JPS5910240B2 - dehydrator - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a dehydrator equipped with a water spray cylinder in a dehydrating tank and having a so-called dehydrating and rinsing function.

A dehydrator with a dehydrating and rinsing function, that is, by supplying clean water to the laundry housed in a dehydration basket that acts as a dehydration tank and rotating it, clean water permeates the laundry containing detergent and removes it. Conventionally, a dehydrator that performs rinsing by dewatering using centrifugal force has a water sprinkling tube with many water fountains perforated in the surrounding wall placed upright in the approximate center of the dehydration basket, and the dehydration basket is spun intermittently. By supplying clean water to the water sprinkling cylinder while rotating the water spray cylinder, the water is stored in the water sprinkling cylinder and is spouted out towards the laundry around the water sprinkling cylinder by centrifugal force. There is.

However, during a performance test of the spin-dry rinse operation using the above-mentioned configuration, it was found that the following problems peculiar to spin-dry rinses did not exist in the rinse operations of conventional washing machines. When the laundry was examined, it was found that there were red spots in some places.

Even when the laundry was rinsed in the washing tub of a washing machine with water of the same quality as that used for dehydration and rinsing, such spot-like staining did not occur on the laundry.

As a result of further investigation, we found that the material used for dyeing was iron oxide powder.
This is because the water containing this is violently and intensively hit at one point on the laundry from the fountain hole of the sprinkler barrel, and that one point on the laundry acts like a filter and the iron oxide powder is collected there. There was found.

In other words, since the water source used for rinsing is generally potable tap water, the content of iron oxide powder is very small and does not cause staining at all in normal rinsing, but it cannot be ignored in dehydration rinsing. That's what happened.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to create a structure that can sufficiently disperse and release water from a water spray barrel toward the surrounding laundry until it becomes a state that closely resembles a mist, thereby eliminating minute amounts of powder foreign matter contained in water, such as iron oxide powder. This prevents spot-like staining on the laundry, and furthermore, even if the flow rate of water into the water spray barrel decreases, water can be distributed from almost the entire circumference from the bottom to the top of the water spray barrel. To provide a dehydrator which can spray water toward the laundry, thereby avoiding incomplete rinsing such as uneven rinsing and a decrease in the amount of rinsing, and which can also achieve this with an extremely simple configuration.

A first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a two-tub washing machine will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

1 is an outer box, inside which a washing tub 2 and a dewatering tank 3 are arranged on the left and right, a drain hose 4 is passed through an outlet 3a at the bottom of the dehydrating tank 3, and a drain port 2a of the washing tub 2 is connected to the outer box. It is communicated with the drain hose 4 via a drain valve 5.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a pulsator provided at the inner bottom of the washing tub 2, which is rotationally driven by a washing motor 7 provided at the inner bottom of the outer box 1 via a belt transmission mechanism 8.

9 is a dewatering motor elastically supported on the inner bottom of the outer box 1;
Reference numeral 0 denotes a dewatering basket as a dehydrating tank which is disposed inside the dehydrating tank 3 and has a large number of dehydrating holes 11 formed in the peripheral wall. It is passed through the rose 13 and its lower end is connected to the rotating shaft 9a of the dewatering moke 9.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a bottomed water spray tube with an open upper end and a slightly truncated conical outer shape, and a flange portion 14a formed on the outer periphery of the lower end of the dewatering basket 10 is attached to a holder 12a at the upper end of the shaft 12 with a bolt 15. It is connected to the bottom wall and is erected at the center of rotation within the dehydration basket 10.

The water spray tube 14 is made of a porous material with countless water-permeable micropores of about 40 micrometers scattered in the wall.

The water spray barrel 14 used in this example is made of Spacey Chemical ■
It uses a porous polymer material called SPACEY manufactured by Co., Ltd.

The material is polymethyl methacrylate, the wall thickness is 30 mm, the porosity is 35%, and the average pore diameter is 20 to 70 microns.

The structure is formed by heating and sintering the polymer particles in a mold to form a network structure in which water-permeable micropores are connected and bent in a three-dimensional direction.

In addition, commercially available SPACEY materials include not only the above-mentioned materials but also many other types such as polyethylene, polypropylene, and cellulose, and also have various average pore diameters.

When the water spray tube 14 is made of such a porous polymer material, the inner circumferential surface is formed into an inverted conical shape in which the inner diameter continuously increases from the bottom to the top, as shown in the figure.

Reference numerals 16 and 17 denote an inner lid and an outer lid for opening and closing the laundry entrance/exit 18 on the upper surface of the dewatering tank 3. A substantially funnel-shaped water supply device 19 is attached to the lower surface of the inner lid 16, and its water inlet 19a is connected to the water sprinkling tube 14. It faces the upper end opening 14b.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a cloth press plate that is detachably fitted into the upper end opening of the dewatering basket 10.

