JPH0683756B2 - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the operation of a clothes dryer.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, clothes dryers are roughly classified into those that are left as they are after the drying operation is completed or that are intermittently blown for a preset time.

In both cases, when it takes a long time to take out the material to be dried after the drying operation is finished (for example, when the operation is started before going to bed and taking it out in the morning), the fluffy feeling that is a unique characteristic of the clothes dryer immediately after the drying is finished ， There is a defect that the warmth and dry feeling of dry finish are lost.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

The object of the present invention is, even when the material to be dried cannot be taken out immediately after the completion of the drying operation, is a unique advantage of the dryer immediately after the clothes dryer immediately after the completion of drying, such as fluffy feeling, warmth, and a dry finish feeling. An object of the present invention is to provide a clothes dryer which can take out a material to be dried in a certain state.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The above-mentioned object is achieved by providing time setting means, setting the time for taking out the material to be dried by this time setting means, and controlling the operation so that the clothes are warm at the set time.

[Action]

By controlling the operation so that the material to be dried is warm at the time of taking out the material to be dried, the material to be dried can be brought into a state immediately after the completion of drying, which gives a fluffy feeling which is an advantage peculiar to the dryer. It is possible to have a warmth and a dry finish.

It should be noted that, as the temperature of the object to be dried decreases, the warmness of the object to be dried and moisture absorption cause a loss of a dry finish feeling.

〔Example〕

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 is an outer frame, 2 is a rotatably rotatably supported inside the outer frame 1, a rotary drum for constituting a clothes drying cabinet, 3 is a heat source for obtaining warm air for drying, and 4 is the rotary drum 2 Motor 5
Is a drum drive belt for transmitting the rotational force of the.

At the rear part of the rotary drum 2, there is provided a drum air outlet for discharging the circulating air for drying, which is indicated by a solid arrow in FIG. Is provided with an inlet 7 and has a role of a blower for generating the circulating air and cooling air (shown by a broken line in FIG. 1) for cooling the circulating air flow, and through the blade wall surface thereof. A fan casing 9 accommodating both vanes 8 for exchanging heat between the circulating air and the cooling air is provided. The fan casing 9 is a partition plate provided over the entire inner circumference.
It is divided into a circulating air side and a cooling air side by 10 and a felt 11 provided on the outer periphery of both vanes 8.

Reference numeral 12 is an airtight felt for keeping the fan casing 9 and the rotary drum 2 airtight. The outlet of the fan casing 9 on the circulation side is connected to the heat source 3 by the duct 13 and the duct 14 having a drainage port 36 in the middle thereof. Further, the cooling air is sucked from an intake port provided in the central portion of the back plate 15 and exhausted from the upper part of the back plate 15 as shown by a dashed arrow in FIG.

Reference numeral 16 is a belt for fan, 17 is a pulley for fan, 18 is a drum supporting member, 19 is a door for opening and closing an opening for loading and unloading an article to be dried (clothes) provided in front of the outer frame 1,
F is a filter, and 20 is a drum front fixed wall for rotatably supporting the rotary drum 2 on its outer periphery.

Next, the operation control method will be described.

FIG. 2 shows a control circuit of the clothes dryer according to the present invention. twenty one
Is a power plug connected to a 100V commercial power source, 22 is a power switch, 23 is a power supply circuit for supplying a DC voltage to a microcomputer 24 having a clothes dryer operation control program and an electronic circuit for control, and 25 is A reset circuit for resetting the microcomputer 24 when the power is turned on, 26 is a clock circuit for generating a system clock necessary for the microcomputer 24, 27 is a setting of the dry course, time, and start of operation of the microcomputer 24. A switch input section that transmits the switch input selected by the user, 28 is a display circuit that informs the user of the operating condition of the clothes dryer, the drying course, the time, etc. 29 is when the microcomputer accepts the operation of the input switch. And a buzzer circuit that informs the user at the end of driving, 30
Is a drying device for detecting the dryness of clothes and the amount of clothes by detecting changes in the temperature and humidity of circulating air, and a drying device for transmitting the information of the drying detection means and the amount detection means 31 of the material to be dried to the microcomputer 24. A detection circuit and an amount detection circuit for the material to be dried, 32 is a door switch that is turned on and off when the door 19 is opened and closed, 33 is a door switch input acquisition circuit that transmits the on / off state of the door switch 32 to the microcomputer 24, and 34 is A drive circuit and a motor rotation speed control circuit for driving the heat source device 3 and driving the motor and controlling the rotation speed according to an instruction from the micro computer 24, and 35 takes in a frequency signal of a power supply used for time counting to the microcomputer 24. It is a frequency signal acquisition circuit for.

