JPH0673596B2 - How to operate the clothes dryer - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for operating a clothes dryer using a heater such as a gas burner, a fan, a rotating drum, and temperature detecting means (for example, a thermostat or a thermistor).

(B) Conventional Technology An example of this type of clothes dryer is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-229099. This is because the temperature detecting means for drying (thermo) operates intermittently to maintain the temperature of the drying air, turning the heater ON-OFF, and when the number of interruptions matches the reference number, it shifts to time control, During this time, the temperature detecting means turns the heater on and off, and then the drying process is completed. Then, the display of the display incorporated in the operation panel is switched from the remaining time display to the CD display to notify the user that the drying process is completed, and the heater is completely turned off to perform the cool down.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the case where the drying process is finished after a predetermined time after detecting a predetermined dry state such as a reference intermittent number of times in the middle of the drying process as in the above-mentioned conventional example. When drying clothes with thick cloth such as jeans, the drying process is very slow. Therefore, even if the surface can be dried, the inside and folded portions cannot be dried and are often damp. Therefore, if the cooldown is performed immediately after the completion of the drying process, the heat is cooled and the clothes are cooled with the lapse of time. When the user takes out the clothes in this state, the touch feeling is damp and cold, which may cause the user to erroneously recognize that the drying function of the dryer itself is deteriorated or that the dryer is out of order.

Especially when installed in a coin laundry, it may cause trouble with the owner of the store.

The present invention has solved such a problem.

(D) Means for Solving the Problems The solution according to the present invention is a drying chamber for storing clothes, a blowing unit for supplying drying air to the drying chamber, a heating unit for heating the drying air, and the drying. A drying temperature detecting means for detecting a drying temperature of the air temperature, and a heat retaining temperature detecting means for detecting a heat retaining temperature which is lower than the detection temperature of the drying temperature detecting means in the drying air temperature and higher than room temperature, Start means for starting driving of the blower means and the heating means, an operation time timer means for setting an operation time for starting a counting operation for operating the start means, a dry state of the clothes is detected, and drying is completed. A dry state detecting means for outputting a signal, and a control means for controlling the heating means based on the temperatures detected by the drying temperature detecting means and the heat retaining temperature detecting means. The control means starts heating of the heating means by operating the start means, controls the heating means based on the temperature detected by the drying temperature detection means, and outputs a drying end signal from the drying state detection means. If it is output, a drying process for ending the control of the heating means by the drying temperature detecting means,
After the drying step is completed and until the operating time timer means counts up, the heating step is controlled based on the temperature detected by the temperature maintaining temperature detecting means. And

(E) Action During the remaining time after drying at high temperature, for example, 40 ℃ ~ 50
Keep the temperature at about ℃, and warm the clothes taken out after the running time. Therefore, since the surface of a piece of jeans or the like that is difficult to dry is warm, it can be recognized that the drying step has been performed, and if the sheet is not dry, the piece is dried again.

(F) Example Hereinafter, an example in which the operation of a gas-type clothes dryer often used in a coin laundry is controlled by a microcomputer (hereinafter, referred to as a microcomputer) will be described with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 3, a body 1 of a clothes dryer has a gas burner 2 as a heating means and a combustion chamber 3 (heater) installed in an upper portion thereof, and a horizontal shaft type rotary drum 4 as a drying chamber is freely rotatable in a middle stage. Inside, a horizontal filter 5 and an exhaust fan 6 are installed in the lower stage. Further, the machine body 1 is provided with a panel 8 incorporating a control system such as a microcomputer 7 and a coin insertion opening on the upper front surface, an exhaust duct 9 protruding on the lower rear surface, and a door 10 for opening and closing the clothes entrance on the middle front surface. It is provided.

The rotating drum 4 and the fan 6 are rotated by a common motor 11 at an appropriate speed. When these are rotated and the gas burner 2 is ignited, the combustion hot air has a high temperature (for example, 70 ° C to 80 ° C).
(.Degree. C.) as a dry air, and flows into the middle stage through a large number of inlets 12 ... into the rotary drum 4 to dry the clothes, and in the lower stage passes through the filter 5 to reach the exhaust duct 9. The fan 6 and the motor 11 constitute a blower.

A thermostat 13 for drying and a thermostat 14 for keeping warm, which opens and closes the contacts by detecting the temperature of the dry air coming from the rotary drum 4, are arranged in the middle to the lower part of the machine body 1. Constitutes a means.

Next, referring to the control block diagram of FIG. 1, the microcomputer 7 includes a drying thermostat 13 and a heat insulating thermostat 14, respectively.
In addition to inputting an ON signal and an OFF signal, a coin insertion detection signal is input from the coin insertion detection means 15, and an operation signal from the start key 16 serving as the start means is obtained to control the heater such as the gas burner 2 and the motor 11. . In this Figure 1,
Although the microcomputer 7 is directly input from the thermos 13 and 14, these thermos 13 and 14 can also be inserted and controlled in the power source paths of the heater and the motor.

