JPH05309195A - Washing method using variation in pressure and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent washing from being damaged and from becoming entangled one another by relatively decreasing the pressure in a washing tank so as to allow gas dissolved in water contained in the washing or existing therearound to turn into air bubbles. CONSTITUTION:Washing A is introduced into a washing tank 2 together with a cleanser, and then a cover 5 is closed while a locking mechanism 7 is locked so as to seal the inside of the washing tank 2. After the washing is washed with the supplied water, a pump 22 is driven so as to pressurize the sealed inside of the washing tank 2. When the inside of the washing tank 2 is pressurized up to a predetermined value, a release valve 19 is opened immediately. Accordingly, air dissolved in washing water is soon turned into air bubbles, which then impinges upon the washing so as to enhance the washing effect. Further, a release valve 19 is closed again so as to repressurize the inside of the washing tank 2, and the release valve 19 is again opened. With the repetitions of the opening and closing of the valve 19, the enhanced washing effect can be obtained several times.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[Object of the Invention]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning method and apparatus for cleaning laundry such as clothes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are roughly three types of washing systems for domestic washing machines: a spiral type, a stirring type and a drum type.
However, since each of these cleaning methods involves rotating the rotating body to vigorously move water and laundry to perform cleaning, the problems such as the laundry being damaged more or less and the laundry being entangled with each other are more or less. There is a point.

[0003]

[Technical Items Attempted to Develop] In order to eliminate such problems as described above, the present invention provides a novel cleaning method or cleaning method as an auxiliary function of the conventional cleaning method or as a cleaning method by itself. It was developed as a device.

[0004]

[Constitution of the invention]

[Means for Achieving the Object] That is, the first invention of the present application is a cleaning method utilizing a pressure change. It is characterized in that the gas which is changed and dissolved in the water contained in or around the laundry is bubbled to act on the laundry.

In addition to the above-mentioned requirements, in the cleaning method utilizing the pressure change according to the second invention of the present application, the pressure change in the depressurizing direction is the normal pressure or the negative pressure after the pressure in the washing tub is once increased. It is characterized by using pressure.

Further, a third aspect of the present invention, which is a cleaning apparatus utilizing a pressure change, is a pipe system connecting a vacuum pump and / or a pressure pump to a sealable washing tub, or both, and a water supply. And a drainage pipe system for drainage.

Furthermore, the cleaning device utilizing the pressure change according to the fourth invention of the present application is characterized in that a release valve is provided in the exhaust pipe provided in the piping system or in addition to the above requirements. ..

Furthermore, the fifth aspect of the present invention relating to the present invention is characterized in that a bubbling device is provided in the washing tub in addition to the above requirements. These inventions are intended to achieve the above object.

[0009]

According to the present invention, by relatively decompressing the inside of the washing tub, the gas dissolved in the water is generated as bubbles and collides with the laundry, so that the mechanical action thereof removes dirt. Drop it. Also, even if the laundry is not landing on water, if it absorbs water, the gas contained in the water in the laundry will bubble,
You can clean the inside of the laundry. Further, such an effect is evenly exerted even on a part that cannot be reached, such as the back side of the laundry or the inside of the bag, so that the stains can be removed uniformly.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is an application of the present invention to a spiral washing machine, in which reference numeral 1 represents a washing machine main body. This washing machine main body 1 has an outer casing 3 that forms a washing tub 2 inside,
A hinge 5 is provided with a lid 5 which can be opened and closed. A packing 6 is provided on the peripheral portion of the lower surface side of the lid body 5,
The packing 6 is brought into close contact with the upper surface side peripheral portion of the outer housing 3 and the washing tub 2 is sealed by setting the lock mechanism 7 provided at the end portion on the opening side of the lock state.

A pulsator 8 is provided at the bottom of the washing tub 2.
And a shower device 9 at the upper part of the tank. The pulsator 8 is configured so that the drive of the motor M provided at the bottom of the outer casing 3 is transmitted by the belt 10 and the pulley 11 to be rotationally driven. On the other hand, the shower device 9 promotes a bubbling action at the time of supplying water and serves as a water supply source at the time of rinsing.

Next, a drainage pipe system for supplying and draining water to the washing tub 2 and a pipe system for intake or deaeration will be described. First, a water supply pipe 12 is connected to the shower device 9, and a stop valve 13 is provided in the middle thereof. Also washing tub 2
A drain port 14 is formed at the bottom of the drain port 14, and a drain valve 14a is connected to the drain port 14 and a stop valve 15 is provided on the way.

Further, an upper pipe 16 and a lower pipe 17 are provided on the upper portion and the bottom portion of the washing tub 2, respectively, and the both are connected to each other by an intermediate communication pipe 18. The other ends of both pipes are open to the outside. A release valve 19 for bleeding air is provided on the upper pipe 16 on the open end side of the connection portion with the communication pipe 18, and the lower pipe 17 is provided with the communication pipe 18.
Open end side switching valve 20 on both sides of the connection part with
And a washing tub side switching valve 21 are provided. Lower pipe 1
Air can be supplied as bubbles from the washing tub 2 side of the washing device 7 during washing, and substantially constitutes a bubbling device defined in claim 5.

On the other hand, a pump 22 that serves both as a vacuum pump and a pressurizing pump is provided in the middle of the communicating pipe 18. Although the dual-purpose pump is used in this embodiment, the vacuum pump and the pressurizing pump may be separately provided, and an appropriate piping configuration may be adopted accordingly. Further, although the release valve 19 is provided in the upper pipe 16 in this embodiment, another exhaust pipe from the washing tub 2 may be provided and the release valve 19 may be provided there.

An example of the cleaning apparatus using the pressure change according to the present invention has the above-mentioned structure, and its operating state and cleaning method will be described below. First lid 5
Open and put laundry A and detergent into the washing tub 2. Then, the lid 5 is closed and the lock mechanism 7 is locked to seal the inside of the washing tub 2.

In this state, the stop valve 13 is loosened, an appropriate amount of water is supplied from the shower device 9, and the pulsator 8 is driven to start washing. Up to this point, the washing machine is the same as the conventional washing machine, but in the washing method of the present invention, the pump 22 is further driven to pressurize the inside of the closed washing tub 2. As for the state of each valve at this time, as shown in FIG. 2A, the release valve 19 and the washing tub side switching valve 21 are closed, and the open end side switching valve 20 is opened.

When the inside of the washing tub 2 is pressurized above a certain level, FIG.
As shown in (b), the release valve 19 is opened at once.
As a result, the air dissolved in the wash water is suddenly bubbled and collides with the laundry to enhance the washing effect of the laundry. In order to obtain such an effect many times, the operation of closing the release valve 19 again, pressurizing the inside of the washing tub 2 again by the action of the pump 22, and opening the release valve 19 again is repeated several times. To do. It should be noted that the rotation of the wash water by the driving of the pulsator 8 progresses the dissolution of air into the wash water, and the moisture contained in the laundry A is replaced with the surrounding moisture, so that the laundry A contains much air. It will contain dissolved water.

As described above, the driving of the pulsator 8 has a so-called bubbling action that causes foaming and promotes the dissolution of air in the wash water.
In addition to this, water can also be obtained from the shower device 9 or by a method in which the washing tub side switching valve 21 is slightly opened and air is supplied from the lower pipe 17 by the pump 22 as described above (see FIG. 2C). ).

In the above embodiment, the dissolved air is bubbled by changing the pressure from the pressurized state to the normal pressure. However, in the present invention, it is sufficient that the pressure in the washing tub changes in the depressurizing direction. It is also possible to adopt a method of changing the pressure from the state to the depressurized state by passing the atmospheric pressure, or changing the pressure from the normal state to the depressurized state.

In order to make such a pressure change in the apparatus of the above-mentioned embodiment, first, in the former case, the pressure is applied by the pump 22 to momentarily open the release valve 19, and then the operation of the pump 22 is performed. The inside of the washing tub 2 may be switched to reduce the pressure. In the latter case, pressurization by the pump 22 in the above embodiment may be stopped and the inside of the washing tub 2 may be depressurized by the pump 22. In addition, when it is desired to rapidly reduce the pressure in the pump 22, a vacuum valve is provided between the vacuum chamber and the washing tub 2 in the middle of the upper pipe 16, and the vacuum chamber is evacuated by the pump 22. It is possible to open the vacuum valve in this state.

