JPH09290098A - Clothes drier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reasonably conduct the cold air operation according to the residual heat of the clothes in a drum and prevent the clothes from being damaged by comparing the temperature of the air discharged from the drum with the prescribed value, and changing the prescribed time interval in the cold air operation based on the compared result. SOLUTION: Whether the temperature added by 2 deg.C to the discharged air side temperature of a drum 11 when the drying operation is completed is higher than the discharged air side temperature stored after the cold air operation or not is judged. If it is judged to be higher, the intermittent operation I is conducted. If it is judged to be lower, the intermittent operation II is conducted. In the intermittent operation I, the cold air operation is conducted. When the discharged air side temperature after the cold air operation is judged to be higher than the temperature added by 2 deg.C to the discharged air side temperature of the drum 11 after the completion of the drying operation, the cold air operation is again conducted to lower the temperature of the clothes in the drum 11. In the intermittent operation I, the cold air operation for 10sec is repeated at the intervals of 15min. In the intermittent operation II, the cold air operation for 10sec is repeated at the intervals of 30min in the longest time for the intermittent operation. The reasonable cold air operation can be conducted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clothes dryer which dries clothes with heated air.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A gas clothes dryer, which dries clothes with air heated by burning gas, puts clothes to be dried in a rotating drum and causes warm air to flow into the drum. Then, the air heated by burning the gas is introduced into the drum, and the air is passed through the drum to be discharged. That is, while the clothes thrown into the drum are agitated by the rotation of the drum, warm air is blown onto the clothes to evaporate the moisture and dry the clothes.

When the drying operation for a predetermined time is completed, the rotating drum is stopped and the door is opened so that the dried clothes can be taken out from the drum. If the clothes are not taken out of the drum after the drying operation is completed, heat is accumulated in the clothes in the drum when, for example, moving clothes or vegetable oil stains remain on the clothes, or when the clothes are polypropylene fibers. Occurs,
The accumulated heat causes the clothes in the drum to be abnormally heated and damage the clothes. Therefore, the so-called soft wrinkle operation is performed, in which the drum is rotated so as not to damage the clothes, and the cold air operation that lowers the temperature of the clothes is intermittently performed by flowing the outside air into the drum and passing through the drum. ing. This soft wrinkle operation is intermittently performed a predetermined number of times at regular time intervals.

[0004]

By the way, in the soft wrinkle operation of the conventional gas clothes dryer, the time interval of the cold air operation is constant, and the cold air operation is repeated a predetermined number of times, so that the clothes remaining in the drum remain. When the heat is high, there is a possibility that the clothes may not be quickly lowered to the proper temperature, and there is a risk that the clothes may be damaged by the residual heat. In view of such a problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide a clothes dryer that does not risk damaging clothes by reasonably performing cold air operation according to the residual heat of clothes in the drum.

[0005]

A clothes dryer according to a first aspect of the present invention performs a drying operation in which air heated and warmed is passed through a drum by a fan to dry clothes contained in the drum. In a clothes dryer that intermittently performs a cool air operation of passing outside air at a predetermined time interval when the clothes are not taken out from the drum after the completion of the drying operation,
A temperature detection unit that detects the temperature of the air discharged from the drum, a comparison unit that compares the temperature and a predetermined value of the air discharged from the drum after the cold air operation, and a cold air operation based on the comparison result by the comparison unit. And a means for changing the predetermined time interval in.

In the first invention, the temperature of the air exhausted from the drum after the cold air operation is detected, and the detected temperature is compared with a predetermined value. Based on the comparison result, the time interval of the cold air operation performed intermittently is changed. As a result, even if the amount of residual heat of the clothes is large, the clothes can be quickly brought to an appropriate temperature.

The clothes dryer according to the second aspect of the invention is characterized in that the predetermined time interval is shortened when the temperature of the air exhausted from the drum after the cold wind operation is equal to or higher than a predetermined value. .

In the second aspect of the invention, when the temperature of the air exhausted from the drum after the cold air operation is equal to or higher than the predetermined value, the time interval for performing the cold air operation is shortened. Thereby, the clothes can be rapidly cooled according to the residual heat of the clothes in the drum.

In the clothes dryer according to the third aspect of the present invention, the predetermined value is the temperature of the air discharged from the drum after the drying operation,
It is characterized by being a temperature to which a predetermined temperature is added.

In the third aspect of the invention, the predetermined value is determined by adding the predetermined temperature to the temperature of the air exhausted from the drum after the drying operation. As a result, the time interval of the cold air operation can be changed based on the temperature of the air exhausted from the drum after the completion of the drying operation.

The clothes dryer according to the fourth aspect of the present invention performs a drying operation in which the air heated and heated is passed through the drum by a fan to dry the clothes placed in the drum, and after the drying operation is completed, the drum is dried. In a clothes dryer that intermittently performs a cool air operation in which outside air passes through the drum when the clothes are not taken out from the drum at a predetermined time interval, a temperature detector that detects the temperature of the air exhausted from the drum, And a means for obtaining a change rate of the temperature detected by the temperature detection unit with respect to a predetermined time after the completion of the drying operation, and a means for changing the predetermined time interval in the cold air operation based on the change rate of the temperature obtained by the means. Is characterized by.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the temperature of the air exhausted from the drum after the completion of the drying operation is detected, and the rate of change in temperature with respect to the predetermined time after the completion of the drying operation is determined. The time interval of the cold air operation performed intermittently is changed based on the calculated change rate. As a result, the temperature of the clothes rapidly decreases even if the residual heat of the clothes is large.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings showing embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view of the inside of a gas clothes dryer, which is the clothes dryer according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a right side view of the inside. The upper part of the gas clothes dryer main body (hereinafter referred to as the dryer main body) 1 is vertically separated by an upper partition plate 2,
A combustion chamber 3 and a control chamber 4 are provided on the upper side, and the combustion chamber and the control chamber 4 are separated by a partition side plate 5. In the combustion chamber 3, the Bunsen gas burners 6 in which a plurality of craters are arranged in a line are arranged in a row in the left-right direction of the dryer main body 1 with the craters arranged in parallel. These Bunsen gas burners 6, 6 are located in the right end side opening 7a of the inverted U-shaped ventilation duct 7, and the left end side opening 7b of the ventilation duct 7 is formed in the upper partition plate 2. It communicates with the opening. At the upper part of the right side surface of the ventilation duct 7, a strip-shaped air intake port 7c that is long in the front and rear direction is provided.
The heating amount of the gas burner 6 on the side of the air intake port 7c is selected to be larger than the heating amount of the gas burner 6 farther from the air intake port 7c.

An intermediate portion of the dryer main body 1 is separated by an upper partition plate 2 and a lower partition plate 8 to form a drying chamber 9. Inside the drying chamber 9, a cylindrical drum case 10 whose axial center is located in front of and behind the dryer main body 1 is disposed. In the drum case 10, a drum 11 into which clothes to be dried are put and which has a slightly smaller diameter than the drum case 10 and which has a large number of small holes on its peripheral surface is rotatably and concentrically arranged. The upper left side position of the drum case 10 is the intake port 10
a is opened, and the intake port 10a communicates with the left end side opening 7b of the ventilation duct 7 through the opening formed in the duct 12 and the upper partition plate 2. An exhaust port 10b is opened on the lower right side of the drum case 10. The lower partition plate 8 is provided with a ventilation port 8a on the side facing the exhaust port 10b. Below the lower partition plate 8 is a ventilation chamber 13. An upper end of the lower partition plate 8 is fixed to a position closer to a rear portion of a lower surface of the lower partition plate 8, and a lower end portion of the lower partition plate 8 is lowered forward and downward. The plate 14 is arranged below the lower partition plate 8, and the lower end portion of the shielding plate 14 has a ventilation chamber 13
It is located in the middle of the height direction.

The ventilation chamber 13 is isolated from the fan motor chamber 17 by a partition plate 16 whose upper end is attached to the lower partition plate 8 where the shield plate 14 is attached and whose lower end is attached to the bottom plate 15. . An air filter 18 having the same length dimension as that of the shielding plate 14 is arranged across the lower end of the shielding plate 14 and the lower end of the partition plate 16. The vent 16a is located at the right side of the partition plate 16.
Has been established. In the fan motor chamber 17, a fan partition plate 19 having the same size and shape as the partition plate 16 is arranged in parallel with the partition plate 16 to isolate the fan chamber 17a and the motor chamber 17b. A fan motor FM is attached to the rear surface side of the fan partition plate 19, and an exhaust fan 20 driven by the fan motor FM is disposed on the front surface side of the fan partition plate 19. Fan partition plate 19
An air outlet 19a is opened in the upper left part of the. Drum 11
The front opening of the can be opened and closed by a door 21.

A drum motor DM is mounted on the upper rear side of the dryer main body 1, and the rotational force of the drum motor DM is transmitted to a drum pulley via a belt BT to drive the drum 11 to rotate. . On the lower right side of the upper partition plate 2, a coin box 22 for accommodating coins used as a dryer usage fee inserted through a coin slot (not shown) is provided. On the front side of the dryer main body 1, a front panel (not shown) that opens the positions of the door 21 and the coin box 22 is detachably arranged. This coin box 22 has a rectangular drawer structure that can be pulled out forward.

An igniter 23 for igniting the gas burner 6 is provided close to the gas burner 6 farther from the side of the air intake 7a. Each of the _two gas burners 6, 6 is capable of supplying and shutting off gas by means of separate gas valves GV ₁ , GV ₂ described later. At the position facing the rear surface of the coin box 22, a theft detection switch SW1 made of, for example, a reed switch for detecting that the coin box 22 is pulled out is provided. An opening / closing detection switch SW2 for detecting opening / closing of the door 21 is provided at a position on the front side of the drum 11. Inside the fan chamber 17a, a wind pressure switch SW3 for detecting the wind pressure (positive pressure) by the fan 20 is arranged. Above the coin box 22, a coin detection switch SW4 for detecting a coin inserted into a coin insertion slot (not shown) provided on the front panel is arranged.

A data reading unit (not shown) for reading the usage fee paid by the prepaid card is also provided. The usage fee is counted by a counter for each type of prepaid card. Drum case
An inlet thermistor TH _i that detects the temperature of the air flowing into the drum 11 is provided at the intake port 10a of the 10 and the partition plate 19
An outlet thermistor TH ₀ for detecting the outlet temperature, which is the temperature of the air flowing out from the drum 11, is provided at the exhaust port 19a. Inside the ventilation duct 7, frame rods FR1 and FR2 for detecting ignition of the two gas burners 6 and 6 are provided.
A display unit (not shown) is provided above the front panel of the dryer main body 1. On this display, the count value of coins inserted to use the dryer and the count value of the usage fee read from the inserted standard card, member card, prepaid card such as monitor card are sequentially displayed at predetermined time intervals. You can do it. Further, when a trouble such as an ignition error occurs, a code corresponding to the trouble mode can be displayed. Control room 4
On the control board inside, a counter switch CSW for instructing the display of a count value counting the amount of usage fee and a reset switch RSW for resetting the count value
Is arranged.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the structure of the control unit. Multiple timers TM ₁ , TM ₂ , TM ₃ , TM ₄ , counter C
Also, the CPU 30 incorporating the memory M is connected to the power source VS and the backup power source BVS. Each detection signal of the theft detection switch SW1, the door switch SW2, the wind pressure switch SW3, and the coin detection switch SW4 is input to the CPU 30, and the signals of the counter switch CSW and the reset switch RSW are also input. Further, signals from the inlet thermistor TH _i , the outlet thermistor TH _o , the frame rod FR1 and the frame rod FR2 are input. The ignition signal output from the CPU 30 is output to the igniter 23, and the gas supply signal is the gas valve G.
The fan motor drive signal is output to V ₁ and GV ₂ , and the fan motor drive signal is output to the fan motor FM and the drum motor drive signal is output to the drum motor DM. Further, the display signal output from the CPU 30 is output to the display section DS.

Next, the operation of the gas clothes dryer thus constructed will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 showing the control contents of the CPU 30. After opening the door 21 and putting the clothes to be dried in the drum 11, closing the door 21 and inserting a coin corresponding to the usage charge for drying the clothes into the coin insertion slot, the CPU 30 starts operating. Then open the gas valves GV ₁ and GV ₂ and open the igniter 23.
And the gas burners 6, 6 are ignited. Further, the drum motor DM and the fan motor FM are driven. Drum motor
The DM causes the drum 11 to alternately rotate in the forward rotation direction (solid arrow direction) and the reverse rotation direction for a predetermined time. The rotation of the fan 20 causes the air to be exhausted from the air exhaust port 19a, which in turn sucks air from the air intake port 7a of the ventilation duct 7 as indicated by the hollow arrow, and the air heated by the flames of the gas burners 6, 6 rotates. It flows into the drum 11 that is being held, and the moisture of the clothes in the drum 11 is evaporated and dried.

The air flowing out from the exhaust port 10b of the drum 11 passes through the ventilation port 8a of the lower partition plate 8 and the air filter 18, flows from the ventilation port 16a of the partition plate 16 into the fan chamber 17, and then the partition plate. A drying operation is performed in which the air is discharged from the air outlets 19a of 19 (S1). At the start of this drying operation, a time corresponding to the amount of the usage fee is set in a main timer (not shown), and the main timer measures the time to decrease the set time. Next, determine whether the main timer has a remaining operation time.
(S2), dry operation is performed until the remaining operation time becomes zero. When it is determined that the remaining operating time has reached zero, the gas burner 6,
6 is non-ignited, and after that, a forced cooling operation for lowering the temperature in the drum 11 to a predetermined temperature is performed, and when the predetermined temperature is reached, the driving of the drum motor DM and the fan motor FM is stopped to perform the drying operation. finish. Here, the door 21 is opened to take out the dried clothes from the drum 11, but if it is determined that the door 21 is opened to take out the clothes (S3), the control operation is ended.

Here, without removing the clothes from the drum 11, the door
-If it is determined that 21 is not open, the exit thermistor TH_o
Temperature T on the exhaust side of drum 11 detected by_PData of
Stored in memory M (S4), timer TM₁For example, at the time of 30 minutes
Interval t₁To start timing (S5). Then, t₁Timed
It is determined whether or not (S6), t₁Wait until time is measured. t₁To
When it is determined that the time has been counted, the timer TM₁Reset the time value of (S
7) After that, without igniting the gas burners 6, 6, the drum mode
Drive the DM and fan motor FM to let outside air inside the drum 11.
Then, the cold air operation for flowing into the chamber is started (S8). Then the timer
TM_TwoIs, for example, a time t of 10 seconds_TwoTo start timing (S9). Continued
Exit thermistor TH_oDetected by the
Exhaust air temperature T of ram 11_SData in memory M (S
10), timer TM_TwoIs t_TwoIt is determined whether or not
_TwoWait until the end of time. As a result, cold air operation for 10 seconds
Then, the temperature of the clothes in the drum 11 is lowered. continue,
t _TwoIf it is determined that the time measurement of
And fan motor FM drive to stop cold air operation
(S12).

[0023] Then reset the time count value t ₂ of the timer TM ₂ (S13), the exhaust air side temperature T _P of the drying operation at the end of the drum 11
It is determined whether or not the temperature obtained by adding 2 ° C to the temperature is higher than the exhaust temperature T _S stored after the cold air operation (S14). If it is determined to be high, the intermittent operation I is performed (S15), and if determined to be low, the intermittent operation is performed. II
(S16). In the intermittent operation I, the timer TM ₃ is the second operation stop time after the dry operation, for example, a time t _{3 of} 15 minutes.
Starts the time counting (S20), followed by determining whether or not the counting time t ₃ (S21), waits until the counting time t _3, when determined that counts a time t _3, the same cold air Carry out driving (S22).

[0024] Then, reset the counted time t ₃ of the timer (S23), followed by the time the timer TM ₂ and t ₂ (10
(S24) is started. Then, the data of the exhaust side temperature T _S of the drum 11 immediately after the cold air operation is stored in the memory M.
(S25). Followed by a time t ₂ timing, it is determined whether or not it is completed (S26), wait until you count the time t _2. This gives 10
Perform cold air operation for 2 seconds. When it is determined that the time t ₂ has been measured, the cold air operation is ended (S27) and the timer TM ₂
The timed value of time t ₂ measured by is reset (S28), and the process returns and returns to step (S14). When it is determined that the exhaust side temperature T _S after the cold air operation is still higher than the temperature obtained by adding 2 ° C. to the exhaust side temperature T _P of the drum 11 after the completion of the drying operation (S14), the cold air operation is performed again. Go and lower the temperature of the clothes in the drum 11. That is, in the intermittent operation I, the cold air operation for 10 seconds is repeated at 15 minute intervals.

On the other hand, in the intermittent operation II, the timer TM ₄ starts measuring the maximum time t ₄ of, for example, 2 hours (S30). Then it is determined whether or not finished counting the longest time t ₄ (S31), when determining that terminates counting, resets the time count value t ₄ of the timer TM ₄ (S32), and terminates the control operation , Cold air operation and drying operation are completed. That is,
The intermittent operation II will not be performed for more than 2 hours. Longest time t ₄
If it is determined that the timer has not finished (S31), the timer TM
₁ starts measuring time t ₁ (30 minutes) (S33), and then determines whether or not measuring time t ₁ has ended (S34) and determines time t 1.
_When it is determined that the time t ₁ has been timed after waiting for the end of the time count of ₁ , the cold air operation described above is started (S35). Then the data of the temperature T _S of the exhaust air side of the drum 11 after cold operation outlets thermistor TH _o is detecting and stored in the memory M and (S36), and resets the time count value t ₁ of the timer TM ₁ (S37 ). continue,
Timer TM ₂ by starts counting for 10 seconds in time t ₂ (S38)
Then, it is determined whether or not the time t ₂ has been measured (S3
9), wait until the time t ₂ is timed, and perform cold air operation for 10 seconds.

