EP3284858B1

EP3284858B1 - Laundry dryer with fan

Info

Publication number: EP3284858B1
Application number: EP17182738.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Uwe Dey; Maoyin Li; Yonggang Xu; Qixia You; Qi Zhang
Original assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Current assignee: BSH Hausgeraete GmbH
Priority date: 2016-08-19
Filing date: 2017-07-24
Publication date: 2019-05-01
Anticipated expiration: 2037-07-24
Also published as: EP3284858A1; CN107761340A; PL3284858T3

Description

The present invention relates to a fan of a laundry dryer.
A high temperature is generally produced on some parts in an operation process of a laundry dryer. For example, a temperature of a motor driving a drying barrel to rotate rises, an air heating channel heating air causes temperatures of surrounding parts to rise, a temperature of a fan motor driving air flow rises, and a temperature of a circuit board rises after operation for a long time. Excessively high temperatures of these parts may affect performance and lives of the parts. Therefore, cooling or heat insulation for these parts needs to be considered by designers. In addition, it is also desired by designers to cool walls of a drying chamber so that the drying chamber itself has a condensation effect to some extent.
These cooling or heat insulation measures above may be implemented by means of providing a heat insulation pad or additionally providing a fan. However, the heat insulation pad does not have a desirable effect, and cannot be used for some parts. It is also undesirable to provide a fan dedicatedly for a cooling purpose inside a body of the dryer. A fan occupies a relatively large space, consequently increasing a size of the dryer and increasing great costs at the same time.
DE 31 35 289 A1 refers to a laundry dryer having a cabinet and a drying chamber. Air for drying the laundry inside the drying chamber quits the drying chamber via an air channel associated with an opening into a blower space. The air is sucked by a fan and flows via an air channel to a condenser.
EP 2 843 119 A1 refers to a laundry dryer comprising a cabinet, a laundry chamber enclosed within the cabinet for containing laundry to be dried, and a worktop atop the cabinet, the worktop integrating a drying process air circulation system adapted to continuously circulate process air through the laundry chamber.
US 2011/041260 A1 refers to a controlled moisture removal in a laundry dryer. Air from the outside may enter via a ventilation path the drying chamber of the laundry dryer. The heated air may flow via a dispensing circuit through a dispenser for leaving the laundry dryer.
EP 1 270 793 A2 refers to a laundry dryer. The laundry dryer is provided with a double inlet fan. The double inlet fan is installed at the center of an exhaust duct and a suction increasing duct, for sucking air and exhausting the air to both direction. Air from the outside of the laundry dryer may enter the laundry dryer via inflow holes and may be removed from the laundry dryer via an air path at the bottom of the laundry dryer.
EP 2 886 705 A1 refers to a dryer for wall mounted washing machines. The dryer is provided with a duct body having multiple air paths separated by walls. The duct body is covered by a cover. A fan is installed at the inlet of the duct body and outside a heater. The fan has a fan housing, which however does not provide a secondary air channel being formed between the cover and the housing.
An objective of the present invention is to modify a fan in a laundry dryer, so that the fan can provide an additional cooling function without changes of an original function and performance of the fan.
For the foregoing objective, the present invention provides a laundry dryer as claimed in the independent claim. Preferred facultative embodiments of the invention are claimed in dependent claims, described in the subsequent disclosure and exhibited in the attached drawing. The invention also includes combinations of such preferred embodiments as disclosed as further facultative preferred embodiments.
Accordingly the present invention provides a laundry dryer with a fan, including a cabinet and a drying chamber, and the fan having a primary air channel formed by a housing, where the housing is covered by a cover outside, a secondary air channel having an inlet and an outlet is formed between the cover and the housing, impellers rotating with a rotator of a motor are provided in the secondary air channel, the impellers are disposed such that when the impellers rotate with the rotator, air is driven to enter the secondary air channel from the inlet of the secondary air channel and exit from the outlet of the secondary air channel, the inlet and the outlet of the secondary air channel respectively extend by using a first pipe and a second pipe, and an outlet of the second pipe is close to an apparatus that needs to be cooled in the cabinet.
The fan in the present invention has both the primary air channel and the secondary air channel. The primary air channel can fulfill an original function, and the secondary air channel can guide an airflow to the apparatus that needs to be cooled. In addition, when flowing through the secondary air channel, the air further cools the motor of the fan itself. In the present invention, modification to the fan is minor, costs are low, the newly added parts occupy a small space, and the cabinet and other parts of the laundry dryer do not need to be modified.
Preferably, the inlet of the secondary air channel introduces ambient air from the outside of the cabinet through the first pipe. In this way, not only air in the cabinet is not unnecessarily disturbed, but also a temperature of the ambient air is usually lower than a temperature of the air in the cabinet.
The apparatus that needs to be cooled includes at least one of a circuit system, an outer wall of the drying chamber, and a detergent adding apparatus, where the detergent adding apparatus is installed closely to a heat source.
The detergent adding apparatus includes an accommodating chamber adapted to store a detergent for multiple washing processes, and the outlet of the second pipe faces the accommodating chamber. Air from the secondary air channel removes heat of the accommodating chamber, reduces a temperature in the accommodating chamber, thereby avoiding deterioration of the detergent or a decrease in chemical performance of the detergent due to a high temperature.
The fan is disposed neighboring an air heating channel that heats air entering the drying chamber, and the inlet and the outlet of the secondary air channel of the fan are isolated from an ambient space in which the air heating channel is located. In this way, rotation of the impellers does not disturb ambient air of the air heating channel, thereby avoiding a heat loss of the air heating channel arising therefrom.
At least a part of the rotator of the motor of the fan is located in the secondary air channel between the housing and the cover, and the impellers are disposed in a peripheral direction of the part of the rotator of the motor that is located in the secondary air channel. In such a setting manner, an occupied space is small, a structure is simple, and manufacturing costs are low.
The present invention is further described below with reference to the accompanying drawing.
The disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description of preferred embodiments exhibited in the drawing, given herein below for illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the disclosure. In the drawing:

FIG. 1: is a schematic structural diagram of a dryer; and
FIG. 2: is three-dimensional diagrams of a housing and a cover of a fan in a separate state.

As shown in FIG. 1, a laundry dryer 100 has a cabinet 1. A drying chamber 2 is provided in the cabinet 1. The drying chamber 2 includes a rotatable drum 3 and a tub 4 located outside the drum 3. Spaces of the drum 3 and the tub 4 communicate. Pieces of laundry are dried in the drum 3. The tub 4 sequentially connects to a condensation channel 5, a fan 6, and an air heating channel 7. An outlet of the air heating channel 7 communicates with the space of the tub 4 again. After the fan 6 is started, air is driven to sequentially circulate in a direction of the fan 6, the air heating channel 7, the drying chamber 2, the condensation channel 5, and the fan 6.
In the specific implementation shown in FIG. 1, the laundry dryer 100 further includes a detergent adding apparatus 8. The detergent adding apparatus 8 includes an accommodating chamber 9 adapted to store a detergent for multiple washing processes. The detergent adding apparatus 8 is disposed neighboring the air heating channel 7. Therefore, heat radiating from the air heating channel 7 causes a temperature of the detergent adding apparatus 8 to increase.
With reference to FIG. 1 in combination with FIG. 2, the fan 6 has a primary air channel 11 formed by a housing 10. The primary air channel 11 is in fluid communication with the drying chamber 2 and the air heating channel 7. The housing 10 is covered by a cover 12 outside. A secondary air channel 15 having an inlet 13 and an outlet 14 is formed between the cover 12 and the housing 10. The inlet 13 and the outlet 14 of the secondary air channel 15 respectively extend by using a first pipe 16 and a second pipe 17. At least a part of a rotator 61 of a motor of the fan 6 is located in the secondary air channel 15 between the housing 10 and the cover 12. Impellers 62 are provided in a peripheral direction of the part of the rotator 61 of the motor that is located in the secondary air channel 15. When the impellers 62 rotate with the rotator 61, air is driven to enter the secondary air channel 15 from the inlet 13 of the secondary air channel 15 and exit from the outlet 14 of the secondary air channel 15.
The inlet 13 of the secondary air channel 15 connects to the outside of the cabinet 1 by using the first pipe 16, so as to introduce ambient air with a lower temperature from the outside of the cabinet 1.
An end of the second pipe 17 connecting to the outlet 14 of the secondary air channel 15 connects to a frame 19 provided around a detergent accommodating chamber 9. An outlet 18 of the second pipe 17 faces the accommodating chamber 9. Therefore, after ambient air with a lower temperature enters the secondary air channel 15, some heat of the fan 6 is removed, and the ambient air continues flowing and blows into the detergent accommodating chamber 9, thereby cooling the detergent accommodating chamber 9. The outlet 14 of the secondary air channel 15 is isolated by using the fame 19 from an ambient space in which the air heating channel 7 is located.
In another implementation not shown in FIG. 1, the outlet 18 of the second pipe 17 may be close to another apparatus that needs to be cooled, for example, a circuit system or an outer wall of the drying chamber 2. However, when the circuit system or the drying chamber 2 is cooled, the outlet 18 of the second pipe 17 is preferably far away from the ambient space in which the air heating channel 7 is located, and is better isolated therefrom in space.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

