KR101629293B1 - Method for controlling drying in washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method for controlling the drying process of a washing machine. The present invention relates to a method for drying laundry, comprising the steps of: supplying hot and dry air into a drum for receiving laundered laundry; Rotating the drum at a predetermined first speed while supplying hot and dry air; And rotating the drum at a second speed higher than the first speed so that the laundry is uniformly dispersed in the drum while rotating the drum at the first speed.

Washing machine, drying

Description

METHOD FOR CONTROLLING DRYING IN WASHING MACHINE [0001]

The present invention relates to a washing machine, and more particularly, to a method of controlling a drying step performed in the washing machine.

Generally, a washing machine is a device for washing laundry using detergent and mechanical friction. The washing machine can be broadly divided into a top-loading washing machine and a front-loading washing machine. In the top loading washing machine, the tub receiving the laundry is set up in the housing of the washing machine, and an inlet is formed in the top portion thereof. Thus, the laundry is put into the tub through the opening formed in the upper part of the housing and communicating with the inlet of the tub. Also, in the front loading washing machine, the drum for receiving laundry is laid out in a cabinet, and its inlet faces the front of the washing machine. Thus, the laundry is put into the drum through the opening formed in the front surface of the housing and in communication with the inlet of the drum. In both the top loading and front loading washing machines, a door is installed in the housing and opens and closes the openings of the housing.

In recent years, the washing machine described above has been designed to additionally have a function of drying the laundered laundry. In such a washing machine, it is general that drying and hot air is supplied to the drum for receiving laundry in order to dry the laundry. However, if the laundry is not uniformly dispersed in the drum, the laundry is not uniformly dried by the hot air, thereby reducing drying efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a drying control method for increasing the drying efficiency of laundry.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a laundry machine, comprising: supplying hot and dry air into a drum for receiving laundered laundry; Rotating the drum at a predetermined first speed while supplying hot and dry air; And rotating the drum at a second speed higher than the first speed so that the laundry is uniformly dispersed in the drum while rotating the drum at the first speed.

The second speed rotation step may be performed intermittently and repeatedly. More specifically, the second speed rotation step may be performed once every 10 minutes. Also, the second speed rotation step may last for 30 seconds.

Also, the second speed may be 100 rpm, and the first speed may be 45 rpm.

The hot air supplied by the above-described control method of the present invention can uniformly contact the laundry and can be smoothly circulated in the drum. Accordingly, the time required for drying the laundry is increased, and the time required for drying the laundry is shortened as the laundry is completely dried. As a result, the control method of the present invention greatly increases the overall drying efficiency of the laundry.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the present invention is described with reference to a front loading washing machine as shown in the accompanying drawings, the present invention can be applied to a top loading washing machine without substantial modification.

1 is a perspective view showing a washing machine according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the washing machine of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the washing machine basically has a housing 10, which forms an outer shape, and a tub 30 and a drum 40, which are installed inside the housing 10. A front cover 12 is mounted on the front portion of the housing 10 to form a front portion of the washing machine and a control panel 13 is mounted on the front cover 12 to operate the washing machine. The housing 10 has an opening 11 formed in the front of the housing 10 and the opening 11 is opened and closed by a door 20 installed in the housing 10 as well. The door 20 generally has a circular shape, but may be formed to have a substantially rectangular shape as shown in FIG. This rectangular door 20 makes the entrance of the opening 11 and the drum 40 appear larger to the user, which is advantageous for improving the appearance of the washing machine. 2, a door glass 21 is installed on the door 20, and a user uses the door glass 21 to check the state of the laundry. Can be seen. A gasket (80) is provided between the opening (11) and the tub (30) to prevent leakage of laundry and washing water.

Referring to FIG. 2, the tub 30 is installed to store wash water in the cabinet 10, and the drum 40 is rotatably installed in the tub 30. The tub 30 and the drum 40 are laid down so that their inlets face the front portion of the housing 10. The openings of the tub and the drums 30 and 40 are communicated with the openings 11 of the aforementioned housing so that once the door 20 is opened the user can open the openings 11 and the tubs 30 and 40 The laundry can be put into the drum 40 through the openings of the drum 40. The tub 30 may be formed of a plastic material to reduce weight as well as to reduce the material cost. The drum 40 is provided with a plurality of through holes 40a through which wash water in the tub 30 enters. In addition, a predetermined power unit connected to the drum 40 is installed around the tub 30, and the drum 40 is driven by a predetermined power unit.

