JPH07255997A - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve drying efficiency of clothes by extending the length of a passage of hot air in a rotary drum. CONSTITUTION:A hot air blowoff port 21c is formed at a point below the periphery of a front-side rotation supporting member 21. An exhaut port 27b is formed at a position (upper position) apart from a position C0 of a rear-side rotation supporting member 27 (center of the member 27) corresponding to a rotation center axis C of a rotary drum 23 with respect to the port 21. A filter 43 and a fan 42 are disposed opposite to the port 27b. Hot air blown from the port 21c passes through the central portion of the drum 23 and is led to the port 27b provided above. Thus, the length of a passage of hot air in the drum 23 is longer than that of a conventional clothes dryer. As a result, residence time of the hot air in the drum 23 becomes longer so that the hot air can be sufficiently contacted with clothes M.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clothes dryer for drying clothes contained in a rotary drum with warm air.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, as a clothes dryer of this type, warm air is blown into a rotary drum in which clothes are stored from a warm air outlet formed on the front side of the rotary drum, and thereby steam generated from the clothes. In this case, the air is discharged to the outside of the rotating drum together with warm air from an exhaust port formed in the central portion on the back side of the rotating drum.

[0003]

However, in the conventional clothes dryer, since the exhaust port is formed in the central portion on the back side of the rotary drum (that is, the center of rotation of the rotary drum), it is blown from the warm air outlet. The warm air was guided by the exhaust means (fan), passed through the central portion inside the rotary drum, and was discharged from the exhaust port at the central portion on the back side as it was. Therefore, the warm air is less likely to be guided to the peripheral edge of the rotating drum, and the passing distance of the warm air in the rotating drum is shortened. Therefore, the time during which the warm air stays in the rotating drum is shortened, and the warm air is sufficiently contacted with clothes. There was a problem that it was discharged from the exhaust port without doing so. These are particularly prominent when the amount of clothes is small, which causes a decrease in the drying efficiency of clothes, and there is a problem that the drying efficiency of clothes cannot be improved.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a clothes dryer capable of improving the clothes drying efficiency by allowing long passage of warm air through the rotary drum.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a clothes dryer having a rotary drum which has openings on the front side and the back side, and in which a clothes storage space for storing clothes is formed. A front side rotation support member which is arranged on the front side of the rotary drum, covers the front side opening of the rotary drum, has a clothing outlet, and rotatably supports the front side open end of the rotary drum; A warm air outlet formed at a predetermined position of the front side rotation support member, a drying means for supplying warm air from the warm air outlet to the rotary drum to dry clothes, and a rear side of the rotary drum. A rear side rotation support member that covers the rear side opening of the rotary drum and rotatably supports the rear side opening end of the rotary drum; and the rotation of the rear side rotation support member with respect to the warm air outlet. Do The exhaust port formed at a position farther than the position corresponding to the rotation center of the drum, and the steam in the rotary drum is sucked together with warm air from the exhaust port to remove the steam in the rotary drum from the outside of the rotary drum. And exhaust means for exhausting to.

In this clothes dryer, warm air is supplied into the rotary drum from the hot air outlet formed in the front side rotation support member by the drying means. The hot air blown from the hot air outlet passes through the central portion inside the rotary drum by the exhaust means, and is discharged to the outside of the rotary drum from the exhaust port formed in the back side rotation support member. Here, the exhaust port formed in the back side rotation support member is formed at a position farther from the position corresponding to the rotation center of the rotary drum with respect to the warm air outlet. Therefore, compared to the conventional clothes dryer in which the exhaust port is formed at the position corresponding to the rotation center of the rotating drum, the warm air has a longer passage distance in the rotating drum, and the clothes drying efficiency is improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the clothes dryer of the first aspect, the positional relationship between the hot air outlet and the exhaust port is the center of the warm air outlet and the center of the exhaust port. It is set so that the line connecting the two passes through the rotary shaft of the rotary drum.

In this clothes dryer, since the center of the rotating drum is located between the warm air outlet and the exhaust outlet, the warm air blown from the warm air outlet passes through the center of the rotating drum, Guided to the exhaust port.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the clothes dryer according to the first aspect, wherein a filter and a fan as the exhaust means are arranged facing an exhaust port formed in the back side rotation support member. It was done.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing a structure of a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a positional relationship between a warm air outlet and an exhaust port of the clothes dryer shown in FIG. It is an exploded perspective view.