The operation control will be described based on the flowcharts of FIGS. 1 and 2. The main control unit 17 outputs a control signal to each control unit or the like based on the data stored in the ROM 18 and various signals. When the detection signal from the coin insertion detecting means 15 is determined, the interruption flag and the interruption of the RAM 19 are detected. Counter 20
The contents of the above are cleared, and a driving time corresponding to the number of coins inserted is set in the driving time timer 21 which serves as a driving time timer means. Then, when the operation signal is input from the start key 16, the main control unit 17 starts counting the operating time timer 21, and causes the drying control unit 22 to execute the drying process on condition that the count-up is not performed. .

In this drying process, the drying controller 22 ignites and burns the gas burner 2, drives the motor 11, reverses the drum 4, and rotates the fan 6 at high speed.

Thus, the main control unit 17 controls the number of times the drying thermostat 13 is turned off and the heater (gas burner 2) is stopped each time the temperature of the drying air after passing through the drum 4 reaches 70 ° C. The counting is performed at 20, and each time the counting is performed, the discriminating unit 23 compares and discriminates with the reference number of times preset and stored in advance by a dip switch or the like. In the present embodiment, the reference number of times is preferably 6 in spring / autumn, 5 in summer, and 7 in winter, but as described above, the owner (owner) can freely set between 1 and 15. be able to. The determining unit 23 determines whether or not the number of times the heater is interrupted has reached the reference number, so that the more clothes to dry, the longer it takes to reach the reference number, and the less the clothes, the shorter the time. Both are almost in a predetermined dry state,
That is, since the dry state of the clothes is detected, it corresponds to a dry state detecting means for detecting a predetermined dry state.

Thus, the heater is intermittently operated together with the ON / OFF of the drying thermostat 13 until the number of times of interruption coincides with the heating and drying at about 70 ° C. When the number of interruptions and the reference number of times coincide with each other, the main control unit 17 sends the coincidence signal to the 5-minute timer 24.
Time control by.

During this 5 minute time control, the drying thermo 13 is intermittent,
Heating and drying progresses, and after 5 minutes, the drying rate reaches 100% intermittently about 2 times under a small load, and the drying rate reaches about 93% intermittently about 3 times under the rated load.

Due to the time-up of the 5-minute timer 25, the main controller 17 which receives the timer output as the drying end signal
While watching the remaining time of 21, shift to the heat retention process.

This warming process is essentially the same as the drying process,
The difference is that the control temperature is set to about 40 ° C specified by the heat retention thermostat 14.

Thus, the main control unit 17 controls the heat retention control unit every time the temperature of the dry air after passing through the drum 4 drops to about 40 ° C and the heat retention thermostat 14 turns on, and rises slightly above about 40 ° C and turns off. The heater is turned on and off by 25 to maintain this temperature for heat retention. In addition,
The drying control unit 22 and the heat retention control unit 25 constitute control means.

When the operation time timer 22 times out while keeping the temperature in this way, the main control unit 17 causes the end control unit 26 to turn off the heater and check whether the heat retention thermostat 14 is turned on. That is, it is checked that the temperature has dropped to about 40 ° C., and until then, the motor 11 is continuously driven and the drum 4 and the fan 6 are rotated even if the operation time has elapsed. If the exhaust by the fan 6 is continued, the temperature lowers smoothly and the thermostat 14 turns on in a relatively short time. Then, the end control unit 26 stops the motor 11 here to stop the rotation of the drum 4 and the fan 6. Therefore, at the time of this end, there is no possibility of spontaneous combustion due to the heat storage of clothes.

(G) Effect of the Invention According to the present invention, after the drying process is executed and ended during the operating time, the heat retention process is automatically executed in the remaining time, so that the clothes are not removed at the time of taking out the clothes. It is possible to provide a clothes dryer having excellent reliability because it is not said that it is completely dry and cold, and it does not give a false recognition that the drying function is deteriorated or it is broken.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a clothes dryer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation, and FIG. 3 is a side sectional view. 2 ... Gas burner (heater), 4 ... Rotating drum, 6 ...
... Fan, 7 ... Microcomputer, 13 ... Drying thermo (drying temperature detecting means), 14 ... Insulating thermostat (heating retaining temperature detecting means), 17 ... Main control section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A drying chamber for accommodating clothes, a blowing means for supplying drying air to the drying chamber, a heating means for heating the drying air, and a drying temperature detector for detecting the drying temperature of the drying air temperature. Means, a temperature maintaining temperature detecting means for detecting a heat retaining temperature lower than the detection temperature of the drying temperature detecting means and higher than room temperature among the drying air temperature, and a start for starting driving the air blowing means and the heating means Means, operating time timer means for setting an operating time for starting a counting operation when the start means is operated, dry state detecting means for detecting a dry state of the clothes and outputting a dry end signal, And a control means for controlling the heating means based on the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means for drying and the temperature detecting means for heat retention, wherein the control means operates the start means. More starts heating of the heating means,
A drying process of controlling the heating means based on the temperature detected by the drying temperature detecting means and ending the control of the heating means by the drying temperature detecting means if a drying end signal is output from the drying state detecting means. And performing a heat retention step after the completion of the drying step, in which the heating means is controlled based on the temperature detected by the heat retention temperature detection means after the completion of the drying step and until the operating time timer means counts up. A method of operating a clothes dryer characterized by.