JPH06134190A - Clothes drier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently dry clothes without degrading a drying capacity even in a winter or cold season when wash hardly dries. CONSTITUTION:This clothes drier is provided with a refrigeration cycle device consisting of a compressor 1, an expansion valve 4, a first heat exchanger 7, a second heat exchanger 8 and a refrigerant flow passage changeover means 9, a fan 5 for accelerating the heat exchange between the first heat exchanger 7 and a drying chamber 6, and the refrigerant flow passage changeover means 9 changes over refrigeration cycle operation. As a result, the heating operation and cooling operation in the drying chamber 6 are alternately changed over, by which temp. and humidity states are changed with time. Namely, the evaporation of the moisture from the clothes is accelerated at the time of the heating operation and the moisture contained in the air of the drying chamber 6 is condensed and is drained at the time of the cooling operation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clothes dryer for drying clothes in a bathroom or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 5, a conventional clothes dryer has a compressor 1, an evaporator 2, a condenser 3, an expansion valve 4, and
The blower 5 and the evaporator 2 and the condenser 3 are connected to the blower 5
The air in the bathroom 6 is circulated in the air flow path. The moisture-containing air in the bathroom is cooled and dehumidified by the evaporator 2, reheated by the evaporator 3 and returned to the bathroom again. As a result, the evaporated water is removed from the clothes and the clothes are dried.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional structure has the following problems.

Since the evaporator 2 and the condenser 3 are arranged in series in the air flow path, the moisture contained in the intake air is reduced as compared with the blown air, but the temperature difference hardly occurs. In drying, raising the air temperature to lower the relative humidity and raising the amount of saturated water vapor in the drying chamber make a great contribution, but with the above configuration, such an action cannot be expected. The above method is effective in the summer when the temperature is high, but when the temperature is low as in the winter, the amount of water vapor that can be contained in the air is originally small, so that the effect of removing water is small. The clothes dryer has a problem that its drying ability is remarkably reduced at low temperatures, even though it is desired to use the clothes dryer in winter when it is hard to dry the laundry as well as during the rainy season.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to efficiently dry clothes regardless of the season without lowering the performance.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a first heat exchanger for exchanging heat between air and a refrigerant in a drying chamber, and air or water outside the drying chamber and a refrigerant. A second heat exchanger that performs heat exchange, a compressor, an expansion valve, and a refrigeration cycle device that includes a refrigerant flow path changing unit that switches between a heating operation and a cooling operation of drying room air, and a first heat exchange. An air blower for blowing air to the container and a temperature detecting means for detecting the air temperature in the drying chamber are provided, and a control device for alternately switching between heating operation and cooling operation of the refrigeration cycle apparatus is provided based on the output of the temperature detecting means. It is a thing.

Further, as another configuration, a humidity detecting means is further provided, and a control device for alternately switching between heating operation and cooling operation is provided based on the outputs of both the temperature detection and the humidity detection means. .

Further, as another configuration, a control device for alternately switching between heating operation and cooling operation in accordance with clock timing is provided.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the heating operation and the cooling operation are alternately repeated according to the above structure, and the temperature in the drying chamber rises and falls accordingly. Since the relative humidity in the drying chamber decreases during heating operation, the amount of water that can be contained in the air increases,
Drying is accelerated. After that, as the indoor air temperature decreases at a slower rate, and the indoor air becomes closer to the saturated water vapor content due to the water vaporized from the clothes, the drying speed decreases, so the temperature detection means detects that the temperature change rate has decreased, Switch to cooling operation.

When switched to the cooling operation, the water vapor contained in the room air is condensed on the surface of the low temperature heat exchanger and drained. Since the relative humidity is kept high during the cooling operation where the temperature decreases, the amount of water evaporated from clothes is small, but during this operation the amount of water vapor in the air is sufficiently reduced,
It has the effect of lowering the relative humidity during the next heating operation and promoting drying.

As described above, the drying operation is performed by repeating the above-described steps of promoting evaporation of moisture from the clothes in the heating operation and condensing and discharging water vapor contained in the room air in the cooling operation.

Further, if the humidity detecting means is used to judge the switching between the heating operation and the cooling operation, the saturation of the air in the drying chamber can be known, so that a more effective switching time can be selected.

