JPH0582239B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (a) Industrial application field The present invention safely dries clothes washed with petroleum-based solvents at low temperatures, recovers the solvent in the clothes, and then washes them at high temperatures. Regarding a clothes dryer that can dry clothes with a good finish.

(b) Conventional technology When drying clothes that have been washed using petroleum-based solvents, since the flash point temperature of the solvent is as low as approximately 42°C,
Solvent gas concentration and drying air temperature must be monitored. For example, in the clothes dryer described in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 62-196187, the concentration of solvent gas during drying is detected by a concentration sensor, and when the concentration is high, the exhaust port is closed and drying is performed at a low temperature. It has been proposed that when the concentration becomes low, the exhaust port is opened and drying is performed at a high temperature. In this method, low temperature drying is performed to recover the solvent without wasting it, and high temperature drying is performed after the concentration has been reduced to improve the final drying finish.

(c) Problems to be solved by the invention In order to optimize the drying result, it is necessary to change the drying operation time depending on the amount of clothes to be dried, the outside temperature, and even the rate of liquid removal from the clothes just before drying. .

However, the conventional drying control using the concentration sensor described above does not take into account the amount of clothes, the outside temperature, or the rate of liquid removal from the clothes.

Therefore, in conventional examples, there were many cases of insufficient drying or over-drying. Therefore, the above problems can be solved if the user determines the drying operation time each time, but this requires the user's experience and skilled intuition, and it is not easy to set the appropriate drying operation time. Nakatsuta. As a result, if the clothes are insufficiently dried, the odor of the solvent remains on the clothes, and if the clothes are overdried, drying time is lost.

The clothes dryer of the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and also enables the low-temperature drying operation time to be automatically set within an appropriate range.

(d) Means for Solving the Problem The means for solving the problem of the present invention includes a drying chamber for accommodating clothes washed with a petroleum solvent, and a connection to the drying chamber through an inlet and an outlet of the drying chamber. a recovery tank having a cooler for condensing the solvent gas; an intake port and an exhaust port for communicating the drying chamber with the outside;
a fan disposed in the recovery tank and supplying drying air to the drying chamber; a heater heating the drying air;
An inlet temperature sensing element is placed at the inlet portion and detects the temperature of the drying air before drying the clothes, and an outlet temperature sensing element is placed at the outlet portion and detects the temperature of the drying air after drying the clothes. Low-temperature drying, in which the intake port and the exhaust port are closed, the heater is controlled by the exit temperature detection element, and drying air below the flash point temperature of the solvent is circulated between the drying chamber and the recovery tank. operation, the intake port and the exhaust port are opened, and the heater is controlled by the inlet temperature detection element to supply high-temperature drying air to the drying chamber, and the drying air after drying the clothes is supplied from the exhaust port. In the drying control unit that sequentially performs a high temperature drying operation of exhausting the air to the outside, the drying control unit includes:
A temperature discrimination section that discriminates when the temperature of the drying air detected by the outlet temperature detection element reaches a preset low temperature drying control temperature during the low temperature drying operation, and a discrimination output from the temperature discrimination section. a number counter that counts each time, a number determination section that determines whether the contents of this number counter match the set number of times, and an operation change that shifts from low temperature drying operation to high temperature drying operation based on the determination output from this number determination section. It is characterized in that it consists of means.

(E) Function During low-temperature drying operation, the solvent recovery work is carried out safely at a low temperature, but the temperature of the drying air at the outlet of the drying chamber is controlled to be low, and the drying air temperature is controlled to be low. Shows characteristics depending on conditions such as quantity. For a certain control temperature, if there is a large amount of clothing, the liquid removal rate is low, or the outside temperature is low, the temperature will not reach that temperature. That is, the heating is stopped in order to maintain the low temperature before the temperature after drying reaches the control temperature. This indicates that while maintaining a low temperature, the time required for the temperature after drying to reach a certain control temperature changes automatically depending on various conditions.

After this, when the temperature after drying decreases and reaches it several times, the conditions of each low-temperature drying operation, which had different conditions before operation, become approximately the same at this stage. Therefore, here the low temperature drying operation is shifted to the high temperature drying operation.

(F) Embodiment To explain based on the drawings, the dryer body 1 is divided into two upper and lower stages, with the upper stage comprising a drying chamber 3 having a rotating drum 2, and the lower stage comprising a U-shaped passage. A recovery tank 4 is configured. At the upper front of the machine body 1, there is provided an entrance/exit for clothes into the drying room 3, which is opened and closed by a door (not shown).

Further, the upper part of the body 1 constitutes an operation room 5 in which an operating body and a control circuit for operating and controlling the dryer are incorporated. An outlet 6 of the drying chamber 3 is connected to one end of the recovery tank 4, and an inlet 7 is connected to the other end of the tank.

A filter 8 and a cooler 9 are sequentially arranged on the outlet 6 side of the recovery tank 4, and the inner bottom of the recovery tank 4 is formed into a storage chamber 10 for the condensed solvent. A fan 11 made of aluminum fins is provided near the inner bottom of the collection tank 4 on the inlet 7 side, and a heater 12 is provided near the inlet 7. A cover 13 made of a punched plate is placed on the top of the storage chamber 10.

The cooler 9 and the heater 12 are of the Finch-Ube type, and the cooler 9 is supplied with cooling water through a manual or automatic cold water valve 14, and the heater 12 is supplied with steam through a supply valve 15 and a discharge valve 16, respectively. Ru.

A torque motor is installed near the outlet 6 of the drying chamber 3.
An exhaust port 19 is provided with an exhaust cover 18 that is opened and closed by a motor M ¹ 17, and a torque motor M ² that is always biased by a spring in the closing direction is located downstream of the fan 11 of the collection tank 4. An air inlet 21 is provided with a lid (not shown) which is actuated to open by 20. The exhaust port 19 and the intake port 21 are closed during low temperature drying operation.

A pressure adjustment port 22 is formed on the top surface of the drying chamber 3 and communicates with the outside through the operation chamber 5, and is normally closed by a spring-loaded adjustment lid 23.

The solvent stored in the storage chamber 10 is delivered to a tank or the like by appropriate means.

An inlet temperature detection element 24 for detecting the inlet temperature of the drying air is disposed on the inlet 7 side of the drying chamber 3, and an outlet temperature detection element 25 for detecting the outlet temperature is disposed near the outlet 6. .

As shown in FIG. 2, the control circuit in the operation room 5 is assembled around a microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as microcomputer) 26 consisting of a CPU, ROM, RAM, and I/O.
The entire drying operation is automatically controlled by the operation of For this purpose, the microcomputer 26 receives input from the start key 27, temperature detection elements 24 and 25, and inputs the rotating drum 2, fan 11, cold water valve 14, supply valve 15, discharge valve 16, torque motor M ¹ 17,
Output to M ² 20, display 28, and buzzer 29.
In addition, the microcomputer 26 includes a CPU, ROM, RAM,
It consists of I/O, a number counter 30,
low temperature drying time counter 31, high temperature drying time counter 32, drying control section 33, temperature discrimination section 34,
The number of times determination unit 35 is configured.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the start key 27 is operated after the power is turned on, the microcomputer 26 clears the contents of the number counter 30, sets the maximum operating time in the low temperature drying time counter 31, and sets the , the inlet control temperature (low), and the outlet control temperature (low) for low-temperature drying. Also, microcontroller 2
6 sets the operating time in the high-temperature drying time counter 32 and also sets the inlet control temperature (high) for high-temperature drying. Note that the relationship is inlet control temperature (low)<outlet control temperature (low).

Then, the microcomputer 26 causes the drying control unit 33 to open the cold water valve 14, the supply valve 15, and the discharge valve 16, drive the drum 2 and the fan 11,
At the same time, the intake and exhaust ports 19 and 21 are closed by the torque motors 17 and 20.

