KR20090100803A - Cloth treating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A cloth treating device is provided to consumption of electric energy with simple structure of the device, and to decrease maintenance cost by feeding the hot wind according to the amount of the clothes. CONSTITUTION: A cloth treating device includes a cabinet(10), a hot wind feeding unit, a sensing unit and a control part. The cabinet has a receiving space in which the clothes are admitted. The hot wind feeding unit supplies the hot wind selectively to the inside of the cabinet. The sensing unit measures the weight of the clothes. The control part controls the hot wind feeding unit according to the measured weight of the clothes. The clothes are put on the support member(16). The sensing unit includes a first sensing unit measuring the weight of the support member.

Description

Clothing treating apparatus

The present invention relates to a clothes handling apparatus, and more particularly, to a clothes handling apparatus capable of drying clothes appropriately according to the amount of clothes accommodated.

Recently, various types of clothes treating apparatuses have been used together with washing machines for washing clothes. For example, drum-type dryers for drying clothes after washing, cabinet-type dryers for hanging clothes and drying, and refreshers for supplying hot air to clothes and refreshing clothes have been developed.

Among the clothes treating apparatuses, a refresher, a dryer, or the like mainly supplies air by heating the air using a heater. Such heaters include a gas heater that burns gas to heat air, and an electric heater that heats air by electric resistance. In recent years, electric heaters that are easy to install and simple in structure have been used.

However, when the air is heated by the electric heater as described above, the high temperature heat of the heater may be directly transmitted to the clothing, which may cause damage to the clothing or further, a fire may occur in the clothing processing apparatus.

In addition, since the electric heater heats the air by using electricity, in order to heat the air to a desired temperature, a large amount of electricity is consumed, and thus a lot of maintenance costs are involved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a laundry treatment apparatus having a simple structure and reducing electric energy consumption.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a clothes treatment apparatus capable of drying clothes suitably according to the amount of clothes accommodated in the clothes treatment apparatus.

An object of the present invention as described above, the cabinet in which the accommodation space is accommodated clothes are formed; A hot air supply device for selectively supplying hot air into the cabinet; At least one sensing unit measuring a weight of the garment; And a control unit for controlling the hot air supply device in accordance with the weight measured by the sensing unit.

Here, the inside of the cabinet may be provided with a support member on which at least one garment is mounted, and the sensing unit may include a first sensing unit for measuring the weight of the support member. The cabinet may further include a seating unit in which the clothing is mounted, and the sensing unit may further include a second sensing unit measuring the weight of the seating unit.

The controller may control a driving time of the hot air supply device or a temperature of the hot air according to the weight of the garment. In detail, the control unit may include a storage unit in which data about a driving time of the hot air supply device and a temperature of the hot air is stored in advance in response to the weight of clothes to be accommodated.

In addition, the controller may control the hot air supply device according to the measured weight and clothing information on the clothes to be accommodated. In this case, the clothing information may be input by the user, and the clothing information may include at least one of cloth information and proper drying degree of the clothes to be accommodated.

Therefore, the controller may control the driving time of the hot air supply device or the temperature of the supplied hot air according to the measured weight and the clothes information. In detail, the control unit may include a storage unit in which data about a driving time of the hot air supply device or a temperature of the hot air is stored in advance in response to the measured weight of the clothes and the clothes information.

On the other hand, the clothes treating apparatus according to the present invention may further include a steam generating device for selectively spraying steam to the receiving space. In this case, the controller may control the operation of the hot air supply device and the steam generator according to the measured weight and clothing information on the clothes to be accommodated. Specifically, the controller may control the driving time of the steam generator or the temperature of the supplied steam.

On the other hand, in the clothes processing apparatus according to the present invention, the sensing unit may detect the weight change of the clothes by periodically measuring the weight of the clothes. In this case, the controller may control the driving of the hot air supply device by determining the drying degree of the clothes according to the weight change of the clothes measured by the sensing unit.

In addition, the clothes treating apparatus according to the present invention may further include a sensing unit for detecting the number of the clothes mounted on the support member, the control unit is the hot air supply apparatus according to the measured weight or the number of the clothes Can be controlled. In this case, the sensing unit may be formed of one or more switches for generating a signal when the hanger is mounted by an angle formed in one or more hanger grooves formed in the support member.

