JPH07136396A - Clothes drier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To clean a filter trapping the lint from the hot air discharged from a drying chamber at a proper time without bothering a user. CONSTITUTION:This clothes drier is provided with a filter cleaner 37 removing the trapped lint from a filter 29 and a driving device 43 driving the filter cleaner 37, and the driving device 43 is operated when the drying operation is completed. The driving device 43 is also operated when it is detected that a large quantity of lint is trapped on the filter 29. A lint reservoir case 49 accumulating the lint is removably provided at the front section of an outer box 1 so that the lint removed from the filter 29 can easily be discarded. The front section exposed on the front face of the outer box 1 of the lint reservoir case 49 is made transparent so that the discarding timing of the accumulated lint can easily be judged.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clothes dryer having a filter for capturing thread waste from warm air discharged from a drying chamber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a clothes dryer provided with a filter for capturing thread waste from warm air discharged from a drying chamber. However, when the filter catches a large amount of lint and becomes clogged, the hot air passage is deteriorated, thereby lowering the drying efficiency. Therefore, the filter can be taken out, and cleaning can be performed by removing the thread waste from the filter by taking out the filter.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, the filter needs to be taken out every time the cleaning is performed, and the user must manually remove the thread waste from the taken-out filter. Must
In addition, it is necessary to reattach the cleaned filter,
It was troublesome. Also, it is up to the user to decide when to clean the filter.
The filter was sometimes used with it clogged, and the drying operation was sometimes continued with inefficiency.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and therefore an object thereof is to provide a clothes dryer capable of cleaning a filter in a timely manner without bothering the user, and It is another object of the present invention to provide a clothes dryer that can easily dispose of the thread waste removed from the filter, and further provide a clothes dryer that can easily determine the timing of the disposal processing of the thread waste removed from the filter.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the clothes dryer of the present invention is provided with a filter cleaning tool for removing the lint trapped from the filter and driving the filter cleaning tool. A drive device is provided, and the drive device is operated at the end of the drying operation.

In addition, the clothes dryer of the present invention is provided with a filter cleaning tool for removing the thread waste captured from the filter, a driving device for driving the filter cleaning tool, and a large amount of the thread waste is captured by the filter. It is characterized in that it comprises a detection means for detecting that the drive device is activated, and the drive device is operated when the detection is performed.

In these cases, a warm air passage through which warm air discharged from the drying chamber passes is provided over the front portion of the outer box, and a filter is provided at a portion of the warm air passage located in the front portion of the outer box. It is advisable to attach a thread waste storage case for storing the thread waste removed from the filter to the front portion of the outer box so as to be detachable.

Further, it is preferable that the front surface portion of the lint storage case exposed on the front surface of the outer box is made transparent.

[0009]

According to the above means, the filter cleaning tool can be driven by the driving device to clean the filter. If the driving device is operated at the end of the drying operation, the filter can be cleaned every time the drying operation is completed.

On the other hand, in the device in which the drive device is operated when the detection means detects that a large amount of thread waste has been captured by the filter, the filter can be cleaned according to the capture status of the thread waste. .

Further, a warm air passage through which warm air discharged from the drying chamber passes is provided over a front portion of the outer box, and a filter is provided at a portion of the warm air passage located in the front portion of the outer box.
If the thread waste case that holds the thread waste removed from this filter is detachably attached to the front part of the outer box, remove the thread waste case from the front part of the outer box to remove the thread removed from the filter. Can dispose of waste.

In the case where the front part of the lint storage case exposed on the front surface of the outer box is formed transparent, the collecting condition of the lint removed from the filter is seen through the front part of the lint collection case. Can be recognized.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, FIG. 1 shows an outer box 1 of the entire clothes dryer, and a clothes inlet / outlet 2 at the center of the front part.
And a door 3 for opening and closing the inlet / outlet 2 is pivotally provided, and a thread waste case insertion port 4 is formed in the lower portion.

A drum 5 constituting a drying chamber is provided inside the outer box 1, and a front portion of the drum 5 is fixed to an area around the clothes inlet / outlet 2 in the outer box 1 by an opening 6. The drum front support 7 is rotatably supported, and the rear part is also rotatably supported by a center shaft 8 on a drum rear support 9 which is installed on the rear middle part of the outer box 1. A casing 10 is arranged between the drum 5 and the drum rear support 9, and a fan 11 is installed in the casing 10.
Is rotatably attached to the central shaft 8.

Here, the fan 11 has a double-blade shape having a front blade portion 11a and a rear blade portion 11 and is made of a heat exchange material (heat transfer material), so that the fan 11 also functions as a dehumidifier as described later. A motor 12 arranged in the upper part inside the outer case 1 outside the drum 5 is rotationally driven via a belt 13. Further, the drum 5 is rotationally driven by the motor 12 via a belt 14.