Further, the same action can be realized by switching the heating operation and the cooling operation by measuring the operation time by the clock without using the temperature and humidity detecting means.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1, a first heat exchanger 7 for exchanging heat between air and a refrigerant in a bathroom 6 as a drying chamber,
A second heat exchanger 8 for exchanging heat between the air outside the bathroom 6 and the refrigerant, the compressor 1, the expansion valve 4, and a refrigerant passage change for switching between heating operation and cooling operation of the air in the bathroom 6. A refrigeration cycle device including a four-way valve 9 as a means, a blower 5 for blowing air to the first heat exchanger 7 to circulate the air in the bathroom 6, and a thermistor 10 for detecting the air temperature in the bathroom 6. A control device 11 that alternately switches between heating operation and cooling operation based on the output of the thermistor 10.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the control device 11, in which a temperature change rate calculator 12 for calculating the rate of change of the temperature in the bathroom 6 from the output of the thermistor 10 and a heating operation or a cooling operation are judged. The heating / cooling operation switching determination unit 13 that switches the four-way valve 9 is shown.

In the above structure, a change in the state of the air in the bathroom 6 will be described with reference to the graph of FIG. In the figure, a indicates temperature, b indicates relative humidity, and c indicates absolute humidity. The clothes 14 to be dried are suspended in the bathroom 6 and the operation is started. First, the heating operation raises the temperature in the bathroom 6. Then, the relative humidity of the air decreases, so that water easily evaporates from the surface of the clothing 14.
The higher the air temperature, the larger the amount of water vapor that can be contained in the air, so that the water vaporizes from the surface of the clothes 14,
Absolute humidity increases as the temperature rises. When the temperature approaches the maximum temperature determined by the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the bathroom 6 and the heat insulation and heating capacity of the bathroom, the temperature rises slowly, and the evaporation rate of water from the clothes 14 decreases accordingly, and as a result, the absolute humidity The rise will also be small. The temperature is detected by the thermistor 10 every moment, and the result is the temperature change rate calculation unit 12 and the heating / cooling operation switching determination unit 13
It is sequentially transmitted to. Then, when the rate of change of temperature falls below a certain value, the four-way valve 9 is operated to switch to the cooling operation. During the cooling operation, a large amount of water vapor stored in the air in the bathroom 6 is condensed on the surface of the first heat exchanger 7 having a low temperature and discharged as drain water. Since the temperature decreases, the relative humidity rises rapidly and the evaporation rate of water from the surface of the clothes 14 decreases, but the absolute humidity in the air decreases sharply and more water vapor is retained during the next heating operation. Create a state in which you can As in the heating operation, the rate of change in temperature decreases again when the temperature approaches the minimum temperature at which cooling is possible. Therefore, this is detected and switching to heating operation is performed.

FIG. 4 schematically shows the above-mentioned operation, in which the moisture from clothes is stored in the air during the heating operation, and the moisture is condensed and drained during the cooling operation.

As described above, according to this embodiment, since the temperature and humidity are temporally changed by alternately repeating heating and cooling, the drying effect can be always exhibited regardless of the situation of the surrounding environment due to the season. it can.

Further, the thermistor 1 is used as a detecting means for judging the timing of switching between the heating operation and the cooling operation.
Although 0 is used, since an output pattern similar to the absolute humidity change pattern can be obtained, the dry state can be estimated with a relatively simple control circuit, and the cost can be realized.

In the present embodiment, the switching timing is determined based on the rate of change in temperature, but it may be determined by providing an appropriate threshold value for the temperature output itself.

Next, although not shown, another embodiment will be described. In one embodiment, the heating operation and the cooling operation are switched only by detecting a change in the temperature, but by adding a humidity sensor, all the air conditions in the bathroom during operation can be known, so the switching can be performed more finely. The timing can be controlled and the drying effect can be enhanced. Also, because the dry state of clothes can be easily estimated by the change in the amount of water in the air, it is possible to automatically detect the finish and stop the operation, and in winter, warm the clothes by heating operation at the end. You can also

Further, as another embodiment, the temperature and humidity detecting means are not used, and the operating time is measured by a clock,
Switch between heating operation and cooling operation. With this method, the drying efficiency is somewhat reduced, but it can be realized at low cost due to the reduction of parts and the simplification of the control circuit.

