JP2004248893A - Clothes drying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent clothes from being damaged even if a clothes drying machine is used for drying the slightly wetted clothes or warming the cooled clothes. <P>SOLUTION: In a test driving before starting the drying operation, a frequency C when a resistance value R between electrodes of an electrode sensor is less than a reference value YR for determination the drying is counted. When the frequency C is less than a prescribed number YC, a drying determination flag Fdry is set to 1. When Fdry=1 in detecting the ignition of a burner, the drying operation is started at a low combustion load. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention includes a rotating drum for storing clothes, a supply / exhaust fan for supplying / exhausting air to / from the rotating drum, and a heating unit disposed in an air supply passage for the rotating drum. The present invention relates to a clothes dryer that rotates and operates a heating unit to supply warm air into a rotating drum to perform a drying operation.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, as this type of clothes dryer, a drying degree detecting means for detecting the degree of drying of the clothes in the rotating drum is provided, and the clothes are dried based on the data of the degree of drying of the clothes detected during a predetermined time from the start of the drying operation. It is known that the water content, the quality of clothing, and the amount of clothing are estimated, and a drying pattern composed of a combination of the amount of heat generated by the heating means and the heating time is determined based on the estimation result (for example, See Patent Document 1.).
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-7-303797 (page 5 [0034])
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, a clothes dryer is sometimes used to dry slightly wet clothes or to warm cold clothes. Here, in the conventional clothes dryer, the amount of heat generated by the heating unit is reduced stepwise as the drying operation proceeds, and the drying operation is started with the amount of heat generated by the heating unit being maximized. Therefore, when the usage of drying slightly wet clothing or warming cold clothing is performed, the temperature of the clothing rapidly rises immediately after the start of the drying operation. In the case of detecting the degree of drying of the clothes after the start of the drying operation as in the above-described conventional example, the temperature of the clothes considerably rises during the detection of the degree of drying, and the clothes are easily damaged.
[0005]
In general, in the clothes dryer, the rotary drum and the air supply / exhaust fan are driven before the heating unit is operated, and a test operation is performed for a predetermined period of time to check the operation of the rotary drum and the air supply / exhaust fan. The drying operation is performed later by operating the heating means.
[0006]
The present invention focuses on this test operation, and by devising the timing of detecting the degree of drying of the clothes, a clothes dryer capable of preventing the clothes from being damaged by drying in a dry or almost dry state. The challenge is to provide.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a rotating drum for storing clothes, a supply / exhaust fan for supplying / exhausting air to / from the rotating drum, a heating unit disposed in an air supply passage for the rotating drum, and a rotating drum. A drying degree detecting means for detecting a degree of drying of clothes in the inside, wherein the rotating drum and the air supply / exhaust fan are driven before the heating means is operated to check the operation of the rotating drum and the air supply / exhaust fan. A test operation is performed for a predetermined period of time, and after the test operation, the heating unit is operated to shift to the drying operation. In the period from the start of the test operation to the start of the drying operation, the drying degree of the clothes is detected by the drying degree detection unit. When the detected degree of drying is equal to or greater than the predetermined degree of drying, the heating means is controlled so that the amount of heat generated by the heating means is equal to or less than the predetermined amount of heat from the start of the drying operation. .
[0008]
According to the above configuration, in the case of dry or almost dry clothing, the drying operation is started in a state where the amount of heat generated by the heating means is kept low based on the detection result of the degree of drying during the test operation. Therefore, gentle drying can be performed without damaging the clothes. Since the degree of drying of the clothes is detected between the start of the test operation and the start of the drying operation, the start of the drying operation is not delayed due to the detection of the degree of drying.
[0009]
When a burner is used as the heating means, the burner is ignited when no abnormality is found in the test operation, but the amount of gas supplied to the burner is suitable for ignition until ignition of the burner is detected. After the ignition is detected, the combustion amount of the burner is controlled to shift to the drying operation. Here, it takes a certain amount of time to reliably detect the degree of drying of the clothes. Therefore, it is desirable to detect the degree of dryness of the clothes until the ignition is detected, and to secure the dryness detection time as long as possible. When the detected degree of drying is equal to or more than the predetermined degree of drying, the time when the operation shifts to the drying operation after the detection of the ignition is regarded as the start of the drying operation. By controlling as follows, gentle drying can be performed without damaging the clothes.
[0010]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a body of a clothes dryer, in which a rotating drum 2 into which clothes M are put is provided. An air supply port 3 with a filter 3a is opened on the lower surface of the body 1. An exhaust port 4 with a filter 4 a is opened on the back surface of the rotary drum 2, and an exhaust duct 5 communicating with the exhaust port 4 is provided at a rear portion in the body 1. A supply / exhaust fan 6 that supplies air from the air supply port 3 into the rotary drum 2 while exhausting air from the rotary drum 2 through the exhaust port 4 is disposed in the exhaust duct 5. The rotary drum 2 and the supply / exhaust fan 6 are driven to rotate by belts 2a and 6a by a common drive motor 7, respectively.
[0011]
In the body 1, a burner 8 serving as a heating means and a combustion exhaust gas of the burner 8 are heated as hot air inside the rotary drum 2 by being positioned in an air supply passage of air from an air supply port 3 to the rotary drum 2. And a combustion case 9 leading to the combustion chamber. A first and second pair of solenoid valves 10 and 11 and a proportional valve 12 are interposed in the gas supply passage 8 a for the burner 8. The combustion case 9 has an ignition electrode 13 for igniting the burner 8, a first thermocouple 14 for detecting misfire, a second thermocouple 15 for detecting overheating, and a first overheat switch comprising a bimetal switch. 16 (operating temperature 150 ° C.) and a blow-out temperature sensor 17 for detecting the temperature of hot air supplied to the rotating drum 2.
[0012]
The sensors further include a door switch 19 for detecting the opening and closing of the door 18 of the rotating drum 2, a clothing temperature sensor 20 for detecting the temperature of the clothing M in the rotating drum 2, and a contact with the clothing M in the rotating drum 2. An electrode sensor 21 for detecting the degree of drying of the clothing M from a change in resistance between the pair of electrodes 21a and 21b, an exhaust temperature sensor 22 disposed in the exhaust duct 5, and a second overheat switch 23 (operating temperature 85 C), a drum rotation detector 24 that detects the rotation of the rotary drum 2 in cooperation with the magnet 24 a attached to the rotary drum 2, and a supply / exhaust fan in cooperation with the magnet 25 a attached to the supply / exhaust fan 6. 6 is provided with a fan rotation detector 25 for detecting rotation of the fan 6.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 2, a power switch 27, a start switch 28 for instructing the start of a drying operation, and a course of drying the clothes (standard, thick, delicate, etc.) are provided on an operation panel 26 on the front of the body 1. A course selection switch 29 and a display unit 30 to be selected are provided. A controller 31 including a microcomputer connected to the operation panel 26 is provided in the body 1, and signals from the various sensors are input to the controller 31.
The controller 31 is started when the power switch 27 is turned on. Then, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the start switch 28 is turned on (S1), first, the drive motor 7 is started via the motor driver 32 (S2), and the rotary drum 2 and the supply / exhaust fan 6 are connected to each other. Is rotated to perform a test operation for a predetermined time TM (for example, 5 seconds). Then, during the test operation, based on the detection pulses generated from the rotation detectors 24 and 25 for the drum and the fan, it is confirmed whether or not the rotation drum 2 and the supply / exhaust fan 6 are rotating normally. And sensor confirmation for diagnosing whether or not a normal signal is output from each sensor.
[0014]
If an abnormality is found in the test operation (S4), abnormality processing such as error display is performed, and the drive motor 7 is stopped (S5, S6). If no abnormality is found, after a predetermined test operation time TM has elapsed (S7), a high voltage is applied to the ignition electrode 13 to cause spark discharge, and both the first and second solenoid valves 10, 11 Is opened to supply gas to the burner 8 and ignite the burner 8 (S8). When the ignition of the burner 8 is detected by the first thermocouple 13 (S9), the opening of the proportional valve 12 is adjusted to control the amount of combustion of the burner 8, and the operation shifts to the drying operation. Here, the drying operation is started in a state in which the burning amount of the burner 8 is maximized after the ignition of the burner 8 is detected for the purpose of shortening the time, and the signals from the clothing temperature sensor 20, the electrode sensor 21, and the exhaust temperature sensor 22 are output. The amount of heat generated by the burner 8 is reduced stepwise according to the progress of the drying of the garment M, which is grasped based on this.
