JP5369063B2 - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a clothes dryer having a charge eliminating function.

When clothes are dried using a clothes dryer, static electricity is charged to the clothes due to various conditions such as friction between clothes, friction between clothes and the rotating drum, and the temperature of the rotating drum becoming high. May cause an unpleasant sensation of electric shock (discharge) due to static electricity.
Conventionally, there is a clothes dryer provided with such a static elimination function against static electricity (for example, Patent Document 1). This clothes dryer is equipped with an ion generator inside the front door, and the ion generator is turned on during the cooling operation in which the heater is turned off after the drying operation is completed, so that static electricity of the clothes in the rotating drum is removed. If the front door is opened during the cooling operation, the ion generator is left on and the static electricity charged to the user is removed by the ion generator inside the front door facing the user. I am doing so.

Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 7-59275

  However, in the conventional clothes dryer, the air in the vicinity of the electrode of the ion generation device is discharged positively or negatively inside the front door, so that the vicinity of the front door is blocked by a large amount of clothes. In some cases, ions are not sufficiently distributed throughout the rotating drum during the cooling operation, and static electricity is not sufficiently removed from the entire clothing. In particular, the static electricity of the clothes on the back side in the rotating drum is difficult to remove, and an electric shock may occur in the hand when the clothes are taken out. Even when the front door is opened during cooling operation, there is a distance from the ion generator inside the front door to the user's hand extending to the clothing outlet, and the air near the ion generator is ionized. As a result, the ions did not reach the hand sufficiently, and the static electricity charged to the user could not be sufficiently removed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and can sufficiently disperse ions throughout the rotating drum during the cooling operation, and ions can be sufficiently applied to the user's hand when clothes are taken out. It is an object of the present invention to provide a clothes dryer that can be fed into a bag.

A clothes dryer according to the present invention comprises:
An appliance body provided with a front door for opening and closing the clothing outlet, a rotating drum for storing clothing, an air supply / exhaust fan for supplying and exhausting air to and from the rotating drum, and heating means disposed in an air supply passage communicating with the rotating drum, , A drying operation in which the heating means and the air supply / exhaust fan are operated to send warm air into the rotating drum, and when this drying operation is completed, the heating means is stopped and the air supply / exhaust fan is operated to supply cool air into the rotating drum In a clothes dryer comprising an operation control means for executing driving,
An ion generator provided in the supply passage;
A duct having an air outlet facing the clothing outlet;
A blower fan for introducing the ions generated by the ion generator into the duct and radiating it together with the blown air from the outlet;
During the cooling operation when the air supply / exhaust fan is operating, the ion generator is operated so that ions are sent from the air supply passage into the rotating drum by cold air, and after the cooling operation is completed when the air supply / exhaust fan is stopped And a static elimination control unit that operates the ion generator when the door is opened and operates the blower fan so that ions are radiated from the blower outlet toward the clothing outlet by blowing.
Here, the “clothing” includes to-be-dried items such as towels in addition to clothing.

As a result, during cooling operation, ions are sent from the air supply passage to the rotating drum by being fed with cold air, so even if there is a large amount of clothing, the ions are spread throughout the rotating drum by the cold air and the static electricity on the surface of all clothing is It is possible to remove the charge well.
Further, when the front door is opened after the cooling operation is completed, ions are radiated toward the clothing outlet by blowing air from the blower fan, so that ions are surely sprayed to the user's hand extending to the clothing outlet. Thereby, when taking out clothes from the inside of a rotating drum, sufficient ion is sprayed not only on clothes but on a user's hand. Therefore, when taking out the clothes, static electricity charged on the user's hand and static electricity remaining on the clothes are surely removed, and electric shock due to static electricity on the hand holding the clothes can be prevented.

When the front door is opened and the supply / exhaust fan is stopped during cooling operation, the static elimination control means operates the blower fan so that ions from the ion generator are blown from the blower outlet toward the clothing outlet. It is desirable to control so that it is emitted.
As a result, even when clothes are taken out of the rotating drum during cooling operation, static electricity charged on the user's hand and static electricity remaining on the clothes can be removed, and electric shock caused by static electricity can be applied to the hand holding the clothes. Can be prevented.

