KR20180038332A - Control method for laundry drying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for controlling a dryer comprises the steps of: performing a cooling cycle during a first reference time by driving a blower; performing a first heating cycle during a second reference time by driving a first heater after completing the cooling cycle; halting driving of the first heat, and performing the cooling cycle again during the first reference time when the first heating cycle is completed; performing a second heating cycle during a third reference time by re-driving the first heater when the cooling cycle is completed; additionally driving the second heater to perform a third heating cycle during a fourth reference time when the second heating cycle is completed; and halting driving of the first and second heaters when the third heating cycle is completed.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a control method for a laundry drying machine,

The present invention relates to a method of controlling a dryer.

The dryer for drying the laundry is a kind of laundry processing apparatus that allows hot laundry to be heated by supplying hot air to the inside of the drying drum while the drying drum is rotated in one direction or both directions.

In general, any one of a gas combustion type, an electric heater type, and a heat pump cycle type may be employed in order to generate high temperature hot air supplied into the drying drum.

Particularly, the dryer of the electric heater type is provided with an air flow path through which air flows in the dryer, and an electric heater for generating hot air is mounted at a certain point of the air flow path. When the drying is started, the electric heater is driven, and the air introduced into the drying drum is heated to a high temperature by heat emitted from the electric heater.

On the other hand, in order for the dryer to be released as a finished product, it must pass the energy certification test from the accreditation body. To do this, we run a number of randomly selected test samples to measure the annual energy consumption (AEC).

As a result of measuring the energy consumption of many test products, it has been confirmed that some products do not pass the set standards and the power consumption is high.

As a result of analyzing the causes, it was confirmed that the conventional dryers were simply turned on / off by a heater driven for drying, resulting in an increase in power consumption because efficient drying was not performed.

Generally, in the conventional dryer, the on / off time (interval) of the heater is fixed in the drying process. For example, when driving a heater for a long time, the drying speed is increased while the energy consumption is increased, and when the short time heater is driven, the energy consumption is decreased while the drying speed is slowed down.

As described above, the drying method in which the heater is simply turned on / off controls not only the amount of power consumption required for drying, but also the drying time of the laundry can be delayed. As a result, the drying efficiency of the dryer is deteriorated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above problems.

In order to achieve the above object, in a method of controlling a dryer of the present invention, when a drying command is inputted, a cooling stroke using a blowing device and a heating stroke using a heater are alternately performed in the early stage of the drying stroke, And a heating step using both of the heaters is performed.

According to the control method of the dryer according to the embodiment of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

First, in the early stage of the drying cycle, a cooling stroke using a blower and a heating stroke using one heater are alternately performed, and a heating stroke using both of the two heaters is performed in the latter stage of the drying stroke, .

Second, by controlling the driving time of each of the two heaters in the drying process, it is possible to satisfy the setting criteria set by the accreditation body and to significantly reduce the drying time required for drying.

Third, there is an advantage that the product safety is improved by providing the load detection logic that can cope with an overload occurring during the drying process.

1 is a perspective view of a dryer in which a control method according to a first embodiment of the present invention is implemented;
2 is a side view of the dryer.
3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the dryer.
4 is a graph schematically showing a drying method of a dryer according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart showing a control method of a dryer according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a dryer according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a method of controlling a dryer according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

An example of a dryer to which the control method according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to an electric heater type clothes dryer that generates hot air using an electric heater. The dryer to which the electric heater is applied is limited to the exhaust type dryer that discharges the humidifier discharged from the drying drum to the outside of the dryer.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dryer in which a control method according to a first embodiment of the present invention is implemented, FIG. 2 is a side view of the dryer, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the dryer.

1 to 3, a dryer 10 to which a control method according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied includes a drying drum 11 into which a drying object is introduced, A drying cabinet 12 for supporting a front portion of the drying drum 11 and a blocking member 12 mounted on a bottom portion of the front cabinet 12, A rear cabinet 13 for supporting the rear portion of the drying drum 11 and a lint filter cleaning apparatus 30 provided below the drying drum 11.

The drying degree detecting sensor 50 may include an electrode sensor for sensing the degree of drying of the laundry using a potential value generated by contact with a drying object rotating inside the drying drum 11. [ The drying degree detection sensor 50 may be mounted on one side of the inner circumferential surface of the drying drum 11, which can contact the drying object. That is, the drying degree detecting sensor 50 may be installed at any position among the front end portion, the rear portion, the inner circumferential surface of the body portion connecting the front end portion and the rear portion of the drying drum 11.

The dryer 10 includes a suction duct 21 for sucking air to be supplied to the drying drum 11 and an air inlet hole formed on the back surface of the suction duct 21 and the drying drum 11, A guide duct 15 connected to a bottom surface of the front cabinet 12 to guide the air discharged from the drying drum 11 and a guide duct 15 connected to the outlet end of the guide duct 15, And an exhaust duct 20 connected to an outlet end of the air blowing device 16. The air blowing device 16 may be connected to the air blowing device 16, The lint filter cleaning apparatus 30 is installed at a certain position of the exhaust duct 20 so that the lint contained in the air flowing along the exhaust duct 20 flows into the lint filter cleaning apparatus 30, Allow it to pass through the assembly.

A middle cabinet (not shown) is provided between the front cabinet 12 and the rear cabinet 13 to cover and protect various components disposed below the drying drum 11 and the drying drum 11 do. The middle cabinet may define both sides and an upper surface of the dryer 10. A base plate 101 defining the bottom of the dryer 10 is provided on the bottom surface of the middle cabinet, and the components can be mounted on the base plate 101.

A control panel (not shown) may be mounted on the front of the front cabinet 12. The control panel may include an input unit 122 for selecting an operation mode (for example, a drying mode) of the dryer 10 and a display unit 123 for displaying various information including an operation state.

A temperature sensor 60 may be mounted on the outlet side of the drying drum 11. The temperature sensor 60 is mounted on the outlet side of the drying drum 11 and senses the temperature value of the outlet side of the drying drum 11 (hereinafter referred to as "drum outlet temperature value").

For example, the temperature sensor 60 may be mounted on the inner peripheral surface of the front end of the drying drum 12, and may be mounted on one side of the inner circumferential surface of the guide duct 15 connected to the outlet side of the drying drum 11 .

The blocking member 14 is provided to prevent foreign matter such as a coin, a ballpoint pen or the like contained in the drying object in the drying process from being sucked into the guide duct 15 by a bulky and hard type do. Even if foreign substances such as lint are introduced into the guide duct 15, they are filtered by the lint filter assembly mounted on the lint filter cleaning device 30 and other foreign substances, that is, And remains on the drying drum 11. Since the air blowing device 16 may be broken or a rattle sound may be generated in the exhaust duct 20 when substances other than the lint are sucked into the guide duct 15, It is necessary to prevent the foreign substances from escaping from the drying drum 11. [ In addition, the blocking member 14 may be detachably coupled to the front cabinet 12.

In addition, the washing water supply pipe 17 and the washing water drain pipe 18 are connected to the lint filter cleaning device 30. The inlet end of the wash water supply pipe 17 may be connected to the water pipe 2 mounted on the rear cabinet 13 and connected to the external water supply source 1. The outlet end of the wash water supply pipe (17) is connected to the inlet port of the control valve (35) of the lint filter cleaning device (30). The inlet end of the wash water drain pipe 18 is connected to a drain pump assembly (not shown) of the lint filter cleaner 30.

The air blowing device 16 includes a driving motor 161 for rotating the drying drum 11 and a drying fan 162 connected to the rotating shaft of the driving motor 161.

The drying fan 162 is disposed at an outlet end side of the guide duct 15 and guides air to the exhaust duct 20 through the drying drum 11 and guided to the guide duct 15. The drying drum 11 is rotated by a pulley (not shown) connected to the rotating shaft of the driving motor 161 and a belt wound around the pulley and the outer circumferential surface of the drying drum 11. That is, when the driving motor 161 rotates, the pulley rotates, and when the pulley rotates, the belt rotates the drying drum 11. With this structure, when the driving motor 161 operates, the drying drum 11 and the drying fan 162 rotate in the same direction.

An electric heater is installed in the rear duct (19) of the dryer (10). The electric heater generates hot air by heating the air introduced into the suction duct (21) to a high temperature before flowing into the drying drum (11).

The drying process of the dryer 10 having the above-described structure will be briefly described. First, the drying object is introduced into the drying drum 11 through the injection hole 121 provided in the front cabinet 12 . When the drying start command is inputted through the input unit 122, the fan unit 16 is operated and the drying drum 11 and the drying fan 162 are rotated in one direction. Then, the air flowing into the suction duct (21) is heated to a high temperature by the electric heater while flowing along the rear duct (19). The air heated to a high temperature flows into the drying drum 11 through the rear duct 19 along the rear surface of the drying drum 11. At this time, the high-temperature dry air flowing into the drying drum 11 is changed into a high-temperature and high-humidity state while drying the object to be dried.

