Clothing dryer and control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9334603-B2
Application number	US-201414244335-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 3, 2014
Priority date	Apr 3, 2013
Publication date	May 10, 2016
Grant date	May 10, 2016

Abstract

A clothing dryer and control method thereof is provided. A conventional dryness sensor may be used, without installation of a separate component, to detect breakage of a belt. Upon detection of belt breakage, the motor is stopped together with report of abnormality of the to reduce cost. A conventional temperature sensor may be used to maintain a proper surface temperature of a door of the clothing dryer, without installation of a separate component. Thereby, harm to a user due to rise in the surface temperature of the door may be prevented, and degradation of drying quality may be prevented. Furthermore, the pipe temperature of a compressor may be used to detect incorrect or broken wiring of the compressor. When incorrect or broken wiring of the compressor is detected, the compress is stopped together with report of to protect the product.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control method of a clothing dryer provided with a drum to accommodate an object to be dried, a motor to generate power to rotate the drum, and a belt to transfer the power of the motor to the drum, the control method comprising:
rotating the drum according to operation of the motor to dry the object;
detecting a degree of dryness of the object for a specific time and calculating change in the degree of dryness;
converting the degree of dryness to pulse values, and accumulating deviations of the pulse values for the specific time;
determining that the belt is abnormal if a mean absolute deviation of the accumulated pulse values is equal to or less than a set value, the abnormality being that the belt is either broken or displaced; and
stopping the motor when determining that the belt is abnormal.

2. The control method according to claim 1 , wherein:
a first time period begins at the beginning of the drying operation;
the specific time is a second time period during the drying operation before the first time period elapses, and
the second time period is shorter than the first time period.

3. The control method according to claim 1 , wherein the specific time is a time period since beginning of the change in the degree of dryness during a drying operation.

4. The control method according to claim 2 , wherein the first time is about 20 minutes.

5. The control method according to claim 2 , wherein the second time is about 10 minutes.

6. The control method according to claim 1 , further comprising stopping the motor and at the same time stopping a compressor to compress a refrigerant to heat air flowing into the drum, when determining that the belt is abnormal.

7. The control method according to claim 1 , further comprising,
reporting that the belt is abnormal through an alarm or a visible indication, when determining that the belt is abnormal.

8. A clothing dryer comprising:
a drum to accommodate an object to be dried;
a motor to generate power to rotate the drum;
a belt to transfer the power of the motor to the drum;
a dryness sensor to detect a degree of dryness of the object, and output pulse values that correspond to the degree of dryness of the object; and
a controller to detect change in sensor values of the dryness sensor for a specific time to determine whether the belt is abnormal, the abnormality being that the belt is either broken or displaced,
wherein the controller is arranged to accumulate deviations of the pulse values input through the dryness sensor for the specific time, and to determine that the belt is abnormal when a mean absolute deviation of the accumulated pulse values is equal to or less than a set value.

9. The clothing dryer according to claim 8 , wherein the degree of dryness is converted into an electrical signal.

10. The clothing dryer according to claim 8 , wherein the controller stops the motor when the controller determines that the belt is abnormal.

11. The clothing dryer according to claim 10 , wherein, when the controller determines that the belt is abnormal, the controller stops the motor and at the same time stops a compressor to compress a refrigerant to heat air flowing into the drum.

12. The clothing dryer according to claim 10 , further comprising a display unit to display abnormality of the belt or an alarm unit to produce an alarm sound or a buzzer sound, in order to report that the belt is abnormal.

13. A control method of a clothing dryer provided with a door and a drum to accommodate an object to be dried, a motor to rotate the drum, and a compressor to compress a refrigerant to heat air flowing into the drum, the control method comprising:
performing a drying operation by driving the motor and the compressor;
detecting a temperature of air discharged from the drum using a temperature sensor during the drying operation; and
comparing the detected temperature at the outlet of the drum with a predetermined reference temperature, and controlling operation of the compressor according to a result of the comparison to keep a surface temperature of the door constant.

14. The control method according to claim 13 , wherein the temperature sensor is a thermistor.

15. The control method according to claim 14 , wherein the thermistor is installed in a discharge channel allowing the air having passed through the drum to be discharged therethrough.

16. The control method according to claim 13 , wherein the controlling of the operation of the compressor comprises:
stopping the compressor when the temperature of the discharged air of the drum is equal to or higher than a first reference temperature; and
driving the compressor when the temperature of the discharged air of the drum is equal to or higher than a second reference temperature.

17. The control method according to claim 16 , wherein the motor is driven regardless of whether or not the compressor is stopped.

18. The control method according to claim 3 , wherein the time is about 10 minutes.

19. A control method of a clothing dryer provided with a door and a drum to accommodate an object to be dried, a motor to rotate the drum, and a compressor to compress and discharge a refrigerant through a pipe to heat air flowing into the drum, the control method comprising:
performing a drying operation by driving the motor and the compressor;
detecting an initial pipe temperature of the pipe using a temperature sensor installed at a discharge side of the compressor at the beginning of the drying operation;
determining whether a predetermined time has elapsed during the drying operation;
detecting a current pipe temperature after the predetermined time has elapsed and calculating a difference between the initial pipe temperature and the current pipe temperature; and
controlling operation of the motor and compressor according to a result of the calculated difference to protect the clothing dryer from damage due to broken wiring or incorrect wiring of the clothing dryer causing a heat surge and informing the user according to the result by a sound or a visual display.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Oak Seong Min
• Kim Do Haeng
• Kim Ju Dai

Classifications

• D06F2103/00

  Parameters monitored or detected for the control of domestic laundry washing machines, washer-dryers or laundry dryers · CPC title

• D06F58/38

  of drying, e.g. to achieve the target humidity · CPC title

• D06F2105/46

  Drum speed; Actuation of motors, e.g. starting or interrupting · CPC title

• D06F2103/34

  Humidity · CPC title

• D06F2103/08

  Humidity · CPC title