In the clothes dryer 10 of this embodiment, a rotary drum 23 for rotating the clothes M is provided in the housing 20.
And a warm air supply device 30 for blowing warm air into the clothes M in the rotary drum 23, and the warm air supply device 30.
The steam generated from the clothes M by the warm air blown by
The exhaust device 40 for discharging to the outside of 0, and the drive device 50 for driving the rotary drum 23 and the exhaust device 40, respectively.

The rotary drum 23 has, for example, a cylindrical shape having openings on the front side and the back side, and has a clothing storage space 23a for storing the clothing M therein. The shape of the rotary drum 23 may be a truncated cone shape whose cross-sectional area becomes narrower from the front side to the back side. On the inner peripheral surface of the rotating drum 23, a plurality of baffles 23b for adjusting the movement of the clothes M are provided at appropriate intervals.

A front side rotation support plate 21 as a front side rotation support member is arranged in the housing 20 at a position facing the front side of the rotary drum 23.
A back side rotation support plate 27 as a back side rotation support member is arranged at a position facing the back side. Clothing outlets 20a, 21a communicating with the clothing storage space 23a are formed on the front side of the front rotation support plate 21 and the housing 20. At the front of the housing 20, the clothing outlet 2
An openable / closable door 22 is arranged so as to cover 0a, and is opened / closed when the clothes M are taken in and out of the clothes storage space 23a.

The front-side rotation support plate 21 is provided with a rotation support portion 21b composed of a circular step portion. On the other hand, on the front surface side of the rotary drum 23, a rotation support portion 23c formed by bending the front end portion of the rotary drum 23 toward the center side is formed. The inner peripheral surface of the rotation support portion 23c has a sealing material 26.
It is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the rotation support portion 21b via a, and thereby the front open end of the rotary drum 23 is rotatably supported. Further, the front end portion of the rotary drum 23 is in contact with the front side rotation support plate 21 via the sealing material 26b. A hot air outlet 21c for blowing hot air into the rotary drum 23 is formed in the rotary support portion 21b of the front-side rotary support plate 21. The position of the warm air outlet 21c is, for example, a position below the peripheral edge of the rotation support portion 21b (that is, below the clothing outlet 21a).

On the back side rotation support plate 27, there is formed a rotation support portion 27a consisting of a circular step portion. On the other hand, on the back side of the rotary drum 23, a rotary support portion 23d formed by bending the rear end of the rotary drum 23 toward the center side is formed. The inner peripheral surface of the rotation support portion 23d has a sealing material 28
It is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the rotation support portion 27a via a, and thereby the rear open end of the rotary drum 23 is rotatably supported. Further, the rear end of the rotary drum 23 is in contact with the rear rotation support plate 27 via the sealing material 28b. An exhaust port 27b for exhausting water vapor generated from the clothes M is formed in the rotation support portion 27a of the back side rotation support plate 27.

The central axis C _{1 of the} exhaust port 27b is displaced upward in the figure with respect to the central axis C of rotation of the rotary drum 23. That is, the exhaust port 27b is the hot air outlet 21
It is provided at a position farther than a position (a position indicated by C ₀ in FIG. 1, that is, a central portion of the back side rotation support plate 27) corresponding to the rotation center axis C of the rotary drum 23 with respect to c.

Here, the warm air outlet 21c and the exhaust port 27b.
The positional relationship between and should be set so that the line connecting the center position of the hot air outlet 21c and the center position of the exhaust port 27b when viewed from the front side of the rotating drum 23 passes through the rotation center axis C of the rotating drum 23. Is preferred. With such a configuration, the warm air blown out from the warm air outlet 21c can be guided to the exhaust port 27b through the central portion of the rotary drum 23, and the warm air in the clothing storage space 23a is biased. Can be prevented.

A filter 43 is attached to the exhaust port 27b from the inside of the rotary drum 23. The center of the filter 43 coincides with the central axis C ₁ of the exhaust port 27b.

The sealing materials 26a, 26b, 28a,
As the material 28b, a material that does not hinder the rotation of the rotary drum 23 and can prevent air from entering and exiting, for example, polyester felt is used.