1 Cabinet
2 Drying chamber
3 Drum
4 Tub
5 Condensation channel
6 Fan
7 Air heating channel
8 Detergent adding apparatus
9 Accommodating chamber
10 Housing
11 Primary air channel
12 Cover
13 Inlet
14 Outlet
15 Secondary air channel
16 First pipe
17 Second pipe
18 Outlet
19 Frame
61 Rotator
62 Impeller
100 Laundry dryer

Claims

A laundry dryer (100) with a fan (6), comprising a cabinet (1) and a drying chamber (2), wherein the fan has a primary air channel (11) formed by a housing (10), the primary air channel (11) being in fluid communication with the drying chamber (2) and the air heating channel (7), wherein impellers (62) rotating with a rotator (61) of a motor of the fan (6) are provided in a secondary air channel (15), the impellers (62) are such disposed that when the impellers (62) rotate with the rotator (61), air is driven to enter the secondary air channel (15) from an inlet (13) of the secondary air channel (15) and exit from an outlet (14) of the secondary air channel (15), wherein the fan (6) has both the primary air channel (11) and the secondary air channel (15), characterized in that the housing (10) is covered by a cover (12) outside, the secondary air channel (15) having the inlet (13) and the outlet (14) is formed between the cover (12) and the housing (10), the inlet (13) and the outlet (14) of the secondary air channel (15) respectively extend by using a first pipe (16) and a second pipe (17) and an outlet (14) of the second pipe (17) is close to an apparatus (2, 8) that needs to be cooled in the cabinet (1).
The laundry dryer (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the inlet (13) of the secondary air channel (15) introduces ambient air from the outside of the cabinet (1) through the first pipe (16).
The laundry dryer (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the apparatus (2, 8) that needs to be cooled comprises at least one of a circuit system, an outer wall of the drying chamber (2), and a detergent adding apparatus (8), wherein the detergent adding apparatus (8) is installed closely to a heat source.
The laundry dryer (100) according to claim 3, characterized in that the detergent adding apparatus (8) comprises an accommodating chamber (9) adapted to store a detergent for multiple washing processes, and the outlet (14) of the second pipe (17) faces the accommodating chamber (9).
The laundry dryer (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the fan (6) is disposed neighboring an air heating channel (7) that heats air entering the drying chamber (2), and the inlet (13) and the outlet (14) of the secondary air channel (15) of the fan (6) are isolated from an ambient space in which the air heating channel (8) is located.
The laundry dryer (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that at least a part of the rotator (61) of the motor of the fan (6) is located in the secondary air channel (15) between the housing (10) and the cover (12), and the impellers (62) are disposed in a peripheral direction of the part of the rotator (61) of the motor that is located in the secondary air channel (15).