As described above, the laundry treatment apparatus according to the present invention can prevent unnecessary waste of energy by appropriately drying the clothes according to the amount of clothes accommodated.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a front view showing a laundry treatment apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In the present specification, a refresher for refreshing clothes and supplying hot air as a clothes treating apparatus is described, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the idea of the present invention may be applied to other clothes treating apparatuses that may include a heat pump described below. have. Hereinafter, a configuration of a laundry treatment apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, the clothes treating apparatus 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment has a hot air supplying hot air to a cabinet 10 and a receiving space 12 in which a receiving space 12 for receiving the clothing 1 is formed. Feeder (see FIG. 2, 22). In addition, the laundry treatment apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment may further include a steam generator (see FIG. 2, 30) for selectively spraying steam into the accommodation space 12.

Here, the clothes treating apparatus according to the present embodiment includes at least two or more detection sensors (refer to FIG. 2, 50 and 52), a hot air supply device 22, and a steam generator 30 that sense a temperature inside the cabinet 10. It may further include a control unit (not shown) for controlling the driving.

First, the cabinet 10 is provided with various components to be described later, the receiving space 12 is formed therein to accommodate clothing. The receiving space 12 is selectively communicated with the outside by the door 14. In addition, the receiving space 12 is provided with a variety of support members 16 and the like to hang the clothes (1), the support member 16 for supporting such clothes (1) will be described in detail later.

On the other hand, inside the cabinet 10 is formed a machine room 20 in which the hot air supply device 22 for selectively supplying hot air and steam to the receiving space 12 and the steam generator 30 is accommodated. The machine room 20 is preferably located at the lower portion of the accommodation space 12, the above-described hot air supply device 22 and the steam generator 30 is located therein. As such, the reason why the machine room 20 is located at the bottom is that the hot air and steam supplied to the accommodation space 12 have the property of being raised by heat, so that the machine room 20 is located at the bottom to face the hot air and This is because it is preferable to supply steam.

2 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of the inside of the machine room 20. In FIG. 2, only components of the heat pump 22 and the steam generator 30 constituting the hot air supply device are illustrated for convenience of description, and the pipe lines connecting the components are not shown. .

Referring to FIG. 2, the heat pump 22 and the steam generator 30 for supplying steam are located in the machine room 20 as a hot air supply device for supplying hot air to the accommodation space (see FIG. 1 and 12). do.

The heat pump 22 corresponding to the hot air supply device of the present invention is similar to a heat pump used in an air conditioner or the like. That is, the heat pump 22 is provided with an evaporator 24, a compressor 26, a condenser 27 and an expansion valve 28 through which the refrigerant circulates, thereby dehumidifying and heating the air. That is, the refrigerant evaporates in the evaporator 24 to absorb latent heat of ambient air, thereby cooling the air to condense and remove moisture in the air. In addition, when the refrigerant is condensed in the condenser 27 via the compressor 26, the latent heat is released toward the surrounding air to heat the surrounding air. Therefore, the evaporator 24 and the condenser 27 function as a heat exchanger, and the air introduced into the machine room 20 is dehumidified and heated through the evaporator 24 and the condenser 27 to the receiving space 12. Supplied.

As such, the air heated by the heat pump 22 may be slightly lower than the air heated by using a conventional heater, but the air can be dehumidified without using a separate dehumidifier. Therefore, the air supplied back to the receiving space 12 by the heat pump 22 corresponds to a relatively 'low temperature dry air' (here, 'low temperature' does not mean that the temperature is absolutely low, but heating This is equivalent to air, but it is used in the sense that the temperature is relatively low compared to conventional heating air). Therefore, the air supplied by the heat pump 22 of the present invention has a lower temperature than the hot air of the conventional clothes treatment apparatus, but supplies dehumidified air without a separate dehumidifier, so that the clothes are easily dried and refreshed. It becomes possible.

Specifically, an air inlet 21 through which air in the accommodation space 12 flows into the inside of the machine room 20 is formed at the front end of the machine room 20, and the air inlet 21, the evaporator 24, and the condenser ( It is preferable to form a flow path through which air flows by the duct 29 connecting the 27 and the flow fan 32. The air introduced into the machine room 20 through the air inlet 21 by the duct 29 is dehumidified and heated while passing through the heat pump 22, and is supplied back to the receiving space 12 by the flow fan 32. do.

Here, although not shown in the drawings, the air inlet 21 may be preferably provided with a filter. By providing a filter at the air inlet 21, it is possible to filter various foreign matters and the like that may be included in the air flowing into the machine room 20 from the accommodation space 12 to supply only fresh air to the accommodation space 12.

