JPS63147500A - Dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention provides a drying system that determines the drying load amount at the beginning of the drying operation and controls the drying operation based on the determination result. Regarding machines.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, some dryers are equipped with a control circuit consisting of, for example, a microcomputer as a drying control means, and the drying operation is executed by this drying control circuit.
In this case, the drying operation is performed in a selected drying course among the drying courses of the number of stages. As is well known, the above-mentioned drying courses include a "standard" course for obtaining so-called standard dryness, a "careful" course for obtaining high dryness, and a "careful" course for obtaining a high degree of dryness. The "Synthetic Fiber" course is suitable for drying synthetic fibers, and the "Synthetic Fiber" course is suitable for drying clothes with low humidity (semi-dry state).
A "finish drying" course, a so-called "iron" course for obtaining a degree of dryness suitable for ironing, etc. are stored in advance in the drying control circuit as operating programs.

By the way, in recent years, in addition to executing the drying operation using the drying course selected and set as described above, dryers have also determined the drying load amount at the beginning of the drying operation, and based on the determination result, the drying operation is controlled. You can predict the remaining time required and display that predicted time on the display, set a dryness standard value that is the standard value for determining dryness, or after detecting a predetermined degree of dryness using the dryness standard value. It has been considered to perform control such as setting the execution time of a timed operation to be executed. Here, as a means for determining the drying load amount, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-48198, the temperature of the exhaust gas discharged from the rotary drum is detected and the temperature is increased based on the temperature rise rate. One way of thinking is to determine the dry load capacity.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in this method of determining the rate of increase in exhaust gas temperature, the rise in exhaust temperature is slow, so it takes 10 minutes or more to detect the rate of increase with sufficient accuracy. It takes a long time, such as 20 minutes, and therefore there is a problem in that it takes a considerable amount of time to obtain a load amount determination result.

As a countermeasure for this, the present applicant has provided a contact detection means that has an electrode and detects contact of clothing in the rotating drum with the electrode in order to determine the amount of drying load. Load amount determination means includes a contact degree detection means for detecting the contact degree based on the contact degree detection means, and compares the contact degree such as contact frequency or contact rate detected by the contact degree detection means with a reference value for determination to determine the dry load amount. I am thinking of setting up a . In this case, since the object to be judged is the degree of contact of the clothing with the electrode, the required degree of contact can be detected by rotating the rotating drum in a short time.
Unlike the case where the rate of increase in exhaust gas temperature is the subject of determination, it can be expected that a determination result can be obtained in a short time.

Here, the relationship between the degree of contact determined by the contact degree detection means and the actual amount of drying load is approximately directly proportional, but the degree of proportionality may vary slightly depending on the type of fabric, initial dryness of the clothing, etc. found. Therefore, if the drying load of clothing is determined using a uniquely determined determination reference value, the load amount determination result will be unique for each of the drying courses mentioned above, and the predicted time set for each drying course will be There is a concern that the dryness standard value may deviate slightly from the appropriate value.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to be able to determine the amount of drying load in a short time, and to obtain appropriate determination results according to each drying course. It is an object of the present invention to provide a dryer that allows good control over drying operation.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention has a drying control means for executing a drying operation in a drying course selected from among a plurality of drying courses, and an electrode, and a rotation speed relative to the electrode. a contact detection means for detecting contact with clothing in the drum; a contact degree detection means for detecting the degree of contact based on a contact detection signal from the contact detection means; and a contact degree detected by the contact degree detection means and for determining the degree of contact. The device is equipped with a load meter judgment means for judging the drying load by comparing it with a reference value, and judges the drying load amount at the beginning of the drying operation, and controls the drying operation according to the judgment result. The present invention is characterized in that the reference value for determination in the load amount determining means is set in accordance with the drying course.

(Function) The degree of contact of clothes with the electrodes, which is the object of determining the amount of drying load, can be detected by rotating the rotating drum in a short period of time, so the result of determining the amount of load based on the detected degree of contact can be determined within a short period of time. can be obtained. Moreover, since the determination reference value for determining the drying load amount is determined according to each drying course, the drying load amount can be appropriately determined for each drying course with different types of clothing fabrics and different initial dryness degrees.

