KR101806241B1 - Clothes treating apparatus with a heat exchanger cleaning means - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a clothes processing apparatus having a heat exchanger cleaning means, and in accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a clothes processing apparatus comprising: a cabinet; A drum installed inside the cabinet; A heat exchanger for heat exchange with air exhausted from the drum; A plurality of spray nozzles for spraying water to different areas of the surface of the heat exchanger; A control valve for supplying water to at least one of the plurality of injection nozzles; And a controller for controlling the operation of the control valve to sequentially spray water through the plurality of spray nozzles.

Description

[0001] CLOTHES TREATING APPARATUS WITH A HEAT EXCHANGER CLEANING MEANS [0002]

The present invention relates to a garment treating apparatus having heat exchanger washing means, and more particularly to a garment treating apparatus having means for removing a lint accumulated on the surface of an evaporator.

In a garment treating apparatus having a drying function, hot air is supplied into the drum to remove water, in a state where an object to be dried is generally put into a rotating drum. Hot air supplied to the drum is generated by applying heat, which is obtained by burning fuel such as electric resistance heat or gas, to air supplied to the drum. However, in order to reduce energy consumption, a heat pump may be used for generation of hot air.

Specifically, the high-temperature air exhausted from the drum is cooled and condensed by heat exchange with the evaporator, and the air supplied to the drum is heat-exchanged with the condenser to generate hot air. When such a heat pump is used, the amount of heat that is discarded in the course of exhaust or condensation can be reintroduced into hot air generation, thereby saving energy consumption.

However, as described above, the air passing through the evaporator is exhausted after coming into contact with the clothes to be dried, and thus the lint is separated from the surface of the clothes in the drying process. In order to remove such lint, a lint removing filter is installed on the exhaust flow path of the hot air prior to the introduction into the evaporator, thereby preventing the lint from being exhausted to the outside or flowing into the evaporator to some extent.

However, in order to improve the lint removing performance, the mesh of the lint removing filter must be made small. On the other hand, there is a problem that the resistance of the flow path is increased and the exhaust efficiency is lowered. As a result, a part of the lint passes through the lint removing filter and flows into the evaporator, and the inflow lint adheres to the surface of the evaporator, thereby lowering the heat exchange efficiency and increasing the flow resistance.

In order to solve this problem, various attempts have been made to remove the lint accumulated on the surface of the evaporator. For example, a clothes processing apparatus has been disclosed in which condensed water generated by condensation by an evaporator is sprayed on a surface of an evaporator to thereby remove lint. However, since the amount of the condensed water is not always sufficiently supplied, there is a problem in that the lint can not be removed when the amount of the available condensed water is small, and even when the amount of the condensed water is sufficient, the condensed water injected through the nozzle is uniformly sprayed on the surface of the evaporator There is a problem that a high-capacity pump is required.

That is, as the capacity of the pump increases, the amount of power consumed increases and the volume of the pump increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a clothes processing apparatus having a heat exchanger cleaning means capable of removing a lint accumulated on a surface of a heat exchanger even when the amount of condensed water is insufficient, It is an assignment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a clothes processing apparatus having a heat exchanger cleaning means capable of removing a lint throughout the heat exchanger even by using a small-capacity pump.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cabinet including: a cabinet; A drum installed inside the cabinet; A heat exchanger for heat exchange with air exhausted from the drum; A plurality of spray nozzles for spraying water to different areas of the surface of the heat exchanger; A control valve for supplying water to at least one of the plurality of injection nozzles; And a controller for controlling the operation of the control valve to sequentially spray water through the plurality of spray nozzles.

In this aspect of the present invention, one injection nozzle does not clean the whole area of the heat exchanger but rather partially cleans the heat exchanger through a plurality of injection nozzles. In other words, it is not necessary that the surface of the heat exchanger need to be cleaned at the same time. If only a small amount of condensed water is present, only a part of the heat exchanger is cleaned first considering the remaining amount in the condensed water, By performing the operation after the condensed water is sufficiently collected, the cleaning can be performed even if the remaining amount of the condensed water is insufficient.

