KR20050042935A - Washing machine and dry cleaning method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a drum washing machine, and to provide a dry cleaning for a large amount of laundry as well as a structure for enabling a smooth dry cleaning and an operating method for performing the dry cleaning.

To this end, the present invention and the main body forming the appearance; An out tub provided in a state supported in the main body; A drum rotatably installed in the outtub, the drum having a plurality of through holes formed on its periphery; And, at least one steam dispersing device for providing a predetermined amount of steam into the drum, comprising: a first step of injecting a dry cleaning detergent to the laundry put into the drum by operating a detergent injector; Then, it is proposed that the operation for dry cleaning is performed by a method including a second step: providing steam to the drum by operating the steam diverging device.

Description

Washing machine and dry cleaning method according to the drum washing machine and its dry cleaning mode

The present invention relates to a drum washing machine, and more particularly, to enable dry cleaning of laundry through an overall structural improvement of the drum washing machine.

Generally, a washing machine is classified into a pulsator washing machine in which a drum is set in a vertical direction, and a drum washing machine in which the drum is laid in a horizontal direction.

Here, since the drum washing machine is laid down in the horizontal direction as described above, the drum washing machine performs washing by dropping the laundry introduced into the drum.

1 and 2 schematically show a conventional structure of the aforementioned drum washing machine.

That is, the drum washing machine includes a main body 10, an out tub 20 mounted in the main body 10, a drum 30 rotatably mounted in the out tub 20, and the drum 30. It is configured to include a driving means for driving.

Here, an inlet 11 through which laundry is introduced is formed on the front surface of the main body 10, and a door 40 that opens and closes the inlet is mounted at a peripheral portion of the inlet 11.

In addition, a rim 50 for sealing between the door 40 and the inlet 11 is mounted on the inner circumference of the inlet 11.

In addition, the outer tub 20 is provided with dampers 21 at both bottoms of the outer circumferential surface thereof to form a state of being supported in the main body 10.

At this time, the inner bottom of the tub 20 is provided with a washing water heater 60 is configured to enable the temperature control of the washing water used for washing.

In addition, the driving means comprises a drive motor 71 for driving the drum 30, and a belt 72 connected to transfer the driving force of the drive motor 71 to the drum 30.

If the drum washing machine is combined for drying, a hot air supply pipe 81 is provided in the upper space of the outer tub 20 in the main body 10 as shown in FIG. 82 is provided to heat the air flowing through the hot air supply pipe (81).

In addition, a blowing fan 83 for forced circulation of air is provided on the air discharge side of the hot air supply pipe 81.

However, the conventional drum washing machine as described above simply performs washing and drying of laundry, but cannot provide other functions.

In addition, the drum washing machine not only unnecessarily consumed a large amount of washing water even when washing a small amount of laundry and washing the laundry with a low contamination level, but the process also takes about the same time as a general washing process. Therefore, there is a problem that the consumption of electricity is unnecessarily large.

In particular, the operation of the conventional drum washing machine is controlled so that washing can be performed according to various fabrics, but there is a problem in that driving that requires a washing method different from a general washing method such as dry cleaning cannot be performed.

That is, the conventional drum washing machine could not perform dry cleaning.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a structure and a driving method for allowing dry cleaning in a drum washing machine.

Embodiments of the present invention for achieving the above object and the body forming the appearance; An out tub provided in a state supported in the main body; A drum rotatably installed in the outtub, the drum having a plurality of through holes formed on its periphery; And, there is provided a drum washing machine comprising: at least one steam dissipation device for providing a predetermined amount of steam into the drum.

Operating method of the present invention for achieving the above object is a first step of injecting a detergent for dry cleaning to laundry loaded into the drum by operating a detergent injector; And, there is provided a driving method for the dry cleaning mode of the drum washing machine, characterized in that the operation includes a second step: providing steam to the drum by operating the steam diverging device.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6 showing preferred embodiments of the above-described embodiments of the present invention and preferred embodiments of the driving method of the present invention.

First, the drum washing machine according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a main body 110, an out tub 120, a drum 130, and a steam diverging device.

The main body 110 forms the appearance of a drum washing machine.

In addition, the outtub 120 is provided in a state of being supported in the main body 110.

The drum 130 is rotatably installed in the outer tub 120, and is mounted such that a side opened toward the inlet 111 of the main body 110 is positioned.

At this time, the door 140 for opening and closing the inlet 111 is mounted to a portion where the inlet 111 of the main body 110 is formed, and the door 140 and the inner circumferential surface of the inlet 111. Rim 150 for sealing between the inlet 111 is mounted.

In addition, a plurality of through holes 131 are formed on the circumferential surface of the drum 130 so that washing water and steam can be introduced into the drum 130.

In addition, the steam dissipation device is configured to provide a predetermined amount of steam for dry cleaning into the drum 130, at least one is provided.

In this case, the dry cleaning may be a series of processes only for refreshing laundry, but may also be a series of processes for removing various contaminants from the laundry.

The steam dissipation device is configured to include a heat generating unit 210 to vaporize the water by providing a high temperature heat as shown in FIG.

In addition, the steam dissipation device is configured to include a steam supply pipe 220 is made of the flow of steam vaporized by the heat generating unit 210.

In addition, the steam diverging device includes a first spray nozzle 230 for discharging steam flowing through the steam supply pipe 220 into the drum 130.

At this time, the first injection nozzle 230 is configured in the shape of a nozzle (nozzle) to enable a smooth divergence of steam, the end through which the discharge of steam is passed through the outer tub 120 to the outer tub 120 It is preferable to mount so as to be exposed to the inner space of the

In addition, the first spray nozzle 230 may be connected to a pumping means such as a pump so that steam flowing through the steam supply pipe 220 may be forced to be injected into the drum 130, but the steam supply pipe ( By further comprising a first opening and closing valve 221 for opening and closing of the pipeline on the pipeline of 220, it is more preferable from the viewpoint of the structural simplification and cost can be achieved to selectively inject steam.

In addition, the steam dissipation device further comprises a water reservoir 240 in which a predetermined amount of water is stored to supply water to the steam supply pipe 220.

At this time, one side of the water reservoir 240 is configured to be connected to the water supply valve 241 connected to the water pipe to enable the automatic supply of water from the outside, the other side of the water reservoir 240 and the steam supply pipe 220 Connected.

Here, the heat generating unit 210 constituting the steam dissipating device may be formed as a coil heater formed to surround the steam supply pipe 220, the heat generating unit 210 as shown in the embodiment of the present invention It is also provided in the water reservoir 240 may be composed of a sheath heater (Sheath Heater) to directly vaporize the water stored in the water reservoir 240.

In this case, when the heat generating unit 210 is provided in the water reservoir 240, the water level sensor 250 may further include a water level sensor 250 for detecting the water level stored in the water reservoir 240. Do.

If the amount of water stored in the water reservoir 240 is not high enough, excessive heat generation of the heat generating unit 210 may occur, and the amount of water stored in the water reservoir 240 is excessively excessive. In many cases, the time to vaporize the water may be excessively long, so that the amount of water stored in the water reservoir 240 is always maintained at a constant level (stable enough to be vaporized). For sake.

That is, when the water level measured by the water level sensor 250 is higher than the reference value, the water supply to the water reservoir 240 is cut off, and the water level measured by the water level sensor 250 is lower than the reference value. In this case, the replenishment of water may be made into the water reservoir 240.

On the other hand, the embodiment of the present invention proposes that a detergent injection device is further provided to further improve the dry cleaning effect in the above-described laundry dryer.

Of course, there is no need for the detergent injector, but since the efficiency is very low to dry clean the laundry only by steam, various contaminations on the laundry are provided by providing a detergent injector to provide a detergent for dry cleaning into the drum 130. It is desirable to allow the material to be removed more smoothly.

At this time, the detergent is a solvent to which petroleum solvent is added.

In particular, the detergent is preferably added to the fragrance component to add aroma to the laundry to be dry-cleaned.

That is, the dry cleaning is to not only perform the role of refreshing the laundry, but to provide a predetermined scent so that the satisfaction with the dry cleaning can be further improved.

Of course, the detergent provided through the detergent injection device as described above may be configured to contain only a fragrance component without containing petroleum solvent.