On the other hand, 21 is an operation box attached to the rear of the upper part of the outer box 1, in which a dehydration timer 22, a washing timer 23, and an electromagnetic water supply valve 24 are arranged, and the water inlet side of this electromagnetic water supply valve 24 is It is connected to a water supply (not shown) with a hose 25, and the water outlet side is connected to a water supply pipe 27 connected to the water supply device 19 and a water supply pipe 28 provided facing inside the washing tub 2 via a manually operated switching cock 26. They are connected to each other so that water can be selectively supplied to either the washing tub 3 or the water spray barrel 14 by switching the switching cock 26.

Next, the configuration of the electric circuit will be explained based on FIG.
and 30 a pair of input terminals connected to a power supply (not shown);
31 is a lid switch that is closed in conjunction with the closing of the outer lid 17 of the dehydration receiving tank 3; the one input terminal 29 is branched into two via this lid switch 31, and one branch end is connected to the dehydration receiving tank 3; It is connected to the other input terminal 30 of the dehydration timer 22 through the other timer switch 32 and the dehydration motor 9, and the other branch end is connected to the other input terminal 30 of the dehydration timer 22 through the other timer switch 33 of the dehydration timer 22 and the electromagnetic water supply valve 24. and is connected to the other input terminal 30.

Here, the timer switch 3 of the dehydration timer 22 is
2 and 33 are controlled to open and close by a cam that rotates using a mainspring spring or the like (not shown) as a driving source, and when the dehydration timer 22 is set to the dehydration rinse stroke, both timer switches 32 and 33 are activated simultaneously for the set period. When the timer switch 32 is closed midway and set to the dewatering process, only one timer switch 32 is closed during the set period.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained with reference to the case where dehydration and rinsing, which is directly related to the present invention, is performed.

First, to explain the case where the tap water pressure is at a normal value, open both the inner and outer lids 16 and 17 of the dehydration receiving tank 3, and place the laundry 34, which has been washed with detergent in the adjacent washing tub 2, into the dehydration basket 10. death,
Each lid 16, 17 is closed and the switching cock 26 is switched to supply water to the water spray barrel 14.

Thereafter, when the dehydration timer 22 is set to the dehydration rinse stroke, one timer switch 32 energizes the dehydration motor 9 to continuously drive the dehydration basket 10, and the other timer switch 33 activates the electromagnetic water supply valve 2.
4 is continuously energized.

Therefore, water is supplied to the water supply device 19 via the electromagnetic water supply valve 24, the switching cock 26, and the water supply pipe 27, and its water supply port 19a
The water is continuously injected into the water spray cylinder 14 to fill it with water.

In this state, the water spray barrel 14 is rotating at high speed together with the dewatering basket 10, so the water in the water spray barrel 14 is subjected to centrifugal force in addition to its water head, and the water in the surrounding wall is washed through the countless water-permeable micropores in the peripheral wall. It is ejected forcefully towards the object 34.

This water then passes through the laundry 34 by centrifugal dehydration, and finally passes through the dehydration hole 11 of the dehydration basket 10 into the dehydration receiving tank 3.
released within.

In such dehydration rinsing, the water in the water spray barrel 14 passes through the numerous water-permeable micropores scattered in the wall and is released into the laundry 34 as described above, so the released water becomes mist. The result is a well-dispersed product that closely resembles a shape.

Therefore, it is possible to effectively prevent staining of the laundry 34 due to minute amounts of powder foreign matter such as iron oxide powder, which is seen in the conventional method in which the jetted water concentrates on one point on the laundry. , the same effect of preventing staining as in the rinsing action in the washing tub can be obtained.

By the way, the prevention of staining cannot be solved by installing a filter in the waterway to remove fine particles of foreign matter.

However, if fine particles are removed by filtration from water that is commonly used even for drinking water, the water flow resistance will increase dramatically, resulting in an extreme decrease in the amount of water unless the filter is designed to have a fairly large area.

Therefore, a solution using filtration means cannot be adopted at all from the viewpoint of rinsing efficiency.

In this regard, in the present invention, since the countless water-permeable micropores are not expected to have a filtration effect, a sufficient amount of water discharged from the water spray tube 14 can be ensured.

Next, to explain a situation where the tap water pressure is low and the water supply flow rate to the water spray tube 14 is low, first of all, even when the tap water pressure is low, the water discharged from the water inlet 19a of the water supply device 19 spreads over a predetermined amount. As shown by the group of arrows 34 in FIG. 4, the water flows into the upper end opening 14b of the water spray tube 14 in a spread state.

Since the inner circumferential surface 14c of the water spray tube 14 has an inverted conical shape, the water flowing from the upper end opening 14b is transferred to the inner circumferential surface 14c.
c, and most of the water is in contact with the inner peripheral surface 14c.
Due to the inclination angle of the wall, and because there are countless water-permeable micropores scattered in the wall, it is ejected horizontally near the contact area as shown by arrow 35 while being assisted by centrifugal force.
This gushing phenomenon occurs on the entire area of the inner circumferential surface 14c of the water spray tube 14 in contact with water, that is, on the outer periphery of the substantially entire area extending above and below the water spray tube 14.

