JPS6365360B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method of operating a clothes dryer, and particularly to a method of operating a clothes dryer in which a remaining time is displayed during the operation.

The operation of current clothes dryers is based on a program set by a group of equipped timer cam switches, and the program is fixed, making it difficult to complicate its applied operation and control.

On the other hand, if you use a computer such as a microcomputer to program and digitize the timer device, it will be possible to exchange information with the dryer itself, making it easier to use and creating programs with optimal conditions for smooth operation. We can expect excellent operation.

As mentioned above, mechanical timers with sequence controllers are currently used, but electronically controlled timers using computers such as microcomputers and various sensors can automatically control the amount, type, and condition of drying cloth. It becomes easy to judge, determine the required time, drying temperature, etc., and display the status.

Furthermore, complicated control of temperature and time corresponding to the type of clothing is almost impossible with conventional mechanical timers.

On the other hand, in contrast to the conventional method using a mechanical timer that operates only for a time set by the user, there are dryers that use an automatic drying control method that detects the end of drying and automatically stops the drying.

This can be used to directly detect the dryness of the dry state,
This system detects the current exhaust temperature, which changes depending on the degree of dryness, and stops the operation, but it can be used for various drying tasks (for example, half-dry state for ironing, half-dry state for ironing, It is not easy to control the amount of heat generated near the end of the process.

In contrast, with the above-mentioned computer, electronically controlled timer, etc., it is possible to provide a variety of drying tasks according to the wishes of the user.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for operating a clothes dryer that is capable of displaying the progress status using remaining time, etc., in order to indicate the current point in time during automatic drying operation, as an improvement over the above-mentioned conventional technology. It is something to do.

The present invention comprises a drying chamber for drying clothes, an air supply port provided on the suction side of the drying chamber, an exhaust port provided on the exhaust side of the drying chamber, an air blowing section for blowing air into the drying chamber, and a drying chamber. a heat source that heats the air supplied to the room;
Operation of a clothes dryer, which is equipped with a control unit that detects temperature changes in exhaust gas and controls the operation of the dryer, and has a material preheating section X, a constant rate drying section Y, and a lapse rate drying section Z as the drying process of the dryer. In the method, the exhaust temperature per unit time in the material preheating section This is what I did.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to each figure.
In the figure, the configuration of a series of dryers will be explained.

First, FIG. 1 is a partially opened sectional view of essential parts of a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 10 is an outer frame, 12 is a front cover of the outer frame 10, and 14 is a drum related to the drying room, which includes a clothes input port 14a at the front and a filter 34 for removing lint from the airflow at the rear. A filter guard 32 for protection, a small hole 14b, and a drum shaft 14c are provided, and a lifter 16 is provided on the side wall.

18 is the front bearing of the drum 14 and the front cover 12
20 is a rear bearing of the drum 14, which is supported by the outer frame 10 using support means such as support by a fan casing 24, which will be described later.

24 is a casing, and a fan 22 related to the blowing section
The airflow sucked by the fan 22 is
Inlet port 26, airtight gasket 30 and then exhaust port 2
8. It is designed to be discharged from the exhaust pipe 36.

Reference numeral 38 denotes a first driving force transmission means, which includes a first pulley 38a provided at one end of the shaft of a motor 40 as a driving source installed below in the outer frame 10, and a fan 22.
The second pulley 38b provided on the rotating shaft of the belt 3
The second pulley 42a provided at the other end of the shaft of the motor 40 connects to the tension pulley 4.
4. The drum 14 is rotated via the flat belt 42b.

46 is screwed onto the back plate of the rear wall of the outer frame 10.

48 is a controller that executes a series of drying operations.

Further, 52 is a heater, which is a positive resistance temperature characteristic element 3.
54 is an air supply port, and 56 is a door, which is attached with a door switch (not shown).

62 is an air supply thermistor, 64 is an exhaust thermistor, 100 is a panel decoration plate related to the panel portion, and 110 is a power switch.

