US20170342646A1

US20170342646A1 - Clothes dryer or washer-dryer

Info

Publication number: US20170342646A1
Application number: US15/383,033
Authority: US
Inventors: Wei Qian; Yulai MIAO; Qiong QIN; Song Lu
Original assignee: Wuxi Little Swan Co Ltd
Current assignee: Wuxi Little Swan Co Ltd
Priority date: 2016-05-31
Filing date: 2016-12-19
Publication date: 2017-11-30
Also published as: EP3252221A1

Abstract

The present disclosure discloses a clothes dryer or washer-dryer including a cabinet; a drum body rotatably disposed in the cabinet, defining a containing chamber therein, and having an air inlet and an air outlet both communicating with the containing chamber; a heat pump system disposed to the cabinet to transport hot air into the containing chamber; and a fan assembly having a fan air channel that is in communication with the air inlet, located between the heat pump system and the air inlet in an airflow direction, and provided with a heating member therein to further heat air transported into the fan air channel, thus further heating the hot air in the fan air channel, raising a temperature of the hot air entering the containing chamber, shortening a period for drying clothes, bringing great convenience to user's life, and shortening a work time of the components like a compressor.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and benefits of Chinese Patent Application Serial No. 201610377458.8 and Chinese Patent Application Serial No. 201620518027.4, filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of P. R. China on May 21, 2016, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a field of clothes drying technology, and more particularly to a clothes dryer or a washer-dryer.

BACKGROUND

In the related art, when a washer-dryer is used for drying clothes, a period for drying clothes is prolonged because of low-temperature drying of a compressor, which brings great inconvenience to a user's life.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure seeks to solve at least one of the problems existing in the related art to at least some extent. Therefore, the present disclosure provides a clothes dryer or washer-dryer, which is simple in structure, reliable in component connection, convenient to mount and dismount, and low in cost, and has a long service life, a short drying period and good user experience.
The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to embodiments of the present disclosure including: a cabinet; a drum body rotatably disposed in the cabinet, defining a containing chamber therein, and having an air inlet and an air outlet both communicating with the containing chamber; a heat pump system disposed to the cabinet to transport hot air into the containing chamber; and a fan assembly having a fan air channel that is in communication with the air inlet, located between the heat pump system and the air inlet in an airflow direction, and provided with a heating member therein to further heat air transported into the fan air channel.
In the clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, hot air entering the fan air channel can be further heated through disposing the heating member in the fan air channel of the fan assembly, thus raising a temperature of the hot air entering the containing chamber, shortening a period for drying clothes, bringing great convenience to user's life, shortening a work time of the components like a compressor, and prolonging a service life of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer is simple in structure, reliable in component connection, convenient to mount and dismount and low in cost, has long service life, short period for drying the clothes and good user experience, and can bring great convenience to the user's life.
In addition the clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to embodiments of the present disclosure further has the follower additional features:
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heat pump system has a heat pump air channel, the fan assembly has an inlet communicating with the heat pump air channel to transport hot air generated by the heat pump system into the fan air channel.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the fan assembly includes: a fan base; a fan spiral case connected with the fan base to define the fan air channel, in which at least one of an internal wall of the fan spiral case and an internal wall of the fan base is provided with the heating member; a fan rotatably disposed in the fan air channel; and a motor connected with the fan to drive the fan to rotate.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heating member is disposed close to an outlet of the fan assembly.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heating member is configured as a heating pipe.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heating pipe has a first end respectively connected with the internal wall of the fan spiral case and the internal wall of the fan base separately and stretching out of the fan assembly to be connected with a power supply, and a second end connected with the internal wall of the fan base.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the second end of the heating pipe is provided with a fixing sheet, and the fixing sheet is connected with the fan base through a screw.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heating pipe is configured as a multi-bend heating pipe.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heating pipe is substantially S-shaped.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heat pump system includes: a compressor; an evaporator connected with the compressor; and a condenser disposed in the heat pump air channel and above the fan assembly, and having two ends connected with the compressor and the evaporator respectively.
Additional aspects and advantages of embodiments of present disclosure will be given in part in the following descriptions, become apparent in part from the following descriptions, or be learned from the practice of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an assembly view of a heat pump system and a fan assembly of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to the embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is an assembly view of the fan assembly and a heating member of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to the embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is an internal schematic view of the fan assembly shown in FIG. 3.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