The central portion of the latter half of the casing 10 is
The outside air vent 15 formed in the drum rear support 9 and the outside air intake 17 formed in the central portion of the outer case back plate 16 communicate with the outside of the machine, and the lower part is formed in the lower part of the outer case back plate 16. The return port 18 also communicates with the outside of the machine.

On the other hand, in the front half of the casing 10, the center portion is provided with an intake port 19 formed in the casing 10 and an exhaust port 20 formed in the rear center portion of the drum 5, with the cover 21 interposed therebetween in the drum 5. The lower part of the heater duct 2 connected to the air outlet 22 formed in the casing 10, the connecting duct 23 connected to this, and the heater duct 2 connected to this connecting duct 23.
4 and the hot air outlet 25 formed in the lower front part of the drum 5.
As a result, the warm air passage 26 through which the warm air discharged from the drum 5 passes is formed to extend to the front part inside the outer box. Further, a heater, particularly a PTC heater 27 is arranged in the heater duct 24 in the warm air passage 26, and the heater 27, the fan 11 and the warm air passage 26 provide a warm air supply device 28.
Is configured.

Therefore, in the lower part of the heater duct 24, which is a portion of the warm air passage 26 located in the front part inside the outer box 1,
The filter 29 is inserted and fixed by the screw 30 shown in FIG. This filter 29 is shown in detail in FIGS.
As also shown in FIG. 1, a cylindrical filter base 31 and a plurality of openings 3 existing in the lower part of the front half of the filter base 31.
2 and the filter net 33 that is stretched in 2 and, in the mounted state, the rear end opening 34 faces the connection duct 23, and the front end opening 35 is formed in the lower front surface of the heater duct 24. It is facing forward from 36.

A filter cleaning tool 37 is inserted inside the filter 29. This filter cleaning tool 37
Is a cylindrical cage frame 38, a brush portion 39 provided by bristles around one end of the frame 38, and a guide receiving plate 40 projecting downward from the lower portion of the frame 38.
And the guide backing plate 40 is attached to the filter 29.
Guide groove 4 formed in the lower part of the filter base 31 and the lower part of the heater duct 24 to extend in the front-rear direction.
The brush portion 39 is abutted on the inner peripheral surface of the filter base 31 by passing through the first and second parts 42, 42, and can be slid back and forth in the filter base 31.

Further, below the heater duct 24, a drive device 43 for driving the filter cleaning tool 37 is provided. The drive device 43 includes a rack 44 formed on the lower edge portion of the guide receiving plate 40 of the filter cleaning tool 37, and the rack 4
It is composed of a pinion 45 meshing with 4 and a motor 47 in which the pinion 45 is attached to a rotary shaft 46. The motor 47 is fixed on the bottom surface of the outer box 1 by a support plate 48.

In addition, a thread waste collecting case 49 is detachably provided on the front surface of the outer box 1 by inserting it into the thread waste collecting case insertion port 4. As shown in FIG. 5, the yarn waste collecting case 49 has a rectangular front face 50 exposed on the front face of the outer case 1 made of a transparent material, and the body part 5 located inside the outer case 1 is
The opening 52 formed in the upper part of the rear surface of the filter 1 is fitted into the opening 35 at the front end of the filter base 31 of the filter 29.

FIG. 6 shows the main components of the control circuit, which is the center of the microcomputer 5.
3 functions as a control device, and a power source 5
4, the necessary DC power is supplied from the rectifier circuit 55. Also, this microcomputer 5
A temperature detection signal is input to the temperature sensor 3 from the temperature sensor 56.

As shown in FIG. 2, the temperature sensor 56 is provided at the intake port 19 of the casing 10, detects the temperature of the warm air discharged from the drum 5, and outputs the temperature detection signal. Is input to the microcomputer 53, and it also functions as a detection means for detecting that a large amount of thread waste has been captured by the filter 29, as will be described later.

In addition, the microcomputer 5
3, various switch signals are input from a switch input unit 57 including various switches, and clock pulses are input from a clock pulse generation circuit 58. Based on the
A drive control signal is supplied to the drive circuit 59 for driving the motor 12, the heater 27, and the motor 47. Further, a power switch 60 is provided in a circuit from the power source 54 to the motor 11, the heater 25 and the motor 47.
Are connected by insertion.

