JP7466408B2 - Gas clothes dryer - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a gas clothes dryer that supplies exhaust gas from combustion of fuel gas into a storage chamber that contains clothes to be dried, dries the clothes in the storage chamber, and then discharges the exhaust gas from the storage chamber to the outdoors by directing it through an exhaust passage.

Gas clothes dryers are widely used, in which the clothes to be dried are stored in a storage chamber such as a rotating drum, and the combustion exhaust gas generated by burning fuel gas is supplied to the storage chamber to dry the clothes. An exhaust passage that extends to the outdoors is connected to this gas clothes dryer, and the combustion exhaust gas containing moisture after the clothes have been dried is discharged outdoors through the exhaust passage.

Because gas clothes dryers discharge the exhaust gas used to dry clothes outdoors through an exhaust passage, the interior of the gas clothes dryer is connected to the outdoors via the exhaust passage. This means that while the gas clothes dryer is not in operation, dust from outdoors may enter the inside of the gas clothes dryer through the exhaust passage, and moist exhaust gas remaining in the exhaust passage may flow back into the inside of the gas clothes dryer and condense.

Therefore, a technology has been proposed in which an opening and closing plate is provided in the exhaust passage, and while the gas clothes dryer is in operation, the opening and closing plate is pushed open by the exhaust gas flowing through the exhaust passage, allowing the exhaust gas to be discharged outdoors, but when the gas clothes dryer stops, the opening and closing plate closes the exhaust passage under its own weight (Patent Document 1).

Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 63-125996

However, in recent years, there has been an issue where the opening and closing plate opens and closes on its own even when the gas clothes dryer is not in operation, creating an opening and closing noise that can be unpleasant for users of the gas clothes dryer. When the reason for this phenomenon was investigated, it was found that rooms in modern homes have become more airtight, which can cause the opening and closing plate to open and close on its own.

For example, when closing a door to a room, the air between the entrance and the door is pushed into the room by the movement of the door, but if the room is airtight, the air pressure inside the room rises, and as a result, the air inside the room flows out through the exhaust passage of the gas clothes dryer to the outside. At this time, the opening and closing plate in the exhaust passage opens temporarily, so even if the gas clothes dryer is stopped, an opening and closing sound is generated. In addition, among ventilation devices, there are types that take in outdoor air and blow it into the room. When ventilating a room using such a ventilation device, if the room is airtight, the air pressure inside the room rises by taking in air from the outside, and the air inside the room flows out through the exhaust passage of the gas clothes dryer to the outside, so the opening and closing plate of the exhaust passage is in an open state. However, if the window in the room is opened in this state, the air flows out from the window and the air pressure inside the room drops, so the open opening and closing plate closes and a closing sound is generated. Alternatively, if the wind from the outside blows into the exhaust passage, the open opening and closing plate closes due to the wind pressure, so a closing sound is generated at this time. In this way, when the room becomes airtight, the opening and closing plate can make opening and closing noises for various reasons, even when the gas clothes dryer is not operating. As a result, even when the gas clothes dryer is turned off, the opening and closing plate can open and close on its own, making opening and closing noises and causing discomfort to the user.

This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems in the conventional technology, and aims to provide a gas clothes dryer in which the opening and closing plate in the exhaust passage does not open and close by itself while the gas clothes dryer is stopped, thereby preventing the opening and closing noise.

A gas clothes dryer having a storage chamber for storing clothes to be dried, a gas burner for burning a fuel gas and supplying combustion exhaust gas to said storage chamber, an exhaust passage for discharging the combustion exhaust gas supplied to said storage chamber to the outside, and an opening and closing plate that is journaled within said exhaust passage and is pushed open when the combustion exhaust gas flows through said exhaust passage,
a support shaft to which the opening and closing plate is attached, the support shaft being provided in a state intersecting the exhaust passage at a portion where the exhaust passage faces upward;
a holding portion that protrudes from an inner wall surface of the exhaust passage and that holds the opening and closing plate in a closed position by abutting against the opening and closing plate when the opening and closing plate is not pushed up by the combustion exhaust gas ;
a protrusion that protrudes from an inner wall surface of the exhaust passage and that abuts against the opening/closing plate when the opening/closing plate is pushed up by the exhaust gas from the combustion exhaust gas to determine a fully open position of the opening/closing plate;
Equipped with
an attachment portion for attaching a weight member for rotating the opening/closing plate toward the closed position is formed on the opening/closing plate at a rear side relative to the combustion exhaust gas flowing through the exhaust passage ,
The protrusion comes into contact with the opening and closing plate at a stage before the opening and closing plate is in an upright state.
It is characterized by:

In the gas clothes dryer of the present invention, the combustion exhaust gas supplied to the storage chamber containing the clothes is dried in the storage chamber, and then passes through the exhaust passage and is discharged to the outside. In addition, at the portion where the exhaust passage faces upward, an opening/closing plate that is pushed up by the combustion exhaust gas passing through the exhaust passage is supported by a support shaft that crosses the exhaust passage, and while the opening/closing plate is not pushed up by the combustion exhaust gas, the opening/closing plate is held in the closed position by abutting against the holding portion. In addition, a convex portion is also protruded from the inner wall surface of the exhaust passage, and when the opening/closing plate is pushed up by the combustion exhaust gas, the opening/closing plate abuts against the convex portion, thereby defining the fully open position of the opening/closing plate. In addition, the opening/closing plate is formed with an attachment portion for attaching a weight member that rotates the opening/closing plate toward the closed position, at a position on the rear side of the combustion exhaust gas flowing through the exhaust passage. Furthermore, the convex portion is adapted to abut against the opening/closing plate before the opening/closing plate is in the upright state.

In this way, by attaching a weight member to the mounting portion as necessary, the opening/closing plate can be pressed against the holding portion by the weight member, so that it is possible to prevent the opening/closing plate from opening and closing on its own while the gas clothes dryer is stopped, generating opening and closing noise, even under conditions of high indoor air pressure. Also, since the weight member is attached to the rear side of the opening/closing plate facing the combustion exhaust, the weight member is not exposed to the combustion exhaust and is not corroded. Furthermore, since the opening/closing plate does not rotate too much and become upright, it is possible to reliably close the opening/closing plate when the drying operation is stopped.

In addition, in the gas clothes dryer of the present invention described above, when attaching the weight member to the mounting portion, the distance from the support shaft to the weight member may be made variable.

By changing the distance from the support shaft to the weight member, it is possible to adjust the force that rotates the opening and closing plate toward the closed position, even when a common weight member is used. Therefore, while the opening and closing plate is pushed up by the exhaust combustion gas flowing through the exhaust passage during the drying operation of the gas clothes dryer, when the exhaust combustion gas is not flowing through the exhaust passage, it is possible to adjust the opening and closing plate so that it is reliably held in the closed position at low cost.

In addition, in the gas clothes dryer of the present invention described above, positioning parts for removably positioning the weight member may be provided at multiple locations on the rear side of the opening/closing plate at different distances from the support shaft.

In this way, by changing the positioning part where the weight member is attached, the distance from the support shaft to the weight member can be changed, and therefore the force that rotates the opening/closing member towards the closed position can be changed. And because the weight member is detachable from the positioning part, the position where the weight member is attached can be changed to suit the environment in which the gas clothes dryer is installed. As a result, the opening/closing plate is reliably pushed up by the exhaust gas from combustion during the drying operation of the gas clothes dryer, but when the drying operation is stopped, the opening/closing plate can be reliably closed.

1 is an explanatory diagram showing the general internal structure of a gas clothes dryer 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention; 2 is an exploded view showing the internal structure of an exhaust pipe 40 mounted on the gas clothes dryer 1 of the present embodiment. FIG. 5A to 5C are explanatory diagrams showing the operation of an opening/closing plate 42 provided in the exhaust pipe 40 of this embodiment. FIG. 4 is an exploded view of an exhaust tube 40 according to a first modified example. 13A to 13C are explanatory diagrams showing the operation of the opening and closing plate 42 of the second modified example. 13A to 13C are explanatory views showing the operation of the opening and closing plate 42 in another aspect of the second modified example.

Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the general internal structure of the gas clothes dryer 1 of this embodiment. The gas clothes dryer 1 of this embodiment has a structure in which a cylindrical rotating drum 11 is mounted inside a rectangular parallelepiped main body case 10. The rotating drum 11 has a cylindrical body 11a with both ends open, and a disk-shaped inner plate 11b is fitted into the inner end face of the inner body 11a to close it, and a ring-shaped ring plate 12 is fitted into the inner end face of the body 11a. The inner periphery of the ring plate 12 is formed into a burring shape by bending, and a large-diameter cylindrical pipe 13 with one end expanded into a flange shape is attached to the inner periphery of the burring shape.

The cylindrical pipe 13 is attached to the main case 10 at the enlarged flange portion. The ring plate 12 is fixed to the main case 10 via the cylindrical pipe 13, but the rotating drum 11 is rotatable relative to the ring plate 12. Furthermore, a rotating shaft 14 is attached toward the outside of the rotating drum 11 at the center of the back plate 11b fitted into the back side of the rotating drum 11. Therefore, the rotating drum 11 is rotatable, with the front side supported by the ring plate 12 and the back side supported by the rotating shaft 14.

The inside of the cylindrical pipe 13 is a clothes insertion opening 11i, which is normally blocked by an opening/closing door 15. However, when the opening/closing door 15 is opened, clothes can be inserted into the rotating drum 11 through the clothes insertion opening 11i. An electric motor 20 is mounted below the rotating drum 11, and when the electric motor 20 is rotated, the rotational torque is transmitted to the rotating drum 11 by a transmission belt 21, causing the rotating drum 11, which is supported by a rotating shaft 14, to rotate. The rotating drum 11 in this embodiment corresponds to the "storage chamber" in the present invention.

In addition, a plurality of exhaust ports 11c are formed on the inner plate 11b of the rotating drum 11 so as to surround the central position where the rotating shaft 14 is attached, and a filter 16 is attached so as to cover the plurality of exhaust ports 11c from the inside of the rotating drum 11. Furthermore, a fan cover 17 is attached on the other side of the inner plate 11b when viewed from the inside of the rotating drum 11, and a blower fan 23 is housed inside the fan cover 17. This blower fan 23 is rotated by an electric motor 20 via a transmission belt 22. An internal passage 18 is connected to the fan cover 17, and the internal passage 18 opens on the top surface of the main body case 10. An exhaust pipe 40 is protruded upward at the position where the internal passage 18 opens on the top surface of the main body case 10, and an exhaust duct 50 is connected to the exhaust pipe 40. Furthermore, the other end of the exhaust duct 50 opens to the outdoors.

Below the rotating drum 11, there is also mounted a gas burner 30 for burning fuel gas, and a gas pipe 31 for supplying fuel gas to the gas burner 30. An injection nozzle 32 is attached to the tip of the gas pipe 31, and the injection nozzle 32 is provided in a position facing the open end of the mixing passage of the gas burner 30. Furthermore, a gas flow control valve 33 is mounted midway along the gas pipe 31. Also, above the gas burner 30, there is formed a hot air passage 34, which is connected to an inlet 35 formed in the ring plate 12.

When drying clothes with this gas clothes dryer 1, the door 15 is opened, clothes are put into the rotating drum 11 through the clothes inlet 11i, and then the door 15 is closed. When the electric motor 20 is rotated, the rotation torque is transmitted to the rotating drum 11 by the transmission belt 21 and to the blower fan 23 by the transmission belt 22, so that the rotating drum 11 and the blower fan 23 start to rotate. Then, air inside the rotating drum 11 is sucked out from the multiple exhaust ports 11c formed in the back plate 11b of the rotating drum 11, and air flows into the rotating drum 11 from the inlet 35. In addition, multiple air intakes 10i are formed on the bottom surface of the main body case 10, and the air that flows into the main body case 10 from the air intakes 10i passes through the hot air passage 34 and is supplied into the rotating drum 11 from the inlet 35.

When fuel gas is injected from the injection nozzle 32 while the blower fan 23 is rotating in this way, the injected fuel gas flows into the mixing passage of the gas burner 30 together with the surrounding air to form a mixture of fuel gas and air, and the mixture is ignited by a spark plug (not shown), starting combustion in the gas burner 30. The combustion exhaust generated by the gas burner 30 flows into the hot air passage 34 together with the air flowing in from the air intake 10i on the bottom of the main body case 10, mixes with the air in the hot air passage 34 to generate heated air, and then flows into the rotating drum 11 from the inlet 35. Then, after drying the clothes while rotating in the rotating drum 11, it flows out from the exhaust port 11c formed on the back side of the rotating drum 11. The combustion exhaust that has dried the clothes in this way flows into the exhaust tube 40 through the internal passage 18, pushes up the opening and closing plate 42 in the exhaust tube 40, flows into the exhaust duct 50, and then flows out through the exhaust duct 50 to the outdoors. The main body case 10 also includes a controller 60 for controlling the operation of the electric motor 20 and the gas flow control valve 33. The combustion exhaust gas flowing out from the exhaust port 11c of the rotating drum 11 is exhausted to the outdoors through the internal passage 18, the passage in the exhaust tube 40, and the exhaust duct 50. Therefore, the internal passage 18, the passage in the exhaust tube 40, and the exhaust duct 50 in this embodiment correspond to the "exhaust passage" in the present invention.

Figure 2 is an exploded view showing the internal structure of the exhaust pipe 40 mounted on the gas clothes dryer 1 of this embodiment. As shown in the figure, the exhaust pipe 40 has a structure in which a disk-shaped opening and closing plate 42 is housed inside a cylindrical main body 41 having a flange 41f at the lower end. A pair of support shafts 41s are protruding from the inner circumferential surface 41a of the main body 41 at positions facing each other. The pair of support shafts 41s are formed on the same axis, and the axes of the pair of support shafts 41s are formed perpendicular to the central axis of the main body 41, but are formed at offset positions relative to the central axis of the main body 41. In addition, at the locations where each support shaft 41s is protruding, the inner circumferential surface 41a of the main body 41 bulges inward to form a base surface 41b perpendicular to the support shafts 41s.

The opening and closing plate 42 is formed with an outer diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the main body 41, and can be inserted inside the main body 41. The opening and closing plate 42 is formed with a pair of side portions 42a formed by cutting both sides parallel to each other, and the distance between the pair of side portions 42a is set to a value smaller than the distance between the pair of base surfaces 41b formed on the main body 41. Furthermore, bearing pieces 42b protrude downward from each side portion 42a of the opening and closing plate 42. These side portions 42a are formed in a state where they face each other, and each bearing piece 42b has a through hole 42c. These through holes 42c are formed with a diameter larger than the support shaft 41s of the main body 41, and the opening and closing plate 42 can be attached by bending the opening and closing plate 42 and inserting the support shaft 41s of the main body 41 into the through hole 42c.

As described above, the support shaft 41s is offset from the central axis of the main body 41, so the position at which the opening/closing plate 42 is supported is offset from the center of gravity of the opening/closing plate 42, and the opening/closing plate 42 tries to rotate by its own weight. Therefore, a holding portion 41h that holds the inclination of the opening/closing plate 42 almost horizontally by abutting against the opening/closing plate 42 is protruding from the inner peripheral surface 41a of the main body 41. When the opening/closing plate 42 is held by the holding portion 41h, the internal passage 41t of the main body 41 is closed by the opening/closing plate 42. Therefore, the position at which the opening/closing plate 42 is held by the holding portion 41h is the "closed position" in the present invention. In addition, like the internal passage 18 and the exhaust duct 50 described above, the internal passage 41t of the main body 41 is also the "exhaust passage" in the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, a convex portion 41c is protruding from a position lower than the holding portion 41h on the inner peripheral surface 41a at a position facing the holding portion 41h. The reason why the protrusion 41c is protruding will be explained later.

Furthermore, a pair of sliders 43 are provided on the upper surface of the opening/closing plate 42, which are parallel to each other. The sliders 43 are shaped like elongated rectangular parallelepipeds, and the lower portions of the opposing surfaces are cut out to form a rectangular cross-sectional fitting groove 43a. A elongated thin plate-shaped weight member 44 is attached between the pair of sliders 43 with both ends fitted into the fitting groove 43a. As shown by the thick arrow in the figure, the weight member 44 can slide along the slider 43, but it is fitted into the fitting groove 43a with such a tightness that it will not move unless it is intentionally moved. For this reason, the weight member 44 will not slide on its own and come off the opening/closing plate 42. The slider 43 and the fitting groove 43a in this embodiment correspond to the "mounting portion" in this invention.

Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the opening and closing plate 42 mounted inside the exhaust pipe 40. When the gas clothes dryer 1 is not in the drying operation, the combustion exhaust gas does not pass through the internal passage 41t of the main body 41. Therefore, as shown in Figure 3 (a), the opening and closing plate 42 tries to rotate around the support shaft 41s by its own weight, but it is held in the closed position by abutting against the holding part 41h. As a result, the exhaust pipe 40 is in a closed state by the opening and closing plate 42. Also, the arrows shown with diagonal lines in the figure indicate the gravity of the weight member 44 attached to the upper surface of the opening and closing plate 42, but the gravity of the weight member 44 acts in a direction pressing the opening and closing plate 42 against the holding part 41h. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the opening and closing plate 42 from making a rattling sound due to some vibration being transmitted to the opening and closing plate 42.

When the drying operation is started in the gas clothes dryer 1, the combustion exhaust gas passes through the internal passage 41t of the exhaust tube 40. The arrows with diagonal lines in FIG. 3(b) represent the flow of the combustion exhaust gas. The opening and closing plate 42 is pushed up by the flow of the combustion exhaust gas and rotates in a direction away from the holding part 41h, allowing the combustion exhaust gas to pass through the internal passage 41t of the exhaust tube 40. In addition, since the weight member 44 is attached to the back side of the opening and closing plate 42 with respect to the flow of the combustion exhaust gas, the weight member 44 is not exposed to the combustion exhaust gas. The combustion exhaust gas passing through the internal passage 41t of the exhaust tube 40 is generated by burning the fuel gas with the gas burner 30 of the gas clothes dryer 1, so the combustion exhaust gas contains acidic combustion products (e.g., carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides). Moreover, the combustion exhaust gas flowing out from the rotating drum 11 also contains a lot of moisture due to drying the clothes, and if such combustion exhaust gas comes into contact with the weight member 44, there is a risk that it will corrode the weight member 44 over a long period of time. However, because the weight member 44 is attached to the rear side of the opening and closing plate 42, the weight member 44 is not exposed to the combustion exhaust, and there is no risk of the weight member 44 corroding over a long period of time.

When the opening/closing plate 42 is pushed up, the exhaust gas can pass by the side of the opened/closed plate 42, and the force of the exhaust gas trying to push up the opening/closing plate 42 is weakened. For this reason, the opening/closing plate 42 rarely rotates to the upright position as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 3(b), and in most cases, it stops in a position just before the upright position as shown by the solid line. If the opening/closing plate 42 is in this state, the weight of the opening/closing plate 42 acts in a direction that tries to return the opening/closing plate 42 to its original closed position (i.e., the position where the opening/closing plate 42 abuts against the holding portion 41h). For this reason, when the drying operation of the gas clothes dryer 1 is stopped, the opening/closing plate 42 returns to the closed state as shown in FIG. 3(a).

