KR20140095158A - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a clothes dryer capable of controlling the temperature and humidity of blown air according to seasonal changes in temperatures and humidity for drying clothes. The provided clothes dryer comprises an air blowing unit blowing air to clothes by allowing air to move; a condensing unit condensing a coolant, and arranged in a moving route of the air by the air blowing unit to exchange heat with the air blown to the clothes; an evaporating unit evaporating the coolant, and arranged in the moving route of the air by the air blowing unit to exchange heat with the air blown to the clothes; a compressing unit connected to the condensing unit and the evaporating unit; and a plurality of expanding units reducing pressure of the coolant transferred from the condensing unit, and arranged on a coolant flowing path interconnected between the condensing unit end the evaporating unit. The clothes dryer of the present invention can control the temperature and humidity of the air blown to the clothes by summer and winter, thereby securing the high level of clothes drying efficiency by suitably responding to environmental change.

Description

Clothes Dryer {CLOTHES DRYER}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a clothes dryer, and more particularly, to a clothes dryer capable of adjusting temperature and humidity of air blown for drying clothes according to seasonal temperature and humidity changes.

Generally, a clothes dryer is a device for drying the laundry to remove the water from the laundered laundry.

Such a clothes dryer can be classified into an exhaust type, a dehumidifying type, and a blowing type according to a treatment method of moisture.

The exhaust type clothes dryer is configured such that the air sucked by the rotation of the fan is heated in the heater and then blown into the laundry, and the moisture from the laundry is discharged to the outside of the apparatus by the fan.

In addition, the dehumidifying clothes dryer is configured to condense the moisture coming from the laundry through the heat exchanger to make it flow out of the water, and the dehumidified air is blown into laundry.

Here, the dehumidifying clothes dryer generally dehumidifies the air and heats the air to be blown through a heat exchange system composed of a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator and an expansion device.

On the other hand, in drying the laundry, it is necessary to blow air to the laundry at an appropriate temperature according to the temperature of the laundry in which the laundry is dried, that is, the temperature and humidity of the room in which the laundry is to be dried, .

For example, it is effective to increase the dehumidification rate of air because it is hot and humid in summer, and it is effective to blow hot air into laundry rather than dehumidification of air because it is low temperature drying in winter.

Accordingly, there is a need for a clothes dryer capable of blowing air at an appropriate temperature with a suitable dehumidification rate depending on the environment in which the laundry is dried, that is, in the summer and winter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a clothes dryer capable of drying clothing in a condition necessary for drying clothes corresponding to seasonal characteristics of summer and winter season.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner comprising: a blowing unit for blowing air to clothes by flowing air; A condenser for condensing the refrigerant and disposed in a moving path of the air flowing by the airflow-inflowing part and performing heat exchange with air blown into the clothes; An evaporator for evaporating the refrigerant and disposed in a moving path of the air flowing by the airflow-supplying portion to exchange heat with air blown into the clothes; A compression unit connected to the condensing unit and the evaporator; And a plurality of expanding portions provided in the refrigerant channel connected between the condensing portion and the evaporating portion to depressurize the refrigerant transferred from the condensing portion.

In one embodiment, the plurality of expanders may be connected in parallel, wherein each of the plurality of expanders may independently perform a refrigerant depressurization operation.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the plurality of expansion portions may be connected in series, and a bypass flow path may be provided in the expansion portion of the plurality of expansion portions to selectively introduce the refrigerant.

In the clothes dryer according to the embodiments of the present invention, the bulging portion may be constituted by a capillary tube or an electronic expansion valve.

In addition, the clothes dryer according to the embodiments of the present invention may further include an auxiliary heater disposed at a front end of the blowing unit to heat the air blown into the clothes.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a clothes dryer comprising: an opening / closing valve installed in a flow path through which refrigerant flows into the expansion unit; And a control unit for controlling the flow path opening and closing operation of the opening and closing valve.

Here, when the outside temperature of the device is higher than a preset temperature, the controller may cause the refrigerant to flow into the entire plurality of expansion parts, and when the outside temperature of the device is lower than a predetermined temperature, The open / close valve can be controlled so that the coolant flows.

Alternatively, the control unit may control the opening / closing valve so that the refrigerant flows into the entire plurality of expansion parts or the refrigerant flows into a part of the plurality of expansion parts according to the setting mode.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a clothes dryer comprising: a flow path switching valve provided at a flow path between the plurality of expanding portions and at a branch point of the bypass flow path; And a control unit for controlling the flow path switching operation of the flow path switching valve.

Here, when the outside temperature of the device is higher than a preset temperature, the controller may cause the refrigerant to flow into the entire plurality of expansion parts, and when the outside temperature of the device is lower than a predetermined temperature, The flow path switching valve can be controlled so that the refrigerant flows.

Alternatively, the control unit may control the flow path switching valve so that the refrigerant flows into the entire plurality of inflating units or the refrigerant flows into a part of the plurality of inflating units according to the setting mode.

According to an embodiment of the present invention having such a configuration, the temperature and humidity of air blown into the clothes can be adjusted according to the summer and winter seasons, and the clothes drying efficiency can be secured at a high level in response to environmental changes Effect can be obtained.

1 is a schematic diagram of a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a partially enlarged view showing a refrigerant flow in the expansion part when the clothes dryer shown in Fig. 1 is used in summer; Fig. Fig. 3 is a partially enlarged view showing a refrigerant flow in an expansion part when the clothes dryer shown in Fig. 1 is used in winter; Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a clothes dryer according to another embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 5 is a partially enlarged view showing a refrigerant flow of the expansion part when the clothes dryer shown in Fig. 4 is used in summer; Fig. Fig. 6 is a partially enlarged view showing a refrigerant flow in the expansion part when the clothes dryer shown in Fig. 4 is used in winter; Fig.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Furthermore, the singular forms "a", "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, a clothes dryer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a blower 110, a condenser 120, an evaporator 130, a compression unit 140, and an expansion unit 150 And may further include an auxiliary heater 160 for heating the air blown into the clothes.

The airflow 110 may blow air into the garment to flow air to dry the garment, and in one embodiment may be configured as a blowing fan. 1, the air blowing fan may be installed on the side of the air outlet where the air is discharged to the clothes, but the present invention is not limited thereto and may be installed on the air inlet side where air is introduced into the apparatus.

1, the appearance of the clothes dryer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is not shown. This means that the clothes dryer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is not limited to a special type of dryer, and therefore, the clothes dryer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is not limited to a drum type, a cabinet type , And a fan type such as a fan.

The condenser 120 condenses the refrigerant and is disposed in a path of air flowing by the airflow fan 110 to exchange heat with air blown into the clothes. The condensing part 120 can heat the moving air in contact with the condensing part 120 by discharging the heat of condensation of the refrigerant flowing inside. In one embodiment, the condenser 120 may comprise a pipe through which refrigerant flows.

The evaporator 130 is connected to the condenser 120 to evaporate the refrigerant transferred from the condenser 120 and is disposed in a moving path of the air flowing by the fan 110, Heat exchange with the air is possible. The evaporator 130 evaporates the refrigerant flowing therein and absorbs heat, so that the evaporator 130 can cool the moving air in contact with the evaporator 130. In one embodiment, the evaporator 130 may comprise a pipe through which refrigerant flows.

At this time, condensed water generated by cooling the air can be generated on the surface of the evaporator 130, and the evaporator 130 can dehumidify the air blown into the clothes.

1, the evaporator 130 is disposed at a rear end of the condenser 120 on the basis of the moving direction of the air, so that the temperature of the air finally discharged through the air blower 110 However, the present invention is not limited thereto and may be disposed at the front end of the condenser 120.