In this embodiment, the amount detection circuit 30 and the amount detection means 31 of the dried substance detect the amount of the dried substance so that the amount of dried substance is detected at the beginning of the operation. Further, the change in the temperature of the hot air at the drum air outlet 6 is used to determine the amount of the material to be dried.

FIG. 4 shows a change in the warm air temperature at the drum air outlet 6. a
Indicates that the amount of the dried substance is small, and b indicates that the amount of the dried substance is large. When the amount of the material to be dried is different, the temperature change ratios θ ₁ and θ ₂ immediately after the start of operation are different. In this embodiment, the amount of the material to be dried is determined based on the difference between θ ₁ and θ ₂ . In this embodiment, the temperature change is used, but the humidity change or other means may be used.

Next, a method for controlling the clothes dryer will be described. The above-mentioned micro computer 24 is shown in FIG.
Three operation control methods shown in (b) and (c) are programmed to be selectable.

The method shown in FIG. 3 (a) is a commonly used method, and when the user operates the operation start switch of the switch input unit 27, the drying operation is started, and the information from the dry detection circuit 30 is used. This is a method of terminating the operation according to a predetermined program, or terminating the operation according to a predetermined program after operating for a preset time.

The method shown in FIG. 3 (b) is a method in which the drying end time (finish reservation time) is set in advance and the operation is performed. After the user operates the switch input unit 27 to start the reservation, the finish reservation time T This is a method of waiting in the stopped state until the time when it is only ₀ (first-stage waiting process), and starting the drying operation when it is T ₀ minutes after the finish reservation time. Further, in this operation control method, the operation process is divided into three processes, ie, a first-stage drying operation process, a post-expectation machine process, and a warming operation process from the start of the drying operation.

In the first-stage drying operation step, the operation is terminated when it is determined that the material to be dried has dried based on the information from the drying detection circuit and the amount detection circuit 30 of the material to be dried.

The post-expecting machine process is a process that stands by in a stopped state from the end of the first drying operation process to the start time of the warming operation process. The warming operation step is an operation step for warming the material to be dried, which is performed immediately before the finish reserved time. Then, the time required for this is the amount detection means 31 of the dry matter described above.
It is programmed so as to be set according to the amount of the material to be dried determined in. At this time, the operation may be stopped when the warm air temperature at the drum air outlet 6 reaches a predetermined value. In this case, although there is a slight difference between the preset finishing time and the actual operation end time, the temperature of the material to be dried at the end of the operation can always be kept constant.

The operating time required for the warming operation process may be set in advance.

The above T ₀ is the time required for drying, which is determined in consideration of variations in the drying time depending on the type, amount, dehydration state, ambient temperature, etc. of the material to be dried.

The method shown in FIG. 3 (c) is a method of previously setting the operation time of the previous drying operation step in the method shown in FIG. 3 (b). (Only the method of setting the operation start time of the first-stage drying operation process is the same as the method shown in FIG. 3 (b) except for the above.) In this embodiment, the first-stage drying operation process is performed in a space where the amount of power consumption is small. It is set to The operation start time of the first-stage drying operation process may be arbitrarily set by the user.

Next, the operation of the clothes dryer will be described.

The power plug 21 is plugged into the outlet and the power switch
When 22 is turned on, a DC voltage is produced by the power supply circuit 23, and the system clock is transmitted to the microcomputer 24 by the clock circuit 26. At the same time, the clock circuit 26 resets the micro computer and puts it into operation, and the clothes dryer waits for a switch operation from the user. Next, the user opens the door 19, puts clothes to be dried into the rotary drum 2, and when the door 19 is closed, the door switch 32 is turned on, and the door 19 is closed through the door switch input taking-in circuit 33. The information thus obtained is input to the microcomputer.

