WO2013182403A1

WO2013182403A1 - Laundry dryer with air-cooled condenser

Info

Publication number: WO2013182403A1
Application number: PCT/EP2013/060287
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yavuz Sahin; Mehmet Kaya; Erdem An
Original assignee: Arcelik Anonim Sirketi
Priority date: 2012-06-05
Filing date: 2013-05-17
Publication date: 2013-12-12

Abstract

The present invention relates to a laundry dryer (1) comprising a body (2), a drum (3) wherein the laundry is placed, a drying duct (4) wherein the processing air (PA) is circulated in order to dry the laundry, a drying fan (5) which circulates the processing air (PA) in the drying duct (4), a heater (6) which heats the processing air (PA), a condenser (7) which dehunnidifies the processing air (PA), a cooling fan (8) which cools the condenser (7) and an outside air duct (9) which directs the cooling air (CA) sucked from the outside environment by the cooling fan (8) onto the condenser (7).

Description

LAUNDRY DRYER WITH AIR-COOLED CONDENSER

The present invention relates to a laundry dryer comprising an air-cooled condenser.

In laundry dryers wherein the drying air is circulated within a closed cycle, the drying air activated by a fan dehumidifies the laundry by being passed over the laundry and the water vapor in the air is condensed at the condenser. The drying air dehumidified at the condenser is then heated by being passed over the heater, thus hot and dry air is delivered onto the laundry. As the load on the air-cooled condenser increases, the amount of water kept in the condenser increases and the efficiency of the condenser decreases, the desired condensation cannot be provided, the operation time of the heater is prolonged and the energy consumption of the laundry dryer increases.

In the European Patent no. EP2072656, a laundry dryer is explained which comprises an air-cooled condenser and the energy consumption of which is decreased.

The aim of the present invention is the realization of a laundry dryer which comprises an air-cooled condenser and wherein the efficiency of the condenser is increased.

In the laundry dryer realized in order to attain the aim of the present invention, explicated in the first claim and the respective claims thereof, the processing air providing the laundry to be dried is delivered to the drum by means of a drying duct and a drying fan. The moisture of the processing air is decreased by an air-cooled condenser and the processing air is heated by a heater. The condenser is cooled by means of a cooling fan and an outside air duct. Inside the condenser, there are condensing channels through which the processing air passes and cooling channels through which the cooling air passes. The laundry dryer, furthermore, comprises discharge holes on the condenser which provide some of the processing air passing through the condensing channels in the condenser to be discharged from the condenser.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the discharge holes are disposed at the side wall of the condensing channel inside the condenser.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the discharge holes are arranged in the condensing channel, in the vicinity of the outlet through which the processing air leaves the condenser.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the laundry dryer comprises a by-pass line, one end of which is connected to the discharge holes and which directs the air discharged from the condenser into the outside air duct and thus, which provides the air to be discharged from the body.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the by-pass line is connected to the section of outside air duct at the condenser outlet.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the laundry dryer comprises a supply line, one end of which is connected to the cooling channel in the condenser and the other end to the drying duct. The processing air lost through the discharge holes and the by-pass line is compensated with the cooling air received from the outside by means of the supply line.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the supply line is connected to the drying duct before the drying fan and in order to provide air supplement to the drying duct from the outside, sucking effect of the drying fan is utilized.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the supply line is connected to the side wall of the cooling channel, near the exit point of the cooling air. Thus, the processing air in the drying duct is provided to be supplied with the cooling air, the temperature of which is increased.

In the laundry dryer of the present invention, some of the processing air is discharged out of the drying cycle, the dry air is received from the outside instead of the discharged humid air and the condensation efficiency is increased by reducing the load on the condenser. The moisture of the discharged processing air does not disturb the user. The operation time of the heater is shortened and energy saving is provided.

The laundry dryer realized in order to attain the aim of the present invention is illustrated in the attached figures, where:

Figure 1 - is the schematic view of a laundry dryer.

Figure 2 - is the schematic view of the air-cooled condenser situated in the laundry dryer.

The elements illustrated in the figures are numbered as follows:

Laundry dryer
Body
Drum
Drying duct
Drying fan
Heater
Condenser
Cooling fan
Outside air duct
Condensing channel
Cooling channel
Discharge hole
By-pass line
Supply line

The laundry dryer (1) comprises a body (2), a drum (3) wherein the laundry is placed, a drying duct (4) wherein the processing air (PA) is circulated in order to dry the laundry, a drying fan (5) which circulates the processing air (PA) in the drying duct (4), a heater (6) which heats the processing air (PA), a condenser (7) which reduces the moisture of the processing air (PA), a cooling fan (8) which cools the condenser (7) and an outside air duct (9) which directs the cooling air (CA) sucked from the outside environment by the cooling fan (8) onto the condenser (7).

The laundry dryer (1), furthermore, comprises at least one condensing channel (10) which is disposed inside the condenser (7), which extends in the flow direction of the processing air (PA) and through which the processing air (PA) received from the drum (3) and the drying duct (4) by means of the drying fan (5) passes, and at least one cooling channel (11) which extends perpendicularly to the condensing channels (10) inside the condenser (7), through which the cooling air (CA) received from the outside air duct (9) by means of the cooling fan (8) passes and which provides to draw heat from the condensing channels (10).

In the laundry dryer (1), the processing air (PA) activated by means of the drying fan (5) exits the drum (3) and reaches the condenser (7) by means of the drying duct (4), is heated by passing through the heater (6) after being dehumidified in the condenser (7) and the dry and hot processing air (PA) is delivered onto the laundry inside the drum (3). The cooling air (CA) sucked from the outside environment by means of the cooling fan (8) and the outside air duct (9) is delivered to the outside environment again after being passed through the condenser (7), thus the condenser (7) is cooled and the processing air (PA) passing therethrough is provided to be condensed.

The laundry dryer (1) of the present invention comprises one or more than one discharge hole (12) which is disposed on the condenser (7) and provides some of the processing air (PA) passing through the condensing channels (10) to be discharged from the condenser (7) inside the body (2).

In an embodiment of the present invention, the discharge hole (12) is located at the side wall of the condensing channel (10). The processing air (PA) entering the condenser (7) from the drying duct (4) is partially discharged from the condenser (7) through the discharge holes (12) at the side wall of the condensing channel (10) by the effect of the pressure applied by the drying fan (5) while passing through the condensing channel (10).

In another embodiment of the present invention, the discharge hole (12) is located in the vicinity of the condensing channel (10) outlet where the processing air (PA) leaves the condenser (7). Thus, the processing air (PA) is provided to be discharged through the discharge holes (12) with reduced moisture after travelling almost all along the condensing channel (10). Moisture increase in the outside environment is prevented.

The processing air (PA) circulated in the drying duct (4) by means of the drying fan (5) during the drying process applied in the laundry dryer (1) passes through the condensing channels (10) inside the condenser (7). Some of the processing air (PA) is delivered to the outside environment by being separated from the drying cycle by means of the discharge holes (12) in the vicinity of the exit point of the processing air (PA) at the side wall of any of the condensing channels (10) inside the condenser (7). Just before leaving the condenser (7), the processing air (PA) is allowed to partially leak out of the condenser (7). The amount of processing air (PA) that is partially discharged from the condenser (7) is adjusted by changing the number and/or dimensions of the discharge holes (12). Thus, by discharging some of the humid processing air (PA) circulating in the drying duct (4), the load on the condenser (7) is reduced and the condensation efficiency is increased. Since the discharge holes (12) are located at the outlet of the condensing channel (10), the discharged portion of the processing air (PA) does not increase the amount of moisture in the outside environment and does not disturb the user. For example, when there is a circulation of processing air (PA) with a flow rate of 50 l/min in the drying duct (4), processing air (PA) with a flow rate of 3 l/min is discharged by means of the discharge holes (12).

In an embodiment of the present invention, the laundry dryer (1) comprises a by-pass line (13), one end of which is connected to the discharge holes (12) and the other end to the outside air duct (9) and which provides the processing air (PA) that is partially discharged from the condenser (7) through the discharge holes (12) to be delivered to the outside of the body (2) by means of the outside air duct (9).

In another embodiment of the present invention, the by-pass line (13) is connected to the section of the outside air duct (9) at the condenser (7) outlet.

The processing air (PA) partially discharged from the condenser (7) through the discharge holes (12) is transmitted to the outside air duct (9) from the by-pass line (13) and mixed with the cooling air (CA) sucked from the outside environment by the cooling fan (8) here, the amount of its moisture is reduced and it is delivered to the outside environment with a low amount of moisture that does not disturb the user.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the laundry dryer (1) comprises a supply line (14), one end of which is connected to the cooling channel (11) of the condenser (7) and the other end to the drying duct (4) and which provides the cooling air (CA) delivered to the condenser (7) by the cooling fan (8) to be partially mixed with the processing air (PA) passing through the drying duct (4).

