JPH0576684A - Washing and drying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Structure] An outer tank, an inner tank having a stirring blade at the bottom, and a main body composed of a stirring blade and a driving device for the inner tank are suspended by a plurality of elastic bodies in an outer frame. A bearing is rotatably supported on the main body support frame, and a rotation device serves to freely select a vertical posture with respect to the main body support frame or a horizontal posture rotated by about 90 degrees. [Effect] According to the present invention, even though the drying unit is arranged independently of the main body portion, the warm air is compact, efficient, and highly productive without any hindrance to the vibration or rotation of the main body. It is possible to secure the circulation channel of

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dryer and a washing / drying machine using a water-cooled heat exchange, and more particularly to a mechanism for preventing water drops from directly contacting a lint filter and a humidity sensor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The velocity of the air flowing through a dry circulating air passage is generally several m / m from the relationship between the required air volume and the cross-sectional area of the duct.
It is sec. For this reason, in the dryer and the washing dryer using the water-cooled heat exchanger, the water for heat exchange or the condensed water at the time of heat exchange wets the lint filter, the humidity sensor, the fan, etc. with the wind, and the drying efficiency is improved. In addition, it has a great influence on dry sensing and the like, and deteriorates its performance.

[0003]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION In this system,
In order to cope with the severe vibrations that occur during dehydration in the vertical position and the large positional changes that rotate in the horizontal position, the drying unit consisting of the heater, fan and its drive motor is mounted integrally on the outer tank of the main unit. It was placed and tied to the main body with a fixed duct to form a circulation channel for warm air.

Therefore, the following technical problems occur,
It was difficult to commercialize.

(1) Since the drying unit is exposed to severe vibrations during dehydration, temperature control is easy and a so-called PTC heater, which is a semiconductor heater having high fire safety, may cause contact failure between the element and the contactor and should be used. There wasn't.

For this reason, a sheath heater must be used, but if a large number of temperature thermos are not arranged and not properly controlled, the temperature rises up to around 700 ° C., which is disadvantageous in terms of fire safety as the attached lint ignites. Further, the contact terminals of the heater and the lead wire are liable to cause poor contact, and a large current of about 15 amperes flows to cause heating, which is dangerous.

(2) When washing and dehydrating in a vertical position,
In the unlikely event that the water level sensor fails or the water supply valve fails, water will remain out of control, and if water overflows from the top of the main unit, water may leak to the drying unit and cause electrical leakage.

(3) When the drying unit is placed on the main body, the mass becomes unbalanced with respect to the rotating shaft of the inner tank, so that vibration during dehydration becomes large. Especially when the drying unit is placed on the upper lid of the outer tank, the weight of the drying unit is unbalanced at a position farthest from the center of gravity of the main body, which is extremely disadvantageous in terms of vibration isolation.

(4) Since the space required for the main body to rotate must be large enough for the drying unit placed, the outer dimensions of the outer frame become large.

(5) Since the drying unit is generally placed on the upper lid of the outer tank of the main body, it has a drawback that the cloth inlet is small and it is difficult to take the cloth in and out.

In order to solve these drawbacks, it is necessary to separate the drying unit from the main body and to fix it independently on the outer frame, but it is possible to follow the vigorous vibration and rotation of the main body. It could not be realized because there was no good plan for the method of forming the circulation channel of the wind.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art all at once.

That is, on the main body supporting frame in which an outer tank and an inner tank having a stirring blade at the bottom and a main body composed of a stirring blade and a driving device for the inner tank are suspended in the outer frame by a plurality of elastic bodies. The bearings are rotatably supported on the main body, and the structure of the rotating device allows the user to freely choose between a vertical position with respect to the main body support frame and a horizontal position rotated by approximately 90 degrees. Also, separate the drying unit consisting of the heater and fan from the main unit described above, and place an appropriate height on the outer frame on the opposite side of the direction in which the main unit rotates and falls. Keep it fixed. Then, the drying unit and the main body are connected by two bendable flexible ducts via a universal joint so as to follow the rotational displacement, thereby forming a hot air circulation flow path. is doing.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the drying unit is separated from the main body and connected by the flexible flexible duct, a large vibration generated in the dehydration process performed in the vertical posture is applied to the drying unit. I don't get it.

Next, with respect to a large displacement when the main body part rotates and shifts to a horizontal posture, the flexibility of the flexible duct and the direction followability of the universal joint lightly follow, and the warm air circulates. The flow path is guaranteed.

As a result, a PTC heater can be adopted as the heater, and the contact failure due to the loosening of the connecting terminal such as the lead wire is reduced, so that the fire safety is greatly improved.

Further, even if the main body overflows due to an abnormal water supply, the drying unit is not covered with water, so there is no fear of electric shock. Further, since the drying unit is not on the outer tank, the unbalanced weight does not occur and the vibration isolation performance of dehydration is improved.

In addition, since there is no drying unit, the rotating space becomes small, the outer frame can be made small, and various effects such as a large cloth inlet for the outer tank upper lid can be obtained.

[0019]

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

In FIG. 1 showing the overall structure, a main body supporting frame 4 is suspended in an outer frame 1 by four suspension rods 2 and a vibration-proof spring 3, and a main body portion 5 is rotated on the main body supporting frame 4. It is rotatably supported. Reference numeral 6 indicates the rotation axis.

The main body 5 functions as a washing tub and a dewatering tub, and has a stirring blade 7 on the bottom, a large number of dewatering holes 8 on the inner peripheral surface, a plurality of lifters 9 and a fluid balancer 10 on the mouth. Tank 11 and outer tank 12 that encloses this inner tank 11 and outer tank 12
An inner tank 11 or an agitating blade 7 is rotatably supported on the bottom of the bearing, and these are supported by a washing / dewatering motor 13 or a drying motor 1
4, there is a clutch mechanism that is driven when selected. The upper surface of the outer tub 12 is sealed by an upper lid 16. Top lid 16
A cloth feeding port is provided in the container and is covered with an inner lid 17 so as to be openable and closable. On the other hand, a drain valve device 18 is provided at the bottom of the outer tub 12, and a flexible drain hose 19 discharges water to the outside of the machine through a relay portion 21 of the outer frame base 20. Here, the drain hose 19 is provided with a sufficient length so as not to hinder the rotation of the main body 5.

A top cover 25 covering the entire upper surface of the outer frame 1 has a water supply valve 26 consisting of two independent solenoid valves, one of which is provided on the upper lid 16 of the main body 5 via a water supply device 27. Water is supplied from the water inlet 28 to the main body 5,
The other is sprayed into the duct 62 from the nozzle 61 through the dehumidifying condensed water hose 40. Here, the main body 5
The rotating device is a rotating motor 30 fixed on the outer tub 12.
It is composed of a rotary lever 34 (not shown) that connects a rotary shaft 32 at the tip of a crank 31 fixed to the output shaft of the above and a rotary shaft 33 on the outer tub 12. By rotating the rotation motor 30 and therefore the crank 31, the rotation shaft 33 on the outer tub 12 receives a rotation torque about the rotation shaft 6 on the main body support frame 4 via the rotation lever 34. It is configured to rotate.

Next, the drying unit will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the main body portion 5 in the upright posture, in which the drying unit 50 is on the outer frame 1 on the side opposite to the direction in which the main body portion 5 rotates about the rotation shaft 6 and falls. It is fixed to. As shown in FIG. 3, the drying unit 50 includes a fan 53 driven by a fan motor 51 that is vibration-isolated and supported on the outer frame base 20 via a belt 52, a fan casing 54 including the fan 53, and a fan casing 54. The heater case 57 enclosing the PTC heater 56 provided in the discharge port 55, the suction port 58 of the fan casing 54, and the detachable lint filter 59 provided in front of the suction port 58. FIG. 2 shows a state in which the lint filter 59 is removed.

At the hot air outlet 60 provided at the bottom of the outer tub 12,
A duct 62 equipped with a condensed water nozzle 61 is provided, and a flexible duct 6 is provided between an upper outlet thereof and a universal joint 64 provided at a suction port 63 of a fan casing 54.
5 is connected. Here, the inflow port 63 of the fan casing 54 and the duct 62 have a substantially vertical relationship in the vertical posture of FIG.