100: clothes dryer or washer-dryer;
10: heat pump system;
12: evaporator;
13: condenser;
20: fan assembly; 20 a: inlet; 20 b: outlet; 20 c: fan air channel;
21: fan base;
22: fan spiral case;
23: fan;
24: motor;
30: heating pipe; 31: first end; 32: second end; 33: fixing sheet;
40: cabinet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail and examples of the embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings. The embodiments described herein with reference to drawings are explanatory, which are used to illustrate the present invention, but shall not be construed to limit the present invention.
In the following, a clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to the embodiments of the present invention includes a cabinet 40, a drum body (not shown), a heat pump system 10 and a fan assembly 20. Specifically, the drum body is rotatably disposed in the cabinet 40, defines a containing chamber therein, and has an air inlet and an air outlet both communicating with the containing chamber. The heat pump system 10 is disposed to the cabinet 40 to transport hot air into the containing chamber. The fan assembly 20 has a fan air channel 20 c communicating with the air inlet, in which the fan air channel 20 c is located between the heat pump system 10 and the air inlet in an airflow direction, and provided with a heating member therein to further heat air transported into the fan air channel 20 c.
In other words, the clothes dryer or washer-dryer is mainly composed of the cabinet 40, the drum body, the heat pump system 10 and the fan assembly 20. The cabinet 40 extends along a vertical direction (an up-down direction shown in FIG. 1), and defines a mounting chamber used for mounting the drum body. The drum body is rotatably disposed in the mounting chamber to drive clothes in the drum body to rotate, thus tumbling the clothes. The drum body defines the containing chamber used for washing and drying the clothes, and is provided with the air inlet and the air outlet.
The heat pump system 10 and the fan assembly 20 can disposed above the cabinet 40 separately and communicate with each other. The fan assembly is provided with the fan air channel 20 c communicating with the heat pump system 10 and the containing chamber, and the fan air channel 20 c of the fan assembly 20 is located between the heat pump system 10 and the air inlet of the containing chamber in the airflow direction. When the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 starts to operate a drying procedure, the heat pump system 10 generates a great amount of hot air which can be driven by the fan assembly 20 to be transported into the fan air channel 20 c, and the fan air channel 20 c is provided with the heating member therein to further heat the hot air entering the fan air channel 20 c for an auxiliary heating effect, thus raising a temperature of the hot air entering the containing chamber, shortening a period for drying the clothes, shortening a temperature raising time of a compressor, and prolonging a service life of the compressor.
Accordingly, in the clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the hot air entering the fan air channel 20 c can be further heated through disposing the heating member in the fan air channel 20 c of the fan assembly 20, thus raising the temperature of the hot air entering the containing chamber, shortening the period for drying the clothes, bringing great convenience to user's life, shortening a work time of the compressor, and prolonging a service life of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 is simple in structure, reliable in component connection, convenient to mount and dismount and low in cost, has a long service life, a short period for drying the clothes and good user experience, and can bring great convenience to the user's life.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heat pump system 20 has a heat pump air channel, the fan assembly 20 has an inlet 20 a communicating with the heat pump air channel to transport the hot air generated by the heat pump system 10 into the fan air channel 20 c. When the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 starts to operate the drying procedure, a controller of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 controls the heat pump system 10 and the fan assembly 10 to start working, the hot air generated in the heat pump air channel of the heat pump system 10 is transported into the fan air channel 20 c of the fan assembly 20 under the action of the fan assembly 20, and then the heating member in the fan air channel 20 c further heats the hot air in the fan air channel 20 c, thus raising the temperature of the hot air entering the containing chamber, and facilitating shortening the period for drying the clothes.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, in the embodiment, the fan assembly 20 includes a fan base 21, a fan spiral case 22, a fan 23 and a motor 24. Specifically, the fan spiral case 22 is connected with the fan base 21 to define the fan air channel 20 c, and at least one of an internal wall of the fan spiral case 22 and an internal wall of the fan base is provided with the heating member. The fan 23 is rotatably disposed in the fan air channel 20 c, and the motor 24 is connected with the fan 23 to drive the fan 23 to rotate.
In other words, the fan assembly 20 is mainly composed of the fan base 21, the fan spiral case 22, the fan 23 and the motor 24. The fan assembly 20 is provided with the inlet 20 a and an outlet 20 b which communicate with the fan air channel 20 c of the fan assembly 20. The fan spiral case 22 is connected with the fan base 21 to define the fan air channel 20 c. The fan 23 is rotatably disposed in the fan air channel 20 c, and the motor 24 is disposed at the outside of the fan base 21 and connected with the fan 23 to drive the fan 23 to rotate in the fan air channel 20 c.
When the controller of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 starts to operate the drying procedure, the controller controls the motor 24 and the heat pump system 10 to start working, such that the motor 24 drives the fan 23 to rotate in the fan air channel 20 c to make the hot air generated by the heat pump system 10 flow into the fan air channel 20 c, the heating member in the fan air channel 20 c further heats the hot air to further raise the temperature of the hot air, the hot air enters the drum body through the outlet 20 b of the fan assembly 20 to dry the clothes, then the hot air entering the containing chamber exchanges heat with the wet clothes, and finally the hot air is discharged out of the containing chamber.
Optionally, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heating member is disposed close to the outlet 20 b of the fan assembly 20. Specifically, the fan 23 makes the hot air in the heat pump system 10 flow into the fan air channel 20 c, then a flowing direction of the hot air is changed under the action of the fan 23, and finally the hot air is discharged from the outlet 20 b of the fan assembly 20 and enters the containing chamber to dry the clothes. Because the heating member is close to the outlet 20 b of the fan assembly 20, the heating member can heat the hot air before the hot air enters the containing chamber, to shorten a drying period of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100, and can compensate heat loss of the hot air flowing in the fan air channel 20 c to ensure a drying effect of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the heating member is configured as a heating pipe 30. For example, the heating member may be configured as a resistance-type heating pipe, an arc heating pipe and the like. The heating pipe 30 has a first end connected with the internal wall of the fan spiral case 22 and the internal wall of the fan base 21 separately and stretching out of the fan assembly 20 to be connected with a power supply, and a second end 32 connected with the internal wall of the fan base 21.