The hot and humid air is guided to the guide duct (15) through the blocking member (14) in a state containing lint generated in the object to be dried. The hot and humid air guided to the guide duct 15 is guided to the exhaust duct 20 by the blowing device 16. At this time, the high temperature and high humidity air guided to the exhaust duct 20 is filtered by the lint filter assembly while passing through the lint filter cleaning device 30. Then, the lint filter cleaning apparatus 30 operates to remove the lint attached to the lint filter assembly, and is discharged to the outside by the drain pump assembly together with the wash water.

On the other hand, in order for such a dryer to be released as a finished product, it is required to pass the energy certification test from an accredited institution. To this end, in the present invention, the moisture evaporation amount per unit electric power consumption amount and the moisture evaporation amount per unit time according to a cooling stroke for drying the object to be dried without using a heater and a heating stroke for drying the object to be dried using a heater As a result, the water evaporation amount per unit electric power consumption was the highest when the cooling stroke was performed in the early stage of the drying stroke, and the water evaporation amount per unit time was highest in the heating stroke in the latter stage of the drying stroke .

Accordingly, the present invention develops a drying algorithm that optimizes the cooling stroke and the heating stroke, and satisfies the setting criteria set by the accreditation body, and proposes a control method of the dryer that minimizes the drying time.

To this end, an electric heater composed of two heaters having the same output is provided in this embodiment. That is, the dryer 10 in this embodiment includes the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 having the same output, and the first heater 70 or the second heater 80, under the control of the controller 100, The second heater 80 is driven. Each of the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 may be a heater having an output of 2700 Watt, but is not limited thereto.

The control unit 100 performs a drying process in accordance with the drying command input through the input unit 122. [ In the drying step, there are respective drying modes determined according to the material of the object to be dried, and in this embodiment, a drying method according to a drying object made of a cotton material will be described.

4 is a graph schematically showing a drying method of a dryer according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 4, the abscissa of the graph represents the drying time (min), and the ordinate on the left represents whether the heater (the first heater or the second heater) is driven.

As shown in the figure, the controller 100 intermittently drives the first heater 70 in the early stage of the drying cycle when a drying command is input. The controller 100 further drives the second heater 80 in the latter half of the drying stroke while the first heater 70 is being driven. When the drying of the object to be dried is completed by driving the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 simultaneously, the controller 100 controls the driving of the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 So as to lower the internal temperature of the drying drum 11 rising to a high temperature.

The graph shown in FIG. 4 will be described in more detail through the flowchart shown below.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a dryer according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, in the method of controlling a dryer according to the first embodiment of the present invention, a cooling stroke using a blower and a heating stroke using a heater are alternately performed in the early stage of the drying cycle, And a heating step using all of the heaters is performed.

In detail, the dryer 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention receives a drying start command after the power is turned on (S1)

For example, the controller 100 receives a drying mode through the input unit 122 and performs a drying process according to the input drying mode.

At this time, when the drying start command is inputted, the drying stroke according to the basic drying mode can be performed without receiving the selection of one of the plurality of drying modes. For example, the default drying mode may be a dry mode depending on the material to be dried.

When drying is started in step S1, the controller 100 performs a cooling stroke for a first reference time (S2)

Here, the cooling step means a step of drying the object to be dried by using the air blowing device 16 without using the first heater 70 or the second heater 80. That is, when the drying operation is started, the controller 100 drives the driving motor 161 of the fan unit 16 for the first reference time to rotate the drying drum 11 and the drying fan 162. Then, the drying object accommodated in the drying drum 11 is rotated along the drying drum 11, and the drying object is dried according to the air circulation formed by the drying fan 162. In this case, the first reference time may be between 3 minutes and 10 seconds to 3 minutes and 30 seconds, for example, 3 minutes and 20 seconds.

When the cooling process is completed in step S2, the controller 100 performs a heating stroke using the first heater 70 for a second reference time (S3)

Here, the heating stroke using the first heater 70 means a stroke in which the object to be dried is dried by using the first heater 70 and the air blowing device 16. That is, when the cooling process is completed, the controller 100 drives the first heater 70 for a second reference time to supply hot air of high temperature into the drying drum 11. At this time, the second reference time may be shorter than the first reference time. The second reference time may be between 30 seconds and 40 seconds, for example 35 seconds.

As described above, the heating stroke using the first heater 70 during the second reference time may be defined as a first heating stroke.

