JPH0984996A - Clothes drier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a clothes drier for uniformizing the advance of the drying of clothes 5 and shortening drying time. SOLUTION: An indoor fan 8 rotationally drivable in both forward and backward directions sucks air inside a drying room 4 from a suction port 17, and after performing heating by a sheath heater 9, blows the air to the clothes 5 inside the drying room 4 from a blow-off port 14 during forward rotation. When the indoor fan 8 is inverted and rotated backwards in the middle of drying the clothes 5, the air inside the drying room 4 is sucked from the blow- off port 4 and heated by the sheath heater 9 and then, the air is blown to the clothes 5 inside the drying room 4 from the suction port 17.

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 while dehumidifying them in a drying chamber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, indoors such as dual-income households and single-family households are out of the house during the day, or due to many reasons such as sunshine and other housing conditions, allergies to pollen, privacy, weather, season, dust, etc. There is a great need for clothes dryers to dry laundry in the country. Therefore, as a typical clothes dryer that meets these demands, a drum dryer installed in a space above a washing machine or a clothes-drying dryer that dries clothes on a hanger is known. There is.

[0003] Among these, the drum type dryer opens the front door, loads laundry into the cylindrical drum casually, and starts operation. When the operation starts, the air heated by the heater is blown into the drum by the blower. In addition to blowing air, the drum is rotated to repeatedly rotate and drop the laundry to evaporate water.

[0004] On the back of the drum, a thin disk having a large number of radially uneven grooves formed thereon, which rotates at high speed coaxially with the drum and functions as a centrifugal impeller on both sides, is mounted. On the inside surface of this disk, the air inside the drum passes, the air passage is configured so that the outside air passes on the opposite surface, and since the inside air and the outside air are separated by the thin wall of the disk, The disk also functions as a heat exchanger. That is, the air in the drum sucked through the filter from the central opening flows on the disk along the groove, but because the outside air flows on the opposite surface, it is cooled across the thin wall. , Condenses on the disk, dehumidifies and circulates inside the machine. The grown water droplets are scattered from the disk by centrifugal force, and are collected and drained.
Thus, the evaporation and the dehumidification were performed in parallel, so that the drying was quickly performed.

[0005] However, in such a conventional drum dryer, drying is performed while loosening the overlapping laundry by a combined movement of rotation and dropping.
Noise was high, and troubles such as abrasion of the fabric, weakness of the buttoned portion, detachment of the button, and fraying of the seam were likely to occur due to friction over a long period of time. Further, there are problems that spark discharge due to static electricity occurs when the clothes are taken out after the completion of drying, and wrinkles cannot be removed unless the dried clothes are taken out quickly.

Further, since the diameter of the rotating disk cannot be so large, the heat exchange area is small and the dehumidifying ability is low.

On the other hand, the clothes-drying type clothes dryer puts the laundry on a hanger or the like, puts it in a drying chamber, blows warm air to the laundry to evaporate the water content of the laundry, and remove the water content. To remove. Similar to the drum dryer, warm air is applied to the clothes to raise the temperature, the moisture contained in the clothes is evaporated, the damp air inside the drying chamber is cooled by the heat exchanger, and dew condensation occurs on the heat exchange surface. By collecting water droplets by drying, clothes are dried while dehumidifying. Since the drying chamber is not rotated, there is no problem as in the above-described drum dryer. In addition, it is possible to increase the dehumidifying capacity by increasing the size of the heat exchanger.

[0008]

However, in such a clothes-drying type clothes dryer, the direction of the warm air and the position of the clothes hung on the hanger are fixed, so that the clothes are uneven in the dry state. There was a difficulty that I could do it. That is,
On the side near the outlet where warm air is blown, the temperature is sufficiently high and the humidity is low immediately after dehumidification, so water is actively evaporated from the laundry and drying proceeds quickly, but on the other side, it has already evaporated. Due to the water content, the temperature of the warm air is lowered and the humidity is also increased, which makes it difficult to evaporate the water content from the laundry. Therefore, there is a problem in that the progress of drying the laundry varies greatly depending on the location, and the drying time required for the entire clothes to dry becomes long.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and while maintaining the advantages of a clothes-drying type clothes dryer, the drying process of the laundry can be made uniform and the drying time can be reduced. The purpose is to provide a short clothes dryer.

[0010]

In order to achieve this object, a clothes dryer according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises a drying chamber for storing clothes and an inside air in the drying chamber.
An air passage is provided that sucks in from the suction port by the air blowing means, heats it by the heating means, and then blows it to the clothing from the air outlet.
A circulating-blowing clothes dryer for drying clothes while dehumidifying in the drying chamber, wherein the air blowing unit sucks the inside air from the air outlet and blows air to the clothes from the air inlet. The direction is reversible.

In this clothes dryer, during the drying of clothes,
It is possible to operate so that the air blowing direction of the air blowing unit is reversed, the air in the drying chamber is sucked from the air outlet, heated by the heating unit, and then blown to the clothes in the drying chamber from the air inlet.

Further, in the clothes dryer according to a second aspect of the present invention, the blowing means is constituted by a fan capable of rotating and driving in both forward and reverse directions. According to this, the wind direction can be easily reversed by reversing the fan.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of a clothes dryer embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of a clothes dryer 1 of this embodiment.

A housing 2 made of waterproof, heat-insulating plate-shaped synthetic metal or the like has a front door 3 which can be opened and closed,
The drying chamber 4 is configured with the heat exchange member 19 described later. A control panel (not shown) is provided on the upper surface of the clothes dryer 1 as input means. Multiple clothes 5
Are hung on the hangers 6 and hung on the clothes rods 7.

In the lower part of the drying chamber 4, an indoor fan 8 as a blowing means and a helical elongated sheathed heater 9 for emitting a large amount of heat at a relatively low temperature below red heat are arranged. The indoor fan 8 is configured to be rotatable in both forward and reverse directions.

The air passage 11 is formed by a partition wall 10 on the one hand and a heat exchange member 19 made of a thin aluminum plate on the other hand, as a passage for the air sent into the drying chamber by the indoor fan 8.

When the indoor fan 8 is rotated in the forward direction, the indoor fan 8 sucks the air in the upper space of the drying chamber 4 from the suction port 17 through the air passage 11 and expels it toward the sheath heater 9 side. This air is used as the sheath heater 9
It is heated by and is blown out from the air outlet 14 and directly blows on the clothes 5 hung on the hanger 6 to evaporate the water content of the clothes 5. As a result, the air that contains water vapor and becomes high in humidity rises again from the suction port 17 in the upper part of the drying chamber 4, passes through the air passage 11, and is sucked into the indoor fan 8.

On the other hand, when the indoor fan 8 is rotated in the opposite direction, the indoor fan 8 sucks in the air in the lower space of the drying chamber 4 from the air outlet 14 and heats it by the sheath heater 9 to force it toward the air passage 11 side. I often send it out. Then, the air is supplied to the clothes 5 hung on the hanger 6 from the suction port 17.
Is directly sprayed onto the clothes 5 to evaporate the water content of the clothes 5.

A temperature sensor 18 for measuring the temperature in the drying chamber 4 is installed near the suction port 17 above the drying chamber 4.

The heat exchanging member 19 separates the inside of the drying chamber 4 and the outside of the drying chamber 4 into a hermetically sealed state, and forms a part of the air passage 11 at the indoor heat exchange surface thereof. Further, in FIG. 1, an outdoor fan 21 is arranged on the upper left side of the clothes dryer 1. The outdoor fan 21 is driven by a motor (not shown), sucks the outside air through the outdoor air passage 23 from the outside air inlet 24 provided on the lower left side of the clothes dryer 1, and blows the outside air provided on the upper part of the outdoor fan 21. Discharge from the outlet 22 to the outside.

Further, below the heat exchange member 19, there is provided a water receiving portion 20 which is slightly inclined with respect to the horizontal plane.
It is configured to receive water droplets that have grown due to dew condensation on the indoor heat exchange surface and are collected in a drainage tank (not shown) connected to the lowermost end portion of the water receiving portion 20.

Next, regarding the configuration of the control system of this embodiment,
This will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG.

The control section 57 includes a ROM 51 in which a program for controlling the entire clothes dryer 1 is stored, a control panel 31, a RAM 52 for storing data input by the control panel 31, and a temperature sensor 18. An indoor fan drive circuit 53 for driving and stopping the indoor fan 8, an outdoor fan drive circuit 54 for driving and stopping the outdoor fan 21, and a heater drive circuit 55 for driving and stopping the sheath heater 9. But,
It is configured to be connected to a CPU 50 for controlling each of these components.

Next, the clothes dryer 1 configured as described above.
Will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The clothes 5 to be dried are hung on a hanger 6 and hung on a clothes rod 7, the power is turned on, and the drying time for operating the clothes dryer and the internal temperature during the drying are set from the control panel 31 (step 100, Hereinafter, the step is represented by S). At this time, the RAM 52 stores the input drying time and the set time until the indoor fan 8 is reversed (for example, 50% of the input time). CP
The U50 drives the sheath heater 9 and the outdoor fan 21, and outputs signals to the heater drive circuit 55, the outdoor fan drive circuit 54, and the indoor fan drive circuit 53 in order to rotate the indoor fan 8 in the forward direction, and An internal timer for measuring the drying time is driven (S10
2).

The air heated by the sheath heater 9 is blown from the outlet 14 into the drying chamber 4 by the indoor fan 8, and is blown vigorously from the lower side of the clothes 5 to be dried toward the clothes 5. . In the drying chamber 4, a large amount of air heated by the sheath heater 9 is circulated by the indoor fan 8, the temperature of the clothes 5 rises, and moisture starts to evaporate. At this time, the clothes 5 are actively evaporating water from the lower side near the outlets 14.