On the other hand, the hot air inlet 6 is provided on the upper lid 16 of the outer tank 12.
6 is provided, and a flexible duct 68 connects the hot air outlet 67 of the heater case 57. Here, since the positions of the joints at both ends of the flexible duct 68 are substantially the same height, as shown in FIG. In addition to preventing the water from accumulating in the flexible duct 68, the water is accumulated in the flexible duct 68 while being bent so as to follow the extension straight when it is rotated to a horizontal posture as shown in FIG. Are formed so that they can flow out into the main body 5.

On the other hand, the inlet 63 of the fan casing 54
As described above, because of the vertical positional relationship, the flexible duct 65 cannot be hung in a U shape like 68. So using the universal joint 64,
Directional force due to this sliding rotation and flexible duct 6
With the bending deformability of 5, it is configured so as to be applicable to the rotational movement.

The operation of the present invention having the above configuration will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the main body portion 5 performs the normal steps from washing to dehydration in the upright posture. First, the inner lid 17 is opened, clothes are put into the inner tank 11, the inner lid 17 is closed, and the water supply valve 26 is opened to supply tap water to the water supply device 27.
Then, water is supplied to the inner tank 11 through the water inlet 28. When the specified water level is reached, the washing and spinning motor 13 and the clutch mechanism 15
By this function, the stirring blade 7 is rotated to perform washing and rinsing. Next, the drain valve device 18 is opened, and the wash water or rinse water in the inner tub 11 is discharged to the outside of the machine through the drain hose 19. Next, by switching the operation of the clutch mechanism 15, the inner tank 11 and the stirring blade 7 are simultaneously rotated to perform dehydration. At this time, the entire main body 12 vibrates violently, but is not transmitted to the drying unit 50. After the dehydration is completed, the rotation motor 30 is driven to rotate the rotation crank 3
1, rotate the entire main body 5 via the rotation lever 34,
Tilt it down until it becomes almost horizontal as shown in FIG. At this time, the flexible duct 68 is deformed into a shape in which the U-shaped bent portion is stretched and follows lightly and without thrust.
In the flexible duct 65, the universal joint 64 moves and follows in the direction in which tension is applied during rotation. Here, the main body 5 rotates the fan motor 51 while slowly rotating the inner tank 11 and the stirring blade 7 at a speed of 50 to 70 times per minute by the functions of the drying motor 14 and the clutch mechanism 15. Rotate the fan 53 to remove the moist warm air in the main body 5 from the warm air outlet 6
0, the duct 62, the flexible duct 65, and then the fan casing suction port 63 to suck the lint filter 5
After removing the lint at 9, the fan 5 is passed through the suction port 58.
Inhale to 3. When the moist hot air on the way passes near the hot air outlet 60 of the outer tub 12, it is cooled by the water sprayed by the nozzle 61 through the water supply valve 26 and the condensed water hose 40, condensed, and dehumidified. .

The hot air whose pressure has been increased by the fan 53 flows into the heater case 57 and is heated by the PTC heater 65 to become a dry hot air having a low relative humidity, and the hot air outlet 67 of the heater case 57 and the flexible duct 68. Through the hot air inlet 66 of the upper lid 16 of the outer tub 12 and flows into the outer tub 12. In this way, the clothes can be efficiently dried on the same principle as the so-called drum dryer.

As described above, the present invention has the fan casing 5
Like the inflow port 63 of 4 and the hot air outlet 60 of the outer tub 12,
By connecting the joints that are close to each other in the plane and have a large amount of looseness in the vertical direction by the flexible joint 64 and the flexible duct 65, the main body portion 5 can be vibrated or rotated without causing any trouble. A major feature is that a circulation channel for the wind can be secured. Therefore, if the present invention is used, the piping space can be small, and the outer frame can be made compact. In addition, since the hot air outlet 60 is provided at the bottom of the main body, the residual water in the flexible duct is returned to the main body when it is in a vertical posture. Is fundamentally solved.

Further, the coupling between the universal joint and the joint having the upper and lower steps by the flexible duct is extremely effective when used on the fan suction side of the drying unit as in this embodiment. A large amount of lint is generated when clothes are dried. This clings to the inner peripheral surface of the flexible duct 65, but is screened out by the violent vibration of the main body when dehydrating in a vertical posture, and the duct 6 continuing to the hot air outlet 60.
Drop to 2. This is made to flow by the spray water from the nozzle 61 at the time of drying and drops into the main body portion 5, so that it can be made to flow out of the machine through the drain hose at the time of drainage.

The self-cleaning property of the duct on the suction side of the fan against lint is extremely advantageous as a dryer.

Moreover, since the flexible duct 65 is used without being bent and deformed so much, the bellows can be less uneven, and since there is little bending, the fluid loss when circulating hot air can be reduced and the fan can be made compact. And there is an advantage that low noise can be measured.

4 and 5 show another embodiment in which the universal joint 64 is realized by a simple L joint.

That is, the suction port 63 of the fan casing 54.
Is a cylindrical suction tube 70 extending in a lateral direction at a right angle to the fan rotation axis, and an L-shaped tube 71 attached to the tip of the flexible duct 65 is slidably fitted to the suction tube 70 so as not to come off. That is, the L-shaped pipe 71 is rotatable about the axial center O of the suction pipe 70. With this configuration, as shown in FIG. 4, when the main body portion 5 is in the vertical posture, the L-shaped tube faces downward. Next, when the main body portion 5 is rotated, the L-shaped tube is rotated and the flexible duct 65 can be lightly followed as in FIG. 5 without being forced to deform.

In order to substitute the unidirectional rotary joint for the universal joint as described above, it is of course necessary to appropriately set the relative position of the movement path of the duct 62 of the outer tub 12 and the suction pipe 70 of the fan casing. However, since the flexible duct 65 is flexible, it is possible to deal with a slight deviation in the front and rear without any problem.

According to this embodiment, since the universal joint is extremely simple, not only the productivity is improved and the cost is greatly reduced, but also the fluid loss in the flow passage is small and the lint clogging is small. Can be formed.

[0038]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Since the drying unit is independent of the main body, vibration of the main body is not transmitted during dehydration, and a PTC heater that is weak to vibration but has simple temperature control and high safety against fire can be used. .. In addition, the contact failure due to the looseness of the terminal coupling portion is significantly reduced, and the fire safety is also significantly improved from this point.

(2) Since the drying unit is independent of the main body, even if the main body becomes full due to any failure and the water overflows, the water does not come directly to the drying unit.
The risk of electrical leakage is reduced.

(3) Since the drying unit is independent of the main body, the anti-vibration design of the main body can be optimized and vibration can be reduced.

(4) Since the drying unit is independent, the upper lid of the main body can be designed freely and the cloth inlet can be made large, which is easy to use.

(5) Since the circulation passage of the warm air is formed by the universal joint and the flexible duct, assembly adjustment and maintenance at the time of failure are easy, and productivity is improved and a cost duct can be measured.

(6) The fluid loss in the circulation passage of the warm air is small, and the fan can be downsized and the noise can be reduced.
It is possible to significantly improve the drying efficiency.

(7) Since only the universal joint and the flexible duct are provided between the joints having a large vertical drop, the dead space can be reduced and the outer dimensions of the outer frame can be reduced.

As described above, according to the present invention, even though the drying unit is arranged independently of the main body portion, it is compact, efficient, and productive without hindering the vibration or rotation of the main body. This has the advantage that a good circulation path of warm air can be secured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an internal structure explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a main part when a washing process and a dehydration process are performed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a main part when the main body part is tilted in a horizontal position to perform a drying process.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part of another embodiment showing a case where a washing process and a dehydration process are performed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a case where a drying process is performed in a horizontal posture according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Outer frame, 5 ... Main body part, 11 ... Inner tank, 12 ... Outer tank, 16 ... Upper lid, 17 ... Inner lid, 50 ... Drying unit, 5
3 ... Fan, 54 ... Fan casing, 56 ... PTC heater, 57 ... Heater case, 61 ... Nozzle, 64 ... Universal joint, 65, 68 ... Flexible duct, 70 ... Suction pipe, 71 ... L-shaped pipe.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A midway of a circulation flow passage, wherein a fan suction port is provided at an inlet of a drying fan in a direction perpendicular to the flow passage, and wind containing water droplets condensed during heat exchange is once separated from a wall perpendicular to the flow passage. A washer / dryer characterized by allowing air-water separation (separation) by hitting against a wall. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a flow path bent at a right angle is provided between the heat exchanger and the fan inlet (suction port) to form a separation wall to separate steam and water in front of the fan suction port. A washer / dryer characterized by piping. 3. The washing / drying machine according to claim 2, wherein a drain port is provided so that the water separated from the steam can be drained.