JPH07104056B2 - Heat pump type dryer - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a heat pump type drying device.

(Prior Art) As a specific example in which a heat pump cycle of a refrigerant is applied to a dryer, there is, for example, a bathroom dryer described in JP-A-59-150228. FIG. 4 schematically shows the structure of the apparatus. In FIG. 4, 81 is a bathroom unit, and a drying unit 82 is installed on its ceiling. Inside the drying unit 82, a compressor 83, a blower fan 84, and first and second heat exchangers 85 and 86 arranged adjacent to each other are arranged. When the blower fan 84 is operating, the ceiling suction port 87
Atmosphere in the bathroom is sucked into the drying unit 82 from
After passing through the first and second heat exchangers 85 and 86, the air outlet 88
Is blown out into the bathroom. And at this time the compressor 83
The gas refrigerant discharged from the second heat exchanger 86 is circulated from the second heat exchanger 86 to the first heat exchanger 85. The first heat exchanger 85 acts as an evaporator and cools the atmosphere passing through it.
On the other hand, the second heat exchanger 86 acts as a condenser and heats the atmosphere passing therethrough. Therefore, the circulating atmosphere is first cooled, and at this time, the moisture in the atmosphere is condensed and dehumidified. Then, after the temperature is recovered, it is blown out as dry air from the blowout port. By repeating the above operation, the bathroom is dried.

By the way, the above-mentioned conventional example is configured as a device for dehumidifying and drying a bathroom, but clothes such as after washing are hung at the outlet of the dry air as described above, and blown air is applied to this. By configuring the above, it can be configured as a drying device for clothes and the like. That is, by providing the above-described drying unit on the ceiling of the bathroom or the changing room, it is possible to effectively utilize the living space that is normally unused except when taking a bath.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in the case of configuring a heat pump type drying device for drying clothes or the like by blowing dehumidified air as described above, in the summer,
Rapid drying is possible when the air temperature is high, but when the air temperature is low, such as in winter, the absolute water content that can be contained in the air is small, so it can be done within that range. The amount of dehumidification from the atmosphere per unit time and the amount of evaporation of water adhering to clothes are both small, so that it takes a long time to dry, or the amount of atmospheric circulation, the cooling ability of the atmosphere, and the heating ability are reduced. Since a large heat pump type drying device is required, there is a problem that economic efficiency is poor.

On the other hand, the clothes can be dried by blowing warm air. In this case, when the atmospheric temperature is low, the drying effect is remarkable, while when the atmospheric temperature is high, the drying effect is smaller than that in the dehumidifying and drying.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to perform a more efficient drying according to the atmospheric temperature, and therefore, a heat pump type drying device that can shorten the drying time and improve the economical efficiency. To provide.

(Means for Solving Problems) Therefore, the heat pump type drying device of the present invention has a compressor 1, an outdoor heat exchanger 2, first and second heat exchangers, as shown in the basic configuration of FIG. The drying heat exchanger unit 5 having the heat exchangers 3 and 4 is connected by a refrigerant pipe 6, and the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 1 is connected to the refrigerant pipe 6 from the drying heat exchanger unit 5 outdoors. A cycle switching mechanism 7 for switching between a first refrigerant circulation cycle that circulates to the heat exchanger 2 and a second refrigerant circulation cycle that circulates refrigerant between the compressor 1 and the drying heat exchanger unit 5. The drying heat exchanger unit 5 is provided with the first and second heat exchangers 3 in the drying heat exchanger unit 5,
For switching between a first switching state in which both of them act as a condenser and a second switching state in which one of the first and second heat exchangers 3 and 4 acts as an evaporator and the other acts as a condenser. A heat exchange switching mechanism 8 is provided, and when the atmospheric temperature is equal to or lower than the reference temperature, the first refrigerant circulation cycle and the first refrigerant circulation cycle
The cycle switching mechanism 7 and the heat exchange switching mechanism so that the switching state is selected and when the atmospheric temperature exceeds the reference temperature, the second refrigerant circulation cycle and the second switching state are selected. 8 has operation control means 9 for controlling each of them.