Next, what is shown in FIG. 2 is a computer, such as a microcomputer, in the clothes dryer, which is incorporated into the controller 48, that is,
This diagram schematically shows the internal functions of the instruction control unit PS, which has a calculation function and is related to a control unit that performs drying work according to a set order, including the relationship with input/output terminals.

Each of the illustrated blocks inside the above-mentioned instruction control unit PS will be explained.

The double arrows in the figure indicate data buses or address buses.

First, the input/output terminals A to I (C and D are input/output terminals) are connected to the ALU section (Arithmetic Logic
Unit: Arithmetic logic unit)
The Acc part (accumulator) stores calculation results and processing data, and together with the ALU part, which has functions such as calculation and judgment, it constitutes the central part of the instruction control part PS.

Note that c ₁ in the above Acc section is the Cary F/
F, c ₂ is a carry retraction F/F. Here, F/F is a flip-flop.

The ROM section (read-only memory) is a storage section in which settings for conditions for determining procedures for operating the clothes dryer, rules for processing various types of information, etc. are loaded in advance.

The counter for addressing the program stored in this ROM section is performed by the PC section (program counter) described below the ROM section.

The STACK section (stack register) is used to save and hold the contents of the PC section when a subroutine call or an interrupt processing request is made.

The RAM section (random access memory) is used to store data and is
(Data point) is a counter that addresses data in this RAM section.

The TIMER section (timer) executes each process stored in the ROM section on time by accumulating time limits in response to a timer set command.

The interrupt control circuit section handles the interrupt processing request signal.
Entering INT allows you to interrupt and import an instruction in progress.

The CLOCK GENERATOR section has terminals CL ₀ and CL ₁ , which will be described later, and controls the timing of the operation of the instruction control section PS.

Next, FIG. 3 shows the external appearance of the above-mentioned instruction control section PS together with the order in which its terminals are arranged.

In the figure, terminal No. 21 (V _SS ) (hereinafter referred to as terminal 21).
The same goes for the others. ) and the terminal 41 (V _GG ) are related to the power source that drives the instruction control unit PS.

The terminal groups A, B, C, and D mentioned earlier are each made up of four signal terminal groups, and the command control section
Terminal groups E, F, G, H, and I are each made up of four signal terminal groups (however, only I has three signal terminals), and the instruction control unit PS It controls the output of

In addition, terminal 1 (CL ₁ ) and terminal 42
(CL ₀ ) is an external terminal for the LC resonant circuit for the CLOCK GENERATOR section that controls the operation timing of the instruction control section PS. Terminal 6 (INT) is the interrupt processing request input terminal. Terminal 7 (RES) is for reset. The input terminal and the terminal 20 (TEST) are test terminals of the instruction control unit PS.

Further, FIG. 4 shows a sensor input section, a display output circuit, and peripheral circuits of the instruction control section PS.

Q is a 2-digit numeric display tube, R is a progress display section consisting of display elements L ₁ to L ₁₂ (for example, up to 12 display lamps), and the remaining numbers are displayed by numbers or individual display elements. It is possible to display the time and progress status. Note that the above display element is not limited to a lamp.

In other words, as an example regarding the output of the Acc part mentioned earlier, a total of 15 terminals of terminals F, G, H and I related to output are used as a display, and the 2-digit numerical display tube Q is used for all processes. The remaining time is displayed using a fluorescent display or light emitting diode.

Further, 60 is a decoder (commonly known as an A/D decoder) that converts the analog value of each input sensor into a digital value, and is related to the supply/exhaust temperature detection device.

60a is an air supply A/D converter that converts the value of the air supply thermistor 62; 60b is an exhaust A/D converter that converts the value of the exhaust thermistor 64; and 60c is an exhaust A/D converter that converts the value of the electric transformer 66. This is a current A/D converter.

Each converter converts voltage (current) from a thermistor or current transformer from an analog value to a digital value based on commands from output terminals 2, 3, and 4 of the instruction control unit PS, and converts the voltage (current) from an analog value to a digital value from an input terminal 38, 39,
Output each to . With this configuration, the instruction control unit
The information that the PS wants to obtain can be taken in from each sensor each time, processed by the ALU section, stored in the RAM section area, and further retrieved for calculation processing.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the display on the numeric display tube Q.

In other words, when the remaining time is 15 minutes to 14 minutes, 15 is displayed as shown in Figure 5 A, and when the remaining time is 1 minute to 0 minutes,
It is displayed as 0 as shown in the figure (b).

What is shown in FIG. 6 is an example of a layout diagram of a panel portion such as a surface of a frame body.

Here, as described above, 100 is a panel decoration plate, 110 is a power switch, 111 is a display section, and 100A to 100E are push button switches.

100A is an automatic drying cycle, and 100B is a timed drying cycle.The key switch for the cycle that detects the degree of dryness and automatically controls drying, which will be described later, is the push button switch 100A. The push button switch 100B is the key switch for a timed drying cycle in which drying work is performed for a limited time.

Next, the operating method of the present invention will be explained using FIGS. 7 to 18.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the above-mentioned clothes dryer, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of its drying procedure.
The figure is a drying temperature transition diagram, Figure 10 is a characteristic diagram of the relationship between drying time and dT/dt, and Figures 11 and 12 are
The figure is also an explanatory diagram of the operation, Figures 13 and 16 are low chart diagrams showing the operation, and
7 and 18 are characteristic diagrams of the positive resistance temperature characteristic element.

In other words, in the case of automatic, push button switch 1
By pressing 00A and further pressing the push button switch 100A the number of times to select one of the time limits t ₁ , t ₂ , t ₃ , t ₄ minutes, etc.
When the lamp is turned on, a drying operation as shown in FIG. 7 is performed.

In FIG. 7, the time period t indicates the additional setting time following the automatic process based on the above selection, and ΔT ₁ is also the temperature difference between the suction air temperature and the exhaust temperature in the dryer. There is a certain temperature difference at which the heater should be turned off.

Also, △T ₂ stops the heater as described above, but the clothing has a temperature potential, and when it drops and reaches a certain temperature, the motor will stop. This is the same temperature difference as above, which must be constant.

By the way, in general, the temperature change of the exhaust gas during the drying process generally changes in the material preheating section X, the constant rate drying section Y, and the lapse rate drying section Z, as shown in Fig. 9. Are known.

The above- _mentioned material preheating section It shows different curves like.

In FIG. 8, the supply air temperature T ₁ is detected by the supply air thermistor 62 shown in FIG. It is then stored in the RAM section.

Similarly, the exhaust temperature T ₀ is detected by the exhaust thermistor 64, and the exhaust A/D converter 60b
The data is processed by the input terminal 39 and stored in the RAM section.

By taking in these two pieces of information again after △t time and calculating △T=T ₀ −Ti, △T/△
t (dT/dt) can be calculated and the value for dry matter, that is, the time required for drying the dry matter, can be determined.

In calculation processing, contrary to the method of measuring the time △t required for the exhaust gas temperature T ₀ to rise and T ₀ −Ti=△T with the temperature difference △T as a constant, the calculation time △ With t as a constant, the temperature difference between supply and exhaust is △
Although there are methods for measuring T, it is thought that it is best to select and use this method according to the calculation process.

Regarding ΔT/Δt above, in general, the longer the drying time is, the smaller ΔT/Δt is, and the shorter the drying time is, the larger ΔT/Δt is.

This means that in the material preheating period _W (Kcal/Kg
℃), the temperature rise of water is dT/dt (deg/min), and when loss is ignored, the following equation holds true.

dQ/dt=dT/dt・C _W・G In other words, moisture content G and temperature change dT/dt are inversely proportional, moisture content G is approximately proportional to drying time, and moisture content temperature change dT/dt is , can be seen as the temporal change of △T of the supply and exhaust temperature difference C, and the first
The relationship between drying time and dT/dt shown in Figure 0 is obtained.