The ion generator preferably supplies both positive ions and negative ions in the air.
In this case, even if clothes or hands are charged with positive or negative static electricity, these static electricity can be surely removed, and it is possible to reliably prevent electric shock caused by static electricity to the hand when taking out clothes. be able to.

  As described above, according to the clothes dryer according to the present invention, the ions can be sufficiently distributed throughout the rotating drum during the cooling operation, and ions are taken against the user's hand when the clothes are taken out. Can spray well. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent an electric shock caused by static electricity on the hand when taking out the clothes, and the user does not feel uncomfortable pain.

It is a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the state which closed the front door of the clothes dryer by embodiment. It is a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the state which opened the front door of the clothes dryer by embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the clothes dryer by embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the clothes dryer 1 of this embodiment has the instrument main body 10 provided with the front door which opens and closes the clothing outlet 101 of the front, In this instrument main body 10, clothes (in addition to clothes) As a heating means disposed in a rotary drum 12 that stores M, a supply / exhaust fan 16 that supplies and exhausts air to / from the rotary drum 12, and an air supply passage 14 that communicates with the rotary drum 12. The gas burner 140 and a control circuit 20 that controls the overall operation of the clothes dryer 1 are provided.

  The rotating drum 12 is formed in a horizontally-oriented cylindrical shape that opens to the front side of the instrument main body 10 and is supported in a rotatable state by a ring plate 121 provided on the inner periphery of the front opening portion. The internal space of the rotary drum 12 communicates with the clothing outlet 101 from the center of the ring plate 121. The back wall 122 of the rotating drum 12 is supported and fixed to the drive shaft of the drum motor 123, and the rotating drum 12 is configured to rotate by the driving force of the drum motor 123. The rotating drum 12 and the ring plate 121 are grounded through a ground wire (not shown).

  A plurality of hot air outlets 124 are formed in the inner wall 122 of the rotating drum 12, and the appliance main body from the air supply port 104 provided at the lower side of the instrument main body 10 to the hot air outlet 124 of the rotating drum 12. An air supply passage 14 is formed by the space in 10. A hot air duct 13 that guides the combustion gas of the gas burner 140 to the hot air outlet 124 is connected to the inner side of the inner wall 122 of the rotary drum 12. The hot air duct 13 extends from the back side of the back wall 122 of the rotary drum 12 toward the lower region in the instrument main body 10, and a gas burner 140 is disposed below the lower end opening. In addition, an air intake port 131 for taking in the air in the instrument main body 10 into the hot air duct 13 is provided at an intermediate portion of the hot air duct 13. And the gas injected toward the gas inlet 142 of the gas burner 140 from the gas injection nozzle 141 is sent into the gas burner 140 together with the air around the gas inlet 142 and burned above the flame hole 143, and the combustion gas generated thereby Is guided to the hot air outlet 124 through the hot air duct 13 and supplied into the rotating drum 12 together with air as hot air.

  An exhaust duct 15 for discharging the air in the rotary drum 12 to the outside of the instrument main body 10 is disposed in the upper part of the instrument main body 10. The exhaust duct 15 extends from an exhaust inlet 102 established on the front surface of the instrument body 10 to an exhaust outlet 103 established on the upper surface of the instrument body 10. Further, on the inner surface side of the front door 11, there are provided an exhaust introduction hole 111 connected to the clothing outlet 101 and an exhaust outlet hole 112 connected to the exhaust inlet 102 when the front door 11 is closed. Is communicated with the internal space of the rotary drum 12 through the internal space of the front door 11 connected from the exhaust introduction hole 111 to the exhaust outlet hole 112. A filter may be attached to the exhaust introduction hole 111 on the inner surface of the front door 11.

