KR20120107261A - Washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A washing machine is provided to supply an additional function for drying laundry through a work space for processing work related to laundry. CONSTITUTION: A tub(30) is installed in a housing(10) and stores wash water. A drum(40) is rotatably installed in the tub and accommodates laundry. A drying plate(100) is placed on the top of the housing and dries the laundry. The drying plate includes a top plate of the housing covering the top of a washing machine. The drying plate directly heats the laundry.

Description

Washing machine {WASHING MACHINE}

The present invention relates to a washing machine, and more particularly, to an apparatus installed in the washing machine to dry laundry.

In general, a washing machine is a device for washing laundry using mechanical friction with detergent. The washing machine can be largely classified into a top-loading washing machine and a front-loading washing machine. In the top loading washing machine, the tub containing the laundry is erected in the housing of the washing machine and an inlet is formed in the top portion thereof. Thus, laundry is formed in the upper portion of the housing and put into the tub through an opening in communication with the inlet of the tub. In addition, in the front loading washing machine, the drum containing the laundry is laid in the cabinet, the entrance of which faces the front of the washing machine. Thus, laundry is formed in the front of the housing and put into the drum through an opening in communication with the inlet of the drum. In both the top loading and front loading washing machine, a door is installed in the housing and opens and closes the openings of the housing.

Such a washing machine is generally installed in a domestic laundry room with a dryer. In the laundry room, the user temporarily stores detergents, softeners, etc., as well as laundry to be washed or washed, and folds the laundry into a size suitable for classifying or storing the laundry. In addition, a user may iron the laundry in the laundry room if necessary. However, such a laundry room is generally not large, which is inconvenient for the user to perform the tasks related to the laundry as described above. In addition, even if the laundry room is large, it is preferable for the convenience of the user that the washing machine itself provides a space for the laundry-related work, since the operations related to the laundry are mostly performed around the washing machine and the dryer. In addition, in order to utilize the washing machine and the laundry room more efficiently, it may be more preferable that the washing machine provides not only a work space but also additional functions related to washing.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, the object of the present invention is to provide an efficient and convenient washing machine.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a housing; A tub installed in the housing and storing wash water; A drum rotatably installed in the tub and accommodating laundry for washing; It is disposed on the top of the housing, and provides a washing machine consisting of a drying plate configured to dry the laundry.

The drying plate may be formed of a top plate of a housing covering the top of the washing machine.

The drying plate may be configured to directly heat the laundry. In more detail, the drying plate may be made of a heating plate on which the laundry is placed and directly heats the raised laundry. In addition, the drying plate may include a heater installed in contact with the heating plate or embedded in the heating plate.

On the other hand, the drying plate may be configured to supply cold or hot air to the laundry. The drying plate is formed adjacent to the laundry mounted thereon, and may include a plurality of through holes for providing cold or hot air to the laundry. The drying plate may include a body including the through holes and forming a predetermined inner space and a blower provided inside the body to blow air into the laundry through the through holes.

More specifically, the drying plate may be connected to a heat source of the washing machine to supply hot air to the laundry. For this purpose, the drying plate is provided in the washing machine, and inside the drum to dry the laundry in the drum. It can be connected to a drying duct that provides hot air.

The drying plate may be provided in the body and may include a heater for heating the air, and the heater may be provided in a space in the body or embedded in a portion in contact with the laundry of the drying plate.

The washing machine may further include an auxiliary drying plate slidably installed in the housing and disposed adjacent to the drying plate when taken out. The auxiliary drying plate may be configured to directly heat the laundry or to supply air to the laundry.

According to the present invention described above, the washing machine provides a user with a workspace for processing work related to laundry, and also, this workspace provides an additional function for drying laundry. Therefore, the efficiency and convenience of the washing machine are increased by the work space and the additional functions provided in the work space.

1 is a perspective view showing a washing machine according to the present invention;
2 is a cross-sectional view showing a washing machine and a drying plate according to the present invention;
3 is a partial perspective view showing a dry plate according to the present invention;
4 is a perspective view showing a modification of the drying plate according to the present invention;
5 is a sectional view showing a modification of the washing machine and the drying plate according to the present invention;
6 is a perspective view showing an auxiliary drying plate provided in the washing machine according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention in which the above objects can be specifically realized are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention is described with reference to a top loading washing machine as shown in the accompanying drawings, but may be applied to a front loading washing machine without substantial modification. For the same reason, the present invention can also be applied directly to the dryer without substantial modification.

