JPH10277292A - Dryer for clothes - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To always obtain an efficient dried condition and reduce the drying time and the electric power consumption and further the drying cost, by automatically opening/closing a shutter in accordance with the condition whether or not a drying shelf is charged in the drying chamber and opening the shutter when the drying shelf is charged. SOLUTION: When a drying shelf 19 is set in a feed opening 3 of clothes as shown in the drawing, the hinge 19a of the drying shelf 19 gets into contact with a shelf-detection sensor 22 installed at the feed opening 3 of clothes and constituted of a piezoelectric element or the like and signal currents flow to detect the drying shelf 19. This detected signal is processed by a controller to drive a drive motor 18-1 for the shutter and open the shutter 18 by operating a drive cam 18-2 for the shutter. To the contrary, when the drying shelf 19 is removed from the feed opening 3 of clothes, the shutter 18 is closed. In this way, when the drying shelf 19 is set at the opening, the shutter is automatically opened and when it is removed from the opening, the shutter is automatically closed to execute a partly exhausting type drying.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clothes dryer, and more particularly, to a drying chamber in which a drying shelf is detachably mounted, and a very small amount of clothing such as a wool sweater is placed on the drying shelf. It relates to improvement of a clothes dryer for drying.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art One era ago, the mainstream of clothes dryers in Japan was the exhaust type, which had a simple structure and good drying efficiency, but the exhaust type exhausts all moisture contained in clothes to the room as humid air. Therefore, there are drawbacks such as the room getting wet and uncomfortable, and the room being moldy due to moisture.Currently, the dehumidifying type that does not emit moisture to the room by returning humid air to water with a heat exchanger and draining it It has become.

[0003] However, according to the dehumidification-type clothes dryer, although the humidity in the room is eliminated, the drying efficiency is inferior to that of the exhaust-type clothes dryer, the drying time is longer, and the power consumption is correspondingly reduced. There is a problem that the drying cost increases and the drying cost increases.

Therefore, in recent years, a ventilation path leading to the outside of the dryer frame has been provided in the circulation air path of the dehumidification-type clothes dryer so that it can be opened and closed. When the ventilation path is closed, the dehumidification type is opened. There has been proposed a clothes dryer employing an opening / closing lid that is partially switched to exhaust so that it can be used.

[0005] The prior art relating to this kind of clothes dryer is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-228897.

Recently, in a partially exhausted dehumidification-type clothes dryer, a drying shelf is detachably mounted in a drying chamber, and tumbler drying such as a wool sweater is inconvenient on the drying shelf. The method of putting clothes on and drying them has begun to spread.

[0007] In this method, the clothes are placed on a drying shelf, so that the clothes can be dried only by the warm air without giving a mechanical rotating force to the clothes, and the clothes are protected from the shape collapse and the cloth shrinkage. When drying clothes such as sweaters using a drying shelf in a partially exhausted dehumidification-type clothes dryer, the drying time is reduced by about 20 to 30% compared to a normal dehumidification-type clothes dryer. It is confirmed that it can be done.

[0008]

However, in the above-described conventional dehumidifying-type clothes dryer, even when the dryer is operated with a drying shelf installed in the drying chamber, a partially exhaust-type opening / closing lid is provided. If you do not open it, it is the same as general dehumidification drying, and although only a very small amount of clothing is dried, the drying efficiency is poor, the drying time is long, and the power consumption is correspondingly large. As a result, the drying cost increases.