On the front surface of the housing 20, there is provided an operation panel 24 for instructing various reference values such as warm air temperature and the start of operation. Further, a sensor 25 is arranged below the warm air outlet 21c of the front side rotation support plate 21, and a sensor 29 is arranged below the back side rotation support plate 27. As these sensors 25 and 29, an electrode sensor for detecting the degree of drying of the clothes M hit by utilizing a change in resistance value, a clothes temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the clothes hit, or the like is used. Detection signals of the sensors 25 and 29 are sent to a microcomputer (not shown), and the microcomputer controls the operation of the clothes dryer 10.

The warm air supply device 30 has a function as a drying means and is arranged at a lower position on the front surface side of the rotary drum 23. The warm air supply device 30 includes a warm air supply chamber 31 that communicates with the warm air outlet 21 c, and a gas burner 32 that generates warm air in the warm air supply chamber 31.
Gas is supplied to the gas burner 32 through a gas passage 33. An electromagnetic valve 34 is provided at an appropriate place in the gas passage 33, and the gas electromagnetic valve 34 is opened and closed according to an instruction from a microcomputer (not shown).

The exhaust device 40 has a function as an exhaust means, and has an exhaust fan 42 arranged at a position facing the filter 43 in an exhaust chamber 41 connected to the back side of the filter 43. By the rotation of 42, the warm air containing water vapor in the clothing storage space 23a is sucked into the exhaust chamber 41. The exhaust fan 42 is installed in the exhaust chamber 4
A rotation shaft 42a rotatably supported with respect to the wall surface of 1;
The rotary blade 42b is attached to the rotary shaft 42a. Here, the rotary shaft 42a is connected to the exhaust port 27.
It is provided coaxially with the central axis C _{1 of} b. A rotary pulley 42c for transmitting a driving force to the exhaust fan 42 is attached to an end of the rotary shaft 42a that penetrates the exhaust chamber 41.

One end of an exhaust pipe 44 is connected to the exhaust chamber 41. The other end of the exhaust pipe 44 is connected to the housing 20.
Exhaust port 4 that penetrates through and is opened to the outside of the housing 20
4a, and the hot air containing water vapor sucked into the exhaust chamber 41 by the exhaust fan 42 is supplied to the exhaust port 44a.
It is designed to be discharged to the outside via.

The drive unit 50 has a drive motor 51 arranged at a lower position on the back side of the rotary drum 23.
A drive pulley 52 is attached to one end of an output shaft 51a of the drive motor 51. A drum belt 53 is stretched between the drive pulley 52 and the body of the rotary drum 23, and the driving force of the drive motor 51 is transmitted to the rotary drum 23. On the other hand, the drive motor 5
A drive pulley 54 is attached to the other end of the first output shaft 51a. The drive pulley 54 and the exhaust fan 42
A fan belt 55 is stretched between the rotary pulley 42c attached to the rotary shaft 42a and the driving force of the drive motor 51 is transmitted to the exhaust fan 42 by the fan belt 55.

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

In the clothes dryer 10 of this embodiment, when the operation panel 24 gives an instruction for the first start, the microcomputer controls the respective parts to start the operation. That is, the drive motor 51 starts driving, and the drive force is transmitted to the rotary drum 23 via the drive pulley 52 and the drum belt 53, and as a result, the rotary drum 23 rotates at a low speed. At the same time, the driving force of the drive motor 51 is also transmitted to the exhaust fan 42 via the drive pulley 54, the fan belt 55, and the rotary pulley 42c, so that the exhaust fan 42 rotates at high speed.

On the other hand, the solenoid valve 34 is opened, gas is supplied to the gas burner 32 through the gas passage 33, and at the same time, the gas is ignited. As a result, the air is heated, and the warm air is blown into the clothing storage space 23a of the rotating rotary drum 23 through the warm air outlet 21c to dry the stored clothing M. Here, the clothes M are lifted up to a predetermined height by the baffle 23b and then fall, and are uniformly contacted with the warm air.