  An air supply / exhaust fan 16 driven by a motor 161 is disposed in the middle of the exhaust duct 15, and when the air supply / exhaust fan 16 is rotated with the front door 11 closed, the arrow is shown in FIG. As described above, the air in the rotary drum 12 is led from the exhaust introduction hole 111 through the internal space of the front door 11 to the exhaust lead-out hole 112, and from the exhaust introduction hole 102 through the exhaust duct 15 and from the exhaust port 103. 10 is discharged to the outside. In addition, by the rotation of the air supply / exhaust fan 16, external air is taken into the instrument main body 10 from the air supply port 104, and supplied to the rotary drum 12 from the warm air outlet 124 through the air supply passage 14.

  In the supply passage 14 of the instrument body 10, an ion generator 17, an air duct 18 having an ion air outlet 181 facing the clothing outlet 101, and ions generated by the ion generator 17 are introduced into the air duct 18. A blower fan 19 is provided for radiating from the ion blower outlet 181 together with the blown air.

The ion generator 17 generates positive ions and negative ions simultaneously. For example, H ⁺ (H ₂ O) m (m is an arbitrary natural number) and negative ions O ²⁻ (H A plasma cluster apparatus that supplies ₂ O) n (n is an arbitrary natural number) is used. The blower duct 18 is provided with an ion generator 17 and extends to the outside of the front surface of the instrument body 10, and the ion blower outlet 181 at the tip thereof is opened from the lower peripheral edge to the upper peripheral edge of the clothing outlet 101. ing. The blower fan 19 is incorporated in the end of the blower duct 18 on the ion generator 17 side. When the blower fan 18 is rotated with the front door 11 opened, as shown in FIG. Air in the main body 10 is radiated from the ion blower outlet 181 at the lower front of the appliance main body 10 through the air duct 18 toward the clothing outlet 101 above.

  The control circuit 20 is constituted by a microcomputer and a program. The control circuit 20 operates the gas burner 140 and the air supply / exhaust fan 16 to send warm air into the rotary drum 12, and when the drying operation is finished, the gas burner 140 is deactivated and supplied Operation control means is provided for operating a cooling operation for operating the exhaust fan 16 to send cool air into the rotary drum 12. Further, the control circuit 20 includes a static elimination control unit. This neutralization control means controls the ion generator 17 to operate so that positive ions and negative ions are fed into the rotary drum 12 from the air supply passage 14 into the rotary drum 12 during the cooling operation in which the air supply / exhaust fan 16 is operating. When the front door 11 is opened after the cooling operation in which the supply / exhaust fan 16 is stopped, the ion generator 17 is operated and the blower fan 19 is operated to blow positive ions and negative ions by blowing air. Control is performed to radiate from the outlet 181 toward the clothing outlet 101. Further, when the front door 11 is opened and the supply / exhaust fan 16 is stopped during the cooling operation, the blower fan 19 is operated. It has a configuration for controlling so that positive ions and negative ions from the ion generator are radiated from the ion outlet 181 toward the clothing outlet 101 by blowing air.

  Further, a door sensor 21 that detects opening and closing of the front door 11 is provided in the vicinity of the boundary between the instrument main body 10 and the front door 11, and a conductive resistance between the electrodes is provided below the ring plate 121 in the rotary drum 12. A humidity sensor 22 for detecting the moisture level of the clothing M is provided on the basis thereof, and an operation switch 23 for instructing to start the operation of the clothes dryer 1 is provided on the front surface of the appliance body 10.

Next, operation | movement of the clothes dryer 1 by the control circuit 20 is demonstrated according to the action | operation flowchart of FIG.
When the clothing M is put into the rotary drum 12 and the operation switch 23 is pressed with the front door 11 closed, the supply / exhaust fan 16 is rotated and the drum motor 123 is driven to rotate the rotary drum 12. Further, a drying operation for igniting the gas burner 140 is started (ST1). Then, the combustion gas released from the gas burner 140 is guided into the hot air duct 13 and supplied into the rotary drum 12 as hot air together with the air. And while evaporating the water | moisture content of the clothing M, it guide | induces to the exhaust duct 15 through the internal space of the front door 11 from the exhaust introduction hole 111, and is discharged | emitted from the exhaust outlet 103 to the exterior of the instrument main body 10. FIG. As a result, the clothes M are gradually dried while being stirred in the rotary drum 12. The humidity of the clothing M is monitored by the humidity sensor 22 from the time when the drying operation is started, and if the conduction resistance between the electrodes of the humidity sensor 22 is higher than a predetermined value, it is determined that the moisture of the clothing M is appropriately evaporated. (ST2).