Next, the operation of the above structure will be described. As shown in FIG. 7, when the operation is started, the microcomputer 26 first starts the drying operation (step S1). This drying operation is performed by energizing the heater 27 and the motor 12, and the energized motor 12 rotates the drum 5 via the belt 14 and the fan 11 via the belt 13. Let By the rotation of the fan 11, the drum 5
The air inside is returned from the exhaust port 20 of the drum 5 into the drum 5 through the intake port 19 of the casing 10, the first half of the casing 10, the exhaust port 22, the connecting duct 23, the filter 29, the heater duct 24, that is, the warm air passage 26. Be done.
Also, from the rear outside the outer box 1, the air outside the machine is sent to the outer case back plate 15
Outside air intake 17 to outside air vent 15, casing 10
It is returned to the outside of the outer box 1 through the latter half portion of the inner portion and the outside air return port 18, and by these, in the casing 10 the drum 5
The air inside the outer box 1 and the air outside the outer box 1 are in contact with each other with the fan 11 as a boundary, and heat is exchanged to dehumidify the air inside the drum 5. Therefore, the dehumidified air passes through the heater 27,
It is turned into warm air and supplied into the drum 5 to dry clothes to be dried (not shown).

During the drying operation, the air in the drum 5 enters the filter base 31 in the filter 29 portion, passes through the filter cleaning tool 37, and further passes through the filter net 33 to reach the heater 27 portion. So on the way,
In the process of passing through the filter net 33, the thread waste scattered from the clothes to be dried adheres to the inner surface of the filter net 33 and is captured.

In such a situation, the microcomputer 26
Determines whether or not a large amount of yarn waste has been captured by the filter net 33 of the filter 29 based on the temperature detection signal from the temperature sensor 56 (step S2). in this case,
When a large amount of thread waste is captured by the filter net 33 of the filter 29, the passage of the warm air is deteriorated, the output of the heater (PTC heater) 27 is reduced, and the temperature of the warm air discharged from the inside of the drum 5 is reduced. Therefore, the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 56 also decreases, and it is determined that a large amount of thread waste has been captured by the filter net 33 based on the detection signal of the decreased temperature. However, if a large amount of lint is not captured by the filter net 33, the hot air flow does not deteriorate and the output of the heater (PTC heater) 27 does not decrease, so the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 56 does not decrease. It is determined that the filter net 33 does not capture a large amount of lint.

In step S2, the filter net 33 is
If it is determined that a large amount of lint has not been captured, it is then determined whether the drying time is over (step S
3) As soon as it is judged that the process is finished, the heater 27 and the motor 12 are de-energized to terminate the drying operation (step S4).

After that, the filter 29 is cleaned (step S5). To clean the filter 29, the motor 47 of the drive device 43 is energized to rotate the pinion 45 forward, thereby advancing the filter cleaning tool 37 via the rack 44, and thereby the brush net 39 to move the filter net 33. As a result of rubbing, as a result, the thread waste scraped off from the filter net 33 and removed is fed into the front thread waste case 49 and is accumulated in the thread waste case 49. Further, after a predetermined time after the brush portion 39 reaches the front end portion of the filter 29, the microcomputer 26 reverses the motor 47 to retract the filter cleaning tool 37 to the original position,
Stop the operation.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S2 that a large amount of thread waste has been captured by the filter net 33, the filter 29 is cleaned in the same manner as in step S5 (step S6), and thereafter. Step S3
Proceed to.

As described above, according to this structure, the filter cleaning tool 37 can be driven by the drive unit 43 to clean the filter 29, and the user can remove the filter 29 one by one or remove the thread waste by hand. You can clean it without any trouble. Moreover, the cleaning can be performed at the appropriate time, such as every time the drying operation in which the filter 29 catches the yarn waste is ended, and thus the filter 29 can be prevented from being used while being clogged, and the filter 29 can be efficiently dried. You can continue to drive.

The filter 29 is cleaned by the temperature sensor 5
This is also carried out when it is detected by the filter 6 that a large amount of yarn waste is captured by the filter 29, that is, it can also be carried out in a timely manner depending on the situation of capturing the yarn waste. Can be avoided from being used while being clogged, and the drying operation can be continued efficiently.

In addition, a filter 29 is provided below the heater duct 24, which is a portion located in the front part inside the outer box 1 of the warm air passage 26 through which the warm air discharged from the drum 5 passes, and is removed from this filter 29. By disposing the thread waste storing case 49 for storing the thread waste on the front part of the outer box 1 in a detachable manner,
By removing the yarn waste collecting case 49 from the front portion of the outer box 1, the yarn waste removed from the filter 29 can be easily discarded.

Further, in this case, since the front face portion 50 of the yarn waste collecting case 49 exposed on the front surface of the outer box 1 is transparently formed, the collecting condition of the yarn waste removed from the filter 29 is shown in FIG. It is possible to see through the front face portion 50 without taking out each one, and thus it is possible to easily determine the timing of the disposal process of the accumulated yarn waste.