The pressure difference in the depressurizing direction as described above can be applied only once or can be repeated a plurality of times if necessary, and the pressure difference can be gradually changed or rapidly changed each time. It can be changed every time. Further, the timing of applying the pressure difference in the depressurizing direction may be during the rinsing, while the rotation of the pulsator 8 is stopped, or after the washing water has been drained and the laundry still contains water.

Next, an experimental example for confirming the effect of the present invention will be described. In the experiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a vacuum chamber 23 having a pressurizing pump 24 and a release valve 25 and a spiral electric washing machine 27 were prepared. Then, every time the laundry is washed with the whirlpool type electric washing machine 27 for 5 minutes, the laundry containing water is transferred to the vacuum chamber 23 and decompressed to a vacuum gauge 73 (maximum value 76) for 30 seconds. After maintaining, the release valve 25 was opened to return to normal pressure.

In this way, as shown in FIG. 4, the pressure change in the pressure reducing direction was applied four times, and the washing was performed for 5 minutes × 4 = 20 minutes. While the laundry was being transferred to the vacuum chamber 23, the washing machine was still rotated in order to promote the dissolution of air in the washing water. On the other hand, as a comparison experiment with this,
Using the same washing machine as shown in FIG. 5, the operation of washing for 5 minutes and then stopping for 1 minute and 30 seconds as shown in FIG. 6 was repeated 4 times to perform washing for a total of 20 minutes.

[0024]

As a result of comparing the above-mentioned example with the comparative example, both of them did not completely remove oil stains because no detergent was used, but the degree of stain removal apparently applies the method of the present invention. The experimental example I did was better. Although the difference in stains is clear even by simple visual observation, the difference in stains was more apparent when the laundry was attached to the transparent acrylic plate and visually compared with white paper and black paper as the background.

As described above, the cleaning method or apparatus of the present invention is more effective than the conventional cleaning method alone. Further, since the gas dissolved in water is bubbled to act on the laundry, the laundry is not damaged, and the laundry is not only entangled, but also has the effect of entanglement.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a spiral wound type washing machine.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between an operating state of the cleaning apparatus of the present invention and opening / closing of a valve.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an experimental example for confirming the effect of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between pressure change and time.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an experimental example when only a washing machine is used for comparison with the effect of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the relationship between pressure change and time.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Washing machine main body 2 Washing tub 3 Outer housing 4 Hinge 5 Lid body 6 Packing 7 Lock mechanism 8 Pulsator 9 Shower device 10 Belt 11 Pulley 12 Water supply pipe 13 Stop valve 14 Drain port 14a Drain pipe 15 Stop valve 16 Upper pipe 17 Lower pipe 18 Communication pipe 19 Release valve 20 Open end side switching valve 21 Washing tank side switching valve 22 Pump 23 Vacuum chamber 24 Pressurizing pump 25 Release valve 27 Whirlpool electric washing machine A Laundry M motor

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A water-absorbed or water-laden laundry is placed in a closed washing tub, and the pressure in the washing tub is changed in a depressurizing direction so that the laundry is dissolved in water contained in or around the laundry. A method for cleaning using pressure change, characterized in that the gas that has been generated is bubbled to act on the laundry. 2. The cleaning method using pressure change according to claim 1, wherein the pressure change in the depressurizing direction is carried out by temporarily pressurizing the inside of the washing tub and then making it normal pressure or negative pressure. 3. A pipe system connecting one or both of a vacuum pump and a pressurizing pump to a sealable washing tub, and a drainage pipe system for water supply and drainage are connected. A cleaning device that uses pressure changes. 4. A release valve is provided in the exhaust pipe provided in the piping system or other parts.
A cleaning device utilizing the described pressure change. 5. The cleaning device using pressure change according to claim 3, wherein a bubbling device is provided in the washing tub.