In addition, even when the remaining amount of the condensed water is sufficient, the condensed water is sprayed only to a part of the surface of the heat exchanger, so that a small capacity pump can be used as compared with the case where the entire surface of the heat exchanger is simultaneously cleaned.

Here, the water may use the condensed water generated by the heat exchanger, but may be supplied from an external water source such as a water source in some cases.

Meanwhile, a condenser water collecting part for collecting the generated condensed water may be formed on the bottom surface of the heat exchanger, and a pump for supplying the condensed water collected in the condensed water collecting part to the control valve side may be further provided.

The condensed water storage unit is disposed at a lower portion of the cabinet and is disposed adjacent to the condensed water collection unit. The condensed water storage unit temporarily stores the condensed water collected in the condensed water collection unit. can do.

The control valve may include a water supply pipe connecting the control valve and each of the nozzles, and the control valve may include a water supply port to which the respective water supply pipes are connected; And a drain port connected to a drain pipe for draining the condensed water stored in the condensed water storage unit.

Here, the drain pipe extends outside the cabinet so that unnecessary condensate can be drained to the outside of the cabinet. However, in the case where there is no drainage facility in the place where the clothes processing apparatus is installed, a condensate water reservoir for storing condensate water is provided in the cabinet, and the drain pipe is communicated with the condensate water reservoir so that an appropriate amount of condensed water remains in the condensate water reservoir can do. The condensate stored in the condensate reservoir may be discarded by the user.

Meanwhile, the present invention can be applied to any clothes processing apparatus having a heat exchanger for condensing the air exhausted from the drum. In one example, the cabinet has a heat pump including a compressor, a condenser, an inflator and an evaporator The heat exchanger may correspond to the evaporator.

In addition, the clothes processing apparatus can be classified into an exhausting type in which the hot air exhausted from the drum is discharged to the outside of the cabinet, and a circulating type in which hot air is condensed and then reheated and supplied again to the drum. .

And a cover plate covering the evaporator and the condenser is provided so that the base and the cover plate form an exhaust flow path, can do. At this time, the condenser is provided on the downstream side of the evaporator, and the air can be reheated by the condenser and then re-supplied to the drum.

Here, the injection nozzle may be fixed to the cover plate.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat exchanger comprising: a heat exchanger for condensing air exhausted from a drum; A plurality of spray nozzles for spraying water onto the surface of the heat exchanger; And a control valve for sequentially supplying water to the plurality of spray nozzles, wherein water is sequentially sprayed from the plurality of spray nozzles to the entire surface of the heat exchanger.

According to aspects of the present invention having the above-described configuration, even when the remaining amount of condensed water is insufficient, it is possible to partially clean the heat exchanger, so that it is possible to minimize the decrease in airflow due to the flow path resistance. In a circulating garment processing apparatus in which air is continuously recirculated, if the heat radiation performance in the evaporator is lowered, not only the drying performance is affected but also the heat pump system becomes unstable, the surface of the evaporator needs to be kept clean at all times. Therefore, the above aspect of the present invention can wash the heat exchanger more frequently than in the prior art, thereby maximizing utility.

In addition, since a pump having a small capacity can be used, not only the manufacturing cost can be reduced but also the space is advantageously small.

1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a clothes processing apparatus having a heat exchanger cleaning means according to the present invention.
2 is an internal structural view schematically showing an internal structure of the embodiment.
3 is a plan view showing the base of the above embodiment.
Fig. 4 is a partial cutaway view showing the base shown in Fig. 3 cut away. Fig.
5 is a perspective view showing a spray tube in the embodiment.
6 is a partial cutaway view showing the installation structure of the injection pipe.
7 is a perspective view showing the control valve in the embodiment.
8 is an exploded perspective view showing the control valve.
9 is an internal structural view showing a part of the clothes processing apparatus.
10 is a plan view showing a base included in another embodiment of the garment treating apparatus having the heat exchanger washing means according to the present invention.
11 is a perspective view showing the injection nozzle of the embodiment shown in FIG.
12 is a plan view showing an upper member constituting the injection nozzle.
13 is a plan view showing a lower member constituting the injection nozzle.
14 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the injection nozzle.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a clothes processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of a clothes processing apparatus having a heat exchanger cleaning means according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an internal structural view schematically showing the internal structure of the first embodiment. Here, the first embodiment is a dryer, but the present invention is not necessarily limited to a dryer, and may be applied to any clothes processing apparatus having a drying function for supplying laundry to the inside of a drum by supplying hot air.

1 and 2, the first embodiment includes a cabinet 100 of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, a top plate 102 is provided on an upper surface of the cabinet 100, And a control panel 104 for controlling various functions and displaying an operating state. A door 106 for opening and closing the door 106 is formed on the front surface of the cabinet 100 and a door 108 for opening and closing the door 106 is installed adjacent to the door 106 .

Meanwhile, a drum 110 into which clothes are put is rotatably installed in the cabinet 100. In addition, a lint filter installation part 112 through which the air exhausted from the drum 110 flows is formed near the lower front of the drum 110. The lint filter installation part 112 provides a place where a lint filter (not shown) for filtering lint included in the hot air exhausted from the drum is installed, and forms a part of a flow path through which hot air flows.

A circulation flow path 116 is provided on the downstream side of the lint filter installation part 112 and a heat pump 120 is installed in the circulation flow path 116. Specifically, the heat pump 120 includes an evaporator 121, an expander 122, a compressor 123, and a condenser 124. The evaporator 121 and the condenser 124 are connected to the circulation flow path 116, And the inflator and the compressor are disposed outside the circulating flow path. Accordingly, the air introduced from the lint filter installation part 112 passes through the circulation flow path 116 sequentially through the evaporator 121 and the condenser 124, thereby cooling (condensing) and reheating do. In the cooling process, the moisture contained in the hot air condenses and forms on the surface of the evaporator or falls down to the bottom of the evaporator. The condensed water thus generated is primarily collected in the condensed water collecting portion located in the lower portion of the evaporator. The condensed water collecting portion will be described later.

A back duct 114 is installed downstream of the circulation flow passage 116. The back duct 114 is connected to supply the hot air introduced from the circulation flow passage 116 to the drum. In addition, an auxiliary heater 118 is provided in the back duct 114 to reheat the heated air primarily heated by the condenser 124. The auxiliary heater 118 operates at an initial point in time when the heat pump does not reach a steady state to prevent the temperature of the hot air from being lowered or to provide an additional heat amount even when the heat pump reaches a steady state, And the like.

As shown in the drawing, the first embodiment has a configuration of a so-called "circulating" dryer in which hot air exhausted from the drum is cooled and reheated and then flows into the drum again. However, as described above, the present invention is not limited to the "circulating type" dryer, and the hot air exhausted from the lint filter installation portion 112 may be cooled and condensed only through the evaporator 121, But also to an "exhaust" dryer that is vented outside of the cabinet 100.

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the base of the embodiment, and Fig. 4 is a partial cut-away view showing the base shown in Fig. 3 and 4, the base 130 is installed on the bottom surface of the cabinet 100 and constitutes a part of the circulation flow path described above, and a mounting place for stably supporting the heat pump 120 . 3, a circulation channel for installing the evaporator and the condenser is disposed on the left side, and the inflator 122 and the compressor 123 are installed on the right side.

The lint filter installation part 112 is formed in the front part of the cabinet 100 (the lower end in FIG. 3), and the circulation channel guide part 131 communicating with the lint filter installation part 112 is formed. The circulation channel guide portion 131 communicates with the lint filter installation portion 112 to guide the hot air exhausted from the drum to the evaporator 121 side. To this end, a plurality of guide vanes 131a are formed in the circulating channel guiding part 131 to guide the inflow air toward the evaporator 121 side.

