KR20100018383A - Clothes processor and method for driving thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a clothes treating apparatus and a driving method thereof. The clothes treating apparatus and its operation method according to the present invention are performed by separating the operation of supplying steam to the drum and the operation of supplying fragrance molecules, thereby first removing the odor remaining in the laundry and then smelling the laundry from which the odor has been removed. The fragrance effect can be improved by making it cut. In addition, the vapor generated in the process of flavoring the laundry to the low-temperature drying can prevent the fragrance from deteriorating the flavoring effect due to the thermal characteristics.

Description

Clothing processing device and its driving method {CLOTHES PROCESSOR AND METHOD FOR DRIVING THEREOF}

The present invention relates to a clothes treating apparatus such as a washing machine or a clothes dryer and a method of operating the same.

In general, some washing machines or clothes dryers are provided with a clothes drying function of blowing hot air into a drum forming a drying room to absorb and dry moisture of a drying object. Clothing drying function can be largely divided into exhaust type and condensation type according to the treatment method of the wet air generated while drying the drying object.

The exhaust type uses a method of exhausting the wet air discharged from the drum to the outside of the dryer. In this case, an exhaust duct for exhausting the vaporized water in the drum to the outside is required, and in particular, since the carbon monoxide, which is a combustion product, is exhausted together, the exhaust duct must be extended to be installed outside.

The condensation type uses a method of condensing the wet air exhausted from the drum in the heat exchanger to remove moisture, and then sending the removed dry air back to the drum for recycling. In this case, it is not easy to use gas as a heat source because the dry flow forms a closed loop.

The clothes drying method that overcomes the disadvantages of the exhaust type and the condensation type is a ductless method. In the ductless method, the humid air exhausted from the drum is condensed with a heat exchanger without being discharged to the outside and discharged into the room. Accordingly, in the ductless method, unlike the exhaust type, the exhaust duct does not need to be extended to the outside, and unlike the condensation type, the gas can be used as a heat source.

However, irrespective of the method of drying clothes, the inside of the drum after washing or drying is a high temperature and high humidity environment, and thus bacteria, mold, etc. are easily reproduced, and odors tend to occur.

Therefore, conventionally, fragrances such as softeners and fragrances were put in the drums before the end of drying so that the fragrance was applied to the clothes. For example, in the case of using a softening agent, the softening agent is supplied with water so that the fragrance is applied to the laundry. On the other hand, in the case of using a fragrance, the fragrance is blown by using a drying fan to heat the fragrance, and the molecules of the fragrance impregnated by the hot air are leached and evaporated while the vaporized molecules are supplied to the drum. To attach them evenly.

However, the clothes treating apparatus as described above has a limitation that the fragrance of the laundry cannot be smoothly applied as the deodorizing operation for removing the odor from the laundry and the flavoring operation for the fragrance of the fragrance are performed at the same time.

The present invention solves the problems of the conventional clothes processing apparatus as described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a clothes processing apparatus and a driving method for the fragrance is well scented to the laundry by separating the deodorizing operation and the flavoring operation. .

In order to achieve the object of the present invention, the main body having a drying chamber for drying the laundry; A steam supply unit installed inside the main body to generate steam and supply the steam to the drying chamber; An incense supply unit installed in the main body to generate incense and supply the incense to the drying chamber; And a low temperature drying unit installed inside the main body to supply room temperature air to the drying chamber to dry steam.

In addition, the clothes processing apparatus for supplying the steam generated in the steam supply unit and the fragrance generated in the fragrance generating unit to the drying chamber, wherein the steam supply unit and the fragrance supply unit is operated at least once a predetermined time difference. The driving method of is provided.

In addition, supplying steam to the drying chamber to deodorize the odor from the clothes of the drying chamber; Supplying incense to the drying chamber so that the clothes are flavored; And evaporating the steam in the drying chamber.

The clothes treating apparatus and its operation method according to the present invention are performed by separating the operation of supplying steam to the drum and the operation of supplying fragrance molecules, thereby first removing the odor remaining in the laundry and then smelling the laundry from which the odor has been removed. The fragrance effect can be improved by making it cut. In addition, the vapor generated in the process of flavoring the laundry to the low-temperature drying can prevent the fragrance from deteriorating the flavoring effect due to the thermal characteristics.

Hereinafter, the clothes processing apparatus and the operation method thereof according to the present invention will be described in detail by taking the ductless type clothes dryer shown in the accompanying drawings as an example.

1 is a perspective view showing a clothes dryer according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the clothes dryer according to FIG.

