Drying and gas or vapor contact with solids – Apparatus – Rotary drums or receptacles
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-09
2003-11-11
Lazarus, Ira S. (Department: 3749)
Drying and gas or vapor contact with solids
Apparatus
Rotary drums or receptacles
C034S607000, C034S134000, C034S138000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06643953
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clothes dryer, and more particularly to a clothes dryer capable of circulating heated air to the inside of a drum and discharging the air which has dried clothes within the drum.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, a clothes dryer is an apparatus for automatically drying wet clothes after the clothes have been washed. The clothes dryer is installed separately from a washing machine and is typically classified as a dehumidifying-type or an exhausting-type clothes dryer.
The dehumidifying-type incorporates a method for drying clothes by condensing moisture circulating in the air in the drum, exhausting water generated by this condensing step to the outside of the dryer and supplying air to the inside of a drum heating the air. The exhausting-type incorporates a method for drying clothes by guiding external air of the dryer to the inside of the drum after drawing in and heating the air, and exhausting the air to the outside of the dryer again.
FIG. 1
is a view of an exhausting-type clothes dryer of the background art.
FIG. 2
is a cross-sectional view taken along section line A—A of FIG.
1
. The clothes dryer of the background art will be described in greater detail hereinafter. As seen in
FIG. 1
, the clothes dryer includes a case
1
having an input opening
1
a
on the front surface, a door
2
for opening and closing the input opening
1
a
of the case
1
, a rotatable drum
3
installed in the case
1
for receiving clothes and having a plurality of baffles (not shown) protruding from an inner circumferential surface, a driving motor
4
and a transmission device
5
installed in the case
1
for rotating the drum. The dryer also includes an air circulation unit
7
for exhausting external air of the case
1
to the outside of the case
1
after circulating the air into the drum
3
and a heater
6
installed at the inlet side of the suction duct
7
A of the above air circulation unit
7
for heating air circulated into the drum.
The drum
3
includes a body
3
A that rotates while connected to the driving motor
4
, the transmission device
5
and movable side plates
3
B and
3
C combined with the body
3
A at both sides of the body
3
A. The body
3
A has a cylindrical shape and the baffles are formed on the circumferential surface at the inner side as a single body.
The side plates
3
B and
3
C are all formed in a circular plate shape and a suction port
3
b
connected with the suction duct
7
A of the air circulation unit
7
is formed on the rear side plate
3
B. The exhaust port
3
c is formed on the front side plate
3
C and is connected with an exhaust duct of the air circulation unit
7
.
The driving motor
4
includes a single-direction rotary motor that rotates in the same direction and speed having a driving shaft extending in an axial direction. The transmission device
5
includes a pulley
5
a
combined with a driving shaft at a side of the driving motor
4
and a belt
5
b
connected from the pulley
5
a
to the body
3
A of the drum
3
for transmitting the rotational force of the driving motor
4
.
The heater
6
is installed at the inlet side of the suction duct
7
A either adjacent to or combined with the inlet side. The heater can be a conventional electric heater or gas heater. The air circulation unit
7
includes the suction duct
7
A for guiding air in the case
1
into the drum
3
, the exhaust duct
7
B for exhausting the air in the drum
3
to the outside of the case
1
and a fan
7
C positioned at the center of the exhaust duct
7
B for circulating air.
The suction duct
7
A is installed to guide air that is heated while it passes the heater
6
after the air circulates to the inside through the air circulation port
1
b
of the case
1
to the inside of the drum
3
. The inlet is positioned adjacent to or combined with the rear of the heater
6
and the outlet is connected with the suction port
3
b
of the drum
3
. The exhaust duct
7
B has an inlet connected to the suction port
3
b
of the drum
3
and the outlet extends to the outside penetrating the rear wall of the case
1
.
The fan
7
C is attached to a driving shaft of one side of the driving motor
4
that is also connected at a second side to the transmission device
5
in the exhaust duct
7
B. The fan is a single inlet centrifugal fan having a suction side and an exhaust side respectively. In
FIG. 1
, a clothes input opening
3
d
of the drum and a filter F are also shown.
The operation of the clothes dryer of the background art with the above-described features will be described in greater detail hereinafter. When power is applied to the driving motor
4
, the drum
3
is rotated by the belt
5
b
and clothes in the drum
3
are mixed. External air is heated as the fan
7
C rotates, and the air is then supplied to the inside of the drum
3
and dries the wet clothes.
When the fan
7
C is operated, the external air is drawn into the case
1
and the air is heated as it passes the heater
6
. The heated air is then circulated to the inside of the drum
3
through the suction duct
7
A and the suction port
3
b
. The heated air circulated within the drum dries the wet clothes and is then exhausted to the outside of the case
1
through the exhaust port
3
c
and the exhaust duct
7
B.
However, since the suction port
3
b
of the drum
3
is formed having a simple punched-hole shape on the rear side plate
3
B, heated air drawn into the inner side of the drum
3
moves to the side of the front side plate
3
C along the upper portion of the inner circumferential surface of the drum
3
and is then exhausted. Therefore, the air is prevented from contacting the clothes positioned at the center portion of the drum
3
. Accordingly, clothes in the drum
3
are not dried uniformly, clothes drying efficiency is reduced and the time for drying clothes is increased.
Further, when heated air flows into the drum
3
through the suction duct
7
A, it tends to flow to the upper side. However, as shown in
FIG. 2
, since the suction port
3
b
formed on the rear side plate
3
B is narrow at the upper side and wide at the lower side, air flow resistance is increased and the amount of air inflow for the same cross section of the suction port
3
b
is decreased, thereby decreasing clothes drying efficiency.
Since the suction duct
7
A and the exhaust duct
7
B are positioned at the front and rear sides of the drum
3
, the volume of the drum
3
is decreased when compared to the volume of the same case
1
. Since the volume of the drum
3
must be increased to dry larger amounts of clothes, the entire volume of the case
1
is disadvantageously increased.
Clothes may be efficiently dried when the direction and speed of rotation of the drum
3
is changed irregularly. However, since the clothes dryer of the background art described above drives the drum
3
and fan
7
C simultaneously using a single driving motor
4
, the fan is rotated in a single direction. Therefore, the drum
3
rotates only in one direction, and drying efficiency is decreased in the clothes dryer of the background art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings associated with the background art and achieves other advantages not realized by the background art.
Therefore, the present invention provides a clothes dryer capable of improving clothes drying efficiency by uniformly drying clothes inputted into a drum, wherein heated air is directly transmitted to the center portion of the drum.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a clothes dryer capable of decreasing the time required for drying clothes by increasing the amount of the heated air supplied into the drum.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a clothes dryer capable of increasing the amount of laundry dried by increasing the volume of the drum without increasing the size of the case.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a clothes dryer capable of improving drying efficiency
Hong Sang Wook
Myung Hwan Joo
Song Sung Bae
Yoon Sang Heon
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Lazarus Ira S.
LG Electronics Inc.
Ragonese Andrea M.
LandOfFree
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