EP0344434A1

EP0344434A1 - Laundry drier

Info

Publication number: EP0344434A1
Application number: EP89106296A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Antonio Dr. Merloni
Original assignee: A MERLONI SpA; Antonio Merloni SpA
Current assignee: Antonio Merloni SpA
Priority date: 1988-06-01
Filing date: 1989-04-10
Publication date: 1989-12-06
Also published as: IT8820820A0; IT1217752B; DE68902426T2; DE68902426D1; EP0344434B1; ES2034458T3

Abstract

Domestic laundry drier comprising a supporting cabinet (2) having a prismatic configuration and a vertical side (3) adapted to be put against a wall (4); on the side against the wall there is provided a recess (7) open on the adjacent sides (6) and having the exhaust air outlet (10).

Description

The present invention relates to a laundry drier, particularly of the type without humidity condenser and having a rotating drum.
Known domestic laundry driers are constituted by a supporting frame or cabinet having a rotating drum containing the laundry and having an air circulation system.
The programmed rotation of the drum stirs the laundry which is dried by the air circulation system.
The air circulation system comprises an exhaust fan which sucks air from the outside and an electric resistance that heats that air.
The heated air enters the drum where it crosses the laundry drawing out humidity.
Air is then let out of the drum, it passes through a filter and is discharged outside.
Usually, in known driers, the exhausted air outlet is located in the lower part of the back of the drier; it is therefore necessary either to move the drier at a distance from the wall or to provide an air passage in the wall, to let the air out of the drier.
To overcome these inconveniences, allowing more freedom in placing a drier in a room, some driers have been provided with two or three air outlets, located in different places of the cabinet and constituted by T-shaped or cross-shaped pipings inside the cabinet.
This solution has the drawback of being constructively complicated, and therefore costly, and furthermore it does not allow a total freedom in placing the drier in the domestic environment.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a drier having such an exhaust air outlet system as to allow a complete freedom in placing the drier in the domestic environment.
Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a machine having a constructively simple exhaust system and such as not to significantly affect the global cost.
A further object of the invention is to provide a drier that can be easily placed in the domestic environment with no limitations and above all with the possibility of changing its place easily.
The above aim, as well as these and other objects that will be more apparent later, are achieved by a laundry drier comprising a supporting and containment cabinet having a substantially prismatic configuration and at least one side adapted to be put against a wall, said drier furthermore comprising an exhaust air outlet, characterized in that said outlet is located at a recess in said side put against a wall, said recess being open in the sides of said cabinet which are adjacent to said side put against a wall so as to allow said exhaust air to flow out.
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will be more apparent by the following description of an embodiment of the invention, illustrated,by way of example,in the enclosed drawings in which:

figure 1 is a side elevation view of the drier according to the invention;
figure 2 is a back view of the drier;
figure 3 is a plan view of a room illustrating a few possible ways of placing the drier according to the invention.

With reference to the cited figures, the drier according to invention, generally designated with the reference numeral 1, comprises a cabinet 2 supporting and containing the internal elements.
In this case, the cabinet 2 has the usual prismatic configuration and comprises a back side 3, adapted to be put against a wall 4 of a room, and sides 5 and 6 adjacent to the back side 3.
The back side 3 has a recess 7 having a substantially rectangular section and open to sides 5 and 6.
The recess 7 has a vertical side 8, substantially parallel to the back side 3, on which there is an exhaust air outlet 10.
As illustrated in figure 1 and 3 (position 1b), the recess 7 allows to place the cabinet 2 against a wall 4 letting the exhaust air free to flow from the lateral sides of the cabinet.
It is furthermore possible to provide an exhaust pipe 11 for better conveying the air in a selected direction, as for example illustrated in figure 3 with the cabinet in position 1a.
It is of course also possible to convey the exhaust air outside the room, by means of adapted passages 12 provided in the wall 4 and using adapted exhaust pipes 11.
It has been found in practice that the laundry drier, according to invention, achieves the intended aim and objects, allowing the exhaust air to flow out freely and, at the same time, a complete freedom in placing the cabinet in the room.
An advantage of the invention resides in its constructive simplicity that makes it unnecessary the use of t-shaped, cross-shaped pipings or similar to convey the air in the desired direction.
The laundry drier, according to the invention, may have numerous modifications and variations, all within the inventive concept; furthermore, all the details may be substituted with technically equivalent elements.
The materials employed, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to the specific needs and the state of the art.
Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the scope of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims

1. Laundry drier comprising a supporting and containment cabinet (2) having a substantially prismatic configuration and at least one side (3) adapted to be put against a wall (4), said drier furthermore comprising an exhaust air outlet (10), characterized in that said outlet is located at a recess (7) provided in said side (3) put against a wall, said recess being open in the sides (5,6) of said cabinet which are adjacent to said side put against a wall so as to allow said exhaust air to flow out.

2. Drier, according to claim 1, characterized in that said recess (7) has a substantially rectangular section.

3. Drier, according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said outlet (10) is located at the vertical side (8) of said recess (7), said vertical side being parallel to said side put against said wall.

4. Drier, according to one or more of the preceeding claims, characterized in that an exhaust pipe (11) can be fitted to said outlet (10) for conveying said air in a desired direction.