Each of the above methods is used when used in a system having many other functions such as cooling and heating, hot water supply, etc.
It can be said that the waste heat in the cooling operation is used for hot water supply and heating in the winter, or the cold heat as the waste heat in the heating operation is used for cooling in the summer. That is, since hot heat and cold heat can be taken out as waste heat alternately regardless of the season, it is possible to realize significant energy saving in the entire system.

[0025]

As described above, the clothes dryer of the present invention has the following effects.

1. A refrigeration cycle is constituted, and the temperature and humidity are temporally changed by a heat exchanger that alternately heats and cools the air in the drying chamber, and the moisture from the clothes is stored in the air during the heating operation, and that during the cooling operation. As it condenses and drains water, it can exert a drying effect regardless of the surrounding environment depending on the season.

2. In the method that uses the temperature detection means to determine when to switch between heating operation and cooling operation, the pattern of absolute humidity change is close to the pattern of temperature change, so the dry state can be estimated with a relatively simple control circuit, and the cost is low. Can be achieved with.

3. In the method of using the humidity detecting means in addition to the temperature detecting means to determine the time to switch between the heating operation and the cooling operation, all the air conditions in the drying chamber during operation can be known, so it is possible to control the switching time more precisely. Further, the drying effect can be enhanced. Also,
Since the dry condition of clothes can be easily estimated by the change in the amount of water in the air, it is possible to automatically detect the finish and stop the operation, and in winter it is possible to warm the clothes by heating operation at the end. it can.

4. The operating time is measured by the clock,
With the method of switching between the heating operation and the cooling operation, the drying efficiency is somewhat lowered, but the same effect can be achieved at low cost by reducing the number of parts and simplifying the control circuit.

5. When used in a system with many other functions such as air conditioning and hot water supply, the waste heat during cooling operation is used for hot water supply and heating in winter, and in summer it is used as waste heat during heating operation. It can also be used for air conditioning. That is, since hot heat and cold heat can be taken out as waste heat alternately regardless of the season, it is possible to realize significant energy saving in the entire system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of control of the clothes dryer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a time-dependent change in air temperature and humidity in the bathroom by the clothes dryer.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the operation of the clothes dryer.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional clothes dryer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Compressor 4 Expansion valve 5 Blower 6 Bathroom 7 First heat exchanger 8 Second heat exchanger 9 Four-way valve 10 Thermistor 11 Controller

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first heat exchanger for exchanging heat between air and a refrigerant in a drying chamber, a second heat exchanger for exchanging heat between refrigerant and air or water outside a drying chamber, a compressor, and an expansion valve. And a refrigerating cycle device comprising a refrigerant flow path changing means for switching between heating operation and cooling operation of air in the drying chamber, a blower for blowing air to the first heat exchanger, and an air temperature in the drying chamber. A clothes dryer provided with a temperature detecting means and a control device for alternately switching between a heating operation and a cooling operation of the refrigeration cycle apparatus based on an output of the temperature detecting means. 2. A first heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the air in the drying chamber and the refrigerant, a second heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the air and water outside the drying chamber and the refrigerant, a compressor, an expansion valve. And a refrigerating cycle device comprising a refrigerant flow path changing means for switching between heating operation and cooling operation of air in the drying chamber, a blower for blowing air to the first heat exchanger, and air temperature and air in the drying chamber. Provided are a temperature detecting means and a humidity detecting means for respectively detecting humidity, and a control device for alternately switching between heating operation and cooling operation of the refrigeration cycle apparatus based on outputs of the temperature detecting means and the humidity detecting means. Clothes dryer. 3. A first heat exchanger for exchanging heat between air and a refrigerant in the drying chamber, a second heat exchanger for exchanging heat between air and water outside the drying chamber and a refrigerant, a compressor, an expansion valve. And a refrigerating cycle device comprising a refrigerant flow path changing means for switching between a heating operation and a cooling operation of the air in the drying chamber, a blower for blowing air to the first heat exchanger, a clock, and a clock for timing the clock. And a controller for alternately switching between heating operation and cooling operation of the refrigeration cycle apparatus.