JPS6359356B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a dehumidifying type clothes dryer for use in general households.

(Conventional configuration and its problems) Most of the conventional dehumidifying clothes dryers of this type are configured to control operation using an attached timer device, and these are controlled by the user. A timer was used to set the operating time, which was determined comprehensively based on the amount of clothes to be dried and the material of the clothes, and to start the operation, and when the set time was reached, the operation was automatically stopped. However, in such conventional dehumidifying clothes dryers, the setting of the operating time using a timer is left to the user's intuitive judgment, so when the operation is stopped, the clothes may still be dry or dry. Frequently, the fabric was damaged due to excessive drying, and the user needed considerable skill to properly judge the operating time.

Therefore, conventionally, a structure has been proposed that detects the electrical resistance value of clothes being dried and the internal temperature of the dryer, and automatically determines the completion of drying based on changes in these values and stops the operation. However, even in these cases, it is not always possible to stop the operation in a moderately dry state because changes in the electrical resistance of the clothes or changes in the internal temperature vary greatly depending on the material and amount of clothes to be dried. Ta. That is,
For the type that detects the electrical resistance value of clothing,
For example, when mixing and drying cotton clothing and synthetic clothing, the synthetic clothing dries much faster than the cotton clothing, so the detection electrode that detects the electrical resistance value of the clothing is made of which material. Since the time point at which it is determined that drying is complete varies greatly depending on whether the electrical resistance value of the clothing is detected, the accuracy of drying completion detection has been quite low. Furthermore, even with dryers that detect the internal temperature, the internal temperature changes slightly depending on the amount of clothing and ambient temperature, making it difficult to accurately detect the end of drying. It was hot.

In addition, as a means of determining the end of drying, two electrodes are installed on a part of the wall of the circulating air passage, and the presence or absence of water flowing on the wall is replaced with the presence or absence of conduction between the electrodes to detect the end of drying. Some methods have been proposed, but in reality, even if water no longer flows on the wall,
It has been experimentally confirmed that the moisture in clothing continues to evaporate into fine water droplets suspended in the air, and the drying state has not yet been reached. Therefore, it is impossible to accurately detect the end of drying with this method.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional example, and is an extremely easy-to-use dehumidifying clothes dryer by improving the accuracy of drying end detection and completely automating clothes drying. It provides:

(Structure of the Invention) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention exchanges heat with the outside air by using a heat exchange type blower that has both heat exchange and blowing functions for the air inside the drum that stores clothes, and also heats the air inside the drum for storing clothes. In a dehumidifying clothes dryer, the heat exchange type blower and heater in the circulating air passage are placed on the same plane and spaced apart from each other at a predetermined distance. A water droplet detection device consisting of a pair of facing comb-shaped electrodes is installed to detect the presence or absence of mist-like water droplets floating in the circulating air passage from the heat exchange type blower that exchanges heat while rotating. This is detected from the electrical resistance value between the electrodes, and the operation is stopped when the water droplets are gone.