An object of the present invention is to provide a partially exhausted dehumidification-type clothes dryer in which clothes are dried by using a drying shelf which can shorten the drying time by about 20 to 30% as compared with a normal dehumidification-type clothes dryer. Prevents forgetting to open the partially exhaust switching type opening / closing lid by installing a drying shelf, it is possible to reliably perform partial exhaust drying, you can always enjoy an efficient drying form, the drying time is short, and that much It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved clothes dryer which consumes less power and is advantageous in terms of drying costs.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a partially exhausted type having a drying shelf detachably mounted in a drying chamber and an openable and closable lid for exhausting a part of the circulating air inside the apparatus to the outside. In the dehumidification type clothes dryer, the opening / closing lid is automatically opened / closed according to the presence / absence of the drying shelf in the drying chamber, and the opening / closing is performed when the drying shelf is installed in the drying chamber. This is achieved by opening the lid.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 showing the structure of a clothes dryer targeted by the present invention, reference numeral 1 denotes an outer frame. Inside the outer frame 1, a drum 6 serving as a drying chamber has a front side. A drum support 13 attached to the front inner surface of the outer frame 1
The rear side is rotatably supported by a drum fan support 14.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a door which covers the clothes input port 3 and is configured to be openable and closable. Reference numeral 4 denotes a driving operation unit.

Reference numeral 5 denotes an opening / closing lid driving motor 18 for driving the dryer driving motor 11, the heater 7, and the opening / closing lid 18 for the circulation ventilation passage.
This is a control device including a microcomputer for controlling -1 and the like.

The dryer drive motor 11 and the open / close lid drive motor 18-1 are controlled via a triac, and the heater 7 is controlled via a relay.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a blower (double-sided fan) for sending hot air generated by the heater 7 into the drum 6.

The blower 8 has a function of a heat exchanger, and includes a fan belt 10 for driving the blower 8 to rotate.
The drum belt 9 that rotates the drum 6 is connected to a dryer drive motor 11.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a fan casing, which is connected to a drum support 13 via a circulation duct 17.
An exhaust port 17-2 communicating with the outside of the machine is provided at a front portion of the circulation duct 17, and an openable / closable lid 18 that can automatically open and close is provided at the exhaust port 17-2.

In the figure, reference numeral 20 denotes an exhaust port filter;
Denotes a humidity (or temperature) sensor.

In the above configuration, when ordinary clothes are dried (when clothes other than clothes for which tumbler drying is prohibited, such as a wool sweater, are dried), the door 2 is first dried.
Open the clothes that need to be dried and put the clothes 6
The door 2 is closed, and the operation is performed with the opening / closing lid 18 being closed.

When the switch of the operation unit 4 is turned on,
The dryer drive motor 11 and the heater 7 are energized, and the drum 6
And the blower 8 start rotating, and the drum 6 and the blower 8 rotate until the drying is completed.

The moisture evaporated from the clothes passes through the lint collecting device 15 together with the circulating wind, and flows into the circulation side of the fan casing 12 through the drum exhaust port 6-1 on the rear wall of the drum.

Outside air flows into the cooling side of the fan casing 12 from the back plate air intake 16-1 of the back plate 16, and is exhausted from the back plate exhaust port 16-2.

At the outer peripheral portion of the blower 8, the circulating air and the cooling air are separated by a labyrinth seal portion with a partition plate without entering and exiting. Heat exchanged between the sides
Moisture contained in the circulating wind is condensed into water, flows into the circulation duct 17 from the casing discharge port 12-1 of the fan casing 12, and is discharged out of the machine from the drain port 17-1.

In this manner, a series of drying operations as a dehumidifying method is continued.

Immediately after dehydration by the washing machine, the moisture contained in the clothing is about 45% of the weight of the clothing. As shown in FIG. 4, when 5.0 kg of the clothing is dehydrated by the fully automatic washing machine, the moisture is still 2.4.
If all of this is exhausted as humid air into the room, the room will be moist, giving people discomfort and the walls will mold, so it will be condensed as much as possible with the dehumidifying method, and the humid air into the room will be removed. Reduce. When dried by the dehumidification method, about 1.3 kg of water is discharged from the drain port 17-1 as water outside the machine. Leakage from the labyrinth seal and other seals to the outside of the machine can be reduced to about 1.1 kg, and the room cannot be closed. Ventilation ensures that people are not at a discomfort level or that the walls do not mold.

However, as shown in FIG. 5, since the dehumidification method has a lower evaporation rate than the exhaust method, it has disadvantages such as poor drying efficiency, long drying time, and high drying cost.