When some of the pre-programmed drying courses and the operation control methods shown in FIGS. 3 (a), (b), and (c) above are selected by the user and input from the switch input unit 29, Information such as the drying course, the operation control method, and the time set in the display circuit 28 is displayed by a display element such as a light emitting diode, and the operation is started (in the case of the operation control of FIG. 3 (a)) or the reservation is started (No. In the case of the operation control shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C).

When the drying operation is started, electric power is supplied to the heat source 3 and the electric motor 5 according to an instruction from the micro computer 24, and the rotary drum 2 and the two-blade fan rotate. As a result, the circulating air heated by the heat source 3 flows into the rotary drum 2 to remove moisture from the material to be dried, and then is discharged from the rotary drum 2 and sucked by the two blade fans 8. When passing through the two-blade fan 2, the moisture exchanged by the cooling air by the heat exchange action of the two-blade fan 8 removes the moisture taken from the material to be dried into dew condensation and is discharged to the outside of the machine. The circulating air that has passed through the blade vanes 8 reaches the heat source 3 again through the ducts 13 and 14, and is heated there and flows into the rotary drum 2. This is continuously repeated to carry out the drying.

In the case of the operation control method shown in FIG. 3 (a), the drying operation operation is continuously performed, and the operation is ended according to a predetermined program according to the information from the dryness detection circuit 30, or in advance. After operating for a set time, the operation ends according to a predetermined program.

In the case of the method shown in FIGS. 3 (b) and 3 (c), after the reservation is started, the system waits in the operation stop state until the operation start time of the first-half drying operation process, and when the operation start time comes, the above-mentioned drying operation operation Done. Then, if it is determined from the information from the dryness detection circuit 30 that the material to be dried has dried, the operation ends.
During the period of this process, the amount of the dried substance is determined by the information from the dried substance amount detecting means 31.

The warming operation process starts from the finish reserved time for a period of time set according to the amount of material to be dried that was determined during the previous drying operation process, and starts operation when the finish reserved time arrives. . The time from the end of the drying step to the start of the warming operation step stands by in the operation stopped state.

As described above, in the clothes dryer according to the present invention, when the finishing reserved time is set and operated, the warming operation step is provided immediately before the finishing reserved time, so that the material to be dried is fluffy and warm. It can be taken out in a dry and finished state. Further, since the operation time of the warming operation process is set according to the amount of the material to be dried, neither excessive operation nor insufficient operation will occur. Drum air outlet 6
If the operation is terminated when the temperature of the hot air reaches a predetermined value, the temperature of the material to be dried at the time of the termination of the operation can always be kept constant.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, in setting the operation end time,
It is possible to provide a clothes dryer that can take out an object to be dried in a fluffy, warm, and dry finish.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control circuit device, FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of an operation control method, and FIG. It is a figure which shows the warm air temperature change of a drum (drying room) air outlet. 1 ... Outer frame, 2 ... Rotating drum (drying chamber), 3 ... Heat source, 5 ... Electric motor, 8 ... Both fan, 27 ... Switch input section, 28 ... Display circuit, 31 ... Drying detection Means (temperature detecting means) and means for detecting the amount of the material to be dried.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A drying chamber for drying an object to be dried, a blower fan for sending air to the drying chamber, an electric motor for rotationally driving the blower fan, and a heat source for heating the air sent to the drying chamber. What has means for detecting the drying of the material to be dried and means for setting the time, and provided with means for controlling the operation so that the material to be dried is in a warm state at the time set by the time setting means. Characteristic clothes dryer. 2. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, further comprising a warming operation step for heating the object to be dried immediately before the time set by the time setting means. 3. A means for detecting an amount of a material to be dried, and the time of the warming operation step is set according to the amount of the material to be dried detected by the detecting means. The clothes dryer according to item 2. 4. A means for detecting the temperature of the air discharged from the drying chamber is provided, and the warming operation step is ended when the temperature of the air discharged from the drying chamber reaches a preset value. The clothes dryer according to claim 2, wherein: