JP4668945B2 - Washing machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a washing machine provided with a course for caring for clothes separately from a drying course for drying wet clothes.

Some conventional washing machines have, for example, a sub-deodorizing function. For example, “a washing machine is provided with a hot air blowing means and a steam supply device 22 composed of the blower 10 and the heater 11, and the hot air blowing means The warm air and the steam supplied from the steam supply device 22 are used to deodorize the clothes without washing (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-167131 A (summary)

  In the washing machine having the above-described deodorizing function, a steam supply device must be provided separately, and there is a problem that the structure is necessarily complicated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the problems as described above, and provides a washing machine that enables the care of clothing such as deodorizing treatment by using a drying function and simplifies the structure. With the goal.

  A washing machine according to the present invention includes a washing tub for washing and dehydrating laundry, a dehumidifier for cooling and dehumidifying moisture in the air provided in an air passage for circulating air in the washing tub, and dehumidified air. In a washing machine equipped with a warm air supply device that warms and blows air to the washing tub, the course has a course for taking care of clothes separately from the drying course for drying wet clothes, and in the course for taking care of the clothes, The warm air supply device is driven and the dehumidifier functions as a humidifier.

  The course for caring for clothes of the washing machine according to the present invention is directed to dry clothes, and the warm air is humidified by passing the warm air from the warm air supply device through the dehumidifier. Humidified warm air is blown onto the clothes, and for example, the clothes can be deodorized. In this course, since the equipment used in the drying process is used as it is, the structure can be simplified.

  Hereinafter, a washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the washing machine of the present embodiment.

(Washing machine overall configuration)
First, with reference to FIG. 1, the outline | summary is demonstrated about the whole structure of this washing machine. This washing machine can be tilted (changing the rotating shaft 11 between an upright state and a tilted state straight in the vertical direction) through the case 1 and vibration isolating and tilting means (not shown) in the case 1. A water tub 2 supported in a possible manner, a washing tub 3 rotatably accommodated in the water tub 2, and an air duct 7 that forms an air passage 6 for circulating air in the washing tub 3 are provided.

  On the upper surface of the housing 1, a door 5 for opening and closing the laundry inlet 4 is provided. The door 5 is adapted to airtightly close the inlet 4 during washing. The washing tub 3 is formed in a cylindrical shape with an upper opening, and is provided with a balancer 8 at the inner periphery of the upper opening, a stirring blade 9 at the bottom, and an electric motor 10 attached to the bottom of the water tub 2. The washing tub 3 and the stirring blade 9 are configured to be independently rotatable. A large number of holes 12 for dehydration and drying are provided on the side wall of the washing tub 3.

  A unit-type dehumidifier 20 that cools and dehumidifies moisture in the air is installed in the air duct 7, and a hot air supply device 30 that warms the dehumidified air and blows it into the washing tub 3 is installed. Has been. The air duct 7 is formed integrally with the water tub 2, and the air passage 6 communicates with the space between the bottom of the water tub 2 and the washing tub 3. A hot air duct 31 is connected to the upper opening of the air duct 7 via a bellows 13. The warm air supply device 30 includes a blower fan 32 and a heater 33 installed in the warm air duct 31, and blows warm air into the washing tub 3 from the warm air outlet 34. The front-end | tip part of the warm air duct 31 is connected to the warm air blower outlet 34 provided in the side wall of the cylindrical member which comprises the laundry inlet 4. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 35 denotes a drying filter. Reference numeral 36 denotes a bellows (seal member) for connecting and sealing the water tank 2 and the inlet 4, and its upper end is attached to the cylindrical member constituting the inlet 4, and its lower end is It is configured to be able to move up and down and is controlled to be lifted by a lifting means (not shown). Note that the bellows 36 is shown in a state where the bellows 36 is lowered in FIG.

  A water supply port 14 is provided on the upper surface on the back side of the housing 1, and through the branch valve 15, one is a water injection port 16 for supplying water to the washing tub 3, and the other is the dehumidifier 20, respectively. 18 is connected. The water injection port 16 is provided on the side wall of the cylindrical member that constitutes the charging port 4. A drain hose (not shown) is connected to the bottom of the water tank 2 via a drain valve.

(Configuration of dehumidifier)
Next, the configuration of the dehumidifier 20 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the dehumidifier 20 as seen from the front side, and the flow of cooling water in the dehumidifier 20 is also shown. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a part of FIG. 2 in cross section, and the flow of cooling water is also shown.
The dehumidifier 20 includes a dehumidifying plate 21 made of, for example, an aluminum material, and a corrugated flow path forming plate 22 disposed in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction of the dehumidifying plate 21, and a plurality of water supply headers 23 provided on the upper portion. The cooling water (tap water) is discharged from the discharge port 24, and the cooling water flows down in a plurality of streaks along the dehumidifying plate 21. The discharge port 24 faces the wall surface of the dehumidifying plate 21 with a predetermined gap. A water supply hose 18 from the water supply port 14 is connected to the connector 23a.

  The corrugated flow path forming plate 22 has a plurality of peak portions 22a and valley portions 22b, and the upper step valley portion 22b and the lower step peak portion 22a are positioned substantially on the same line in the vertical direction. The dehumidifying plates 21 are alternately arranged in a state shifted by a half wave in the width direction. The corrugated flow path forming plate 22 has a corrugated shape in which a semicircular arc shape is continuous. Of course, the corrugated shape is not limited to such a shape. The plurality of discharge ports 24 provided in the water supply header 23 are disposed so as to be positioned above the peak portion 22a or the valley portion 22b of the uppermost corrugated flow path forming plate 22. In the present embodiment, the discharge port 24 is disposed above the peak portion 22a, but may be disposed above the valley portion 22b.

  The material of the corrugated flow path forming plate 22 is not particularly limited. For example, the dehumidifying plate 21 and the corrugated flow path forming plate 22 may be integrally formed by die casting. However, in the die casting, the corrugated flow path forming plate 22 is made of resin in the present embodiment because the die becomes large and the die manufacturing cost and the die life are short. That is, the dehumidifying plate 21 and the corrugated flow path forming plate 22 are integrally formed by an insert molding method.

  The dehumidifying plate 21 is detachably attached to the attachment member 25 at the left and right ends in the width direction. Further, a screw mounting portion 25a for fixing the unit-type dehumidifier 20 configured as described above to the air duct 7 with a screw and suspending it is provided on the upper portion of each mounting member 25.

(Operation of drying process of washing machine)
Next, the operation of the washing machine configured as described above will be described. In this embodiment, since the function of the drying course in the drying process is used when the deodorizing course is executed, the following description will focus on the operation in the drying course. The operation of each process of the washing machine is controlled by a built-in microcomputer (not shown).

  In FIG. 1, the flow of air exiting the washing tub 3 is indicated by a white arrow A, the flow of cooling water (tap water) flowing down the dehumidifier 20 is indicated by a black arrow B, and the flow of hot air is indicated by an arrow. It is indicated by C. 2 and 3 mainly show the flow of the cooling water. The washing machine performs a washing process, a rinsing process, a dehydrating process, and a drying process. After the laundry 50 has been washed, rinsed and dehydrated, the drying process is started. The water tub 2 and the washing tub 3 are made to stand upright in the vertical direction only in the process of centrifugal dehydration in order to prevent the vibration of the washing tub 3, and in the other processes, as shown in FIG. It is carried out in an inclined state.

  In the drying course of the drying process, the tap water of the cooling water is supplied to the water supply header 23 of the dehumidifier 20 from the water supply port 14 to the branch valve 15, the water supply hose 18, and the water supply valve for dehumidification provided in the middle of these paths (see FIG. (Not shown) is continuously supplied in small amounts (adjusting the flow rate of the cooling water by the branch valve 15). As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cooling water in the water supply header 23 is supplied to the upper wall surface of the dehumidifying plate 21 from each discharge port 24, and becomes a linear downward flow 41 along the wall surface of the dehumidifying plate 21. Flow down. The downward flow 41 for each discharge port 24 flows in two directions along the inclined surface of the peak portion 22a when it hits the peak portion 22a of the uppermost corrugated flow path forming plate 22 (indicated by an arrow 42). Cooling water is collected in the valley 22b. When the cooling water collected in the valley portion 22b exceeds a certain amount, it flows out from the edge 22c of the valley portion 22b through the lower surface of the valley portion 22b by the surface tension, and further down along the wall surface of the dehumidifying plate 21 in a straight line downward direction. Flow (flow of arrow 41). Then, the downward flow 41 reaches the peak portion 22a of the second-stage corrugated flow path forming plate 22, and is again divided into two directions as described above to collect the cooling water in the valley portion 22b. In this way, the cooling water repeats until it reaches the lowest corrugated flow path forming plate 22 as a continuous branch flow while branching in two directions one after another.

