Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
  • D06F58/00—Domestic laundry dryers
  • D06F58/20—General details of domestic laundry dryers 
  • D06F58/203—Laundry conditioning arrangements
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
  • D06F58/00—Domestic laundry dryers
  • D06F58/20—General details of domestic laundry dryers 
  • D06F58/24—Condensing arrangements
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • D06F—LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES
  • D06F58/00—Domestic laundry dryers
  • D06F58/20—General details of domestic laundry dryers 

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a home laundry drier.
• the present invention relates to a rotary-drum home laundry drier, to which the following description refers purely by way of example.
• rotary-drum laundry driers substantially comprise a substantially parallelepiped-shaped outer box casing; a cylindrical laundry drum housed in axially rotating manner inside the box casing, directly facing a laundry loading and unloading opening formed in the front face of the casing; a door hinged to the front face of the casing to rotate to and from a rest position closing the opening in the front face of the casing to seal the laundry drum; and an electric motor for rotating the laundry drum about its longitudinal axis inside the casing.
• Rotary-drum laundry driers of the above type also comprise a closed-circuit, hot-air generator designed to circulate inside the laundry drum a stream of hot air with a low moisture content and which flows through the laundry drum and over the laundry inside the drum to rapidly dry the laundry.
• the closed-circuit, hot- air generator comprises an air/air heat exchanger and an electric heater located one after the other along an air recirculating conduit, the two ends of which are connected to the laundry drum, on opposite sides of the latter.
• the air/air heat exchanger provides for rapidly cooling the airflow from the laundry drum to condense the surplus moisture in the airflow; and the heater provides for rapidly heating the airflow from the heat exchanger back to the laundry drum, so that the air flowing into the drum is heated rapidly to a temperature higher than or equal to that of the same air flowing out of the laundry drum.
• Some more recently marketed rotary-drum driers also feature a pressurized-steam generator which, at the end of the drying cycle, feeds a jet of steam into the laundry drum to eliminate or at least greatly reduce creasing of the fabrics during the drying cycle .
• the steam generators currently used in driers have substantially the same structure as ordinary irons with a separate boiler, and so have all the drawbacks typically associated with them : first and foremost, compulsory use of demineralized water in the boiler to prevent the formation of lime scale, which could impair operation of the steam generator.
• steam generators comprises a demineralized water reservoir which is located in the highest portion of the household appliance so as to facilitate manual refilling of demineralized water; and a steam generation electric boiler which is usually located below the demineralized water reservoir and is in communication with the latter via a connecting pipe. Water flows into the electric boiler for gravity.
• a home laundry drier as claimed in Claim 1 and preferably, though not necessarily, in any one of the Claims depending directly or indirectly on Claim 1.
• Number l in the attached drawing indicates as a whole a home laundry drier substantially comprising a preferably, though not necessarily, parallelepiped-shaped outer box casing 2; an airtight, preferably, though not necessarily, cylindrical laundry drying tub or chamber 3 for housing the laundry to be dried, and which is fixed substantially horizontally inside casing 2, directly facing a laundry loading and unloading opening 2a formed in the front face of casing 2 ; a door 4 hinged to the front face of casing 2 for rotating to and from a rest position closing opening 2a in the front face to seal the laundry drying tub 3; and a preferably, though not necessarily, cylindrical laundry drum 5 for housing the laundry to be dried, and which is housed in axially rotating manner and preferably, though not necessarily, horizontally inside the drying tub 3.
• laundry drum 5 is provided with an end wall 5a and possibly a cylindrical lateral wall perforated, or at any rate permeable to air, to permit airflow into the drum 5; and it is mounted for rotation about its longitudinal axis L which, in the example shown, coincides with the longitudinal axis of the drying tub 3.
• Laundry drier 1 also comprises an electric motor 6 or similar, which, on command, rotates laundry drum 5 about longitudinal axis L inside drying tub 3; and a closed-circuit, hot-air generator 7 housed inside casing 2 and designed to circulate through laundry drum 5 a stream of hot air having a low moisture level, and which flows over and rapidly dries the laundry inside drum 5.
• Casing 2, drying tub 3, door 4, laundry drum 5, and electric motor 6 are commonly known parts in the industry, and therefore not described in detail .
• hot- air generator 7 provides for gradually drawing air from drying tub 3; extracting surplus moisture from the hot air drawn from drying tub 3; heating the dehumidified air to a predetermined temperature, normally higher than the temperature of the air from drying tub 3; and feeding the heated, dehumidified air back into drying tub 3, where it flows over, to rapidly dry, the laundry inside the tub.
• hot-air generator 7 provides for continually dehumidifying and heating the air circulating inside drum 5 to rapidly dry the laundry inside the latter, and substantially comprises: an air recirculating conduit 8, the two ends of which are connected to drying tub 3 preferably, though not necessarily, on opposite sides of laundry drum 5; an electric centrifugal fan 9, or other type of air circulating pump, located along recirculating conduit 8 to produce, inside recirculating conduit 8, an airflow f, which flows into drying tub 3 and over the laundry inside the drum 5; an air/air heat exchanger 10 or similar - commonly referred to as a condenser - which is located along recirculating conduit
• an electric heater 11 located along recirculating conduit 8, downstream from heat exchanger 10, and which provides for rapidly heating the airflow f from heat exchanger 10 back to drying tub 3, so that the air flowing into drying tub 3 is heated rapidly to a temperature preferably, though not necessarily, higher than or equal to that of the same air flowing out of drying tub 3.
• the intake end of recirculating conduit 8 is integrated in door 4, and the exhaust end of recirculating conduit 8 is coupled directly to drying tub 3, in front of end wall 5a of laundry drum 5.
