JPH0790085B2 - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] The present invention relates to a clothes dryer provided with a semiconductor heater having a positive temperature characteristic, which is used in general households, and in particular, a clothes dryer capable of detecting occurrence of an abnormality. Regarding

[Conventional technology]

The structure of a conventional clothes dryer will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 5, reference numeral 1 denotes a motor, and the rotation of the motor 1 is transmitted to the rotating drum 4 and the fan 5 via the belts 2 and 3, respectively. As the fan 5 rotates, the hot air heated by the heater 6 is introduced into the rotary drum 4. Reference numeral 7 is a filter for collecting lint generated from a material to be dried, for example, clothes.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the clothes dryer having the above-described conventional configuration, if the motor 1 is locked for some reason, the motor 1 may abnormally generate heat and ignite. Even when the motor 1 is equipped with a safety device such as a temperature fuse, the rotating drum 4 is not rotating until the motor 1 is operated and the current flow is stopped, so that the clothes located near the heater 6 There was a problem with safety such as burning. When the filter 7 becomes clogged due to lint or the like, the fan 5
However, there is a problem in that the amount of air to be heated by passing through the heater 6 is reduced, and the value of the current flowing through the heater 6 is reduced, so that it takes a long time to dry the material to be dried.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the above problems.
When the motor is locked, it will be detected and notified to improve the safety of the dryer, and when the filter is clogged, the condition will be detected and notified to prompt the user to clean. To provide a clothes dryer that does.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention resides in a clothes dryer in which the motor is in a locked state or the filter is in a clogged state by detecting the current value and comparing it with a set value.

That is, the present invention is a heater made of a semiconductor having a positive temperature characteristic, a rotary drum for containing and rotating and agitating an object to be dried, a fan for introducing hot air heated through the heater into the rotary drum, A motor that drives this fan and rotating drum, a filter that is installed in the ventilation path of heated hot air and that collects lint generated from the material to be dried, and a current detection that detects the total value of the current that flows in the heater and the motor A determination operation device that has a first and a second setting value and compares the current value detected by the current detection device with these setting values, and the determination operation device is configured to operate by the current detection device. When the detected current value is smaller than the first set value, it is judged as an abnormal state and the power supply to the heater is stopped,
After that, when the current value detected in this state is larger than the second set value, it is judged that the motor is locked, and when it is smaller than the second set value, it is judged that the filter is clogged. It is a clothes dryer.

[Action]

According to the clothes dryer of the present invention described above, when the motor is locked, it is detected and the energization is stopped to improve the safety of the clothes dryer. Also, when the filter is clogged, the state can be detected.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an embodiment of the clothes dryer of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship of current values of the clothes dryer, and FIG. 3 is a control method of the clothes dryer. 4 is a flow chart, and FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the clothes dryer.

The structure of the clothes dryer of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 4. Reference numeral 11 is a motor, and the rotation of the motor 11 is transmitted to the rotating drum 14 and the fan 15 via belts 12 and 13, respectively. As the fan 15 rotates, hot air heated by the heater 16 made of a semiconductor having a positive temperature characteristic is introduced into the rotary drum 14. 17 is a filter that collects lint generated from the material to be dried. 19
Is a thermistor.

Here, the circuit of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, 11 is a motor and 16 is a heater, and the current detection device 18 constantly detects the value of the current flowing through the motor 11 and the heater 16. Further, 19 is a thermistor, which detects the exhaust temperature of the rotary drum 14 by the temperature detection device 20, controls the energization to the heater 16 through the current control device 21, and controls the temperature rise.

Next, the relationship between the current values of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, assuming that the current flowing through the motor 11 is I _M and the current flowing through the heater 16 is I _H when the washing machine is operating normally, the total current value detected by the current detector 18 is shown. I becomes I _M + I _H , which corresponds to point a in the figure.

Then the motor 11 becomes lock state, when the rotation drum 14 and the fan 15 has ceased to rotate, the current I _'M flowing through the motor 11 becomes a value larger than the current I _M of the normal, this time the heater 16 since the current I _'H flowing through a heater consisting of a semiconductor of the heater 16 has a positive temperature characteristic, Juan
If the fan 15 does not rotate and no ventilation is provided to the heater 16, the current I _H is much smaller than the normal current I _H. Therefore, the current value I ′ detected by the current detection device 18 in this case, that is, I ′ _M +
I _'H becomes a value smaller than the current value I That I _M + I _H in the normal, corresponding to point b in FIG.

Further, when the filter 17 is clogged due to lint and thus the amount of air passing through the heater 16 is extremely reduced compared to the case where it is normal, the magnitude of the current I ″ _M flowing through the motor 11 is normal. Although it is the same as the current I _M at the time, the current I ″ _H flowing through the heater 16 is a value smaller than the current I _H at the normal time due to the characteristics of the heater 16 as described above. Therefore, the current value I ″ detected by the current circuit device 18, that is, I ″
_The value of _M + I ″ _H is smaller than the normal current value I, that is, I _M + I _H, and corresponds to point c in the figure.

Here, according to the present invention, the first current setting value is smaller than the normal current value I by I '(in the motor lock state).
And I ″ (when the filter is clogged) is set to a value I ₁ larger than that of the microcomputer 22, and this value is compared with the current value actually detected by the current detection device 18. , I _{1 When the} detected current value becomes smaller than I _1, it can be detected that the motor 11 is in the locked state or the filter 17 is in the clogged state.

At this time, that is, when the current detected by the current detection device 18 becomes smaller than I ₁ , the energization of the heater 16 is stopped and the current flowing only in the motor 11 is measured and detected. At this time, according to the present invention, as the second current setting value, I _'M
A value I ₂ which is smaller than I and is larger than I ″ _M is set in the microcomputer 22 and this value is compared with the value of the current flowing through the motor 11 described above. There can know that has decreased to the clogging state filter 17 when the motor 11 can know that it has decreased to the lock state, also smaller than I ₂ when greater than I _2.

FIG. 3 shows the above in a flow chart. When the current value detected by the current detection device 18 is larger than the current value I ₁ set in the microcomputer 22, the operation is normal and the operation is continued. However, when the value is smaller than the value of I ₁ , it is determined that it is not normal, that is, an abnormality has occurred, and the current control device 21 stops energizing the heater 16. Then, the current value in this state is compared with the current value I ₂ set in the microcomputer 22 and when it shows a value larger than I ₂ , it is determined that the motor 16 is in the lock state, and an abnormality is notified for safety. The power supply to the motor 11 is stopped by the current control device 21.

When the compared current value shows a value smaller than I _2, it is determined that the filter 7 is in the clogging state, and the clogging of the filter is notified.
Configure 17 so that it can be cleaned and reset after cleaning.

〔The invention's effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to ensure safety when the clothes dryer is motor locked, and to notify when the filter is clogged, so that it is possible to prevent the efficiency of the dryer from decreasing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an embodiment of the clothes dryer of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure shows the relationship of the current value of the clothes dryer, FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the control method of the clothes dryer, FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the clothes dryer, and FIG. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a clothes dryer. 11 ... Motor, 14 ... Rotating drum, 15 ... Huan, 15 ...
… Heater, 17 …… Filter, 18 …… Current detection device, 19
…… Thermistor, 21 …… Current control device, I ₁ …… First current setting value, I ₂ …… Second current setting value.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heater made of a semiconductor having a positive temperature characteristic, a rotary drum for containing and rotating and stirring an object to be dried, and a fan for introducing hot air heated through the heater into the rotary drum. , A motor that drives this fan and a rotating drum, a filter that is installed in the ventilation path of heated hot air and that collects lint generated from the material to be dried, and a current that detects the total value of the current that flows in the heater and the motor. The current detection device includes a detection device and a determination operation device having first and second set values and comparing the current value detected by the current detection device with these set values, and the determination operation device is a current detection device. When the current value detected by is smaller than the first set value, it is judged as an abnormal state and the power supply to the heater is stopped,
After that, when the current value detected in this state is larger than the second set value, it is judged that the motor is locked, and when it is smaller than the second set value, it is judged that the filter is clogged. Clothes dryer.