  When it is determined that the clothing M is in a dry state, the gas burner 140 is extinguished, while the ion generator 17 is operated with the air supply / exhaust fan 16 and the rotary drum 12 rotated to start the cooling operation. (ST3, ST4). Then, the outside air introduced into the instrument main body 10 is guided to the supply passage 14 together with positive ions and negative ions released from the ion generator 17 into the instrument main body 10 and supplied into the rotary drum 12 as cold air. . As a result, the temperature inside the rotary drum 12 is lowered, and the clothes M are gradually cooled while being stirred in the rotary drum 12. At the same time, the static electricity charged in the clothing M is neutralized by positive ions and negative ions diffused in the rotary drum 12.

  Whether the front door 11 has been opened during the cooling operation is monitored (ST5), and if a predetermined time has elapsed since the cooling operation was started without opening the front door 11 (ST6), clothing Assuming that M has been properly cooled and static electricity has been sufficiently removed, the rotation of the air supply / exhaust fan 16 and the rotary drum 12 is stopped and the ion generator 17 is stopped (ST7 to ST8), and the cooling operation is terminated. .

  After the cooling operation, the door sensor 21 monitors whether or not the front door 11 has been opened (ST9), and the user opens the front door 11 in order to take out the dried clothing M from the rotary drum 12. Then, the ion generator 17 is operated and the blower fan 19 is rotated (ST10, ST11). Then, positive ions and negative ions released from the ion generator 17 are guided into the air duct 18 and radiated toward the clothing outlet 101 by the air blown from the ion blower outlet 181. Therefore, when the clothes M are taken out from the rotary drum 12 in this state, ions are directly sprayed on the user's hand and the clothes M that are extended to the clothes outlet 101, and the static electricity charged on the hands and the clothes M are discharged. Static electricity remaining on the battery is quickly eliminated. Thereafter, when the front door 11 is closed (“N” in ST12), the operation of the ion generator 17 is stopped and the rotation of the blower fan 19 is stopped (ST13, ST14), and the entire operation is completed.

  On the other hand, when the front door 11 is opened during the cooling operation (“Y” in ST5), the rotation of the air supply / exhaust fan 16 and the rotary drum 12 is stopped (ST15), the cooling operation is terminated, and the ion generator 17 is activated. The blower fan 19 is rotated while maintaining the state (ST16), and positive ions and negative ions are radiated from the ion blower outlet 181 toward the clothing outlet 101 by blowing air. As a result, when the clothing M is taken out from the rotary drum 12, ions are directly sprayed on the user's hand and clothing M extended to the clothing outlet 101 and remain on the static electricity or clothing M charged in the hand. Static electricity is removed quickly. Thereafter, when the front door 11 is closed (“N” in ST12), the operation of the ion generator 17 is stopped and the rotation of the blower fan 19 is stopped (ST13, ST14), and the entire operation is completed.

  According to the above embodiment, during the cooling operation, the ions are put on the cold air from the air supply passage and sent into the rotating drum, so that even if there is a large amount of clothing, the ions are spread throughout the rotating drum by the cold air. Static electricity on the surface of clothing can be satisfactorily eliminated. And if a front door is opened after completion | finish of cooling operation, since ion will be radiated | emitted toward a clothing outlet by ventilation of a ventilation fan, ion will be reliably sprayed on the user's hand extended to the clothing outlet. Thereby, when taking out clothes from the inside of a rotating drum, sufficient ion is sprayed not only on clothes but on a user's hand. Therefore, even if static electricity remains in the stacked clothing that is difficult to be removed during cooling operation, the static electricity remaining on the clothing is surely removed together with the static electricity charged in the user's hand when removing the clothing. Electric shock due to static electricity on the grabbed hand can be prevented.

  Also, when clothes are taken out from the rotating drum during the cooling operation, ions are radiated toward the clothes outlet by air blowing, so even if the static electricity of the clothes is not sufficiently removed during the cooling operation, the user The static electricity remaining on the clothes as well as the static electricity charged on the hand can be removed, and the electric shock caused by the static electricity on the hand holding the clothes can be prevented.

  In addition, since the ion generator supplies both positive and negative ions into the air, it can reliably remove static electricity whether it is positive or negative charge on clothes or hands. It is possible to reliably prevent electric shock due to static electricity on the hand when clothes are taken out.

  As described above, according to the clothes dryer according to the embodiment, the ions can be sufficiently distributed throughout the rotating drum during the cooling operation, and the ions are sufficiently supplied to the user's hand when the clothes are taken out. Can be sprayed. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent an electric shock caused by static electricity on the hand when taking out the clothes, and the user does not feel uncomfortable pain.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, It can change suitably.
For example, the rotation speed of the rotating drum 12 during the cooling operation may be set slower than the rotation speed of the rotating drum 12 during the drying operation. In this case, since the friction between the clothes M during the cooling operation can be suppressed, it is possible to reduce the amount of static electricity charged on the clothes M at that time. As a result, the static elimination effect of the clothing M is further enhanced.
In the cooling operation, the ring plate 121 is provided with a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the clothing M, and if the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is lower than a predetermined value, the clothing M is cooled and the static electricity is completely removed. You may judge.
Further, in the drying operation, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the clothing M is provided on the ring plate 121 instead of the humidity sensor 22, and drying of the clothing M is completed when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor becomes higher than a predetermined value. You may decide that you did. Further, the drying time may be automatically set according to a drying mode selected in advance, or the drying time may be arbitrarily set by a drying setting switch.
The heating means may use an electric heater or the like instead of the gas burner 14.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Clothes dryer 10 Appliance main body 11 Front door 12 Rotating drum 13 Hot air duct 14 Gas burner (heating means)
15 Exhaust duct 16 Supply / exhaust fan 17 Ion generator 18 Blower duct 19 Blower fan 20 Control circuit 101 Clothing outlet 181 Ion outlet M Clothing

Claims (3)

An appliance body provided with a front door for opening and closing the clothing outlet, a rotating drum for storing clothing, an air supply / exhaust fan for supplying and exhausting air to and from the rotating drum, and heating means disposed in an air supply passage communicating with the rotating drum, , A drying operation in which the heating means and the air supply / exhaust fan are operated to send warm air into the rotating drum, and when this drying operation is completed, the heating means is stopped and the air supply / exhaust fan is operated to supply cool air into the rotating drum In a clothes dryer comprising an operation control means for executing driving,
An ion generator provided in the supply passage;
A duct having an air outlet facing the clothing outlet;
A blower fan for introducing the ions generated by the ion generator into the duct and radiating it together with the blown air from the outlet;
During the cooling operation when the air supply / exhaust fan is operating, the ion generator is operated so that ions are sent from the air supply passage into the rotating drum by cold air, and after the cooling operation is completed when the air supply / exhaust fan is stopped A clothes dryer comprising: a static elimination control unit that operates an ion generator when a door is opened and operates a blower fan so that ions are radiated from the blower outlet toward the clothes outlet by blowing. The clothes dryer according to claim 1,
When the front door is opened and the supply / exhaust fan is stopped during cooling operation, the static elimination control means operates the blower fan so that ions from the ion generator are blown from the blower outlet toward the clothing outlet. Clothes dryer that controls to be emitted. The clothes dryer according to claim 1 or 2,
The ion generator is a clothes dryer that supplies both positive ions and negative ions into the air.

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