(Operation) The operation of the heat pump type drying apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 1. When the atmospheric temperature is equal to or lower than the reference temperature, the gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 1 is the heat exchanger unit 5 for drying. Is condensed and radiated, and evaporated in the outdoor heat exchanger 2 to be returned to the compressor 1 for circulation of the refrigerant. On the other hand, when the outside air temperature exceeds the reference temperature, the gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 1 undergoes phase changes of condensation and evaporation inside the drying heat exchanger unit 5 and is returned to the compressor 1. Is controlled by the operation control means 9.
Therefore, the function of the drying heat exchanger unit 5 is automatically switched so that when the outside air temperature is lower than the reference temperature, the air flowing therethrough is heated, and when the outside temperature exceeds the reference temperature, dehumidification is performed. Of. For this reason, by appropriately setting the above-mentioned reference temperature, a drying device in which a more efficient drying operation is automatically selected by hot air blowing drying when the outside air temperature is low and dehumidifying drying when the outside air temperature is high, becomes a drying device. It is possible to shorten the time and improve the operation efficiency.

(Examples) Next, specific examples of the heat pump type drying device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 described above shows a schematic diagram of a refrigerant circuit showing the basic configuration of the present invention, and FIG. 2 applies the present invention and also has a two-room air conditioning function and a hot water supply heating function. The specific example comprised as a heat pump system which has is shown.

In FIG. 2, X is an outdoor unit, and the compressor 1 is arranged in this outdoor unit X. This compressor 1
The discharge pipe 12 and the suction pipe 14 provided with the accumulator 13 are connected to a four-way switching valve (hereinafter, referred to as a cooling / heating switching valve) 15 for cooling / heating switching during air conditioning operation. The discharge pipe 12 is further provided with a four-way switching valve (hereinafter referred to as hot water switching valve) 16 for switching between air conditioning operation and hot water heating operation. One of the other two connection ports of the hot water supply switching valve 16 is connected to the suction pipe 14 by a pipe 17, and the other is connected by a forward hot water supply pipe 19 provided with a shutoff valve 18 to the gas side hot water supply unit. Connected to connection port 20. By the switching operation of the hot water supply switching valve 16, the discharge gas refrigerant from the compressor 1 is selectively supplied to the cooling / heating switching valve 15 side or the hot water supply forward pipe 19 side.

First and second gas pipes 21 and 22 are connected to the cooling / heating switching valve 15, respectively. The first gas pipe 21 is provided with a closing valve 23, and the tip portion thereof is branched into three branch gas pipes 24, 25, 26, which are connected to the gas side indoor unit connection ports 27, 28, respectively. Connected to 29. On the other hand, the outdoor heat exchanger 2 is connected to the second gas pipe 22, and the outdoor heat exchanger 2 includes a first electric valve 31, a liquid receiver 32, and a closing valve 33.
A liquid pipe 34 in which and are sequentially provided is connected. The tip of the liquid pipe 34 is branched into three branch liquid pipes 35, 36, 37, and the liquid side indoor unit connection ports 38, 39, 40 are respectively provided.
It is connected to the. Second branch valves 41, 42, 43 are provided in the branch liquid pipes 35, 36, 37, respectively. Further, a hot water supply return pipe 45 is further connected to the liquid receiver 32. The hot water supply return pipe 45 is provided with a third electric valve 46 and a closing valve 47, and a liquid side hot water supply unit connection port 48. It is connected to the. Further, a discharge pipe between the compressor 1 and the hot water supply switching valve 16
12, the above liquid side indoor unit connection port 40 and the second electric valve
The branch liquid pipe 37 between 43 and the closing valve 49 and the first solenoid on-off valve
It is connected to a drying gas supply pipe 51, which is interposed between them.