Also, although not shown, a water tank (not shown) may be provided at the lower end of the evaporator 130 to store the condensed water generated in the evaporator 130.

The refrigerant outlet side of the compressor 140 is connected to the condenser 120 and the refrigerant inlet side of the compressor 140 is connected to the evaporator 130 to compress the refrigerant delivered from the evaporator 130 to a high pressure, (120).

The expansion unit 150 may be installed in a refrigerant passage connected between the condenser 120 and the evaporator 130 to reduce the pressure of the refrigerant transferred from the condenser 120 and transfer the refrigerant to the evaporator 130. The expansion unit 150 may be composed of a plurality of expansion units.

In one embodiment, the plurality of inflatable parts 150 can be connected in parallel, and in the clothes dryer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, the inflatable parts 150 are provided in parallel 1 expansion unit 150-1 and a second expansion unit 150-2. However, the number of the expanding parts 150 is not limited to two as in the embodiment shown in FIG.

Further, in one embodiment of the present invention, each of the plurality of expansion parts 150 can independently perform the refrigerant depressurization operation. That is, the first expansion part 150-1 can reduce the pressure of the refrigerant delivered by the second expansion part 150-2 regardless of the refrigerant depressurization operation of the second expansion part 150-2, and the second expansion part 150-2 It is possible to depressurize the refrigerant that has been delivered by the refrigerant regardless of the refrigerant depressurization operation of the expansion unit 150-1.

In one embodiment, the expanding portion 150, which performs this operation, may be configured as a capillary tube and includes a first expanding portion 150-1 and a second expanding portion 150-2 May be equal to each other or may be different from each other.

Alternatively, the expansion portion 150 may be configured as an electronic expansion valve in another embodiment.

1, the auxiliary heater 160 may be disposed at a front end of the air blowing unit 110 to heat the air blown into the clothes so that hot air can be blown to the clothes.

The auxiliary heater 160 can blow warm air into the clothes in a low temperature environment such as in winter, thereby improving the drying efficiency of clothes in winter. In one embodiment, this auxiliary heater 160 may be operated by the control unit 170, which will be described later.

At this time, the auxiliary heater 160 may operate when the outside temperature of the clothes dryer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is lower than a predetermined temperature. Here, the predetermined temperature may be freely set by a user as a temperature in the case where warm air is required to be applied to clothes for drying clothes in a low temperature environment such as a winter season. In such a configuration, the controller 170, which will be described later, can automatically operate the auxiliary heater 160 by comparing the external temperature with the preset temperature.

Meanwhile, the clothes dryer 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention may be provided with an on-off valve 180 that can open and close a flow path to a flow path through which the refrigerant flows into the expansion part 150. In this case, when the plurality of expanding parts 150 are constituted by the first expanding part 150-1 and the second expanding part 150-2 as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the first expanding part 150- At least one of the first expansion part 150-2 and the second expansion part 150-2 is always used to reduce the refrigerant. Therefore, the on-off valve 180 is installed only in the flow path through which the refrigerant flows into the second expansion part 150-2 .

In addition, the clothes dryer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a controller 170 for controlling the opening and closing operations of the opening and closing valve 180.

At this time, when the outside temperature of the apparatus is higher than a preset temperature, the control unit 170 opens the on-off valve 180 so that the refrigerant is supplied to both of the first expansion unit 150-1 and the second expansion unit 150-2 And when the outside temperature of the device is lower than a preset temperature, the opening / closing valve 180 may be closed to prevent the refrigerant from flowing into the second expansion portion 150-2.

On the other hand, the on-off valve 180 may be controlled manually by a user without being automatically controlled according to a preset temperature by the controller 170 as described above. That is, in one embodiment, the control unit controls the flow of refrigerant to the entire first expansion unit 150-1 and the second expansion unit 150-2 according to the setting mode selected by the user, 1 can be controlled by controlling the opening / closing valve 180 so that the refrigerant flows only into the refrigerant circuit.

Hereinafter, the operation of the clothes dryer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention in summer and winter will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG.

2, in the case of the summer season, the controller 170 opens the on-off valve 180 to supply refrigerant to both the first expansion portion 150-1 and the second expansion portion 150-2 .

Accordingly, each of the first expansion part 150-1 and the second expansion part 150-2 can deliver the decompressed refrigerant to the evaporator 130.

As described above, when both the first expansion portion 150-1 and the second expansion portion 150-2 depressurize the refrigerant transferred from the compression portion 140, the entire refrigerant delivered to the evaporation portion 130 is high So that the evaporation heat of the entire refrigerant in the evaporator 130 is increased and the temperature of the evaporator 130 is lowered. As a result, the amount of dehumidification of the air moving at the same speed by heat exchange with the evaporator 130 increases.

Such an operation is effective for hot and humid summertime because dry air can be blown into clothing and humidity around clothes can be lowered.

3, in the winter, the controller 170 closes the on-off valve 180 so that the refrigerant is not delivered to the second expansion unit 150-2 and the first expansion unit 150-1 Of the refrigerant.

In this way, when only the first expansion portion 150-1 is used for reducing the refrigerant pressure, the pressure reduction level of the refrigerant transferred to the evaporation portion 130 is lowered. As a result, the evaporation heat of the entire refrigerant in the evaporation portion 130 The temperature of the evaporator 130 becomes high. In the case where only the first expansion portion 150-1 is used for reducing the refrigerant pressure, both of the first expansion portion 150-1 and the second expansion portion 150-2, The temperature of the entire cooling cycle composed of the compressor, the condenser 120, the evaporator 130, and the expansion unit 150 is increased.

As a result, the temperature of the air moving at the same speed by heat exchange with the condenser 120 and the evaporator 130 is increased.

Such an operation is effective in winter when the clothes are dried at a low temperature because hot air can be blown into clothes.

In addition, when the temperature of the evaporator 130 is increased during the winter as described above, it is prevented that defrosting occurs in the evaporator 130 due to a low temperature.

On the other hand, the auxiliary heater 160 is operated in the winter when the air temperature is very low, and air of high temperature is blown to the clothes, so that the clothes can be dried in a shorter time.

Next, a clothes dryer according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a clothes dryer according to another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged view showing a refrigerant flow in an expansion part when used in summer, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged view showing a refrigerant flow in the expansion portion. FIG.

4, the clothes dryer 100 'according to another embodiment of the present invention, unlike the clothes dryer 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, A plurality of expanding parts 150 may be connected in series.

At this time, the bypass passage (195) may be provided in the expansion portion (150) of the plurality of expansion portions (150) so that the refrigerant selectively flows into the expansion portion (150).

That is, in another embodiment, a bypass flow path 195 connected in parallel with the second expansion part 150-2 may be provided on the side of the second expansion part 150-2, It is possible to provide a path through which the refrigerant having passed through the first expansion part 150-1 can be directly transferred to the evaporator 130 without flowing into the second expansion part 150-2.

To this end, in another embodiment, a flow path switching valve 190 is provided at a flow path between the first expansion portion 150-1 and the second expansion portion 150-2 and at a branch point of the bypass flow path 195 .

Here, the control unit 170 included in the clothes dryer 100 'of another embodiment of the present invention can control the flow path switching operation of the flow path switching valve 190.

If the outside temperature of the apparatus is higher than a preset temperature, for example, in the summer, the control unit 170 may control the flow rate of the second expansion unit 150-2 as shown in FIG. 5, as in the above- The refrigerant can be flowed into both the first expansion portion 150-1 and the second expansion portion 150-2 by controlling the flow path switching valve 190 to be connected to the first expansion portion 150-1 and the second expansion portion 150-2.