(Example) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, in FIG. 1, 1 is a motor that drives the rotating drum together with a fan, and 2 is a heater that heats the air sent into the rotating drum.These motor 1 and heater 2 are connected to a commercial AC power source via a power switch 3. The control circuit 4 drives the control circuit 4 via the drive circuit 5. The control circuit 4 has the functions of a drying control means, a contact degree detection means, and a load amount determination means of the present invention, and includes a microcombi and an S-tar. 6 is a rectifier circuit that provides DC power to the control circuit 4; 7 is a clock pulse generation circuit that provides clock pulses to the control circuit 4; 8 is a thermistor that detects the temperature of the air discharged from the rotating drum; The temperature signal is used by the control circuit 4 to determine abnormal overheating during drying operation. Reference numeral 9 denotes a pair of electrodes provided so as to be able to come into contact with clothing in the rotating drum. Reference numeral 10 denotes a contact detection circuit serving as contact detection means. As shown in FIG. Amplifier 11
．． The reference voltage generation circuit 12 is configured with a comparator 13, etc., and detects the cloth resistance between the electrodes 9 at a voltage level (the cloth resistance and the detected voltage are inversely proportional), and the detected voltage Ek is applied to the reference voltage generation circuit 12. A comparator 13 compares the reference value with the base value obtained by the above, and the high level output thereof is given to the control circuit 4 as a contact detection pulse Ps which is a contact detection signal. 14 is a dryness detection circuit, which is connected to the contact detection circuit 1.
The electrode 9 and the buffer amplifier 11 in the buffer amplifier 15 . A peak value holding circuit 17 consisting of a diode 15a and a memory capacitor 16 holds the peak value, and the peak value is sent to the control circuit 4 as a dryness detection signal Sp via a buffer amplifier 18 etc.
give to The peak value and dryness detection signal Sp are periodically lowered to the initial level by a timing signal St output from the control circuit 4 at a predetermined timing. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 19 denotes a course selection switch for selecting and setting a drying course for the drying operation in the control circuit 4.
course.

``Careful'' course, ``Synthetic fiber'' course, ``Shi'' - drying''
Select and set the "Iron" course in sequence. In FIG. 2 showing the operation panel, 20 to 24 are light emitting diodes that display the selected drying course, 25 is a start switch that starts the drying operation, and 26 is a three-digit 7.
A time indicator consisting of segmented light emitting diodes.

Here, the control circuit 4 stores programs for each course as drying operation programs, and the drying courses include "
"Standard" course, "Careful" course to obtain high dryness, "Synthetic fiber" course suitable for drying when the clothes to be dried are made of synthetic fibers, and clothes with low dampness (semi-dry). "Final drying" course suitable for drying
There is a so-called "iron" course to obtain a degree of dryness suitable for ironing. The control circuit 4 also has a program for drying load determination control, and is configured to predict, for example, the remaining time required for drying operation according to the load determination result and display the predicted time on the time display 26. It has become. In this case, the control circuit 4 is the contact detection circuit 1
The contact detection pulse Ps from 0 is counted for a predetermined time and the contact frequency is detected as the degree of contact based on the count value, and the detected contact frequency is compared with the standard value for determination held by the control circuit 4. This method determines the drying load of the melon.

Now, the reference value for determination held by the control circuit 4 will be described. Fig. 4 shows the relationship between the drying load QQ (Kg) obtained experimentally and the contact frequency K caused by the contact detection pulse Ps. The characteristic line Qb shows the change in load when the clothing is made of cotton, which is a typical example, and the characteristic line Qb shows the change in the load when the clothing is made of synthetic fibers, such as cut yarn, or when the clothing is in a semi-dry state. It shows. Incidentally, cases in which the clothes are left in a semi-dry state include cases where the clothes have been slightly air-dried outdoors or the like, or cases where the final dehydration at the end of washing has a high dehydration rate. As can be seen from the characteristic lines Qa and Qb in Fig. 4, there is a direct proportional relationship between the contact frequency and the drying load OQ. , which is different from that in special cases such as when the clothing fabric is made of synthetic fibers or when it is in a semi-dry state. The reason for such a difference in drying load is as follows.

That is, when cotton clothing and synthetic fiber clothing are dehydrated under the same conditions, while cotton's dehydration rate is in the 50% range, synthetic fiber's dehydration rate is about 80%, and is therefore lighter. Furthermore, in this case, the moisture contained in the clothing is present not on the surface of the fabric but in its fibers. From the above, when the degree of contact is light, the detection voltage Ek becomes small (for example, 0.5 V or less) and it is not possible to obtain the contact detection pulse Ps. As a result, even if the load amount is the same for cotton and synthetic fibers, the frequency of contact is lower in the case of synthetic fibers. Therefore, if the reference value for determining the load amount Q from the contact frequency K is determined uniquely based on the relationship of the characteristic line Qa, in the case of special clothing, the load amount Q can be determined by the contact frequency Kx. It was determined to be QaX,
An amount smaller than the actual load ff1Qbx is determined.

If the remaining time required for the drying operation is predicted based on such a determination result, the remaining time required will be set shorter than the actual remaining time required.

Therefore, in this example, the reference value for judgment is set in the case of normal clothing, in other words, among the drying courses, the "standard" course, the "careful" course, and the "iron" course, in which the fabric of the clothing is made of other than synthetic fibers, are used. In other words, if the clothing is special, it is called "synthetic fiber".
Different reference values for determination are set for the course and the "finish drying" course. In other words, the standard value for determining the drying load amount from the detected contact frequency (degree of contact) is set to the "standard" course.

In the "careful" course and "iron" course, the characteristic line Q
As can be seen from FIG. 6(a), the criterion value for the load Eij Q a less than 1 is less than Ka1, and the load m Q a 1 to Qa2 (
The reference value for judgment for load m Q a 2 - Q a 3 is Ka1 to Ka2 (less than), and the reference value for judgment for load m Q a 2 to Q a 3 is Ka 2 to Ka 3, negative 6:
The reference value for judgment for 7 m Q a 3 to Qa4 is I
(a3 to Ka4, the reference value for judgment for load EI Q a 4 or more is Ka4 or more.
As can be seen from FIG. 6(b), when either the "synthetic fiber" course or the "1]: drying" course is set,
The reference value for judgment for load Q Q b less than 1 is K b
less than 1, and the load ffi Q b t ~ Qb2 (
The reference values for judgment for loads ff1Q b 2 to Qb3 are Kb and -Kb2, and the reference values for judgment for loads ff1Q b 2 to Qb3 are
b2 to I(b3), and the reference value for determination for a load m Q b 3 or more is K b 3 or more.

Further, FIGS. 7(a) and 7(b) show, for each course, the time value of the remaining required time predicted according to the determination result of the load amount.

Now, the operation of the above will be described with reference also to FIG. As shown in step s1 in FIG. 5, first, the control circuit 4 is initialized.

In step S2, a drying course is selected and set based on the input from the course selection switch 19. Next, as shown in step S3, an input from the start switch 25 is waited for, and when the input is received, the motor 1 and the heater 2 are driven to start drying operation. This causes the rotating drum to rotate and heats the air to the rotating drum.

In this case, the clothing comes into contact with the electrode 9 intermittently as the rotating drum rotates, and a contact detection pulse Ps is given to the control circuit 4. With the start of this drying operation, as shown in step S4, contact detection pulses Ps from the contact detection circuit 10 are counted for a predetermined period of time, for example, 2 minutes, and the contact frequency K is detected based on this count value. in this case,
In the determination method that targets the rate of increase in exhaust gas temperature by 1, it takes a long time for the exhaust temperature to rise to the desired temperature.
In this embodiment, since it is sufficient to count the contact detection pulses Ps in a fixed short period of time, the time required to detect the contact frequency K, which is the degree of contact, is short.

After this, as can be seen from step S5, the drying course is
A determination is made as to whether the course is the Il course, the "careful" course, or the "iron" course. Here, when the selected drying course corresponds to any of the above, as shown in step s8, each of the determination reference values Kal, Kaz, Ka3,
Ka4 is set, and as shown in the next step S7, its judgment base] values Kax, Kaz, Kas
, Ka4 and the detected contact frequency K are compared, and depending on the comparison result, the drying load Q is less than Q81 + Q a i ~ Qa
21 Qa2-Qa3 I Qa3-Qa4 Determined as any of 1084 or above. For example, if this detected contact frequency K is included between the determination reference values Ka 1 and Ka 2, the load amount is determined to be between Qat and Qa2. Then, as shown in step S8, the remaining time required for the drying operation is determined according to this load amount determination value as shown in FIG. 7(a).
The prediction is set using the time value shown in , and then the predicted time is displayed on the display 26 as shown in step S9. On the other hand, the selected drying courses are "Synthetic Fiber J Course" and "
If it is one of the ``finish drying'' courses, the process goes through ``rNOJ'' in step S5 and ``rYES'' in step SIO'' to step Sl 1 , step S12. Step S1
Move to 3. In step Sll, determination reference values Kbl and Kb2 are used as determination reference values.

K b 3 is set, and in the next step S12, the detected contact frequency at this point is determined as 21! , value Kb
,,Kb2. Kb3, the load amount Q is less than Kb, Kb1 to Kb2. Kb2-Kb3. Determine whether it is Kb3 or higher. For example, when the detected contact frequency K is included between the determination reference values K b 1 and K b 2, it is determined that the load mQ is Qbt-Qb2. Then, in step S13, the remaining required time according to the determination load amount is predicted and set as the time value shown in FIG. 7(b), and the process moves to the aforementioned step S (predicted time display). After this, the dryness detection signal Sp from the dryness detection circuit 14 is
The dryness level detected based on the dryness level starts to determine whether it has reached a predetermined reference value, and when the dryness level reaches the reference value, a timed operation determined for each course is performed and the drying operation is ended. .

In the above embodiment, the contact detection pulse Ps from the contact detection circuit 10 is counted at a predetermined time, and the count value, that is, the contact frequency is used as the degree of contact. ), and the contact rate obtained by dividing the added value by a predetermined time may be used as the contact degree. Further, in the above embodiment, the control target controlled based on the determined load amount is control for predicting the remaining time of drying operation, but it may also be control for setting a reference value for determining the degree of dryness. Execution time setting control for a timed operation performed after a predetermined degree of dryness is detected may also be used. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the drying control means, the degree of contact detection means, and the load amount determination means are constructed from a control circuit comprising a microcomputer, but each means may be constructed from an individual electronic circuit.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the scope of the invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, the present invention detects the degree of contact of clothing with the electrode and determines the dry load amount based on the detected degree of contact. The time can be significantly shortened, and the control contents can be quickly set when controlling the drying operation.Furthermore, the load amount can be determined appropriately according to the type of clothing fabric and the initial drying state. It is also possible to obtain an appropriate load amount determination result according to the drying course of the drying operation, and as a result, there is an excellent effect that the control regarding the drying operation can be performed satisfactorily.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the electrical configuration, Fig. 2 is a front view of the operation panel, Fig. 3 is an electrical circuit diagram of the main parts, and Fig. 4 shows contact frequency and load. Figure 5 is a flowchart 1 for explaining the effect, Figures 6 (a) and (b) are diagrams showing the reference values for judgment for different drying courses, respectively. Figure 7 (a) and (b)
) is a diagram showing the relationship between the load amount determination result and the predicted time in each drying course. In the figure, 1 is a motor, 2 is a heater, 4 is a control circuit (dryness control means, contact degree detection means, load port determination means), 9 is an electrode, 10 is a contact detection circuit (contact detection means), and 14 is the degree of dryness. A detection circuit, 19 a course selection switch, and 26 a time indicator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A drying control means for executing a drying operation in a drying course selected from among a plurality of drying courses, a contact detection means having an electrode and detecting contact of clothing in a rotating drum with the electrode, and this contact detection contact degree detection means for detecting the degree of contact based on a contact detection signal from the means; and load amount determination means for determining the dry load amount by comparing the degree of contact detected by the contact degree detection means with a reference value for determination. The drying load amount is determined at the beginning of the drying operation, and the drying operation is controlled based on the determination result, and the reference value for determination in the load amount determining means is set as the drying load amount at the beginning of the drying operation. A dryer characterized in that settings can be made according to the course.