of the present invention is suitable for placing the dishes to be dried in a drying chamber and drying them using the heat generated by the heater disposed at the bottom of the drying chamber. A control means is provided with a pair of temperature sensors in the vertical direction of the drying chamber, and controls the operation of drying the tableware by checking the degree of temperature change in the vertical direction of the drying chamber detected by the temperature sensors. This feature provides the excellent effect of being able to consistently and effectively dry the tableware to be dried even if the outside temperature and humidity change. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

[Fig. 1] A longitudinal cross-sectional side view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 2] Schematic electrical configuration diagram

[Figure 3] Diagram showing the temperature changes over time in the upper and lower parts of the drying room along with the outside temperature

[Explanation of symbols]

3 is a washing room (drying room), 4, 6, 7 are dishes to be washed (dishes to be dried), 9 is a heater, 19 is a first temperature sensor, 20
2 represents a second temperature sensor, and 24 represents a control device (control means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A drying chamber comprising a drying chamber in which tableware to be dried is placed, and a heater disposed at the bottom of the drying chamber to generate heat to dry the tableware to be dried,
A control means that includes a pair of temperature sensors provided in the vertical direction of the drying chamber, and controls the operation of drying the tableware by checking the degree of temperature change in the vertical direction of the drying chamber detected by the temperature sensors. A dish dryer characterized by comprising: