Steam iron

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9879375-B2
Application number	US-201515325755-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 11, 2015
Priority date	Aug 26, 2014
Publication date	Jan 30, 2018
Grant date	Jan 30, 2018

Abstract

A steam iron ( 10 ) comprises a steam generator ( 15 ) comprising a main body portion ( 15 a ) including an electrical heating element ( 16 ) to heat the steam generator ( 15 ), and an ironing plate ( 13 ) coupled to the steam generator ( 15 ) via a thermal coupling and configured to be passively heated by conduction of heat from the steam generator ( 15 ) via the thermal coupling. The thermal coupling between the steam generator ( 15 ) and the ironing plate ( 13 ) comprises an indirect thermal path formed by a flange ( 22 ) of the steam generator ( 15 ), the flange ( 22 ) being in contact with the ironing plate ( 13 ) and being spaced from the main body portion ( 15 a ) of the steam generator ( 15 ), the flange ( 22 ) also being configured to space the main body portion ( 15 a ) of the steam generator ( 15 ) from the ironing plate ( 13 ) to restrict the conduction of heat from the main body portion ( 15 a ) of the steam generator ( 15 ) to the ironing plate ( 13 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A steam iron comprising:
a steam generator comprising a main body portion including an electrical heating element to heat the steam generator and a flange integrally formed with the main body portion and spaced therefrom;
an ironing plate coupled to the steam generator via a thermal coupling and configured to be passively heated by conduction of heat from the steam generator via the thermal coupling,
wherein the flange is in contact with a thermal distribution area integrally formed with the ironing plate to thermally couple the main body portion of the steam generator to the ironing plate via an indirect thermal path through the flange, the thermal distribution area being configured to dissipate heat evenly across an ironing surface of the ironing plate, the flange and the thermal distribution area being configured to space the main body portion of the steam generator from the ironing plate to form an air gap between the main body portion of the steam generator and the ironing plate, and to restrict the conduction of heat from the main body portion of the steam generator to the ironing plate, and wherein the thermal distribution area of the ironing plate comprises an area of increased thickness in a region where the flange contacts the ironing plate to enhance thermal distribution of conducted heat from the flange through the ironing plate, the steam iron further comprising:
a controller configured to control operation of the steam iron to perform a first heating operation upon initial heating of the steam iron, and to perform a second heating operation during subsequent operation of the steam iron, wherein the first heating operation comprises heating the steam generator to a higher temperature range than with the second heating operation.

2. The steam iron according to claim 1 , wherein the flange comprises a first portion extending in a first direction from the main body portion of the steam generator, and a second portion extending from the first portion such that a gap is defined between the main body portion of the steam generator and the second portion of the flange.

3. The steam iron according to claim 1 , wherein the flange is between 1-3 mm thick.

4. The steam iron according to claim 1 , wherein the width of the flange at the contact point between the flange and the ironing plate is between 1-3 mm over at least 50% of the contact area.

5. The steam iron according to claim 1 , wherein the steam generator is primarily coupled to the ironing plate by the flange and the remainder of the steam generator is spaced from the ironing plate over at least 75% of the adjacent surface of the steam generator.

6. The steam iron according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the mass of the steam generator to the mass of the ironing plate is between 1:1 and 1.5:1.

7. A steam iron comprising:
a steam generator comprising a main body portion including an electrical heating element to heat the steam generator and a flange integrally formed with the main body portion and spaced therefrom; and
an ironing plate coupled to the steam generator via a thermal coupling and configured to be passively heated by conduction of heat from the steam generator via the thermal coupling,
wherein the flange is in contact with a thermal distribution area integrally formed with the ironing plate to thermally couple the main body portion of the steam generator to the ironing plate via an indirect thermal path through the flange, the thermal distribution area being configured to dissipate heat evenly across an ironing surface of the ironing plate, the flange and the thermal distribution area being configured to space the main body portion of the steam generator from the ironing plate to form an air gap between the main body portion of the steam generator and the ironing plate, and to restrict the conduction of heat from the main body portion of the steam generator to the ironing plate, and
wherein the thermal distribution area of the ironing plate comprises an area of increased thickness in the region where the flange contacts the ironing plate to enhance thermal distribution of conducted heat from the flange through the ironing plate.

8. A steam iron comprising:
a steam generator comprising a main body portion including an electrical heating element to heat the steam generator and a flange integrally formed with the main body portion and spaced therefrom;
an ironing plate couple to the steam generator via a thermal coupling and configured to be passively heated by conduction of heat from the steam generator via the thermal coupling, wherein the flange is in contact with a thermal distribution area integrally formed with the ironing plate to thermally couple the main body portion of the steam generator to the ironing plate via an indirect thermal path through the flange, the thermal distribution area being configured to dissipate heat evenly across an ironing surface of the ironing plate, the flange and the thermal distribution area being configured to space the main body portion of the steam generator from the ironing plate to form an air gap between the main body portion of the steam generator and the ironing plate, and to restrict the conduction of heat from the main body portion of the steam generator to the ironing plate; and
a controller to control operation of the steam iron, wherein the controller is configured to perform a first heating operation upon initial heating of the steam iron, and perform a second heating operation during subsequent operation of the steam iron, wherein the first heating operation comprises heating the steam generator to a higher temperature range than with the second heating operation.

9. The steam iron according to claim 8 , wherein the first heating operation comprises heating the steam generator to remain above a first minimum predetermined temperature, and the second heating operation comprises heating the steam generator to remain above a second minimum predetermined temperature, wherein the first minimum temperature is higher than the second minimum temperature.

10. The steam iron according to claim 8 , wherein during the second heating operation the steam generator is maintained at a temperature between 140 and 200 degrees Celsius.

11. The steam iron according to claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to perform the first heating operation until the ironing plate reaches a predetermined minimum operating temperature.

12. The steam iron according to claim 11 , wherein the minimum operating temperature is 100 degrees Celsius.

13. The steam iron according to claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to control the temperature of the steam generator such that the temperature of the ironing plate is maintained between 100 degrees Celsius and 145 degrees Celsius.

14. The steam iron according to claim 8 , further comprising at least one of a motion sensor and an orientation sensor connected to the controller, and the controller is configured to control the heating of the steam generator in dependence upon at least one parameter of ironing direction, speed and iron orientation as detected by the at least one sensor.

15. The steam iron according to claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to control operation of the steam generator such that if the temperature of the steam generator falls below a first predetermined value, then the controller sets a steam generator heater switch OFF value for an initial heating cycle of the steam iron to a second predetermined value, whereas during subsequent ironing operation the steam generator is operated at a third predetermined temperature

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Wong William Wai Lik
• Valiyambath Krishnan Mohankumar
• Png Luck Wee
• Xu Linfang

Classifications

• D06F75/24 Primary

  Arrangements of the heating means within the iron; Arrangements for distributing, conducting or storing the heat · CPC title

• D06F75/16

  the reservoir being heated to produce the steam · CPC title

• D06F75/20

  Arrangements for discharging the steam to the article being ironed · CPC title