The hot air introduced by the guide vane 131a flows into the circulation flow path 116. [ The circulation flow passage 116 is defined by a cover plate 140 covering an upper portion of a space formed by a bottom surface of the base 130 and a partition wall (not shown) formed on the base 130. That is, the circulation flow path 116 is formed by the cover plate 140 and the partition wall of the base 130. The air passing through the circulation flow path 116 thus generated passes through the evaporator and the condenser in order, And is introduced into the back duct 118 through the back duct connecting portion 133 formed on the back surface of the back plate 130.

A portion of the bottom surface of the base 130 where the evaporator and the condenser are disposed functions as the condensed water collecting portion 132. That is, the condensed water generated while being condensed by the evaporator 121 is primarily collected in the condensed water collector 132. The condensed water thus collected enters the condensed water storage part 134 located adjacent to the compressor 123. The condensed water collecting part and the condensed water storing part are partitioned by unshown partition walls and communicate with each other by a through hole formed in the partition wall.

Therefore, when the level of the condensed water collected in the condensed water collecting part 132 becomes higher than a certain level, the condensed water is stored in the condensed water storage part 134 through the through hole. The condensed water stored in the condensed water storage unit 134 is supplied to the control valve 160 installed on the upper portion of the cover plate 140 by the pump 150.

7 and 8, the condensed water supplied through the water supply pipe 180 connected between the discharge port of the pump 150 and the inlet port 161 of the control valve 160 is supplied to the control valve 160 And discharged through a plurality of water supply ports 181, 182, and 183 and a drain port 184. The inlet port 161 is formed in a valve case 165 in which a control disk 167 is embedded and the water supply port and the drain port are formed in a port portion 166 to be coupled with the valve case 165. The control disc 167 is rotatably mounted by a motor 166 installed at one end of the valve case 165 and has a cutout 167a.

In addition, the water supply port and the drain port are radially disposed at the port portion 168 at intervals of 90 degrees. Therefore, the path of the condensed water supplied through the inlet port 161 is determined according to the position of the cutout 167a. In the state shown in FIG. 8, the condensed water is discharged to the water supply port 162, and the position of the cutout 167a can be controlled by a control unit (not shown).

The condensed water having passed through the control valve 160 is supplied to the spray pipe 170 through the three water pipes 181, 182 and 183. Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the injection pipe 170 includes a coupling part 171 having a bent central shape and integrally formed to extend to both sides. The fastening part 171 has a flat plate shape extending in one direction and a fastening hole 171a is formed in the vicinity of both ends of the fastening part 171 so as to be bolt-fastened to the cover plate 140.

The discharge port 172 of the spray tube 170 penetrates through the cover plate 140 and is disposed to protrude from the bottom surface of the cover plate 140. A diffuser 142 is disposed on the bottom surface of the cover plate 140 to form a passage for the condensed water discharged from the discharge port 172 of the discharge pipe 170. Here, the diffuser 142 may be integrally formed with the cover plate 140, or may be separately manufactured and fixed to the bottom surface of the cover plate 140.

A channel 143 as a channel through which the injected condensed water flows is formed inside the diffuser 142. The width of the channel 143 increases toward the outlet 144 side. In addition, the outlet 144 of the channel 143 is bent downward toward the front of the evaporator 121. Accordingly, the condensed water discharged through the spray pipe 170 flows along the channel 143 of the diffuser 142, and the flow is stabilized and falls to the front portion of the evaporator according to the shape of the outlet 144. That is, immediately after the condensed water is discharged from the injection pipe, the pressure is high due to the pressure of the pump, so that the amount of scattering due to the collision with the wall becomes large.

As the amount of the scattered amount increases, the amount of the condensed water led to the surface of the evaporator is reduced. Therefore, the flow rate is decreased while being flowed along the diffuser, and is stabilized and then supplied to the evaporator, thereby maximizing utilization of the supplied condensed water. However, the length of the channel of the diffuser should be sufficiently secured for this purpose, but the length of the channel may be insufficient in some cases. In order to prevent this, a guide plate 145, which is spaced apart from the outlet 144, is installed on the bottom surface of the cover plate 140. The guide plate 145 is inclined downward toward the front of the evaporator 121. Even if a part of the condensed water discharged through the outlet 144 is scattered by the guide plate 145, .

