WO2020135068A1

WO2020135068A1 - Clothes dryer

Info

Publication number: WO2020135068A1
Application number: PCT/CN2019/124848
Authority: WO
Inventors: 香月淳吾; 林田太一
Original assignee: 青岛海尔洗衣机有限公司; Aqua株式会社; 海尔智家股份有限公司
Priority date: 2018-12-26
Filing date: 2019-12-12
Publication date: 2020-07-02
Also published as: JP7218862B2; CN113272491A; JP2020103434A

Abstract

A clothes dryer that improves the maintainability of a filter is disclosed. The clothes dryer (1) comprises: a container body (2) having an air suction port (2E) and an air discharging port (2F) provided thereon; an air channel (3) provided in the container body (2) and connected to the air suction port (2E) and the air discharging port (2F); and an air supply portion (5) for moving air outside the container body (2) into the air channel (3) via the air suction port (2E) and discharging the same to the outside of the container body (2) by means of the air discharging port (2F). The clothes dryer (1) further comprises: an accommodation portion (4) provided in the air channel (3) for accommodating clothes (L); a heating portion (6) for heating air in the air channel (3) flowing from the air suction port (2E) to the accommodation portion (4); a cylindrical filter (7) provided between the accommodation portion (4) and the air discharging port (2F) and in the air channel (3); and a driving portion (15) for rotating the filter (7). The filter (7) has an outer peripheral surface portion (7A) for capturing foreign objects contained in the air in the air channel (3).

Description

Clothes dryer

Technical field

The invention relates to a clothes dryer.

Background technique

The gas dryer described in Patent Document 1 below includes a main body box provided with suction holes and exhaust holes, a rotating drum arranged in the main body box, a gas burner provided in the upper part of the main body box, and an installation The thread filter in the lower part of the main box. When the laundry is thrown into the rotary drum and the gas burner is ignited, the air sucked from the intake hole becomes warm air and is supplied into the rotary drum, and then discharged from the exhaust hole through the thread filter.

In the gas dryer described in Patent Document 1, foreign substances such as wire chips contained in the air flowing to the exhaust hole in the main body box are caught by the wire filter. When a large amount of foreign matter adheres to the thread filter, the performance of the thread filter will be degraded. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically remove the thread filter from the main body box for cleaning. In particular, in the case where the gas dryer is installed in a coin-operated laundry room for commercial use, due to the high frequency of operation of the gas dryer, foreign objects will quickly accumulate in the lint filter, so the coin-operated laundry room Of managers must clean the thread filter frequently.

Existing technical literature

Patent Literature

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-225995

Summary of the invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

The present invention has been completed under such a background, and its object is to provide a clothes dryer which can improve the maintainability of the filter.

Solutions for solving problems

The invention is a clothes dryer, including: a box body with an air suction port and an exhaust port; an air path provided in the box body to connect the air suction port and the exhaust port; an air supply part , The air outside the box is taken into the air path from the suction port and discharged to the outside of the box from the exhaust port; the accommodating part is provided in the air path to accommodate Clothing; heating section, heating the air flowing from the air inlet to the containing section in the air passage; the filter, which is cylindrical, is arranged in the containing section and the row in the air passage Between the air ports, there is an outer peripheral surface part that catches foreign substances contained in the air in the air passage; and a driving part that rotates the filter.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the clothes dryer further includes a suction nozzle having a suction port opposite to the outer peripheral surface of the filter, which can be connected to the cleaner.

In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the clothes dryer further includes a brush that contacts the outer peripheral surface of the filter.

Effect of invention

According to the present invention, in the clothes dryer, the air outside the box is taken into the air passage from the suction port and heated by the heating part to become hot air in the middle of flowing to the exhaust port, and the clothes in the storage part are dried. The cylindrical filter disposed between the accommodating portion and the exhaust port in the air passage traps the foreign matter contained in the air in the air passage on the outer peripheral surface portion. The filter can be rotated to change the area where foreign objects are captured on its peripheral face. Thus, it takes time until a large amount of foreign matter adheres to the entire area of the outer peripheral surface of the filter to reduce the performance of the filter, and therefore, the filter does not need to be maintained frequently. Thus, the maintainability of the filter can be improved.

In addition, according to the present invention, when the cleaner is connected to the suction nozzle to operate, foreign objects adhering to the outer peripheral surface of the filter are sucked into the cleaner from the suction port of the suction nozzle. Furthermore, when the filter is rotated, the entire area of the outer peripheral surface of the filter faces the suction port, and therefore, foreign matter can be removed from the entire area of the outer peripheral surface of the filter. Therefore, the entire area of the outer peripheral surface of the filter can be cleaned without removing the filter by manual operation. This can further improve the maintainability of the filter.

In addition, according to the present invention, when the filter is rotated in a state where the brush is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the filter, foreign matters on the outer peripheral surface of the filter can be collected to the brush or scraped off from the outer peripheral surface. Therefore, the entire area of the outer peripheral surface of the filter can be cleaned without removing the filter by manual operation. This can further improve the maintainability of the filter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Fig. 1 is a right side view of the inside of the clothes dryer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a front view of the inside of the clothes dryer.

Fig. 3 is a front view of the inside of a dryer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

1: Dryer; 2: Cabinet; 2E: Intake port; 2F: Exhaust port; 3: Air path; 4: Storage section; 5: Air supply section; 6: Heating section; 7: Filter; 7A : Peripheral face; 15: driving part; 17: suction nozzle; 17B: suction port; 18: cleaner; 21: brush; L: clothing.

detailed description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a right side view of the inside of a clothes dryer 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1 is referred to as the left-right direction X of the clothes dryer 1, the left-right direction in FIG. 1 is referred to as the front-rear direction Y of the clothes dryer 1, and the up-down direction in FIG. 1 is referred to as the clothes dryer. Vertical direction Z of machine 1. In the left-right direction X, the back side of the paper surface in FIG. 1 is referred to as the left side X1, and the front side of the paper surface in FIG. 1 is referred to as the right side X2. Among the front and rear directions Y, the left side in FIG. 1 is referred to as the front side Y1, and the right side in FIG. 1 is referred to as the rear side Y2. Among the vertical directions Z, the upper side is called an upper side Z1, and the lower side is called a lower side Z2.

In this embodiment, the clothes dryer 1 is installed in a shop such as a coin-operated laundry room for commercial use, but it may also be installed in a general house for household use. The clothes dryer 1 includes a cabinet 2, an air passage 3 provided in the cabinet 2, a storage portion 4 disposed in the cabinet 2 and accommodating the clothes L, and a blower 5 for generating air flow in the air passage 3 A heating unit 6 that is a heat source that heats the air in the air passage 3, and a filter 7 that catches foreign materials such as wire dust contained in the air in the air passage 3.

The box body 2 is formed into, for example, a longitudinally long box shape. The front wall 2A and the rear wall 2B of the cabinet 2 extend vertically, for example. In the central portion of the front wall 2A in the up-down direction Z, an entrance 2C for allowing the clothes L to enter and exit the storage section 4 is formed. The front wall 2A is provided with a door (not shown) that opens/closes the entrance 2C. The part of the front wall 2A on the lower side Z2 from the entrance 2C is a maintenance door 2D that is opened/closed to penetrate into the lower part of the cabinet 2. The upper part of the rear wall 2B is provided with an intake port 2E for taking in the air outside the box 2 into the box 2. An exhaust port 2F for exhausting the air inside the box 2 to the outside of the box 2 is provided at the lower part of the rear wall 2B.

The air passage 3 is defined in the casing 2 so as to connect the intake port 2E and the exhaust port 2F. The internal space of the air duct 3 has an upstream region 3A connected to the intake port 2E, a downstream region 3B connected to the exhaust port 2F, and an intermediate region 3C connected to the upstream region 3A and the downstream region 3B. The upstream region 3A is located in the upper part of the box 2, the downstream region 3B is located in the lower part of the box 2, and the middle region 3C is located between the upstream region 3A and the downstream region 3B in the vertical direction Z.

The accommodating portion 4 is a cylindrical drum, and has a circumferential wall 4B formed with many through-holes 4A, an opening 4C, and a circular bottom wall 4D connected to the end of the circumferential wall 4B opposite to the opening 4C side. The accommodating portion 4 is arranged in the middle region 3C of the air duct 3 in a lateral posture so that the opening 4C faces the front side Y1 and the entrance 2C of the case 2. The clothing L passes in and out of the storage portion 4 through the entrance 2C and the opening 4C. A main motor 8 is mounted on the rear wall 2B of the case 2, and the output shaft 8A of the main motor 8 protrudes to the front side Y1 and is arranged in the middle region 3C, and is fixed to the central portion of the bottom wall 4D. When the main motor 8 generates driving force, the output shaft 8A rotates. As a result, the housing section 4 rotates together with the output shaft 8A about the central axis J that coincides with the output shaft 8A.