As a result, even if the tap water pressure is low, the laundry 3 stored around the water spray tube 14 to approximately the same height as this
Water is now sprayed over the entire area of the dehydration basket 10, and incomplete rinsing such as uneven rinsing can be reliably prevented, and the laundry 34 can be stored not only in the lower part of the dehydration basket 10 but also in the upper part. A decrease in the amount of rinsing can also be avoided.

By the way, this water spray tube 14 has a peripheral wall formed with countless fine holes, so it has very good water permeability like a coarse cloth, and therefore the inflowing water flows down the inner surface of the peripheral wall and diffuses to the inner surface. This is rare, and there is a marked tendency for most of them to immediately flow out in the radial direction from the contact area.

In such a water spray tube 14, if the inner circumferential surface is parallel cylindrical, when the water supply flow rate to the water sprinkler tube 14 decreases due to a drop in water pressure, etc., the water mainly flows radially from the upper region where it first contacts the peripheral wall. However, the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention can solve this phenomenon peculiar to a structure having numerous water-permeable micropores.

Next, a water spray tube 36 shown as a second embodiment in FIG. 6 with the same reference numerals attached to the same parts as in FIG. The inner circumferential surface 36c
is formed into a substantially inverted conical shape, and the same effects as described above can also be obtained with such a configuration.

In FIG. 7, the same parts as those in FIGS. 1 to 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals as the third embodiment, and the position P1 of the water inlet 19 facing the upper end opening 14b of the water sprinkling pipe 14 is located in the water sprinkling pipe. 1
The structure is shifted by a predetermined distance L from the rotation center P2 of No. 4.

Due to this, even if the tap water pressure becomes extremely low and it is almost impossible to expect the water discharged from the water inlet 19a to spread, the discharged water will flow to the inner circumferential surface 14c of the water sprinkling tube 14 as shown by the group of arrows 37. In the middle, the contact position is repeatedly moved in the rotational direction as the water spray tube 14 rotates.

Therefore, water can be ejected from the entire outer periphery of the water spray tube 14 in the same manner as described above.

Further, according to each of the above embodiments of the present invention, the water spray tube 14
．． 36 has a structure in which countless water-permeable micropores are scattered in the wall, and the ejected water is dispersed almost like a mist.
Iron oxide powder in the water does not concentrate on one point on the laundry,
It is possible to prevent red spot-like dyeing from occurring due to the iron oxide powder.

Of course, there is also the advantage that the structure for obtaining each of the above effects is extremely simple.

In addition, if the water spray tube of the present invention has a network of water-permeable micropores that are connected and bent in three dimensions, it may be formed by integral molding, or it may be formed by cutting a long cylinder that has been previously formed. However, the manufacturing method does not matter, and the final state does not need to be a rigid body.

As described above, the present invention provides a method for rinsing by disposing a water sprinkling cylinder in a dehydration tank, discharging water from the peripheral wall of the water sprinkling cylinder onto surrounding laundry, and centrifugally dehydrating the laundry by rotation of the dehydration tank. The water spray tube is formed of a porous material with countless water-permeable micropores scattered in the wall, and the inner diameter of the tube is determined continuously or in stages from the bottom to the top. This allows the water to be sufficiently dispersed and released from the water canister to the surrounding laundry until it becomes a state that closely resembles a mist. This effectively prevents staining, and even in the event that the water supply flow rate into the water spray barrel decreases, water can be sprayed from almost the entire circumference from the bottom to the top of the water spray barrel to the surrounding laundry. Therefore, it is possible to provide a dehydrator that can avoid incomplete rinsing such as uneven rinsing and a decrease in the amount of rinsing, and can achieve this with an extremely simple configuration. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 5 relate to the first embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a two-tub washing machine, FIG. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of main parts, and FIGS. 4 is a perspective view and a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the water canister, respectively, shown in a further enlarged scale. FIG. 5 is a wiring diagram of the electric circuit. FIG. In the figure, 10 is a dehydration basket (dehydration tank), 14 and 36 are water spray tubes, 14b is an upper end opening, and 19a is a water inlet.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A water sprinkling tube that receives water from a water inlet is placed in a dehydration tank, and water is discharged from the peripheral wall of the water sprinkling tube onto the surrounding laundry, and the laundry is centrifugally dehydrated by rotation of the dehydration tank for rinsing. In the water spray tube, the water tube is formed of a porous material with countless water-permeable micropores scattered in the wall, and the inner diameter thereof is set in a shape that becomes a diameter continuously or stepwise from the bottom upward. A dehydrator characterized by: 2. The dehydrator according to claim 1, wherein the water inlet is located opposite to the upper end opening of the water spray barrel and offset from the center of rotation of the water spray barrel.