That is, although not shown may be provided only at least one fragrance spray device for the provision of a fragrance component, not a detergent spray device.

In addition, although not shown, the detergent spraying device and the fragrance spraying device may each be provided in separate configurations.

In addition, the detergent injection device is configured to include a detergent storage container 310 for storing the detergent for dry cleaning.

At this time, the detergent reservoir 310 is provided in the main body 110, it is configured to enable the replenishment of the detergent.

In addition, the detergent injector is a second spray nozzle 330 for spraying the detergent stored in the detergent reservoir 310 into the drum 130 and the detergent in the detergent reservoir 310 and the second spray nozzle 330 It is configured to include a detergent supply pipe 320 to guide.

At this time, it is preferable that the site where the discharge of the detergent, which is the end of the second injection nozzle 330 is made, is exposed to the drum 130.

In particular, the end of the detergent discharge of the second spray nozzle 330 is to be exposed to the drum 130 penetrates the laundry 130 into the drum 130, for example, through the rim 150 desirable.

In addition, the second spray nozzle 330 may be connected to a pumping means such as a pump so that the detergent stored in the detergent reservoir 310 is forced to be injected toward the drum 130, the detergent supply pipe 320 By further comprising a second opening and closing valve 321 for the opening and closing of the pipe on the pipe of the) it is more preferable in view of the structure can be simplified and the cost reduction can be selectively sprayed detergent.

Of course, the second spray nozzle 330 as described above may be integrally formed with the first spray nozzle 230 constituting the steam dissipation device.

In addition, the detergent storage container 310 constituting the detergent injection device may be able to perform the storage of the laundry detergent.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the detergent storage container 310 may include a first storage part 311 storing dry cleaning detergents and a second storage part 312 storing laundry detergents. It is.

At this time, the second storage unit 312 is configured to be connected to the wash water supply pipe 112 is a water supply of the wash water to the fine amount of the wash water through the second spray nozzle 330 into the drum 130 It is preferred to be configured to spray.

Of course, the configuration for storing only the laundry detergent may be provided separately from the detergent reservoir (310).

In addition, it is preferable that the above-mentioned drum washing machine of the present invention further includes a drying device applied to a general drying combined drum washing machine.

The drying apparatus includes a hot air supply pipe 181 for supplying high temperature air dried into the drum 130, and a drying heater 182 for heating air flowing in the hot air supply pipe 181.

At this time, it is preferable to further include a blowing fan 183 is driven to forcibly blow the air in the hot air supply pipe 181 on the pipeline of the hot air supply pipe (181).

Hereinafter, an operation method for performing a dry cleaning mode in a drum washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 8.

First, a controller (not shown) for controlling the operation of the drum washing machine continuously checks generation of a request for driving for dry cleaning.

That is, when operation control of the drum washing machine by the user is generated, the controller reads whether the operation selected by the user is for dry cleaning or for washing general laundry. To detect the occurrence of a request for operation.

At this time, if a request for operation for dry cleaning is generated by the user, the controller requests the input of laundry to be dry cleaned.

In this case, the user closes the door 140 after inserting the laundry to be dry-cleaned into the drum 130 and selects to perform the dry cleaning operation continuously.

Of course, after the laundry is finished, the user requests the dry cleaning operation, and the controller may be configured to perform various control of the components for the dry cleaning operation immediately by the dry cleaning request.

Then, when the preparation for dry cleaning is completed by the above-described series of processes, the controller (not shown) controls the second opening / closing valve 321 constituting the detergent injector to the laundry introduced into the drum 130. It is operated to spray the detergent for dry cleaning.

At this time, the amount of detergent sprayed into the drum 130 is set so that the amount of laundry does not become wet, the detergent includes a solvent and a fragrance component.

Particularly, in the process of spraying the detergent for dry cleaning as described above, the controller preferably rotates the drum 130 (S120) so that the detergent can be evenly applied to all parts of the laundry.

In this case, the drum 130 may be driven to rotate continuously in one direction, but more preferably, the drum 130 is repeatedly rotated in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.

Therefore, various contaminants are separated from the laundry in the drum 130 due to the dry cleaning detergent sprayed by the second spray nozzle 330.