The air blower 5 is a so-called fan, and includes a rotating blade 9 arranged adjacent to the exhaust port 2F in the downstream region 3B of the air passage 3, and a support part arranged in the downstream region 3B and rotatably supporting the rotating blade 9 10 and a fan motor 11 fixed to the support portion 10 and rotating the rotating blade 9. The support portion 10 includes a partition plate 10A that is disposed on the front side Y1 of the rotary blade 9 and extends in the left-right direction X and the up-down direction Z (see also FIG. 2, which is a front view of the inside of the clothes dryer 1 ). By the partition plate 10A, the downstream area 3B is partitioned into the downstream front area 3BA of the front side Y1 of the partition plate 10A and the downstream rear area 3BB of the rear side Y2 of the partition plate 10A. The rotary blade 9 is arranged in the downstream rear area 3BB. The partition plate 10A is provided with a communication hole 10B that communicates the downstream front area 3BA and the downstream rear area 3BB, and an annular rib 10C that surrounds the communication hole 10B and projects toward the downstream front area 3BA side.

When the rotating blade 9 rotates, the air outside the box 2 at the periphery of the suction port 2E is drawn into the upstream region 3A of the air path 3 from the suction port 2E as shown by a plurality of black arrows, and passes through the wind in turn The intermediate region 3C and the downstream region 3B of the road 3 are then discharged from the exhaust port 2F to the outside of the case 2. Therefore, in the flow direction of the air in the air passage 3, the upstream region 3A side is the upstream side, and the downstream region 3B side is the downstream side. The air flowing through the intermediate region 3C passes through the through-hole 4A in the circumferential wall 4B of the housing section 4 and blows onto the clothes L in the housing section 4. After the air in the downstream region 3B passes through the communication hole 10B of the partition plate 10A and flows from the downstream front region 3BA to the downstream rear region 3BB, it is discharged from the exhaust port 2F.

In this embodiment, a gas burner is used as the heating unit 6, but an electric heater may be used. The heating unit 6 is arranged in the upstream region 3A of the air duct 3. The heating portion 6 becomes high temperature when it is operated by ignition. Therefore, the air flowing from the air inlet 2E to the housing portion 4 in the air passage 3 is heated as hot air when the upstream region 3A passes around the heating portion 6.

The filter 7 is a so-called lint filter, and is arranged in the downstream region 3B of the air passage 3. The downstream region 3B is a region between the housing portion 4 and the exhaust port 2F in the air passage 3. Strictly speaking, the filter 7 is arranged in the downstream front region 3BA in the downstream region 3B, which is closer to the upstream side of the housing unit 4 than the rotating blade 9 of the air blowing unit 5.

The filter 7 has a cylindrical shape, and is arranged in a lateral posture so that its central axis K extends in the front-rear direction Y. The filter 7 has an outer peripheral surface portion 7A constituting its outline. The entire area of the peripheral face portion 7A is composed of mesh or mesh. The rear end portion of the outer peripheral surface portion 7A is surrounded by the rib 10C of the partition plate 10A of the support portion 10 in a non-contact manner. The internal space of the filter 7 is opened to the rear side Y2 and faces the communication hole 10B of the partition plate 10A.

The filter 7 is provided with a disk-shaped blocking portion 12 that blocks its internal space from the front side Y1 and a rotating shaft 13 that extends through the center axis K in the front-back direction Y and passes through the filter 7 and the blocking portion 12. The blocking portion 12 and the rotating shaft 13 may be regarded as a part of the filter 7. The rear end portion of the rotating shaft 13 is rotatably supported by the support portion 10. A bracket 14 arranged on the front side Y1 of the closing portion 12 in the downstream front area 3BA is fixed to the case 2. The bracket 14 is equipped with a drive unit 15 composed of, for example, a motor. The front end portion of the rotating shaft 13 is connected to the driving portion 15. When the drive unit 15 operates, the filter 7, the blocking unit 12, and the rotating shaft 13 rotate about the central axis K. The filter 7 may rotate in both directions around the central axis K, or may rotate in only one direction around the central axis K. In this embodiment, the filter 7 rotates clockwise when viewed from the front.

The clothes dryer 1 includes a control unit 16 (see FIG. 2) that controls its operation. The control unit 16 is a microcomputer including a storage unit such as a CPU, ROM, and RAM. For example, it is arranged in a space isolated from the air duct 3 at the upper part in the cabinet 2. The control unit 16 is electrically connected to the heating unit 6, the main motor 8, the fan motor 11, and the drive unit 15, respectively.

The control unit 16 performs the drying operation by controlling the heating unit 6, the main motor 8, and the fan motor 11. Specifically, the control unit 16 generates the above-described hot air by activating the heating unit 6 and the fan motor 11 in a state where the main motor 8 is operated to rotate the storage unit 4. This hot air is blown onto the clothes L in the storage unit 4. The hot air is blown onto the laundry L in a state of being stirred by the rotating storage unit 4, so that the drying of the laundry L can be promoted. As the fan motor 11 operates, the air in the housing section 4 flows out of the housing section 4 through the through-hole 4A of the housing section 4 as shown by the black arrows in each figure, and flows into the downstream of the air passage 3 from the upper side Z1 Region 3BA. The upper part of the outer peripheral surface portion 7A of the filter 7 is located in front of the air flowing into the downstream front area 3BA.

Therefore, the air flowing into the downstream front area 3BA passes through the upper portion of the outer peripheral surface portion 7A of the filter 7 and flows into the filter 7, and flows toward the rear side Y2 inside the filter 7. The air flowing to the rear side Y2 inside the filter 7 passes through the communication hole 10B of the partition plate 10A, flows into the downstream rear region 3BB, and is discharged out of the casing 2 from the exhaust port 2F. In addition, since the rear end portion of the outer peripheral surface portion 7A is surrounded by the rib 10C of the partition plate 10A as described above, the air in the filter 7 can be sent into the communication hole 10B without leakage.

As the drying of the laundry L progresses, dust and thread debris are generated. Dust and thread debris become the aforementioned foreign matter, and the air in the air passage 3 flows downstream, is caught by the filter 7 when passing through the upper portion of the outer peripheral surface portion 7A of the filter 7, and adheres to the upper portion of the outer peripheral surface portion 7A. Therefore, in the outer peripheral surface portion 7A, this upper portion is a capturing area for capturing foreign objects. The control unit 16 periodically operates the driving unit 15 to gradually rotate the filter 7. For example, the control unit 16 rotates the filter 7 by a quarter every predetermined time. As a result, the area in the outer peripheral surface portion 7A of the filter 7 where less foreign matter adheres is located on the upper portion of the outer peripheral surface portion 7A, and becomes the above-described trapping area. It should be noted that instead of rotating the filter 7 regularly, the control unit 16 may continuously rotate the filter 7 at an extremely low speed.

In this way, the filter 7 can be rotated to change the capturing area for capturing foreign objects on the outer peripheral surface portion 7A. Thus, it takes time before a large amount of foreign matter adheres to the entire area of the outer peripheral surface portion 7A of the filter 7 to degrade the performance of the filter 7, so the filter 7 does not need to be maintained frequently. Thus, the maintainability of the filter 7 can be improved. In addition, the filter 7 captures foreign matter so that the foreign matter adheres to the entire area of the outer peripheral surface portion 7A, so that the performance of the filter 7 can be suppressed from sharply decreasing.

In order to maintain the filter 7 with foreign materials attached to the outer peripheral surface 7A, the clothes dryer 1 further includes a suction nozzle 17. A suction port 17B having a long dimension in the front-rear direction Y is formed in the tip portion 17A of the suction nozzle 17. The size of the suction port 17B in the front-rear direction Y is the same as or larger than the size of the outer peripheral surface 7A in the front-rear direction Y. The suction port 17B faces the outer peripheral surface portion 7A from the radially outer side of the filter 7. To the extent that the suction nozzle 17 is close to the outer peripheral surface portion 7A without contact, a small gap is ensured between the outer peripheral surface portion 7A and the suction port 17B.

As shown in FIG. 2, the root 17C of the suction nozzle 17 is exposed to the outside of the case 2 from the lower end of the right wall 2G of the case 2, for example. When the filter 7 is maintained, a known cleaner 18 is prepared and arranged near the dryer 1. A suction hose 19 provided in the cleaner 18 is connected to the root 17C of the suction nozzle 17.

When the administrator of the coin-operated laundry room connects the cleaner 18 to the suction nozzle 17 and makes it work, the foreign matter adhering to the outer peripheral surface 7A of the filter 7 is sucked into the cleaner 18 from the suction port 17B of the suction nozzle 17. Furthermore, when the operator operates the operation unit (not shown) of the dryer 1 to instruct the control unit 16 to perform the maintenance operation, the control unit 16 rotates the filter 7. As the filter 7 rotates, the entire area of the outer peripheral surface portion 7A of the filter 7 faces the suction port 17B, and therefore, foreign matter can be removed from the entire area of the outer peripheral surface portion 7A of the filter 7.

Therefore, the administrator can clean the entire area of the outer peripheral surface 7A of the filter 7 without manually removing the filter 7. Thus, the cleaning of the filter 7 becomes easy, and therefore, the maintainability of the filter 7 can be further improved. It should be noted that the maintenance operation can be performed not only after the drying operation but also in parallel during the drying operation.

For example, the root portion 17C of the suction nozzle 17 may be configured to enter a supervisory room for a manager separated from the store in a coin-operated laundry room, and the cleaner 18 may also be provided in the supervisory room. In this case, the manager in the monitoring room can maintain the filter 7 by connecting the suction hose 19 of the cleaner 18 to the root 17C and operating it without disturbing customers in the store.

In this case, the roots 17C of the plurality of clothes dryers 1 may be arranged so as to enter the monitoring room, and the suction hose 19 is branched and connected to each root 17C. Thus, the foreign matter in the filters 7 of the plurality of clothes dryers 1 can be collected collectively by one cleaner 18. In other words, the filters 7 of the plurality of clothes dryers 1 can be centrally maintained.

Furthermore, in a state where the cleaner 18 is always connected to the suction nozzle 17, when the filter 7 is maintained, the cleaner 18 may be operated in accordance with the instruction of the control unit 16 in conjunction with the rotation of the filter 7. As a result, the automatic maintenance of the filter 7 can be realized. Therefore, the manual operation performed by the administrator to maintain the filter 7 is no longer necessary, and the administrator only needs to occasionally discard the foreign matter collected in the cleaner 18.

3 is a front view of the inside of the clothes dryer 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that in FIG. 3, the same symbols are given to the portions that overlap with FIGS. 1 and 2, and descriptions thereof are omitted. In coin-operated laundry rooms, the cleaner 18 may not be prepared due to cost reasons. As a simple solution to this situation, in order to maintain the filter 7, the clothes dryer 1 may include the brush 21 shown in FIG. 3 instead of the suction nozzle 17. The brush 21 has a rod 22 and a plurality of hairs 23, wherein the rod 22 has a root portion 22A fixed to the case 2 such as the right wall 2G, and the hair 23 is implanted on the tip portion 22B of the rod 22. The hair 23 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface 7A of the filter 7.

In this case, as the above-described maintenance operation, when the control unit 16 rotates the filter 7, foreign matters on the outer peripheral surface portion 7A of the filter 7 can be collected on the hair 23 of the brush 21 or scraped off from the outer peripheral surface portion 7A. Therefore, the administrator can clean the entire area of the outer peripheral surface portion 7A of the filter 7 without manually removing the filter 7. Thus, the maintainability of the filter 7 can be further improved. It should be noted that the administrator opens the maintenance door 2D of the cabinet 2 (refer to the maintenance door 2D indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 1 ), penetrates into the downstream front area 3BA of the air passage 3, and attaches to the hair 23 of the brush 21 Foreign matter, foreign matter scraped off from the filter 7 and accumulated in the bottom wall 2H of the case 2 is collected and collected.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications can be made within the scope described in the technical solution.

For example, in the clothes dryer 1 in the above-described embodiment, the storage portion 4 may be obliquely arranged such that the center axis J is inclined with respect to the horizontal direction, or the storage portion 4 may be longitudinally arranged such that the center axis J extends in the vertical direction Z .

The clothes dryer 1 may be an integrated washer-dryer that also has a function of washing clothes.

Claims

A clothes dryer, characterized in that it includes:

Box, with suction port and exhaust port;

The air path is provided in the box body and connects the suction port and the exhaust port;

The air blowing part takes in the air outside the box into the air path from the suction port and discharges the air out of the box from the exhaust port;

The accommodating part is installed in the air path and accommodates clothing;

A heating unit that heats air flowing from the air inlet to the housing unit in the air path;

The filter has a cylindrical shape, is disposed between the accommodating portion and the exhaust port in the air passage, and has an outer peripheral surface portion that captures foreign substances contained in the air in the air passage; and

The driving unit rotates the filter.
The clothes dryer of claim 1, wherein:

It also includes a suction nozzle, which has a suction port opposite to the outer peripheral surface of the filter, and can be connected to the cleaner.
The clothes dryer of claim 1, wherein:

A brush is also included, which contacts the outer peripheral surface of the filter.