GB2091123A

GB2091123A - Filter for clothes dryer

Info

Publication number: GB2091123A
Application number: GB8135749A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: G Bauknecht GmbH
Current assignee: G Bauknecht GmbH
Priority date: 1980-12-09
Filing date: 1981-11-26
Publication date: 1982-07-28
Also published as: NL8105236A; DE8032679U1; SE457358B; SE8107189L; GB2091123B

Abstract

An air filter, for use in a clothes dryer using a current of air, comprises two sieves connected by a hinge 18. In use the filter is closed so that the sieves are almost parallel and act in series. The upstream sieve may be corrugated and coarser in mesh than the flat downstream sieve 31. The filter is located in the clothes defector immediately downstream of the rotary drying drum to prevent lint from reaching the condenser (13). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A dryer for clothes or the like and a filter for use therein The invention relates to a dryer for clothes or the like in which a drying air current is conveyed through a drying drum and a loading door for said drum.

Clothes dryers of this kind are known as exhaustair dryers. A fluff filter located in a clothes deflector of a loading door has proved very successful in such exhaust-air dryers due to the simplicity of removing it, clearing it of fluff from the washing which it has trapped, and subsequently reinserting it.

It has been attempted to insert this successful fluff filter arrangement into circulatory air clothes dryers but this failed since, such circulatory air clothes dryers commonly incorporate a condenser located in the path of the closed drying air current and, in the course of time, the condenser tends to become clogged with very fine washing fluff whereby its efficiency progressively deteriorates as the deposit accumulates.

In German OS 25 07 088 it has been proposed in the case of a circulatory air clothes dryer, to retain the known 'luff filter located in the clothes deflector of the loading door of exhaust-air dryers and to place after it in the air intake apertures leading to the dryer cabinet a further fluff filter. By this double filtration of the current of drying air, it is possible for the condenser to remain free of fluff. A disadvantage of this solution, however, is that the operator is required to supervise and to clear two different fluff filters at different locations.

Furthermore, a circulatory air clothes dryer has previously been proposed in which a fluff filter is located in the air duct before the condenser, the filter surface of said filter being of very large dimensions due to its corrugated construction, and may thus have a very fine mesh size without offering too great a flow resistance to the drying air current. This fluff filter also enables the condenser to remain free of fluff. A drawback of this arrangement however is that it is located in the base area of the dryer and it is difficult to gain access to it.

An object and purpose of the invention is to provide a fluff filter arrangement for a circulatory air clothes dryer and also for an exhaust-air clothes dryer, having a heat exchanger for energy recovery, which filter arrangement is conveniently located in the clothes deflector of the loading door for easy access, which is in the form of a removable filter, and which ensures that the condenser or heat exchanger remains free from washing fluff.

According to the present invention there is provided a dryer for clothes or the like in which a drying air current is conveyed through a drying drum and a clothes deflector of a loading door for said drum, and a removable filter, which filters the drying air current, is located in said clothes deflector, characterised in that the removable filter is in the form of an openable double sieve.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a filter adapted to be removably located in a dryer for clothes or the like so as to filter air passing through said dryer characterised in that the sieve is in the form of an openable double sieve.

Preferably, the double sieve comprises two individual sieves of plastic material which are connected to each other by a hinge situated at a side opposite to handles which act as gripping means for the filter.

Such a construction of the double sieve has the great advantage that, when maintenance is required, the operator has basically to deal with only one sieve. The double sieve is withdrawn by its handle vertically upwards out of its recess in the clothes deflector and the sieve surface disposed towards the drying drum is firstly cleared of fluff. The double sieve is then folded open at the handle-edge about the hinge e.g. film hinge located opposite said handle and the second sieve is cleared of fluff. After the cleaning operation, the double sieve is folded together again and returned to its recess in the clothes deflector. The operation of cleaning the double sieve according to the invention, that is to say its removal and reinsertion for cleaning purposes, can be undertaken without the aid of tools.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation view of a circulatory air dryer, shown diagrammatically; Figure 2 shows a double sieve according to the invention in longitudinal section; Figure 3 is a plan view of the double sieve in an extended, open position, and Figure 4 is a longitudinal section through the double sieve in the extended, open position.

A circulatory-air clothes dryer as illustrated in Figure 1 comprises a drying drum 1 which rotates during the drying operation. Clothes 3 are inserted into the drying drum through a loading aperture 2.

The aperture 2 is closed by a door 4 provided with a clothes deflector 5 projecting into the loading aperture 2. The interior of the clothes deflector 5 is holiow and is provided at the side facing towards the drum 1 with air intake apertures 6. On its peripheral surface the clothes deflector 5 has at the top a rectangular recess 7 into which a double sieve 8 according to the invention is inserted vertically from above. The loading door 4 is provided in its interior with an air duct (not shown) which is connected on the one hand to the hollow space in the clothes deflector 5 and on the other hand, by way of an aperture 9 in the lower door region, to an air duct system 10 in the drying cabinet.