Therefore, when the moisture contained in the clothes is small, that is, when the clothes are dried outside and fresh-dried (dryness of 90% or more), the evaporating rate is increased if a partial exhaust method is used to dry the clothes. The time is short, the drying cost can be reduced, and the disadvantages of the dehumidification method can be minimized.

Next, a description will be given of a drying operation in which a partial exhaust system is adopted.

First, the door 2 is opened, clothes that need to be dried (clothes that have been dried and dried out) are put into the drum 6 through the clothes slot 3, the door 2 is closed, and the opening / closing lid 18 is set to the open state. And drive.

When the switch of the operation unit 4 is turned on,
The dryer drive motor 11 and the heater 7 are energized, and the drum 6
And the blower 8 start rotating, and the drum 6 and the blower 8 rotate until the drying is completed.

The moisture evaporated from the clothes passes through the lint collecting device 15 together with the circulating wind, and flows into the circulation side of the fan casing 12 through the drum exhaust port 6-1 on the rear wall of the drum.

Further, outside air flows into the cooling side of the fan casing 12 from the back plate intake port 16-1 of the back plate 16, and is exhausted from the back plate exhaust port 16-2.

At the outer peripheral portion of the blower 8, the circulating air and the cooling air are separated by a labyrinth seal portion with the partition plate without entering and exiting. Heat exchanged between the sides
Part of the moisture contained in the circulating wind is condensed into water, flows into the circulation duct 17 from the casing discharge port 12-1 of the fan casing 12, and is discharged outside the machine from the drain port 17-1. Most of the moisture contained in the circulating air is exhausted from the exhaust port 17-2 of the circulating duct 17 to the outside of the machine, and outside air is sucked in instead of the exhausted air.

In this way, a series of drying operations of the partially exhausted system is continued.

With the above configuration, when the clothes contain a large amount of moisture during drying, priority is given to preventing moisture in the room, and the drying operation is performed with the exhaust port 17-2 closed to reduce the moisture contained in the clothes. In this case, the drying efficiency is given priority and the exhaust port 17-
By performing the drying operation while opening the opening 2, the advantages of the dehumidification method and the partial exhaust method can be fully utilized.

Also, as shown in FIGS.
Opening / closing lid drive motor 18
-1 is installed, and a dehumidifying method or a partially exhausting method can be selected as a drying course in the driving operation unit 4, and the opening / closing lid 18 of the exhaust port 17-2 is linked to this, and a dehumidifying course is selected. Then, the opening / closing lid 18 of the exhaust port 17-2 is closed, and if the exhaust course is selected, the opening / closing lid 18 of the exhaust port 17-2 is opened so that the drying operation can be automatically performed. 18 can be prevented from being forgotten to open and close, and high reliability can be obtained.

Next, the case where the drying shelf 19 is used will be described.

In recent years, it has become possible to dry clothes using a drying shelf 19, such as wool sweaters, which are not suitable for tumbler drying.

However, when drying using the drying shelf 19, only about one piece of clothes (about 400 g) can be dried, which is very small compared to the drying capacity (4 to 5 kg) of the main body of the dryer.

Under such conditions, the drying efficiency is better and the drying time is shorter when the opening / closing lid 20 is opened and partial exhaust drying is performed than in the above-described dehumidifying drying. In addition, even if the exhaust system is partially exhausted, the moisture discharged into the room will
It is about 100 to 200 g per sheet, which is not enough to degrade the environment.

However, if the user manually operates the opening / closing lid 20 when the drying shelf 19 is mounted in the drying chamber, the operation is often forgotten.

Therefore, in the present invention, the opening / closing lid 20 is automatically opened when the drying shelf 19 is installed in the drying room.

That is, as shown in FIG.
Is set in the clothes inlet 3, the hinge portion 19a of the drying shelf 19 comes into contact with the shelf detection sensor 22 provided with the clothes inlet 3 and configured by a piezoelectric element or the like, and a signal current flows.
The drying shelf 19 is detected, and the detection signal is transmitted to the control unit 5 described above.
The opening / closing lid driving motor 18-1 is driven, and the opening / closing lid 18 is opened by operating the opening / closing lid driving cam 18-2.

Conversely, when the drying shelf 19 is removed from the clothes input port 3, the opening / closing lid 18 is closed.

As described above, when the drying shelf 19 is attached to the clothing slot 3, the opening / closing lid 18 is automatically opened, and when the drying shelf 19 is removed from the clothing slot 3, the opening / closing lid 18 is automatically closed.
Partial exhaust drying becomes possible.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a partially exhausted type dehumidification-type clothes dryer, the drying time can be reduced by about 20 to 30% as compared with a normal dehumidification-type clothes dryer. At the time of drying, it is possible to prevent forgetting to open the partially exhaust switching type opening / closing lid by installing a drying shelf, to ensure partial exhaust drying, to always enjoy an efficient drying form, and to shorten the drying time However, the power consumption is small by that amount, which is advantageous in terms of the drying cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the internal structure of a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an internal structure showing an example of a clothes dryer targeted by the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a part of the clothes dryer in a cutaway manner.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the amount of condensation during clothes drying time and the amount of moisture leaking into a room in a dehumidifying drying method.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a drying rate in a dehumidifying and exhausting system by a water content.

FIG. 6 is an overall internal structural explanatory view for explaining an operation of the opening / closing lid 18 in the clothes dryer according to the embodiment.

7 is an enlarged view of an opening / closing lid 18 and a portion related to the opening / closing lid 18 shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Outer frame, 3 ... Clothes insertion port, 4 ... Operation part, 5 ... Control device, 6 ... Drum, 7 ... Heater, 8 ... Blower (double-sided fan which also has a heat exchange function), 11 ... Dryer drive Motor, 17: circulation duct, 17-1: drain port, 17-2 ...
Exhaust port, 18 ... open / close lid, 18-1 ... open / close lid drive motor,
18-2: Opening / closing lid drive cam, 19: Drying shelf, 20: Exhaust port filter, 21: Humidity (or temperature) sensor, 22 ...
Shelf detection sensor.

Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hideaki Munegata 1-1-1, Higashitaga-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside the Taga Headquarters, Hitachi, Ltd.Electrical Equipment Division

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A drying chamber for storing an object to be dried, a heater for heating the drying chamber, blowing means for flowing hot air heated by the heater into the drying chamber, and a heat exchanger for condensing moisture taken from clothes. And a drying shelf detachably mounted in the drying chamber, and a clothes dryer having an openable and closable lid for exhausting a part of the in-machine circulating air to the outside of the machine. Clothes dryer characterized in that the opening / closing lid is automatically opened and closed according to the presence or absence, and the opening / closing lid is opened when a drying shelf is mounted in the drying chamber. 2. A drying chamber for storing an object to be dried, a heater for heating the drying chamber, a blowing means for flowing hot air heated by the heater into the drying chamber, and a heat exchanger for condensing moisture taken from clothes. And a drying shelf detachably mounted in the drying chamber, and a clothes dryer having an openable and closable lid for exhausting a part of the in-machine circulating air to the outside of the machine. Clothes dryer characterized in that the opening / closing lid is opened / closed in conjunction with the presence / absence, and the opening / closing lid is opened when a drying shelf is mounted in the drying room. 3. The clothes rack according to claim 1, wherein when the drying shelf is set in the clothes slot, a hinge provided on a part of the drying shelf contacts a shelf detection sensor provided in the clothes slot. Clothes dryer with signal current flowing to detect drying shelf. 4. The clothes dryer according to claim 3, wherein the shelf detection sensor is constituted by a piezoelectric element. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein:
When the drying shelf is detected, the opening / closing lid motor is driven, the opening / closing lid driving cam is operated to open the opening / closing lid, and when the drying shelf is removed, the opening / closing lid motor is driven reversely to the above, and the opening / closing lid motor is driven. Clothes dryer with a configuration that closes the open / close lid by operating the drive cam.