In this way, if you start with low temperature drying operation,
During the longest period of low temperature drying operation, the number of times counter 31
until the contents of the supply valve 15 reach the set count number.
The discharge valve 16 is opened and closed depending on whether the detected temperature at the outlet 6 of the drying chamber 3 reaches the outlet control temperature (low), and the discharge valve 16 is opened and closed depending on whether the detected temperature at the inlet 7 reaches the inlet control temperature (low). Perform low temperature control. Since the inlet control temperature (low) is lower, only the discharge valve 16
This is the opening/closing control.

During this time, the supply valve 15 remains open for a long time because the discharge valve 16 opens and closes earlier, but this length corresponds to various conditions such as the amount of clothing, the liquid removal rate, and the outside temperature. As low-temperature drying progresses, the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the drying chamber 3 decreases, and the temperature discrimination section 34 discriminates that the detected temperature at the outlet 6 exceeds the outlet control temperature (low), and there is an output from the discrimination section. Supply valve 15 is closed;
The number counter 30 is incremented each time.

In this way, after a period of time corresponding to the conditions has elapsed,
The supply valve 15 is repeatedly opened and closed, and the number of times counter 30 is sequentially incremented. This valve opening/closing interval also corresponds to the above conditions.

The preset count number is the number of times that low-temperature drying can be carried out almost sufficiently, determined through experiments, etc., and the number of times determination section 35 checks that the content of the number of times counter 30 matches the set count number. Then, when there is an output from the number of times determination section, the drying control section 33
In this case, the low temperature drying operation is stopped regardless of the contents of the time counter 31, and the high temperature drying operation is started and executed.

In the high temperature drying operation, the suction and exhaust ports 19 and 21 and the supply valve 15 are kept open, and the discharge valve 16 is controlled to open and close depending on whether the detected temperature at the drying chamber inlet 7 reaches the inlet control temperature (high). During this operation, the time counter 32
is executed until it counts up.

After the high-temperature drying operation, the heater 12 is turned off and a cool-down process begins.

(G) Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, low-temperature drying operation is executed automatically in response to various conditions related to clothing, so that over-drying and under-drying can be eliminated, and solvent recovery can also be ensured. A clothes dryer with good quality can be provided at a low price.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a clothes dryer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a control circuit diagram, and FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the operation. 3... Drying room, 4... Recovery tank, 9... Cooler, 11... Fan, 12... Heater, 25...
Outlet temperature detection element, 26... microcomputer, 30...
Number of times counter, 33...Drying control section, 34...Temperature discrimination section, 35... Number of times discrimination section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A drying chamber for storing clothes washed with a petroleum-based solvent, a recovery tank connected to the drying chamber through an inlet and an outlet of the drying chamber and having a cooler for condensing solvent gas, and the above-mentioned drying chamber. an inlet and an exhaust port that communicate with the outside, a fan that is placed in the collection tank and supplies drying air to the drying chamber, a heater that heats this drying air, and a heater that is placed at the inlet that dries the clothes. an inlet temperature sensing element that detects the temperature of the drying air before drying;
an outlet temperature detection element that detects the temperature of the drying air after drying the clothes; the intake port and the exhaust port are closed, and the heater is controlled by the outlet temperature detection element to determine the flash point of the solvent. Low-temperature drying operation in which drying air below the temperature is circulated between the drying chamber and the collection tank, and the above-mentioned intake port and exhaust port are opened, and the heater is controlled by the above-mentioned inlet temperature detection element to supply high-temperature drying air to the drying chamber. and a drying control unit that sequentially executes a high temperature drying operation in which drying air is supplied to the clothes and exhausted to the outside from the exhaust port after drying the clothes, and the drying control unit is configured to perform a high temperature drying operation in which drying air is supplied to A temperature discrimination section determines when the temperature of the drying air detected by the outlet temperature detection element reaches a preset low temperature drying control temperature, and a count is made each time the temperature discrimination section outputs a discrimination output. A number of times counter, a number of times determination unit that determines whether the contents of this number of times counter match a set number of times, and an operation change means that shifts from low temperature drying operation to high temperature drying operation based on the determination output from this number of times determination unit. A clothes dryer characterized by: