KR100577236B1 - method drying laundry in the drum type washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a drum washing machine, and more particularly, to a drying method of a drum washing machine for determining the completion time of the drying stroke according to the number of on / off of the heater.

To this end, the present invention comprises the steps of supplying hot air into the drum by operating the heater of the drying duct; Determining whether hot air discharged from the drying duct reaches an equilibrium temperature by the heat generation amount of the heater and the latent heat of evaporation of moisture contained in the laundry; Turning on / off the heater so that the hot air discharged from the drying duct maintains a preset upper / lower limit temperature range when the hot air starts to rise above an equilibrium temperature as the laundry is dried; And, when the number of times of on / off of the heater reaches a predetermined number of times in the control unit, stopping the operation of the heater to complete the drying operation provides a drying method of a drum washing machine comprising a.

Drum Washing Machine, Drying Duct, Drying Degree

Description

Method for drying laundry in the drum type washing machine

1 is a block diagram showing a general drum washing machine.

2 is a graph showing a drying method of the drum washing machine of FIG.

3 is a graph showing a drying method of the drum washing machine according to the present invention.

4 is a graph showing the cumulative amount of dehumidification of laundry as the drying process proceeds.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

10: drying duct 11: blowing fan

12: heater 15a, 15b: the first and second humidity sensor

20: condensation duct

The present invention relates to a drum washing machine, and more particularly to a drying method of the drum washing machine.

In general, the drum washing machine is a device for washing laundry by rotating the drum by the driving force of the motor in a state in which detergent, washing water and laundry are put into the drum. The drum washing machine has the advantage of less damage to the laundry, the laundry is not tangled well, knocking and rubbing the laundry effect.

Hereinafter, with reference to Figures 1 and 2 attached to the drum washing machine in detail as follows.

1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a general drum washing machine, and FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating a control method of a heater applied to the drum washing machine of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, the drum washing machine includes a cabinet 1 having a laundry inlet formed on a front surface thereof, a door 2 installed to be opened and closed at a laundry inlet of the cabinet 1, and laundry inside the cabinet 1. And a tub (2) installed to store water, a drum (4) rotatably installed in the tub, and a motor device (not shown) installed on the tub and transmitting a driving force to the drum.

The door 2 is installed to be opened and closed at the laundry inlet of the cabinet 1, and a door glass 2a is installed inside the door.

Drying duct 10 is connected to the tub. That is, the discharge portion of the drying duct is connected to the opening of the drum (4).

The drying duct includes a blower fan 11 and a heater 12 to discharge hot air. In addition, the drying duct is provided with a temperature sensor 14 to measure the temperature of the hot air discharged. At this time, the temperature sensor 14 is installed on the discharge side of the drying duct.

The discharge part of the drying duct 10 and the tub 2 are connected by a gasket 13. The gasket 13 is installed along the edge of the tub opening. Accordingly, hot air is prevented from leaking from the connection portion between the drying duct and the tub.

In addition, a condensation duct 20 is connected to the tub. That is, the suction part of the condensation duct is connected to the tub, and the discharge part of the condensation duct is connected to the suction part of the drying duct. The condensation duct is provided with a water supply 21 for supplying cooling water to condense moisture in the air.

In addition, a first humidity sensor 15a is installed in the drum, and a second humidity sensor 15b is installed in the condensation duct. Accordingly, the control unit determines the dryness of the laundry by the temperature difference measured by the first and second humidity sensors 15a and 15b.

The drum washing machine configured as described above performs washing or rinsing, dehydrating and drying operations selectively or sequentially. Hereinafter, the drying operation of the drum washing machine will be described.

When the drying operation of the drum washing machine starts, power is applied to the heater 12 of the drying duct 10. At this time, the heater is operated at the maximum output.

Then, the blowing fan 11 is rotated to blow hot air into the drum. The air blown in this way is introduced into the drum 4 through the drying duct 10.

The hot air in the drum 4 heats the laundry to preheat it, and then dries the laundry in earnest. At this time, the drum is rotated at a low speed to stir the laundry, so that the laundry is evenly heated.

The water evaporated from the laundry is discharged to the condensation duct 20 in a state of being contained in the air. At this time, by spraying the cooling water from the water supply 21 of the condensation duct 20, the air from which moisture is removed is introduced into the drying duct 10 again.

On the other hand, since the heater is operated at the maximum output, the laundry in the drum 4 is damaged by heat as the hot air of the drying duct continuously flows into the drum. Therefore, when the temperature of the hot wind measured by the temperature sensor 3 reaches the preset temperature (P1, P2, P3) to the controller as shown in Figure 2 the heater 12 is turned off (OFF) for a predetermined time ( Section A).

Here, the set temperature is set to P1, P2 or P3 as shown in Figure 2 according to the amount of laundry contained in the drum.

Next, when the temperature in the drying duct is less than or equal to the predetermined temperature (P4) preset in the control unit, the heater 12 is turned on (ON). Accordingly, the hot air temperature of the drying duct is raised again (Section B).

By repeatedly turning on / off the heater 12, the laundry is dried within a set temperature range.

At this time, the control unit determines the dryness of the laundry by the temperature difference measured by the first and second humidity sensors 15a and 15b.

If it is determined that the laundry is sufficiently dried by this action, the drying administration of the washing machine is completed.

However, the drying method of the drum washing machine has the following problems.

First, the drum washing machine should be installed a separate humidity sensor to determine the dryness of the laundry. Therefore, there is a problem that the manufacturing cost is increased.

Second, since the humidity is determined by the temperature difference between the first and second humidity sensors, there is a problem in that an error regarding the dryness of the laundry is greatly generated. Therefore, an error occurs at the end of drying, there is a problem that can increase the power consumption.

In order to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a drying method of the drum washing machine to determine the completion time of the drying stroke in accordance with the number of on / off of the heater.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises the steps of supplying hot air into the drum by operating the heater of the drying duct; Determining whether hot air discharged from the drying duct reaches an equilibrium temperature by the heat generation amount of the heater and the latent heat of evaporation of moisture contained in the laundry; Turning on / off the heater so that the hot air discharged from the drying duct maintains a preset upper / lower limit temperature range when the hot air starts to rise above an equilibrium temperature as the laundry is dried; And, when the number of times of on / off of the heater reaches a predetermined number of times in the control unit, stopping the operation of the heater to complete the drying operation provides a drying method of a drum washing machine comprising a.

The on / off count of the heater is preferably set in the control unit according to the amount of laundry.

In addition, the on / off frequency of the heater is preferably set in the control unit according to the equilibrium temperature.

The on / off frequency of the heater is more preferably set in the controller according to the deviation between the equilibrium temperature and the upper limit temperature.

Since the structure of the drum washing machine according to the present invention is the same as that described in the prior art, the same reference numerals are given in the same configuration as the conventional art, and description thereof will be omitted.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a drying method of a drum washing machine according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

3 is a graph showing a drying method of the drum washing machine according to the present invention, Figure 4 is a graph showing the cumulative dehumidification amount of the laundry.

Referring to FIG. 3, when the drying operation of the drum washing machine is started, power is applied to the heater 12 of the drying duct 10. Then, the blowing fan 11 of the drying duct is rotated to discharge the hot air heat exchanged with the heater to the drum.

In this case, the blowing fan 11 may be operated after a predetermined time from the operation time of the heater 12, or may be simultaneously operated with the heater.

The hot air discharged to the drum preheats the laundry. At this time, the hot air of the drum is moistened by moisture evaporated from the laundry. The hot air thus moistened is discharged to the condensation duct 20. At this time, the moist hot air is dehumidified by the cooling water injected from the water supply, and the dehumidified hot air is reintroduced into the drying duct 10.

As such, the hot air preheats the laundry while performing the above-described waste circulation process.

At the beginning of this drying stroke, the temperature of the circulating hot air gradually rises. This is because air at room temperature is heated by a heater.