From this result, it is possible to calculate the drying time of the material to be dried by detecting dT/dt.

With this, the remaining time is displayed on the display section 111 (Fig. 6).
It is easy to display.

Here, the difference between the exhaust temperature T _{0 and} the supply air temperature Ti shown in FIG. It is defined as ΔT, which is the temperature difference between air and exhaust gas.

Now, returning to Figure 7 earlier, in this Figure 7, the push button switch 100 of the key switch is
In the case of A (automatic), the additional setting time is set from the time when the above-mentioned temperature difference reaches △T ₁ of temperature difference A, for lamp 103, t ₁ minute, lamp 104, t ₂ minutes, and lamp 105,
It is set at t ₃ minutes, and the same 106 is set at t ₄ minutes, and is equipped with applications depending on the difficulty of drying.

In addition, the push button switch 10 of the key switch
In the case of 0B (timed), as mentioned above, as shown in Fig. 11, drying is performed for a certain period of time without automatic operation, and the heater time is t ₁ minute for lamp 103 and t 10 for lamp 103.
The drying operation is carried out only for t ₂ minutes in No. 4, t ₃ minutes in No. 105, and t ₄ minutes in No. 106.

Therefore, in FIG. 6, the key switches 100C, 100D, 1
00E is a three-way switch, and by pressing push button switch 100C, lamp 1 is switched on.
07 lights up, as shown in FIG. This ironer cycle works, and is used when you want to take it out after drying and leave it slightly damp before pressing with _{an iron} . is set to , and
A program is incorporated to shorten the time corresponding to the previous additional setting times t ₁ , t ₂ , t ₃ , and t ₄ by x%.

In addition, the push button switch 10 of the key switch
By pressing 0D, lamp 108 is turned on, as shown in FIG. 12 above. It operates as a soft cycle, and is set to △T 4, which is set lower than △T ₁ of the temperature difference A, and the lapse rate drying zone Z mentioned above is set to △T ₄ .
It is designed to handle applications that require drying at low temperatures, such as fibers that are sensitive to heat.

Next, as mentioned above, FIGS. 13 to 16 are flowcharts showing the operations, and the operations will be explained based on these.

In FIG. 13, first, the input data when the key is turned on is read and the set time is determined.

If automatic, turn on the lamp 102; if timed, turn on the lamp 101, turn on the motor 40 and two of the heaters 52 consisting of three PTCs.
Then, one of the set time lamps 103 to 106 lights up.

Then, moving from FIG. 13 to FIG. 14, the push button switch 100 of the key switch is pressed.
Corresponding to C, 100D, 100E, lamp 10
7, 108, and 109 light up.

Next, after 20 seconds, another PTC in heater 52 is added. This is generally the PTC
In this case, the inrush current is large as shown in FIG. 18, and the time period is relatively long. Therefore, the inrush current is suppressed by delaying the operation.

The current value is I ₃ (a constant value that is the upper limit of the heater current)
If the following occurs, proceed to the next step, and take advantage of the fact that when cotton dust accumulates on the filter 34 mentioned earlier, the amount of ventilation of the heater 52 decreases, so the amount of heat generated decreases, and the current value also decreases. The value is detected for 5 seconds and I ₂
(a constant value that is the lower limit of the heater current) or less,
Blow the clogging buzzer BZ for 20 seconds, and
Turn off the heater 52.

In the method according to the present invention, as mentioned earlier, the drying time by detecting dT/dt related to the temperature gradient is changed to the set time related to the time limit t shown in FIG. , and determine the required drying time, so that in Figure 15,
It displays the remaining time.

Then, detect the difference in supply and exhaust temperature, turn on the key switch push button switch 100D,
Repeat turning the motor 40 ON for 1 minute and OFF for 5 seconds for the set time, and when △T > △T ₃ , the remaining time is displayed, and after driving for the set time, turn off the heater 52, and turn △
When T<△T ₂ , the buzzer BZ sounds for 20 seconds and the motor 4
Turn 0 OFF (from Fig. 15 to Fig. 16).

