KR100631723B1 - Heat exchanger for a drier and condensing type drier utilizing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A heat exchanger for a drier and a condensing type drier utilizing the same are provided to simplify a manufacturing process by stably connecting a heat exchanging member to a front surface cover using medium of a plate. In a heat exchanger for a drier, a heat exchanging member includes a wet air flowing member in a shape of an opened duct and an external air flowing member. A plurality of pin structures is formed on the external air flowing member. A front surface cover(40) and a rear surface cover are attached to a front surface and a rear surface of the heat exchanging member. A plurality of protrusions is extended to a rear direction. A plate(50) is placed between the heat exchanging member and the front surface cover, and between the heat exchanging member and the rear surface cover and is physically connected to the protrusions. And, a sealing member(44c) is placed between the plate and the front surface cover, and between the plate and the rear surface cover.

Description

Heat exchanger for dryer and condensation dryer using the same {HEAT EXCHANGER FOR A DRIER AND CONDENSING TYPE DRIER UTILIZING THE SAME}

1A is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a clothes dryer.

FIG. 1B is a top view of the clothes dryer of FIG. 1A; FIG.

2 is a perspective view showing an example of a heat exchanger;

Figure 3 is an exploded view showing the components of the heat exchanger of the present invention.

Figure 4a is a perspective view showing the front cover of the heat exchanger of the present invention.

Figure 4b is a plan view showing a sealing member of the heat exchanger of the present invention.

5 is a front view showing a plate of the heat exchanger according to the present invention.

Figure 6 is a side view of the heat exchanger with the front cover and plate combined.

Figure 7 is a side view showing another sealing member of the heat exchanger according to the present invention.

8 is a side view showing a heat exchanger including the sealing member of FIG.

*** Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawing ***

30: heat exchange part 32: tube

34: pin structure 40: front cover

42: rear cover 44b: rear projection

44c: first sealing member 45: second sealing member

50: plate 54: protrusion

The present invention relates to a heat exchanger for a dryer, and more particularly, to a heat exchanger having a new structure with improved heat exchange efficiency.

In general, a drying machine such as a combined-use washing machine or a clothes dryer blows hot air generated by a heater into a drum to perform drying on a drying object, and greatly depends on a treatment method of wet air generated by drying the drying object. It is divided into exhaust method and condensation method.

In the case of the exhaust method, the wet air discharged from the drum is discharged to the outside of the dryer, and in the condensation method, the wet air discharged from the drum is condensed in the condenser to remove moisture, and the dried air, which has been removed, is sent back to the drum for recycling.

Condensation dryers typically include drums for drying laundry, filters for filtering debris, heat exchangers (or condensers) that remove moisture from the laundry through heat exchange, fans that create flow to facilitate drying, and drying to create hot winds. It consists of a heater which shortens, piping which connects each component, etc.

An example of a condenser dryer is shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. In FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, arrow I shows the flow of outside air, and arrow II shows the flow of circulating air.

As shown in the drawing, the drum 11 in which the drying object is accommodated is rotatably installed in the main body 10 in which the door 12 is installed on the front surface. The drum 11 is connected to the belt 19 by a motor 17 installed below the main body 10 so as to rotate.

In addition, a heat exchanger (or condenser) 13 is installed below the main body 10 to condense the hot and humid air circulating through the drum 11 to remove the moisture to dry the circulating air. The front part and the rear part of the heat exchanger 13 are connected to circulation ducts 14 connected to the front and rear of the drum 11, respectively, so that the air discharged through the drum 11 causes the heat exchanger 13 to pass through. It is configured to be introduced into the drum 11 again.

In addition, the circulation duct 14 is provided with a heater 15 for heating the air passing through the heat exchanger 13 and a circulation fan 16 for forcibly circulating the air through the circulation duct 14, The circulation fan 16 is driven in connection with the other shaft of the motor 17 for driving the drum 11.

In order to condense the air circulating through the circulation duct 14 by heat exchange in the heat exchanger 13, external cool air must be supplied to the heat exchanger 13. One side is connected to the outside air supply duct 18 is connected to the outside of the main body 10, the outside of the heat exchanger 13 to which the outside air supply duct 18 is connected to forcibly suck the outside air through the outside air supply duct 18 The cooling fan 20 and the cooling fan drive motor 21 for discharging into the main body 10 is installed. Reference numeral 22 is a filter for filtering foreign substances such as seams from the air discharged to the circulation duct 14 through the front of the drum (11). In the lower part of the heat exchanger 13, a drip tray (not shown) is installed to collect condensed water dropped during the condensation process, and a pump 23 for sending the condensed water collected in the drip tray to the condensate storage tank 2 is provided. It is installed.