(Description of Embodiments) Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 1, 1 is a heat exchange type blower;
It blows circulating air to dry clothes and cooling air to cool the heat exchange type blower itself, and at the same time exchanges heat between the two. Figure 2 shows the details of the blade part. In addition, in FIGS. 1 and 2, black arrows indicate the flow of circulating air, and white arrows indicate the flow of cooling air. Further, 2 is a drum that stores clothes to be dried, 3 is a motor that rotationally drives the heat exchange type blower 1 and the drum 2, 4 is a heater that heats the circulating air guided into the drum 2, and 5 is a heat exchange type blower 1. A circulation duct 6 is a fan case of the heat exchange type blower 1, and 6 is a fan case of the heat exchange type blower 1, and the circulation duct 5 leads the circulating air sucked out from the drum 2 by the heat exchange type blower 1 to the drum 2 again. It constitutes a circulating air passageway that sends air into the interior. Reference numeral 7 denotes a water droplet detection device installed between the heat exchange type blower 1 and the heater 4 in the circulation duct 6, and as shown in FIG. Teeth-shaped electrodes 7b and 7c are formed. Further, 8 is an outer frame of the dryer, 9 is a lid for putting in clothes provided on the front side of the outer frame 8, and 10
1 is a drainage hose that leads dehumidified water to the outside of the machine, 11 is a cooling air intake port, and 12 is a cooling air exhaust port.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained. When the dehydrated clothes are put into the drum 2 and the operation starts, the rotation of the motor 3 rotates the heat exchange type blower 1 and the drum 2, and the heater 4
energization is started. As a result, the air heated by the heater 4 absorbs moisture from the clothing within the drum 2, becomes hot and humid, and is drawn into one side of the blade of the heat exchange type blower 1. At the same time, outside air is taken in as cooling air on the other component side of the blades of the heat exchange type blower 1, and the circulating air and cooling air flow side by side with the blades of the heat exchange type blower 1 in between. Therefore, heat is exchanged between the circulating air and the cooling air through the blades, and heat is removed from the circulating air to produce condensed water. The water condensed on the surface of the blade on the drum 2 side is blown away together with the dehumidified circulating air by the centrifugal force of the heat exchange blower 1 and sent into the circulation duct 5. At this time, most of the condensed water flows along the wall of the circulation duct 5,
A part of the condensed water is discharged from the drain hose 10 to the outside of the machine, but some of the condensed water becomes mist-like water droplets and floats in the circulating air. Then, these floating water droplets are detected by the water droplet detection device 7.
Since the water droplets are attached to both the comb-shaped electrodes 7a and 7b and extremely reduce the electrical resistance value between the two comb-shaped electrodes 7a and 7b, the presence of water droplets is detected by the water droplet detection device 7. Ru. In this way,
The cooled and dehumidified circulating air is heated again by the heater 4 and sent into the drum 2, and the cooled air, which has become high temperature by removing the heat from the circulating air, is passed through the exhaust port 1.
2 is ejected from the machine. As the drying progresses by repeating the above process and the clothes become moderately dry, moisture evaporates from the clothes in the drum 2 and the humidity in the circulating air sucked into the heat exchange blower 1 decreases. , condensation of water on the surfaces of the blades of the heat exchange blower 1 hardly occurs, and therefore there are no floating water droplets in the circulating air. For this reason, both comb-shaped electrodes 7 of the water droplet detection device 7
The water droplet adhering across electrodes 7b and 7c disappears, and the electrical resistance value between both comb-shaped electrodes 7b and 7c increases rapidly, so the water droplet detection device 7 detects that the water droplet is gone. Stop driving.

As described above, in this embodiment, the presence or absence of water droplets floating in the circulating air in the circulating duct 5 constituting the circulating air passage is determined by the electric current between the pair of comb-shaped electrodes 7b and 7c facing each other in the water droplet detection device 7. It detects from the resistance value and determines that drying is complete when water droplets can no longer be detected, so it is possible to detect the drying state of the entire clothes in the drum 2 on an average basis, and also to determine the material and quantity of the clothes to be dried. , it is possible to always detect the end of drying with high accuracy without being affected by ambient temperature, etc.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the present invention provides a dehumidifying clothes dryer in which a water droplet detection device detects the presence or absence of mist water droplets floating in the circulating air cooled and dehumidified by a heat exchange blower. By determining the end of drying when there are no more water droplets, it is now possible to accurately detect the complete drying state, and it is also possible to averagely detect the drying state of the entire garment being dried. It is possible to reliably and easily detect the end of drying without being affected by differences in clothing material, quantity, or ambient temperature, making it possible to fully automate clothing drying and ensure that no matter who is using it, it can always be used. This has effects such as being able to obtain an optimal drying condition for clothes.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed view of a blade portion of a heat exchange type blower according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a detailed diagram of the water droplet detection device of FIG. 1...Heat exchange type blower, 2...Drum, 4...
Heater, 5... Circulation duct, 7... Water drop detection device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heat exchange type blower that exchanges heat and blows air between the hot and humid air generated in a drum that stores clothes and outside air, and a heat exchange type blower that sends air from inside the drum by the heat exchange type blower through a heater and returns it to the above air. a circulating air passage leading into the drum, and a water droplet detection device for detecting the presence or absence of mist water droplets floating in the air between the heat exchange type blower and the heater in the circulating air passage. , the water droplet detection device has a pair of comb-shaped electrodes facing each other at a predetermined interval on the same plane, and detects mist floating in the air based on the electrical resistance between the two comb-shaped electrodes. A dehumidifying clothes dryer characterized by being configured to detect the presence or absence of minute water droplets.