In this embodiment, step S2 and step S3 are repeated several times. That is, when the first heating stroke is completed in step S3, the controller 100 repeats steps S2 and S3 by the set number N. (S4, S5)

The reason why the steps S2 and S3 are repeated is that the moisture evaporation amount per unit power consumption is the highest when the cooling stroke is performed in the early stage of the drying cycle in the entire process of drying.

That is, an effective drying cycle can be performed by using a heater having a large amount of power consumption as much as possible at the beginning of the drying cycle and using a blower having a relatively small amount of power consumption.

Here, the reference number N may be six, for example. That is, the controller 100 may repeat the steps S2 and S3 six times, and then enter the next step.

Then, the controller 100 performs a cooling stroke for a first reference time, and performs a heating stroke using the first heater 70 during a third reference time when the cooling stroke is completed (S6, S7)

The controller 100 drives the first heater 70 for a third reference time so that hot air of a high temperature is supplied into the drying drum 11. At this time, the sum of the second reference times in which the first heating stroke is repeatedly performed may be shorter than the third reference time. The third reference time may be between 7 minutes and 15 seconds to 7 minutes and 35 seconds, for example 7 minutes and 25 seconds.

As described above, the heating stroke using the first heater 70 during the third reference time may be defined as the second heating stroke.

When the second heating stroke is completed in step S7, the controller 100 performs a heating stroke using the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 for the fourth reference time (S8)

That is, the controller 100 drives the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 together during the fourth reference time to supply hot air of high temperature into the drying drum 11.

The reason why the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 are driven at the same time in step S8 is that when the heating process is performed in the latter half of the drying stroke in the entire process of drying, High. Accordingly, the controller 100 dries the object to be dried for a fourth reference time longer than the third reference time while both the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 are driven.

At this time, the time for drying the object to be dried using the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 is much longer than the time for drying the object to be dried using only the first heater 70. That is, the present invention is characterized in that the output of the heater is maximized in the latter half of the drying stroke to dry the object to be dried.

In this embodiment, the sum of the first reference time and the second reference time may be longer than the sum of the third reference time and the fourth reference time.

The fourth reference time may be a time between 16 minutes and 45 seconds and 17 minutes and 5 seconds, for example, 16 minutes and 55 seconds.

As described above, the heating stroke using the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 can be defined as a third heating stroke.

When the third heating stroke is completed in step S8, the controller 100 finally performs the cooling stroke for the fifth reference time (S9)

At this time, the controller 100 stops the driving of the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 and stops the driving of the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 So as to lower the temperature inside the drying drum 11 which has risen sharply. Here, the fifth reference time may be between 4 minutes and 6 minutes, for example, 5 minutes.

When the cooling process is completed in step S9, the driving of the blower unit 16 is stopped, and the drying cycle is completed.

6 is a flowchart showing a method of controlling a dryer according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

The second embodiment of the present invention adds heater load sensing logic in the first embodiment described above. Particularly, in the second embodiment, when the overheat of the dryer or the heater is detected while the first heater and the second heater are simultaneously driven in the first embodiment, the load of the dryer or the heater is lowered .

In detail, the dryer according to the second embodiment of the present invention receives a drying start command after the power is turned on. For example, the controller 100 receives the first drying mode through the input unit 122 and performs a drying process according to the input first drying mode (S11)

Here, the first drying mode may be a drying mode that is set previously, and may be a drying mode depending on a drying object of a surface material (S11).

Thereafter, steps S12 to S17 are sequentially performed. Steps S12 to S17 in this embodiment are the same as steps S2 to S7 according to the above-described first embodiment, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

On the other hand, when the second heating stroke is completed in step S17, the controller 100 performs a heating stroke using the first heater 70 and the second heater 80. (S18)

That is, the controller 100 drives the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 to supply hot air of high temperature into the drying drum 11. At this time, the heating stroke using the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 may be performed until the reference drying time ta is reached.

As described above, the heating stroke using the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 can be defined as a third heating stroke.

While the third heating stroke is being performed in step S18, the controller 100 determines whether the drying degree value is equal to or less than the reference drying degree value Wa (S19)

That is, the controller 100 compares the dryness value detected by the dryness detection sensor 50 with the reference dryness value Wa to determine whether the dryer is overloaded.

If it is determined that the drying degree value detected in step S19 is equal to or lower than the reference drying degree value Wa, the controller 100 determines whether the drum outlet temperature value is lower than the reference temperature value Ta.

That is, the controller 100 compares the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 60 with the reference temperature Ta to determine whether the dryer is overloaded.