  On the other hand, the humid air in the washing tub 3 ascends from the lower side of the air duct 7 through the air duct 6 as indicated by an arrow A in FIGS. The moist air flows through the front and back surfaces of the dehumidifying plate 21 and comes into contact with the dehumidifying plate 21 and the cooling water, whereby heat exchange is performed, and moisture in the air is cooled and dehumidified. The dehumidified air is heated by the heater 33 while passing through the hot air duct 31 of the dryer 30, and this hot air is blown into the washing tub 3 by the blower fan 32. In this manner, cooling and dehumidification is performed while circulating the air in the washing tub 3, and the dehydrated laundry 50 is efficiently dried in the washing tub 3 by being repeatedly blown into the washing tub 3 as hot air. be able to. The cooling water flowing down from the edge 22c of the valley 22b of the corrugated flow path forming plate 22 is not scattered by the air flowing on the dehumidifying plate 21.

  According to the configuration of the dehumidifier 20, as can be seen from the above description, a single flow of cooling water from each discharge port 24 is branched in two directions, and further, it is branched in two directions to flow down. A branched flow can be created by the multi-stage corrugated flow path forming plate 22. For this reason, the cooling water can flow down over the entire surface of the dehumidifying plate 21. In addition, since the dehumidifying plate 21 is made of aluminum having good thermal conductivity, even if the corrugated flow path forming plate 22 is made of a resin material, the dehumidifying efficiency is high. Incidentally, compared to the case where the dehumidifying plate 21 is made of stainless steel, the area ratio can be reduced to about ½ in the case of aluminum. Therefore, the dehumidifier 20 can be reduced in size and weight, and as a result, the drying efficiency of the washing machine can be improved. It also leads to cost reduction.

(Operation of deodorization process)
Now that the operation of the drying course in the drying process has been clarified as described above, the operation of the deodorizing course in the drying process will be described. To select the deodorizing course, press the “ON” button on the operation panel 60 in FIG. 4 to turn on the power, and then press the “DRYING COURSE” button to select the drying course you want to drive. Each time the “dry course” button is pressed, a lamp that displays the course to be driven moves through each course, and the lamp 61 indicating “deodorizing course” is lit. In this state, press the “Start / Pause” button to start the deodorization course. In this deodorization course, clothes to be deodorized (those that are relatively dry and do not contain moisture that is subject to the drying process described above) are inserted into the washing tub 3, It is assumed that the door 5 is closed.

FIG. 5 is a detailed process chart of the deodorization course. The operation of each part will be described below according to the process.
(A) Moving stroke The blower fan 32 is driven (ON). At this time, the heater 33 of the dryer 30 is still in the off state, and the clutch (not shown) connected to the electric motor 10 is still switched to the washing machine side. In addition, the dehumidification water supply valve remains closed. Here, the water tank 2 is changed from an inclination angle of 20 degrees to an inclination angle of 15 degrees, for example. The operation of changing the tilt angle is performed by a vibration isolating and tilting means provided between the housing 1 and the water tank 2. Further, the lower end portion of the bellows 36 is lowered and positioned at the upper part of the water tub 2 so that the warm air blown out from the warm air outlet 34 is not leaked outside when it is blown into the washing tub 3. In addition, the washing tub 3 remains stopped at this stage, and the drain valve (not shown) remains closed. Further, a lid lock (not shown) for keeping the door 5 closed is in a locked state. The above moving process is positioned as a process of a preparation stage for shifting to the next tank rotation / drying process (deodorization process).

(B) Tank rotation / drying process The heater 33 of the dryer 30 is switched from the off state to the on state. As will be described later, in this process, the washing tub (dehydration tub) 3 rotates. For example, the heater 33 is set to “strong” for 5 minutes after the rotation starts, and then the heater 33 is set to “weak”. However, the temperature rise of the warm air is made faster. The air heated by the heater 33 is sent to the washing tub 3 side as warm air by the blower fan 32 via the warm air outlet 34. The dehumidification water supply valve is controlled from the closed state to the open state, and water is supplied to the dehumidifier 20. The amount of water at this time is less than that in the drying process because cooling is not the purpose. Further, a clutch (not shown) connected to the electric motor 10 is switched to the dewatering side. At this time, the water tank 2 remains at an inclination angle of 15 degrees, and the lower end of the bellows 36 remains lowered. Under such a state, the washing tub (dehydration tub) 3 rotates at a low speed (for example, 50 rpm). At this time, the drain valve (not shown) remains closed. The lid lock (not shown) is also locked.