When the outside temperature of the apparatus is lower than a preset temperature, the control unit 170 controls the flow path switching valve 190 so that the flow path is connected to the bypass side as shown in FIG. 6, for example, The refrigerant does not flow into the first expansion portion 150-1 and only the first expansion portion 150-1 can be used for decompressing the refrigerant.

The control unit 170 may be configured to allow the refrigerant to flow into the entire first expansion unit 150-1 and the second expansion unit 150-2 or to supply the refrigerant to only the first expansion unit 150-1 The flow path switching valve 190 can be controlled. That is, the flow path switching valve 190 can be manually controlled by the user.

The clothes dryer 100 'according to another embodiment of the present invention having such a structure is configured such that in summer, the refrigerant passes through the first expanding part 150-1 and the second expanding part 150-2 in order And the temperature of the evaporator 130 may be lowered. That is, when the first expanding part 150-1 and the second expanding part 150-2 are constituted by capillary tubes, the length of the capillary tube through which the refrigerant passes increases and the refrigerant is decompressed to a high level .

On the other hand, in winter, the refrigerant passes through only the first expansion part 150-1 and is reduced in pressure to a low level, so that the evaporation heat of the entire refrigerant is lowered in the evaporation part 130 so that the temperature of the evaporation part 130 becomes higher, The temperature of the system is increased.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to particular embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims I would like to make it clear.

100: clothes dryer 110: 120: condenser 130: evaporator 140: compression unit 150: 160: auxiliary heater 170: 180: opening / closing valve 190: flow path switching valve 195: Bypass Euro

Claims (13)

A condensing part for condensing the refrigerant and disposed in a moving path of the air flowing by the air flow to heat-exchange the air with air blown into the clothes, and evaporate the refrigerant, An evaporator disposed in a moving path of the air flowing by the enriched portion and performing heat exchange with air blown into the clothes, a compression unit connected to the condenser and the evaporator, And a plurality of expanding portions provided in the refrigerant channel connected between the condensing portion and the evaporating portion to depressurize the refrigerant transferred from the condensing portion. The clothes dryer of claim 1, wherein the plurality of expanders are connected in parallel. The clothes dryer according to claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of expanding portions independently performs a refrigerant depressurizing operation. The clothes dryer of claim 1, wherein the plurality of expanding parts are connected in series, and the bypass flow path is provided to allow the refrigerant to selectively flow into the expanding part of the plurality of expanding parts. The clothes dryer according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the expanding portion is constituted by a capillary tube. The clothes dryer according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the expanding portion comprises an electronic expansion valve. The clothes dryer of claim 1, further comprising an auxiliary heater disposed at a front end of the blowing unit to heat air blown into the clothes. The refrigerating machine according to claim 2, further comprising: an on-off valve installed in a flow path through which the refrigerant flows into the expansion portion; And a controller for controlling the flow path opening and closing operation of the opening / closing valve. The refrigerating apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the control unit is configured to allow the refrigerant to flow into the plurality of expanding units when the outside temperature of the apparatus is higher than a preset temperature, And controls the opening / closing valve so that the refrigerant flows into a part of the part. The clothes dryer according to claim 8, wherein the controller controls the opening / closing valve so that refrigerant flows into the entire plurality of expansion portions or refrigerant flows into a part of the plurality of expansion portions according to a setting mode. 5. The compressor according to claim 4, further comprising: a flow path switching valve provided at a flow path between the plurality of expanding portions and a branch point of the bypass flow path; And a control unit for controlling a flow path switching operation of the flow path switching valve. The refrigeration system according to claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to allow the refrigerant to flow into the plurality of expansion portions when the outside temperature of the device is higher than a predetermined temperature, And controls the flow path switching valve so that the refrigerant flows into a part of the refrigerant circuit. 12. The clothes dryer according to claim 11, wherein the control unit controls the flow path switching valve so as to allow the refrigerant to flow into the entire plurality of inflating units or to introduce refrigerant into a part of the plurality of inflating units, .