The drying duct 100 is installed in the cabinet 10 so as to be connected to the tub 30. The drying duct 100 includes a blowing fan 62 and a heater 61 so that the drying duct 100 can dry the drum 40 and supply hot air through the tub 30 . The condensing duct 300 is connected to the drying duct 100 and the tub 30, respectively. The condensing duct 300 is provided with a water dispenser 310 for supplying cooling water to condense moisture in the air to remove moisture.

Therefore, the drying duct 100 generates hot air using the heater 61 and the blowing fan 62, and supplies the hot air to the drum 40 through the tub 30. The supplied hot air is discharged from the drum 40 through the tub 30 to the condensing duct 300 after the laundry is dried. The condensing duct 300 removes moisture from the discharged air to make dried air, and supplies the dried air to the drying duct 100 to be heated again. That is, the discharged air is converted into hot and dry air through the condensing duct 300 and the drying duct 100. Therefore, the air in the washing machine continuously circulates through the tub 30, the drum 40, the condensing and drying ducts 100 and 300, and dries the laundry.

More specifically, the drying duct 100 is connected to an upper region of the front portion of the tub 30. [ The tub 30 is formed with a suction port 31 communicating with the drying duct 100 and a suction port 41 communicating with the drying duct through the suction port 31 is formed in the drum 40 . The condensing duct 300 is connected to the rear portion of the tub 30 and the discharge port 32 is formed in the lower region of the rear portion of the tub to communicate with the condensing duct 300. Due to the location of the connecting portions of the drying and condensing ducts 100 and 300 and the tub 30, the hot, dry air flows into the drum 40 from the front of the drum 40, To the rear portion. Precisely, the hot and dry air flows from the upper region of the front portion of the drum to the lower region of the rear portion of the drum. That is, the hot and dry air flows in the diagonal direction within the drum 40. As a result, the drying and condensing ducts (100, 300) are configured to cause the hot, dry air to completely cross the inner space of the drum (40) in the axial direction of the drum (40) Therefore, the hot and dry air is uniformly diffused into the entire inner space of the drum 40, thereby greatly improving drying efficiency and performance.

The control method of the washing machine having the above-described drying function will be described in more detail below. 3 is a flowchart showing a method of controlling a washing machine according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the washing water is supplied to the tub 30 and the drum 40 of the washing machine (S10). The laundry is wetted by the supplied washing water and is ready for washing. The detergent is also supplied together with the washing water.

After the water supply step (S10), the laundry is washed (S20). In the washing step S20, the drum 40 is rotated in a predetermined direction, and the laundry is rotated together with the rotation of the drum 40. The laundry is also washed by mechanical friction with washing water and chemical action of the detergent.

After the washing step S30, the laundered laundry is rinsed (S30). When the washing step S30 is completed, the used washing water is discharged to the outside of the washing machine, and clean washing water is supplied into the drum 40 and the tub 30 again. Thereafter, the drum 40 is rotated together with the laundry, and detergent and contaminants remaining in the laundry are removed by the clean washing water.

After the rinsing step (S30), the laundry is dehydrated (S40). In the dewatering step S40, the drum 40 is rotated at a high speed according to the predetermined number of revolutions per minute, so that the washing water remaining in the laundry is separated from the laundry by the centrifugal force. In order to obtain a sufficient centrifugal force, the drum 40 must be rotated at a high speed as mentioned above, and the number of rotations per minute of the drum 40 is set to be significantly higher than the number of revolutions per minute of the preceding steps. The number of revolutions per minute can be generally determined when washing is started considering the washing capacity of the washing machine and the actual laundry amount.

After the dewatering step (S40), the laundry is dried (S50). In the drying step (S50), as described above, hot and dry air is provided for drying laundry (S51). More specifically, the drying and condensing ducts 100 and 300 generate hot and dry air, and the generated air is circulated through the tub 30, the drum 40, and the ducts 100 and 300. The laundry is dried by this hot, dry air circulating.