In the outdoor unit X having the use side unit connection port as described above, a multi-functional heat pump system is configured by connecting the use side heat exchangers to the connection ports forming a pair of the gas side and the liquid side, respectively. However, in the above-described embodiment, the hot water supply heat exchanger 55 for heating the stored hot water is connected between the hot water supply unit connection ports 20 to 48, which is disposed in the hot water storage tank of the hot water supply unit P. The indoor heat exchangers 56 and 57 of the indoor units A and B are connected to the two pairs 27-38 and 28-39 of the three pairs of indoor unit connection ports, respectively. The drying heat exchanger unit 5 of the drying unit H is connected between the remaining indoor unit connection ports 29-40. That is, while connecting the branch connection gas pipe 58 to the gas side indoor unit connection port 29, and connecting the branch connection liquid pipe 59 to the liquid side indoor unit connection port 40, of each of these branch connection pipes 58, 58. The drying heat exchanger unit 5 is connected in between.

Drying unit H having the drying heat exchanger unit 5
Is to be installed entirely on a ceiling or the like of a bathroom or a changing room, which is covered with a casing to which an exhaust duct 60 is connected, and has an inlet and an outlet on the ceiling surface and is installed inside. When the blower fan (not shown) is operated, the air in the bathroom or the dressing room is sucked through the suction port, passes through the drying heat exchanger unit 5, and is then hung from the blow-out port to the lower part thereof. Is configured to be sprayed onto clothing that is. When circulating the atmosphere in the bathroom or undressing room as described above, a part of the suctioned air containing a large amount of water is discharged to the outside through the exhaust duct 60 at the time of warm air blowing and drying described later. In the above apparatus, as will be described later, in addition to the hot air blowing drying, a drying operation is automatically performed which is also switched to dehumidifying and drying, but at the time of this dehumidifying and drying, the outdoor through the exhaust duct 60. Is not exhausted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the drying heat exchanger unit 5 has a first heat exchanger 3 and a second heat exchanger 4, and these heat exchangers 3 and 4 are Check valve 61, expansion valve 62,
The second electromagnetic on-off valve 63 is connected in series via the heat exchange switching mechanism 8 including a parallel connection circuit. Check valve 61
Allows the refrigerant to flow from the first heat exchanger 3 side connected to the branch connection gas pipe 58 side to the second heat exchanger 4 side. The expansion valve 62 is attached to the outlet side pipe of the first heat exchanger 3 when the refrigerant flows from the second heat exchanger 4 side through the expansion valve 62 to the first heat exchanger 3. The opening degree is automatically controlled according to the temperature detected by the thermistor 64. The drying heat exchanger unit 5
A bypass pipe 65 is connected in parallel to the high pressure relief valve 66 for preventing abnormal pressure rise.
Is installed.

The outdoor unit X is provided with an operation control device 9 for forming a predetermined refrigerant circulation cycle in response to an ON operation signal of an operation switch in each of the use side units A, B, P and H. There is.

In the heat pump system having the above structure, the operating state during the drying operation will be described next.

When the drying operation switch is turned on in the drying unit H and the drying operation request signal is input to the operation control device 9, the operation control device 9 first compares the atmospheric temperature with the reference temperature. When the temperature detected by the atmospheric temperature detecting thermistor (not shown) arranged in the outdoor unit X is below the reference temperature (for example, 22 ° C.), the operation signal from the operation control device 9 causes The switching valves 15 and 16 are set to the communicating positions shown by the solid lines in FIG. 2, respectively, and the first and second electromagnetic on-off valves 50 and 63 are closed to circulate the refrigerant. At this time, the compressor 1
The discharged gas refrigerant flows into the drying heat exchange unit 5 via the hot water supply switching valve 16, the cooling / heating switching valve 15, the first gas pipe 21, and the branch connection gas pipe 58, as shown by the solid line arrow in the figure. To do. In the heat exchanger unit 5 for drying, the first heat exchanger 3, the check valve 61, and the second heat exchanger 4 are sequentially passed to flow out to the branch connection liquid pipe 59. Since the check valve 61 does not function as an expansion mechanism, the first heat exchanger 3 and the second heat exchanger 4 integrally act as a condenser to heat the atmosphere passing through them. That is, hot air is blown from the drying unit H. The refrigerant condensed in the drying heat exchanger unit 5 is a liquid pipe in which the second electric valve 43 and the first electric valve 31 functioning as an expansion mechanism are provided.
After flowing into the outdoor heat exchanger 2 from 34 and evaporating there, it is returned from the cooling / heating switching valve 15 to the compressor 1. Through the first refrigerant circulation cycle as described above, the amount of heat obtained from the outside air in the outdoor heat exchanger 2 is transferred to the drying heat exchanger unit 5,
As a result, drying with heated hot air is performed. During the drying operation, as is apparent from FIG. 2, the opening degree of the second electric valves 41 and 42 on the indoor units A and B sides are appropriately controlled, and the compressors are also installed on the indoor heat converters 56 and 57 sides. The refrigerant discharged from No. 1 can be diverted and circulated, and therefore, the drying operation and the indoor heating operation can be simultaneously performed.