In another embodiment of the present invention, the supply line (14) is connected to the drying duct (4) before the drying fan (5) in order to utilize the sucking effect of the drying fan (5).

In this embodiment, in the laundry dryer (1), the cooling air (CA) received from the outside environment by means of the cooling fan (8) is supplied by means of the supply line (14) instead of the humid processing air (PA) partially discharged through the drying duct (4), the discharge holes (12) and the by-pass line (13). The humid processing air (PA) the amount of which lessens a little through the drying duct (4) is compensated with the dry cooling air (CA) received from the outside in the same amount. For example, taking into consideration that the total flow rate of the processing air (PA) is 50 l/min, processing air (PA) with a flow rate of 3 l/min is discharged from the condenser (7) and cooling air (CA) again with a flow rate of 3 l/min is received from the outside instead of the discharged processing air (PA). Thus, the pressure in the drying duct (4) is prevented from dropping, the moisture of the processing air (PA) delivered onto the laundry is decreased, the drying performance is increased.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the supply line (14) is connected to the side wall of the cooling channel (11), near the cooling channel (11) outlet where the cooling air (CA) leaves the condenser (7). Thus, the cooling air (CA) which travels almost all along the cooling channel (11) is provided to be supplied to the drying duct (4) as being heated. The moisture of the processing air (PA) which is supplemented with the cooling air (CA) decreases and its temperature is increased, and its capacity to dehumidify the laundry is increased.

In the laundry dryer (1) of the present invention, the condensation efficiency of the condenser (7) is increased by reducing the load thereon. The amount of moisture in the processing air (PA) that is partially discharged in order to reduce the load on the condenser (7) is reduced and provided not to disturb the user. The operation time of the heater (6) is shortened and energy saving is provided.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited by the embodiments disclosed above and a person skilled in the art can easily introduce different embodiments. These should be considered within the scope of the protection disclosed by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

A laundry dryer (1) comprising a body (2), a drum (3) wherein the laundry is placed, a drying duct (4) wherein the processing air (PA) is circulated, a drying fan (5) which circulates the processing air (PA) in the drying duct (4), a heater (6) which heats the processing air (PA), a condenser (7) which dehumidifies the processing air (PA), a cooling fan (8) which cools the condenser (7) and an outside air duct (9) which directs the cooling air (CA) sucked from the outside environment by the cooling fan (8) onto the condenser (7), at least one condensing channel (10) which is disposed inside the condenser (7) and which extends in the flow direction of the processing air (PA), at least one cooling channel (11) which extends perpendicularly to the condensing channels (10), characterized in that one or more than one discharge hole (12) which is disposed on the condenser (7) and provides some of the processing air (PA) passing through the condensing channels (10) to be discharged from the condenser (7) inside the body (2).
A laundry dryer (1) as in Claim 1, characterized in that the discharge hole (12) that is located at the side wall of the condensing channel (10).
A laundry dryer (1) as in Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the discharge hole (12) that is located in the vicinity of the condensing channel (10) outlet where the processing air (PA) leaves the condenser (7).
A laundry dryer (1) as in any one of the above claims, characterized in that a by-pass line (13), one end of which is connected to the discharge holes (12) and the other end to the outside air duct (9) and which provides the processing air (PA) that is partially discharged from the condenser (7) to be delivered to the outside of the body (2) by means of the outside air duct (9).
A laundry dryer (1) as in Claim 4, characterized in that the by-pass line (13) that is connected to the section of the outside air duct (9) at the condenser (7) outlet.
A laundry dryer (1) as in any one of the above claims, characterized in that a supply line (14), one end of which is connected to the cooling channel (11) of the condenser (7) and the other end to the drying duct (4) and which provides the cooling air (CA) delivered to the condenser (7) by the cooling fan (8) to be partially mixed with the processing air (PA) passing through the drying duct (4).
A laundry dryer (1) as in Claim 6, characterized in that the supply line (14) that is connected to the drying duct (4) before the drying fan (5).
A laundry dryer (1) as in Claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the supply line (14) that is connected to the side wall of the cooling channel (11).
A laundry dryer (1) as in any one of the Claims 6 to 8, characterized in that the supply line (14) that is connected near the cooling channel (11) outlet where the cooling air (CA) leaves the condenser (7).