Key switch push button switch 100C
When ON, when △T>△T ₁ , set time x
%, the remaining time is displayed, the operation is executed, and after the set time, the heater 52 is turned off (Fig. 16).

When △T<△T ₂ , the buzzer BZ is sounded for 20 seconds, and then the motor 40 is turned OFF to complete the process.

In addition, the push button switch 10 of the key switch
When 0E is ON, the above-mentioned end buzzer is sounded for 20 seconds, and then the opening/closing of the door switch is confirmed, and when it is closed, only the motor 40 continues to operate for 20 minutes.

Key switch push button switch 100B
When it is ON (when only timed), temperature difference control is not executed, and the transition is made to , and after running for the set time, the heater 52 is turned OFF, and when △T < △T ₂ , the buzzer BZ blows for 20 seconds, and the motor 40 is OFF.

Therefore, when the push button switch 100B of the key switch is used, the push button switches 100C and 100D associated with the key switch are invalid.

As mentioned above, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the progress status is displayed, which is an innovative method in the automatic drying control system where it is impossible to know when the drying will end. It can display the remaining time.

In addition, instead of detecting a constant temperature difference between supply and exhaust,
This does not preclude the possibility of detecting the constant humidity directly of the clothes in the dryer chamber.

Generally, the remaining time is displayed by adding the time given by the user to the dT/dt mentioned earlier, but in such cases, the remaining time is mainly displayed when the drying process reaches the set time given by the user. , the remaining time display is switched and corrected based on information on a predetermined time limit provided by the user.

As described above, the present invention includes a drying chamber for drying clothes, an air supply port provided on the suction side of the drying chamber, an exhaust port provided on the exhaust side of the drying chamber, and an air supply port provided in the drying chamber. The material preheating section , in the operating method of a clothes dryer having a constant rate drying section Y and a decreasing rate drying section Z, the exhaust temperature per unit time in the material preheating section X is measured and the required constant rate drying section Y and decreasing rate drying section Z are determined. It is characterized by estimating the time required and displaying the progress status based on this estimated required time.

This configuration has the following advantages.

(1) Since the drying time is estimated, the progress status can be displayed based on the remaining time.

(2) Since the time spent on drying can be seen in the material preheating section X, which is the early stage of drying, it is easy to use for dryers that require long operating hours.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially opened cross-sectional view of essential parts of a clothes dryer provided in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an external view of the instruction control section along with its terminal arrangement order, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the sensor input section, display output circuit, and peripheral circuits of the instruction control section. Figure 5 is the fourth
6 is a layout diagram of the panel section of the clothes dryer, FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the clothes dryer, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the drying procedure. , Figure 9 shows the drying temperature transition diagram, and Figure 10 shows the drying time and dT/dt.
Figures 11 and 12 are diagrams explaining the operation, Figures 13 to 16 are flowcharts illustrating the operation, and Figures 17 and 18 are diagrams showing the positive resistance. It is a characteristic diagram of a temperature characteristic element. 14...drum, 22...fan, 28...exhaust port,
48...Controller, 52...Heater, 54...Air supply port, 62...Air supply thermistor, 64...Exhaust thermistor, 100...Panel decoration plate, 111...Display section, Q...Numeric display tube, PS...Instruction control section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A drying chamber for drying clothes, an air supply port provided on the suction side of the drying chamber, an exhaust port provided on the exhaust side of the drying chamber, and an air blower unit that blows air into the drying chamber. , a heat source that heats the air supplied to the drying room, and a control unit that detects temperature changes in the exhaust gas and controls the operation of the dryer. In the operating method of a clothes dryer that has a drying zone Y and a decreasing rate drying zone Z, the time required for the constant rate drying zone Y and the decreasing rate drying zone Z is estimated by measuring the exhaust temperature per unit time in the material preheating zone X. and displaying the progress status based on this estimated required time.