However, for some reason (for example, the combustion exhaust gas suddenly flows forcefully through the internal passage 41t of the exhaust pipe 40), the opening and closing plate 42 may rotate beyond the upright position shown by the dashed line in FIG. 3(b). If the opening and closing plate 42 rotates beyond the upright position, the weight of the opening and closing plate 42 acts in a direction that rotates the opening and closing plate 42 further, so that even if the drying operation of the gas clothes dryer 1 is stopped, the opening and closing plate 42 will not return to the closed position shown in FIG. 3(a).

To prevent the opening/closing plate 42 from rotating too far and being unable to return to its original closed position, the exhaust pipe 40 of this embodiment has a protruding portion 41c protruding from the inner circumferential surface 41a of the main body 41 (see FIG. 2). That is, when the opening/closing plate 42 is rotated, a part of the opening/closing plate 42 abuts against the protruding portion 41c just before the opening/closing plate 42 becomes upright, and the opening/closing plate 42 cannot be rotated any further. In FIG. 3(b), the opening/closing plate 42 abutting against the protruding portion 41c and unable to rotate is shown by a dashed line. Therefore, when the drying operation of the gas clothes dryer 1 is stopped, the opening/closing plate 42 can be reliably returned to the closed position shown in FIG. 3(a).

Furthermore, if the room is highly airtight, as mentioned above, the air pressure inside the room will increase for various reasons, and the air inside the room will try to flow out to the outdoors through the exhaust duct 50. If this air flow opens the opening and closing plate 42 of the exhaust pipe 40, the opening and closing sound of the opening and closing plate 42 will be generated even though the gas clothes dryer 1 is not in drying operation, which may cause discomfort to the user of the gas clothes dryer 1.

The white arrows in Figure 3(c) represent the air flow that attempts to pass through the internal passage 41t of the exhaust pipe 40 due to high indoor air pressure. When the opening/closing plate 42 is pushed up and rotated by this air flow, an opening/closing sound is generated when the opening/closing plate 42 closes. Therefore, a weight member 44 is attached to the back side of the opening/closing plate 42, and the weight of the weight member 44 presses the opening/closing plate 42 against the holding portion 41h.

In order to hold the opening/closing plate 42 firmly against the holding portion 41h, it is preferable that the weight member 44 is heavy. However, if the weight member 44 is too heavy, when the gas clothes dryer 1 starts the drying operation, the opening/closing plate 42 cannot be pushed up and rotated by the exhaust combustion, and the exhaust pipe 40 remains in a closed state. For this reason, in order to ensure that the opening/closing plate 42 of the exhaust pipe 40 opens reliably when the gas clothes dryer 1 starts the drying operation, it is desirable to make the weight member 44 as light as possible. Therefore, the weight of the weight member 44 needs to be light enough to reliably push up the opening/closing plate 42 from the gas clothes dryer 1 with the exhaust combustion during the drying operation of the gas clothes dryer 1, and yet heavy enough that the opening/closing plate 42 cannot be pushed up by the air passing through the exhaust pipe 40 even if the air pressure in the room where the gas clothes dryer 1 is installed becomes high due to the high airtightness of the room.

However, when the room in which the gas clothes dryer 1 is installed is highly airtight, the degree to which the air pressure in the room increases varies depending on the conditions of the room in which the gas clothes dryer 1 is installed, such as the airtightness of the room, the size of the room, and the size of the door to the room. Therefore, the appropriate weight of the weight member 44 also varies depending on the conditions of the room in which the gas clothes dryer 1 is installed. For this reason, when installing the gas clothes dryer 1, an operator must go through the tedious task of selecting a weight member 44 of an appropriate weight depending on the conditions of the room in which it is to be installed.