On the other hand, the machine room 20 is provided with a steam generator 30 for selectively supplying steam to the accommodation space (12). By supplying steam to the accommodation space 12 by the steam generating device 30, it is possible to remove wrinkles and the like that may occur in clothing, and furthermore, by the high temperature steam with the effect of sterilization and refreshing due to the swelling of the clothing cloth, etc. You can expect the effect. As such, the timing of spraying steam by the steam generator 30 may be appropriately modified. Preferably, steam is sprayed before the hot air is supplied by the heat pump 22 described above. This is because it is preferable to supply hot air and then to dry the clothes after injecting high temperature steam.

The steam generator 30 is provided with a heater (not shown) for heating the water therein, and generates water by heating the water to supply to the receiving space (12). An external faucet or the like may be used as the water supply source for supplying water to the steam generator 30, or a container type water supply source provided on one side of the machine room 20 may be used. This container type water supply is preferably detachably installed so that the user can separate the water supply from the machine room 20 to fill the water and reinstall it.

In addition, the steam generated by the steam generator 30 is supplied to the accommodation space 12 through the steam hose 36 and the steam nozzle 40. In this case, the shorter the length of the steam hose 36 is, in order to prevent the temperature of the steam from being lowered or the condensation of steam while the steam moves along the steam hose 36. Therefore, when the machine room 20 is located below the accommodation space 12, the steam nozzle 40 preferably supplies steam through the top of the machine room 20, that is, the bottom of the accommodation space 12. .

In addition, a cooling fan 34 may be provided in the rear portion of the machine room 20. The cooling fan 34 supplies the air outside the machine room 20 into the machine room 20, thereby cooling the above-described heat pump 22, in particular, a compressor or by cooling the steam generator 30, thereby providing a machine room 20. The internal temperature is prevented from rising too much. Meanwhile, reference numerals 52 and 50 which are not described in FIG. 2 are located near the outlet 33 through which the heated air is discharged into the duct 29 and the receiving space 12. Shows.

Meanwhile, the clothes treating apparatus according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention refreshes, sterilizes, or dries the clothes by selectively spraying hot air or steam on the clothes to be accommodated. However, in the case of injecting hot air or steam, it is preferable that the supply amount and temperature of the hot air or steam are determined in consideration of the amount of clothes accommodated.

In other words, if hot air or steam is supplied regardless of the amount of clothing, excessive hot air or steam is supplied when the clothes are small, and energy consumption is a problem, and when there are many clothes, sufficient refreshing, sterilization or drying effects cannot be expected. . Therefore, the clothes treating apparatus according to the present embodiment can expect a sufficient refreshing, sterilizing or drying effect while preventing energy waste by spraying hot air or steam appropriately according to the amount of clothes to be accommodated. Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings will be described in more detail.

3 is a perspective view illustrating the inside of the accommodation space 12 in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 3, various components for accommodating clothes are provided in the accommodation space 12. First, the upper portion of the receiving space 12 is provided with a support member 16 to hang the hanger (see Fig. 1, 2) is mounted clothes. A groove 18 is preferably formed on the upper surface of the support member 16 to insert the upper part of the hanger 2 into the groove 18 to fix the hanger 2. Therefore, the support member 16 is hooked to clothes that can be mounted on the hanger (2).

On the other hand, the seating portion 60 is provided adjacent to the center of the receiving space 12, preferably near the bottom of the receiving space (12). The seating unit 60 is provided across the interior of the receiving space 12, the clothing is mounted on the top. The seating unit 60 seats clothes, such as socks, towels, underwear, etc., which are difficult to mount on the hanger 2 described above. Therefore, the clothes treating apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a support member 16 and a seating part 60 for accommodating clothes according to the type of clothes therein.

Furthermore, the clothes treating apparatus according to the present embodiment includes one or more sensing units for measuring the weight of the clothes accommodated in the supporting member 16 and the seating part 60. Such a sensing unit may be implemented in various forms. In this embodiment, the sensing unit includes a load cell provided in the support member 16 and the seating part 60.

That is, when the hanger 2 is caught by the support member 16, the first sensing unit 19 including the load cell included in the support member 16 measures the weight of the garment and controls the measured result. Will be sent. On the other hand, the second sensing unit 62 made of a load cell provided in the seating unit 60 when the clothes are seated in the seating unit 60 measures the weight of the clothes and transmits the measured results to the control unit.

