JPH074476B2 - Gas clothes dryer - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a gas clothes dryer for general household use.

2. Description of the Related Art The electric circuit of a conventional gas clothes dryer is composed of mechanical switches as shown in FIG. That is, when the fan system that circulates air inside the machine fails for some reason during operation and the temperature inside the machine rises abnormally, the thermostat 1 turns off and the solenoid valve 2 that opens and closes the gas passage that supplies fuel to the gas burner. The power supply voltage is applied to the series circuit of the buzzer 5 and the buzzer 5. Here, since the impedance of the solenoid valve 2 is smaller than the impedance of the buzzer 5, the terminal voltage of the solenoid valve 2 becomes equal to or lower than its operating voltage, and the gas passage is closed.
On the other hand, since the operating voltage of the buzzer 5 is sufficiently secured, a buzzer sound is generated to notify the abnormality.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, since the conventional gas clothes dryer is controlled by the mechanical switch, it is not possible to finely control the temperature adjustment and the like. To perform this fine control, a control device using an electronic circuit such as a microcomputer is required. However, in this control device, there is a problem that the solenoid valve for controlling the fuel supply must be finely controlled by the microcomputer and the safety must be ensured even if an abnormality occurs due to a failure of the load control switching element.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to finely control temperature adjustment and the like and to ensure safety in the event of an abnormality.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the gas clothes dryer of the present invention comprises:
An electromagnetic valve that opens and closes a gas passage that supplies fuel to the gas burner, a thermostat that turns off when the temperature inside the dryer reaches an abnormal temperature, and turns on at a temperature below that to directly cut off the energization to the electromagnetic valve, and the electromagnetic valve. A control means for controlling a notification means for notifying a load and an abnormality of a valve or a motor, and a thermostat input circuit for inputting a signal from the thermostat to the control means are provided, and when the thermostat is turned off, the solenoid valve is not energized. In addition to being directly shut off, the control means drives and controls the load by the thermostat input circuit, and causes the annunciation means to make an abnormality notification by a method different from the notification at the normal time.

According to the above configuration, since the electric power of the solenoid valve is supplied through the thermistor, even if the solenoid valve driving switching element of the control means fails, the solenoid valve can be de-energized. Further, the control means takes in the thermistor state by the thermistor input circuit, performs load drive control for an abnormal condition when the thermistor is turned off, and informs the abnormal state by a method different from that in the normal state by the informing means. I do.

EXAMPLE An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a thermostat that sets a temperature for detecting an abnormal temperature rise in the machine to a set temperature, and is turned off at the set temperature, and is directly connected to a solenoid valve 2 that opens and closes a gas passage for fuel supply. Further, the thermostat 1 is connected to the thermostat input circuit 4, and the control means 3 fetches the state of the thermostat 1 from the input circuit 3a via the thermostat input circuit 4. The control means 3 is an input circuit
It has a signal processing circuit 3b for executing the signal of 3a or a predetermined program and a load drive circuit 3c for controlling the load 1b by the signal processing circuit 3b. A solenoid valve 2 and a buzzer 5 as an informing means are connected to the load drive circuit 3c, and the control means 3 controls these.

Next, a specific circuit will be described with reference to FIG. That is, the control means 3 is composed of the microcomputer 6. The microcomputer 6 has an input section 6 which is an input circuit.
a, an output unit 6b which is a load drive circuit, an arithmetic unit 6c which is a signal processing circuit, and a storage unit 6d. The thermostat input circuit 7 divides the power supply side voltage of the solenoid valve 2 by resistors R ₂ and R ₃ , and inputs the state of the thermostat 1 to the input unit 6a of the microcomputer 6. That is, when the thermostat 1 is on, the transistor Q ₂ is on and the input section 6a has
When the L _o level is added and the thermostat 1 is off, the transistor Q ₂ is off, and the Hi level is added via the resistor R ₄ . The switching element 8 is turned on by the signal from the output section 6b and the solenoid valve 2 is operated by applying a voltage. 9 is a switching element for driving the motor 10,
Signal from the output portion 6b is configured to be applied to the switching element 9 through the transistor Q _3. As shown in FIG. 3, the motor 10 rotates the drum 11 and the fan 14 for putting the clothes to be dried through the drum belt 17 and the fan belt 15, respectively, and the solenoid valve 2 is a heat source. It is provided in the gas passage 13 for supplying fuel to the gas burner 12, and the temperature inside the machine is adjusted by opening and closing the solenoid valve 2. The thermostat 1 is provided near the gas burner 12 and detects the temperature inside the machine.

The normal control of the solenoid valve 2 is performed by turning on / off the switching element 8 according to the output signal of the microcomputer 6. If the motor stops during operation or the fan belt breaks during operation, the fan 14 does not operate, ventilation is not performed inside the machine, and the temperature of the gas burner 12 may cause an abnormal increase in temperature. At this time, when the thermostat 1 reaches an abnormal temperature and turns off, the solenoid valve 2 is de-energized, the flame of the gas burner 12 is extinguished, and safety is ensured. Further, the thermostat input circuit 7 inputs the state of the thermostat 1, in other words, the presence / absence of abnormality, to the microcomputer 6, and this signal allows the microcomputer 6 to drive-control the loads other than the solenoid valve 2 to the safe side. . Further, the notification means 5 notifies the user that an abnormal temperature rise has occurred.

Regarding the notification method at this time, for example, the notification of completion of drying and the notification of occurrence of abnormal temperature rise are performed at different frequencies. Alternatively, the dry end notification may be an intermittent sound (6 times per second), and the notification after abnormal temperature rise may output a continuous sound for 10 seconds to make it easy for the user to understand that an abnormal condition has occurred. .

Further, even if the thermostat 1 returns, an intermittent sound is generated from the notification means 5 so that the user can be notified of the occurrence of the abnormal state even when the user was not near the dryer at the time of the occurrence of the abnormal state. .

As described above, according to the present invention, when the temperature inside the dryer rises to an abnormal temperature, the energization of the solenoid valve is directly cut off by the thermostat, and this abnormal state is input as a signal to the control means by the thermostat input circuit. However, since the loads other than the solenoid valve are driven and controlled to the safe side, the safety can be ensured in the abnormal state. In addition, by notifying the user of the abnormal state by a method different from the notification at the time of normality to the user, the safety can be surely notified of the occurrence of the abnormal state, and It is possible to provide a gas clothes dryer that can provide a gas dryer having a good control state.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control device for a gas clothes dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an electric circuit diagram thereof, FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the gas clothes dryer, and FIG. It is an electric circuit diagram of a gas clothes dryer. 1 ... Thermostat, 2 ... Solenoid valve, 3 ... Control means, 5 ... Notification means, 10 ... Motor, 12 ... Gas burner.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A solenoid valve that opens and closes a gas passage for supplying fuel to a gas burner, and turns off when the temperature inside the dryer reaches an abnormal temperature, and turns on when the temperature is lower than that, thereby directly interrupting energization to the solenoid valve. A thermostat, a control means for controlling a notification means for notifying a load and an abnormality of the solenoid valve or the motor, and a thermostat input circuit for inputting a signal from the thermostat to the control means, and when the thermostat is turned off, The energization of the solenoid valve is directly cut off, and the control means controls the drive of the load by the thermostat input circuit, and the alarm means notifies the abnormality by a method different from the normal time notification. Dryer.