The purpose of the dryer is to dry the laundry in less time and with less power consumption. There is a method of increasing the heater capacity or the capacity of the fan in order to reduce the power consumption and to satisfy the drying time at the same time, but there is a problem due to additional cost burden, an increase in electric bills due to power consumption, noise increase.

An alternative to this problem is to increase the efficiency of the heat exchanger. An example of a heat exchanger used in a condensation type clothes dryer or a dry washing machine is shown in FIG. 2. The heat exchanger as shown in FIG. 2 exchanges heat with wet air circulated into the wet air inlet 13b inside the heat exchanger while dry air introduced into the external air inlet 13a is in the process. Moisture air is condensed by heat exchange, resulting in water droplets. In the condensation type dryer, the heat exchanger is a key component that has an important effect on the drying efficiency, and there is a great need for a new heat exchanger to improve the heat exchange efficiency.

In particular, there is a demand for a heat exchanger having improved heat transfer characteristics inside the heat exchanger and a low manufacturing cost.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel heat exchanger structure for improving heat transfer characteristics.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger with economical efficiency in terms of mass production and material.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to further improve the drying efficiency by applying a heat exchanger having improved performance to a dryer or a combined-use washing machine.

According to a first aspect of the present invention to achieve the above object, a heat exchange part in which both ends of the duct-shaped wet air flow part and an external air flow part in which a plurality of fin structures are formed are alternately stacked; A front cover and a rear cover attached to the front and rear surfaces of the heat exchanger and having a protrusion open at the center thereof and extending rearwardly; A plate disposed between the heat exchange part and the front cover and between the heat exchange part and the rear cover and physically coupled to the protrusion; And a sealing member disposed between the plate, the front cover, and the rear cover.

The sealing member is preferably an elastic body of a heat-resistant material capable of withstanding high temperatures of at least 80 ℃, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention uses urethane as the sealing member.

The plate may be physically coupled with the front cover or the rear cover by bending the sawtooth-shaped extension formed at the edge, and the sealing member may obtain a more robust and stable sealing effect.

On the other hand, the plate is preferably bonded to the heat exchanger via a clad material.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat exchange unit in which both ends of the duct-shaped wet air flow unit and an external air flow unit in which a plurality of fin structures are formed are alternately stacked; A front cover and a rear cover attached to the front and rear surfaces of the heat exchanger and having a centrally open and rearwardly extending protrusion, wherein at least one of the front cover and the rear cover is coupled on an outer circumferential surface and has wings to expand in diameter; It provides a heat exchanger for a dryer further comprising a sealing member formed in a shape.

The present invention also provides a clothes dryer employing the heat exchanger, and a combined laundry or drying machine employing the heat exchanger.

Dryer heat exchanger according to the present invention comprises a front cover and a rear cover largely formed by the heat exchanger and the injection method.

The heat exchanger and the front cover or the rear cover is made of a solid coupling, in particular it is necessary to properly seal the condensate to prevent leakage. The leakage of condensate or internal circulating air or external inlet air flowing inside the heat exchanger not only degrades the heat exchange characteristics, but also contaminates the interior of the dryer.

The present invention provides a new heat exchanger for a dryer, which further includes a coupling and sealing means which not only secures the coupling between the heat exchanger and the front cover and the rear cover, but also prevents leakage of air or condensate. The heat exchanger according to the present invention not only has a strong coupling between the heat exchanger and the front cover and the rear cover, but also prevents external leakage of condensate or hot air, thereby improving the performance of the heat exchanger, and mass production suitable for mass production of the heat exchanger. As a result, the production cost of the dryer or washing machine employing the heat exchanger can be reduced.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to Figure 3, the components of a heat exchanger according to the invention are shown. The heat exchanger 30 in which heat exchange between external air and internal air is performed is formed by alternately stacking a plurality of tubes 32 and a plurality of fin structures 34. The tube 32 is a duct structure in which both ends are open and the cross section is rectangular. Opening ends of the tube 32 are connected to pipes (not shown) through which circulating air in the dryer flows. The fin structure 34 is composed of a structure repeatedly bent in a zigzag manner and a plurality of pins formed on the surface of the structure.

The tube 32 and the fin structure 34 form a heat exchange part by repeatedly stacking thin layers. By forming a repeating laminated structure in this manner, the heat transfer area can be increased.

The material of the tube 32 and the fin structure 34 is a metal having excellent heat transfer characteristics, and mainly aluminum or aluminum alloy is preferred.

The front cover 40 and the rear cover 42 are coupled to the front and rear surfaces of the heat exchanger 30, respectively. The front cover 40 and the rear cover 42 serves as a coupling medium so that the heat exchanger 30 is easily coupled with the piping or other components in the dryer. The material of the front cover 40 and the rear cover 42 is plastic-based, such as ABS-GF, mainly formed by injection molding.

The front cover 40 or the rear cover 42 and the heat exchanger may be coupled in a mechanical manner, but are usually coupled through an adhesive to prevent leakage of air or heat. For example, the front cover 40 or the rear cover 42 may be combined with the heat exchanger by epoxy bonding.

In this way, when the adhesive is used as a medium, an organic adhesive having poor heat transfer characteristics is usually used as the adhesive. In addition, when the adhesive is adhered through the medium, the time required for bonding is high, so that the productivity is inferior (for example, epoxy bonding takes about 2 days). Therefore, the coupling between the front cover 40 or the rear cover 42 and the heat exchanger needs to be considered in terms of improving heat transfer characteristics and excellent mass productivity.

In the present invention, instead of the adhesive, a thin metal plate is inserted in the middle to couple the front cover 40 or the rear cover 42 to the heat exchange part. To this end, it is necessary to improve the structure of the front cover 40 or the rear cover 42.

4A shows the structure of a front cover 40 (or a rear cover) according to a first aspect of the invention. As shown, the front cover 40 has a cross section similarly formed in a square shape, and has an opening therein. The opening is formed to be almost the same as the cross-sectional shape of the heat exchanger, and serves as a passage through which the internal circulating wet air of the dryer flows through the tube 32 region to another part of the dryer.

The opening formed in the front portion 44a of the front cover 40 preferably does not have a channel corresponding to the region of the tube 32 separately. The reason for this is that it is preferable to form a channel region in the plate which mediates the coupling between the front cover 40 and the heat exchanger 30 as described below in terms of heat exchanger performance. This structurally simplified front cover 40 (or rear cover) facilitates the manufacture of heat exchanger components to improve mass productivity and extend product life.

On the other hand, since the front cover 40 (or the rear cover) is coupled to the heat exchange unit 30 via a plate it is preferable to have a coupling structure that is easy to combine with the plate. In the present invention, the rear plate of the front cover 40 (or the rear cover) is integrally added with a protrusion 44b extending to a predetermined length so that the plates can be physically coupled.

In addition, a first sealing member 44c is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the edge of the protrusion 44b to secure the physical coupling with the plate. The first sealing member 44c is made of a material having elasticity, and is additionally (or integrally) attached to the outer peripheral surface of the engaging portion of the front cover 40 (or the rear cover) to make the coupling with the plate firm. Rather, it functions to block the leakage space that may be generated in the engaging portion with the plate. 4B is a plan view showing the shape of the sealing member 44c. It can be seen that the appearance of the first sealing member 44c is similar to that of the front cover. The first sealing member 44c may be made of a material having elasticity and heat resistance so as to withstand high temperatures, such as heat resistant rubber or urethane, in order to provide adhesion.

The structure of the corresponding plate is shown in FIG. 5 so that the front cover 40 (or the back cover) and the plate are physically easily coupled. The plate 50 is a thin plate-like metal with a number of openings 52 therein. The opening part 52 is formed to have a size corresponding to the cross-sectional area of the tube 32 of the heat exchange part, and serves as a flow passage of wet air circulating through the tube. In addition, the bar 51 between the openings of the plate is formed to have a size corresponding to the cross-sectional area of the fin structure 34 of the heat exchange unit 30, the outside air passing through the fin structure 34 flows out It acts as one side of the air flow path. On the outer circumferential surface of the plate 50, a plurality of protrusions 54 are formed in a sawtooth shape. The protrusion 54 is easy to bend, and the protrusion 50 is bent and coupled to the end edge of the front cover 40 so that the plate 50 is firmly attached to the front cover 40 as shown in FIG. 6. Be sure to The sealing member 44c is inserted into the coupling portion, thereby further strengthening the coupling between the front cover 40 and the plate 50 and blocking the leakage space that may be generated at the coupling portion. The same applies to the back cover.

The plate 50 is formed to be similar to the area and shape of the front and rear end of the heat exchanger 30, the thickness is preferably as thin as possible, the material is excellent in conductivity and preferably a light metal or metal alloy. If possible, it is preferable to use the same material as the heat exchanger 30.

In the heat exchanger according to the present invention, the heat exchanger 30 is coupled to the front cover 40 (or the rear cover) via the plate 50.

