KR20140065267A - Dryer with heat pump - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a dryer including a heat pump. According to an aspect of the present invention, a dryer includes: a cabinet; a drum installed in the cabinet; an intake passage for guiding air to the drum; a condenser for heating the air suctioned through an intake duct; a first fan that suctions the air to the intake duct and is installed at the downstream side of the condenser; an exhaust duct for exhausting the air out of the cabinet from the drum; a second fan that suctions the air from the drum to forcibly transfer the air to the exhaust duct; an evaporator installed to exchange heat with the air exhausted through the exhaust duct; and a compressor and an expanding device, which constitute a heat pump with the evaporator and the condenser, wherein an exhaust hole is formed on the intake passage between the first fan and the drum.

Description

DRYER WITH HEAT PUMP [0002]

The present invention relates to a dryer having a heat pump, and more particularly, to a dryer having a structure for recovering thermal energy of air exhausted by using a heat pump and utilizing the heat energy for hot air supply.

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a garment treating apparatus having a drying function such as a washing machine or a dryer is used to put laundry in a state in which a washing process is completed and a dehydrating process is completed into a drum, and hot air is supplied into the drum to evaporate moisture of the laundry, It is a drying device.

For example, the dryer includes a drum that is rotatably installed in the main body and into which laundry is introduced, a driving motor that drives the drum, a blowing fan that blows air into the drum, And a heating means for heating the air introduced into the space. The heating means may utilize the high-temperature electric resistance heat generated by using the electric resistance or the combustion heat generated by burning the gas.

On the other hand, the air exiting the drum has the moisture of the laundry in the drum, thereby becoming the medium-temperature and high-humidity air. At this time, it is possible to classify the dryer according to the method of treating the middle-temperature and high-humidity air. The middle-temperature and high-humidity air is circulated without being discharged to the outside of the dryer and the air is cooled to below the dew point temperature through the condenser, A condensing type (circulation type) dryer for condensing moisture, and an exhaust type dryer for discharging air in a mild and humid condition through the drum to the outside.

In the case of the condensing dryer, in order to condense the air discharged from the drum, the air is cooled to a temperature below the dew point and heated through the heating means before being re-supplied to the drum. Here, a loss of heat energy of the air is generated while being cooled in the condensing process, and a separate heater or the like is required to heat the air to a temperature required for drying.

Even in the case of the exhaust type dryer, it is necessary to discharge the air of high temperature and high humidity to the outside, to flow the outside air at room temperature and to heat it to the required temperature level through the heating means. Particularly, although the high temperature air discharged to the outside contains the thermal energy transferred by the heating means, it is discharged to the outside, which causes a decrease in thermal efficiency.

Accordingly, recently, a clothes processing apparatus capable of increasing the energy efficiency by recovering the energy required for generating hot air and the energy that is not used and discharged to the outside has been introduced. As an example of such a clothes processing apparatus, Processing apparatuses are being introduced. The heat pump system includes two heat exchangers, a compressor and an inflator. The heat pump system recovers the energy of the exhausted hot air and reuses it to heat the air supplied to the drum, thereby increasing energy efficiency.

Specifically, the heat pump system has an evaporator on the exhaust side and a condenser on the drum inflow side to transfer heat energy through the evaporator to the refrigerant, and then the heat energy of the refrigerant is transferred to the air flowing into the drum through the condenser, To generate hot air. At this time, a heater for heating the heated air passing through the condenser may be additionally provided.

In general, the heat pump system is installed on the bottom of the dryer. In this case, the air introduced into the condenser flows through the suction port formed on the bottom surface of the dryer. As a result, there is a possibility that foreign substances such as dust existing on the floor surface are sucked together, and a filter for removing the filter is installed in the suction port. However, in order to maintain the intended performance of the filter, it is necessary to periodically clean or replace the filter. However, since the filter is located on the bottom surface, the access to the filter is not easy. In addition, there is a high possibility of damage during installation or moving.

Meanwhile, since the heat pump dryer having the above-described structure requires air to pass through the condenser and the evaporator as compared with a general dryer, it is difficult to obtain a sufficient amount of air with only one fan, and thus an auxiliary fan is additionally included. In this case, when the exhaust duct is clogged due to a lint or the like generated from clothes as a drying object, the air fed into the drum by the auxiliary fan leaks to the outside of the drum in a wet state. If such wet air leaks, there is a problem that condensation is generated inside the dryer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a dryer capable of minimizing the inconvenience of using a filter.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a dryer capable of supplying a desired amount of air into the drum even with only one fan without an auxiliary fan.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cabinet including: a cabinet; A drum installed inside the cabinet; An intake passage for leading air to the drum; A condenser for heating air sucked through the intake duct; A first fan installed at a downstream side of the condenser to suck air through the intake duct; An exhaust duct for exhausting air from the drum to the outside of the cabinet; A second fan for sucking air from the drum and feeding air to the exhaust duct; An evaporator installed to exchange heat with air exhausted through the exhaust duct; And a compressor and an inflator constituting a heat pump together with the evaporator and the condenser, wherein the air intake passage is provided with a dryer in which an air outlet is formed at a position between the first fan and the drum.

Here, the intake duct may include an intake duct through which the air fed from the fan flows; And a back duct for supplying the air supplied from the intake duct to the inside of the drum, wherein the outlet side of the intake duct overlaps with the inlet side of the back duct in the form of a telescope, have. At this time, the outlet side of the intake duct may be made smaller in diameter toward the back duct side. Further, the diameter of the inlet side of the back duct may be made smaller toward the drum side.

On the other hand, a suction port through which the air flows into the intake passage may be formed on any one of a front surface, a rear surface, and a side surface of the cabinet. At this time, a filter may be detachably mounted on the suction port.

The exhaust port may be formed to pass through a member forming the intake passage.

According to aspects of the present invention including the above configuration, even when the exhaust duct is clogged by a lint or the like due to the exhaust port provided between the first fan and the drum, the air forcedly fed by the first fan is discharged into the drum So that the pressure inside the drum is not increased. As a result, the air inside the humid drum is not leaked, thereby preventing condensation from occurring inside the cabinet.

In addition, since the air flowing into the condenser flows through the front, rear, or side surfaces of the cabinet, the possibility of foreign matter flowing into the condenser is lower than when the air flows through the bottom surface. In addition, since it is relatively easy to approach compared to the bottom surface, the filter can be easily replaced or cleaned.

1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a dryer according to the present invention.
2 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the embodiment.
3 and 4 are cross-sectional views schematically showing the air flow in the embodiment.
5 is a sectional view showing a modification of the embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the dryer according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the dryer in accordance with the present invention. FIGS. 3 and 4 are sectional views schematically showing the air flow in the embodiment to be. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the embodiment 100 includes a cabinet 110 corresponding to a main body of a dryer. The cabinet 110 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and an operation panel 102 for controlling the function of the dryer and displaying the status of the cabinet 110 is disposed on the upper surface of the cabinet 110, A door 104 is installed.

A suction port 103 communicating with the internal space of the cabinet 110 is formed at a front lower portion of the cabinet 110. The suction port 103 can be opened and closed by a cover 105 hinged to a lower end of the suction port. A filter 107 is detachably coupled to the cover 105. The cover 105 is provided with a plurality of slits 105a so that external air existing in the cabinet front can be introduced into the cabinet through the cover 105 and the suction port 103. [

Referring to FIG. 2, a drum 106 having a charging port 106a opened and closed by the door 104 is rotatably mounted on the cabinet 110 in the cabinet 110. A fan housing 120 connected to the inner space of the drum 106 is positioned below the front portion of the drum 106. A second fan 122 is installed inside the fan housing 120, Respectively. The second fan 122 is in the form of a centrifugal fan and sucks the air inside the drum 106 and blows it to the evaporator housing 130.

In addition, although not shown, a filter assembly is installed in the fan housing 120 to filter out foreign substances such as a lint separated from the garment put into the drum.

The evaporator housing 130 is fixed to the bottom surface of the cabinet and is coupled with the fan housing 120 to serve as an exhaust duct for transferring the air inside the drum to the outside of the cabinet. In addition, an evaporator (not shown) is housed therein to recover the heat energy of the exhausted air, thereby evaporating the refrigerant passing through the inside of the evaporator.

Meanwhile, an intake duct 140 is installed at a position adjacent to the evaporator housing 130. The intake duct 140 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a condenser 150 constituting a heat pump together with the evaporator is fixedly installed inside the intake duct 140. Accordingly, the evaporator and the compressor are fixed to the bottom surface of the cabinet 110 by the evaporator housing and the intake duct.

The intake duct 140 also serves to fix the condenser as described above, and to form an intake flow path for the air flowing into the drum. To this end, first and second ducts 142 and 144 are formed on the front and rear surfaces of the intake duct 140, respectively. The end of the first duct 142 is disposed so as to face the suction port 103 or in contact with the suction port 103 to guide the air introduced from the suction port 103 to the condenser 150.

The second duct 144 is formed to extend to the inside of the connecting portion 162 of the back duct 160 to be described later and serves to supply air passing through the condenser 150 to the back duct 160 do.

A first fan 152 is installed at a rear end of the condenser 150. The first fan 152 forms a negative pressure in the intake duct 140 so that air outside the cabinet can be sucked into the intake duct while air passing through the condenser 150 passes through the back duct To the inside of the drum.

The back duct 160 is mounted on the rear side of the drum 106 and supplies the introduced air to the inside of the drum through a plurality of holes (not shown) formed in the drum. A heater 164 is additionally installed in the back duct to further heat the air passing through the condenser to a desired temperature.

Although not shown, a compressor and an expander constituting a heat pump together with the evaporator and the condenser are installed in the cabinet.

Referring to FIG. 3, the end of the second duct 144 is formed to have a smaller diameter toward the back duct 160. The connecting portion 162 of the back duct 160 is formed to have a larger diameter toward the second duct 144 so that the end of the second duct 144 and the end of the back duct 160 A gap is formed. The ends of the second ducts 144 are inserted into the connecting portions 162 so that they are overlapped with each other in the form of a telescope.

Now, with reference to Figs. 3 and 4, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

When the user puts clothes into the drum and then operates the dryer, the heat pump starts operating while the compressor is operating. As a result, the refrigerant passing through the condenser becomes a high temperature state and the refrigerant passing through the evaporator maintains a low temperature state.

When the second fan 122 is operated, a negative pressure is formed inside the drum, so that the flow of air starts. However, since it is difficult to obtain a sufficient air flow rate only by the second fan due to the evaporator and the condenser, the first fan 152 is also operated. Thus, outside air located on the front side of the cabinet flows into the intake duct 140 through the first duct 142 after being introduced through the intake port 103.

At this time, since the suction port is disposed on the front surface of the cabinet, the amount of foreign matter flowing in relative to the bottom surface is small. Also, since the filter is also located on the front side, the filter can be easily cleaned or replaced. Here, the suction port is not necessarily located on the front surface as shown, but may be formed on a side surface or a rear surface of the cabinet. In this case, the position of the first duct is also changed so as to face the suction port.

The inflow air is heated while passing through the condenser 150, and then flows into the back duct 160 through the second duct 144. 3, since the ends of the second duct 144 are arranged so as to be overlapped with each other with a reduced diameter, the air flows into the second duct 144 in spite of the gap between the second duct 144 and the connecting portion 162 And then flows into the drum along the back duct.

Thereafter, the introduced air is heated to pass through the heater 164 and have a temperature necessary for drying. If the condenser alone can sufficiently heat the air, the heater may not be operated or a heater may not be installed.

The hot air thus generated flows into the drum, dries the object to be dried, and then flows into the fan housing 120. Then, the hot air is cooled and condensed while being exchanged with the evaporator, and is exhausted to the outside of the cabinet through the evaporator housing 130.

If the evaporator housing 130 or the like is clogged, the suction force due to the second fan is not transmitted to the inside of the drum. In this state, when the first fan continuously operates, the internal pressure of the drum is increased. In this state, in the conventional case, humid air leaks from the drum into the cabinet.

However, in the above-described embodiment, when the pressure of the drum is increased, the air supplied through the first fan is not transferred to the drum but moved into the cabinet through the gap between the second duct and the connecting portion. That is, the gap functions as a kind of exhaust port instead of the exhaust duct side. The air sucked by the first fan flows into the cabinet. However, in the above embodiment, the air passing through the condenser is exhausted through the gap without passing through the drum. Therefore, Is substantially equal to the humidity of the air.

Therefore, even if air flows into the cabinet, condensation does not occur.

In the above embodiment, the exhaust port is formed by forming a gap between the second duct and the back duct. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the exhaust port 160a may be directly formed in the connection portion. In this case, the second duct and the connecting portion may be arranged to be in contact with each other. In addition, the exhaust port 160a may be formed in the second duct rather than the back duct.

Claims (7)

Cabinet;
A drum installed inside the cabinet;
An intake passage for leading air to the drum;
A condenser for heating air sucked through the intake duct;
And a second fan installed on a downstream side of the condenser to draw air into the intake duct,
An exhaust duct for exhausting air from the drum to the outside of the cabinet;
A second fan for sucking air from the drum and feeding air to the exhaust duct;
An evaporator installed to exchange heat with air exhausted through the exhaust duct; And
And a compressor and an expander constituting a heat pump together with the evaporator and the condenser,
And an exhaust port is formed in the intake passage at a position between the first fan and the drum. The method according to claim 1,
The intake air passage
An intake duct through which the air fed from the fan flows; And
And a back duct for supplying the air supplied from the intake duct to the inside of the drum,
Wherein the outlet side of the intake duct overlaps the inlet side of the back duct in the form of a telescope and is spaced apart from the inner wall of the back duct. 3. The method of claim 2,
And the outlet side of the intake duct decreases in diameter toward the back duct side. The method of claim 3,
And the inlet side of the back duct is smaller in diameter toward the drum side. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein a suction port through which air flows into the suction passage is formed on one of a front surface, a rear surface, and a side surface of the cabinet. 6. The method of claim 5,
And a filter is detachably mounted on the suction port. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the exhaust port is formed to pass through a member forming the intake passage.

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