If it is determined that the drum outlet temperature detected in step S20 is equal to or lower than the reference temperature Ta, the controller 100 determines whether the reference time t has elapsed from the start of the third heating stroke (S21)

In step S21, it is determined whether the reference time t has elapsed. The reason why the reference time t is elapsed is that the third heating step uses both of the heaters and the energy consumption is high. Therefore, It is difficult to pass the energy certification test. The reference time t may be a time between 16 minutes and 45 seconds to 17 minutes and 5 seconds, for example, 16 minutes and 55 seconds.

If it is determined in step S21 that the reference time t has elapsed from the start of the third heating stroke, the controller 100 performs a cooling stroke for the fifth reference time (S22)

That is, the controller 100 determines whether the measured drying value is equal to or less than the reference drying degree value Wa and the sensed temperature value is equal to or less than the reference temperature Ta, the first heater 70 and the second heater 80 can be driven continuously until the temperature of the first heater 70 reaches the predetermined temperature t.

On the other hand, if it is determined in steps S19 and S20 that the drying degree value exceeds the reference drying degree value Wa or the drum outlet temperature value exceeds the reference temperature value Ta, the control unit 100 determines that the dryer is overloaded And enters the second drying mode (S23)

In detail, the second drying mode can be understood as a load corresponding drying mode for lowering the load when the dryer is overloaded. For example, the second drying mode may be a mode for performing a heating stroke using only one of the first heater 70 and the second heater 80. As another example, the second drying mode may be a mode for reducing the output of the heater of at least one of the first heater 70 and the second heater 80. As another example, the second drying mode may be a mode of reducing the load of the dryer by reducing the RPM of the driving motor 161. [ However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the second drying mode may include a drying mode operated to lower the overall load of the dryer.

According to the construction of the present invention as described above, the cooling stroke using the blowing device and the heating stroke using one heater are alternately performed at the beginning of the drying stroke, and the heating stroke using both of the two heaters is performed at the latter stage of the drying stroke, There is an effect that drying can be performed.

In addition, by controlling the driving time of each of the two heaters in the drying process, it is possible to satisfy the setting criteria indicated by the accreditation body and to significantly reduce the drying time required for drying.

In addition, since the load sensing logic that can cope with the overload that occurs during the drying process is provided, product safety is improved.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. .

Claims (12)

In a method of controlling a dryer,
When the drying command is input, the blowing device is driven to perform a cooling stroke for a first reference time;
When the cooling stroke is completed, a first heater is driven to perform a first heating stroke for a second reference time;
Wherein the cooling step and the first heating step are repeatedly performed a predetermined number of times (N);
Performing a cooling stroke during the first reference time when the repeated execution of the cooling stroke and the first heating stroke is completed;
When the cooling stroke is completed, the first heater is driven again to perform a second heating stroke for a third reference time;
When the second heating stroke is completed, a second heater is further driven to perform a third heating stroke for a fourth reference time; And
And stopping the driving of the first heater and the second heater when the third heating stroke is completed. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the second reference time is shorter than the first reference time. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the third reference time is shorter than the fourth reference time. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the sum of the first reference time and the second reference time is longer than the sum of the third reference time and the fourth reference time. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the set number of times (N) is six times. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first reference time is a time between 3 minutes and 10 seconds to 3 minutes and 30 seconds,
Wherein the second reference time is between 30 seconds and 40 seconds,
The third reference time is a time between 7 minutes and 15 seconds to 7 minutes and 35 seconds,
Wherein the fourth reference time is a time between 16 minutes and 45 seconds to 17 minutes and 5 seconds. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising the step of determining whether the drying degree value detected from the time when the second heater is driven is less than or equal to the reference drying degree value Wa while the third heating stroke is being performed,
Wherein when it is determined that the drying degree value exceeds the reference drying degree value (Wa), it is determined that an overload has occurred in the dryer, and a load corresponding drying mode is entered. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the load corresponding drying mode is a mode in which heating is performed using only one of the first heater and the second heater. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the load corresponding drying mode is a mode for reducing the RPM of the drive motor constituting the air blowing device. 8. The method of claim 7,
If it is determined that the drying degree value is equal to or less than the reference drying degree value Wa, it is further determined whether or not the drum outlet temperature value sensed from the time when the second heater is driven is equal to or less than the reference temperature value Ta Of the dryer. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein when it is determined that the drum outlet temperature value exceeds the reference temperature value (Ta), it is determined that an overload has occurred in the dryer, and a load corresponding drying mode is entered. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein when the driving of the first heater and the second heater is stopped, the cooling stroke is performed for a fifth reference time.

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