JPH04126199A - Clothes-dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to filter clogging notification for clothes dryers.

[Conventional technology]

Some clothes dryers detect and alert when a filter is clogged. In these cases, the notification method was the same even if the degree of clogging of the filter changed.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional technology, since the notification method is the same regardless of the degree of clogging of the filter, the user does not know the degree of clogging, and even if the filter is clogged, it is often not cleaned.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art and to prevent the filter from being used without being cleaned even if it becomes clogged.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides multiple detection levels of filter clogging, provides different notifications for each of the six detection levels, and increases the notification frequency as the degree of clogging increases. By strongly urging the user to clean the filter, it is possible to prevent the filter from being used without being cleaned.

[Effect]

The present invention provides a plurality of filter clogging detection levels when the filter is clogged, provides different notifications for each detection level, and increases the frequency as the degree of clogging increases. The purpose is to strongly urge the user to clean the filter, thereby preventing the filter from being used without being cleaned.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 is an outer frame; 2 is a rotary drum that is rotatably supported within the outer frame 1 and constitutes a clothes drying cabinet; 3 is a heat source for obtaining hot air for drying; 4 is the rotary drum 2; electric motor 5
This is a drum drive belt for transmitting rotational force.

A drum air outlet 6 for discharging circulating air for drying is provided at the rear of the rotating drum 2, as indicated by the solid line arrow in FIG. In addition to providing an inlet lower, it also has the role of a blower for generating the circulating air and cooling air (shown by broken lines in FIG. 1) for cooling the circulating air flow,
In addition, a fan casing 9 is provided which accommodates a double-winged fan 8 for exchanging heat between circulating air and cooling air through its blade wall surface. This fan casing 9 has a partition plate 10 provided all around its inner circumference,
A felt 11 provided on the outer periphery of the double-winged fan 8 partitions it into a circulating air side and a cooling air side.

Reference numeral 12 denotes an airtight felt for keeping the fan casing 9 and the rotating drum 2 airtight.

The circulation side outlet of the fan casing 9 is communicated with the heat source device 3 through a duct 13 and a duct 14 having a drain port 21 in the middle. Further, the cooling air flow is sucked in through an intake port provided at the center of the back plate 15, as shown by the broken line arrow in FIG. 1, and is discharged from the upper part of the back plate 15.

In addition, 16 is a belt for the double-winged fan 8, 17 is a pulley for the double-winged fan 8, 18 is a drum support member, and 19 is used to open and close an opening provided in front of the outer frame 1 for taking in and taking out items to be dried (clothing). 22 is a filter. 20 is a drum front fixed wall for rotatably supporting the rotating drum 2 on its outer periphery. As the heat source 3, a semiconductor heater having temperature-electrical resistance characteristics as shown in FIG. 3 is used.

As is clear from Fig. 3, this semiconductor heater
At temperatures above the Ts point shown in the figure, the electrical resistance has a property of rapidly increasing as the temperature increases. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, when the amount of air flowing through the heater decreases and the heat dissipation of the heater deteriorates, and the temperature of the heater itself increases, the current flowing through the heater decreases. Note that under normal operating conditions, the temperature of this heater is To as shown in Figure 3.
It is set to be stable around a point.

Next, the operation control method will be explained.

FIG. 2 shows a control circuit for a clothes dryer according to the present invention. 2
3 is a power plug connected to a 100V commercial power supply; 24 is a power switch; 25 is a microcomputer 26 containing a clothes dryer operation control program and a power supply circuit for supplying DC voltage to a control electronic circuit; 27 is a transformer for stepping down the voltage of 100V of the commercial power supply to the voltage for electronic circuits; 28 is the microcomputer-2;
A reset circuit for resetting 6 when the power is turned on,
29 is a clock circuit that generates a system clock necessary for the microcomputer 26, and 30 is a clock circuit for the microcomputer 26. A switch input section 31 is used to transmit switch inputs selected by the user such as course setting, heat source strength setting, and operation start to the microcomputer 26; A lamp display section 32 is used to notify the user of clogging, etc. by lighting or blinking the lamp.When the microcomputer 26 accepts the operation of the input switch, when the operation is completed, the filter is 22 is a buzzer notification unit that sounds a buzzer to notify the user when the clothes are clogged; 33 is a dryness detection means that detects the degree of dryness of clothes by detecting changes in humidity and temperature of the circulating air; 34; Reference numeral 35 indicates a dryness detection circuit for transmitting information from the dryness detection means 33 to the microcomputer 24, 35 indicates a door switch that is turned on and off as the door 19 is opened and closed, and 36 indicates the ON state of the door switch.

A door switch input receiving circuit 37 transmits the OFF state to the microcomputer 26, and 37 transmits the ON and FF states of the power switch 24 to the microcomputer 2.
power switch input capture circuit for transmission to 6, 3
Reference numeral 8 denotes a power supply for energizing a solenoid 39 for turning off the power switch 24 to automatically turn off the power switch 24 when the operation ends or when the power switch is left on for a certain period of time without operation. 40 is a frequency signal capture circuit for capturing the frequency of the power source used for timekeeping into the microcomputer 26; 41 is a motor drive circuit for driving the motor 5 with a signal from the microcomputer 26; 42 43 is a heat source drive circuit for driving the heat source 3 with a signal from the microcomputer 26, and a heat source current detection circuit 43 for detecting the current of the heat source 3.