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

As shown in FIG. 1, the washing machine may have a housing 10 forming an appearance. The housing 10 may be formed to surround the entire washing machine. However, as shown in FIG. 1, the housing 10 wraps only a portion of the washing machine so that it can be easily disassembled for maintenance. Instead, the front cover 12 is mounted to the front part of the housing 10 to form the front part of the washing machine, and the control panel 13 is mounted above the front cover 12 to operate the washing machine. In addition, a top plate 14 is provided in the housing 10 to cover the top of the washing machine. The housing 10 has an opening 11 formed in the front thereof, which is opened and closed by a door 20 which is likewise installed in the housing 10. The door 20 generally has a circular shape, but may be manufactured to have a substantially rectangular shape as shown in FIG. 1. Since the rectangular door 20 makes the entrance of the opening 11 and the drum 40 visible to the user, it is advantageous to improve the appearance of the washing machine. As shown in FIG. 2, the door glass 21 is installed in the door 20, and the user may look inside the washing machine to check the state of the laundry through the door glass 21.

2, the tub 30 and the drum 40 are installed in the housing 10. The tub 30 is installed to store wash water in the housing 10, and the drum 40 is rotatably installed in the tub 30. The tub 30 and drum 40 are laid down with their inlets facing the front of the housing 10. The inlets of the tub and drum 30, 40 communicate with the opening 11 of the housing mentioned above, so that once the door 20 is opened, the user can open the opening 11 and the tub / drum 30, 40. Laundry can be put into the drum 40 through the inlets. In addition, a gasket 80 is provided between the opening 11 and the tub 30 to prevent leakage of laundry and washing water. The tub 30 may be formed of a plastic material in order to reduce the material cost and reduce the weight. The drum 40 is formed with a plurality of through holes 40a through which the washing water in the tub 30 enters therein. In addition, a predetermined power unit connected to the drum 40 is installed around the tub 30, and the drum 40 is rotated by the power unit.

On the other hand, a drying duct 60 is installed in the housing 10 so as to be connected to the tub 30. A blowing fan 62 and a heater 61 are built in the drying duct 60, so that the drying duct 60 can supply dry and hot air into the drum 40 through the tub 30. Can be. In addition, the condensation duct 70 is connected to the drying duct 100 and the tub 30, respectively. The condensation duct 70 is provided with a water supply 71 for supplying cooling water to condense moisture in the air to remove moisture.

Therefore, the drying duct 60 produces hot air by using the heater 61 and the blowing fan 62, and supplies it to the drum 40 by passing the tub 30. The supplied hot air is discharged from the drum 40 through the tub 30 to the condensation duct 70 after drying the laundry. The condensation duct 70 removes moisture from the discharged air to dry air and supplies the dry air to the drying duct 60 so as to be heated again. That is, the discharged air is converted into hot and dry air while passing through the condensation duct 70 and the drying duct 60. Therefore, the air in the washing machine continuously circulates through the tub 30, the drum 40, the condensation and the drying ducts 70 and 60, thereby drying the laundry.

In more detail, the drying duct 60 is connected to the upper region of the front portion of the tub 30. The tub 30 is formed with a suction port 31 communicating with the drying duct 60, and the drum 40 has a suction port 41 communicating with the drying duct through the suction port 31. . In addition, the condensation duct 70 is connected to the rear portion of the tub 30, and the discharge port 32 is similarly formed in the lower region of the rear portion of the tub so as to communicate with the condensation duct 70. Due to this location of the drying and condensation ducts 60, 70 and the connections of the tub 30, the hot and dry air is drawn from the inside of the drum 40, as shown by the arrows. It flows from the front part to the rear part. Precisely, the hot dry air flows from the upper region of the front part of the drum to the lower region of the rear part of the drum. That is, the hot and dry air flows in the diagonal direction in the drum 40. As a result, the drying and condensation ducts 60, 70 are configured to allow the hot and dry air to completely cross the interior space of the drum 40 in the axial direction of the drum 40 due to its proper mounting position. . Therefore, the hot and dry air is uniformly diffused in the entire internal space of the drum 40, so that drying efficiency and performance can be greatly improved.

On the other hand, the uppermost surface of the washing machine described above, ie the upper surface of the top plate 14, forms a fairly large flat surface. Thus, this top surface provides the user with sufficient space for work related to laundry and thus can be used as the work surface. That is, the user temporarily stores detergents, softeners, etc., as well as laundry to be washed or washed on the uppermost surface, and sorts the laundry by type or folds it into an appropriate size. In addition, the user can, if necessary, iron the laundry on the top surface. The washing machine according to the present invention is configured to further provide additional functions on the top surface usable with such a workbench to increase convenience and efficiency. Precisely in the washing machine according to the invention, the uppermost surface of the housing 10, ie the upper surface of the top plate 14, is configured to further dry the laundered laundry. Such a washing machine according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 2, in order to provide a drying function of a laundry, a drying plate 100 is provided at the top of the housing 10, precisely at the top of the housing 10. More specifically, the drying plate 100 is disposed on the upper surface of the top plate 14, it is configured to dry the laundry placed thereon. The drying plate 100 may be installed separately from the top plate 14 at the top of the housing 10, but as shown in order to simplify the structure and reduce the production cost, instead of the top plate 14 do. That is, the drying plate 100 itself consists of a top plate 14 covering the top of the washing machine, thereby performing both a drying function and a function of the housing 10.