In addition, when the drying operation is performed for a predetermined time t1 as shown in FIG. 3, the hot air discharged from the drying duct 10 deprives heat as much as the latent heat of evaporation of moisture, but the heat generated by the heater 12 is increased. It absorbs that much heat.

For example, a large amount of laundry can increase the latent heat of evaporation, thereby lowering the equilibrium temperature. On the other hand, if the amount of laundry is small, the latent heat of evaporation decreases and the equilibrium temperature is relatively high.

Subsequently, the temperature sensor 14 of the drying duct 10 transmits information about the temperature of the hot air to the controller, and the controller determines whether the hot air discharged from the drying duct reaches the equilibrium temperature T1.

As the laundry is dried, the hot air starts to rise above the equilibrium temperature. At this time, the heater is turned on / off (ON / OFF) so that the hot air discharged from the drying duct maintains a predetermined upper / lower temperature range.

When the number of times of on / off of the heater reaches the number of times preset by the controller, the operation of the heater is stopped to complete the drying process. That is, the completion time of the drying stroke is determined by the number of on / off times of the heater.

At this time, the on / off count of the heater is preferably set in the control unit according to the amount of laundry.

This is because a larger amount of laundry requires a longer drying time, while a smaller amount of laundry requires a relatively shorter drying time.

In addition, the on / off frequency of the heater is preferably set in the control unit according to the equilibrium temperature.

This is because, as described above, a larger amount of laundry results in a lower equilibrium temperature, while a smaller amount of laundry results in a higher equilibrium temperature.

In this way, the number of on / off of the heater is controlled according to the correlation between the amount of moisture contained in the laundry and the equilibrium temperature, and the laundry is dried appropriately.

The on / off frequency of the heater is more preferably set in the controller according to the deviation between the equilibrium temperature and the upper limit temperature.

This is because the larger the quantity of laundry is, the lower the equilibrium temperature is, so that the deviation between the equilibrium temperature and the upper limit temperature is larger, whereas the smaller the laundry amount is, the higher the equilibrium temperature is, so the deviation between the equilibrium temperature and the upper limit temperature is reduced. .

As such, the number of on / off times of the heater is controlled in accordance with the correlation between the amount of moisture and the temperature deviation (the difference between the equilibrium temperature and the upper limit temperature), and the laundry is dried appropriately.

In this way, the drying method according to the present invention is to determine the dryness according to the number of on / off of the heater to end the drying operation at an appropriate time.

As described above, the drying method of the drum washing machine according to the present invention has the following effects.

First, since the drum washing machine can determine the dryness without installing a separate humidity sensor, there is an effect that can reduce the manufacturing cost.

Second, the drying method accurately determines the end time of the drying stroke by the number of on / off of the heater, thereby reducing the power consumption.

Third, since the number of on / off of the heater is set to an appropriate number of times by the amount or the equilibrium temperature of the laundry, there is an effect that can accurately determine the timing of drying the laundry.

Claims (4)

Supplying hot air into a drum by operating a heater of a drying duct; Determining whether hot air discharged from the drying duct reaches an equilibrium temperature by the heat generation amount of the heater and the latent heat of evaporation of moisture contained in the laundry; Turning on / off the heater so that the hot air discharged from the drying duct maintains a preset upper / lower limit temperature range when the hot air starts to rise above an equilibrium temperature as the laundry is dried; And, And stopping the operation of the heater to complete a drying operation when the on / off number of times of the heater reaches a preset number of times in the control unit. The method of claim 1, The on / off count of the heater is a drying method of the drum washing machine, characterized in that set in advance in the control unit according to the amount of laundry. The method of claim 1, Drying method of the drum washing machine, characterized in that the on / off number of times of the heater is preset in the control unit according to the equilibrium temperature. The method of claim 1, The on / off count of the heater is a drying method of the drum washing machine, characterized in that preset in the control unit according to the deviation between the equilibrium temperature and the upper limit temperature.

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