Next, the operation of the clothes dryer will be explained.

When the power plug 23 is inserted into the outlet.

A DC voltage is generated by the power supply circuit 25, and a system clock is transmitted to the microcomputer 26 by the clock generation circuit 29. At the same time, the reset circuit 28 resets the microcomputer 26 and puts it into operation, so that the clothes dryer waits for operation by the user. When the user turns on the power switch 24, this information is transmitted to the microcomputer via the power switch input acquisition circuit 37, a preset initial display is displayed on the lamp display circuit 31, and the switch of the switch input section 31 is It is now ready to accept input.

Next, the user opens the door 19 and puts clothes to be dried into the rotating drum 2. When the door 19 is closed, the door switch 35 is turned on, and the door 19 passes through the door switch input input circuit 36. The information indicating that the microcomputer 26 has been closed is input to the microcomputer 26, and the microcomputer 26 waits for the start of operation. Next, when the user selects one of several drying courses and the strength of the heat source 3 using the switch input section 30 and operates the operation start switch, the clothes dryer starts drying operation.

When the drying operation is started, power is supplied to the heat source 3 and electric motor 5 according to instructions from the microcomputer 26, and the rotating drum 29 and the double-winged fan 8 rotate.

As a result, the circulating air heated by the heat source 3 is transferred to the rotating drum 2.
After removing moisture from the material to be dried, the rotary drum 2
and is sucked into the double-winged fan 8. Then, when passing through the double-winged fans, due to the heat exchange action of the double-winged fans 8,
The material is cooled by the cooling air, and the water taken from the material to be dried is atomized and becomes water droplets, which are discharged from the drain port 21 to the outside of the machine. The circulating air that has passed through the double-blade fan 8 reaches the heat source 3 again via ducts 13 and 14, where it is heated and flows into the rotating drum 2, where this process is repeated continuously to advance drying. When the clothes are dry, this is detected by the dryness detection means 33, and this is sent to the microcomputer 2 via the dryness detection circuit 34.
6. When it is transmitted that the clothes are dry, the microcomputer 26 issues a command to the motor drive circuit 41 and the heat source drive circuit 42 according to a predetermined program to terminate the operation. After a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the end of the operation, an instruction is given to the power switch disconnection circuit 38 to automatically disconnect the power switch 24.

Cotton dust and the like adhering to the clothes during the drying operation are floated by the circulating air and collected by the filter 22. The filter 22 gradually becomes clogged with this cotton waste, and as a result, the circulating air volume decreases.

When the circulating air volume decreases, the current flowing to the heat source decreases as described above. The heat source current detection circuit 43 detects the amount of decrease in this current and transmits it to the microcomputer 26. The microcomputer 26 operates when the current value flowing through the heat source 3 becomes less than a predetermined value.

It is programmed to determine that the filter 22 is clogged and issue a display instruction to the lamp display section 30 and buzzer notification section 32 in order to urge the user to clean the filter 22.

In the clothes dryer according to the present invention, which will now be described as a method for indicating clogging, the filter clogging detection level is set in two levels. In FIG. 4, when the filter is not clogged, a indicates the first clogging detection level, and C indicates the second clogging detection level.

Different notifications are given when clogging of the filter is detected at the first detection level and the second detection level. In the former case, the display is such that a lamp for indicating filter clogging flashes after the drying operation is completed. This flashing continues until the user opens the door 19 or the power switch 24 is turned off.

In addition, when a clogged filter is detected, the time from the end of operation until the power switch 24 is automatically turned off is set to be long (for example, 5 minutes during normal operation) so that the user can clearly see the display. , 12 hours or 24 hours when filter clogging is detected).

In the latter case, in addition to flashing the lamp, the buzzer also sounds continuously to further urge the user to clean the filter 22, thereby preventing the user from forgetting to clean the filter 22.

In this embodiment, the detection level of filter clogging is set to two levels, but it is also possible to display a different method when clogging is detected for the third time or later.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent forgetting to clean the filter when the filter becomes clogged, and thereby it is possible to provide a clothes dryer that can be used with good performance at all times.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the control circuit, and FIG. 3 is a temperature diagram of the semiconductor heater.
The electrical resistance characteristic diagram and FIG. 4 are the air volume and current characteristic diagrams of the semiconductor heater. 1...Outer frame, 2...Rotating drum, 3...Heat source, 5
. . . Electric motor, 8 . . . Both wing fans, 22 . . . Filter, 43 .

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A drying chamber for drying objects to be dried, a blower fan for sending air to the drying chamber, an electric motor for rotationally driving the blower fan, and heating the air sent to the drying chamber. a filter for collecting dust discharged from the drying chamber and suspended in the air; a clogging detection means for detecting the degree of clogging of the filter; and a clogging detection means for detecting the clogging of the filter. What is claimed is: 1. A clothes dryer equipped with a notification means for notifying the user when a clogged filter is detected, the clothes dryer having a plurality of levels for detecting a clogged filter, and providing a different notification for each detection level. . 2. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the frequency of notification is increased as the degree of clogging becomes higher at the detection level.