At least a part of the inside air circulating in the drying chamber 4 is taken in through the suction port 17 and passes through the air passage 11, but the outside of the heat exchange member 19 forming a part of the air passage 11. Since the heat exchange surface is forcibly cooled by the outside air taken in by the outdoor fan 21, while the inside air flows along the indoor side heat exchange surface, dew condensation occurs on the inside surface and dehumidifies. The dehumidified air is drawn into the indoor fan 8, heated by the sheath heater 9, and circulates again in the drying chamber 4. The water droplets that have grown due to dew condensation travel down the indoor heat exchange surface, flow into the water receiving portion 20 arranged below, and are collected in a drain tank (not shown).

On the other hand, the temperature in the drying chamber 4 is measured by the temperature sensor 1
8 is measured (S106), and it is determined whether the measured temperature is equal to or higher than the temperature set by the control panel 31 (S108). When it is determined that the measured temperature is equal to or higher than the set temperature (Yes in S108)
s), the CPU 50 outputs a signal to the heater drive circuit 55 to stop the sheath heater 9 so that the temperature inside the drying chamber 4 reaches the set temperature (S112). When the temperature inside the drying chamber 4 drops and the measured temperature falls below the set temperature, the CPU 50 outputs a signal to the heater drive circuit 55 to drive the sheath heater 9 again (S11).
0). By repeating this, the inside of the drying chamber 4 is maintained at a substantially constant temperature.

When the clothes 5 are dried, the indoor fan 8 is rotated in reverse so that the RAM is used when the drying time is input.
It is determined whether or not the set time stored in 52 has elapsed (S114). When it is determined that the set time has elapsed (Yes in S114), the CPU 50 causes the indoor fan drive circuit 53 to rotate the indoor fan 8 in the opposite direction.
A signal is output to (S116). When the indoor fan 8 starts to rotate in the reverse direction, the air in the drying chamber 4 is taken in from the air outlet 14 and heated by the sheath heater 9, passes through the air passage 11, and is blown into the drying chamber 4 from the suction port 17. Then, the clothes 5 to be dried are blown vigorously toward the clothes 5 from above. In the drying chamber 4, a large amount of air heated by the sheath heater 9 is circulated by the indoor fan 8, the temperature of the clothes 5 rises, and the evaporation of moisture starts. At this time, the clothes 5 are actively evaporating water from the upper side near the suction port 17.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the set time has not elapsed (No in S114), the indoor fan 8 is kept in the normal rotation, and the hot air is blown from the outlet 14 into the drying chamber 4 is maintained. To do so, the process proceeds to S106.

After that, it is determined whether or not the input drying time has elapsed (S118). When it is determined that the drying time has elapsed (Yes in S118), the sheath heater 9, the indoor fan 8, and the outdoor fan 21 are turned on. Stop each (S12
0), the operation is ended. If it is determined that the drying time has not elapsed (No in S118), the process is further shifted to S106 so as to maintain the current state.

As described above, according to the clothes dryer of the present invention, by rotating the indoor fan 8 in the forward direction and the reverse direction, the blowing direction of the warm air to the clothes 5 to be dried is reversed, and the clothes 5 are dried. Since the lower side and the upper side are efficiently dried, the drying time can be shortened.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, in the present embodiment, the indoor fan 8 is reversely rotated only once to dry the clothes 5, but the indoor fan 8 may be inverted multiple times to dry the clothes 5. In this case, the progress of drying the clothes 5 can be made more uniform.

[0035]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the clothes dryer according to the first aspect of the present invention, the air blowing direction of the air blowing means can be reversed so that the clothes are dried during the drying process. Since the blowing direction can be reversed, the progress of drying clothes can be made uniform and the drying time can be shortened.

According to the clothes dryer of the second aspect of the present invention, since the fan capable of rotating in both forward and reverse directions is used as the blowing means, the blowing direction can be easily reversed. It is possible to more simply uniformize the progress of drying clothes and shorten the drying time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electric circuit configuration of the clothes dryer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the clothes dryer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Clothes Dryer 4 Drying Room 5 Clothes 8 Indoor Fan 9 Sheath Heater 11 Airway 14 Air Outlet 17 Inlet

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A substantially closed drying chamber for storing clothes,
A circulation path for drying clothes while dehumidifying the inside air in the drying chamber by sucking in air from the suction port by the blowing unit, heating it by the heating unit, and blowing air to the clothes from the blowing port. In a blower type clothes dryer, the blower unit sucks the inside air from the outlet,
A clothes dryer characterized in that the air blowing direction can be reversed so that the clothes are blown from the suction port. 2. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the blower unit is constituted by a fan that can be rotationally driven in both forward and reverse directions.