In the above process, the controller controls the steam dissipation device so that steam is provided into the drum 130.

That is, the heat generating unit 210 constituting the steam dissipation device is generated by the control of the controller to evaporate the water introduced into the water reservoir 240, and the evaporated water is in the steam state of the steam supply pipe 220. It is guided and sprayed into the space in the outer tube 120 through the first spray nozzle 230.

At this time, the first opening and closing valve 221 constituting the steam diverging device is controlled to achieve an open state.

The steam sprayed into the outer tub 120 as described above is introduced into the drum 130 through the through holes 131 formed in the drum 130, and is subsequently provided as laundry in the drum 130. The laundry is refreshed.

In particular, the steam is to facilitate the separation of contaminants by activating the detergent penetrated into the laundry.

Of course, after the spraying and the steam supply of the detergent for dry cleaning is performed, it is preferable to provide a sufficient time for smoothly separating various contaminants from the laundry, and then perform a post process.

When the above-described series of processes are completed, the fine amount of washing water is introduced into the drum 130 through the first spray nozzle 230 of the steam dispersing apparatus or the second spray nozzle 330 of the detergent spraying apparatus. By spraying, contaminants separated from the laundry are removed so that recontamination of the laundry can be prevented.

At this time, since the second spray nozzle 330 is configured to face the inside of the drum 130, a series of processes for spraying the washing water into the drum 130 is performed through the second spray nozzle 330. More preferably, it can be performed.

Of course, in this case, the wash water is supplied to the second storage unit 312 constituting the detergent reservoir 310 so that the washing water sprayed into the drum 130 does not contain the detergent for dry cleaning.

In particular, as described above, the amount of washing water sprayed into the drum 130 may be set so that the amount of washing water may be fine enough not to wet the laundry.

In addition, the series of spraying the washing water may be performed before performing a series of processes for providing steam into the drum.

In this case, the steam performs a refreshing action of the laundry rather than inducing the activity of the detergent.

In addition, when the above-described series of processes are completed, the controller supplies power to the drying heater 182 and drives the blower fan 183 to supply the high-temperature air dried into the outer tub 120 through the hot air supply pipe 181. By providing complete drying of the laundry by providing, the operation for the dry cleaning mode is completed.

Of course, the operation for the dry cleaning mode may be completed by simply driving the blower fan 183 to discharge steam in the drum 130 without performing drying of the laundry through the provision of the dry air.

As described above, the drum washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention has an effect that dry cleaning of laundry is possible.

In particular, since dry cleaning is performed in all parts of the drum, dry cleaning for a large amount of laundry is possible.

In addition, the drum washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention has the effect that the dry cleaning performance can be further improved because the detergent for dry cleaning is uniformly provided to each laundry in the drum.

In particular, the detergent has an effect that can improve the user's satisfaction by containing a fragrance component.

1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the internal structure of a general drum washing machine

2 is a schematic state view of the internal structure of a typical drum washing machine viewed from the front;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of a conventional combined drying drum washing machine

Figure 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the drum washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a schematic state view of an internal structure of a drum washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 is a perspective view showing a specific internal structure of the steam dissipation device of each component of the drum washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention

Figure 7 is a perspective view showing a specific internal structure of the detergent spraying device of each component of the drum washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention

8 is a flow chart showing a series of processes for performing the operation in the dry cleaning mode using a drum washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

110. Main body 112. Washing water supply pipe

120. 130. Drum

131.Through Hole 140.Door

150. Rim 181. Hot air supply pipe

182. Drying heater 183. Blowing fan

210. Heater 220. Steam supply pipe

221. First open / close valve 230. First injection nozzle

240. Water reservoir 241. Water supply valve

250. Level sensor 310. Detergent reservoir

311. First storage 312. Second storage

320. Detergent supply pipe 321. Second open / close valve

330. Second spray nozzle

Claims (27)

