Household clothes drying machine with clothes disinfection cycle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9644310-B2
Application number	US-33297408-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2008
Priority date	Mar 8, 2005
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

Clothes drying machine comprising a drum holding the clothes to be dried, a first fan adapted to blow a first flow of drying air through said drum, and possibly a condenser adapted to condense the moisture out of the drying air exiting said drum. The machine is provided with a drying program that includes a step involving an increase in the temperature of the air introduced in said drum, in which said temperature is increased to a value of at least 130° C. and held there for a pre-set period of time, and said temperature increase step is provided in the initial portion of the drying program, when the moisture content of the clothes is not less than 20%.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of drying clothing, comprising the steps of:
providing first heated air into a drum holding clothing to be dried;
monitoring a condition of said clothing in said drum during said drying;
detecting when said condition nears or reaches a predetermined moisture content threshold; and
responsive to detecting that said condition is nearing or has reached said predetermined moisture content threshold, providing second heated air into the drum, said second heated air being heated to a greater temperature than said first heated air and being provided for a period of time for raising a temperature of the clothing.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said predetermined threshold is between 40% and 20% moisture content.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said condition is an elapse of time.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said predetermined threshold is greater than or equal to 30% moisture content.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of, after an elapsed predetermined period of time, providing third heated air into the drum, said third heated air being heated to a lower temperature than said second heated air.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said temperature of said second heated air is at least 130 degrees Celsius.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said period of time is at least 15 minutes.

8. A method of drying clothing, comprising the steps of:
providing first heated air into a drum holding clothing to be dried;
monitoring a moisture content of said clothing in said drum during said drying;
detecting when said moisture content is reduced to a predetermined threshold;
responsive to detecting that said moisture content has been reduced to said predetermined threshold, providing second heated air into the drum, said second heated air being heated to a greater temperature than said first heated air and being provided for raising a temperature of the clothing; and
after a predetermined period of time or in response to detecting when said moisture content reaches another predetermined threshold, providing third heated air into the drum, said third heated air being heated to a lower temperature than said second heated air.

9. A method of drying clothing in a clothes dryer comprising: a drum for holding clothes to be dried, a heating element, an inlet conduit through which a flow of heated air is blown into said drum using a circulation fan, an outlet conduit through which moisture-laden hot air is taken out of said drum, and a control means for executing a control program, said method comprising the steps of:
providing first heated air into the drum holding clothing to be dried;
said control means monitoring a moisture condition of said clothing in said drum during said drying;
said control means detecting when said moisture condition nears or reaches a predetermined threshold; and
responsive to detecting that said moisture condition is nearing or has reached said predetermined threshold, providing second heated air into the drum, said second heated air being heated to a greater temperature than said first heated air and being provided for a period of time for raising a temperature of the clothing.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising the steps of:
passing moisture-laden hot air removed from the drum through a condenser;
passing cooling air through a cooling-air conduit adapted for circulating the cooling air through said condenser; and
using a second circulation fan provided within said cooling-air conduit, wherein said circulation fan and said second circulation fan are controllable by said control means independently of each other, wherein said increase in temperature of said second heated air is produced by a controlled reduction or cessation of the flow of cooling air circulating through said condenser.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of:
passing moisture-laden hot air removed from the drum through a condenser;
passing cooling air through a cooling-air conduit adapted for circulating the cooling air through said condenser; and
using a second circulation fan provided within said cooling-air conduit to circulate said cooling air;
rotating said circulation fan and said second circulation fan using a single motor adapted to rotate selectively in a main direction and in a secondary reverse direction, wherein the increase in temperature of said second heated air is produced by both of said circulation fan and said second circulation fan being driven to rotate in a single respective direction of rotation, so as to cause the flow of cooling air circulating through said condenser to be significantly reduced.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising the steps of:
using a fan adapted to circulate in said drum, via said inlet conduit and said outlet conduit, a stream of air heated by an appropriate heating element;
passing moisture-laden hot air removed from the drum through a condenser;
using a second circulation fan provided within said cooling-air conduit to circulate said cooling air;
using a second circulation fan provided within said cooling-air conduit to circulate said cooling air;
rotating said circulation fan and said second circulation fan using a single motor adapted to rotate selectively in a main direction and in a secondary reverse direction and to jointly and correspondingly drive said circulation fan and said second circulation fan,
sensing a temperature of an outlet conduit through which moisture-laden air is taken out of said drum using a sensor, wherein
said increase in temperature of said second heated air is produced by both of said circulation fan and said second circulation fan being driven to rotate in a single respective direction of rotation, so as to cause the flow of cooling air circulating through said condenser to be significantly reduced, in response to said clothes drying machine executing a program with instructions for increasing the temperature of the air introduced in said drum to a desired value for a pre-set period of time when a moisture content of the clothes is sensed to have reached a pre-determined level.

13. A method of drying clothing, comprising the steps of:
providing heated air into a drum holding clothing to be dried in a first drying phase, wherein a temperature of said heated air is constrained to being below a first temperature;
monitoring a moisture content of said clothing in said drum during said first drying phase;
detecting when said moisture content reaches a predetermined moisture content threshold; and
responsive to detecting that said moisture content is near or has reached said predetermined moisture content threshold, providing heated air into the drum for a second drying phase, said heated air being heated to a greater temperature than said first temperature and being provided for a predetermined period of time.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein during said first drying phase, a substantial amount of moisture is removed from said heated air by a condenser prior to said heated air being provided into the drum, whereas during said second drying phase, little to no moisture is removed from said heated air by said condenser prior to said heated air being provided into said drum.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein during said first drying phase, cooling air is utilized as an air source in providing said heated air into the drum, whereas during said second drying phase, the cooling air is not utilized as an air source in providing said heated air into the drum.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein during said first d

Assignees

• Cimetta Silvano
• Noviello Flavio
• Electrolux Home Products Corp Nv

Inventors

• Cimetta Silvano
• Noviello Flavio

Classifications

• D06F2103/38

  Time, e.g. duration · CPC title

• D06F2103/08

  Humidity · CPC title

• D06F58/30

  Drying processes  (controlling a series of operations in domestic laundry dryers D06F58/32) · CPC title

• D06F58/20 Primary

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

• D06F2103/10

  expressed as capacitance or resistance · CPC title