On the other hand, when it is detected that the outside air temperature exceeds the reference temperature, the operation control device 9 opens the first electromagnetic on-off valve 50 and the second electric valve 46 on the drying unit H side. Is set to the closed opening degree, and the cooling / heating switching valve 15 is switched to the communication position shown by the broken line in the figure. The second electromagnetic open / close valve 63 maintains the closed state. At this time, the gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 1 is supplied to the drying gas supply pipe as indicated by a broken line arrow in the figure.
It flows into the heat exchanger unit 5 for drying from 51 through the branch connection liquid pipe 59. In the heat exchanger unit 5 for drying, from the second heat exchanger 4 to the expansion valve 62, the first heat exchanger 3
After being sequentially circulated, the refrigerant flows out to the branch connection gas pipe 58. The expansion refrigerant 62 whose opening degree is automatically controlled according to the temperature of the refrigerant flowing out causes the circulation refrigerant to be the second heat exchange. The condenser 4 condenses and the first heat exchanger 3 evaporates. Therefore, the atmosphere passing through these heat exchangers 3 and 4 is given cooling and temperature recovery when passing from the first heat exchanger 3 to the second heat exchanger 4. As a result, the air is dehumidified and is blown out from the outlet of the drying unit H. The gas refrigerant evaporated in the first heat exchanger 3 is connected to the branch connection gas pipe 58, the first gas pipe 21,
It is returned to the compressor 1 via the cooling / heating switching valve 15. Dehumidifying and drying are performed by the second refrigerant circulation cycle. During the dehumidifying / drying operation, the gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 1 is transferred from the outdoor heat exchanger 2 to the indoor heat exchanger 56,
It is possible to simultaneously perform the cooling operation of circulating to 57.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the cycle switching mechanism 7 described above includes the cooling / heating switching valve 15, the second electric valve 43, and the first electromagnetic opening / closing valve 50.
It is composed by.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the atmospheric temperature, the drying time, and the power consumption, which were obtained by a predetermined drying experiment in the above dehumidifying drying and warm air blowing drying. As shown in the figure, in dehumidifying and drying, the higher the atmospheric temperature, the shorter the drying time, and thus the lower the power consumption, the higher the atmospheric temperature. On the other hand, in hot air blowing drying,
The higher the atmospheric temperature, the longer the drying time and the more power consumption. Focusing on the drying time, when the atmospheric temperature is about 22 ° C., the drying time is shorter for warm air blowing drying on the lower temperature side and for dehumidifying drying on the higher temperature side. Therefore, in the above embodiment, by setting the reference temperature to 22 ° C., the dehumidifying / drying operation is automatically selected when the atmospheric temperature is higher than this, and the temperature blowout drying operation is automatically selected when the atmospheric temperature is lower. Therefore, the drying operation is performed, so that each of them is dried more quickly depending on the atmospheric temperature. Further, if the reference temperature is set to a temperature of about 8 ° C. where the curves of power consumption of dehumidifying drying and hot air blowing drying intersect in FIG. It becomes a dry operation with a reduced amount of electric power, and the economic efficiency can be improved. Further, by setting an appropriate temperature between 8 ° C. and 22 ° C. as a reference temperature, it becomes possible to carry out a drying operation which speeds up the drying and also improves the economical efficiency.