  In this tank rotation / drying process, the warm air from the dryer 30 is sent to the laundry tank 3 through the warm air outlet 34 in a state where the laundry tank 3 is rotating at a low speed as described above. Then, warm air is blown onto the clothes in the washing tub 3. As in the case of the drying process, the warm air rises in the incoming air path 6 from the lower side of the air duct 7 as indicated by an arrow A in FIGS. The warm air flows through the front and back surfaces of the dehumidifying plate 21 and comes into contact with the water flowing along the dehumidifying plate 21 so that the moisture is absorbed and humidified. The humidified air is heated by the heater 33 while passing through the hot air duct 31 of the hot air supply device 30, and this hot air is blown into the washing tub 3 by the blower fan 32. In this manner, the air in the washing tub 3 is humidified while being circulated, and is repeatedly blown into the washing tub 3 as warm air containing humidity. In this way, since the humidified warm air is blown onto the clothing, the odor component of the clothing is blown off and removed, and the deodorizing process is performed.

  Further, in the tank rotation / drying process, the dehumidifier 20 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is used as described above, and the dehumidifier 20 includes the dehumidifying plate 21 and the dehumidifying plate 21. A plurality of outlets 24 for supplying water so as to flow down along the wall surface and a plurality of corrugated flow path forming plates 22 arranged in the vertical direction of the dehumidifying plate 21 are provided. Since water is supplied evenly distributed over the entire plate 21, it can be efficiently humidified. In addition, as described above, since water is not intended for cooling, dew condensation occurs by cooling the hot air containing water vapor to the saturated state or near the saturated state and lowering it below the dew point temperature in the drying step. For example, water supply may be intermittently performed. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the hot air from being cooled more than necessary.

Further, in this tank rotation / drying process, the dehumidifying plate 21 is inclined, so that even a small amount of water is supplied uniformly distributed throughout the dehumidifying plate 21, and humidifies efficiently from this point. be able to. Further, when the dehumidifying plate 21 is inclined, the air passage 6 is formed on the outer peripheral side of the washing tub 3, and the dehumidifier 20 (dehumidifying plate 21) is arranged in the air passage 6. When the water tub 2 (washing tub 3) is tilted, the dehumidifier 20 (dehumidifying plate 21) is tilted accordingly, and the structure is simple.
Further, in this process (B) (including process (C) described later), the washing tub 3, the air path 6 and the dryer 30 form a closed circulation path. In the case of the stroke (C) described later, cold air) can be circulated.

(C) Blower stroke In this stroke, the heater 33 is switched from the on state to the off state. And the rotational speed of the washing tub 3 is decelerated. Also in this process, the wind from the blower fan 32 is sent to the washing tub 3 through the hot air outlet 34. Then, wind is blown on the clothes in the washing tub 3. The wind rises in the incoming air passage 6 from the lower side of the air duct 7 in the same manner as described above. This wind flows through the front and back surfaces of the dehumidifying plate 21 and comes into contact with the dehumidifying plate 21 and cooling water to absorb moisture and to be humidified and cooled. The cooled air is blown into the washing tub 3 by the blower fan 32. As described above, the air in the washing tub 3 is circulated and cooled by the dehumidifier 20 to cool the warm air in the above-described step (B), thereby cooling the clothes. In this process (C) and the above process (B), the washing tub 3, the air path 6 and the dryer 30 form a closed circulation path, and thereby cool air or hot air is efficiently circulated. Can do.