The drying plate 100 can be basically designed to directly heat the laundry. More specifically, the drying plate 100 is made of a heating plate 110 for directly heating the laundry, if the laundry is loaded. The heating plate 110 may be installed as a separate member on the drying plate 100. However, in order to simplify the structure of the drying plate 100 and increase the drying efficiency, the drying plate 100 itself may be made of the heating plate 110 as shown. The drying plate 100 includes a heater 120 to heat the heating plate 110. As shown in FIG. 2, the heater 120 may be installed to contact the heating plate 110. On the other hand, the heater 120 may be embedded in the heating plate 110, as shown in FIG.

When the heater 120 is operated, heat generated from the heater 120 is transferred to the heating plate 110. This heat again heats the laundry placed on the heating plate 110, so the laundry may be dried. The drying plate 100 may basically dry the laundry, and if necessary, the laundry may be dried.

On the other hand, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, the washing machine according to the present invention may have a drying plate 200 configured to supply cold or hot air to the laundry placed thereon, in order to dry the laundry. . Like the drying plate 100 described above, the drying plate 200 is also provided at the top of the housing 10 is exactly the top of the washing machine. In addition, for the same reason as the drying plate 100, the drying plate 200 itself is installed in the washing machine as the top plate 14.

Referring to FIG. 4, the drying plate 200 basically has a plurality of through holes 220 for spraying cold or hot air onto the laundry loaded thereon. The through hole 220 is disposed adjacent to the laundry placed on the drying plate 200 to inject air directly to the laundry. That is, the through hole 220 is formed at the top of the drying plate 200 on which the laundry is placed. In more detail, as shown in FIG. 5, the drying plate 200 may be formed of a body 210 forming an internal space of a predetermined size. As described above, the through-hole 220 is formed on the top of the body 210, the laundry is placed, it is in communication with the interior space of the body 210. In addition, a blower 230 is disposed in the inner space of the body 210. Therefore, when the blower 230 is operated, the blower 230 blows air toward the through hole 220, and the air is supplied to the laundry through the through hole 220. This supplied air can cool the laundry sufficiently by removing cold air that is not heated or moisture of the laundry.

Furthermore, in order to increase the drying efficiency of the laundry, the drying plate 200 may supply hot air to the laundry. For this purpose, the drying plate 200 may receive hot air from a heat source installed in the washing machine, that is, a heating device. Can be. More specifically, the drying plate 200 is connected to the drying duct 60 which is a heat source in the washing machine in order to receive hot air. As described above, since the drying duct 60 generates hot air by using the heater 61 to dry the laundry in the drum 40, the hot air of the drying duct 60 is transferred to the drying plate ( 200) can be used together for drying the laundry loaded thereon. As shown in FIG. 5, the body 210 of the drying plate 200 is connected to the drying duct 60 by using a connection pipe 211. Therefore, the air heated by the heater 61 of the drying duct 60 is supplied into the body 210 through the connecting pipe 211, and again through the through hole 220 by the blower 230 It is supplied to the laundry. Since the supplied air is hot, the laundry placed on the drying plate 200 may be dried in a faster time. In addition, the drying plate 200 may have a damper 212 to selectively open and close the connecting pipe 211. The damper 212 rotates to open or close the connection pipe 211, thereby allowing the body 210 of the drying plate 200 to communicate with or be blocked from the drying duct 60. Therefore, hot air may not be unnecessarily supplied to the body 210 while the drying plate 200 is not used by the damper 212.

In addition, the drying plate 200 may produce hot air on its own to supply hot air to the laundry. That is, the drying plate 200 may have a separate heat source to make hot air. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the drying plate 200 may be provided at its body 210 and may have a heater 240 for heating air. The heater 240 may be installed in a space in the body 210, as shown in FIG. On the other hand, like the heater 120 shown in FIG. 3, the heater 240 may be embedded in a part of the drying plate 200, ie, the uppermost part of the body 210, in contact with the laundry. When the heater 240 is operated, heat generated by the heater 240 heats the surrounding air, and the heated air may be supplied to the laundry through the through-hole 220. In addition, the heat generated by the heater 240 may also heat the top of the body 210 and dry the laundry by the heated top.

As described above, by having the above-described drying plate (100,200), the washing machine according to the present invention can provide the user with the additional function to dry the laundry to be processed as well as the workspace to process the laundry. have. More specifically, the laundry to be dried first may be dried on the drying plates 100 and 200 separately in a short time. In addition, since the laundry may contain some moisture, the laundry may be completely dried on the drying plates 100 and 200. Furthermore, such laundry can be dried even while the laundry to be washed or washed is temporarily placed on top of the washing machine (ie housing 10) or sorted or folded on the top of the laundry. In addition, laundry is generally ironed while moisturizing it for effective wrinkle removal, so that some moisture may remain in the ironed laundry even after ironing is completed. However, when the user irons the laundry on the drying plates 100 and 200, the laundry is ironed and dried at the same time. Therefore, the laundry is effectively ironed by the drying function of the drying plates 100 and 200, and the clothes are ready to be worn immediately after being ironed. For these reasons, the washing machine of the drying plate (100,200) can greatly increase the convenience and washing efficiency of the user.

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 6, the washing machine according to the present invention may further include an auxiliary drying plate (400). The auxiliary drying plate 400 is slidably installed in the housing 10 while being adjacent to the top of the housing 10 exactly as shown. As shown in FIG. 6, the auxiliary drying plate 400 may be taken out of the housing 10 while sliding, and as shown in FIG. 1, the auxiliary drying plate 400 may be inserted into the housing 10 while sliding. Can be. When the auxiliary drying plate 400 is completely taken out as shown in FIG. 6, the auxiliary drying plate 400 is disposed adjacent to the drying plates 100 and 200, and thus may be used as an extension of the drying plates 100 and 200. That is, the auxiliary drying plate 400 can actually expand the work space for laundry with the drying plates 100 and 200. In addition, in order to dry the laundry, the auxiliary drying plate 400 may directly heat the laundry like the drying plate 100, and may supply a feeder to the laundry like the drying plate 200. For this function, the structure of the drying plates 100 and 200 described above may be provided to the auxiliary drying plate 400 in the same manner, and further description thereof will be omitted below.

This auxiliary drying plate 400 allows the washing machine to have a larger working space. In particular, this extended workspace makes ironing of large laundry more convenient, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, the pants are fully laid out on the auxiliary drying plate 400 and the drying plates 100, 200. Can lose. In addition, a larger drying space is likewise formed, so that more laundry can be dried in a faster time. For these reasons, the auxiliary drying plate 400 can increase the convenience of the user and the efficiency of washing with the drying plate (100,200).

10: housing 20: door
30: Tub 40: Drum
100, 200: drying plate 110: heating plate
120: heater 210: body
220: through air 230: blower
240: heater 400: auxiliary heating plate

Claims (14)

housing;
A tub installed in the housing and storing wash water;
A drum rotatably installed in the tub and accommodating laundry for washing;
A washing machine disposed on the top of the housing, the washing plate comprising a drying plate configured to dry the laundry. The method of claim 1,
The drying plate is a washing machine, characterized in that the top plate of the housing covering the top of the washing machine. The method of claim 1,
The drying plate is a washing machine, characterized in that configured to directly heat the laundry. The method of claim 1,
The drying plate is a washing machine on which the laundry is placed and consisting of a heating plate for directly heating the raised laundry The method of claim 4, wherein
The drying plate is a washing machine, characterized in that it comprises a heater installed in contact with the heating plate or embedded in the heating plate. The method of claim 1,
The drying plate is configured to supply cool or hot air to the laundry. The method of claim 1,
The drying plate is formed adjacent to the laundry placed on it, washing machine characterized in that it comprises a plurality of through-holes for providing cold or hot air to the laundry. The method of claim 7, wherein
The drying plate includes a body including the through holes and a predetermined inner space and a blower provided in the body and blows air to the laundry through the through holes. The method of claim 7, wherein
The drying plate is connected to the heat source of the washing machine to supply hot air to the laundry. The method of claim 9,
The drying plate is provided in the washing machine, characterized in that connected to the drying duct for providing hot air into the drum for drying the laundry in the drum. The method of claim 7, wherein
The drying plate is provided in the body, washing machine, characterized in that it comprises a heater for heating the air. The method of claim 11,
And the heater is embedded in a space provided in the space in the body or in contact with the laundry of the drying plate. The method of claim 1,
And a subsidiary drying plate disposed slidably in the housing and disposed adjacent to the drying plate when taken out. The method of claim 13,
The auxiliary dry plate is a washing machine, characterized in that configured to directly heat the laundry or supply air to the laundry.

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