Accordingly, the controller controls the driving of the hot air supply device 22 according to the transmission result transmitted from the first and second sensing units 19 and 62. That is, as the total weight of the clothes measured by the first and second sensing units 19 and 62 increases, the driving time of the hot air supply device 22 may be increased or the temperature of the supplied hot air may be increased. As such, when controlling, the control unit preferably includes a storage unit (not shown) in which data is stored, and the storage unit includes a driving time of the hot air supply device 22 or hot air supplied according to the weight of clothes. Information such as the temperature of can be stored.

On the other hand, when the sensing unit for measuring the weight of the clothes as described above it is possible to determine the dryness of the clothes. That is, the clothes without moisture because they are dried compared to the clothes containing moisture are light in weight. Therefore, in the clothes treating apparatus according to the present embodiment, the weight change of the clothes may be detected by repeatedly measuring the weight of the clothes at a predetermined cycle using the sensing unit. Therefore, it is possible to determine the dryness of the clothing by this weight change.

That is, before the start of drying, the weight of the garment is measured by the sensing unit, and then the weight of the garment is periodically measured to reduce the weight of the garment by a predetermined ratio, for example, 5 to 10% or more relative to the initial weight. It can be judged that drying is completed. In this case, even if a predetermined driving time of the hot air supply device 22 remains, it may be determined that drying is completed by a change in the weight of the clothes, and thus the driving of the hot air supply device 22 may be stopped.

On the other hand, when adjusting the driving time of the hot air supply device 22 and the temperature of the supplied hot wind according to the weight of the clothes as described above it may be difficult to simply adjust the temperature of the hot air according to the weight of the clothes. That is, it is preferable to adjust the temperature of the hot air in accordance with the appropriate drying temperature according to the cloth and the cloth of the clothing to be accommodated. Therefore, the clothes treating apparatus according to the present embodiment preferably includes an input unit (not shown) for inputting clothes information such as cloth or proper drying temperature for clothes to be accommodated.

Such an input unit is preferably provided on the front surface of the door 14 of the cabinet 10. Accordingly, the user inputs the clothing information through the input unit before placing the clothes in the accommodation space 12 and mounts the clothes on the accommodation space 12 by a hanger. In this case, the control unit receives information such as the cloth and appropriate drying temperature of the clothing through the input unit, and further, it is possible to measure the weight of the clothing by the sensing unit. On the other hand, the control unit is input to the storage unit in advance the data on the clothing information, the driving time of the hot air supply device and the temperature of the supplied hot air corresponding to the weight of the clothes. Therefore, the controller controls the driving time of the hot air supply device 22 and the temperature of the supplied hot air according to the input clothing information and the measured clothes weight.

In addition, since the clothes treating apparatus according to the present invention includes a steam generator 30 for supplying steam to the accommodation space 12, the control unit also controls the steam generator 30. In this case, the controller may control the steam generator 30 according to the weight of the garment measured by the sensing unit. For example, as the weight of clothes increases, the driving time of the steam generator 30 and the temperature of the supplied steam may be increased. Furthermore, the controller may control the driving of the steam generator in accordance with the clothing information input through the input unit.

On the other hand, when controlling the hot air supply device in accordance with the measured weight by measuring the weight of the clothing by the sensing unit, simply controlling the hot air supply device according to the weight of the hot air may not be evenly sprayed on the clothes. That is, even if the same weight, the weight is formed by one garment, or the weight may be formed by a plurality of light clothing. Therefore, when a plurality of clothes are mounted, as compared to the case where one piece of clothing is mounted, each piece of clothing may act as an obstacle to the flow of hot air. In this case, it is necessary to increase the pressure at which hot air is injected.

Therefore, the clothes treating apparatus according to the present invention preferably further includes a sensing unit 70 capable of measuring the number of clothes mounted in the receiving space 12 separately from the sensing unit measuring the weight of the clothes. .

The sensing unit 70 may be implemented in various forms. In the present embodiment, the sensing unit 70 is provided in the above-described support member 16, and specifically, the sensing unit 70 includes at least one hanger groove 18 formed in the support member 16. It consists of one or more switches each formed on. Here, the switch provided in the support member 16 transmits a signal to the controller when the hanger 2 is mounted on the hanger groove 18.

4 shows a schematic configuration diagram of the sensing unit in this embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 4, as described above, the sensing unit 70 includes one or more switches 72, each of which is provided in a hanger groove 18 formed in the support member 16. Each switch 72 is connected with a resistor 74 of a predetermined capacity, respectively. Therefore, when the hanger 2 is mounted on the hanger groove 18, the switch 72 provided in the groove 18 is turned on to pass through the current, and the controller measures the resistance value by measuring the current value. It becomes possible. Based on the measured resistance value, the controller determines the number of switches that are turned on, thereby determining the number of hangers 2 caught on the support member 16, and further, the clothes provided in the accommodation space 12. You will find the number of.