(D) Moving In this process, a process for returning the deodorizing process to the initial state is performed. The driving of the blower fan 32 is stopped (OFF). At this time, the heater 33 of the dryer 30 is already turned off, and the dehumidifying water supply valve is closed (OFF). In addition, a clutch (not shown) connected to the electric motor 10 has already been switched to the dewatering side. For example, after changing the water tank 2 from an inclination angle of 15 degrees to 0 degrees (upright state), the inclination angle is set to 20 degrees. Further, the lower end of the bellows 36 is raised. Further, the washing tub 3 is brought into a stopped state from the decelerated state, and a drain valve (not shown) is opened from the closed state so as to be opened when the washing tub 3 is 0 degree to discharge the remaining water. Further, the lid lock is switched from the closed state to the open state so that the door 5 can be opened. By doing in this way, the user can take out clothes deodorized by opening the door 5 from the washing tub 3.

  In addition, although the time of each process is described in the lower part of FIG. 5, these time is only an example and is arbitrarily set as needed.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the warm air from the dryer 30 is humidified by passing through the dehumidifier 20 provided in the air path 6, and the warm air humidified on the clothing is blown. The odor component of clothing is blown away and deodorization is possible. And in the deodorizing process, since the apparatus used in the drying process is utilized as it is, the structure can be simplified. Moreover, warm air can be humidified only by supplying water to the dehumidifier 20, and it is possible to humidify by a simple process.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, although demonstrated as a washing machine provided with the deodorizing course, the dryer provided with the said deodorizing course may be sufficient.
In the above embodiment, the example of the deodorizing course has been described as a course for taking care of clothes different from the drying course for drying wet clothes, but the sanitizing course, the pollen removing course, the wrinkle removing course, etc. Well, in the sterilization course, the heater 33 is set to “strong”, for example, for about 60 minutes, and then the heater 33 is set to “weak” for about 10 minutes so that the temperature in the water tank 2 is maintained at about 80 degrees, for example. The clothes are sterilized at a temperature higher than that of the deodorizing course. In the pollen removal course, hot air similar to that in the deodorizing course is fed, and at the same time, the stirring blade 9 is intermittently rotated to remove pollen from the clothes. Further, in the wrinkle removal course, the wrinkle removal can be performed by the same operation as the deodorization course (that is, the deodorization course can also serve as the wrinkle removal course).

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a washing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the schematic perspective view which looked at the dehumidifier of FIG. 1 from the front side. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a part of FIG. 2 in cross section. It is explanatory drawing of an operation panel. It is a detailed process diagram of the deodorizing process.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Case, 2 water tub, 3 washing tub, 4 inlet, 5 door, 6 air path, 7 air duct, 8 balancer, 9 stirring blade, 10 electric motor, 11 rotating shaft, 12 holes, 13 bellows, 14 water inlet , 15 Branch valve, 16 Water inlet, 17, 18 Water supply hose, 19 Water tank cover, 20 Dehumidifier, 21 Dehumidifier plate, 22 Corrugated flow path forming plate, 22a Mountain part, 22b Valley part, 23 Water supply header, 24 Discharge port, 25 Mounting member, 26 Hook, 27 Square hole, 28 Resin injection hole, 29 Resin connection part, 30 Hot air supply device, 31 Hot air duct, 32 Blower fan, 33 Heater, 34 Hot air outlet, 35 Dry filter, 40 Screw Fixing part, 41, 42 Flow of cooling water, 50 laundry, 60 operation panel, 61 lamp.

Claims (4)

A tank,
A washing tub disposed in the water tub;
A dehumidifying air passage that communicates with the water tank and in which the air in the water tank circulates;
A water supply device for controlling water supply into the dehumidifying air passage;
In the washing machine having an air and warm that the heater and the dividing Shimekazero the hot air supply device composed of the air passage from the air blower for blowing air to the washing tub of a that has passed through the said dividing Shimekazero,
There is a deodorizing course to deodorize clothes separately from the drying course to dry wet clothes,
The deodorization course is a first step in which water is supplied into the dehumidifying air passage by the water supply device, the heater and the blower device are operated, and the washing tub is driven at a lower speed than the operation of the drying course. And a second step of supplying water into the dehumidifying air passage by the water supply device with the heater turned off and operating the blower device after the first step. . 2. The laundry according to claim 1, wherein in the deodorizing course, the heater is operated in the first step by switching to a lower output than the output of the heater in the previous step of the first step. Machine. 3. The washing machine according to claim 2, wherein the process proceeds from the first step to the second step while maintaining the output of the heater at the low output. The washing tub, the washing machine according to any of claims 1-3 wherein the dehumidifying air passage and the warm air supply device and forming a circulation path is closed.

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