During the drying step S51, the drum 30 may be rotated at a predetermined first speed (S52). That is, while hot and dry air is supplied into the drum 40 by the drying and condensing ducts 100 and 300, the drum 30 is rotated by the driving device according to the first speed. The first speed rotation step S52 scrambles the laundry in the drum 30, thereby uniformly exposing the laundry to the dry air. Thus, this rotation step (S52) helps to increase the drying efficiency. In addition, since the rotating step S52 is for shuffling laundry, the drum 40 may be rotated at a relatively low rotational speed during the rotating step S52. For example, in the rotating step S52, the drum 30 may be rotated at a speed of 45 rpm. This speed is desirable because it is sufficient to shuffle the laundry without consuming large power.

On the other hand, in the dehydration step S40, the drum 40 rotates at a high speed for a sufficient centrifugal force for dewatering, so that the laundry may be severely entangled in the drum 40. Such entangled laundry is not well solubilized and, therefore, can not make uniform contact with hot, dry air. Further, the laundry may be gathered at a specific portion in the drum 40, that is, the front portion or the rear portion of the drum, for the same reason. In this case, the gathered laundry may dry in the drum 40 and obstruct hot air flow, and may also prevent the dry, hot air from escaping the drum 40 or entering the drum 40 have. Therefore, circulation of the hot and dry air is not appropriately performed and the drying efficiency is lowered. However, in the first rotation step S52, as described above, it is possible to shuffle the laundry, but it is difficult to uniformly disperse the laundry tangled and gathered in the drum 40 due to its low rotation speed.

Accordingly, during the drying step S51, that is, while the hot and dry air is supplied into the drum 40 by the drying and condensing ducts 100 and 300, the drum 40 can be rotated at a predetermined second speed (S53). In the second speed rotation step (S53), the second speed is set to be larger than the first speed. For example, in the rotating step S53, the drum 40 may be rotated at a second speed of 100 rpm. Such laundry tangled and gathered by the high-speed rotation can be dispersed and dispersed uniformly in the drum 40, thereby making uniform contact with the supplied hot and dry air. Therefore, the drying time is shortened and the drying efficiency of the laundry is greatly increased since the laundry is completely dried.

On the other hand, in the step S53, since a large amount of power is used due to high-speed rotation, it is disadvantageous in terms of energy efficiency to last for a long time. However, the laundry may not be uniformly dispersed by the single rotation step (S53), and may be re-entangled or gathered during drying. Therefore, the rotating step S53 is preferably performed intermittently and repeatedly during the drying process. For example, the rotation step S53 may be intermittently repeated every 10 minutes. In addition, each rotation step S53 may last for 30 seconds. By the intermittent and repetitive rotation step S53, the laundry can be uniformly distributed in the drum 40 while consuming less power. In addition, the rotation step S53 may be performed before or after the first speed rotation step S52. Furthermore, the rotation step S52 may be performed while the rotation step S53 is not performed, and the combination of the rotation steps may maximize the drying efficiency.

When the above-described drying step (S50) is completed, the washing process is completed, and the laundry is prepared in a wearable state.

1 is a perspective view of a washing machine according to the present invention;

2 is a sectional view of the washing machine of FIG. 1; And

3 is a flowchart showing a control method of a washing machine according to the present invention.

Claims (6)

A tub which is rotatable about a rotation axis parallel to the surface of the tub and accommodates the laundry, an opening which is provided on the front surface of the tub to allow the laundry to flow into the drum, A tub suction port passing through a front surface of the tub, a drum suction port provided on a front surface of the drum for introducing air supplied through the tub suction port into the drum, The drum inlet being charged; And a discharge port through which the air in the tub is discharged to a lower portion of the rear surface of the tub, the method comprising the steps of: Supplying dry air into the drum through the tub suction port and the drum suction port; Rotating the drum at a predetermined first speed while supplying the dry air; And And rotating the drum at a second speed greater than the first speed during the rotation of the drum at the first speed. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the first speed is 45 rpm. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the second speed rotating step is performed intermittently and repeatedly. The method according to claim 1, And the second speed rotation step is performed once every 10 minutes. The method according to claim 1, And the second speed rotating step is continued for 30 seconds. The method according to claim 1, And the second speed is 100 rpm.

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