[0015]
By the way, some users use a clothes dryer for the purpose of drying slightly wet clothes or warming cold clothes. In this case, if the drying operation is started with the combustion amount of the burner 8 being maximized, the temperature of the clothes M may rise sharply and damage the clothes M.
[0016]
Therefore, in the present embodiment, the degree of drying of the clothes M is determined based on the resistance value between the electrodes 21a and 21b detected by the electrode sensor 21 as the degree of dryness detection from the start of the test operation to the detection of the ignition of the burner 8. A drying degree determination process for determining whether or not the drying degree is equal to or higher than a predetermined degree is performed (S3).
[0017]
The details of the drying degree determination process are as shown in FIG. Here, the resistance value between the electrodes 21a and 21b of the electrode sensor 21 decreases every time the clothing M comes into contact with both the electrodes 21a and 21b due to the rotation of the rotary drum 2, but the value increases as the clothing dries. . Therefore, the resistance value when the slightly wet clothing comes in contact is set as the dry determination value YR, and the number C of times that the detected resistance value R is lower than the dry determination value YR is counted (S31, S32). Then, it is determined whether or not the number of times C is equal to or more than a predetermined number YC (for example, two times) (S33). If C ≧ YC, the drying determination flag Fdry is reset to zero (S34), and C <YC. If there is, the drying determination flag Fdry is set to “1”.
[0018]
Referring again to FIG. 3A, when ignition of burner 8 is detected, it is determined whether or not drying determination flag Fdry is set to "1" at that time (S10), and Fdry = 0. If so, it is determined that the degree of drying of the garment M is not equal to or higher than the predetermined degree of drying, and a normal drying operation in which the burning amount of the burner 8 is maximized to start the drying operation is performed (S11). On the other hand, if Fdry = 1, it is determined that the degree of drying of the garment M is equal to or higher than the predetermined degree of drying, and the burning amount of the burner 8 is set to a predetermined low burning amount (50% or less of the maximum burning amount). To start the drying operation (S12). Therefore, even if the clothes dryer is used to dry slightly wet clothes or warm cold clothes, the clothes will not be damaged. As described above, the clothes dryer using the burner 8 as the heating means has been described. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to a clothes dryer including a heating means such as an electric heater or a heat exchanger for circulating hot water.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a clothes dryer according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system of the clothes dryer.
FIG. 3A is a flowchart showing a process from a test operation to a drying operation, and a flowchart showing a process of determining a degree of drying of clothes.
2 ... Rotary drum 6 ... Supply / exhaust fan 7 ... Drive motor 8 ... Burner (heating means) 21 ... Electrode sensor (dryness detecting means) 31 ... Controller

Claims (2)

A rotating drum for storing clothes, a supply / exhaust fan for supplying / exhausting air to / from the rotating drum, a heating unit disposed in an air supply passage for the rotating drum, and a drying degree detection for detecting a degree of drying of the clothes in the rotating drum A clothes dryer comprising:
The rotary drum and the air supply / exhaust fan are driven before the heating means is operated, and a test operation is performed for a predetermined time which also serves as a check of the operation of the rotary drum and the air supply / exhaust fan.After the test operation, the heating means is operated to start the drying operation. In the transition,
During the period from the start of the test operation to the start of the drying operation, the degree of drying of the clothes is detected by the degree of drying detection means. If the detected degree of drying is equal to or higher than the predetermined degree of drying, the amount of heat generated by the heating means is changed to the drying operation. A heating unit for controlling the heating unit so that the heat amount is equal to or less than a predetermined amount of heat from the start of the clothes drying. The heating means is a burner.After detecting ignition of the burner by the ignition operation, the burner controls the amount of combustion of the burner to shift to the drying operation. When the degree is equal to or more than the predetermined degree of drying, the time when the operation shifts to the drying operation after the detection of the ignition is regarded as the start of the drying operation. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the clothes are dried.

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