As described above, in the above embodiment, depending on the atmospheric temperature, dehumidifying drying and warm air blowing drying are suitably selected and the drying operation is performed, thus shortening the drying time and improving the economical efficiency. Can be planned. In the above embodiment,
Even when configured as a heat pump system combined with indoor air conditioning, as described above, when the atmospheric temperature in winter is low, hot air is blown dry while performing heating operation, while the atmospheric temperature in summer is high. In this case, since the dehumidifying / drying operation can be performed while the cooling operation is being performed, the above-described drying can be performed while maintaining the air conditioning comfort. Further, in the above, since the drying unit H can be connected using the indoor unit connection port of the outdoor unit X for the multi-room air conditioning system, and the outdoor unit X does not need to be remodeled,
It can be configured as a drying function addition device without requiring expensive expense. Note that, in FIG. 2, the second electromagnetic on-off valve 63 that constitutes the heat exchange switching mechanism 8 is used when the gas refrigerant discharged from the compressor 1 is circulated from the outdoor heat exchanger 2 to the drying heat exchanger unit 5. By opening the valve, the heat exchanger unit for drying 5 can be made to integrally act as an evaporator. At this time, cold air will be blown out. For example, by providing the drying unit H as described above on the ceiling of the dressing room, it is possible to cool the dressing room, and thus the body can be taken out of the bath in the summer. It is a drying unit H that can send a cool air to give a comfortable feeling, and has a cooling function in addition to a drying function of clothes and the like.
In the above embodiment, the atmospheric temperature compared with the reference temperature is described as the outdoor temperature detected by the thermistor arranged in the outdoor unit X. However, the atmospheric temperature in the bathroom or the dressing room sucked into the drying unit H Can also be configured as.

(Effect of the invention) As described above, in the heat pump type drying apparatus of the present invention, hot air blowing drying is suitably selected when the atmospheric temperature is low, and dehumidifying drying is suitably selected when the atmospheric temperature is high, so that the drying operation is performed. It is possible to shorten the drying time and improve the economical efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a refrigerant circuit showing a basic configuration of a heat pump type drying device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a device configured as a heat pump system to which the present invention is applied and also has functions of two-room air conditioning and hot water heating. Fig. 3 is a refrigerant circuit diagram, Fig. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between the drying time, the power consumption and the atmospheric temperature during dehumidifying drying and warm air blowing drying, and Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a conventional drying device. 1 ... Compressor, 2 ... Outdoor heat exchanger, 3 ... First heat exchanger, 4 ... Second heat exchanger, 5 ... Drying heat exchanger unit, 6 ... Refrigerant piping, 7 ...... Cycle switching mechanism, 8 ...
... Heat exchange switching mechanism, 9 ... Operation control means.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Nobuo Suzuki 2 at 1000 Otani, Okamoto-cho, Kusatsu City, Shiga Prefecture Daikin Industries, Ltd. Shiga Works (56) References: 63-87453 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A refrigerant pipe (1) comprising a compressor (1), an outdoor heat exchanger (2), and a drying heat exchanger unit (5) having first and second heat exchangers (3) and (4). Firstly, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor (1) circulates in the refrigerant pipe (6) from the drying heat exchanger unit (5) to the outdoor heat exchanger (2) while being connected by 6). A refrigerant circulation cycle,
A cycle switching mechanism (7) for switching between the compressor (1) and the drying heat exchanger unit (5) and a second refrigerant circulation cycle in which a refrigerant circulates is provided, and the drying heat exchanger is also provided. A first switching state in which both the first and second heat exchangers (3) and (4) in the drying heat exchanger unit (5) act on the unit (5) as a condenser; 2 A heat exchange switching mechanism (8) for switching one of the two heat exchangers (3) and (4) to the second switching state in which one of them acts as an evaporator and the other acts as a condenser, and the atmospheric temperature is equal to or lower than the reference temperature. In the case of, the first refrigerant circulation cycle and the first switching state are selected respectively, and when the atmospheric temperature exceeds the reference temperature, the second refrigerant circulation cycle and the second switching state are selected respectively. To the above cycle switch (7) and the heat exchanger switching mechanism (8) and a heat pump type drying apparatus, characterized in that a driving control means for controlling each (9).