[0026] Then, when determining that it has finished counting the time t _2, to stop the cold air operation (S40), followed by resetting the time count value t ₂ of the timer TM ₂ (S41), returns to step (S
Return to 14). If it is determined that the temperature T _S on the exhaust side of the drum 11 after the cold air operation is close to the temperature T _P on the exhaust side after the drying operation plus 2 ° C., the intermittent operation II is performed and the drum 11 is operated. Lower the temperature of the clothes inside. That is, in the intermittent operation II, the cold air operation for 10 seconds is repeated every 30 minutes.

Thus, even if the clothes are not taken out of the drum 11 after the drying operation, the temperature of the clothes does not rise,
Residual heat does not damage clothing. Also, since the time interval for performing the cold air operation is changed intermittently according to the temperature of the clothes after the drying operation, the cold air operation is rationally performed according to the temperature of the clothes, and the cold air operation within the unit time is performed. It is possible to provide a gas clothes dryer that consumes less time, consumes less power, and has a lower operating cost.

In the gas clothes dryer described above, the time interval of the cold air operation was changed based on the result of comparing the temperature of the air exhausted from the drum after the cold air operation and the predetermined value. The change rate with respect to a predetermined time after the end of the drying operation, that is, the time until the temperature reaches the predetermined temperature is obtained, and the time interval of the cold air operation may be changed based on the obtained change rate of the temperature. In that case, the degree of temperature rise can be predicted and the temperature in the drum can be rapidly lowered.
Also in this case, the same effect as described above can be obtained. Note that the time counts shown in the embodiments of the present invention are examples, and the present invention is not limited thereto. The same effect can be obtained even in an electric clothes dryer that heats air with an electric heater to obtain warm air.

[0029]

As described in detail above, the first aspect of the present invention compares the temperature of the air exhausted from the drum after the cold air operation with a predetermined value, and based on the comparison result, the time interval at which the cold air operation is intermittently performed. Therefore, it is possible to cool the dried clothes quickly to prevent the temperature of the clothes from rising and to prevent the clothes from being damaged, and to cool the clothes reasonably to reduce the operating cost.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the temperature of the air discharged from the drum after the cold wind operation is higher than a predetermined value, the time interval for intermittent cold air operation is shortened compared to the case where the temperature is less than the predetermined value. The damage can be prevented and the operation cost can be reduced by operating the cool air rationally.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the temperature of the air discharged from the drum after the cold air operation is equal to or higher than the temperature obtained by adding a predetermined temperature to the temperature of the air discharged from the drum after the drying operation,
The present invention did not take dry clothes out of the drum, such that the time interval for intermittently operating cold air can be shortened to prevent damage to clothes and the operating cost can be reduced by rational cold air operation compared to the case where the temperature is lower than that. In this case, it is possible to provide a clothes dryer which does not damage the clothes and has a low operating cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an internal front view of a gas clothes dryer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a right side view of the inside of the gas clothes dryer according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing control contents of a control unit.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the control contents of the control unit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the control contents of the control unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Gas clothes dryer body 3 Combustion chamber 4 Control room 9 Drying chamber 11 Drum 13 Ventilation chamber 17 Fan motor chamber 21 Door 30 CPU TH _i Inlet thermistor TH _o Outlet thermistor

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. When a drying operation is performed in which air heated and heated is passed through the drum by a fan to dry the clothes contained in the drum, and the clothes are not taken out from the drum after the drying operation is completed. In a clothes dryer that intermittently performs a cool air operation in which outside air passes through the drum at predetermined time intervals, a temperature detection unit that detects the temperature of air exhausted from the drum, and air exhausted from the drum after the cold air operation. A clothes dryer, comprising: a comparing unit for comparing the temperature of the air and a predetermined value, and a unit for changing the predetermined time interval in the cold air operation according to the comparison result by the comparing unit. 2. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined time interval is shortened when the temperature of the air discharged from the drum after the cold wind operation is equal to or higher than a predetermined value. 3. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined value is a temperature obtained by adding a predetermined temperature to the temperature of the air exhausted from the drum after the drying operation. 4. When a drying operation is performed in which air heated and heated is passed through the drum by a fan to dry the clothes contained in the drum, and the clothes are not taken out from the drum after the drying operation is completed. In a clothes dryer that intermittently performs cold air operation in which outside air passes through a drum at predetermined time intervals, a temperature detection unit that detects the temperature of air exhausted from the drum and a temperature detection unit that detects the temperature Means for obtaining a change rate for a predetermined time after the completion of the drying operation,
And a means for changing the predetermined time interval in the cold wind operation based on the temperature change rate obtained by the means.