The warm air supplied to the clothes storage space 23a and the steam generated from the clothes M pass through the central portion of the rotary drum 23 as the exhaust fan 42 rotates at high speed and are provided above the back side. It is guided to the vicinity of the exhaust port 27b. That is, the warm air comes into contact with the clothing M until it passes through the central portion of the rotary drum 23 and is guided upward on the back side. After that, the warm air and the water vapor generated from the clothes M are sucked into the exhaust chamber 41 from the exhaust port 27b through the filter 43, and further discharged to the outside of the clothes dryer 10 through the exhaust pipe 44. Then, when a predetermined time has elapsed and it is determined that the clothes M have dried from the detection values of the sensors 25 and 29, the operation of each unit is stopped. The clothes M dried by such an operation are then taken out by opening the door 22.

As described above, in the clothes dryer 10 of this embodiment, after the warm air is blown from the warm air outlet 21c, the position corresponding to the rotation center axis C of the rotary drum 23 (the position indicated by C ₀ in FIG. 1). , And is guided to an exhaust port 27b provided at a position higher than the central portion of the back side rotation support plate 27).
That is, as compared with the conventional clothes dryer having the exhaust port formed in the central portion of the back side rotation support member, the rotary drum 23 for warm air has a higher temperature.
The passing distance inside becomes longer. Therefore, warm air is generated by the rotating drum 2.
The staying time in 3 becomes longer, and the warm air can be brought into sufficient contact with the clothes M. As a result, the drying efficiency of the clothes M is improved, and especially when the amount of the clothes M is small, the effect becomes remarkable.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of equivalents thereof. For example, in the above embodiment, the warm air outlet 21c is provided below the peripheral edge of the rotation support portion 21b, while the exhaust port 27b is provided above the rotation support portion 27a. As shown in FIG. 3, for example, the warm air outlet 21c may be provided at a position closer to the left side of the peripheral portion of the rotation support portion 21b when viewed from the front. In such a case, the central axis C ₂ of the exhaust port 27b is the rotation support portion 27a.
It may be formed so as to be displaced to the right side when viewed from the front. Even in this case, in particular, the positional relationship between the hot air outlet 21c and the exhaust outlet 27b is as described above,
It is preferable that the line connecting the center of 1c and the center of the exhaust port 27b passes through the rotation center axis C of the rotary drum 23.

[0032]

As described above, according to the clothes dryer of the present invention, the exhaust port provided on the back side rotation support member is located farther than the position corresponding to the center of rotation of the rotary drum with respect to the warm air outlet. Since it is formed at the position, the hot air can be guided in the peripheral direction of the rotary drum, and the passage distance of the hot air in the rotary drum can be lengthened. Therefore, the warm air stays in the rotary drum for a longer time than in the conventional case, and the warm air can be sufficiently brought into contact with the clothes, and the drying efficiency of the clothes can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing a configuration of a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view for explaining a positional relationship between a warm air outlet and an exhaust port of the clothes dryer shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a positional relationship between a hot air outlet and an exhaust port of a clothes dryer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 clothes dryer 21 front side rotation support plate 21a clothes outlet 21b rotation support part 21c warm air outlet 23 rotating drum 27 back side rotation support plate 27a rotation support part 27b exhaust port 30 warm air supply device 40 exhaust device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A rotary drum, which has openings on the front side and the back side, and in which a clothes storage space for storing clothes is formed, and a rotary drum which is disposed on the front side of the rotary drum. A front-side rotation supporting member that covers the front-side opening and has a clothing outlet, and rotatably supports the front-side opening end of the rotating drum, and a temperature formed at a predetermined position of the front-side rotation supporting member. An air outlet, a drying means for supplying warm air from the warm air outlet into the rotary drum to dry the clothes, and a drying unit arranged on the back side of the rotary drum to cover the back side opening of the rotary drum and to rotate the clothes. A back side rotation support member that rotatably supports the back side opening end of the drum, and a position of the back side rotation support member farther than a position corresponding to the rotation center of the rotary drum with respect to the warm air outlet. And an exhaust means for exhausting the steam in the rotary drum to the outside of the rotary drum by sucking the steam in the rotary drum together with warm air from the exhaust port. And a clothes dryer. 2. The positional relationship between the hot air outlet and the exhaust port is set so that a line connecting the center of the warm air outlet and the center of the exhaust port passes through the rotation center axis of the rotary drum. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein: 3. A filter and a fan as the exhaust unit are respectively arranged so as to face an exhaust port formed in the back side rotation support member.
Or the clothes dryer according to 2.