A main body forming an appearance; An out tub provided in a state supported in the main body; A drum rotatably installed in the outer tub, the drum having a plurality of through holes formed on a circumferential surface thereof; And, At least one steam dissipation device for providing a predetermined amount of steam into the drum: a drum washing machine comprising a. The method of claim 1, The steam diverging device A heat generating portion that vaporizes water by providing high temperature heat; Steam supply pipe for guiding the flow of the steamed steam, Drum washing machine comprising a first spray nozzle for discharging the steam flowing through the steam supply pipe into the drum. The method of claim 2, The steam diverging device Drum washing machine, characterized in that further comprises a first opening and closing valve for opening and closing the pipe of the steam supply pipe. The method of claim 2, The heat generating portion constituting the steam diverging device Drum washing machine characterized in that it is formed of a coil heater surrounding the steam supply pipe. The method of claim 2, The steam diverging device One side of the drum washing machine is connected to the supply line, the other side is connected to the steam supply pipe drum washing machine characterized in that it further comprises a water reservoir for storing a predetermined amount of water. The method according to claim 2 or 5, The heating unit is a drum washing machine, characterized in that configured to vaporize the stored water by heating the water reservoir. The method of claim 2, The water reservoir Drum washing machine, characterized in that it further comprises a water level sensor for detecting the level of water stored therein. The method of claim 2, The first spray nozzle is Drum washing machine characterized in that it is configured to penetrate the outer tub to the inner space of the outer tub. The method of claim 1, Drum washing machine further comprises at least one detergent injector for providing a detergent for dry cleaning into the drum. The method of claim 9, The detergent Drum washing machine characterized in that the solvent is added to the petroleum solvent. The method of claim 10, The detergent A drum washing machine, characterized by further adding a fragrance ingredient for adding fragrance to laundry. The method of claim 9, The detergent injector Detergent reservoir for storing the dry cleaning detergent, Detergent supply pipe for guiding the flow of the detergent stored in the detergent reservoir; Drum washing machine comprising a second spray nozzle for spraying the detergent flowing through the detergent supply pipe into the drum. The method of claim 12, The detergent injector Drum washing machine further comprises a second opening and closing valve for opening and closing the pipe of the detergent supply pipe. The method of claim 12, The site where the detergent which is the end of the second spray nozzle is discharged is Drum washing machine, characterized in that configured to be exposed toward the drum. The method of claim 12, An end of the second spray nozzle is The drum washing machine characterized in that it is mounted so as to face the drum through the part into which the laundry is put into the drum. The method of claim 12, The detergent reservoir is A first storage unit in which the dry cleaning detergent is stored; Drum washing machine comprising a second storage unit for storing the detergent for washing. The method of claim 16, The second storage unit of the detergent reservoir Drum washing machine, characterized in that connected to the wash water supply pipe is made of water supply. The method of claim 1, And at least one fragrance spray device for providing a predetermined amount of fragrance ingredients for dry cleaning into the drum. The method of claim 1, And a hot air supply pipe for providing hot air to the drum and a drying heater for heating air flowing in the hot air supply pipe. The method of claim 19, And a blower fan driven to forcely blow air in the hot air supply pipe on a conduit line of the hot air supply pipe. A first step of injecting a dry cleaning detergent into laundry loaded into a drum by operating a detergent injector; And, And a second step of providing steam into the drum by operating a steam diverging device. The method of claim 21, During the execution of each step Driving method for a dry cleaning mode of the drum washing machine characterized in that it further comprises the step of rotating the drum. The method of claim 21, And the drum is controlled to be rotated repeatedly in a clockwise and counterclockwise direction. The method of claim 21, And after the performing of the second step, removing the contaminants separated from the laundry by spraying a small amount of washing water into the drum through the first spray nozzle or the second spray nozzle. Operation method for dry cleaning mode of drum washing machine. The method of claim 24, And driving the drying heater after the step of removing the contaminants to provide a high temperature dry air into the drum to dry the laundry. The method of claim 21, Before performing the series of processes according to the second step further comprises the step of removing the contaminants separated from the laundry by spraying a small amount of washing water into the drum through a first spray nozzle or a second spray nozzle; Operation method for a dry cleaning mode of a drum washing machine characterized in that the operation. The method of claim 21, And driving the blower fan after the performing of the second step to discharge steam in the drum, the driving method for a dry cleaning mode of the drum washing machine.