The plate 50 is preferably coupled in such a way that the heat exchanger 30 and the adhesive dropping heat transfer are not mediated. To this end, in the present invention, the plate 50 and the heat exchanger 30 are coupled by a brazing method. Brazing combines two metals by instantaneous heating of a metallic medium, which allows for a strong bond between metals in a very short time and effectively. A metallic clad material is used as a brazing medium for brazing coupling between the plate 50 and the heat exchanger 30. The cladding material should have a lower melting point than the material of the heat exchange part 30 and the plate 50, and the thickness of the clad material should be as thin as possible. For example, when the material of the plate 50 and the heat exchanger 30 is aluminum, the clad material selects a material having a melting point lower than 550 ° C., which is a melting point of aluminum. As the clad material, it is preferable to use a material including aluminum or an aluminum alloy, but is not necessarily limited thereto.

Next, a heat exchanger according to a second aspect of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 7. According to a second aspect, another sealing member is coupled to the front cover or the rear cover. As shown in FIG. 7, the second sealing member 45 is additionally or integrally coupled to the outer surface of the front cover 40. This second sealing member 45 plays an important role in the overall heat exchanger system. Part of the condensate generated in the tube 32 of the heat exchanger 30 may leak and flow into the fin structure 34. If condensate enters the fin structure 34, the external air flow will be disturbed and heat exchange will not be performed properly, resulting in a lower heat exchanger condensation efficiency and adverse effects on other parts. This causes a decrease in the drying efficiency of the dryer employing this.

The second sealing member 45 serves to prevent the condensate generated in the tube 32 from leaking into the fin structure 34 when the leakage occurs even a little. Therefore, the structure is preferable to block the hot humid air inside the dryer to be introduced into the tube 32 to the fin structure (34). Referring to FIG. 8, in the case of the front cover 40, a sealing member 45a having a shape in which the diameter is extended toward the heat exchange part is formed, and in the case of the rear cover 42, the diameter extends in a direction away from the heat exchange part. It can be seen that the sealing member 45b is formed.

The second sealing member in the form of an expandable wing uses a material having excellent durability while being resistant to high temperature, and a material such as heat resistant rubber or urethane is preferable. In addition, the sealing member may be further coupled to or integrally formed with the outer peripheral surfaces of the front cover and the rear cover.

As described above, the heat exchanger for a dryer according to the present invention is coupled to the heat exchanger 30 and the front cover and the rear cover through the plate 50, respectively, in this structure to prevent leakage of condensate and leak It is possible to strengthen the coupling between the parts while preventing condensate from entering other parts.

According to the present invention, by providing a new coupling structure of the dryer heat exchanger, the material cost can be reduced and the process time can be drastically reduced, thereby ensuring economic feasibility in mass production and material aspects. In particular, the heat exchanger and the front cover (or the back cover) can be firmly coupled via the plate, which has the advantage of simplifying the manufacturing process. In addition, the leakage of condensate is prevented, and even if the condensate is partially leaked, the influence on other components is minimized, thereby improving product reliability of the heat exchanger. When the heat exchanger is applied to a dryer or a combined-use washing machine, the cost of the entire system can be lowered and the drying efficiency can be improved.

Claims (8)

A heat exchange part in which both ends of the duct-shaped wet air flow part and an external air flow part in which a plurality of fin structures are formed are alternately stacked; A front cover and a rear cover attached to the front and rear surfaces of the heat exchanger and having a protrusion open at the center thereof and extending rearwardly; A plate disposed between the heat exchange part and the front cover and between the heat exchange part and the rear cover and physically coupled to the protrusion; And And a sealing member positioned between the plate, the front cover, and the rear cover. Heat exchanger for dryer. The heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the sealing member is an elastic body of a heat resistant material capable of withstanding high temperature of at least 80 ° C. or more. 3. The heat exchanger of claim 2, wherein urethane is used as the sealing member. The heat exchanger of claim 1, wherein the plate is physically coupled to the front cover or the rear cover by bending a sawtooth-shaped extension formed at an edge thereof. The heat exchanger for a dryer according to claim 1, wherein the plate is joined to the heat exchanger via a clad material. A heat exchange part in which both ends of the duct-shaped wet air flow part and an external air flow part in which a plurality of fin structures are formed are alternately stacked; A front cover and a rear cover attached to the front and rear surfaces of the heat exchanger and having a protrusion open at the center and formed to extend rearward, At least one of the front cover and the rear cover is coupled to the outer circumferential surface and the heat exchanger for a dryer further comprising a sealing member formed in a wing shape so that the diameter is expanded. The heat exchanger of claim 6, further comprising a plate disposed between the heat exchange part and the front cover and between the heat exchange part and the rear cover and physically coupled to the protrusion. 7. The heat exchanger of claim 6, further comprising a sealing member inserted between the plate, the front cover, and the rear cover.

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