The control unit measures the number of clothes accommodated in the accommodation space 12 by the sensing unit 70 as described above, and then the hot air supply device 22 according to the measured number of clothes and the weight of the clothes measured by the sensing unit 22. ) To control the driving.

Specifically, the controller controls the driving time of the hot air supply device 22 or the temperature of the hot air supplied according to the measured number and weight of clothes. For example, as the number and weight of clothes increases, it is preferable to lengthen the driving time of the hot air supply device 22 and to increase the temperature of the supplied hot air in proportion to the number of clothes. In addition, as the number of clothes increases, it is preferable to increase the rotation speed of the flow fan 32 so that hot air is evenly sprayed. To this end, the controller of the clothes treating apparatus according to the present embodiment stores the data on the driving time of the hot air supply device 22, the temperature of the supplied hot air, or the rotational speed of the flow fan 32 corresponding to the number of clothes. It is stored in advance in a part (not shown).

In addition, since the clothes treating apparatus according to the present invention includes a steam generator 30 for supplying steam to the accommodation space 12, the control unit also controls the steam generator 30. In this case, the controller may control the steam generator 30 according to the weight of the clothes measured by the sensing unit and the number of clothes measured by the sensing unit 70. For example, as the weight and the number of clothes increase, the driving time of the steam generator 30 and the temperature of the supplied steam may be increased.

1 is a front view of a laundry treatment apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the inside of the machine room in Figure 1,

3 is a perspective view showing a supporting member and a seating portion in FIG. 1, and

4 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a sensing unit provided in the supporting member of FIG. 3.

Claims (17)

A cabinet in which an accommodation space in which clothes are accommodated is formed; A hot air supply device for selectively supplying hot air into the cabinet; At least one sensing unit measuring a weight of the garment; And And a controller for controlling the hot air supply device according to the weight measured by the sensing unit. The method of claim 1, The inside of the cabinet is provided with a supporting member on which at least one garment is mounted, wherein the sensing unit comprises a first sensing unit for measuring the weight of the support member. The method of claim 2, The inside of the cabinet further includes a seating portion on which the garment is mounted, and the sensing unit further comprises a second sensing unit for measuring the weight of the seating portion. The method of claim 1, The control unit is a clothes processing apparatus, characterized in that for controlling the driving time of the hot air supply device or the temperature of the hot air according to the weight of the garment. The method of claim 4, wherein The control unit comprises a storage unit for storing the data about the driving time of the hot air supply device and the temperature of the hot air in advance corresponding to the weight of the clothes to be accommodated. The method of claim 1, The control unit is a clothing processing apparatus, characterized in that for controlling the hot air supply device in accordance with the measured weight and clothing information on the clothes to be accommodated. The method of claim 6, Clothing processing apparatus, characterized in that the clothing information is input by the user. The method of claim 6, The clothing information includes at least one of the clothing information and the appropriate drying degree of the clothing to be accommodated. The method of claim 6, And the control unit controls the driving time of the hot air supply device or the temperature of the supplied hot air according to the measured weight and the clothes information. The method of claim 9, The control unit comprises a storage unit for storing the data of the driving time of the hot air supply device or the temperature of the hot air in advance in response to the measured weight of the clothing and the clothing information. The method of claim 6, And a steam generator for selectively injecting steam into the accommodation space. The method of claim 11, The control unit is a clothes processing apparatus, characterized in that for controlling the operation of the hot air supply device and the steam generator in accordance with the measured weight and clothing information on the clothes received. The method of claim 12, The control unit is a clothes processing apparatus, characterized in that for controlling the operating time of the steam generator or the temperature of the supplied steam. The method of claim 1, The sensing unit measures the weight of the clothing periodically and the clothing processing apparatus, characterized in that for detecting the weight change of the clothing. The method of claim 14, The control unit is a clothes processing apparatus, characterized in that for controlling the driving of the hot air supply device by determining the dryness of the clothes in accordance with the weight change of the clothes measured in the sensing unit. The method of claim 2, And a sensing unit for sensing the number of the garments mounted on the support member, wherein the controller controls the hot air supply device according to the measured weight or the number of the garments. The method of claim 16, The sensing unit is a clothes processing apparatus, characterized in that made of at least one switch is formed in the at least one hanger groove formed in the support member to give a signal when the hanger is mounted.

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