Drying and gas or vapor contact with solids – Apparatus – Rotary drums or receptacles
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-11
2004-03-02
Rinehart, Kenneth (Department: 3749)
Drying and gas or vapor contact with solids
Apparatus
Rotary drums or receptacles
59, 59, 59, 59, C068S024000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06698107
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drum for a clothes dryer and, in particular, to a drum for a clothes dryer having a plurality of baffles projecting from an internal circumference of a drum for lifting and moving clothes to be dried.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, a clothes dryer dries laundry by removing water from the laundry. Usually, the clothes dryer is installed beside a washer to be used upon completion of the washing process.
FIG. 1
is a sectional view illustrating a conventional clothes dryer. The conventional clothes dryer includes a casing
10
having a hexahedral shape so as to have an internal space, a rotating drum
30
supported by a roller R placed inside the casing
10
, a driving motor
20
installed inside the casing
10
for generating a driving force in order to rotate the drum
30
, a belt
40
and a pulley
41
connecting the driving motor
20
with the drum
30
for transmitting rotational force from the driving motor
20
to the drum
30
, a circular rear plate
50
covering the rear side of the drum
30
and having an air suction port
51
constructed with a plurality of through holes, and a circular front plate
60
covering the front side of the drum
30
and having an input opening
61
and an air exhaust port
62
. A plurality of air holes
11
is formed in the casing
10
.
A suction duct
70
is connected to the air suction port
51
as a path through which air is drawn from outside into the drum
30
. A heater (H) is installed at an inlet portion of the suction duct
70
for heating the intake air. An exhaust duct
80
is connected to the air exhaust port
62
to provide a path through which air from inside the drum
30
is discharged upon completion of the drying process. A fan
91
is installed inside the exhaust duct
80
for generating blasts by the driving motor
20
.
A door (D) for opening/closing the clothes dryer is installed in a front surface of the casing
10
, and a filter (F) for filtering impurities, such as lint, is installed inside the exhaust duct
80
.
To operate the conventional clothes dryer, a user opens the door (D) in the front surface of the casing
10
, puts clothes into the drum
30
through the input opening
61
and closes the door (D). When the user turns on an operation switch, power is applied to operate the driving motor
20
.
The driving force generated by the driving motor
20
is transmitted to the drum
30
through the pulley
40
and the belt
41
to rotate the drum
30
and to operate the fan
91
. The clothes in the drum
30
drop according to rotation of the drum
30
. Simultaneously, air drawn from outside by the suction force of the fan
91
is heated by the heater (H), flows into the drum
30
through the suction port
51
to dry the clothes inside the drum
30
, is exhausted through the exhaust port
62
and is discharged outside the casing
10
through the exhaust duct
80
. A plurality of baffles
32
installed in an inner circumference of the drum
30
rotate together with the drum
30
to increase the area in contact with the heated air.
This process is performed continually until the clothes in the drum
30
are dry. When the drying process is finished, the user opens the door (D) and pulls out the dry clothes through the input opening
61
.
As depicted in greater detail in
FIG. 2
, a sectional view taken along line A—A of
FIG. 1
, and
FIG. 3
, a perspective view of the drum, the drum
30
is constructed with a cylindrical body
31
, and the plurality of baffles
32
project from the inner circumference of the cylindrical body
31
at regular intervals toward the center. The plurality of baffles
32
are formed along the length of the cylindrical body
31
. In the embodiment shown, three baffles project from the inner circumference of the cylindrical body
31
at a 120° angle.
When the cylindrical body
31
rotates, the plurality of baffles
32
serves to move and lift the clothes inside the drum
30
to the upper portion of the drum
30
. When the plurality of baffles
32
from which the clothes are hanging moves to an upper portion of the drum
30
, the clothes drop freely from the upper portion to a bottom portion of the drum
30
. The motion and heated air serve to dry the clothes in the drum.
However, in the conventional clothes dryer, because a length of the plurality of baffles
32
is the same as a length of the cylindrical body
31
, it is difficult to disperse the clothes uniformly. As a result, the clothes clump around one place of the drum
30
, and additional time is required to dry the clothes, thereby hampering dryer efficiency.
For example, as shown in
FIG. 4
, when the drum
30
rotates, heated air flows into the upper portion of the drum
30
and is exhausted through the exhaust port
62
. Accordingly, the clothes tossed up to the upper portion of the drum
30
by the baffles
32
drop freely and clump around the exhaust port
62
due to the same flow of the air.
In addition, when the clothes clump around the exhaust port
62
, it increases the friction of the air exhausted through the exhaust port
62
, as well as the load on and noise of the fan
91
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a drum for a clothes dryer which is capable of improving clothes drying efficiency by facilitating contact between clothes and heated air by providing a plurality of baffles to regularly disperse clothes housed inside a drum.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a drum for a clothes dryer in accordance with the present invention includes a rotating cylindrical body for housing clothes, and a plurality of baffles projecting lengthwise from an inner circumference of the cylindrical body for lifting the clothes. The plurality of baffles is disposed so as to become more distant from or draw closer to the side of the cylindrical body gradually at regular intervals.
In another embodiment, a drum for a clothes dryer in accordance with the present invention includes a cylindrical rotating body for housing clothes, and a plurality of baffles projecting from an inner circumference of the cylindrical body lengthwise along the cylindrical body for lifting the clothes. At least one baffle is installed at each disposal domain, the inner circumference of the cylindrical body being divided into a plurality of disposal domains disposed lengthwise along the cylindrical body, each baffle being the same size as a width of each disposal domain at which each baffle is disposed and having the same width as each other. The plurality of baffles is formed so as to have the same interval in the circumferential direction of the cylindrical body.
A ratio (h/d) of a height (h) of each baffle to the inner diameter (d) of the cylindrical body is within the range of 1/10~2/10.
A ratio (1/L) of a length (l) of each baffle to a length (L) of the cylindrical body is greater than 3/10 and less than 10/10.
In the drum for the clothes dryer in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of disposal domains are set so as to have a region which overlaps each other.
In the drum for the clothes dryer in accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention, the disposal domains do not overlap each other.
In yet another embodiment, a drum for a clothes dryer in accordance with the present invention includes a rotating cylindrical body for housing clothes, and a plurality of baffles projecting from an inner circumference of the cylindrical body lengthwise along the cylindrical body for lifting the clothes, the plurality of baffles being inclined with respect to the length of the cylindrical body.
The cylindrical body sucks air through the side surface and discharges air through the other side surface, and the baffles placed at the side surface through which air is drawn are formed so as to be lower than the baffles placed at the other side surface from which air is discharged.
An angle of inclination (&agr;) of the plural
Hong Sang Wook
Myung Hwan Joo
Song Sung Bae
Yoon Sang Heon
LG Electronics Inc.
Rinehart Kenneth
LandOfFree
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