In contrast to the above, FIGS. 8 to 10 show a different embodiment of the present invention, and only the difference from the above embodiment will be described. A guide receiving rod 61 is provided below the frame 38 of the filter cleaning tool 37. And project guide grooves 41, 4
The lower end portion of the spring 6 is inserted into and engaged with the hole 63 of the connector 62, and the spring 6 is provided between the connector 62 and the spring bridge plate 64 fixed on the bottom surface of the outer box 1 behind the connector 62.
5 is stretched, and on the other hand, the connector 62 and a drive source unit 66 fixed on the bottom surface of the outer casing 1 in front of the connector 62 are connected by a wire 67 led out from the drive source unit 66 to be the drive device 43. The drive device 68 is provided.

In this case, the drive source unit 66, which is not shown in detail, comprises a motor and a reduction gear,
At the time of cleaning the filter 29, the wire 67 is wound up against the spring force of the spring 65, the filter cleaning tool 37 is moved forward through the connector 62 and the guide receiving rod 61, and then the wire 67 is wound up. By solving the above, the spring force of the spring 65 causes the filter cleaning tool 37 to retreat and return, and the same effect as described above can be obtained.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings. In particular, the drying system does not have to be a dehumidifying type, and the drying chamber is stationary rather than the rotating drum 5. In addition to the temperature sensor 56, a current sensor for detecting a current flowing through the PTC heater 27 may be used to detect a large amount of thread waste captured by the filter 29. It can be implemented by appropriately changing it within a range not departing from.

[0038]

The clothes dryer of the present invention is as described above, and has the following effects. First, in a case where a drying chamber is provided inside the outer box, a warm air supply device for supplying warm air into the drying chamber, and a filter for capturing thread waste from the warm air discharged from the drying chamber are provided. , A filter cleaner to remove the lint trapped from the filter,
Further, since the filter cleaning tool is provided with a drive device which is activated at the end of the drying operation, the filter can be cleaned in a timely manner without the user's hand. The drying operation can be continued efficiently.

Secondly, in the same one, a filter cleaning tool for removing the lint trapped from the filter and a driving device for driving the filter cleaning tool are provided, and a large amount of lint is trapped in the filter. By providing the detection means for detecting the fact that the drive device is activated when the detection is performed, the filter can be cleaned in a timely manner without bothering the user's hand, as described above. Therefore, the drying operation can be efficiently continued.

Thirdly, a warm air passage through which warm air discharged from the drying chamber passes is provided over the front part of the outer box, and
A filter is provided in the part of the warm air passage located in the front part of the outer box, and a thread waste case for collecting the thread waste removed from the filter is detachably attached to the front part of the outer box. It is possible to easily dispose of the removed thread waste.

Fourthly, by forming the front part exposed to the front of the outer box of the lint storage case transparent, it is possible to easily determine the timing of the disposal process of the lint removed from the filter. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall vertical sectional side view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig.2] Enlarged vertical section side view of main parts

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional front view of a main part.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged exploded perspective view of main parts.

FIG. 5 is an overall perspective view

FIG. 6 is a schematic electrical configuration diagram.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation.

FIG. 8 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 showing a different embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a view corresponding to FIG.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view of a part of the main part.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is an outer box, 5 is a drum (drying room), 11 is a fan, 12
Is a motor, 26 is a hot air passage, 27 is a heater, 28 is a hot air supply device, 29 is a filter, 37 is a filter cleaning tool, 4
3 is a drive device, 44 is a rack, 45 is a pinion, 47 is a motor, 49 is a yarn waste collecting case, 50 is a front part of the yarn waste collecting case, 53 is a microcomputer (control device),
56 is a temperature sensor (detection means), 65 is a spring, 6
6 is a drive source unit, 67 is a wire, and 68 is a drive unit.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An outer box provided with a drying chamber, a warm air supply device for supplying warm air into the drying chamber, and a filter for capturing thread waste from the warm air discharged from the drying chamber. In the above, a filter cleaning tool for removing the lint trapped from the filter and a drive device for driving the filter cleaning tool are provided, and a control device for controlling the drive device to operate at the end of the drying operation is provided. A clothes dryer characterized in that. 2. An outer box provided with a drying chamber, a warm air supply device for supplying warm air into the drying chamber, and a filter for capturing thread waste from the warm air discharged from the drying chamber. In the above, in addition to the filter cleaning tool for removing the thread waste captured from the filter, and a drive device for driving the filter cleaning tool, a detection means for detecting that a large amount of thread waste is captured by the filter, and A clothes dryer, comprising a control device for controlling the operation of the drive device when detection is made. 3. A hot air passage through which warm air discharged from the drying chamber passes is provided over a front portion of the outer box, and a filter is provided at a portion of the hot air passage located at a front portion of the outer box. 3. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, further comprising a thread waste storing case for storing the thread waste removed from the front surface of the outer box. 4. The clothes dryer according to claim 3, wherein a front surface portion of the yarn waste collecting case exposed on the front surface of the outer box is transparently formed.