Here, the range in which the condensed water discharged by each of the diffusers reaches is set smaller than the total area of the evaporator. Therefore, the condensed water injected by one diffuser reaches only a part of the evaporator, not the whole evaporator. However, the regions that the condensed water injected by the three diffusers reach are different as shown. Therefore, it is not possible to clean the entire area of the evaporator by one diffuser, but it is possible to clean the entire area of the evaporator by combining the ranges injected by the respective diffusers.

Here, the entire area of the evaporator does not necessarily mean the entire area of the evaporator front, but should also be considered to include areas where lint included in the hot air may accumulate.

On the other hand, when the condensed water of a predetermined amount or more is stored in the condensed water storage unit, it should be drained and maintained at an appropriate level. Accordingly, when the condensate quantity of the condensed water storage portion is sensed through the sensing device such as a water level sensor (not shown), the condensate water is condensed through the drain port 165 of the control valve 160 using the pump 150 . The condensed water thus drained is drained to the outside of the cabinet through the drain pipe 184, so that the condensed water quantity of the condensed water storage portion can be controlled.

However, in the case where a drainage facility such as a sewage pipe is not provided at the place where the embodiment is installed, drainage to the outside of the cabinet is not possible. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, a condensate storage tank 109 for storing condensed water in the upper part of the cabinet And the drain pipe 184 is communicated with the condensate water reservoir 109 so that condensed water can be stored in the reservoir 109. The condensed water stored in the condensed water storage tank 109 may be used by the user or when the condensed water is insufficient after removing foreign matter through a filter or the like.

Now, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

When it is necessary to remove the lint trapped on the surface of the evaporator, the control unit senses the amount of condensed water stored in the condensate storage. If the amount of sensed condensate is greater than or equal to the minimum amount required for evaporator cleaning (where the minimum amount corresponds to an amount of wash capable of a significant level for the evaporator area assigned to one diffuser, which is an amount that can be set by a person skilled in the art) The pump and the control valve are operated to spray the condensed water to the surface of the evaporator. At this time, the control valve sequentially rotates the control disk, and controls the condensed water supplied by the pump to be sequentially injected through the respective diffusers.

That is, in accordance with the rotation of the control disc, a water supply port or a drain port opposed to the cut-out portion is communicated with the inlet port, and the condensed water is discharged from the control valve through the port. The discharged condensed water is sprayed to the surface of the evaporator through the spray tube and the diffuser, and a part of the evaporator located in the spray range of the condensed water is cleaned by the sprayed condensed water. Accordingly, when the condensed water is sequentially injected through the respective diffusers, the surface of the heat exchanger is accordingly washed sequentially, that is, with a parallax.

Here, depending on the number of cut-out portions formed in the control disk, the number of spraying tubes to be sprayed at the same time may be different. That is, when there are three incisions, injection is performed through two diffusers at the same time. The number of the cut-out portions can be arbitrarily set according to the capacity of the pump and the use of the dryer.

If the amount of the condensed water is insufficient for washing the entire evaporator, the position of the diffuser which is not cleaned, that is, the amount of condensed water is insufficient and the number of times of spraying is smaller than that of other diffusers, is stored in a memory , And when a sufficient amount of condensed water is stored, the diffuser is preferentially sprayed from the diffuser.

Alternatively, when the amount of condensed water is insufficient to clean the entire evaporator, it is possible to consider an example in which the cleaning is performed for the entire area by controlling the injection quantity, not spraying only the partial area of the evaporator.

On the other hand, in the above embodiment, the evaporator is cleaned only by the condensed water, but an external water source such as a water source may be used. That is, when the external water source is connected to the added inlet port by adding the inlet port of the control valve, or when the additional water pipe branched from the water pipe connected to the inlet port is connected to the external water supply source, So that the evaporator can be cleaned.

In order to control the supply of water from the external water supply source, an on-off valve capable of shutting off the flow path is provided in a water supply pipe connected to the external water supply source. In the case of sufficient condensation water, When the water quantity is insufficient, the on-off valve may be opened to allow the outside water to be used together with the condensed water.