As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the fan spiral case 22 is disposed over the fan base 21 and snapped into the fan base 21 to define the fan air channel 20 c. At least a portion of the heating pipe 30 is detachably disposed in the fan air channel 20 c. The first end 31 of the heating pipe 30 is disposed in front of the fan base 21 and the fan spiral case 22 and stretches out of the fan assembly 20 to be connected with the power supply, and the second end 32 of the heating pipe 30 is located in the fan air channel 20 c and fixedly connected with the internal wall of the fan base 21, such that the heating pump 30 can be fixedly mounted.
When the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 starts to operate the drying procedure, the controller controls the heat pump system 10, the heating pipe 30, the fan assembly 20 and the motor 24 to start working, such that the fan assembly 20 makes the hot air generated by the heat pump system 10 flow into the fan air channel 20 c, the heating pipe 30 in the fan air channel 20 c can further heat the hot air in the fan air channel 20 c to accomplish temperature compensation and raise the temperature of the hot air entering the containing chamber, so as to shorten the drying period, thus providing great convenience for the user's life.
Optionally, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the second end 32 of the heating pipe 30 is provided with a fixing sheet 33, and the fixing sheet 33 is connected with the fan base 21 through a screw. Accordingly, the heating pipe 30 can be fixedly mounted to guarantee reliability of connecting the heating pipe 30 with the fan base 21, thus ensuring normal work of the heating pipe 30 and the drying effect of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100.
In some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the heating pipe may be configured as a multi-bend heating pipe 30, so as to increase a length of the heating pipe in a limited space, thus further raising a heating efficiency of the heating pipe 30 and shortening the drying period.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, in the embodiment, the heating pipe 30 is substantially S-shaped. The fixing sheet 33 can be fixed to the internal wall of the fan base 21 through the screw, and two bent segments of the S-shaped heating pipe 30 are snapped into two ends of the fixing sheet 33 respectively, thus ensuring a fixed connection between the heating pipe 30 and the fan base 21, raising reliability of connection of components, and ensuring normal work of the heating pipe 30 in the fan air channel 20 c.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the heat pump system 10 includes a compressor (not shown), an evaporator 12 and a condenser 13. Specifically, the evaporator 12 is connected with the compressor, the condenser 13 is disposed in the heat pump air channel and above the fan assembly 20, and the condenser 13 has two ends connected with the compressor and the evaporator 12 respectively.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the heat pump air channel is located above the fan assembly 20. When the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 starts to operate the drying procedure, the controller controls the heating member, the motor 24 of the fan assembly 20, the compressor, the evaporator 12 and the condenser 13 of the heat pump system 10 to start working, such that air enters the heat pump system 10 under the action of the fan assembly 20, the condenser 13 of the heat pump system raises a temperature of the air entering the heat pump air channel, then the fan assembly 20 makes hot air in the heat pump air channel flow into the fan air channel 20 c, and the heating member in the fan air channel 20 c further heats the hot air in the fan air channel 20 c, to greatly shorten the drying period, to shorten a temperature raising time of the compressor, and to prolong service lives of components like the compressor, thus providing great convenience to the user's life and good user experience.
Other configurations and operation of the clothes dryer or washer-dryer 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure are known for those skilled in the art, which will not be described in detail herein.
In the specification, it is to be understood that terms such as “central,” “longitudinal,” “transverse,” “length,” “width,” “thickness,” “upper,” “lower,” “front,” “rear,” “left,” “right,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” “top,” “bottom,” “inner,” “outer,” “clockwise,” “counterclockwise,” “axial,” “radial,” and “circumferential” should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawings under discussion. These relative terms are for convenience of description and do not require that the present disclosure be constructed or operated in a particular orientation.
In addition, terms such as “first” and “second” are used herein for purposes of description and are not intended to indicate or imply relative importance or significance or to imply the number of indicated technical features. Thus, the feature defined with “first” and “second” may include one or more of this feature. In the description of the present disclosure, “a plurality of” means at least two, e.g. two or three and etc., unless specified otherwise.
In the present disclosure, unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms “mounted,” “connected,” “coupled,” “fixed” and the like are used broadly, and may be, for example, fixed connections, detachable connections, or integral connections; may also be mechanical, or electrical connections, or communicate with each other; may also be direct connections or indirect connections via intervening structures; may also be inner communications or interaction of two elements, which can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.
In the present disclosure, unless specified or limited otherwise, a structure in which a first feature is “on” or “below” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature is in direct contact with the second feature, and may also include an embodiment in which the first feature and the second feature are not in direct contact with each other, but are contacted via an additional feature formed therebetween. Furthermore, a first feature “on,” “above,” or “on top of” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature is right or obliquely “on,” “above,” or “on top of” the second feature, or just means that the first feature is at a height higher than that of the second feature; while a first feature “below,” “under,” or “on bottom of” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature is right or obliquely “below,” “under,” or “on bottom of” the second feature, or just means that the first feature is at a height lower than that of the second feature.
Reference throughout this specification to “an embodiment,” “some embodiments,” “an example,” “a specific example,” or “some examples,” means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. Thus, the appearances of the phrases in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment or example of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples. Those skilled in the art can integrate and combine different embodiments or examples and the features in different embodiments or examples in the specification, in the condition without mutual contradiction.
Although explanatory embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments cannot be construed to limit the present disclosure, and changes, alternatives, and modifications can be made in the embodiments without departing from spirit, principles and scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A clothes dryer or washer-dryer comprising:

a cabinet;

a drum body rotatably disposed in the cabinet, defining a containing chamber therein, and having an air inlet and an air outlet both communicating with the containing chamber;

a heat pump system disposed to the cabinet to transport hot air into the containing chamber; and

a fan assembly having a fan air channel that is in communication with the air inlet, located between the heat pump system and the air inlet in an airflow direction, and provided with a heating member therein to further heat air transported into the fan air channel.

2. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 1, wherein the heat pump system has a heat pump air channel, the fan assembly has an inlet communicating with the heat pump air channel to transport hot air generated by the heat pump system into the fan air channel.

3. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 1, wherein the fan assembly comprises:

a fan base;

a fan spiral case connected with the fan base to define the fan air channel, in which at least one of an internal wall of the fan spiral case and an internal wall of the fan base is provided with the heating member;

a fan rotatably disposed in the fan air channel; and

a motor connected with the fan to drive the fan to rotate.

4. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 1, wherein the heating member is disposed close to an outlet of the fan assembly.

5. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 3, wherein the heating member is configured as a heating pipe.

6. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 5, wherein the heating pipe has a first end connected with the internal wall of the fan spiral case and the internal wall of the fan base separately and stretching out of the fan assembly to be connected with a power supply, and a second end connected with the internal wall of the fan base.

7. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 6, wherein the second end of the heating pipe is provided with a fixing sheet, and the fixing sheet is connected with the fan base through a screw.

8. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 5, wherein the heating pipe is configured as a multi-bend heating pipe.

9. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 8, wherein the heating pipe is substantially S-shaped.

10. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 2, wherein the heat pump system comprises:

a compressor;

an evaporator connected with the compressor; and

a condenser disposed in the heat pump air channel and above the fan assembly, and having two ends connected with the compressor and the evaporator respectively.

11. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 4, wherein the heating member is configured as a heating pipe.

12. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 11, wherein the heating pipe has a first end connected with the internal wall of the fan spiral case and the internal wall of the fan base separately and stretching out of the fan assembly to be connected with a power supply, and a second end connected with the internal wall of the fan base.

13. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 12, wherein the second end of the heating pipe is provided with a fixing sheet, and the fixing sheet is connected with the fan base through a screw.

14. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 11, wherein the heating pipe is configured as a multi-bend heating pipe.

15. The clothes dryer or washer-dryer according to claim 14, wherein the heating pipe is substantially S-shaped.