During a drying operation, a blower 11 sucks moisture-laden air from the drying drum 1 (see direction arrows) through the air intake apertures 6 of the clothes deflector 5, then through the double sieve 8 by way of the air duct (not shown) in the loading door 4, through the aperture 9 in sealed contact with the cabinet 12 into the air duct system 10. The blower 11 conveys the air it sucks in through an air or water-cooled condenser 13 by which the current of air is cooled and the moisture absorbed from the clothes is condensed. The air, thus dried, is conveyed past a heat regulator 14 located in the duct system 10 in the region of the rear wall of the dryer cabinet 12 in order to heat the air, whereupon it passes under pressure through a rear aperture 15 into the drying drum 1 where it is brought into intensive contact with the wet clothes 3 by rotation of the drum 1.Thus, the air current once again absorbs moisture and, as described above, is again drawn off and recirculated until the clothes have reached the predetermined degree of dryness.

During the drying operation the fluff clinging to the wet clothes, which had already been produced by friction while the articles were in use and during the washing process, is loosened, is carried off by the current of drying air and is conveyed towards the suction side of the blower 11 In order to prevent this clothes fluff from entering the suction duct system, the fluff sieve 8, which is in the form of an openable double sieve according to the invention, is already located in the clothes deflector 5. The current of drying air here passes through two sieve surfaces 30, 31 arranged one behind the other so that any fluff which succeeds in penetrating the first sieve surface 30 is held back by the second surface 31.

In order to reduce the flow resistance of the double sieve 8 to a minimum, at least the first sieve surface 30 to be encountered by the current of drying air is preferably of currugated construction. This provides a sieve surface of very generous proportions which, even when a part of its outer surface is coated with fluff, still ensures a normal drying operation within the time anticipated. In order further to reduce the flow resistance of the double sieve 8, it is of advantage to provide the first sieve 30 to be encountered by the air current with a coarser mesh than the second sieve 31.

The double sieve 8 according to the invention is illustrated in detail in Figures 2 to 4. This sieve comprises two basically identical, rectangular plastic frames 16 and 17 which are connected to each other at one narrow extremity by a moulded hinge 18 in the form of a flexible film. At their other narrow extremity they are each provided with a handle 19, 20 respectively. Instead of the film hinge, so-called half-hinges may be moulded on to both frames so that, when the frames are placed one on top of the other, they form a detachable hinge. The two frames may also advantageously be connected to each other by a normal hinge. The two plastic frames 16, 17 are preferably provided with fine-mesh plastic sieves 30, 31 which may be applied by injection moulding.The external dimensions of the double sieve when folded together, as shown in Figure 2, are so selected that the sieve can be inserted exactly into the aperture 7 of the clothes deflector 5. The inner surfaces of the frames 16, 17 of the double sieve 8 are so formed that, when folded together, they are in sufficiently close contact with each other to exclude fluff. Forthis purpose the frames may be provided with grooves and projections (not illustrated), so that, when placed one on top of the other in the folded position, they form a labyrinth seal. In order to hold the double sieve in the closed position, at the handle-side a snap closure e.g. a press-button type of closure (not shown) may be provided by injection moulding. If the first sieve surface 30 which the drying air encounters is corrugated and/or carries a coarser mesh-size, the frame 16, 17 of the double sieve, and also the insertion aperture 7 in the clothes deflector 5, is preferably of asymmetrical construction, as seen in cross-section, in order to ensure that the double removable sieve cannot be wrongly inserted.

Claims

1. A dryer for clothes orthe like in which a drying air current is conveyed through a drying drum and a clothes deflector of a loading door for said drum, and a removable filter, which filters the drying air current, is located in said clothes deflector, characterised in that the removable filter is in the form of an openable double sieve.

2. A dryer according to claim 1, in which the double sieve comprises two independent sieves which are connected to each other by a hinge.

3. A dryer according to claim 2, in which the hinge is a detachable hinge.

4. A dryer according to claim 2, in which the hinge is a film hinge.

5. A dryer according to any of claims 2 to 4, in which the removable filter is provided with gripping means, the hinge being located opposite said gripping means.

6. A dryer according to any preceding claim, in which at least a first sieve surface of the double sieve, which, in use, is positioned to be first encountered by the drying air current, is of corrugated construction.

7. A dryer according to any preceding claim, in which a first sieve surface, which, in use, is positioned to be first encountered by the drying air current, has a coarser mesh-size than a second sieve surface of the double sieve.

8. A filter adapted to be removably located in a dryer for clothes or the like so as to filter air passing through said dryer characterised in that the sieve is in the form of an openable double sieve.

9. A filter as claimed in claim 8, in which the double sieve comprises two independent sieves which are connected to each other by a hinge.

10. A filter as claimed in claim 9, in which the hinge is a detachable hinge.

11. A filter as claimed in claim 9, in which the hinge is a film hinge.

12. A filter as claimed in any of claims 9 to 11, in which the gripping means is provided opposite said hinge.

13. A filter as claimed in any of claims 9 to 12, in which at least one of said sieves has a surface of corrugated form.

14. Afilter as claimed in any of claims 9 to 13, in which at least one of said sieves which, in use, is adapted to be first encountered by drying air, has a coarser mesh size than the surface of the other of said sieves.

15. A dryer for clothes or the like, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

16. A filter for a dryer for clothes or the like, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 2 to 4 of the accompanying drawing