In addition, the injection nozzle may use various forms.

10 to 14 show a second embodiment having a nozzle different from that of the first embodiment. In the following description of the second embodiment, the same reference numerals are given to the same parts as those of the first embodiment, and a duplicate description will be omitted. Only the parts different from the first embodiment will be described.

In the second embodiment, the injection nozzle 200 has three water supply ports 212 and three injection chambers 202 communicating with the respective water supply ports 212. Specifically, the injection nozzle 200 includes an upper member 210, in which the three water supply ports 212 are formed, and a lower member 210, which is coupled with the upper member 210 to form three injection chambers 202 therein. (220). And is coupled to the cover plate 140 through two fastening portions 214 and 222 extending to both sides of the upper member 210 and the lower member 220, respectively.

A space portion is formed in the lower member 220, and the space portion is divided into three injection chambers 202 by a partition wall 228 formed in the space portion. In addition, a concave portion 226 is formed at the rim portion to be engaged with the projection of the upper member to be described later, so that the inside of the injection chamber is sealed to the outside. In addition, a spray slit 224 for spraying the supplied condensed water extends along the longitudinal direction of the lower member 220 on the bottom surface of the lower member 220. The spray slit 224 is disposed at a lower portion of the cover plate 140.

A groove 218 is formed in the upper member 210 to be engaged with the partition 228 and a protrusion 216 is formed at a position opposite to the recess 226. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14, the concave portion and the protrusion 216 are engaged with each other to prevent the condensed water from leaking from the injection chamber 202. The spray slit 224 is positioned above the front surface of the evaporator so that the condensed water sprayed through the spray slit 224 can be sprayed to the front surface of the evaporator.

Here, although one injection slit 224 is formed throughout the entire lower member, it is also possible to consider an example in which a plurality of injection slits are formed for each injection chamber. An example is also possible in which a plurality of inlet ports are formed in one injection chamber, and an example in which one injection port is shared by a plurality of injection chambers is also conceivable.

Claims (15)

Cabinet;
A drum installed inside the cabinet;
A heat exchanger for heat exchange with air exhausted from the drum;
A plurality of spray nozzles for spraying water to different areas of the surface of the heat exchanger;
And a plurality of water supply ports corresponding to the plurality of spray nozzles so as to sequentially supply water to each of the plurality of water supply ports corresponding to the position of the cut- A control valve;
A water supply pipe connecting the water supply port of the control valve and the injection nozzle; And
And a control unit for controlling rotation of the control disc,
Water is sequentially injected from the plurality of injection nozzles by rotation of the control disk,
Wherein when the control disk is rotated once, the entire area of the surface of the heat exchanger facing the plurality of spray nozzles is cleaned. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the water is supplied from an external water source. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the water is condensed water generated by the heat exchanger. The method of claim 3,
A condensed water collecting portion for collecting the generated condensed water is formed on the bottom surface of the heat exchanger,
And a pump for supplying the condensed water collected in the condensed water collecting portion to the control valve side. 5. The method of claim 4,
A condensed water storage portion disposed adjacent to the condensed water collection portion and temporarily storing the condensed water collected in the condensed water collection portion is formed in a base positioned at a lower portion of the cabinet and the pump is installed in the condensed water storage portion . delete 6. The method of claim 5,
And a drain port connected to a drain pipe for draining the condensed water stored in the condensed water storage unit is provided in the control valve. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the drain pipe extends outside the cabinet. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the cabinet further comprises a condensed water storage tank for storing condensed water, and the drain pipe is communicated with the condensed water storage tank. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein a heat pump including a compressor, a condenser, an inflator and an evaporator is provided on a bottom surface of the cabinet, and the heat exchanger corresponds to the evaporator. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the evaporator is provided on a base disposed at a lower portion of the cabinet and includes a cover plate covering the evaporator and the condenser, and the cover plate forms an exhaust passage with the base. 12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein the condenser is provided downstream of the evaporator, and air passing through the condenser is re-supplied to the drum. 12. The method of claim 11,
And the spray nozzle is fixed to the cover plate. delete delete

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