• drier 1 also comprises an electronic central control unit 12, which controls electric motor 6, fan 9, heat exchanger 10 (or, rather, the cooling fan 13 of heat exchanger 10, which generates cold airflow w through the exchanger) and heater 11 in predetermined manner, as memorized inside it, to perform the user-selected drying cycle.
• heat exchanger 10 is located at the bottom of casing 2, and it is also provided with a condensed-water canister 14 which collects the liquid distilled water produced, when the drier is running, inside heat exchanger 10 by condensation of the surplus moisture in airflow f arriving from drying tub 3.
• condensed-water canister 14 is located in the bottom of heat exchanger 10.
• hot-air generator 7 also comprises an instant in-pressure electric boiler 15 designed to receive a given quantity of water and immediately convert said water into a stream of low-pressure steam whose pressure is slightly higher than external pressure; an electric pump 16 which, on command, sucks the distilled water from water canister 14 and feeds it to electric boiler 15; and a steam exhaust manifold 17 connecting the outlet of electric boiler 15 to recirculating conduit 8 preferably, though not necessarily, upstream from heater 11, to feed the low-pressure steam produced in electric boiler 15 directly to drying tub 3 and laundry drum 5 via the end portion of recirculating conduit 8.
• instant in-pressure electric boiler 15 is housed inside casing 2, immediately over heat exchanger 10, and substantially consists of an airtight container housing a resistor dimensioned to immediately vaporize water fed into the airtight container.
• the airtight container has a calibrated hole or opening which is dimensioned to slow down steam spillage and increase the pressure of the steam inside the airtight container to above external pressure.
• electric pump 16 is housed inside casing 2 immediately over heat exchanger 10, or at least over water canister 14, and preferably, though not necessarily, side by side to electric boiler 15, and it is structured to suck the distilled water from beneath water canister 14, via an intake pipe 18 connecting the inlet of electric pump 16 to the bottom of water canister 14 across heat exchanger 10.
• electric pump 16 is dimensioned to produce an inlet suction pressure capable of sucking the distilled water from water canister 14 up to electric boiler 15. More in details, in the example shown electric pump 16 is a self-priming volumetric pump, namely a membrane pump. Electric boiler 15 and membrane pump 16 are commonly known parts in the industry, and therefore not described in detail .
• Electronic central control unit 12 obviously controls electric boiler 15, electric pump 16 and the other component parts of hot-air generator 7, such as fan 9 and/or fan 13 of heat exchanger 10, so as to feed steam into drying tub 3 and drum 5 according to the selected drying cycle, and also to feed, when required, a stream of low-pressure steam into drying tub 3 and drum 5.
• central control unit 12 calculates the instant flow rate of the low-pressure steam coming out from electric boiler 15 according to the electric power supplied to the resistor of electric boiler 15, and to the temperature inside the airtight container of electric boiler 15; and controls electric pump 16 so as that the instant flow rate of the distilled water supplied to electric boiler 15 is almost equal to the instant flow rate of low-pressure steam coming out from electric boiler 15.
• the instant temperature inside the airtight container of electric boiler 15 is determined via a temperature sensor of known type (not shown) housed inside the airtight container.
• central control unit 12 switches on and off electric boiler 15 according to the selected drying cycle until there is distilled water into water canister 14.
• hot-air generator 7 also has a water drain circuit for draining surplus of distilled water from water canister 14.
• Water drain circuit comprises a manualIy-removable waste-water tank (not shown) housed in easily removable manner inside casing 2, preferably, though not necessarily, near the top of the casing; and a second electric pump (not shown) which, on command, sucks the distilled water from water canister 14 and feeds it to the waste-water tank. More specifically, the second electric pump is switched on in known manner by a floater (not shown) housed in water canister 14, when the water-level in water canister 14 exceeds a given upper threshold value .
• steam exhaust manifold 17 may connect the outlet of electric boiler 15 directly to drying tub 3 and laundry drum 5, bypassing the end portion of recirculating conduit 8.
• laundry drier 1 may not have the laundry drying tub or chamber 3, and laundry drum 5 may be mounted in axially rotating manner directly inside casing 2.
• laundry drum 5 may be mounted in axially rotating manner directly inside casing 2.
• only end wall 5a of laundry drum 5 is perforated or permeable to air, and the exhaust end of recirculating conduit 8 is coupled in airtight manner directly to end wall 5a.
• the front opening of laundry drum 5 directly faces laundry loading and unloading opening 2a in the front face of casing 2, and door 3, when placed in its rest position, seals in airtight manner directly the front opening of laundry drum 5.
• hot-air generator 7 may be provided also with a water level sensor (not shown) which is housed inside the airtight container of electric boiler 15 for determining the instant water-level inside the airtight container, and central control unit 12 calculates the instant flow rate of the low-pressure steam coining out from electric boiler 15 according to the signals received form said water level sensor (not shown) .
• a water level sensor not shown

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Detail Structures Of Washing Machines And Dryers (AREA)
• Drying Of Solid Materials (AREA)
• Centrifugal Separators (AREA)
• Detergent Compositions (AREA)

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Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

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Citations (4)

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• 2007
  • 2007-07-13 PL PL07112495T patent/PL2014821T3/pl unknown
  • 2007-07-13 AT AT07112495T patent/ATE490366T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2007-07-13 DE DE602007010918T patent/DE602007010918D1/de active Active
  • 2007-07-13 EP EP07112495A patent/EP2014821B1/en not_active Not-in-force
  • 2007-07-13 ES ES07112495T patent/ES2356141T3/es active Active
• 2008
  • 2008-07-11 RU RU2010105035/12A patent/RU2501897C2/ru not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2008-07-11 WO PCT/EP2008/005699 patent/WO2009010245A1/en active Application Filing

Patent Citations (4)

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