Laundry drier

Details Laundry drier Laundry drier

2003-12-09

2004-12-14

Rinehart, Kenneth (Department: 3749)

Drying and gas or vapor contact with solids

Apparatus

Rotary drums or receptacles

Reexamination Certificate

active

06829845

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laundry drier, and more particularly, to laundry drier having an apparatus for preventing a gap between a blower housing and connection duct of a blower assembly.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally speaking, a laundry drier is an apparatus for drying wet objects, e.g., clothes, after completion of a washing cycle or the like. A general laundry drier is shown in
FIG. 1
, while a blower assembly of such a laundry drier is illustrated in FIG.
2
.
Referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a laundry drier body B is comprised of a base
1
forming a bottom, a front cabinet
2
forming a front side, a pair of opposing lateral cabinet sides
3
, a back cover
4
forming a rear side, a top cover
5
installed on an upper part of the laundry drier body B, and a control panel
6
on a rear end of the top cover
5
. A laundry drier typically includes an entrance in the front cabinet
2
constructing the body B for accessing the laundry, and a door
10
corresponding to the entrance is installed at the front cabinet
2
. A drum (not shown) is rotatably installed within the body B to rotate by receiving a driving force of a motor (not shown). Communicating with the interior of the drum are separate passages (not shown) for respectively supplying and discharging hot air, and a heater (not shown) for heating air flowing from an external environment of the laundry drier is mounted in the hot air supply passage. A blower
7
housed in a blower housing
7
a
is installed in the hot air discharge passage to generate a blowing force for forcibly guiding the heated air into the drum for a drying step and for expelling the used air from the body B. A filter cover
8
having an air intake opening
800
and a connection duct
9
connected to the filter cover
8
are provided in the hot air discharge passage between the drum and the blower
7
. A lint filter
11
is loaded inside the connection duct
9
.
In the operation of the above-constituted laundry drier according to the related art, with an object to be dried placed in the drum, a drying step is executed whereby the heater and motor are actuated. As an exhaust fan starts operating, external air having been led into the body B via an intake side of the hot air supply passage passes through the heater to be heated to generate hot air. The hot air is then forcibly led into the drum via the hot air supply passage. The hot air in the drum evaporates the water content of the object to be dried, using a negative blowing force of the discharge fan to be discharged outside the body B, and such a circulation is repeated. Specifically, the air in the drum flows via the air intake opening
800
formed in the filter cover
8
to pass through the lint filter
11
and then flows in the blower
7
, while the drum rotates at low speed by receiving the driving force of the motor via a belt. Accordingly, a wet object is dried.
In the related art laundry drier, however, vibration and the like, which are inherently generated while the laundry drier operates and during normal usage, creates a gap (separation) between a blower housing
7
a
of the blower
7
and the connection duct
9
. The gap allows an ancillary air flow, as represented by the arrows of
FIG. 2
, which degrades a blowing efficiency of the blower
7
and in turn reduces drying efficiency and impedes drier performance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a laundry drier that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention, which has been devised to solve the foregoing problem, lies in providing a laundry drier having an apparatus for preventing a gap between a blower housing and a connection duct, which blocks an ancillary air flow to prevent a degradation in drying efficiency and drier performance.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from a practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the subject matter particularly pointed out in the specification and claims hereof as well as in the appended drawings.
To achieve these objects and other advantages in accordance with the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided an apparatus for preventing a gap between a blower housing and a connection duct in a laundry drier including a base forming a bottom of a body, a front cabinet forming a front side of the body, a pair of opposing lateral cabinet sides, a back cover forming a rear side of the body, a top cover installed on an upper part of the body, a filter cover installed in rear of the front cabinet, a connection duct having an entrance side connected to the filter cover, and a blower installed to be connected to an exit side of the connection duct. The apparatus comprises a pressing member provided between the front cabinet and the connection duct to push the connection duct toward the blower to make the connection duct adhere closely to the blower housing.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing explanation and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and illustrative and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.


REFERENCES:
patent: 2728481 (1955-12-01), Robinson et al.
patent: 5881576 (1999-03-01), Davies, Jr.
patent: 6006445 (1999-12-01), Large
patent: 2253035 (1992-08-01), None

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