In contrast, in the exhaust pipe 40 of this embodiment, the weight member 44 can be slid as described above (see FIG. 2). When the weight member 44 is slid, the distance D between the support shaft 41s and the weight member 44 changes as shown in FIG. 3(c). Therefore, the rotation moment in the direction in which the opening and closing plate 42 is pressed against the holding portion 41h so as not to be pushed up can be increased or decreased. For example, when the weight member 44 is slid in the direction in which the distance D increases, the rotation moment for pressing the opening and closing plate 42 against the holding portion 41h can be increased, and when the weight member 44 is slid in the direction in which the distance D decreases, this rotation moment can be decreased. Therefore, the worker who installs the gas clothes dryer 1 can slide the weight member 44 to an appropriate position according to the conditions of the room in which it is installed, so that the opening and closing plate 42 is reliably opened when the gas clothes dryer 1 starts drying operation, and at the same time, it is possible to prevent the opening and closing plate 42 from making an opening and closing sound while the gas clothes dryer 1 is stopped.

There are several variations of the exhaust pipe 40 of this embodiment described above. Below, these variations will be explained, focusing on the differences from this embodiment described above.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the weight member 44 is firmly fitted into the fitting groove 43a of the slider 43, and the weight member 44 is held in place by the frictional force generated between the fitting groove 43a and the weight member 44. However, it is also possible to provide a plurality of positioning parts 45 (see FIG. 4) on the upper surface of the opening/closing plate 42 (the rear side with respect to the combustion exhaust) and to position the weight member 44 using any of the positioning parts 45.

Figure 4 is an exploded view of the exhaust pipe 40 of the first modified example. The illustrated exhaust pipe 40 of the first modified example differs from the exhaust pipe 40 of the present embodiment described above with reference to Figure 2 in that a plurality of positioning portions 45 are provided on the upper surface of the opening and closing plate 42, and that fitting holes 44a that fit into the positioning portions 45 are formed in the weight member 44, but in other respects it is the same as the present embodiment described above. Therefore, the same numbers as in the present embodiment are used in the first modified example for the configurations that are similar to those of the present embodiment, and detailed descriptions will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 4, the opening/closing plate 42 of the first modified example has a plurality of (three in the illustrated example) positioning portions 45 protruding between a pair of sliders 43. These positioning portions 45 are formed in a small cylindrical shape and are arranged parallel to the slider 43. In addition, both ends of the weight member 44 are loosely fitted into the fitting groove 43a of the slider 43. In addition, a fitting hole 44a into which the cylindrical positioning portion 45 can be fitted is formed in the center of the weight member 44. Therefore, by fitting any one of the plurality of positioning portions 45 into the fitting hole 44a, the weight member 44 can be detachably attached in a state in which the weight member 44 is positioned relative to the opening/closing plate 42. In addition, by changing the positioning portion 45 to be fitted into the fitting hole 44a, the distance D from the support shaft 41s to the weight member 44 can be changed, as in the present embodiment described above using FIG. 3(c). As a result, by changing the positioning portion 45 that fits into the fitting hole 44a of the weight member 44 according to the conditions of the room in which the gas clothes dryer 1 is installed, the opening and closing plate 42 is reliably in the open state when the gas clothes dryer 1 starts the drying operation, and at the same time, it is possible to prevent the opening and closing plate 42 from making an opening and closing noise while the gas clothes dryer 1 is stopped.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, in order to prevent the opening/closing plate 42 from rotating too far and being unable to return to its original position under its own weight, a convex portion 41c is provided to protrude from the inner peripheral surface 41a of the main body 41 to prevent the opening/closing plate 42 from rotating too far. However, by devising a shape for the opening/closing plate 42, it is possible to allow the opening/closing plate 42 to return to its original position under its own weight even if it rotates too far. For example, a protrusion 46 may be provided to protrude downward from a position between two bearing pieces 42b formed on both sides of the opening/closing plate 42.

Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the opening/closing plate 42 of the second modified example in which such a protrusion 46 is provided. Figure 5 (a) shows the state in which the opening/closing plate 42 abuts against the retaining portion 41h (closed state). The protrusion 46 protrudes downward between the two bearing pieces 42b formed on the opening/closing plate 42, and the weight of the protrusion 46 acts on the rotation axis (support axis 41s) of the opening/closing plate 42. In the figure, the gravity of the protrusion 46 is indicated by a hatched arrow. Therefore, when the opening/closing plate 42 is in the closed state, the provision of the protrusion 46 does not make it difficult to open the opening/closing plate 42.

However, when the opening/closing plate 42 rotates, the weight of the protruding portion 46 acts in a direction to close the opening/closing plate 42, and the more the opening/closing plate 42 rotates, the greater the force that tries to close the opening/closing plate 42. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5(b), even if the opening/closing plate 42 rotates beyond the upright position, it is possible for the weight of the protruding portion 46 to return the opening/closing plate 42 to its original closed state.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 6(a), the tip of the opening/closing plate 42 may be bent downward to provide a bent portion 42d. Because the bent portion 42d is bent downward, even if the opening/closing plate 42 rotates to reach directly above the support shaft 41s, the bent portion 42d has not yet reached directly above the support shaft 41s, and therefore the weight of the bent portion 42d acts in a direction that returns the opening/closing plate 42 to its original closed position. For this reason, by providing the bent portion 42d, it is possible to prevent the opening/closing plate 42 from rotating too far and not returning to its original closed state as shown in FIG. 6(a).

The above describes the gas clothes dryer 1 in this embodiment and various modified examples, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and various modified examples, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit of the invention.

1...gas clothes dryer, 10...main body case, 10i...air intake,
11...rotating drum; 11a...body portion; 11b...rear plate; 11c...discharge port;
11i...clothes insertion port, 12...ring plate, 13...cylindrical pipe,
14: Rotating shaft; 15: Opening/closing door; 16: Filter; 17: Fan cover;
18... internal passage; 20... electric motor; 21, 22... transmission belt;
23...blower fan, 30...gas burner, 31...gas pipe,
32 ... injection nozzle, 33 ... gas flow control valve, 34 ... hot air passage,
35: inlet; 40: exhaust pipe; 41: main body; 41a: inner peripheral surface;
41b: base surface; 41c: protrusion; 41f: flange; 41h: holding portion;
41s...support shaft; 41t...internal passage; 42...opening and closing plate; 42a...side portion;
42b...bearing piece; 42c...through hole; 42d...bent portion; 43...slider;
43a... fitting groove, 44... weight member, 44a... fitting hole, 45... positioning portion,
46: protrusion; 50: exhaust duct; 60: controller.

Claims (3)

A gas clothes dryer having a storage chamber for storing clothes to be dried, a gas burner for burning a fuel gas and supplying combustion exhaust gas to said storage chamber, an exhaust passage for discharging the combustion exhaust gas supplied to said storage chamber to the outside, and an opening and closing plate that is journaled within said exhaust passage and is pushed open when the combustion exhaust gas flows through said exhaust passage,
a support shaft to which the opening and closing plate is attached, the support shaft being provided in a state intersecting the exhaust passage at a portion where the exhaust passage faces upward;
a holding portion that protrudes from an inner wall surface of the exhaust passage and that holds the opening and closing plate in a closed position by abutting against the opening and closing plate when the opening and closing plate is not pushed up by the combustion exhaust gas ;
a protrusion that protrudes from an inner wall surface of the exhaust passage and that abuts against the opening/closing plate when the opening/closing plate is pushed up by the exhaust gas from the combustion exhaust gas to determine a fully open position of the opening/closing plate;
Equipped with
an attachment portion for attaching a weight member for rotating the opening/closing plate toward the closed position is formed on the opening/closing plate at a rear side relative to the combustion exhaust gas flowing through the exhaust passage ,
The protrusion comes into contact with the opening and closing plate at a stage before the opening and closing plate is in an upright state.
A gas clothes dryer characterized by: The gas clothes dryer according to claim 1,
The gas clothes dryer, wherein the attachment portion is capable of changing a distance from the support shaft to the weight member. The gas clothes dryer according to claim 2,
The mounting portion includes a positioning portion that detachably positions the weight member,
the positioning portion is provided at a plurality of positions on the rear side of the opening/closing plate at different distances from the support shaft.

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