Tumble dryer and a drying method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10570557-B2
Application number	US-201415500862-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2014
Priority date	Aug 1, 2014
Publication date	Feb 25, 2020
Grant date	Feb 25, 2020

Abstract

A clothes dryer comprises an inner drum, an outer drum, an air heating and supplying means and an air duct, and at least two air chambers each in communication with the air duct. The air chambers are respectively arranged corresponding to two sides along which clothes rise or fall as the inner drum rotates, the air chamber at one side starts supplying air and the air chamber at the other side stops supplying air according to a rotation direction of the inner drum, all air chambers are distributed in the order of front and rear of the outer drum in an axial direction, and the rotation direction of the inner drum is controlled according to the distribution of the air chambers, such that air is supplied in different positions corresponding to the front part and the rear part of the inner drum at different clothes drying stages, in order to dry clothes.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A tumble dryer, comprising:
an inner drum;
an outer drum;
an air heating and supplying means and an air duct;
wherein, the dryer includes:
a first air chamber;
a second air chamber, wherein the first air chamber and the second air chamber are respectively located on a left side and a right side of the outer drum for blowing hot air from a side wall of the outer drum to the inner drum,

each air chamber communicates with the air duct and is configured to be controlled to open and close independently,
an air supply direction respectively corresponds to a rising and falling path of the clothes by a rotation of the inner drum, wherein
during drying, the inner drum is configured to rotate forwardly and reversely, the opening and closing of the air chambers is configured to be switched so that the air chamber corresponding to a clothes falling path is open to supply air, the other air chamber is closed; and
a third air chamber on a bottom of the outer drum and configured to have an upward blowing direction.

2. The tumble dryer according to claim 1 , wherein, all air chambers are distributed in an order of front and rear of the outer drum in an axial direction.

3. The tumble dryer according to claim 2 , wherein, an opening and closing of each air chamber and the rotation direction of the inner drum are configured to be controlled in accordance with a drying time and/or a temperature inside the outer drum and/or a humidity of the clothes.

4. The tumble dryer according to claim 1 , wherein, the first chamber and the second chamber are respectively located at a front end and a rear end of the outer drum, the third air chamber is arranged in a middle.

5. The tumble dryer according to claim 1 , comprising:
a one-way valve provided on an inlet pipe of each air chamber, each chamber is in communication with the air duct through a same air distribution valve, the air chambers are configured to be controlled to receive air by the air distribution valve, or each air chamber is respectively connected with the air duct, and each air chamber is correspondingly provided with an open control valve.

6. The tumble dryer according to claim 1 , wherein, each air chamber comprises an air inlet and an opening, and a vent cover for blowing air is arranged on the opening, the vent cover is evenly distributed with a plurality of vent holes.

7. A drying method of the tumble dryer according to claim 1 , wherein, all air chambers are distributed in an order of front and rear of the outer drum in an axial direction of the outer drum, the rotation direction of the inner drum is controlled according to the distribution order of each air chamber so as to supply air in front or rear positions of the inner drum for drying in different drying stages.

8. The drying method according to claim 7 , wherein, the method comprises at least two stages which is an early drying stage and a late drying stage, the air chamber which blows air from a left side of the outer drum is also located at a rear end of the outer drum, and the air chamber which blows air from a right side of the outer drum is also located at a front end of the outer drum,
during the early drying stage, the inner drum rotates counter-clockwise for a whole stage or most of the time, the clothes on the left side fall, the air chamber on the left side is open to supply air, the air chamber on the right side is closed;
during the late drying stage, the inner drum rotates clockwise for a whole stage or most of the time, the clothes on the right side fall, the air chamber on the right side is open to supply air, the air chamber on the left side is closed.

9. The drying method according to claim 8 , wherein, a lower air chamber is provided at a middle position on a lower part of the outer drum, the lower air chamber cooperates with the air chambers on both left and right sides of the outer drum to dry the clothes during the early and late drying stages,
or, a mid-drying stage is added, the lower air chamber is open during the mid-drying stage, the air chambers on the left and right sides of the outer drum are closed.

10. A tumble dryer, comprising:
an inner drum;
an outer drum; and
a first drying system in which air is blown in from a front/rear of the outer drum,
a second drying system, including:
a first air chamber;
a second air chamber, wherein the first air chamber and the second air chamber are configured for blowing hot air from a side wall of the outer drum to the inside, the first air chamber and the second air chamber are respectively located on a left side and a right side of the outer drum, and correspond to a rising and falling path of the clothes driven by a rotation of the inner drum, and each air chamber configured to be independently controlled to blow hot air in, and

during drying, the inner drum is configured to rotate forwardly and reversely, the opening and closing of the air chambers is configured to be switched so that the air chamber corresponding to a clothes falling path is open to supply air, the air chamber on the other side is closed; and
a third air chamber installed on a bottom of the outer drum, and configured to have an upward blowing direction.

11. The tumble dryer according to claim 10 , wherein, the first drying system is a main drying system, and
the second drying system is an auxiliary drying system, wherein during drying the second drying system is configured to control the opening and closing of the air chambers with the first drying system to complete the drying.

12. The tumble dryer according to claim 10 , wherein, all air chambers are distributed in the order of front and rear in an axial direction of the outer drum,
and/or each air chamber is distributed in the circumferential direction of the outer drum.

13. The tumble dryer according to claim 10 , wherein, the first chamber and the second chamber are respectively located at a front end and a rear end of the outer drum.

14. The tumble dryer according to claim 10 , comprising:
a one-way valve provided on an inlet pipe of each air chamber, each air chamber is in communication with the air duct through a same air distribution valve, and the air chambers are configured to be controlled to receive air by an air distribution valve, or each air chamber is respectively communicated with the air duct, and each air chamber is correspondingly provided with an open control valve.

15. The tumble dryer according to claim 10 , wherein, the second drying system shares an air supplying means with the first drying system, and air is diverted to the first drying system and the second drying system through the air duct, or the second drying system and the first drying system are respectively connected to a corresponding heating means.

Assignees

• Qingdao Haier Drum Washing Machine Co Ltd
• Qingdao Haier Drum Washing Machines Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lv Peishi
• Xu Sheng
• Song Huacheng
• Yin Junming

Classifications

• D06F2105/24

  Flow or velocity · CPC title

• D06F2103/36

  Flow or velocity · CPC title

• D06F58/04 Primary

  Details  (controlling or regulating devices D06F34/00) · CPC title

• D06F2058/2864

  Textiles & Paper · mapped topic

• D06F58/20

  General details of domestic laundry dryers  (D06F59/00 takes precedence) · CPC title