As shown therein, the clothes dryer according to the present invention includes a case (1) forming an external appearance, a drum (2) rotatably installed in the case (1) and storing laundry therein, and the drum (2). Hot air supply unit (3) for making hot air supplied to the inside, and a heat exchanger (4) for dehumidifying the humid air exhausted from the drum (2).

A laundry inlet 11 for introducing laundry to the drum 1 is formed on the front surface of the case 1, and a front surface for supporting the front side of the drum 2 around the inner surface of the laundry inlet 11. A cover 5 is installed, and an exhaust duct 6 for guiding the humid air passing through the drum 2 to the outer side of the case 1 is installed below the front cover 5.

In addition, a rear cover 7 supporting the rear side of the drum 2 is installed on the inner rear wall of the case 1, and hot air is introduced into the rear cover 7 of the drum 2. An air supply hole 7a is formed to be supplied. In addition, an intake duct 8 is provided on the outer rear wall surface of the case 1 so as to communicate with the air supply hole 7a, and the hot air supply unit 3 is installed at an inlet side of the intake duct 8.

And the front cover (5) is provided with a lint filter (9) for filtering foreign matter from the circulation air in the exhaust duct (6), the exhaust duct (6) to the exhaust duct (6) The heat exchanger 4 for dehumidifying guided humid air is installed.

In the drawings, reference numeral 10 denotes a door.

The dryer according to the present invention as described above, when the power supply is supplied, the hot air supply unit 3 operates to suck in the outside air, and the heated air is directed to the drum 2 through the intake duct 8. You are guided. The hot air guided to the drum 2 is supplied to the inside of the drum 2 through an air supply hole provided in the rear cover 7, and the hot air is exchanged with the wet laundry in the drum 2. While the laundry is dried while the wet air is guided toward the exhaust duct (6) provided in the case (1). The wet air is filtered through the lint filter 9 located upstream of the exhaust duct 6, and the filtered wet air is discharged to the outside of the case 1 along the exhaust duct 6. In this process, the dehumidification is performed while passing through the heat exchange part 4 provided in the middle of the flow path of the exhaust duct 6, and a series of processes discharged to the outside of the case 1 are repeated.

Here, the steam generator 110 is installed in the upper half of the case 1, as shown in Figure 1 and 2, the scent generator 120 is installed around the laundry inlet 11 of the case (1).

The steam generator 110 may be a tub heating method or a tube heating method. The steam generator 110 is a heater (not shown) is installed in the casing to heat the water supplied to the water supply pipe 111 to turn into steam.

And the steam generator 110 is connected to the water supply pipe 111 so that one side is supplied with water from the outside, the other side is a steam pipe 112 for guiding the steam generated in the steam generator 110 to the drum (2) This is connected.

The fragrance generator 120 may be made of a heater to generate fragrance by heat or may be formed of an oscillator to generate fragrance by vibration. The fragrance generator 120 may contain at least one fragrance cartridge (not shown) containing fragrance in the casing.

The fragrance cartridge may be detachably installed to replace the fragrance accommodated therein as needed. And the incense supply pipe 121 is connected to one side of the incense generator 120 to guide the incense generated from the incense generator 120 into the drum 2, the middle of the incense supply pipe 121 An incense pump 122 may be installed to pump the incense generated by the incense generator 120 and supply the incense to the drum.

In the clothes dryer as described above, water is supplied to the steam generator 110 through the water supply pipe 111, and the water is steamed while passing through the steam generator 110 to generate a drum through the steam pipe 112. Flows into (2). In addition, in the fragrance generator 120, the fragrance molecules are separated while the fragrance is activated by a heater or a vibration device, the activated fragrance molecules of the drum 2 through the fragrance supply pipe 121 by the fragrance pump 122 It is supplied internally so that the fragrance is flavored to the laundry.

However, if the laundry is supplied with the fragrance as soon as the drying operation is finished, the fragrance effect may be lowered while the fragrance is not cut smoothly due to the smell remaining on the laundry. In view of this, it is possible to increase the flavoring effect by first performing the deodorizing operation using steam on the laundry after the drying operation and performing the flavoring operation later.

3 is a schematic diagram showing a process of supplying incense to laundry in the clothes dryer according to the present invention.

As shown in the drawing, when the steam dryer is selected in a state where the clothes dryer finishes the drying operation for the laundry, water is supplied to the steam generator 110 through the water supply pipe 111 to generate steam. The steam generated by the steam generator 110 is supplied into the drum 2 through the steam pipe 112. The steam supplied to the drum 2 is in contact with the laundry to evaporate the odor molecules remaining in the laundry to evaporate to remove the odor remaining in the laundry first.

Next, after the deodorizing operation is performed for a predetermined time, the perfume activation step of activating the perfume in contact with the perfume contained in the perfume generator 120 is activated by the heater or vibration device of the perfume generator 120 is in progress (S2)

Next, the fragrance molecules are leached while fragrance is activated in the fragrance generator 120, and the fragrance molecules are supplied to the drum 2 by the fragrance supply pipe 121 and the fragrance pump 122, and at the same time, the steam generator 120 The steam generated in) is supplied into the drum 2 through the steam pipe 112. The fragrance molecules supplied together with the steam into the drum 2 are in contact with the laundry contained in the drum 2 to be deposited with a secondary steam supplying step (S3).

Next, among the vapor and fragrance molecules deposited on the laundry in the drum 2, the vapor is evaporated by the air supplied through the hot air supply unit 3 of the clothes dryer, while the fragrance molecules are left to dry in the laundry. Step proceeds. Here, in the drying step, the low temperature drying method in which the steam generator 110 is stopped and cold air at room temperature, which is sucked through the intake duct 8 from the outside, is supplied into the drum 2 to slowly dry the steam. It may be useful considering the characteristics of some fragrances that are weak to temperature. (S4)

On the other hand, the steam generator in the above embodiment was to be operated continuously while the fragrance generator is in operation, in some cases it may be stopped while the fragrance generator is in operation. In this case, according to the characteristic of a fragrance | flavor, it can prevent beforehand that a fragrance characteristic becomes low by high heat.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the steam generator is installed in the water supply line and the scent generator is installed around the laundry inlet separately from the steam generator, but in some cases, the steam generator and the scent generator are continuously installed in the water supply line. May be At least one of the steam generator and the scent generator may be installed on the inner wall surface of the rear cover to which the intake duct is connected or may be installed in the middle of the intake duct. Even in this case, the operation and effect may be similar to the above-described embodiment. However, in this case, when replacing the fragrance or the fragrance cartridge accommodated in the fragrance generator is relatively difficult compared to the installation in the middle of the water supply line, the cost for installing a separate steam generator and fragrance generator can be reduced.

The clothes treating apparatus and the driving method thereof according to the present invention can be equally applied to a washing machine having a drying function as well as a clothes dryer as described above.

1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the clothes dryer of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the interior of the clothes dryer according to Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing a process for supplying incense to laundry in the clothes dryer according to the present invention.

** Description of symbols for the main parts of the drawing **

1: case 2: drum

3: hot air supply unit 6: exhaust duct

8: intake duct 11: laundry inlet

110: steam generator 111: water supply pipe

112: steam pipe 120: fragrance generator

121: incense supply pipe 122: incense pump

Claims (10)

A main body having a drying chamber for drying laundry; A steam supply unit installed inside the main body to generate steam and supply the steam to the drying chamber; An incense supply unit installed in the main body to generate incense and supply the incense to the drying chamber; And And a low temperature drying unit installed inside the main body to supply room temperature air to the drying chamber to dry steam. The method of claim 1, The low temperature drying unit is provided with a heater for drying the laundry of the drying room with hot air, the heater is selectively turned on / off according to the operation mode. In the clothes processing apparatus for supplying the steam generated in the steam supply unit and the fragrance generated in the fragrance generating unit to the drying chamber, The steam supply unit and the fragrance supply unit is a method of operating a clothes processing apparatus that is operated at least once a predetermined time difference. The method of claim 3, The method of operating the clothes processing apparatus wherein the steam supply unit is operated before the fragrance supply unit. The method according to claim 3 or 4, The steam supply unit is a method of operating a clothes processing apparatus that is continuously operated while the fragrance supply unit is operating. The method according to claim 3 or 4, And the steam supply unit is stopped while the fragrance supply unit is operated. Supplying steam to the drying chamber to deodorize the odor from the clothes of the drying chamber; Supplying incense to the drying chamber so that the clothes are flavored; And And evaporating the steam in the drying chamber. The method of claim 7, wherein And activating the fragrance before leaching the fragrance to the drying chamber to leach out fragrance molecules. The method of claim 7, wherein And supplying steam to the drying chamber together with the incense in the step of supplying the incense to the drying chamber so that the incense is deposited on the clothes. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, In the step of evaporating the steam in the drying chamber operating method of the clothes treating apparatus to stop the supply of steam and incense.

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