JPH07178288A - Clothes drying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a clothes drying machine of a reduced pressure type which lessens unequal drying and is short in operation time for drying by repeating, plural times, a stage for reducing the pressure in a drying chamber and a stage for restoring the pressure in this drying chamber to the atm. pressure during drying operation stages. CONSTITUTION:This clothes drying machine has the drying chamber 2 which has a clothes inlet 3 and dries the clothes and a vacuum pump 4 which is communicated with this drying chamber 2. The drying chamber 2 has a communicating port 12 for taking the air outside the drying chamber and a stop valve 13 which opens and closes this communicating port 13. The stage for closing the stop valve 13 and reducing the pressure in the drying chamber 2 by the vacuum pump 4 and the stage for restoring the atm. pressure in the drying chamber 2 by opening the stop valve 13 are repeated plural times in the drying operation stages.

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 vacuum drying chamber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The configuration of a conventional example will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5, 1 is a clothes dryer main body, 2 is a drying chamber in the main body 1, and 3 is an inlet for putting clothes in the drying chamber. Reference numeral 4 denotes a vacuum pump for discharging air in the drying chamber to reduce the pressure, which is operated at the start of drying. Reference numeral 5 is an in-compartment intake port through which exhausted air comes out, and 6 is a condenser that cools the exhausted air and condenses moisture, and the condensed water is once stored in a drainage tray 7 and then discharged to the outside through a drainage port 8. To be done. The discharged air after dehumidification is discharged to the outside of the dryer main body 1 through the vacuum pump 4 and the external exhaust port 9. Reference numeral 10 is a heat source such as an infrared heater that supplies heat necessary for evaporation of water contained in clothes during the drying operation.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIGS. When the drying operation is started, the vacuum pump 4 and the heat source 10 are turned on, the air pressure in the drying chamber 2 is lowered, and the general clothes 1
1 becomes dry. Eventually, the internal pressure of the drying chamber 2 becomes stable when it reaches the ultimate pressure of the vacuum pump 4, and continues until the drying of the general clothes 11 is completed.

[0004]

With the above-mentioned conventional structure, the heat required for the evaporation of the water contained in the general clothes 11 can be expected to be transferred from the air because the air hardly exists in the drying chamber 2. However, it was either the heat radiation from the heat source 10 or the heat transfer from the floor surface of the drying chamber 2. For this reason, infrared rays hit or the water on the surface in contact with the floor evaporates early, but the water inside the clothing takes a lot of time to evaporate,
Drying became uneven, and the drying operation time as a whole was long.

The present invention solves the above problems, and it is a first and second object of the present invention to provide a decompression type clothes dryer which reduces unevenness in drying and has a short drying operation time.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A first means for solving the above problems has a communication port for taking in air outside the drying chamber into the drying chamber and an opening / closing valve for opening and closing the communication port, and a drying operation is performed. In the clothes dryer, the step of closing the on-off valve and depressurizing the drying chamber with the vacuum pump in the step and the step of opening the on-off valve and returning the drying chamber to the atmospheric pressure are repeated a plurality of times. .

A second means for solving the above problems is a communication port for taking in air outside the drying chamber into the drying chamber, an opening / closing valve for opening and closing the communication port, and heating the air inside the drying chamber into the drying chamber. A step of closing the on-off valve in the drying operation step to reduce the pressure inside the drying chamber by the vacuum pump, and a step of opening the on-off valve to return the inside of the drying chamber to atmospheric pressure a plurality of times. Again, the heating means is a clothes dryer which is turned on when the on-off valve is opened and air outside the drying chamber is being sucked.

[0008]

According to the first means, the air around the dryer main body hits the clothes whose surface is hot only, and the surface temperature can be lowered, and the air entering the inside of the clothes reduces the heat of the clothes surface. Since the parts can be transmitted, unevenness in drying is reduced and the drying time is shortened.

According to the above-mentioned second means, high-temperature air can enter the inside of the clothes and raise the temperature inside the clothes, so that unevenness in drying can be reduced and the drying time can be shortened.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the first method of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11 in FIG.
Is the same as the conventional example shown in FIG. Reference numeral 12 denotes an external air inlet for taking in air outside the dryer main body 1 to the drying chamber 2, which is opened and closed by an opening / closing valve 13.

Next, the operation will be described. First, when the general clothes 11 to be dried are put into the drying chamber 2 through the clothes inlet 3 and the drying operation is started, the vacuum pump 4 is started with the opening / closing valve 13 closed, and the pressure in the drying chamber 2 starts to drop. The evaporation amount of water contained in the general clothing 11 is determined by the amount of heat given from the outside. In the depressurized state, the surface of the general clothing 11 actively evaporates water due to heat radiation from the heat source 10 and heat transfer from the floor of the drying chamber 2. However, since the thermal conductivity of the general clothing 11 itself is small, Heat is hard to be transmitted to and the amount of water evaporation is small. Here, when the opening / closing valve 13 is opened and the vacuum pump 4 is stopped after a certain period of time, the air outside the dryer main body 1 flows into the drying chamber 2 and the pressure inside the drying chamber 2 returns to atmospheric pressure. As a result, the surface temperature of the general clothing 11 is reduced by heat transfer to the air to reduce the unevenness of drying, and the air entering the inside of the general clothing 11 can transfer a part of the heat of the surface of the clothing to reduce the unevenness of drying. . However, since the evaporation promoting effect due to the pressure reduction is lost if the atmospheric pressure is maintained, the opening / closing valve 13 is closed again and the vacuum pump 4 is started again after a certain period of time to restart the pressure reduction. By repeating this step a plurality of times, it is possible to make use of both the evaporation promoting effect due to the reduced pressure and the heat transfer promoting effect under atmospheric pressure, and it is possible to reduce unevenness in drying and shorten the drying time.

Next, an embodiment of the second method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 3, 1 to 13
Is the same as that of the first method shown in FIG. Reference numeral 14 is an air heating means including a heater for heating the air sucked from the external air intake 12. When the opening and closing valve 13 is opened and the vacuum pump 4 is stopped after a certain time when the drying operation is started and a stable depressurized state is achieved, the air outside the dryer main body 1 flows into the drying chamber 2 and the pressure inside the drying chamber 2 is increased. Is returned to the atmospheric pressure, but at this time, the air heating means 14 is turned on to heat the inflowing air, and thus the general clothing 1
1. Since the air entering the inside can be heated to a high temperature, the amount of heat transferred to the inside increases all at once, and the amount of water vapor inside increases. However, since the evaporation promoting effect due to the pressure reduction is lost at atmospheric pressure, the air heating means 14 is turned off after a further fixed time, the opening / closing valve 13 is closed again, and the vacuum pump 4 is started to restart the pressure reduction. By repeating this step a plurality of times, it is possible to make use of both the evaporation promoting effect due to the reduced pressure and the heat transfer promoting effect under atmospheric pressure, and it is possible to reduce unevenness in drying and shorten the drying time.

[0013]

As described above, according to the first method of the present invention, the air around the dryer main body hits the clothes whose surface is only high in temperature, so that the surface temperature can be lowered and the clothes enter the clothes. Since the air can transfer part of the heat of the clothes surface, unevenness in drying can be reduced, and a clothes dryer having a short drying time can be provided.

Further, according to the second means of the present invention, since hot air can enter the inside of the clothes and raise the temperature inside the clothes, unevenness in drying can be reduced and a clothes dryer having a short drying time can be provided. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a pressure state in a drying chamber in a clothes drying step according to the first method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a clothes dryer showing an embodiment according to a second method of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a pressure state in a drying chamber in a clothes drying step according to the second method of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a clothes dryer showing a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a pressure state in a drying chamber in a conventional clothes drying process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main Body 2 Drying Room 3 Clothes Input Port 4 Vacuum Pump 5 Indoor Air Intake Port 6 Condenser 7 Drainage Receptacle 8 Drainage Port 9 External Exhaust Port 10 Heat Source 11 General Clothing 12 External Air Intake 13 Open / Close Valve 14 Air Heating Means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A drying chamber having a clothes inlet for drying clothes, a vacuum pump communicating with the drying chamber, a communication port for taking in air outside the drying chamber to the drying chamber, and opening and closing the communication port. And a step of closing the opening / closing valve in the drying operation step to reduce the pressure inside the drying chamber by the vacuum pump and a step of opening the opening / closing valve to return the inside of the drying chamber to atmospheric pressure a plurality of times. Repeating clothes dryer. 2. A drying chamber for drying clothes, which has a clothes inlet, a vacuum pump communicating with the drying chamber, and a communication port for taking in air outside the drying chamber to the drying chamber, and opening and closing the communication port. An opening / closing valve and a heating means for heating the air in the drying chamber in the drying chamber, closing the opening / closing valve in a drying operation process to reduce the pressure in the drying chamber by the vacuum pump, and the opening / closing valve Is repeated and the step of returning the inside of the drying chamber to atmospheric pressure is repeated a plurality of times, and the heating means is turned on when the open / close valve is opened and air outside the drying chamber is sucked.